The College has a statutory duty to safeguard children and assist local authorities on child protection issues. A child is defined as a person under the age of 18 years.
As well as this statutory duty, the College has a pastoral responsibility towards its students and recognises their fundamental right to be protected from harm. The Safeguarding Children, Young Persons and Vulnerable Peoples Act 2006, draws attention to the need to safeguard young people, young people with disabilities and vulnerable people in compliance with the guidelines set out in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (March 2015).
This policy offers guidance and outlines procedures that should be followed in all cases of suspected abuse and situations of serious risk, including those related to the College’s statutory Prevent Duty.
What is Safeguarding?
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
- Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Safeguarding Concerns
Contact us about any safeguarding issues or concerns by calling in or emailing the following:
Alton Campus
Phone: 01420 592200
Email: safeguarding@alton.hsdc.ac.uk
Havant and South Downs campuses
Phone: 023 9387 9999
Email: safeguarding@hsdc.ac.uk
Prevent
Through the Prevent strategy the Government aims to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people being drawn into terrorism through non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularise views which terrorists exploit. This is part of an overall counter-terrorism strategy called CONTEST.
The Prevent strand of the strategy focus on three key areas:
- To respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat from those who promote it
- To prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support
- To work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address
The Government has defined extremism in the Prevent strategy as: “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.”
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on Colleges to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
HSDC (which comprises campuses at Havant, South Downs and Alton) has a legal obligation towards the Prevent duty and will fulfill the responsibilities as laid out below.
Specific Duty
- Partnership: To demonstrate effective compliance with the duty, Colleges must demonstrate engagement from governors, boards, managers and leaders, regional Prevent co-ordinators, the police and local authorities, and co-ordination through existing multi-agency forums. The College should engage and consult students on their plans for implementing the duty.
- Management and Co-ordination arrangements: Where the size of an institution warrants, management, and coordination arrangements should be implemented to share information across the relevant curriculum areas within an institution, with a single point of contact for operational delivery of Prevent-related activity. This will normally be the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- Risk assessment: Each institution should carry out a risk assessment that assesses where and how students or staff may be at risk of being drawn into terrorism. The risk assessment will address the physical management of the College’s estate, including policies and procedures for events held by staff, students or visitors, and relationships with external bodies and community groups who may use premises or work in partnership with the institution. There must be clear and visible policies for whistleblowing and complaints.
- Action Plan: Any institution that identifies a risk should notify the relevant Prevent coordinator and others as necessary and develop a Prevent action plan to set out the actions they will take to mitigate the risks.
- Staff Training/Reporting and Referrals: The College must demonstrate that it undertakes appropriate training and development for principals, governors, leaders, and staff. Staff should have an understanding of the factors that make people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas and also to be aware of the action to take.
- Information Sharing: There is an expectation on the institution to have robust procedures both internally and externally for sharing information about vulnerable individuals.
- Welfare and pastoral support: Staff are expected to be trained to recognise changes in behaviour and outlook of Students through Prevent and safeguarding training. The College has a clear role to play in the welfare of its students and is expected to have sufficient pastoral care and support available for all students.
- Prayer Room/Multi-faith Room: The College is expected to have clear and widely available policies for the use of prayer rooms and other faith-related facilities. These policies should outline structures in place for managing prayer and faith facilities and mechanisms for managing any issues arising from the use of the facilities.
- IT policies: College is expected to have policies relating to the use of IT on the premises which contain a specific reference to the duty. Colleges must have clear policies in place for students and staff using IT equipment.
- Physical estate: Staff involved in the physical security of the estate must have an understanding and awareness of the Prevent duty.