NLC’s safeguarding policy forms part of its constitution. The relevant section is published here. The text is reviewed annually by the committee. The last review was on 19th December 2023.
21 SAFEGUARDING
21.1 The extent to which the CHORUS is likely to be affected by issues of Safeguarding of Children or Vulnerable Adults is limited because:
21.1.1 MEMBERSHIP is not open to those under 18 years of age.
21.1.2 MEMBERSHIP entails the ability to learn and perform choral music to a high standard.
21.1.3 The activities of the CHORUS are group activities. One on one activities are limited to lessons or coaching with established teachers.
21.2 Accordingly, the CHORUS does not require DBS checks.
21.3 There are however, some situations in which the activities of the CHORUS may involve Children or Vulnerable Adults such as:
21.3.1 Concerts or other activities open to the General Public.
21.3.2 Occasional situations in which the CHORUS performs with child soloists. In all such cases the children in question must be chaperoned appropriately, and the CHORUS must ensure that any private lessons or coaching is performed by those authorised to teach children and/or with chaperone present.
21.3.3 Occasional situations in which the CHORUS performs with other groups containing children, in which case the CHORUS shall cooperate fully with the safeguarding arrangements of those groups as appropriate.
21.4 The COMMITTEE shall designate one of its members, by default the CHAIR, as the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON for the CHORUS, and another, by default the SECRETARY, as DEPUTY SAFEGUARDING LIAISON.
21.4.1 The primary role of the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON is to ensure that safeguarding concerns are taken into account when planning and organising CHORUS events.
21.4.2 If anyone, whether or not a member of the CHORUS, has reason to believe that an incident involving a child or vulnerable adult has occurred in connection with the activities of the CHORUS, they should report it to the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON, or if that is not possible, or the incident involves the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON, to the DEPUTY SAFEGUARING LIAISON, in which case all references below to the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON will instead mean the DEPUTY SAFEGUARDING LIAISON.
21.4.3 If an incident is reported, the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON will Inform the relevant authorities as soon as possible, unless the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON and the person reporting the incident both explicitly agree that this is unnecessary and inappropriate. If there is any doubt, the authorities should be informed. In any event, the original reporter of the incident must be told which authorities were informed, and their right to inform the authorities themselves directly made clear to them.
21.5 The SAFEGUARDING LIAISON must maintain confidentiality at all times. If an incident is reported, they may notify the COMMITTEE that an (unspecified) incident has occurred, and whether the authorities were involved, but under no circumstances must any details of the incident of who was involved be divulged to anyone except the appropriate authorities.
21.6 The SAFEGUARDING LIAISON should maintain a log of incidents reported to them specifying dates, who made the report, and what action was taken. This log must be handed on to their successor as SAFEGUARDING LIAISON, must not be stored on a computer, and should not be accessible to anyone other than the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON at the time or, if necessary, the DEPUTY SAFEGUARDING LIAISON.
21.7 This SAFEGUARDING POLICY will be published on the CHORUS public website, along with appropriate contact information for the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON and DEPUTY SAFEGUARDING LIAISON. You can obtain contact information for the SAFEGUARDING LIAISON and DEPUTY by going to https://ego.northlondonchorus.org/human/safeguarding