These include uniformed youth organisations such as the Scouts and Guides; open access youth work and religious settings which offer education in their own faith, such as Sunday Schools and those of other faiths and religions.
They are asking for contributions of opinion to try to provide a sector-wide safeguarding framework for all of these settings, saying: "While the majority do so [behave] in a safe environment, there are some settings which do not."
They say: "We are inviting the views of out-of-school settings providers, staff and volunteers working in out-of-school settings, local authorities, parents, accreditation organisations, young people, schools, charities, and other interested groups and individuals on a draft voluntary safeguarding code of practice for out-of-school settings, and accompanying draft guidance for parents.
"Following the closure of the consultation, we intend to publish the finalised version of the code in due course. The providers' code would be a voluntary document. It would be intended as a voluntary resource setting out best practice to help providers of out-of-school education settings understand how they can ensure they are delivering education and activities in a safe environment.
The consultation period will end 24th February 2019 and department will publish the results shortly after.
Sarah Champion MP, Co-Chair of the APPG on safeguarding in faith settings, said: "We would echo the comments made by Lord Agnew, that the overwhelming majority of out-of-school settings offer strong provision in a safe environment which includes faith or religious settings. However, there remains concern, about the small minority of settings that may be putting children at risk of harm."
"We believe that the draft guidance, released today, is a positive step forward in helping out-of-school settings to know what good practice looks like and ensures parents and carers of children are properly equipped so they can make good and safer choices."
"As an All-Party Parliamentary Group seeking to increase awareness of issues relating to safeguarding within faith settings, it is our view that this consultation provides a good opportunity for the faith community to inform safeguarding discourse and to share best practise. We would encourage anyone involved in the safe provision of out-of-school settings to constructively engage with this consultation and consider making a response."
Alongside the open consultation, guidance was also released for parents, which advised avoiding settings where staff are not DBS checked or where children are given internet access without monitoring.
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