Thomas Dalton wrote:
2008/9/9 Kwan Ting Chan ktc@ktchan.info:
On Tue, 2008-09-09 at 23:00 +0100, geni wrote:
2008/9/9 joseph seddon life_is_bitter_sweet@hotmail.co.uk:
I would like to answer question 3. The board is to work with members younger than 16 and the possibility of working in schools. Given this, it was felt for the safety of our younger members it would be best to have all board members undergo a CRB.
It's complex hard work and time consuming. Leave it out for the initial board.
I'll copy what I wrote on wiki on this question.
The main one, although there were other reasoning, is that one can envisage Wikimedia UK working with(in) a schools environment. The Charity Commission strongly advise prospective charity to have its trustees go through a CRB check if they are likely to work with vulnerable people as a result of being trustee. Note the wording only says that one is willing to submit to one, not necessarily that it will be done. Whether those checks are done will be up to the (initial) board to decide.
I think it's definitely important to have the CRB checks done before registering with the charity commission because they will probably require it once they realise we plan to have child members and work in schools. I would rather not skip it for the interim board because one of their tasks will be processing all the initial membership applications and that means having access to the names, address, email address etc. of children, and I'd rather be on the safe side when handling that kind of information.
For the record CRB checks are not time consuming. There are plenty of companies out there that will do them for a filled form and a £50 (approx.) cheque. A couple of years ago my wife was using a charity that would do it for youth oriented not-for-profits for about £15. I can't recall the name of that charity right now but would be happy to look it up when required.
Ross