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Good morning all and welcome to the launch of the National safeguarding
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training learning and development standards for Wales, I'm Jane Randall chair of the National
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Independent Safeguarding Board for Wales and I am delighted to be here to chair this morning's launch.
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this is the first event in National safeguarding week for 2022. A week where there
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are all sorts of events going on all over Wales hosted by our regional and national boards and I
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hope you'll make the most of the opportunity to join in as many sessions as possible.
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If you want to know what's available this week there is a central portal of events that's
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hosted on the national board's website I hope you’ll find that useful. Before we begin with our
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speakers this morning I just need to run through a few housekeeping issues with you.
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The intention of this session this morning is a launch it’s about information sharing, it's not an interactive
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session and as such a chat function has been disabled as has the question and answer function.
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We'd ask you not to raise your hands because we cannot respond to individual queries, however in
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the chat you will find a link to both the Social Care Wales website which is live this morning
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with the information about the standards and there’s an email address you can use if you
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have any questions from this morning's event and they will be answered later on for you.
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Because this is not an interactive event we are running this event in English only this morning but it is being recorded and when it’s made available, you will be able to have it
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with subtitles in both English or Welsh. All the resources that are being produced today
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and that you will see including the presentations will also be available on the website bilingually.
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The website as I say is now live and the link will be shared with you later on and I'll remind
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you about that towards the end of the session. You will have received biographies of all our
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speakers and I hope you'll take the opportunity to use that and see who in detail who everybody
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is who's talking to you, but I will introduce each individual as we go through this session.
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So, my first Speaker this morning is Lance Carver he’s the Director of Social Services in the Vale
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of Glamorgan and he's going to give us the opening statement.
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Thank you, Jane. As Jane said I'm Lance Carver, I'm chair of the Wales Safeguarding Procedures board which developed the safeguarding procedures, and it was back in 2019 that Wales became the first part of
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the UK to introduce a single set of safeguarding guidelines for children and adults at risk when
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we launched the procedures. They were initially launched online and via an app and they were
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designed very much to standardise practice across Wales and between agencies and sectors.
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This work was based on the latest developments in safeguarding from across the UK and it took
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about two years. It involved many safeguarding professionals from across Wales in order to make
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sure that the procedures aspired to the best possible practice whilst also ensuring that they were grounded in operational reality. One of the challenges that we navigated was ensuring that
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they were accessible and suitable for staff working across all those different sectors
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and agencies, and that proved to be their strength. Common language and understanding has
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undoubtedly strengthened multi-agency practice. They feature pointers for practice throughout
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all the versions of the procedures and provide simple how-to guidance for practitioners.
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However we always knew as we developed them that we would need a training program to bring them truly alive.
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Safeguarding training was of course already well established within many agencies. When we spoke to practitioners about embedding the procedures, we heard a number of recurring comments.
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Firstly that the training while often very good was inconsistent across agencies
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and I suppose secondly that it was sometimes unclear to which levels staff across large
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organisations should be trained. Supporting practitioners in addressing these issues was
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a big driver in the development of the Learning and Development standards. I'm really grateful to
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Social Care Wales for overseeing the development of the National Training standards, to ensure that we build on the multi-agency consistency of practice and the procedures. Just like the procedures
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the training standards have been consulted upon extensively to ensure that they're a great fit for the development of real safeguarding practice. It's a great example of co-production, hundreds
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of practitioners have been involved in developing the Learning and Development of those standards.
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I'm really pleased to be here to open the launch of the National Training standards. I'm looking forward to hearing from the deputy Minister, the chair and the panel members about
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the expected impact that this development will bring. The standards are live now on the Social
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Care Wales website for anyone to view, and as Jane said this session will be recorded and shared afterwards and we're also developing a frequently asked questions to help agencies and
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practitioners put the standards into practice. We'll share details at the end of the session on how to get in touch and I know we can count on ongoing engagement with colleagues enrolling the
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standards out in the same way that we’ve had such great input so far, so thank you.
