PVG Scheme for Members of Boards of Health Bodies: A Consultation

This consultation set out the rationale for making it a requirement for all members of Boards of Health Bodies to be members of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. 

We asked you whether you thought the policy should apply to all Board members (both executive and non-executive) and across all Health Bodies.

The consultation ran between 31 August and 23 November 2018.

We received a total of 34 responses from a range of different organisations and individuals.  85% of the responses offered full support of the policy – that all members of Boards of all Health Bodies should be required to be members of the PVG Scheme. 

The Commissioner for Ethical standards in Public Life in Scotland did not give a view on the policy but noted that he would be supportive of the policy as long as it was implemented in a way that remained consistent with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland.

NHS Health Scotland responded that as the organisation will soon cease to exist they did not think the policy should be applied to their Board members.

3 other respondents indicated that they didn’t think that it was necessary to implement this policy for all members, only those who have unsupervised contact with vulnerable groups.

We are now working with Disclosure Scotland to make changes to the relevant legislation which will mean that members of Boards of all Health Bodies will be required to be members of the PVG Scheme.

We are also developing new learning packages for Board Members to raise awareness about the PVG Scheme.