Safeguarding
Dr Neil’s Garden Trust – Scottish Charity Number SC028097 (the “Garden Trust”)
A policy for trustees, employees, volunteers, volunteers, contractors and people booking the garden and/or Thomson’s Tower for private use.
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Scope
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Dr Neil’s Garden Trust (“the Trust”) is a Scottish registered charity and company limited by guarantee. This Policy applies to all trustees, employees and volunteers of the Trust as well as all contractors and anyone booking the Garden and/or Thomson’s Tower for private use (“associated personnel”).
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Purpose
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The purpose of the Trust is to offer a welcoming oasis and breathing space for all members of the public including families and accompanied children whilst at the same time offering comradeship and horticultural training to volunteers. The Garden stimulates change through play, learning, the arts, healthy activity and by addressing the special needs of people.
The Trustees of Dr Neil’s Garden recognise that safeguarding children and vulnerable adults is vital and that, as charity trustees, we have a duty of care towards the children and vulnerable adults who use the garden.
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The purpose of this Policy is to protect children and vulnerable adults from any harm that may be caused due to their coming into contact with the Trust. This includes harm arising from the conduct of staff or personnel associated with the Trust and the design and implementation of Trust’s programmes and activities.
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This Policy lays out the commitments made by the Trust and informs staff and associated personnel of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding.
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Safeguarding
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Safeguarding means taking all reasonable steps to prevent harm, exploitation, abuse and harassment from occurring; to protect people, especially vulnerable adults and children, from that harm; and to respond appropriately when harm does occur.
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Health & Safety
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The Trust will ensure that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
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Policy Statement
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The Trustees are committed to the principle that all children and vulnerable adults without exception have the right to protection from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation regardless of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or beliefs. The Trust will not tolerate abuse and exploitation by staff or associated personnel.
The Trust is committed to addressing safeguarding through the three pillars of prevention, reporting and response.
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Prevention
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The Trust’s Responsibilities
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The Trust will:
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appoint a lead Trustee for responsibility for Safeguarding
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ensure any staff have access to, are familiar with and know their responsibilities within this policy and have received appropriate training to ensure its full implementation.
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design and undertake all its programmes and activities in a way that protects people from any risk of harm.
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implement stringent safeguarding procedures when recruiting, managing and deploying staff, volunteers and associated personnel ensuring all necessary checks are made
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record, store and use information securely and in line with data protection legislation and guidance
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follow up on reports of safeguarding concerns promptly and according to due process
Staff Responsibilities
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The Trust’s staff, volunteers and associated personnel will:
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Contribute to creating and maintaining an environment that prevents safeguarding violations and promotes the implementation of the Safeguarding Policy
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Report any concerns or suspicions regarding safeguarding violations by a staff member or volunteer or any associated personnel to the appropriate Trustee
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Cooperate promptly with any request to obtain or update a PVG check should they be required to undertake regulated work and not to undertake any such work until such time as a PVG check has been obtained.
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Recruitment
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Volunteers
The Trust will follow recognised safe recruitment practices. Prospective volunteers will be interviewed and required to supply the names and addresses of two people from whom references can be obtained, one of whom should normally be the applicant’s current or most recent employer.
When recruiting volunteers, applicants will be asked whether they have any disabilities as defined in current legislation and whether there are any reasonable adjustments needed for them to work in the Garden.
Volunteers are not permitted to take responsibility for the care or supervision of children or adults in their capacity as volunteers nor are they permitted to undertake what would constitute “regulated work” for the purposes of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. If for any reason it is decided that a volunteer should undertake “regulated work”, that volunteer will be required to join the PVG Scheme before they start volunteering with the Trust.
A Register of Volunteers will be maintained by the Gardener and updated regularly.
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Staff
The Trust will follow recognised safe recruitment practices. Prospective employees will complete an application form. Short listed candidates will be asked to attend an interview. Short listed candidates will be asked to provide references and these will always be taken up prior to confirmation on an appointment. The successful candidate will be asked to complete a self-declaration form and, if they will undertake regulated work, will join the PVG scheme prior to taking up the post.
Training on specific areas such as health and safety procedures, identifying and reporting abuse and confidentiality will be given to new staff and volunteers and will be regularly reviewed.
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Contractors & Associated Personnel
The Trust sometimes employs others to undertake work in the Garden or to provide services such as event planning, entertainers etc. At no time are contractors or associated personnel required or permitted to take any responsibility for the care of children or vulnerable adults whilst working for the Trust. Any contractors invited on to site will be provided with a copy of this Policy.
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Supervision
All staff and volunteers will have a designated supervisor who will provide regular feedback and support. Every member of staff and volunteer will attend an annual review, where their performance, skills, motivation and expectations will be discussed. Annual reviews will be minuted and copies made available to the member of staff/volunteer.
Reporting
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The Trust will ensure that safe, appropriate and accessible means of reporting safeguarding concerns are made available to staff and volunteers and members of the public.
Staff members or volunteers who have a complaint or concern related to safeguarding should report it immediately to the Lead Trustee for Safeguarding or the Secretary of the Trust.
The Trust understands that any safeguarding issue concerning employees or volunteers may be referred to Disclosure Scotland and in addition, must always be referred to the appropriate protection agencies (i.e., social work and/or police) for appropriate investigation. Any issues of a criminal nature will be reported to the police.
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Responding
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The Trust will follow up safeguarding reports and concerns according to policy and procedure and legal and statutory obligations.
The Trust will apply appropriate disciplinary measures to staff found in breach of policy.
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Confidentiality
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It is essential that confidentiality in maintained at all stages of the process when dealing with safeguarding concerns. Information relating to the concern and subsequent case management should be shared on a need-to-know basis only and should be kept secure at all times.
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.
The policy was updated and is as approved and endorsed by the Board of Trustees in June 2023
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Dr Neil’s Garden Trust – Scottish Charity Number SC028097
Registered in Scotland No 182958
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