The Scottish Government’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme implements the provisions outlined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007, strengthening protection for children and other vulnerable people in Scotland.
What is the PVG Scheme?
The scheme is a register for all those who work (paid and unpaid) with children and protected adults in Scotland.
The scheme exists to ensure that those who have regular working contact with children or protected adults, do not have a history of behavior that would make them a risk to those they are working with.
The legal definitions of people who are protected by the legislation and the PVG Scheme are:-
1. individuals under the age of 18 (children)
2. individuals over the age of 16 and who are provided with Care, Health, Community Care or Welfare Services (these are ‘protected’ adults)
Under the PVG Scheme it is an offence for an individual to do, or seek to do ‘regulated work’ of the type from which they have been barred from doing.
It is an offence for an organisation to recruit an individual to do work of the type from which they have been barred. It is the resposibility of your organisation to ensure that you have an appropriate and valid scheme record for an individual before they take up their position as a volunteer if they will be working with one or both of the defined groups.
The PVG Scheme includes vetting information of individuals whose court convictions mean they are unsuitable for carrying out regulated work with either children or protected adults. Once a person is on one of these lists, they are officially barred from working or volunteering with that particular group.
There are two lists under the scheme which hold records of those unsuitable to work with that particular client group. These are:
The Children’s List
A record of those who are considered to be unsuitable to work with children and therefore barred from regulated work.
The Adults List
A record of those who are considered to be unsuitable to work with ‘protected’ adults and therefore barred from regulated work.
A person who is convicted of any of the serious offences set out in the Order made under section 14 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 will automatically be included in both the children’s and adult’s lists.
Once an individual becomes a member of the PVG Scheme, Disclosure Scotland will add any new vetting information to their scheme record as and when it arises.
Where that information suggests that the scheme member may have become unsuitable to work with children or protected adults, the individual will be listed on one or both lists and organisations with whom they are registered with, through the scheme, will be notified.
Please click on this link for an example of a Protection of Vulnerable Groups Policy.