Latest News

Vetting and Barring Scheme guidance

 

The communications team at the Vetting and Barring Scheme are pleased to announce that full guidance about the Scheme is available for free download now.

 

This document contains details on:

  • The scope of the Scheme;
  • Barring arrangements;
  • Responsibilities and duties for both employers and volunteer organisers, and the duties for those individuals you take on;
  • Timescales for the phased implementation of the Scheme;
  • Explanation of transitional arrangements around Scheme introduction.

 

In response to the overwhelming interest in the subject, the guidance makes special mention of those areas where the Scheme does not apply and discusses the points raised by Sir Roger Singleton when he reported into the boundaries of the Scheme in December 2009.

 

This full guidance release will be followed by a suite of 'sector specific' guidance documents, which will show how the Scheme will be applied in different areas of work and volunteering activities and will be published by our partners from the appropriate government departments.

 

We will make printed copies of this full guidance document available on request from our contact centre on 0300 123 1111. We expect these to be available from 5 April.

 

 

Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Out of Hours Emergency Duty Social Work Service

Please note that as from the 8th April 2010 the contact details for the Emergency Duty Team are as follows:

Telephone: 029 2078 8570
Fax: 029 2022 6640
Minicom: 029 2022 0207
 

 

 

Adult Social Care Law Reform

The Law Commission is in the process of reviewing the law relating to the provision of adult social care in England and Wales.

The current legislative framework for adult residential care, community care, adult protection and support for carers is fragmented, complex, outdated and difficult to understand, and the aim of the review is to provide a clearer, modern and more cohesive framework in a single statute for adult social care. Provisional proposals for the law reform are available in a consultation document that can be downloaded by visiting www.lawcom.gov.uk/docs/cp192.pdf  A summary Guide is also available. As well as guiding principles, the paper considers Assessments, Eligibility for Services, Safeguarding Adults as well as other issues. The Law Commission is keen to have feedback on these proposals, and the consultation is open until 1st July 2010.

 

 

Delivering Integrated Community Care Models

Report on the Joint VCVS and VAC Health and Social Care Workshop 'Delivering Integrated Community Care Models, held at the Copthorne Hotel, Cardiff on 2nd September 2009

  

Swine Flu Vaccination Programme

The Vaccination Programme for swine flu has now commenced across Wales, and a leaflet (suitable for all recipients of the vaccine) has been produced to help raise awareness of the programme.

Copies of the leaflet, and posters, are available free of charge and can be obtained by registering your organisation/group as a customer at www.orderline.dh.gov.uk and then placing your order. When ordering these materials you will need to quote:


-Swine flu vaccination leaflet 299299
-Swine flu vaccination information poster 299301


Leaflets are available in large print, audio CD, Braille, British Sign language (BSL) and in an easy read version for people with learning disabilities. These versions will be available online at www.wales.gov.uk/swineflu and hard copies can be ordered by calling 0300 123 1002 or by placing an order online as per the details above.The leaflet will also be translated into 15 languages, which will be available online only.

 

Independent Safeguarding Authority - Vetting and Barring Scheme, Phase One

Phase one of the Vetting and Barring Scheme commenced 12 October 2009, and guidance has been made available which covers the changes from this date. (http://www.isa-gov.org.uk/)

 

The three key changes that come into effect for employers and employees, including managers of, and volunteers in, unpaid work, are:

 

  • for employers: you must not knowingly employ in regulated activity, or use as a volunteer, a barred person
  • for employers: if you dismiss or cease using a person in regulated activity (or in controlled activity) because you think they harmed or pose a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults, you must refer the case to the ISA
  • for employees: if you yourself are barred from regulated activity, you must not work, or seek to work, in regulated activity from which you are barred.

 

Guidance documents about the new duty from 12 October 2009 for employers and others to make referrals to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), and about the ISA Decision Making Process, are available on the ISA website:

 

 

[The guidance covers those working or volunteering in England, Wales - a Welsh language edition is to be made available shortly - and Northern Ireland. Those working in Scotland are subject to a separate, parallel scheme which is being developed by the Scottish government.]

 

Further guidance will be issued at a later date on changes relating to phase two and three of the scheme, namely:

 

July 2010 - new entrants to work with vulnerable groups can register with the ISA;

November 2010 - new entrants must register with the ISA before starting work;

April 2011 - existing workers can start to ISA-register. The ISA will publish, in good time, its recommendations as to dates by when they should register.

 

VCVS achieves Small Workplace Health Award!

VCVS has been awarded a Bronze Small Workplace Health Award by the Welsh Assembly Government, and two staff and a Trustee representing the organisation were presented with a certificate and plaque at a ceremony at the Glamorgan Cricket Club, Cardiff on the 2nd September 2009. The Welsh Assembly Government has developed the Small Workplace Health Award specifically for organisations employing fewer than 50 people. It has three levels of award (bronze, silver and gold) to recognise each development stage achieved, and targets the key preventable ill-health issues in the workplace, which also helps to increase organisational performance and productivity.

Following a meeting with a Workplace Health Advisor from the National Public Health Service, staff were keen to gather the evidence required for the Bronze level, and found that much of what was required was already in place. A successful assessment then took place in time for the September ceremony. Staff are fired up with their success and are now working towards the Silver Award!  VCVS would like to actively encourage other voluntary organsations to consider working towards the Small Workplace Health Award to demonstrate their commitment to improving the health and well being of their staff.

Please contact Margaret Reid, Health and Social Care Facilitator, telephone: 01446 741706, e-mail: margaret@valecvs.org.uk to find out more about the process involved or visit http://www.healthworkingwales.com/.