Safeguarding training for States’ members (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey on behalf of the States Greffe and published on 07 November 2019.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

​​Request

The Jersey Care Inquiry recommended that all members of the States Assembly attended a mandatory briefing on the safeguarding of children and their responsibilities as corporate parents before they took their seats. Their recent report said that very few had done so. I would like a list of the elected and non-elected members indicating who has attended the briefing on their responsibilities as corporate parents and had safeguarding training and who has not.

Response

The initial report of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry referred to the induction offered to members after the elections of 2014. That induction programme included a day’s session relating to the work of the Children’s Policy Group with presentations covering corporate parenting responsibilities, safeguarding children and young people, police, probation and education. It was followed by visits to various facilities used for young people in care.

After the elections in 2018, the induction programme offered to elected States members included a meeting with the Children’s Commissioner and a briefing on safeguarding arrangements from the Independent Safeguarding Chair.

There is currently no mechanism to make these sessions mandatory for members and that was also the case after the 2014 and 2018 elections (in 2018, the Bailiff wrote to members to encourage attendance). The States Greffe does not hold records to show which members attended.

This response has been issued on behalf of the States Greffe. The States Greffe is responsible for the information held by (and on behalf of) both itself and the States Assembly. Neither the States Assembly nor the States Greffe form part of the Government of Jersey and the Government was not involved either in the examination and retrieval of any information required for this response, nor in the drafting of the response itself