PVG Disclosures - Club Statement
There has been a lot in the press recently about disclosure checks and we wanted to let everyone know where the club stands on this.
Following on from revelations in the news late last year about football coaches and allegations of child abuse, there has been a lot of focus on PVG disclosures.
In a recent article on the BBC website it was reported that of 2657 active rugby coaches in Scotland, 178 did not have SRU disclosure.This represents an average of 1.5 per registered club.
Commenting, Scottish Rugby said "It is the responsibility of member clubs to conduct PVG checks for coaches undertaking regulated work with their clubs.
"Scottish Rugby is gathering data from members clubs so that an accurate picture can be provided across the sport in Scotland as a whole but do not believe there is an issue here as coaches doing regulated work with children are PVG checked by their member clubs, or - in the case of new coaches - will be in the process of being checked."
Well before this article broke we were providing information to Scottish Rugby and sportscotland on the number of coaches and volunteers with disclosure, who was actively coaching, and how many outstanding disclosures we had to process.
It is important to note that although some coaches already had PVG disclosure through their employment or other volunteering, our policy is to also ensure they undergo disclosure through the SRU scheme.
Our Child Protection Officer, Alison Gordon, has recently closed off a number of outstanding disclosures for new coaches, and a refresh of some existing disclosures.
At this present time we have three coaches who attained their UKCC qualifications last year waiting to go through the disclosure process. None of them are actively coaching. We also have one new coach going through the disclosure process who is.
As we seek to encourage new coaches and bring more volunteers into the game there will inevitably be gaps while we go through the disclosure process.
Our Child Protection Policy was reviewed and updated in March 2016 and will be reviewed again ahead of our AGM in May. A copy of it is attached or you will find it in the “Documents” section of the website.
Please be assured that we take the issue of Child Protection very seriously.
If you have any concerns at all please do get in touch with Stephan Walker, Club Treasurer 07927773408 or Alison Gordon, Child Protection Officer 07769914397