The New Zealand government has launched a new recruitment guide to help organisations choose suitable people to work with children.

Social development minister Anne Tolley yesterday [10 March] announced the Safer Recruitment, Safer Children guideline, part of the government’s Children’s Action plan, would help keep vulnerable children safe.

She said in a speech at the launch event: “Although many organisations have checks to ensure unsuitable people do not work with children, there is no consistent safety checking approach and there are a number of gaps. Some of these gaps have been publicly exposed in recent times, but some have not.”

The guidelines will not be compulsory but support existing and coming requirements for state-funded, paid staff under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

They were developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education and NGO [non-governmental organisation] Child Matters, and include advice on vetting and screening, such as what to look for in candidates, and questions to ask in interviews.

The Act includes new safety checking regulations for all jobs that will involve contact with children and prohibitions against convicted child abusers and other serious offenders from being in charge of or working alone with children.