Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport

Tonia Antoniazzi Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Westminster Hall

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Trying to close the loopholes, to stop abuse happening, is paramount; but we must also take into account the fact that many smaller clubs are run entirely by volunteers, and we must thank the genuine volunteers who are there for the benefit of the young people in the sport.

More structural support is needed at the regional or county level to ensure that small clubs get help with implementing safeguarding policies. There should be someone at the regional or county level who ensures that the policies are adhered to and that proper monitoring takes place. It is often at the smaller clubs that abuse will first happen, as in Ian Ackley’s case. We also need to ensure that children and young people feel able to speak out and feel that they will be listened to when they call out abuse. That is why we need to make sure that they can do so in a safe environment, and that they are encouraged to speak out. Children and young people could be given confidence during player induction at sport settings about speaking up if they come across abuse, and there are other means whereby clubs can encourage young people to speak out whenever they come across abuse or anything happens to them.

When I met the Lawn Tennis Association I was staggered to discover that not all tennis clubs are affiliated to it. It has approximately 2,700 members, but more than 1,000 clubs are not registered with it. Some people might say, “So what? What difference does it make?” This year, for the first time, the LTA has made it a requirement that all affiliated clubs use only LTA-accredited coaches, who must meet a minimum safeguarding standard. Unregistered clubs, on the other hand, are free to appoint whomever they choose as a tennis coach. According to the LTA, there are more than 800 “accredited tennis coaches”. There are other coaching courses apart from the LTA’s, but it is worth noting that some accreditation can be obtained online for as little as £80. That means that a child or young person could be having lessons at an unregistered tennis club with a coach who obtained their accreditation online by answering tick-box questions.

What I am saying is in no way intended to call into question good unaffiliated tennis clubs and coaches, but, as we have seen time and again, people who abuse children and young people find a way to get close to them, just as rain gets through cracks in the pavement. The question arises whether coaching courses should be licensed and have Government-approved kitemarks to give people an idea of the quality of the safe- guarding training undergone by the coach. Perhaps that could be a role for the child protection in sport unit, which already gives ratings to governing bodies. It is often hard for parents to navigate all the different accreditations and codes, and anything that makes things simpler, and easier to understand, should be encouraged.

More needs to be done about summer sports courses. As things stand, there would be nothing to stop me or anyone else hiring a field and setting up my own summer football skills course for kids. With some clever marketing, I could be up and running with some cones, bibs and footballs. I think more checks need to be carried out in those casual arrangements, too. It is the sort of thing that local authority trading standards teams could check, provided they had the funding to do so.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does he agree that all sports clubs, at whatever level, dealing with children should have whistleblowing policies under which they can refer themselves to a Government or sports organisation and procedures that are available for parents and children alike?

[Bambos Charalambous]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Whistleblowing is important and must be catered for as far as possible. Clubs should be able to report things higher up and whistleblowers’ reports should be properly investigated.

Having mentioned coaches, I want to turn to the definition of “regulated activity”. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 tightened the definition of regulated activity in relation to children to mean working “regularly” —four or more days in a 30-day period—and “unsupervised” with children. Coaching falls into that category. If someone satisfies those criteria, sports clubs can carry out an enhanced DBS—Disclosure and Barring Service—check, with barred list check to see whether the individual is barred from working with children. However, it is an offence for a club to ask for an enhanced DBS check on an individual if the role does not require one. For example, the coach who coaches the youth team every Thursday night would be classified as falling into that category, but their assistant, who is technically supervised by the coach, would not be caught by that legislation.

Supervision does not always prevent abuse from happening, as it often happens in plain view, with people disbelieving that someone whom they have got to know well and even considered a friend could ever commit such vile acts of abuse.