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Thank you, Lance. The next speaker I'm very pleased to welcome this morning the deputy Minister for
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Social Services Julie Morgan and is a member of the Senedd here in Wales. Julie is going
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to talk to us about safeguarding and the overarching ambitions in Wales.
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Good morning and bore da Jane, thanks for my invite to speak here today.
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I'm really pleased to be able to join you as part of safeguarding week, I think this is
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a really important initiative to highlight key safeguarding issues and to facilitate
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conversations and to raise awareness of safeguarding best practices here in Wales.
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I think National Safeguarding week provides an opportunity to develop our learning on
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safeguarding for all. For adults, children and for younger people. Each regional
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safeguarding board has developed a program which reflects the safeguarding priorities
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most relevant to their respective region. I'm particularly pleased to be helping to
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launch the safeguarding training standards, which aim to ensure consistency in the design
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content and provision of safeguarding training across organisations in Wales. It will address
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any concern about the appropriate levels of safeguarding training within all sorts of
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organisations which come into contact with children and adults who may be at risk of abuse.
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So I think it does represent a big step forward for ensuring consistent safeguarding practice
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across Wales, the public, private and third sector organisations and safeguarding is everybody's responsibility.
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A shared understanding of this is essential to protecting all of our citizens.
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The launch of the Wales Safeguarding Procedures in 2019, set a consistent
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standard for safeguarding practice in Wales. The launch of the National learning and development standards
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will now ensure that everyone in Wales gets consistent and good quality training that's
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relevant to their role and responsibilities. The standards launched today offer clear guidance and
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will ensure everyone in Wales who needs it gets consistent and high quality safeguarding training.
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The standards have been developed by practitioners for practitioners and this project is a great
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example of co-production and as such we can be confident that standards will give
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colleagues the support that they need. So I’d like to thank all of those who played a role
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in the development of the standards. Those on the Wales Safeguarding Procedures board
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and the Development Group who have steered this work for more than a year.
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And Social Care Wales who were commissioned to facilitate the development of the standards,
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all of those who responded to the consultation on the draft, those who participated in the regional
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workshops run by the regional safeguarding boards. All of those who made today's event possible,
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especially Jane and our expert panel. So I'd like to give my personal thanks to all of those who've
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continued to work so hard during these challenging times. Together we can keep people safe in Wales.
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Thank you very much, and I'm really glad that you've taken the time to
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be with us this morning, it’s very much appreciated thank you.
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Moving on then we'll return to the presentation for Alys and Cheryl, if you want to get your
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presentation up and just remind you to unmute your mics and I'll pass over to you.
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Thank you, Jane.
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So the standards have been co-produced by a multi-agency national development group
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and other focus groups. We were told as the deputy Minister has just highlighted
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that it would be helpful to have multi-agency national standards for safeguarding training Learning and Development. They would be then consistency in the design content
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of provision of safeguarding training, learning and development and also that it would be an
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opportunity to clarify safeguarding training learning and development for the workforce.
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On screen you can see the sector representation that was involved in the multi-agency development group,
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and it included all partner agencies and other relevant partners who are involved in
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safeguarding children and adults at risk in Wales. We began our work by collating
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existing safeguarding material. From National Occupational Standards, the competencies of
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the NHS Intercollegiate documents, training strategies and frameworks and qualifications.
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We mapped what was available and used this to align with Wales Safeguarding Procedures to write the Training Learning and Development standards.
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We've been mindful to use the same language as the Wales Safeguarding Procedures, but
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where new terms are used there is a glossary to explain what these mean.
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The work of the project has been shared with the Wales Safeguarding Procedures board at
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regular points, and feedback from this board has been acknowledged throughout the development of the standards. The standards were agreed by the board in September 2022 and we will continue
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to work together to review the standards going forward. I'll now hand over to Alys.
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You will find this hierarchy triangle in the standards document and it aims to give an overview
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of the standards process and how it relates to specific roles across the sector. We've split the
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standards into six groups A to F that reflect the roles and responsibilities of people who may be
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involved in safeguarding practice. The multi-agency national safeguarding standards development group
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chose the term groups to categorise the standards, and agreed that the groups will be consistent with
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the levels noted in the roles and competencies previously in place for healthcare staff.
