Final Version

EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY

Protecting Vulnerable Groups Policy

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1TheProtecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Schemecame into effect on the 28th February 2011, replacing and improving the previous disclosure arrangements for people who work with vulnerable groups.From this date Enhanced Disclosures for individuals working with vulnerable groups will no longer be available, but in effect this scheme further improves and safeguards compliance.

1.2The University has a legal obligation to ensure that those who have regular contact with children and protected adults through paid and unpaid work do not have a known history of harmful behaviour. A protected adult is a person, aged 16 or over, who receives one or more type of care or welfare service either regularly or for a short period of time.

2.SCOPE

2.1This policy applies to all employees and workers at the University who will be undertaking regulated work.

2.2The University will ask a person employed into a postwhich constitutes regulated work with children and / or regulated work with protected adults for the first time to join the PVG Scheme, whether they are an existing or new member of staff or recruiting someone to a post within regulated work.

3.WHAT IS REGULATED WORK

3.1It is not possible to provide a definitive list of roles, positions or types of employment that constitute regulated work, not least because the structure and descriptions of peoples’ work is constantly changing. Instead, the PVG Act defines regulated work by reference to: the activities that a person does; the establishments in which a person works; the position that they hold; or the people for whom they have day to day supervision or management responsibility.

3.2In order to determine if an individual is doing regulated work the University will apply the following criteria:-

  • Is it work?It encompasses all kinds of work i.e. unpaid work placements etc.
  • Who are they working with? An individual must be working with someone under the age of 18 or protected adults (individuals aged 16 or over in receipt of one or more of the following: registered care services, health services, community care services, welfare services). Additionally, they must be offering a particular service such as support, assistance or counselling on behalf of the University, which requires training to be undertaken and where there is a frequency and formality attached to the service.
  • What do they do? The individual’s role needs to consist of certain kinds of activities i.e. teaching or day to day supervision and management. Or it can be establishment specific i.e. care homes. The University is not considered one of the identified establishments, therefore, just because you work at the University, it does not mean you are required to join the PVG Scheme.
  • Is it their normal duties The activity the individual is completing in an establishment must be the individuals normal day to day duties for it to be considered regulated work (no frequency or duration is specified but it is likely to be considered normal day to day duties when the work appears on a job description, can reasonably be anticipated or occurs regularly).
  • Are their exceptions which applyIncidental activity does not come under the scope of regulated work.For example, “a Lecturer undertaking tutorials (even one to one contact) and sometimes a 17 year old is present”, this is incidental. It is not a specified part of the Lecturers role descriptionto have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18. However, it may apply, if this Lecturer specialised in first year courses, and the course regularly attracted high numbers of under 18 year olds.

4.PROCESS

4.1HR will process all applications to the scheme, therefore, please contact your HR Adviser if you are unsure as to whether a role-holder should be asked to join the scheme. A list of roles considered by the University to be regulated work is included in Appendix A.

4.2The PVG application form will ask for a clear explanation as to why individuals are required to join the Scheme i.e. how it will involve regulated work with a child or vulnerable adult. For the purposes of the PVG Scheme a child is defined as an individual under 18 years old. As an employee working at a University the contact with children would be deemed as incidental as the majority of people at the University are expected to be over 18 years old and the service is not specifically being targeted at children but instead to the general population.

4.3A protected adult is defined as an individual aged 16 or over who is provided with (and thus receives) a type of care, health or welfare service. This definition of protected adult supersedes the definition of “adult at risk” used for the purposes of eligibility for enhanced disclosure. To be classified as an adult at risk, an individual had to meet three criteria: having a condition, in consequence of which they had a disability and received a care service. This definition replaces these three criteria with a test linked to the type of services being received by the individual. Protected adult is, therefore, a service based definition and avoids labelling adults on the basis of their having a specific condition or disability.

4.4Only those employees completing regulated work will be asked to join the PVG scheme.

  1. WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE IS A BARRED PERSON?

5.1The University must not offer regulated work to a barred person (using the PVG Scheme to prevent this from occurring).

Barring

5.2In instances when vetting or referral information indicates that a person may pose a risk to vulnerable groups, Disclosure Scotland will consider all the information available before deciding whether a person should be placed under consideration for listing on one of both of the barred lists. If a person is under consideration for listing, Disclosure Scotland will be able to obtain further information from other sources, such as employers or regulatory organisations.

5.3Decisions about barring will involve a thorough and fair process. The person will have access to all the information being considered and they will be able to submit written representation to the PVG Scheme. While under consideration for listing, the person can continue to work with vulnerable groups but all organisations and groups known to have an interest in them will be notified that their PVG Scheme membership status has changed.

Impact of barring

5.4If, after careful assessment, a person is considered a risk and therefore, unsuitable to work with children or protected adults, or both, Disclosure Scotland will list them on one or both of the barred lists. This means that the person will not be able to become a PVG Scheme member in relation to one or both areas of work. It will be an offence for a barred person - and for the University to permit that person - to undertake such work. An appeals procedure will be in place for anyone wishing to challenge a barring decision.

5.5A person who is barred from working with children, protected adults or both, in Scotland, will also be barred throughout the rest of the UK and vice-versa as the PVG Scheme will dovetail with the systems being developed for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

5.6The University must remove a person from regulated work if Disclosure Scotland advises them that they have become barred. If a member of the PVG scheme becomes barred or is under consideration for being barred, the University will be notified of this update. This allows the University to be kept up to date with relevantemployee’s convictions and take action should these individuals become a risk to children or vulnerable adults within the organisation.

6.TIME FRAME FOR IMPLEMENTATION

6.1In 2011, the first year of operation Disclosure Scotland has askedthe University to focus on ensuring that all relevant new starters only join the scheme. Thereafter the University must ensure that by the end of 2015 all relevant existing staff have also joined the scheme.

7.Useful links

Appendix A

Roles that require the individual to join the PVG Scheme – (considered regulated work):-

  1. Nursing Lecturers (who complete hospital work – to keep their membership to the nursing, midwifery council).
  2. Student Counsellor
  3. Student Recruitment Officer
  4. Senior Student Recruitment Officer
  5. Student Adviser’s
  6. Personal Development Facilitator
  7. Disability and Inclusion Adviser
  8. Disability and Inclusion Assessor
  9. Disability and Inclusion Assistant
  10. Dyslexia Adviser
  11. Head of Special Needs and Diversity
  12. Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Officer
  13. Academic Development Officer: Community Engagement
  14. Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife and Borders Regional Articulation Hub (ELRAH) staff within the Office of the Vice Principal (Academic)
  15. Career Development Adviser

Casual

  1. Study Support Workers
  2. Scribes
  3. General Support Workers

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Human Resources 2nd April 2012