News Archive
21/06/2009
Vetting and Barring Scheme Update – England and Wales
Important Note: All of the golfing bodies that make up the Children in Golf (CIG) Strategy Group endorse the safeguarding principles contained in the ‘Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf’. However due to different guidelines and legislation in Ireland Irish Golf has its own ‘Code of Ethics for Golf for Young People’ which has information and appendices appropriate for use in the whole of Ireland. You can find out more about safe recruitment procedures in Ireland at www.juniorgolfireland.com
The government has announced the suspension of the introduction of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS), pending the outcome of a comprehensive review, which is likely to result in remodelling and significant scaling back of the scope of the scheme.
The scope and associated timescales of the re-modelling process are currently being finalised and will be announced in due course.
Although registration with the VBS (due to begin from July 2010) will not now go ahead, the ISA will continue to make barring decisions on individuals and maintain the two barring lists.
The new safeguarding regulations introduced in October 2009 continue to apply. The advice from the ISA outlines that:
- There is a duty for organisations to refer information to the Independent Safeguarding Authority. This means that if your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults and you dismiss a member of staff or a volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult, or you would have done so if they had not left, you must tell the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
- A person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they work or volunteer, or try to work or volunteer with those groups.
- An organisation that knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law.
What should you do now?
Continue to follow the CIG guidance and framework for safe recruitment which includes undertaking criminal records checks (see Section 4 of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf for recruitment advice -link to relevant section of CIG website). You can contact your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer for guidance on how to manage this and the CRB process.
Where disciplinary action is taken against an individual due to safeguarding concerns, it is not acceptable to simply ask that individual to leave your organisation. You should:
Follow CIG guidance on reporting concerns. This includes referring the concern to your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer. The CIG Case Management Group will provide support and advice in referring relevant and significant concerns to the ISA.
In addition, and in line with government guidance - Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006), all counties and clubs with junior members should:
- Appoint a Club Welfare Officer details of this role can be found in Appendix 4H of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf.
- Ensure that you have appropriate and formal disciplinary procedures in place that relate to all members, volunteers and staff.
Guidance can be obtained from your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer
Children in Golf, and the National Governing Bodies that constitute this partnership, will provide further advice on the implications of the review as they become known. Updates are also available on the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport (CPSU) website www.thecpsu.org.uk, you can also also sing up to receive the quarterly newsletter ‘Relay’ on the site.
09/10/2009
Vetting and Barring Scheme Update – England and Wales
Important Note: All of the golfing bodies that make up the Children in Golf (CIG) Strategy Group endorse the safeguarding principles contained in the ‘Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf’. However, due to different guidelines and legislation in Ireland, Irish Golf has its own ‘Code of Ethics for Golf for Young People’ which has information and appendices appropriate for use in the whole of Ireland. You can find out more about safe recruitment procedures in Ireland at www.juniorgolfireland.com
The Vetting and Barring Scheme in England and Wales is being introduced under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, and replaces existing barring lists with a single independent system. The legislation led to the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) which is responsible for making barring decisions. While the scheme will assist organisations in making safer recruitment decisions, it will not remove the need for clubs and counties, and other employers to undertake criminal records checks. The ISA decision making process will only consider information relating to the potential risk an individual poses to children and/or vulnerable adults, whereas criminal records checks may contain details of offences that may not lead to a bar, but may be pertinent to a specific role.
There are new legal requirements which relate to employing barred people and the duty to refer information. This will include requirements on employers of both paid staff and volunteers. Staff engaged in ‘regulated activity’ will need to become members of the scheme which is being phased in (over five years) in order to work with children and/or vulnerable adults.
As you may be aware, there has recently been a great deal of media attention on the Vetting and Barring Scheme, and on 14th September the Children’s Secretary Ed Balls announced that it is important to define correctly certain aspects of ‘regulated activity’, specifically the definitions of ‘frequent’ or ‘intensive contact’ with children. Sir Roger Singleton, Chair of the ISA has been asked to undertake a review of this component of the Scheme and to report back by December 2009.
This legislation will place new requirements on golf, and indeed the sports sector as a whole. Government guidance specific for the sports sector is being developed to help explain how the scheme will work. We are awaiting timescales of when the guidance will be available, however taking into account the time scales of the review outlined above, we do not anticipate that this will be available until early in 2010.
The governing bodies and professional organisations of ‘Children in Golf’ (CIG) are committed to their safeguarding responsibilities, and will provide counties and clubs with a systematic approach to the requirements of the legislation. CIG will provide guidance notes and FAQ’s following the publication of the government guidance for sport. We will continue to provide regular updates on this website, and monthly updates will also be available on the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport (CPSU) website www.thecpsu.org.uk. You can also sign up to receive the CPSU quarterly newsletter ‘Relay’ on the site.
What should you do now?
Much of the Act does not affect children’s golf until July 2010, and employers of staff and volunteers in golf should:
- Continue to follow the CIG guidance and framework for safe recruitment which includes undertaking criminal records checks (see Section 4 of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf for recruitment advice -link to relevant section of CIG website). You can contact your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer for guidance on how to manage this and the CRB process.
From October 12th 2009 employers of staff and volunteers have a mandatory duty to refer names of people presenting relevant concerns to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). Hence where disciplinary action is taken against an individual due to safeguarding concerns, it is not acceptable to simply ask that individual to leave your organisation. You should:
- Follow CIG guidance on reporting concerns. This includes referring the concern to your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer. The CIG Case Management Group will provide support and advice in referring relevant and significant concerns to the new ISA.
