Looking at the application for membership forms for WMUK v1 (WER), I note
that applicants for guarantor membership must be 18 or over (presumably
for legal reasons). So the handling of personal data for under 18s is a
non-issue for this.
For supporting members the form also asks for a date of birth, but I don't
understand why this is needed? The acompanying text states:
I hereby apply to become a supporting member of Wikimedia UK
and by signing this application confirm that I support the
aims of Wikimedia UK and shall not bring the organisation
into disrepute.
I am aware that being a supporting member of Wikimedia UK
does not confer any rights regarding the actions and
decisions which may be taken by Wiki Educational Resources
Ltd.
I am not a lawyer, but it is my understanding that the signature of a
parent or guardian is not requried for this type of agreement for those
aged 13 or over. And, even if it is required, I do not beleive that we
need to know that it is a parent/guardian's signature rather than the
applicant's signature.
I say this because if we do need to know whether someone is under 18 or
not, there is no need for us to ask about it. If there is no way of
knowing the age of a person from their form, then I cannot see that
requiring a CRB check of those processing the forms is legal.
Alternatively we may state that we cannot accept applications from those
under 16, but we are able to accept applications from parents/guardians of
under 16s on their behalf (and word the form apropriately so we don't know
when this is the case)
(I know that this may not be exactly the same as for WMUK v2, but they are
likely to be similar)
On Wed, 10 Sep 2008, Andrew Turvey wrote:
On a side issue, if everyone agrees with me on the second issue - needing to CRB the
membership secretary - we may need to change the timetable and possibly push back the AGM
for a month, because we wont be able to accept membership applications until after the CRB
is received back.
Unfortunately it isn't that simple. From discussions with people I know
who work in the childcare sector, and thus have had many CRB checks and
dealt with requiring CRB checks of others, the time taken for the results
of a CRB check to come through can vary between about 14 days and 7
months. I do not think it reasonable to hold up the progress of WMUK in
this manner for a CRB check that is not legally /required/.
Chris
--
Chris McKenna
cmckenna(a)sucs.org
www.sucs.org/~cmckenna
The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes,
but with the heart
Antoine de Saint Exupery