Plea for new rules on sex offenders

The government has been urged to overhaul the child protection system after education secretary Ruth Kelly approved the appointment of a man placed on the sex offender register as a PE teacher.

The NSPCC said the decision to bar someone from working with children should rest with experts rather than civil servants and the education secretary.

The teacher was put on the sex offenders register for visiting child pornography websites, although his case did not go to court.

He was given a job at The Hewett School in Norwich but was suspended before starting work because police expressed reservations. He then resigned.

Norfolk Council said Kelly had written to it stating that the man was not unsuitable for working with children, so had not been placed on List 99 – the list of people banned from working with young people.

Lisa Christiansen, the council’s director of children’s services, said the case highlighted a “serious policy contradiction” and said it must be addressed urgently.