Government suspends vetting and barring scheme

Registration for the scheme, which was due to begin in July, is being suspended while the review takes place. "You were somehow assumed to be guilty in a sense until you weren't, until you were proven innocent," May said of the scheme, to BBC Radio 4's Today programme. She said that the vetting and barring scheme, operated by the Independent Safeguarding Authority, had threatened activities such as school foreign exchanges and parents looking after other people's children. "It was a draconian measure when it was introduced, that is why we have halted the process," May added. The government will review and scale down the scheme. When asked why the Conservative party had voted in favour of the legislation which enacted the scheme, she said the previous government had gone "over the top" in implementation. "There is a law of unintentional consequences which comes into play," she said.