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So group A for example is equivalent to level one, there is an expectation that the standards
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within the groups will be used flexibly by each organisation as there are so many different roles
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across all agencies. It is acknowledged that some practitioners will have a role that means that
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they have safeguarding responsibilities in one or more groups. In these situations, the organisation
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should enable the worker to receive training, learning and development to the higher grouping.
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Also if organisations or managers are unsure of which group is the appropriate one and the role
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may straddle more than one group, the expectation is that the practitioner will be trained up to the higher group. For example, if a worker straddles groups B and C then they should be
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trained to the group C standards. The Learning and Development standards are intended for use across
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organisations, so are written in a generic way. The standards for group A practitioners apply to
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everyone who joins a public or voluntary sector organisation or agency in Wales as a worker or volunteer.
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Group A standards are also applicable to elected and board members of organisations.
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Practitioners and members included in group A are required to be aware of safeguarding matters and
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know what to do if they have any safeguarding concerns. The content has a focus on three areas
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which are; 1. how to work in ways that safeguard people from abuse harm and neglect. 2. the factors
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situations and actions that could lead or contribute to abuse, harm and neglect and most
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importantly 3. how to report, respond and record concerns or allegations related to safeguarding.
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Group B practitioners are those who work directly with people. They will have a particular responsibility in relation to the people they work with and will
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need a higher level of safeguarding knowledge than those in group A. Examples of practitioners
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in group B are care home workers, nursery nurses, hospital administrators and receptionists, teaching
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assistants, civilian office staff working with the police and volunteers. The content for this group
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has a focus on four areas. Legislation, National policies and codes of conduct,
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how to work in ways that safeguard people from abuse harm and neglect, the factors
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including signs and symptoms that could lead or contribute to abuse harm or neglect and fourthly
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how to report, respond and record concerns or allegations related to safeguarding.
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Practitioners will need to know everything in group A as well as Group B for Group B participants.
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Group C practitioners are those who have direct responsibility for safeguarding people.
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They will have an assessing role that's linked to the safeguarding process and or are operating
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at a level where they can give advice about safeguarding to those in group A and B, and or
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are working in a setting or managing a setting and with whom they spend a lot of time unsupervised
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and there may be safeguarding concerns. Examples of Group C practitioners include residential
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child care or adult workers and managers, nursery managers, child minders, health visitors, clinical
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and medical staff, head teachers, police uniform officers, probation workers, social workers and
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or a named trustee. Group C practitioners also include an organisation's designated safeguarding
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person and people who take a more prominent role in safeguarding decisions, including those with an
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active role in core groups and protection planning activities. There are generic standards that
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all Group C practitioner training learning and development must cover, plus additional standards
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that are specific to practitioners who are involved with either children or adults at risk.
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The training learning and development that covers these specific standards will reflect the
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particular role and responsibilities of those groups of practitioners. Practitioners in group C
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will need to know everything in groups A and B as well as Group C. Group D practitioners are those
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who operate at a higher level in the safeguarding process. They give advice, guidance and supervision
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if applicable to group C practitioners within and outside their team and organisation.
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They can make higher level decisions such as if to apply for court orders. They often hold specialist
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safeguarding roles either in addition to a main role or as a specialist safeguarding practitioner.
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Examples of Group D practitioners are named health professionals, education safeguarding
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lead for local authorities, detective inspectors, senior probation officers, social services team managers,
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voluntary and third sector colleagues with specialist knowledge. The content for this
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group focuses on nine generic areas, plus the children and adult specific areas.
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But the genetic areas include for example, taking an active formal part in the safeguarding processes,
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supporting others to safeguarding people, to safeguard people for those with supervisory responsibility,
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they'll work with others to safeguard people and will consistently maintain professional accountability.
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Practitioners in group D will need to know everything in group A, B and C as well as Group D.
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The roles in Group D are those who have the final decision or say about safeguarding decisions
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during the safeguarding process. They can advise about high-level complex situations and make a
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call about any safeguarding decisions that need to be made. The people who operate at this level
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would also advise other agencies on their area of expertise and will be able to lead Regional
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or Wales and UK National safeguarding work. They would routinely be involved in regional or
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national groups that look at safeguarding issues, including national initiatives and complex reviews.
