Parents get paedophile check powers

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the scheme would initially be trialled in four police areas - Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Cleveland and Warwickshire - and if successful could be rolled out across England and Wales.

It will allow single mothers to ask police whether potential boyfriends have child sex convictions before they start a relationship. And family members or neighbours who regularly look after children could also be checked.

Police and probation services will have discretion on what information is revealed in each case and disclosure will be carefully controlled. But it is understood that if children are thought to be at risk, parents and carers will be told.

Ms Smith told BBC1's The Politics Show: "If there were any sex offences recorded against the individual in whom they are declaring an interest, there would be a presumption that they would be disclosed to that person. It is not a community-wide disclosure. It is not something that some have feared would drive sex offenders underground. It is a sensible way to ensure we have more information out there to protect children in the most effective way."

Ms Smith announced the proposals to The News of the World newspaper. The paper hailed the announcement as a victory in its long-running campaign for a "Sarah's law" allowing parents to obtain details of convicted paedophiles living in their neighbourhoods.

The campaign was named after eight-year-old Sarah Payne was murdered in 2000 by Roy Whiting, who had previously spent time in prison for indecent assault of a girl.

Warwickshire Chief Constable Keith Bristow, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) on violent crime, said: "Acpo have been working with the Home Office during the review period and are confident that the measures being taken will improve safety for our children. The police service is committed to protecting the most vulnerable groups in our communities and will implement the measures announced today by the Home Office."

Paul Cavadino, chief executive of crime reduction charity Nacro said: "We support a controlled experiment providing information to parents whose children are being targeted by paedophiles. However, there will need to be stringent safeguards to prevent abuse of the system by people wanting information in order to carry out vigilante attacks."

But Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesman David Heath, said there were still serious concerns about the scheme:"Everyone wants to see the strongest possible protection for children against sex offenders. However, experts have serious concerns that even this limited duty to provide information will reduce the effectiveness of existing monitoring arrangements, and could result in police and probation services losing touch with potentially dangerous offenders."