In addition, and in line with government guidance - Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006), all counties and clubs with junior members should:
- Appoint a Club Welfare Officer details of this role can be found in Appendix 4H of the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf.
- Ensure that you have appropriate and formal disciplinary procedures in place that relate to all members, volunteers and staff.
Guidance can be obtained from your NGB Lead Child Protection Officer.
27/10/2008
Club Welfare Officer Training
Children in Golf had hoped to offer the Time To Listen Workshop for Club Welfare Officers in 2008, but due to a lack of registration for the pilot events earlier this year, the workshop is still under development. It is important that your club registers the details of their Club Welfare Officer with the England Golf Compliance Administrator, so that we may contact Welfare Officers as soon as the workshop is available in their area. Without this information it is difficult to plan the best location to run workshops to achieve the best attendance.
Please send the name, address, telephone number and, if possible, email address of your club's nominated Welfare Officer to Karen Cassidy either by e-mail: karen@englishwomensgolf.org or by post; Karen Cassidy C/O English Women's Golf Association, 11 Highfield Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3EB.
28/07/2008
Research into the effect of child protection on volunteering
It is often claimed that modern safeguarding measures deter volunteers from coming forward to help out with junior sport. However, according to a report commissioned by sportscotland, Children 1st and the Scottish Sports Association into the effect of child protection on volunteering, support for child protection policies and procedures is high amongst the voluntary sector.
For more information, and the full story, please click here.
17/07/2008
Template forms available in new format
A number of clubs and volunteers have asked for the template forms that are available in the appendices to the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf to help them implement their safeguarding procedures to be available in a format that allows them to be changed and printed off for their own use.
The forms are now available in pdf format, with the facility for some fields to be amended, for instance to add the name of your golf club or the child, and printed off or saved as required.
Click here to go to the templates.
Press Release 18/01/2008
New Guidelines for Safeguarding Children In Golf
The Children in Golf Strategy Group (CiG) is proud to announce that following an extensive review by both the Group and volunteer representatives from the major stakeholders, the Guidelines for Safeguarding Children in Golf have been overwhelmingly approved and adopted by all of the games authorities.
The previous document, The Children in Golf Guidelines is now obsolete and will be replaced by the new publication.
The Guidelines have been produced to help and support County Unions, County Associations, clubs, members, coaches, PGA Golf Professionals, staff, volunteers and parents to fulfil their roles and responsibilities in this important area of the game of golf.
Guidance on how to write and implement essential policies and their supporting procedures, Codes of Conduct and specific guidance on how children and those responsible for their safety can be protected from the very basics of this comprehensive advisory publication.
Chairman of CiG, David Owen said: "I am delighted that all the major stakeholders involved in golf have given the "thumbs up" to the revised Guidelines. It has taken a considerable degree of effort and patience in gaining the consensus of all parties. I am confident that what we now have is a useful and usable package of advice that will support all of us involved with children playing golf".
The Guidelines will be available from 1st March 2008 and all English affiliated Clubs and Counties will be sent copies. A copy will also be sent to everyone who has attended one of the Safeguarding in Protecting Children (SPC) workshops run in England by golf the past 18 months.
Other Home Unions and CiG partners will issue the Guidelines under their own established systems.
The Guidelines will also be available to download free through the CiG Web site www.childreningolf.org, or by hard copy at the online shop on the EGU Web site www.englishgolfunion.org for the price of £5.00 inc P&P and will be included within the documentation issued to all future attendees of SPC Workshops.
24/08/2006
Introducing Children in Golf Child Protection workshops
Workshops are a useful way of obtaining more information about child protection, to ask questions, and gain advice about specific issues that you have encountered in your work with young golfers. Children in Golf has a number of tutors licensed to deliver the sportscoachUK workshop “Safeguarding and Protecting Children”.
The workshops are run in different ways, according to the home country where you live.
England: Children in golf Workshops
Ireland: www.gui.ie
Scotland: www.scottishgolfunion.org
Wales: www.golfdevelopmentwales.org
Helping Keep Your Child Safe in Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has produced a leaflet for parents, providing guidance on how to best support their child playing sport in a club environment. Download the leaflet in PDF Format. If you would prefer a hard copy please email karen@englishladiesgolf.org
The "Helping Keep Your Child Safe in Sport" leaflet suggests some questions that parents should ask sports clubs about the safeguarding measures that they should have in place, to ensure that their children can participate in their sport in a safe and enjoyable environment. As part of Children in Golf's ongoing comitment to ensure that golf is a sport in which children can enjoy and flourish in safely, we recommend this leaflet as essential reading for parents/carers of any child who is thinking of taking up golf as a new sport or is already a member of a club , and would encourage any club wishing to provide copies to parents.
Committed to child protection in golf
Children in Golf is a partnership of Governing Bodies and organisations of Golf throughout the UK and Ireland committed to ensuring that the sport of golf is one within which children and young people involved can thrive and flourish in a safe environment
The aim of the Children in Golf Guidelines is to ensure all those involved in golf, whether a young player, parent, golf club or golf professional are aware of their responsibilities and what to do if they have a concern about the welfare of a child or young person.
The Guidelines contains a wide range of information and guidance that will help all those involved in golf develop the best practices that safeguard children and young people. The NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit is pleased to support the important work that the Children in Golf Group have undertaken in developing this Guidelines.
Find out more about the Children in Golf Group
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