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The standards for this group are set out as core competencies for sector leaders and those
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in specialist roles, plus the knowledge and skill sets required. Examples of group E practitioners
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are health board and trust safeguarding leads, the four police force leads for safeguarding,
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probation delivery unit heads, social services, heads of adults and children's services and
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named trustees for safeguarding in third sector organisations. Again, in group E
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they will need to know everything in groups A, B and C and D, as well as their own group.
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Group F practitioners are the most senior people in an organisation. One person in any public
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sector organisation will ultimately be accountable for safeguarding. All group F practitioners should
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have access to safeguarding advice and expertise from a designated or named professional.
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The standards set out core competencies for sector leads and specialists in group F, which include
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promoting a positive culture of safeguarding and ensuring processes and practices are effective and
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resourced. Examples of Group F practitioners are executive officers and board members of NHS
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health boards and trusts, directors of education, assistant or chief constables, regional probation
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directors, social services elected members and Welsh government ministers. For group F they
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will need to know everything in group A as well as group F. Now that's the brief summary of the
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standards, and the hierarchy obviously guides you to consider those groups and who would sit in them.
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So in order to conclude the presentation I’ll now hand back to Cheryl, thank you.
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Thank you, Alys. This slide is an illustration of the bilingual version of the hierarchy.
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Just to conclude with some next steps. As of today as a number of people have mentioned,
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the standards are launched for use and are available on our website on Social Care Wales.
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Each regional safeguarding board will consider how to embed the standards within its work.
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We will have a specific email inbox for any queries that derives from implementation. You'll be invited to
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to send your comments through to this inbox. The development group will now change to a national
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standards review group, and we'll consider queries on a quarterly basis and action any urgent changes.
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The first review of queries would be in April 2023, allowing for initial implementation time.
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There will also be an annual review of the standards next year.
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In order to support the implementation of the national safeguarding standards
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we've began to co-produce a National Training Learning and Development framework.
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The key objectives of the framework include ensuring a consistent national approach to training learning
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and development and supporting the implementation of the National Safeguarding Training Learning
23:08
and Development standards and competencies. This framework will be shared in January 2023.
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To support the implementation, we will collate any queries and produce responses in frequently asked questions.
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The first set will be shared at the end of this week and will be produced in line with the
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safeguarding review group quarterly reviews. They will then be shared on Safeguarding Wales website.
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We have produced an easy read version of standards, and this work was commissioned
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to All Wales People First. Representatives from All Wales People First reviewed the standards
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as they were being developed and provided us with feedback on the content and tone of the standards. This document will be available in the next couple of weeks on the Social Care Wales website.
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We also have a rights document produced on our website and that is live today.
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Throughout the development of the National Safeguarding Learning and Development standards we engaged with representatives of individuals with lived experience of safeguarding matters.
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We have co-produced a document that outlines the rights of individuals, their unpaid carers and families when going through any safeguarding process.
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This document has been designed by Learning Disability Wales.
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Thank you, I'll now hand back to Jane.
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Thank you both for the overview you’ve given us this morning. I think that's a
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fairly comprehensive feel for how the standards have been developed, what they look like and what
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the next steps are going to be. For this next part of the session this morning we've got a
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panel, all of whom are members of the standards development group and they're going to answer
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some of the frequently asked questions as a way of giving a greater feel for the standards themselves.
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Our first panel member this morning is Joanne Lewellyn, she's the Children's Services, service
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manager in Newport City Council. Joanne the question for you this morning is, why is
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it important to have a standardised approach to safeguarding learning and development?
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I believe that it's important to have that standardised approach to training, learning and development. I think practitioners or volunteers have a duty to report safeguarding concerns
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and therefore we need to ensure that practitioners and volunteers are suitably trained and they understand safeguarding. It's making sure that the workforce are confident what they do and are
25:52
supported through the processes they need to work within. Common standards are not new, they exist
25:57
elsewhere across the social care sector, but prior to the development of these standards there was no standardised approach to safeguarding training, learning and development. We were lagging behind.
