Club Safeguarding Update – March 2017

The Safe Hands Course which the Devon Cricket Board are running for Club Welfare Officers in March and April 2017 will be attended by over 50 people.  We would like to thanks clubs and the DCL for their support in making sure that they have the right people in place and that their Welfare Officers are trained. 

The support from the Devon Cricket Board to clubs remains strong with Child Safeguarding being a core component of this.  As part of this we now have a new Deputy County Welfare Officer in place.  This is John Ingham who brings decades of experience both within club cricket, most recently with Woodbury and in child protection work through his range of social work roles. 

This update is aimed at not only our clubs in Devon but also at other key elements of cricket where young people are looking to play and enjoy the game; for example, this could include County Age Groups, District Cricket and Youth Leagues.  We want to make sure that all parts of Devon Cricket are operating in a consistent way which promotes a safe and fun environment within which young people can enjoy cricket.  If there are any concerns, then we would like adults involved to be confident in dealing with those concerns in the right way. 

As a key starting point, we would like to draw your attention to the Club Safeguarding Action Plan – first steps.  This is part of the recently revised Safe Hands document.  As you know Safe Hands is the ECB policy for safeguarding children.  You can find a link to it here https://www.ecb.co.uk/safeguarding/policy-and-procedures

This Action Plan has 8 steps in it and we would like each club organisation to review their activities against this Action Plan ready for the new season.  For many of you these will be things which are up and running already and that’s great to know. 

If there are things in the Action Plan which are less familiar or you need some support then please use the additional resources which are available on the ECB website to assist with getting some of these things in place.  https://www.ecb.co.uk/safeguarding/safeguarding-resources

As you will see one of the key components here is having Codes of Conduct in place.  From experience, we have seen that this is useful in being able to set out clear expectations around behaviour for all those involved with our clubs and organisations right from the outset.  Without having these in place it makes it more difficult to have a frame of reference to refer to if there are subsequent issues. 

We will continue to be available to offer support and advice around safeguarding issues within clubs.  Thanks again to all those who continue to offer their time, wisdom and expertise in helping to make Devon Cricket a safe and fun place for children and young people to enjoy sport. 

 

James May                                                                  John Ingham

Welfare Officer                                                         Deputy Welfare Officer

Devon Cricket Board                                             Devon Cricket Board