We have to stop disproportionate legislation

I have always thought that too often, Government's of all persuasions, when reacting to a tragedy, are too quick to pass over-proscribed legislation, which is disproportionate to deal with what actually occurred.

A clear and recent example of this, is the new legislation that will force almost one in four of adults to be vetted by a Government body, known as the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). Any adult that has any kind of access to children, will have to be vetted by ISA, often at a personal financial cost of paying £64. This will include teachers, sporting organisations, scout leaders, volunteers, even parents involved in school groups and the like. The effect on individuals will be enormous.

Many will stop volunteering with children, because they don't like being vetted in this way, and having to deal with bureaucracy - not forgetting the financial burden. Other organisations will have to pay huge sums of money for vetting procedures - money which could be better spent on other things. The penalty for not going through the vetting procedure, could be as much as £5,000, again a huge burden for those involved. No wonder, famous children's writer, Phillip Pullman, has threatened to pull out of speaking engagments with kids in schools, in protest against these vetting checks, as even authors will not be immune from the tentacles of the ISA.

Labour Ministers say that the ISA is necessary because of the need to stop people like Ian Huntley, the Soham murderer. Yet, as the Daily Mail reports, even Sir Michael Bichard, who conducted the report into Soham, on behalf of the Government, even suggested that the ISA remit is wide and disproportionate to the threat from paedophiles. He has called for a review into the ISA's role.

Of course, any sensible person would agree that we need to deal with the threats posed by evil people in our midst, and of course some legislation is necessary. But we should not act in a knee- jerk response and ensure that many suffer, because of the tragic actions of a few deranged individuals. We need to get back a sense of proportion.