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This meant that people have different understanding and expectation of who the audience is and the content required for all forms of the training, learning and development.
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I think that's caused confusion and uncertainty as to whether practitioners when practicing have reached the appropriate level of learning and development. Consequently, as Lance
26:24
said earlier it was agreed that consistent national multi-agency set of standards needed to be developed within Wales. It will provide assurance to all agencies their practitioners
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and volunteers have been developed at the same level. That's when they transfer between agencies or regions within Wales. It provides a collective framework and standards relevant to
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all agencies whether they are health, police, local authority, third sector or volunteer. It will improve
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that multi-agency learning and development and provide that common language and encourage all agencies and practitioners to work together. These standards will also assist organisations and commissioners
27:00
to navigate that landscape and ensure compliance with the Wales safeguarding procedures. So that's my view of some of the reasons why it's important to have that standardised.
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Thank you, Joanne, I think that common language and the transferability are key aren't they
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for national standards for learning and development.
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The second question is for Lynsley Haynes-Foster, she's a social worker with
27:29
Swansea County Borough Council. Lynsley can you tell us how you think the standards can be used in any of the organisations? Hi Jane and welcome everybody, thank you very much.
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These standards are very important to be able to plan and inform learning and development opportunities.
27:48
Also to support multi-disciplinary learning which is quite difficult at times, you know. We
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all train within our own organisations, we don’t often have the chance to get together. By using
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these standards it means that the training will be pretty much the same everywhere we go.
28:09
Education institutes such as universities and colleges and schools, everybody can use
28:17
these standards to provide a clear structure to safeguarding learning and development.
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All organisations such as public services, third and independent sectors can also use them to
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produce reports about the safeguarding practice and the performance within their setting. Thank you.
28:41
It's going to be very helpful isn't it that any organisation will be able to see where they fit in the standards hierarchy and design their training accordingly.
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Third question to the panel is for Jayne Butler. Jayne is the superintendent with
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Dyfed Powys Police. Morning Jayne, the question for you is what's the purpose of the standards
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and what do we do with them? Good morning, Jane and good morning everybody.
29:14
The purpose of the standards is to ensure that everyone in Wales receives consistent and really good quality safeguarded learning and development. Because this learning and development is relevant to
29:25
their role and responsibilities, they'll be able to safeguard people to the best of their ability.
29:31
This will give reassurance to the regional safeguarding boards. The standards will help organise make sure that children and adult safety and well-being is
29:41
at the centre of their work. Practitioners can work in ways that empower and enable people.
29:47
It will help organisations to incorporate standards into their safeguarding policies and procedures, and to ensure practitioners know what group they're in and understand their
29:57
responsibilities and how to follow the policies and procedures that are relevant to them.
30:03
It will ensure all practitioners have access to and comply with the Wales safeguarding procedures and their
30:08
training needs analysis is focused, and learning and development opportunities give practitioners
30:14
skills they need to make early identification and reporting of safeguarding matters more likely.
30:20
Practitioners will have the support they need to be skilled and confident and there are processes in place to look after their well-being. Finally, it will help to build a safer community
30:32
for everyone with all the agencies working together. Thanks Jane, hope that answers the question.
30:40
Thank you. I think that putting children and adult safety at the centre of the work that we do is key isn't it,
30:47
and helping people to actually deliver the All Wales Procedures is part of what this framework
30:53
is there to ensure in a consistent way. Our next question of this morning is for Daniel Williams.
31:03
Daniel is the head of attendance at wellbeing service in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
31:09
Welcome Daniel. The question for you is, what do you think the benefits are of these standards?
