M

Member

Speaking in the House of Lords on 15 December 2025

Debate

Crime and Policing Bill

Contribution

The problem arises because activity arranged directly by a parent is treated in law as a private arrangement under Section 6. As a result, it is not regulated activity. That single distinction has wide-reaching consequences. It means that an individual who has been placed on the children’s barred list, whether due to a criminal conviction or serious safeguarding concerns, can legally tutor a child in the tutor’s own home, online or in any other unsupervised setting. The same applies to other forms of instruction where parents are hiring self-employed individuals directly or via an online brokering platform. Unlike regulated activity, parents are unable to request the enhanced barred list check that would reveal the risk. Crucially, the police and the DBS cannot intervene even when they are aware that someone on the barred list is advertising as a tutor or working with children.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

Partner sites