[WATCH] Voluntary organisations to have free access to Protection of Minors Register

They will now be able to determine whether prospective employees are on the register without having to pay the normal fee

Owen Bonnici said he believed that the 'small measure' would ultimately make a big difference
Owen Bonnici said he believed that the 'small measure' would ultimately make a big difference
Voluntary organisations to have free access to Protection of Minors Register They will now be able to determine whether prospective employees are on the register without having to pay the normal fee

Voluntary organisations can now check whether prospective employees are cleared for being in contact with children, without having to pay the normal fees, justice minister Owen Bonnici said this afternoon.

Any entity or organisation wishing to carryout such checks would previously have had to pay €500 to submit a court application, which the minister said was not an acceptable price for voluntary organisations to be paying.

Statistics show that over 419 such applications were received by the court this year, and over 800 in the past three years.

“This is a small measure, but we believe it will make a difference,” the minister said. “Children benefit from voluntary groups, and would also benefit from [voluntary groups] having better access to such a register.”

He added that the government felt it was duty bound to offer such a service.

When asked whether there were plans for the highly bureaucratic process of filing a court application to be simplified, the minister said that the government was working towards this goal, and that making the application free for voluntary organisations was a first step in this direction.

Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations Clifton Grima said that as decision makers, it was their duty to protect minors, and that helping voluntary organisations to have better access to the register was one way of doing this. “It is necessary for voluntary organistions to have access to the register.”

“In our country, organisations such as the Malta Football Association, help out their clubs so that such recourses can happen. But a number of smaller groups must be given assistance.”