NCB Safeguarding Updates – Mark Campbell Appointed

1st April 2022

As the new season approaches, I would like to bring you up to date with some recent changes and to wish you well for a calm, happy and very safe cricket season.


Norfolk County Safeguarding Officer Appointment

The Norfolk Cricket Board is very pleased to announce that our new County Safeguarding Officer is Mark Campbell. Mark comes with a huge wealth of safeguarding experience having spent 10 years in the Police Force; he is now working in social care and patient welfare within a hospital context.  He plays cricket at Fakenham CC and is very keen to get to know Clubs and CSOs and we know will be very proactive in his approach to Safeguarding.  This appointment strengthens our team considerably with Liz Plater now joining the Board of Directors to become the ‘County Safeguarding Lead’ and so will work closely with Mark and myself as Deputy.


Contact details

Board Lead – Liz Plater Liz.plater@norfolkcricket.co.uk

County Safeguarding Officer – Mark Campbell  mark.campbell@norfolkcricket.co.uk

Deputy County Safeguarding Officer – Kevin Denmark kevin.denmark@norfolkcricket.co.uk

The previous e-mail address : welfare.officer@norfolkcricket.co.uk is no longer in use so please could you amend your records. Any e-mails sent to this address will now be re-directed to Mark.


Safe Hands Training

Over the winter period Liz and I have welcomed over 75 Club Safeguarding Officers to renew their Safe Hands qualification which will now be valid for the next three years. We really appreciate your commitment during the difficult last two years with many of you completing the interim on-line webinars, but it been fantastic to resume face-to-face meetings giving many of you the opportunity to meet your peers from other Clubs and to share and discuss best practices. For those of you who attended at Manor Park on Wednesday I will be following up with copies of the slides, as promised, early next week.


Safeguarding training

It has now been confirmed that CSOs will no longer need to complete the face-to-face Safeguarding and Protecting Children course where you can now complete the online Safeguarding Young Cricketers qualification (which only takes about 40 minutes). If you haven’t yet done SYC please contact Sara Worley (Sara.worley@norfolkcricket.co.uk) who will enrol you. If you already hold the SYC qualification an e-mail notification to renew is usually sent about one month before expiry.

Going forward the ECB are keen for as many people as possible, currently working with young people in clubs, to complete the SYC course. Coaches are already required to do so as part of their qualification.  We will update you later in the year with details of who, additionally, should be encouraged to complete it.


DBS

At this time of the year, it is really important to ensure that all those involved in ‘regulated’ activity in Clubs have a valid DBS in place before the season starts – especially anybody ‘new to role’ before they take up their duties. One of the common omissions is team Captains who all need a DBS in place. A full list of all regulated roles can be found within the ‘Safe Hands Manual’ which is now on-line – https://www.ecb.co.uk/about/policies-and-regulations/safeguarding/safe-hands

All CSOs should be registered as DBS verifiers – if you find that you are unable to complete the verification process, please contact Liz or myself and we will quickly ensure you are registered to do so.

It is highly recommended that all DBS applicants take advantage of the automatic renewal update service provided by Atlantic Data – this means that CSOs rarely have to worry about renewals in future years which is a considerable saving in workloads – please ensure all those starting a new DBS check request this annual check as part of the registration process.


A Culture of Safeguarding

You will all be aware that both the ECB and The Norfolk Cricket Board are fully committed to ensure that the safeguarding of young people and vulnerable adults is at the centre of everything we do.  Your role at Club level is absolutely critical and we are so grateful for your continued commitment to this work. Those who have recently attended Safe Hands will know that we are trying to build a culture where all are valued and respected, irrespective of age and ability and where we listen carefully to the needs of our younger players. Making sure that all in the Club know you in your role and knowing how to report any concerns is central to this culture – Mark, Liz and myself are here to help you and give advice if it is ever needed. A culture of care and mutual support is our aim so that, throughout Norfolk, so that we can continue to build expectations of good practice, good communication and safe cricket.

Liz, Kevin & Mark