Blair and Straw back Howells who cleared sex offender to work in schools

Prime Minister Tony Blair has full confidence in minister Kim Howells, who admitted clearing sex offender Paul Reeve to work in a school, Downing Street has said.

Mr Howells, now a junior foreign office minister after his stint at the education department, also won the support of his boss, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly was forced to make a Commons statement on Thursday announcing an "exhaustive review", both of the "small number" of other cases where sex offenders have been cleared to work with children, and of the vetting process itself.

At present, ministers pass judgment on "borderline cases" where offenders have not been placed on the Education Department's own List 99 containing the names of those banned for life from working in schools.

Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "Kim Howells made a judgment based on the evidence before him, which he checked was the only evidence that was available to him, and based on the advice contained in that evidence, and the Prime Minister recognises that Kim Howells did his job."

Asked if the premier retained full confidence in him as a minister, the spokesman replied: "Yes."

Mr Straw said he retained "every confidence" in his junior minister, adding that Mr Howells was a "responsible, careful and a good colleague".

Ministers sometimes regretted decisions they made, he said, although he would not say whether that was true in this case. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think he acted properly. Kim is a long-standing friend of mine and a very good minister as well. I know, he has talked to me about this, that he looked at the papers with great care, he looked at the recommendations, he took the best decision that he thought was available at the time."

Mr Reeve was appointed as a PE teacher at a school in Norfolk, despite his police caution for accessing child pornography, having been cleared by the Education Department to work at schools. He lost his job when Norfolk Police contacted the school to air their concerns.