54 Accepted

Lambeth foster carer vetting review

IICSA · Children in the Care of Lambeth Council Investigation Report · Issued 27 July 2021 · Addressed to: London Borough of Lambeth

Source — verbatim from the inquiry

Inquiry recommendation, E

Lambeth Council should review the application of recruitment and vetting procedures for all current foster carers directly provided by Lambeth Council, to ensure that the procedures have been followed correctly. In addition, Lambeth Council should seek assurances from external agencies and other local authorities, in which children in the care of Lambeth Council have been placed, that recruitment and vetting procedures have been followed correctly for all foster carers and residential children's homes' staff working with children.

IICSA, Children in the Care of Lambeth Council Investigation Report · 27 Jul 2021 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:

- On 15 December 2021, Lambeth Council stated that staff working with children, councillors and foster carers had appropriate and up-to-date DBS checks (Government Response, Lambeth Council, December 2021).
- In May 2023, the government confirmed that this recommendation had been completed (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).

Response — verbatim from government

UK Government

On 15 December 2021, Lambeth Council stated that staff working with children, councillors and foster carers had appropriate and up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service certificates. It also stated that it would implement an online Disclosure and Barring Service process that enables better monitoring of compliance in line with safer recruitment practice. Lambeth Council also stated that it will ensure that its commissioned services and placements have robust safer recruitment practices in place for staff working with children and young people.

UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →

Evidence trail — what's actually happened since

No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.

Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.

How this page is built

Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.

This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.