Protection proposal: The Law Reform Commission's Peter Duncan briefs reporters on the proposal to allow employers to check the criminal records of people working with children and the mentally handicapped.

The Law Reform Commission has recommended employers be allowed to check the criminal records of people working with children and the mentally handicapped.

The commission's Review of Sexual Offences Sub-committee Chairman Peter Duncan said the interim measure can be implemented quickly by administrative means without legislation.

The check will only reveal convictions for a specified list of sexual offences. In the absence of legislation the application for a record check will have to be submitted by the job applicant.

The scheme should apply to existing and prospective employees but can be implemented in stages, with only prospective employees covered in the initial phase.

No offender register

The commission does not favour the introduction of a register of sex offenders. Instead it recommends criminal records held by Police be utilised to screen job applicants.

The scheme now operated by Police for providing Certificates of No Criminal Conviction will be modified and adapted to enable the proposed checks to be conducted. Any check will have to be initiated by the job applicant, and their consent is necessary for the result to be revealed to the prospective employer. A clean result will not be recorded in writing, but will be communicated verbally to the job applicant or the employer.

A check can be conducted in relation to certain professions or areas of work where there are specific statutory provisions, such that the existence of a previous conviction is a ground for refusing registration, or approval of people working in a particular profession.

Examples are the provisions relating to school managers and teachers registered under the Education Ordinance, childminders under the Child Care Services Ordinance, and social workers registered under the Social Workers Registration Ordinance.

Legislative scheme

There remains a wide range of people who have close contact with children during their work in respect of whom criminal record checks are currently not available, Mr Duncan added. Examples include laboratory and computer technicians, school support staff, tutors, music teachers, sports coaches, staff in children's wards, and volunteer workers at youth centres, and religious and other organisations.

He said the scheme proposed is modest compared with those adopted in many other jurisdictions. Convictions regarded as "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance will not be disclosed.

The sub-committee will consider whether a comprehensive legislative scheme should be introduced to enhance the regulation of sexual offence record checks for child-related work.

The Security Bureau welcomed the report, saying the Government will carefully study the recommendations, as it must balance protecting people from abuse, with the privacy and rehabilitation needs of ex-offenders.

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