Someone on the committee says that all trustees should be 'CRB' checked as the playgroup for very young children frequently uses the hall:
- The trustees do not need CRB checks UNLESS any of them are likely to in direct contact with the children using the hall
- This is true, as they are responsible for the hall and the users of it, CRB checks are essential for members of the management committee
- The trustees only responsibility is to ensure that people running the play group have been CRB checked and should ask for evidence before accepting a booking
Child protection has been a big issue over recent years and some people's perception of it has become a bit distorted. There is a belief in some quarters that everyone in a post of responsibility, including hall trustees, need to be CRB checked in case they come in to contact with children. This is just not true and option 2 is not correct.
From there we need to distinguish between legal liability and good practice. Firstly, the correct answer here is option 1, the members of the management committee do not need to be CRB checked as part of their role on that committee. If they are actually involved with running the play group as well then that would change the issue but that would be a playgroup responsibility.
It is not the duty of the hall trustees to enforce the Child Protection legislation. There is no legal requirement for hall's to check that hirers are conforming and they would not be responsible if an undesirable occurrence arose on their premises and so option 3 is not the correct answer.
However, it is good practice for a hall to have a 'safeguarding' policy, as it is now called, that defines the hall's attitude to exploitation or abuse of children and vulnerable adults. A copy of the recommended ACRE model is available for halls to use on this website. If you have not done so already I strongly recommend that you at least read it, even if you decide not to implement it.