Safeguarding and child protection in sport seminar

Paul Stephenson

Agenda

An Update for sports on the Disclosure and Barring Service and what impact will this have for sports clubs.

Disciplinary procedures: How do sports current procedures address issues of safeguarding i.e. bullying or social media.

Short History of vetting 1981 Pre-Employment Consultancy service (PECs) 2002 CRB established in Eng & Wales 2003 Protection of Children & Vulnerable Adults

Order (POCVA implemented 2005) 2007 Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (NI) Order 2008 AccessNI established 2012 Protection of Freedoms Act

Disclosure and Barring Service UpdateDisclosure checks available in NIEnhanced disclosure with a barred list checkEnhanced disclosure without a barred list checkStandard disclosure checkBasic disclosure check

Only staff and volunteers working in regulated activity (as redefined) will be able to be checked against the relevant barred list prior to their appointment.

What is a barred list check?

A barred list check identifies whether an individual is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. If an individual is on the barred list it is an offence for them to apply for a regulated activity post. It is also an offence for an employer/ voluntary organisation to knowingly recruit a barred person to work in regulated activity.

What is regulated activity - for those working with children and young people?

(a) it is one of the activities listed; and

(b) is done “regularly”, with the exception of health care and relevant personal care which is regulated activity even if carried out once; or

(c) it is carried out in a specified place.

(a) The activities include: teaching, training or instruction; care or supervision, including health care and relevant personal care; advice or guidance provided wholly or mainly for children relating to their physical, emotional or educational well-being; moderating a public electronic interactive communication service likely to be used wholly or mainly by children; driving a vehicle being used only for conveying children and carers or supervisors.Day to day management or supervision on a regular basis of a person carrying out one of the activities listed above is also a regulated activity.

Activities that are excluded from the definition of regulated activity are: activity or participation of children that is merely

incidental to what would normally be an adult activity;

“supervised activity” - an individual who is under reasonable day to day supervision by another person engaging in regulated activity; and

activity by a young person in a group assisting or acting on behalf of, or under direction of, another person engaging in regulated activity in relation to children. This is the “peer exemption”.

(b) ‘Regularly’ is defined as: carried out by the same person frequently (once a week or more often), or on 4 or more days in a 30-day period, or overnight**.

**Definition of “overnight” - In relation to teaching, training or instruction; care or supervision; or advice or guidance, it is also regulated activity if carried out (even once) at any time between 2am and 6am and with an opportunity for face-to-face contact with children.

c) specified places, includes schools and day care premises, where an activity with children is a regulated activity if it is carried out regularly by the same person in connection with the purposes of the place where it is carried out. This could include, for example, sports coaching in a school. The supervised exemption also applies in a specified place but only where the activity is carried out by a volunteer.

How will organisations decide if a post is unsupervised or supervised?

The law makes three ponits;

1) Supervision of the individual is provided by a person in regulated activity in a more senior position than the individual. Peer to peer supervision does not mean the individual is in a formally supervised position.

2) Supervision is regular and day to day, i.e. that supervision must take place “on a regular basis”. This means that supervision must not, for example, be concentrated during the first few weeks of an activity and then tail off thereafter, becoming the exception rather than the rule. It must take place on an on-going basis, whether the worker has just started or has been doing the activity for some time. It must be consistent and on every occasion the individual is working/volunteering.

3) Supervision must be reasonable in the circumstances for the purposes of child protection. Your organisation must consider if you can ensure a consistent level of supervision at all times to ensure that it would not impact on the safety of children in your care if a barred individual was in this “supervised” position.

General developments

1st of April introduction of requirement to carry out at least 20 checks per year.

Portability in Eng & W - Spring /summer 2013 Portability in NI Spring 2014 (issuing of one

certificate only). Fairer, Faster Justice bill - DOJ NISF considering registering to become an

umbrella body.

Dealing with complaints and disciplinary issues.

Consider your own sports written complaints and disciplinary procedures in how your sport would deal with the complaints brought to your attention.

Dealing with complaints and disciplinary issues. What are the principles for dealing with young

peoples concern? Who should and shouldn’t deal the concern? Should there be a charge for lodging a complaint? How and who can complain/appeal? How do you get the best information from young

people? Should there be a time limit on dealing with a

safeguarding complaint?

Principles of safeguarding apply to the process of managing a case, not just the decision made! All stages of case management process need to consider the impact on the child (as victim, witness & accused) and needs to avoid focussing exclusively on the process of managing the individual whose behaviour has harmed or put a child or children at risk of harm. Often the accused becomes the centre of the process “by default” during an investigation, risk assessment and disciplinary process.

Examples1) Team A’s coach is so concerned that the referee (who is linked to the opposing Team B) is not preventing dangerous tackles that he decides to remove his team from the game.Team B put in a complaint to the league that Team A should be punished for abandoning the game.Team A put in a complaint that the match referee was not considering the young people’s safety when making decisions.

2) A child reports to his/her parents that he/she is being bullied by a particular child from his/her sport who belongs to a different club. They only meet at competitions but play at the same level. The parent complains to their own club’s DSCO.

3) An experienced coach posts a comment on their facebook page stating that a young player was not trying hard enough and that was why he was substituted. Other young people start teasing the boy about the comments and the parent complains to the governing body about the coaches actions.

Social Media Principles Club page - Followers not friends / moderator

Individuals- Lock down page to non-friends, those in authority should not have under 18’s as their friends, do not comment on individual players

Respond to online bullying - what is said online should be treated as if said in real time

Future Training

Anti-bullying workshopOn-line refresher course

GAA Anti-Bullying workshopfor Clubs, Coaches, Players

and Parents

GAA TacklingBullying

Background

This workshop and accompanyingresources were developed in response

to a growing awareness of the impactof bullying on young people in oursociety and in particular, in sport.

Definition of Bullying

Bullying behaviour can be

defined as repeated aggression, be

it verbal, psychological or physical,

conducted by an individual or group

against others.

BULLYING CAN HAPPEN FROM

Young Person To Young Person

Young Person To Adult

Adult To Young Person

Adult To Adult

Outcomes

Club personnel will be able to:

• Understand bullying and its possible impact particularly in the context of a GAA Club

• Identify a range of approaches in relation to preventing bullying

• Identify a range of approaches in relation to dealing with incidents of bullying

• Explore the role of the Children’s Officer relating to incidents or reports of bullying

• Introduce the GAA Anti-Bullying Policy to their Clubs

• Implement ‘a whole Club approach’

Contact Details

NSPCC Helpline

0808 800 5000

www.nspcc.org.uk

Child Protection in Sport Unit 0203 222 424607866545229 pstephenson@nspcc.org.uk www.thecpsu.org.u k