Recommendation 62: Schools notify inspectorate of DBS referrals
From The Residential Schools Investigation Report, published 1 March 2022.
Recommendation
The Department for Education and the Welsh Government should: require schools to inform the relevant inspectorate when they have referred a member of staff to the Disclosure and Barring Service, the Teaching Regulation Agency or the Education Workforce Council; and include in the national standards for local authority designated officers a requirement that local authority designated officers should share information on referrals from schools with the relevant inspectorate (see recommendation 2)
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended requiring schools to notify inspectorates when referring staff to regulatory bodies. In July 2022, summarising responses of June 2022, The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported that the UK Government was cautious about establishing a reporting mechanism limited to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), though it would consider requiring local authority designated officers to share referral information within updated safeguarding guidance (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jul 2022). The inquiry also noted that the Welsh Government accepted the recommendation in principle in June 2022, but stated it lacked powers to require notifications and would work to establish the necessary vehicle to implement them (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jul 2022).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 19 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Department for Education has been found in the sources searched (last checked 2 October 2026). This is separate from the response above.
The tracker describes this as a long-term recommendation: systemic or cultural, with no single completion point.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (25 July 2022)
On 30 June 2022, the UK government stated that it was cautious about creating a reporting mechanism that only related to the Disclosure and Barring Service and Teaching Regulation Agency when its position in Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance is to have a ‘simple’ system that applies equally across the system. The UK government also stated that it will consider a requirement that local authority designated officers should share information on referrals from schools with the relevant inspectorate, as part of an update to Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. On 30 June 2022, the Welsh Government stated that it accepted this recommendation in principle but that it does not currently have the powers to 'require' and there is a need to establish this. It stated it will work to establish the necessary vehicle to implement this recommendation and take appropriate action.
From: Recommendations - Residential schools investigation report
Site note: These are the Inquiry's own words, from its recommendations page for the Residential Schools investigation report, captured by the Internet Archive on 25 July 2022. They are the Inquiry's account of what the body told it, not the body's own words.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Finding