Safeguarding support for Quaker meetings
Safeguarding Training
Thirtyone:eight has developed a range of webinar training options which can be accessed online from most devices.
Webinar topics currently include:
- Safeguarding Children & Young People
- Safeguarding Adults at Risk of Harm
- Online DBS checks and Eligibility
- Safeguarding for Trustees
For more information look at webinars on the thirtyone:eight website.
WEBINARS in Adult Safeguarding (free to access)
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has been running a series of webinars on safeguarding adults and safeguarding children. They discuss a range of topics including processes involved after notifying relevant authorities.
Archived Safeguarding Cases - Second Phase Review
A preliminary review of archived files held at BYM undertaken by Solicitors Bates Wells last year identified a number of historic cases which required a full review to help us to learn and improve our safeguarding practice. The review is in accordance with the current IICSA Inquiry into religious organisations which covers training; understanding of abuse; policies and procedures; vetting, barring and regulated activity; provisions to respond to allegations including pastoral support, and internal procedures for governance.
We anticipate the review team will begin their work mid-end July and are likely to contact the safeguarding coordinator at the relevant meetings in the first instance. The review will help us to understand and learn from past cases, to order to improve our safeguarding practice and help us meet national standards. We encourage you to see the work as an opportunity to work alongside the review team who are experienced in reviewing historic case files in other faith organisations. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at safe@quaker.org.uk
Online Safety
The Government has plans to protect children and vulnerable people online by appointing Ofcom as a regulator to enforce a statutory duty of care in the use of online technology. This includes ensuring online companies have processes in place to keep people safe while using their platforms.
The Online Harms Bill was unveiled last year amid a flurry of political action after the story of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who killed herself after viewing online images of self-harm, came to light.
It is seen as a potential tool to hold websites accountable if they fail to tackle harmful content online - but is still in the proposal, or "White Paper" stage and may not come into effect until 2023 or 2024.
Age Appropriate Design Code has also been laid before Parliament. It forces online services to give children's data the highest level of protection. That includes preventing auto-recommending harmful content to young people. The code sets out 15 standards that relevant online services should meet to protect children’s privacy online. The code is anticipated to complete parliamentary approval by early August 2020 and will therefore come into force in August 2021.
Other Useful Resources
To help young people understand the issues, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has partnered with Cyber Security Challenge UK to give students free access to their online platform https://cybergamesuk.com over the coming months. CyberLand is a virtual city which provides gamified modules teaching 12-18 year-olds the fundamentals of cyber security, such as firewall configuration and digital forensics. The 16 interactive exercises, which are designed around the concept of protecting CyberLand from a cyber-attack, are now free to access until the end of September 2020.
There are other excellent tools on the internet to help with all of these issues. One such resource is the CSA Toolkit. This has been created by Thinkuknow, which is the educational programme of the NCA and Child Exploitation Online Protection Command (CEOP) . There are other worthwhile resources on the thinkuknow website.
|
