Have your say on the Government’s Safeguarding Code of Practice
24 January 2019
The Department for Education is consulting on their Out-of-school Settings Voluntary Safeguarding Code of Practice, closing on 24th February 2019.
The consultation
The code of practice is voluntary guidance issued by the Department for Education for all ‘out-of-school-setting providers’. These providers are all organisations that deliver services to children and young people, but are not schools or colleges. This includes youth organisations.
The code of practice aims to ensure a baseline of safeguarding practice for organisations working with young people. Youth organisations with good practice, particularly those who have Quality Mark accreditation, should meet the standards of the code of practice. The code is divided into guidance in five areas:
- Health and safety;
- Safeguarding and child protection (including online and digital safety);
- Suitability of staff;
- Governance; and
- Finance.
Questions for the youth sector
Youth organisations should consider:
- Is the code accessible and useful for you?
- Will the code help deliver safeguarding?
- Does the code:
- Ensure that children are safe from harmful practices?
- Make clear what youth organisations should do to ensure children’s wellbeing is comprehensively addressed?
- Make clear the procedures youth organisations should have for hiring and maintaining staff and volunteers?
- Make clear the procedures youth organisations should have for strong governance?
- Make clear the procedures youth organisations should have for strong financial controls?
- How could the Department for Education ensure that youth organisations know about and adopt the code?
- Is the code accessible for parents and carers and will it help them make decisions for their children? How could the Department for Education make sure that parents and carers know about the code?
Have your say
If you would like or have your views or evidence included in London Youth’s response, please email Samuel Howell using the link below before Monday 11th February.
If you are a London Youth member and would like to be more involved, we encourage you to join our Policy Advisory Group, a new way for our members to be at the heart of our policy and media work.
