The private security industry is getting an Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) alongside SIA licences, the Government announced on January 12.
Home Office Minister, Paul Goggins’ written statement came nine and a half weeks before the March 20 deadline for contract guard and CCTV operator licences. The Government admits, however, that ‘there is still a lot of detail to be worked through’.
The ACS will include parts from two of the options in last year’s consultation paper. Option three requires companies to possess one or more of a list of specified existing standards, and option four, which would introduce a new standard defined by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
According to Mr Goggins, these two options were the most popular in the three-month consultation, with more than 90 per cent of respondents expressing a preference for one of them. By adopting a mixture of the two options, the minister said, security companies who have already achieved existing standards can take credit for that, without requiring other companies, particularly smaller ones, to go through that procedure. It also introduces a new SIA national standard for the private security industry.
Full details of the scheme, including the fee structure, will be announced by the Home Office as soon as possible, he added, to allow companies to plan and prepare for implementation. Detail of the ACS will be subject to annual review.
The March deadline – and the government statement was adamant that the deadline stood, despite industry criticism of delays in dealing with applications – covers security personnel (supplied under contract) working in security guarding (not at licensed premises), Cash and Valuables in Transit, Public Space Surveillance CCTV, Key Holding and Close Protection. For security guards working at licensed premises and places of regulated entertainment (door supervisors) SIA licences have been required since April 2005.
Companies achieving ACS status will be permitted to deploy what the SIA terms a small percentage of their security personnel who are not yet licensed by the SIA but who have completed their training, achieved their qualification and have had their licence application accepted by the SIA for processing. Companies will not be able to deploy unlicensed personnel on assignments that involve contact with children or vulnerable adults. Only those who have undergone and satisfied SIA requirements, including a criminal record check, will be allowed to work with sensitive groups. Ironically, the statement came on the day that Education Secretary Ruth Kelly was defending her department against criticism that some convicted sex offenders were allowed to work in schools.