31:15
Thank you, Jane. For the first time there will be national multi-agency standards for safeguarding training learning and development in place in Wales. The standards will ensure consistency in
31:25
the design content and provision of safeguarding training across our organisations in Wales. It also helps to support and provide clarity and expectations around the appropriate content for
31:35
safeguarding training, learning and development and for the whole of our workforce. Previously there was a degree of confusion around the appropriate levels of safeguarding training,
31:44
learning and development from different elements of the workforce. From listening, I'm working with colleagues across a range of sectors, and during the discussions surrounding the standards this
31:53
was a common issue faced for all. The standards now help to support and address this issue by providing a shared understanding and a framework across agencies of which staff makes it where in the
32:02
identified hierarchy. The groups identified have clearly defined parameters to support organisations
32:08
and identifying where the roles in their organisation may sit and therefore what level of understanding those practitioners should have around safeguarding. The standards also support
32:17
organisations to ensure that practitioners have access to and comply with the Wales safeguarding procedures. There's an expectation that whenever possible this training, learning and development
32:27
would be multi-agency and this will develop awareness for each practitioners rolling newly intervention and prevention work and in the wider safeguarding process. As for my view, these standards
32:36
have numerous benefits immediately and those in the longer term. Thanks Jane.
32:42
Thank you Daniel and I think you know we’re hearing consistently aren't we that they will eliminate confusion, that people will be clear about where they sit in the hierarchy
32:52
and that they will enable consistent application of the procedures across
32:58
the nation of Wales and that's all to benefit keeping children and adults safe.
33:05
Now you mentioned briefly the challenges and that is really the next question that we come on to and
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this is for Dr Nigel Farr, who's one of our GPs and he also sits on the NHS Wales Safeguarding Network.
33:18
Nigel, can you tell us a bit about what the challenges have been in developing the standards
33:24
and how these have been overcome? Okay, yeah. At the upset it was essential to have as wide range of
33:32
representation on the development group as possible, as these standards needed to be relevant to
33:37
as many of the huge numbers of people who play a role in safeguarding as possible. It was important for partners to understand the role of voluntary sector in the safeguarding process,
33:46
as well as the statutory agencies. The main public service
33:51
agencies already have the individual training requirements from regulatory bodies. It's critical that these were acknowledged and included in the standards, but they
34:01
also need to be inclusive and appropriate for all the organisations who will use it.
34:07
One challenge early on was the fact that all of the agencies and organisations had
34:12
very different starting points of this undertaking. It was therefore very crucial that all had an
34:18
equal role in the process. Throughout the work it was key that agencies and organisations were able
34:23
to understand and respect each other's needs and viewpoints, show empathy and work in partnership.
34:29
A vital component for this I believe was the way in which the group worked, we had regular meetings
34:35
which was structured to create the opportunity to have discussions in small groups and as a whole. There was additional opportunity to comment on drafts and revisions between the meetings.
34:45
This encouraged and facilitated understanding and collaboration, and we did feel that the members of the development group were able to see things from each other's
34:53
perspectives and that everybody was afforded the opportunity to contribute and be heard.
34:59
The language use was another challenge, given the breadth of potential participants in the training. One example as already mentioned was discussions focused on using levels versus
35:09
groups for the standards. In health we were already accustomed to levels as these are used
35:16
in the well established documents that inform our safeguarding training requirements. However, other
35:21
organisations felt that the term groups would be more engaging to the wider audience to which the standards are aimed, and therefore it was groups that were adopted. In the end, I think we feel that
35:31
this development process has allowed for the creation of standards that everyone in the development group feels belongs to them and is relevant to their agency or organisation.
35:41
I think that's a real achievement from this group. Thank you.
35:48
Thank you, Nigel, I think it's key that when agencies start from different points,
35:56
it's difficult to take everybody along to the same point in the journey so, I think that's been
36:01
achievement of the group. And language, using common language is an issue that we come up in every
36:07
aspect of safeguarding, so it's really important that the use of language is consistent across all
36:13
organisations and services and again that's a real benefit of the standards that we've got today.
36:21
The final question of the morning is for Suzanne Mollison, she is from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
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Welcome Suzanne. Can you tell us a little bit about what are the challenges of putting the standards into everyday practice. Thank you, Jane, and I guess that's
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the big question isn't it that possibly people will be thinking about this morning.
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I'm sure they will be asking about who will be developing the training content for our learning
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and development. We want to maintain that multi-agency, multi-sector feel
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to the material that will be used in the future. I'm sure then the other question will
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also link to that which will be, who will be providing and delivering the training.
