VET BLOCK: 50,000 people request schooling police vets every year.

EVERY year, the police are asked to vet nearly 50,000 people working with school children – and they can’t cope with the workload.

Only half of them are checked within the target of a month, with some applicants are waiting more than six weeks.

However, a new computer system due in March is expected to speed things up.

Police vetting is compulsory for all teachers and people with a Limited Authority to Teach, which can include itinerant music teachers and parents accompanying students on school camps, or any person who may at some point be unsupervised in a school.

The 2006 Census shows there are more than 50,000 registered teachers in New Zealand, with teachers needing to renew their registration every three years.

In the year ended June, 2009, only 51% of the 49,227 vetting requests were returned within the Teachers’ Council ideal of 30 days, well off the council’s target of 80%.

NZ Teachers’ Council director Peter Lind (left) says the council has considerable sympathy for the Police, who are dealing with more than 500,000 vetting applications each year.

The new computer system under development will mean the council will no longer act as a conduit, which Lind says will reduce costs and speed the process up.

Applications are sent to the Teachers’ Council who, for a fee of $10, send the application to the Police Licensing and Vetting Service Centre.

Licensing and Vetting Service Centre manager Inspector Joe Green says the high number of police vets each year is due to employers trying to avoid poor employment decisions.

He says lack of staff available to process the vets is one reason for the delays.

“Despite the current national employment situation and every recruitment effort made, we have been unable to fill vacancies within the unit.”

There is reluctance amongst suitably qualified people to engage in shift work, he says. Police will not appoint staff, who do not demonstrate the competencies required.

Police have also spoken to the Ministry of Education to work out ways to reduce the volume of vetting requests from the education sector, but there has been no final decision at this point.