Hi

At Chester the VC is the lead_signatory but I act in that capacity for students & the Director of HR for staff issues, although we do share views on policy etc.  The VC as lead needs to approve and sign applications for new countersignatories and receives some letters from the CRB which he then passes to me..

My advice would be to either leave it as it is and set up an internal agreement that the most senior countersignatoory in HR oversees their process.  I would not set up another registered body as this goes against the current CRB policy of reducing RB's

You should refer to the CRB Code of Practice for what the Lead should do:

"Applicants for registration are required to nominate a Lead Countersignatory. The Lead Countersignatory will be required to countersign the initial application for registration. The Lead Countersignatory should be a senior person within the organisation who has a measure of management responsibility for those making recruitment decisions. For example, a human resources director would be a suitable nominee although, clearly, many organisations may not have an obvious equivalent. The Lead Countersignatory will not necessarily be expected to countersign Disclosure applications with the frequency of other countersignatories.
The Lead Countersignatory will be the Bureau’s principal point of contact on all matters connected with the registration and use of the Disclosure service. The exception is that results of individual Disclosure applications will be sent to the individual who countersigned the application. A Lead Countersignatory must be assigned at all times. If a Lead Countersignatory leaves that position, a new Lead Countersignatory should be nominated as soon as possible. A person who is the only countersignatory in an organisation (including a person who employs others in the course of a business and who is seeking registration) may countersign his/her own application for registration. He/She should indicate that this is the case in the application."

I think that the SUMS guidance is slightly heavy handed in this matter.


Rob



----------
Thank you and kind regards 

Rob Dawson
Institutional Compliance Officer
University of Chester
Parkgate Road
Chester
CH1 4BJ

[log in to unmask]
Old College 204
Tel: 01244 511610
Fax: 01244 392808
http://www.chester.ac.uk/

>>> "Smith, Geoff" <[log in to unmask]> 19/01/2007 12:27:25 >>>
At Sheffield Hallam University I am the lead countersignatory and I am based in the University Secretariat which has a governance/compliance role. Similarly we are responsible for data protection and freedom of information which also covers staff and students. This seems to work reasonably well. Clearly it is necessary to liaise closely with HR, Student and Academic Services etc.

Regards
Geoff 


**************************
Geoff Smith
Assistant Secretary
Sheffield Hallam University
University Secretariat
City Campus
Sheffield
S1 1WB
Telephone: 0114 225 3854
Email: [log in to unmask] 



-----Original Message-----
From: CRB-HE [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Heathcote Z.
Sent: 19 January 2007 12:10
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: [CRB-HE] Higher education institutions structures and roles - accountability for CRB activities

Colleagues,

At the University of Southampton, we're trying to work through processes and roles in relation to CRB disclosures for students and for staff, prompted by the SUMS good practice guide. 

The good practice guide makes a long statement about the role of the Lead Counter-signatory - in summary that the Lead is accountable for all CRB-related activity, responsible for approving policy and ensuring compliance.

Currently, I act as lead counter-signatory, and I am located within the Student Services Department. As such, it seems to me wholly inappropriate for me to try to act in this way in relation to staff and Human Resources policy/procedure. If we shift lead responsibility to our HR department, it will be equally inappropriate for them to try to act in this way in relation to students.

So I'm looking for a way forward, and have identified two possibilities:

1) Locate lead counter-signatory responsibility in a third area, perhaps our secretariat/Legal Services grouping - but do they have any validity in that role in relation to either staff or students?
2) Explore the possibility of dividing the responsibility - having one Lead that relates to staff (located in HR) and one that relates to students (located in Student Services). Inevitably this would mean registering with the CRB for a second time and that notion has entirely stumped the individuals at the CRB I've talked to this morning - it may not be possible; the 100 disclosure per year threshold *may* come into play in relation to the volume of staff disclosures.

Comments please! Is there a third possibility? How are others grappling with this?

Thanks in anticipation...
-------------
Zoe Heathcote
Assistant Director (Student Services) and Head of Registry Services Room 2035, George Thomas Building University of Southampton Highfield Southampton United Kingdom
SO17 1BJ

Telephone: +44 (0)23 8059 2820
Fax:       +44 (0)23 8059 5490
Email:     [log in to unmask] 
Web:       http://www.soton.ac.uk/registryservices/ 

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