COVERDALE MEMORIAL HALL POLICIES

The attached are an overview of the policies adopted by Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee

COVERDALE MEMORIAL HALL EQUALITY POLICY

Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee acknowledges that the United Kingdom is diverse in culture, race beliefs and religion and believes that no individual or group of people should receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, colour, race, nationality, racial or national origins, cultural heritage, disability, marital status, social background, sexual orientation or geographical location. The committee acknowledges that members of these groups are often underrepresented, exposed to prejudice and stereotyping, and suffer various disadvantages within our society.

The purpose of this statement is to set out clearly and fully the positive action that the Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee intends to take to combat direct and indirect discrimination in employment policy, management of the organisation, relationships with other bodies, and the services it provides to the community, community organisations and individuals.

Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee is committed to providing equality of opportunity in all areas of its work. It aims to overcome discrimination on the grounds mentioned above. The Equal Opportunities Policy will be implemented ensuring equality of provision in representation, service provision, appointment of staff and their conditions of service and access.

The Aims of the Committee

Our aim is to ensure that we become aware of discrimination and the problem it causes.

The Committee will:

challenge practices, legislation and institutions, which seek to discriminate against or deny the rights of individuals or groups in any form;
seek to take positive action to address the inequalities in our society.
be committed to the equal opportunities policy set out in this document and will work to develop, improve and monitor it.

The Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee acknowledges the definitions of various groups of people who are vulnerable to discrimination as set out in the Equality Act 2010. The committee will support and implement the legislation and will work to ensure that no person protected by the legislation is discriminated against unlawfully, and that any positive obligations and duties are performed.

The committee gives the following specific commitments.

The Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee will:

• where reasonably practical widen accessibility by removing barriers which make it difficult for people with disabilities to use the hall.

• provide facilities for people with disabilities to enable them to participate in activities e.g. the installation of an induction loop.

• ensure that the design of publicity and information take account of the needs of people with disabilities e.g. language used, print size.

• deal with any complaints of discrimination promptly, impartially, thoroughly and confidentially.

• ensure all staff, hirers and committee members are aware of the Hall’s policy on equality.

• ensure that the equal opportunities policy is monitored and reviewed bi-annually.

• challenge racism in any form and encourage its users to do the same.

• challenge sexist policies, practices and attitudes (including policies, practices and attitudes which may relate to sexual orientation and gender re-assignment) and encourage users to do the same.

• challenge age discrimination in policies, procedures and attitudes

• endorse the right of each individual to his or her own religious belief or the absence of a belief.

• encourage people from underrepresented groups to attend and participate in the activities of the hall.

The Code of Conduct

1. People will be treated with dignity and respect regardless of the group to which they belong.

2. People’s feelings and views will be valued and respected. Language or humour that people find offensive will not be used or tolerated, e.g. racist jokes or derogatory terminology.

3. No one will be harassed, abused or intimidated on the grounds that they belong to a vulnerable group. Incidents of harassment will be taken seriously, and the committee will undertake investigations of any complaints quickly, impartially, thoroughly and confidentially.

The equality policy is fully supported by Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee.

Adopted: January 2020 Review Date : January 2024

COVERDALE MEMORIAL HALL

SAFEGUARDING POLICY

The Coverdale Memorial Hall committee recognise that it is our duty of care for all volunteers, event organisers and participants undertaking activities in the hall and grounds to prevent any forms of abuse, whether it be physical, emotional, sexual abuse or neglect and are committed to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from harm [References in this policy to the term “child or children” shall mean child, young person and/or vulnerable adult]. All committee members and volunteers must accept and recognise their responsibilities to develop awareness of the issues which cause harm. This is to comply with the Children Act 2004.

We believe that:

The welfare of the participant is paramount.
Everybody whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/or sexual identity have the right to protection from abuse.
All suspicions and allegations of abuse should be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
Event organisers should be clear on how to respond appropriately.

We will ensure that:

· Everybody will be treated equally and with respect and dignity.

· A balanced relationship based on mutual trust will be built which empowers the participant to share in the decision-making process.

· Enthusiastic and constructive feedback will be given rather than negative criticism.

· Bullying will not be accepted or condoned.

· Event organisers and volunteers will be positive role models.

· Action will be taken to stop any inappropriate verbal or physical behaviour.

· The Coverdale Memorial hall committee will keep up to date with safeguarding, child protection and health & safety legislation.

All groups, private hire and committees must comply with this policy.

Coverdale Memorial Hall – Youth Group

The Coverdale Memorial Hall Committee has deferred any Coverdale Memorial youth group activities/events to the Coverdale Memorial Hall youth group sub-committee.

This sub-committee are responsible for arranging Youth Group events and activities during the

school holidays for children between 8 & 18 and will ensure adherence to this safeguarding policy.

