Minister not fit to lead sex offenders in schools inquiry, Tory leader says

LONDON - The leader of the Opposition has called for the removal of the Government's Education Secretary from an inquiry into why her department cleared teachers with sex offence cautions to work in schools.

Tory leader David Cameron said an independent person should be brought in to run the review, launched by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly last week, saying it was wrong for ministers to be investigating their own decisions.

Kelly came under pressure after her department was revealed to have given written permission for a man with a conviction for child-molesting to return to teaching in a foul-up of records.

This is despite a claim made by the minister yesterday that British safeguards against allowing sex offenders near children were "probably" the strictest in the world.

The Department for Education and Skills had told William Gibson, 59, that his actions had been "unwise", but said the Secretary of State had decided "not to bar or restrict employment".

Gibson was suspended from work at a school in Bournemouth after local authorities became aware of his conviction for indecently assaulting a girl aged 15 in 1980.

Cameron said: "It is untenable for the inquiry to be led by ministers. Ministers are effectively going to be looking into the decisions that ministers have made. We need an independent person leading the inquiry so we get to the bottom of this."

Asked if Kelly should be removed from her ministry, he said: "If it turns out that the decision-making was terrible and the system was poor, then clearly we will have to return to that question."

- INDEPENDENT