Major delays in disclosure checks for people who want to work with children and vulnerable adults have been slammed.
Blame for the slippage, which affects groups including childcare workers and nurses, has been pinned on a new IT system.
Scottish Tory MSP Alison Harris blasted: “This is a failure of government, and the SNP must sort it out as a matter of urgency.”
Disclosure Scotland is the government agency which assesses Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications. Anyone applying is meant to be given their result within two weeks.
Between January and August, the number of PVGs processed within 14 days fluctuated between 93.7% and 99.6%.
However, the number fell to 47.8% in September and plummeted to 12.5% one month later.
Harris said the delays are having an impact on the hiring of staff by childcare organisations: “No-one doubts the importance of these checks to ensure our children and vulnerable adults are protected.
“But clearly the major delays in processing PVG checks are having an impact on childcare providers.
“These businesses are already finding it hard to cater for demand, and this log-jam is only making matters worse.
“It means parents of young children – who frankly have enough on their plate – are being denied the kind of access to childcare the SNP government has promised them.”
According to the Tories, Disclosure Scotland blamed the delays on a “seasonal increase in our work and the bedding in” of a new IT system.
A bill backed by the SNP Government, which is making its way through Holyrood, will increase the number of disclosure checks that are handled digitally.
A Disclosure Scotland spokesperson said: “Disclosure Scotland is currently processing 95% of applications within 14 days with an average processing time of 5.4 days.
“Any delays were for a short period of time and due to bedding in of the new system alongside a seasonal increase in workload; these were quickly rectified.”
