This is what I wrote, and have had it passed for Level 3 so hope it helps
Q1.1 Outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within UK Home Nations affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.
Hint:- Please list the laws, Acts, legislation and school policies to keep children and young people safe. Minimum guided word count for answer - 350 words and above.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is an international agreement that protects the rights of children against all types of abuse; including physical, emotional/mental, sexual or neglect, maltreatment or exploitation; regardless of their race, religion, or ability.
The Children Act 1989 and 2004 are legislative frameworks put in place to protect children in England, the 1989 Act includes the importance of the child’s welfare and the expectations and requirements of those whose duty it is in the care of children. In 2004, they strengthened these ideals by encouraging partnerships between agencies, making them more accountable by making local authorities appoint children’s service members, ensuring that the delivery of service was being adhered, as well as working together with their partners to ensure they co-operated in regards to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of children and young people.
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 is a legislation that has put into practice the importance of having a Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, which reviews and reports complex or nationally important child protection cases. It looks at the importance of teaching primary and secondary school children about relationships and sex education, and ensures that each school provides their children with the adequate education they deserve. The Act also looks at having local safeguarding partners who need to report on local safeguarding practice reviews as well as ensuring local authorities appoint personal advisors for care leavers up to the age of 25.
The Department of Education in 2018 created a statutory guidance’s ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education: for schools and colleges’ which are for anyone working with children and discusses how individuals and organisations should work together and conduct relevant assessments on those in their care. This has improved the previous guidance from 2015 and now states that there are now three key safeguarding partners (chief officer of police, clinical commissioning groups, and local authorities) who will work together instead of the previous Local Safeguarding Children Board; alongside relevant agencies to protect the welfare of the children in their local area. They also look at early year providers and ensure that the settings have the relevant safeguarding policies in place and that staff are following those policies and look at the quality standards of children’s homes to ensure they follow the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations’. The guidance furthermore looks at child deaths and their causes, ensuring Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements are working together to manage risks of violence or sexual offences within the community and have a responsibility to ensure that lessons are learnt from serious child safeguarding incidents both on a local and national level accordingly.
The Education Act 2002 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 both discuss the responsibilities of the various organisations including the Local Education Board, Governing Bodies and those within the learning setting and how they should all work together to ensure that each child in their care is provided with the same high levels of safeguarding to ensure they are kept safe and away from harm. It also ensures that all people working or regularly visiting the setting will have a DBS check and that have passed; ensuring that the person is legally allowed to be working with children and/or young people.
The school I am volunteering at has their own ‘Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy’ in place, which all staff members are required to read and understand the procedures in place if any concerns are found pertaining to a child and their welfare. Their policy is in line with Wakefield District Safeguarding Children Board WDSCB/ West Yorkshire Consortium Procedures, the Equality Act 2010 and Current Safeguarding Legislation and Guidance, it also updated on a yearly basis unless an incident or new legislation suggests it needs to be reviewed. It is in place to ensure all staff provides consistently good practice and meets each child with the protection they deserve and need; ensuring that if help is needed, it is given as quickly and as professionally as possible preventing future harm to the child/children.
The Human Rights Act 1998 was implemented in the UK and Europe to protect everyone including children and young people and their individual rights. This should be done by protecting their dignity in a fair and tolerant manner that is not only respectful of them but also in the best interests of the general society. School and their staff need to enforce the Human Rights Act when working with children and young people, by ensuring that their policies and procedures are consistent with protecting individual’s rights and that they are working inline with those procedures. This along with the Equality Act 2010, ensures that each individual is treated in a manner that prevents discrimination, no matter their race, age, gender, religion, ability etc; allowing everyone to receive the high level of care and support they need to be able to strive in a safe and enjoyable environment.
The Data Protection Act 1998 or now known as General Data Protection Regulation 2018, does not prevent schools from sharing relevant information about children if the purpose is to keep the child safe. This includes passing information to different safeguarding or local agencies, children’s social care or passing information to other schools ensuring that the child or young person is provided the support they need. Schools also need to use GDPR to protect the child’s personal details on their school system (password protected so only certain staff can access the information), to ensure that no one without authorisation can access their files and misuse the information for their own purposes. Information regarding the child and/or the family should be sent to the next education setting if/when required and then disposed of, at a predetermined time (depending on the school policies and procedures).
Helping Children Achieve More, which was previously Every Child Matters is in place to safeguard children by promoting the importance of staying healthy and staying safe; staff in educational settings whether in the classroom or working around the school e.g. lunchtime supervisors, are all tasked with ensuring that children are looked after in a safe and enjoyable environment allowing them the opportunity to make positive contributions and achieve financial security.
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