The Sub-committee will ensure:

Youth group event organisers and volunteers will undertake relevant development and safeguarding training
The Sub-committee will keep a register of every volunteer, event leader and participants involved in the youth group activities
Will retain an emergency contact name and number of participants next of kin, close at hand in case of emergencies.
All youth group participants are signed into an event, in case of an emergency.
All youth group participants are to sign out when going home – if this is during the session, they must tell the event leader.
In order to attend, any young people under 16 years old MUST have provided the event leader with an up to date consent form.
Parents/carers have completed a consent form to allow their son/daughter/ward (up to 18 or 16+ if they live independently) to attend the youth group as well as provide medical information, emergency contact details, home address, travel consent and photo/film consent.

Safety during Sessions

To ensure that everybody is accounted for at sessions, volunteers, event leaders should take the lead to ensure all young people are signed in straight away and everybody signs out. The signing in sheet should then be given to the Event leader so that, in the event of somebody going missing or a fire alarm, they will be able to account for everybody. The event leader must consistently remind young people to let them know if they are leaving the session.

Prior to each event/activity a risk assessment will have been completed to evaluate all potential risks and mitigation steps to reduce any incident occurring.

Any incidents or accidents should be recorded on the correct form found in the Youth group’s folder and should be given to the Safeguarding Officer, who will then follow it up accordingly.

Nominated Safeguarding Officer : Lea Taylor

The Safeguarding Officer should be contacted to discuss any safeguarding concerns regarding the young people and/or volunteers/organisers at the group. All volunteers, leaders & organisers will be made aware of and given contact details of the nominated Safeguarding Officer before they start.

The nominated safeguarding officer should keep in touch with the assigned Youth Development Worker at North Yorkshire Youth for support, especially regarding any matters arising.

Mandatory Training

All regular youth group volunteers, event organisers/leaders must complete the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children’s Board free E-learning course visit https://breeze.northyorks.gov.uk/p2ie2imfdtr/.

A copy of the certificate should be printed and provided to the safeguarding officer to be kept in the Coverdale Memorial Hall Youth Group’s folder.

This course is to be completed once a year as a refresher.

Confidentiality

All youth group volunteers, event organisers/leaders must have a good understanding of confidentiality. This is very important when working with young people to create a safe and trusting environment.

If a young person makes a disclosure then you must quickly remind them, preferably at the start of the conversation, that if they are going to be harmed, somebody else is in danger or there are illegal activities going on, it is your responsibility to tell somebody who can help and not keep it a secret.

Procedure to follow:

Talk to the young person in a confidential room with a DBS qualified volunteer (tell another volunteer/leader where you are)
Reassure the young person and make them feel comfortable
Always believe what they are saying
Ask open questions and allow them time to talk
Ask the young person if they are happy for you to take notes (If not then do this straight away when you have finished)
All records need to be kept in a confidential file and stored in a locked cupboard
It is the staff members responsibility who received the disclosure to call the Police and/or North Yorkshire County Council Children’s Social Care on 01609 780780 if the young people are at immediate harm/somebody else is at immediate harm. They must then report their actions to the nominated Safeguarding Officer.

If a disclosure is made and the young person is not at immediate harm, this should be monitored with all information being reported to the nominated Safeguarding Officer to seek further support if necessary.

Enhanced DBS Checks

All event organisers/leaders who are working consistently face to face with young people and taking charge of sessions/activities should be enhanced DBS checked. For more information, contact North Yorkshire Youth.

Once volunteers, event organisers/leaders have received their check, they must show the nominated safeguarding officer who will record their enhanced DBS check number and date of issue and should report any offences to the Coverdale Memorial Hall Youth Group sub-committee, who will discuss whether they are appropriate to volunteer within the youth group.

The Coverdale Memorial Hall - Youth Group sub-committee has agreed that volunteers and event organisers who already have an enhanced DBS check can be accepted if they are within 1.5 years from the issue date. If the enhanced DBS Check is older than the agreed time limit, a new DBS check will be required.

Alternatively, if volunteers, event organisers/leaders are already on the DBS Update Service, they need to give their permission for the North Yorkshire Youth Safeguarding officer to check their DBS using their name, date of birth and DBS number.

The DBS Update Service is free for volunteers and £13 a year for any paid staff to keep their DBS checks live on the system.

To access the update service, please follow these links:

To register and login to the update service: https://secure.crbonline.gov.uk/crsc/subscriber
For an organisation to checking a DBS using the update service: https://secure.crbonline.gov.uk/crsc/check?execution=e1s1

Volunteers, event organisers/leaders who are not DBS checked who are running an activity should be supervised by a volunteer who has a DBS check at all times.

For more information on DBS checks, please contact North Yorkshire Youth and/or visit www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview.

This policy will be regularly monitored and updated by the nominated Safeguarding Officer and signed off by the Coverdale Memorial Hall committee.

Adopted: April 2020 Review Date : April 2024

DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Coverdale Memorial Hall uses personal data for the purposes of managing the hall, its bookings and finances, running and marketing events at the hall, and for fundraising activities.

Data may be retained for up to 6 years for accounts purposes and for longer where required for legal purposes, or by grant funders or the hall’s insurers.

We will not share your personal information with any third parties without your consent unless we are legally required to do so.