LONDON — The government is to scale back an anti-paedophile scheme that would have required millions of workers to undergo criminal record checks before they could work with children, The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.
Under reforms to be announced next week, only those with intensive contact with children or vulnerable people would have to be vetted, according to the newspaper.
This would replace the old Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) requiring anyone who came into contact with children once a week or more -- up to nine million people across Britain -- to undergo checks.
Only about half that figure would have to be vetted under the new proposals, according to the Telegraph.
The government will also announce that the results of criminal record checks will be seen by individuals before they are sent on to potential employers to allow people to challenge any mistakes, the paper said.
The VBS had been introduced by the Labour government in 2009 after caretaker Ian Huntley murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Home Secretary Theresa May suspended it last June and in October launched a review, after complaints that the registration net was too wide.
Parents had complained that the new rules made it difficult for them to share the school run.
May, who initially called for a halt to the programme, has described the original scheme as "draconian" and called for an approach which does not risk discouraging volunteers from working with children.
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