Safeguarding News May 2013
Introduction Hello and welcome to what we hope will be a quarterly newsletter aimed at all Club Welfare Officers but also may be of interest to others. In this edition there is some information about our Child Protection Action Plan for this year. This is mostly based on the answers you gave us in the questionnaires we sent out last December. There is also a feature the Disclosure and Barring Service and a look at what this means at a club level. Finally, and most importantly, we want to know how we can help you over the coming year.
Meet the Safeguarding Team ... Keith Eldridge is the Lead Safeguarding Officer having been appointed to the role last November. Keith previously worked as a Senior Investigating Officer in the Metropolitan Police and has been a member of the BJA Child Protection Working Party for 10 years. He is also Chair of the BJA Complaints & Conduct Panel in a voluntary capacity. Keith can be contacted on
[email protected] or on 07788391520. Keith is happy to be contacted at any time if you wish to discuss any concerns or need some advice. Amanda Smith is the Safeguarding Assistant and has worked for the BJA for nearly three years. Amanda currently organises all the Safeguarding and Protection of Children and Time to Listen Courses. She is also a Countersignatory for DBS checks. Amanda can be contacted at
[email protected] or on 01509 631670 ext 223. The number for the Safeguarding Team at Head Office is 01509 631670 option 4.
BJA Safeguarding Action Plan 2013
This years Action Plan is based upon our Self Inspection during which we sent out questionnaires to all Club Welfare Officers, their Club Coaches and one for the children at your clubs and a big thank you to all of you who completed and returned them. We also conducted interviews with a member of the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive, a member of the Executive Team, an Area Chair and Head Office Staff. The results of the questionnaires, interviews and our look across the Association led to the Action Plan of what we want to achieve over the coming year. This has now been approved by the Child Protection in Sport Unit which is part of the NSPCC. The main points of the plan are below together with the action that we are taking
Action
Update
Update policies & procedures
Keith is currently reviewing and re-writing Safelandings and the Complaints policies
Club Mark
Service Manager, Jo Walker is about to launch a simplified ClubMark process
Staff Training/ Safeguarding awareness
Keith has given Safeguarding awareness presentations to the Board of Directors, the Area Chairs, Technical Officers and Service Managers. This will also be given to Head Office Staff.
More Support needed for Club Welfare Officers
See feature in this newslatter
Safeguarding resources aimed at children need to be improved
We are currently reviewing what material is available
Improve consultation with children
We are currently reviewing how other sports do this but would welcome your views
The Self Inspection will be an annual process and is aimed at constantly improving rather than reaching an end point. We will be looking for your ideas and feedback at the end of the year but, please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any ideas.
The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 merged the independent Safeguarding Authority with the Criminal Records Bureau to become the Disclosure and Barring Service and introduced a number of changes:
New definition of Regulated Activity Repeal of Controlled Activity Introduced a minimum age of 16 years for disclosure Introduced a more rigorous relevancy test for when police will release locally held information.
The new definition of Regulated Activity means that if someone is involved in:
Teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising children. Providing guidance or advice on well being Driving a vehicle only for children
They are eligible for a DBS check but not eligible for a barred list check. If the individual carrying out this activity is unsupervised, they are also eligible for a barred list check as well as the DBS check. The BJA has a legal duty to refer an individual to the DBS if they have harmed or may pose a risk of harm to children and the DBS may place their name on the Barred list.
The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Later this year, probably in June, there will be some further changes:
The BJA will no longer automatically be sent a copy of the disclosure
Individuals will be able to subscribe to an online updating service.
Disclosures will become portable for the same type of roles in different organisations
Section X61 on the reverse of the DBS application, must be completed as below Must say CHILD AND ADULT WORKFORCE
Must say either COACH/CLUB WELFARE OFFICER/VOLUNTEER IN A JUDO CLUB
Notice Board Did you know ... You can track your DBS application online https://secure.crbonline.gov.uk/enquiry /enquirySearch.do You will need the Form Reference Number and a Date of Birth!
Safeguarding and Protection of Children (SPC) Course can also be found on the Sportscoachuk website! http://www.sportscoachuk.org/worksh ops/workshopsearch/results?term=Safeguarding+%2 6+Protecting+Children
All our Child protection Policies and Procedures can be found here .. . http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/child-protection
Support for Club Welfare Officers We are very aware of the great work done by Club Welfare Officers and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you. You are the eyes and ears of Safeguarding where it matters. You know the children at your clubs and are more likely to see or hear when something is wrong. If you ever have any concerns or just want to discuss a potential problem, please feel free to phone the office or, out of hours you can phone Keith at any time. On the rare occasions that he might not be available, he will return your call within four hours. We would also like to know how else we can support you. Some of you have suggested an Area network of CWOs. We would be interested to hear from any of you that may already do this on an informal basis or if you would be interested in trying it. We would also like to know how else we can support you? Some of you told us that you would like more material for your younger members notice boards and we are currently looking at what is available and the best way of getting it to you. If you have any ideas on how we can help you, please let us know. Well, that’s it for this edition. We hope you found it useful? If there is anything that you would like us to cover in future editions, please let us know. You may even want to write a small feature yourself? Please send all idea’s and features to Amanda Smith via email
[email protected]
