Message from Matt Prosser, the Chief Executive of Dorset Council and the Director of Children’s Services, Theresa Levy for parish and town council clerks across the Dorset Council area.
The Chief Executive and the Director of Children’s Services have asked DAPTC to contact you to ask for your help in circulating important information below to town and parish councils about the part we all play in helping to protect children.
There is information that you can find on the Dorset Council website about the Children’s Advice and Duty Service. Anyone concerned about the safety or wellbeing of a child in Dorset can contact the ChAD for confidential advice about what they should do.
In addition clerks must contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) via
- Behaved in a way that has harmed or may have harmed a child;
- Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child or;
- Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates that they may pose a risk of harm to children.
This applies not only to people who are employed to work with children, but also to unpaid volunteers and to people working on a casual, agency or self-employed basis. The LADO must be contacted within 1 working day in respect of all of the above circumstances. The LADO is available to discuss concerns and to assist clerks in deciding whether they need to make a referral and take any immediate action to protect a child.
If you have any questions on the above please, please do get in touch.
For Clerks in the BCP Council Area: Concerns about child absue or wellbeing
Note for Clerks: To support this message we sought guidance from NALC as the above message raises the question of to what extent DBS checks may be desireable for employees and councillors undertaking their roles. many councils undertake DBS checks as part of the recruitment process and this should be one item that all councils consider for employees. With regard to councillors, the points below were the observation of NALC Legal.
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Every local council has a duty to safeguard vulnerable people including children as well as adults.
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If councillors are directly involved in leisure activities that include children or other vulnerable people then DBS checking would be sensible.
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For councillors that have no direct contact that could give rise to safeguarding issues, a DBS check would appear to be unnecessary.
- If a councillor is convicted of a sexual offence requiring their registration, then they will, of course, be disqualified.