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I'm sure those of us who are involved in safeguarding training delivery recognise
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that there is a huge demand, which is very positive but often quite a lot of difficulty
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in meeting that demand from the people available to deliver training at any one time.
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We recognise that because of those factors there will be an element of financing in
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meeting the training standards that will also be challenging. It's a difficult time
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for all of us at the moment to meet our various costs, and if we are releasing staff and volunteers
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to attend training, possibly backfilling roles at the same time and then people will I'm sure find
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that a challenge that they will have to consider. We know that training, learning and development
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requires investment so we can actually have that free movement of staff that we can provide the
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time to both deliver training and allow people to attend training. My colleagues on the
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panel have raised that very pertinent point, that as often as possible these opportunities
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to learn should be multi-sector. It takes additional time to bring people together from
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across the sectors and across the agencies to learn together, not just about safeguarding but
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about how we all work together across the field to make safeguarding as effective as possible.
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Also, there's the addition that we are making quite high demands of people regarding their
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learning, regarding their personal development, and it takes time also to be able to reflect
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on what people have learned into training and to carry out any of the follow-up tasks that really
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mean that training will be embedded in their practice beyond a particular learning opportunity.
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We know also that the timeframes themselves will be challenging, because what we really
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want to do is to ensure that all sectors, all agencies and all practitioners and volunteers
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hit the same milestones at a very similar point in time. So that we all come together
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to meet those same standards rather than leaving anyone behind. And of course
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I shall be very keen to ensure that nobody in the third sector and voluntary
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sectors are indeed left behind. I should be pushing hard on that one Jane, I promise you.
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We've also worked extremely hard when putting the standards and the framework together
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to help this feel applicable to every role, so that the language feels appropriate to everyone,
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people can recognise that their role and their position in safeguarding is
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actually written into the standards. Because we want that to feel that it's easier for anyone and
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everyone to actually buy in to the standards and the safeguarding training framework.
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The work is there to help them but that buy-in is a huge ask and a
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huge request from everybody and I hope that they will join with us to make that work.
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One final point Jane if I may, we recognise that there is sometimes a fear around safeguarding,
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about taking on that responsibility and perhaps people now will have greater awareness
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from reading the standards and the training requirements, that actually this is an expectation
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placed on people in a way that they possibly didn’t recognise before. But we are here to help
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support people to allay those fears and hopefully that shared learning, that shared development will
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mean that that fear is no longer as real for so many people that it could possibly have been,
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especially when they read that information and realise that we are all in it together. It is a
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shared responsibility and we work better together. Thank you, Jane, I hope that answers the question.
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Thank you, indeed it does. I want to thank all the panel this morning for taking time out and
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giving some thought and answering the questions that have been posed to you. I feel a consistent
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theme that's coming through from throughout the morning is about the need for common language,
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common standards, a national framework that everybody understands and can work out where
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they fit into the hierarchy of training needs to give assurance and confidence, in that the
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training that they are receiving meets the needs of the role that they actually have.
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For me having this framework, the standards for learning and development and training means that
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public, private and third sector organisations will now be able to ensure this consistent
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approach to keeping vulnerable citizens safe in Wales, which is what this is all about and
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why we're here in the first place. So it's really a fantastic initiative to have had the launch of
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the national standards this morning. We've heard about the fear that people might have around
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safeguarding and is it really something that they need to do. Those of us that have worked in safeguarding for many years, we know that when we talk to professionals or practitioners
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in our organisations that they are wary and want to stand back from that responsibility.
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Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, understanding our shared duty is essential in
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protecting our children and adults in Wales. It means that organisations of all sizes and in all
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sectors must support their staff and volunteers through effective learning and development.
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The launch of the Wales Safeguarding Procedures in 2019 set us with a consistent standard for
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safeguarding practice Wales. The launch of the National Learning and Development Standards will now ensure that everyone in Wales gets consistent good quality
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training that's relevant to their role and responsibilities, and most importantly that
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we as practitioners can safeguard people to the best of our ability. Thank you.