Earlier this year, the Government quietly rejected Sir Michael Bichard'splans for a universal register of people suitable to work with childrenbecause it was worried about the high costs.
A Home Office report revealed that officials believed the formerDepartment for Education and Employment permanent secretary had proposeda scheme that would be "prohibitively costly and impractical toimplement". Instead, Home Secretary Charles Clarke outlined plans for asmaller register of people barred from working with children andvulnerable adults, to be operated by a central "vetting and barringunit".
Almost a year on, any officials hoping that Clarke's smaller schemewould be relatively cheap to operate will surely be disappointed.According to the latest progress report from the Home Office: "Operatingcosts are now estimated to reach around 22m per annum at peakvolumes, declining to around 19m at a steady state."
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