Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Policy
Health and Social Care Standards:
3.20 I am protected from harm, neglect, abuse, bullying and exploitation by people who have a clear understanding of their responsibilities.
4.19 I benefit from a culture of continuous improvement, with the organisation having robust and transparent quality assurance processes.
4.24 I am confident that people who support and care for me have been appropriately and safely recruited.
Prior to confirming a start date, all individuals fulfilling a vacancy or role must fill in the relevant PVG form, which will be countersigned by an authorised member of the staff, who will then send the form into Disclosure Scotland to be checked. A start date will only be generated after receiving the PVG certificate back and the individual has been confirmed as safe to work on site.
If the application to join the PVG scheme is denied, the candidate will be unable to work with Stramash as per Stramash’s stance on Protecting Vulnerable Groups and the Child Protection Policy.
Stramash will, under no circumstances, accept a volunteer or staff member to work on site with the children if they have not got a valid PVG for their Stramash role – This is in accordance with current legislation, Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act (2007) and guidance from the Care Inspectorate, Safer Recruitment through Better Recruitment (2016)
Volunteers working with Stramash are treated in the same way as paid staff and any volunteers without a PVG scheme record or a relevant Disclosure Scotland certificate will not be able to carry out their volunteer work with Stramash until their PVG scheme record has been updated.
Stramash volunteers and employees must update their PVG every 3 years to ensure an up-to-date record is kept concerning any convictions or otherwise. As Disclosure Scotland will continually check individual’s suitability to continue working with children or protected adults, if it is found that new information means someone might have become unsuitable to work with children or protected adults, Disclosure Scotland will make a report to Stramash (through Kate Hunter).
PVG Records returned to Stramash for all sites shall be kept in a secure storage at Oban. Individuals should keep their own records. There should be no PVG records kept on individual sites due to the personal information kept on PVG records.
Equal Opportunities Policy
Health and Social Care Standards:
1.1 I am accepted and valued whatever my needs, ability, gender, age, faith, mental health status, race, background or sexual orientation.
1.6 I get the most out of life because the people and organisation who support and care for me have an enabling attitude and believe in my potential.
3.12 I can understand the people who support and care for me when they communicate with me.
The Equality Act (2010), and subsequent revisions, makes it illegal to discriminate against a person on the grounds of their race or ethnicity, their disability, gender or sexual orientation, their age or religion. Stramash will exercise due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. This will include both direct and indirect discrimination.
Child’s experience
All children in the nursery will be respected and their individuality and potential recognised, valued and nurtured. All activities will be developed and made available in a way that offers all children the opportunity to develop in an environment free from prejudice and discrimination – this means that there will be no activities exclusive for girls/boys or children of any race, or children excluded due to their needs.
Staff will foster relationships with children that respect and appreciate their individuality, needs, culture and approach. Staff will always communicate with and about children in a respectful and positive way.
Stramash will, where possible, meet the needs of all children by putting in extra support such as language interpreters, educational support or physical adjustments to the environment. For more information, see Stramash’s additional needs policy.
Stramash will take the approach of learning from its own community – for example where a child is experiencing a festival or important event in their home life, Stramash staff will work in partnership with the family and child to learn and appreciate this and bring the experience into nursery for others to celebrate alongside the child.
Family’s experience
Stramash will encourage the involvement of parents by making them welcome and by respecting the differences in families, their language and culture, and by supporting them to contribute in a meaningful and authentic way.
Stramash will ensure that systems are in place to allow all parents with a physical disability to access the service. Where language, hearing or speech impairment present barriers we will use interpreters and signers as appropriate. We will use a variety of communication approaches in order to reach all parents.
We will be sensitive to any parent with limited reading skills that impact on form filling and understanding written communications, and will support them in a manner that preserves their dignity.
Translations will be used where possible. Welcome packs will be translated into key languages spoken within the setting. English speaking parents who have a home language that is not English may be asked to pass non-confidential information to others who share their home language, or to act as interpreters in suitable situations.
A varied time, place and manner in which meetings are conducted will ensure that all families are enabled to attend, contribute and have equal opportunity to be involved in the running of the setting.
Staff’s experience
Decisions about recruitment and selection, promotion, training and any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination.
All job applicants and others (such as volunteers, third party workers) will be treated fairly and will not be discriminated against on any grounds. Wherever possible, advertisements and job application packs will be written in other languages as well as in English if necessary for a particular community.
Stramash will be proactive in seeking to minimise any restrictions or limitations staff may experience due to disability. We will put appropriate support mechanisms in place and where possible will make any necessary adaptations.
Stramash hosts a proactive and responsive Bullying policy and Whistle-Blowing policy to support staff who may be experiencing direct or indirect discimination to report their concerns for investigation.
Staff can find more information about Equal Opportunities in the staff handbook.
Recruitment Complaints Policy
Stramash strives for the recruitment and selection process to have methods that are fair, transparent and free from discrimination, as per Stramash’s Equal Opportunity Policy.
As per the Care Inspectorate guidance document Safer Recruitment Through Better Recruitment (2016), Stramash is obligated to work through a strenuous vetting process throughout all the recruitment stages to ensure that the right person is found for the role.
However applicants, successful or unsuccessful, may feel our recruitment service falls short of expectations. In this case the individual should put their complaint and evidence in writing to:
c/o Senior Management Team
Inverlochy Mains
Old Inverlochy Castle
North Road
Fort William
PH33 6TQ
The complaint, and all accompanying statements and records, will be kept confidential as far as is possible in facilitating a fair and thorough investigation. Whilst the privacy and confidentiality of the individual will be respected, this needs to be balanced with:
- The need for an open and fair investigation
- Appropriate remedial action that may need to be taken
- The outcome of the investigation to be reported appropriately
- Action to be taken to improve the processes and quality of service.
Therefore, the complaint may need to be shared with others who have been involved with the recruitment process and responsible for the design and delivery of said recruitment.
The complaint shall be acknowledged and the individual will receive confirmation of receipt of complaint. A thorough investigation into the complaint will take place. Afterwards a report will be completed, fed back to the Senior Management Team, and then returned to the individual.
