§ Sandra GidleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what risk assessment has been made of agency nurses working in care home settings without the need for a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure; [164811]
(2) what risk assessment he has made of allowing care assistants to work unsupervised for a domiciliary care agency before their Criminal Records Bureau checks are complete. [164818]
§ Dr. LadymanIn view of current recruitment difficulties within the care home and domiciliary care sectors, the Department is consulting on amendments to the Care Homes Regulations 2001, the Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations 2002 and the Nurses Agencies Regulations 2002 to allow staff to start work prior to the satisfactory completion of a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure.
The consultation enc s on 16 April and I will carefully consider all responses. An announcement will be made in due course.