The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Purposes) Regulations 2025

Made: 25th November 2025

Laid before Parliament: 27th November 2025

Coming into force: 18th December 2025

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 50A(1)(d), 60(1) and 61(1) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Purposes) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 18th December 2025.

• (2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

Provision of information to the police: prescribed purposes

2

The disclosure of information by a chief officer of police[^f00002] to assist a person located outside the United Kingdom in assessing a person’s suitability for a role working with children is prescribed under section 50A(1)(d) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

Signed

Jess Phillips — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Home Office — 25th November 2025

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Explanatory Note

These Regulations prescribe a new purpose under section 50A(1)(d) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (c. 47) (“the Act”). Section 50A(1)(d) of the Act enables the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to share information with a chief officer of police for other reasons which may be prescribed, in addition to the existing purposes of crime prevention, detection and investigation, apprehending and prosecuting offenders and appointing individuals under the officer’s authority.

Regulation 2 enables a chief officer of police to disclose information provided by DBS, including whether an individual is on the children’s barred lists, to assist an employer or prospective employer assess the individual’s suitability to work with children where the appointment decision is made outside the United Kingdom.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2006 c. 47. Section 50A was inserted by section 88 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 (c. 26) and amended by paragraph 65(4) of Schedule 9 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (c. 9) and by S.I. 2012/3006. Subsection (1)(c) and (d) was inserted by section 77(3) of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Subsection (3) was inserted by S.I. 2010/1154, amended by paragraph 65(3) of Schedule 9 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and S.I. 2025/365. There are other amending instruments but none is relevant. Section 60(1) contains a definition of “prescribed” relevant to the exercise of the statutory powers under which these Regulations are made.

[^f00002]: See section 50A(3) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (c. 47) for the definition of “a chief officer of police”.