Sir Roger Singleton (born November 1942) is chair of the

Independent Safeguarding Authority The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) was a non-departmental public body for England, Northern Ireland and Wales, that existed until 1 December 2012, when it merged with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to form the Disclosure and Barrin ...

(now part of the

Disclosure and Barring Service The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a non-departmental public body of the Home Office of the United Kingdom. The DBS enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying ...

) and the

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was an independent grant-giving foundation established in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to continue her humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas. It was a reg ...

. He was chief executive of

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a global charity headquartered in Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge. It was founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each ye ...

for 21 years, succeeding Mary Joynson, and was awarded a knighthood for his services to children in 2005. He has served on public inquiries into

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

in children's homes and is involved in the governance and management of various charities. Singleton is an accredited

mediator Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

. In 2003 as chief executive of

he was criticised for supporting emotionally manipulative advertising campaigns to raise the charity's profile. In this case the UK advertising standards authority found in Singleton's and Barnardo's favour. Singleton has been chairing the ISA since 2007. The ISA was set up to deliver its responsibilities under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and as part of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS). It makes barring decisions on those people referred to it (usually from employers) following harm or the risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult. It has the legal powers to place or remove people from both of its barred lists (for Children and Adults). In March 2009 the Government appointed Singleton Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children, where his responsibilities included advising the Government on strategic priorities and reporting annually to Parliament on safeguarding progress. He stood down from the role in June 2010. In his role as Chief Advisor, Sir Roger was asked by Ed Balls the then Children's Minister to undertake a 'check' on the Government's definition of 'regulated activity' – the guidance which would define whether someone needed to be registered under the Scheme. His recommendations were published in December 2009 – "Drawing the line" and were accepted by the Government. His proposals were projected to reduce the number of people due to be ISA-Registered by approximately 2million. In 2010, the Coalition Government initially announced a delay to registration and then undertook a review of the VBS, which proposed a series of amendments to the Scheme including the abolition of the need to register. The proposals are currently going through Parliament in The Protection of Freedoms Bill – to which Singleton was asked to give evidence. The

continues to exist although it has been amalgamated with the Criminal Records Bureau. The ISA retains the role of maintaining a list of people barred from working with children and vulnerable adults. Singleton's continued defence of the re-structured ISA continues to draw criticism as the ISA is still perceived by many as being authoritarian and structured in an unethical way with journalists such as Josie Appleton continuing to protest against it via the 'Manifesto Club' which she chairs. This has been seen by some as having damaged his credibility severely. This was particularly demonstrated by successful legal cases taken by the Royal College of Nursing against the ISA in 2010. The Royal College of Nursing alongside other organisations continues to campaign for the ISA to include a hearing within the ISA barring process, for the ISA to have minimal standards of evidence and to have flexible sanctions, indeed that the ISA should use the word 'sanction' when describing the barring process. The ISA under Singleton's leadership continues to resist these changes Sir Roger Singleton was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

in 2011.

References

External links

* ISA, now part of the Disclosure and Barring Service of the UK government

Telegraph.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singleton, Roger 1942 births British business executives British chief executives Knights Bachelor Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire