Britain: Downing Street tried to defuse the growing row over school vetting procedures yesterday, signalling that ministers will no longer be involved in determining the employment of people convicted of or cautioned for sex offences.
At the same time, Number 10 confirmed Prime Minister Tony Blair's continued support for embattled Education Secretary Ruth Kelly, despite a fresh report that she cleared a man convicted of indecently assaulting a teenager to work at a school in Bournemouth.
Ms Kelly appeared to be assured of at least a temporary reprieve last night after Conservative leader David Cameron stopped short of calling for her immediate resignation. However, amid some suspicion of ministerial support ebbing away, senior Labour backbencher Dr Ian Gibson suggested that she had only days in which to provide the right answers, reassure parents across the UK and save her career.
Fresh doubts about her ability to do so followed yesterday's report in the Sunday Telegraph disclosing a letter showing that Ms Kelly gave William Gibson (59) clearance to work as a teacher despite her knowledge of his conviction for the indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl, as well as of his convictions for obtaining money by deception, forging documents to obtain drugs and obtaining property by deception.
In a letter signed by an official in Ms Kelly's department in January last year, Gibson was told: "The Secretary of State has given weight to the fact that you accept that your actions were unwise and your behaviour was unacceptable; you understand the related consequences of your actions; and you have undertaken teaching work in recent years to good effect."
The letter ended with a warning to Gibson about his future conduct, saying: "Your behaviour has caused her (the Secretary of State) grave concern. Consequently, you are warned that any further misconduct on your part, which calls for action by her, is likely to have more serious consequences for your future career as a worker with children."
Yesterday's revelations were the latest in a series following last week's Observer report that a junior education minister had cleared PE teacher Paul Reeve to teach in a Norfolk school despite his having accepted a police caution for accessing child pornography.
There was further embarrassment for the government at the weekend when it emerged that a science teacher from Sussex, Keith Hudson - who reportedly was on List 99, the directory of teachers barred from working with children - had been given permission to work in an all-girls school despite his conviction for possessing indecent images of boys. The Care Standards Tribunal backed the decision of then Education Secretary Estelle Morris after hearing evidence that, while Hudson's feelings towards boys were inappropriate, he had "no interest in girls".
Describing the emerging picture as a "shambles", Mr Cameron yesterday insisted that Ms Kelly be stripped of responsibility for the ongoing review of the handling of sex offenders in schools. "I think it is untenable for the inquiry to be led by ministers," he told BBC1's Sunday AM programme. Asked if Ms Kelly should quit her post, the Tory leader said: "We need an independent person leading the inquiry so we get to the bottom of this. If it turns out the decision-making was terrible and the system was poor, then clearly we will have to return to that question."
However, former Tory leader Michael Howard accused Ms Kelly of attempting a "cover-up" and said that she should go.
Defence Secretary John Reid suggested that an important factor in determining Ms Kelly's fate would be whether she personally wrote the letter to William Gibson or whether it was "just written by an official in her name". However, opposition politicians are likely to resist attempts to shift blame on to officials for what Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said was clearly a "non-judgmental policy" operating among ministers and officials in the education establishment.
Labour MP Martin Salter said that it was important to distinguish between the sex offenders' register and the shorter List 99 barring people who should not be allowed to teach. He observed that a 16-year-old having consensual sex with a girlfriend just a few months younger could find himself on the sex offenders' register but that this did not make him a "predatory paedophile".
Mary Marsh, director of the NSPCC, said she was shocked at reports that offenders had been cleared to work as teachers. She added: "Parents and the public need urgent reassurance that the system to protect children in schools across the UK is robust . . ."