Management Information Sheet
DBS Checks for Norfolk Children's Services Employees
Norfolk Children's Services would like to provide you with assurance of the policy and standards in place relating to Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for our employees.
On occasions, Norfolk Children's Services employees receive requests from educational settings across the county for evidence of DBS checks. We understand your need for assurance regarding this issue and, in order to prevent delays in trying to respond to a volume of individual requests, we are re-issuing an MI sheet to give formal written confirmation that appropriate vetting, including DBS checks, has been carried out.
We can confirm that, in accordance with Norfolk County Council policy and the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnership Safer Recruitment Guidance, all new starters and existing staff employed in a post eligible for DBS checking, will have a DBS check carried out by the organisation at the appropriate level. Where our staff are required to work in a school or college, we can therefore confirm that enhanced checks including a children's barred list check will have been carried out for these posts.
The statutory guidance 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' (2021) says that people visiting in a professional capacity - such as educational psychologists, social workers and inspectors - should be checked by their providing organisation. It is sufficient for schools and colleges to seek written confirmation that appropriate checks, including DBS checks, have been carried out and to confirm the identity of these visitors. Written confirmation may be in the form of a public statement on the agency website, as is the case with Ofsted.
In line with the statutory guidance and the confirmations contained within this MI Sheet, schools and colleges should not request sight of individual's DBS Disclosures. They should however expect Norfolk Children's Services staff to show their identity on entry to the site with identity badges. Visiting staff should also expect to sign in and out of the setting and to be identified as visitors during their time in the school.