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Safeguarding
When are CRB checks and additional safeguards required?
Additional safeguards and, where applicable, CRB checks are required where one or more of the following conditions is met:
• the placement is for more than one day per week;
• longer than one term in any academic year;
• aimed at children who may be vulnerable (those with special needs or under the age of 16)
• one where the work place supervisor or a colleague will have substantial unsupervised access to the child, because of the nature of the business or
• one which has a residential component.
If any of these conditions apply, additional safeguards should be put in place. As part of those, CRB checks, normally arranged by Countec EBP, are required for any person whose normal duties will include regularly caring for, training, looking after or supervising a child in the workplace. This applies to people who are specifically designated to have responsibility for looking after, supervising or directly training a child or children throughout the placement. Such members of staff should also have some basic child protection training and be aware of their responsibilities set out in ‘What To Do If You’re Worried A Child Is Being Abused’. They must be given details of a person to contact if they have any concerns for a student for whom they are responsible.
Other additional safeguards include:
• School staff or other partners who arrange, vet or monitor the work placements should have training in child protection.
• Employers or training providers hosting students should be asked to endorse a child protection policy or statement of principles.
• School, college, or local authority policies and procedures should define what actions need to be taken by whom and when if any child protection issues are raised, prior, during or after the placement.
• Students should also be given clear advice and a point of contact in the school in case of any problems.
When are CRB checks and additional safeguards not required?
CRB checks and additional safeguards are not necessary (unless any of the other conditions above apply):
• For short-term extended work experience for half a day or a day per week lasting one term or less;
• For visitors who will only have contact with children/ young people on an ad hoc or irregular basis for short periods of time;
• For people who will have contact with children/ young people simply because they are in the same location or as part of their work but will not have regular, unsupervised access to the children/ young people at work;
• For secondary pupils undertaking voluntary work, citizenship or vocational studies or work experience in other schools – in these cases the school placing the pupil should ensure that s/he is suitable for the placement in question.
Where people on short term work experience do have regular, unsupervised access to children/ young people, for example an electrician taking a student from site to site, the situation should be risk assessed.
Employers providing work-related learning should do all they reasonably can to avoid putting young people into a vulnerable position. They should ensure their employees’ relationships with young people on work experience are appropriate to their age and gender, and do not give rise to comment or speculation. Attitude, behaviour and language all require care and thought.
Recent child protection developments include the passing of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
The Criminal Records Bureau
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is an executive agency of the Home Office. It was set-up to help organisations make safer recruitment decisions by providing access – through its Disclosure Service – to criminal record and other relevant information to organisations in England and Wales.
CRB checks
A CRB check can provide access to a range of different types of information, such as, information:
o held on the Police National Computer (PNC), including Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands and Warnings in England and Wales – most of the relevant convictions in Scotland and Northern Ireland may also be included;
o held by local police forces and other agencies, relating to relevant non-conviction information;
o from the Government’s Protection of Children Act List (PoCA), where applicable;
o from the Government’s Protection of Vulnerable Adults List (PoVA), where applicable, and
o held by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) under Section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (a list of people considered unsuitable for work with children – known colloquially as List 99), where applicable.
The CRB offers two types of check – Standard and Enhanced. Standard CRB checks are made for a wide range of positions of trust including positions in the Civil Aviation Authority, the Financial Services Authority, accountancy, as well as vets, registered foreign lawyers, judges and others working in courts and some of those working in the RSPCA. Enhanced CRB checks are for posts involving a far greater degree of contact with children or vulnerable adults, such as teachers for example. In general, the type of work will involve regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of such people. Enhanced CRB checks contain the same information as Standard CRB checks but with the addition of any locally held police force information considered relevant to the job role, by Chief Police Officer(s).
Further information can be found at: www.crb.gov.uk, www.teachernet.gov.uk/childprotection/guidance.htm
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