Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of recent safeguarding changes affecting DBS checks on employers’ willingness to offer work experience to under-16s; and when her Department will issue clear guidance to schools and employers.

Safeguarding children must always be a key priority. Recent changes to regulated activity, introduced by the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which remove the supervision exemption, have brought more activities into scope of regulated activity. The department is aware that this change has created concerns amongst employers, schools and work experience providers about when an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check with children's barred list information might be suitable for staff supervising under-16 work experience placements. We are actively considering these concerns to ensure young people can benefit from work experience placements and feel confident about their next step, equipped with the skills and experience they need to succeed.

DBS has published guidance on changes to regulated activity and is hosting Disclosure and Eligibility Workshops for organisations that are unsure about how the removal of the supervision exemption may affect their workforce.