Welcome to the NYSCP November 2023 edition of our e-bulletin

Welcome to the November version of the NYSCP e-bulletin. This month marks my first-year anniversary of managing the Safeguarding Children Partnership and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me over the last twelve months. We have a number of interesting items to share with you in this version of our e-bulletin which will also be recorded and shared on our NYSCP – YouTube channel and Spotify.

Anti-bullying week runs from the 13^th to the 17^th of November and aims to raise awareness of bullying and to highlight ways in which it can be prevented and responded to.

I was very fortunate to attend the Marie Collins Foundation Welcome to Marie Collins Foundation annual conference earlier this month held at the impressive BT Tower in London. The conference had a number of inspirational speakers, giving delegates the opportunity to hear from survivors of technology assisted child sexual abuse. One survivor shared her experience of online exploitation, perpetrated by other young people and the work she is now doing to help professionals understand the impact that exploitation, bullying and non-contact sexual offences can have on children and young people. This powerful story really brought home to me how important it is for the NYSCP to consider how we keep children safe as the boundaries between offline and online become increasingly less well defined.

We know that children of all ages and genders are at risk of bullying and harassment so for more information, advice and support on all aspects of bullying please visit the Anti-Bullying Alliance.

Aligned to the concerns about bullying and online sexual abuse we have the national Tackling violence against women and girls strategy – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which was published in July 2021 to look specifically at harm experienced by women and girls.

As always, we hope you find the NYSCP e-bulletin useful and please let us know if there is any information you would like to see in upcoming editions.

Hannah Ellingworth

Business Manager

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Do your PART
Anti-Bullying week
One Conversation – Spoken word Film
Violence Against Women and Girls
‘Just a Kiss’ Stalking Film
Children and Young People’s Mental Health
Labour exploitation in the care sector
Supporting Victims and Independent Hate Crime Reporting Centre
Upcoming Masterclasses

Each month we will be encouraging partners to “do your PART” by embracing one practice or research theme from our website.

In line with anti-bullying week, running from 13^th to 17^th November we encourage you to re-familiarise yourself with our practice guidance on bullying.

The damage inflicted by bullying can often be underestimated. It can cause considerable distress to children, to the extent that it affects their health and development or, at the extreme, causes anxiety, depression and self-harm.

Our practice guidance lists specialist organisations that can provide support.

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Anti-Bullying week

The Anti-Bullying Alliance define bullying as, “The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online’. Our definition of bullying (anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk)

The NSPCC define cyberbullying as “bullying that takes place online. Unlike bullying offline, online bullying can follow the child wherever they go, via social networks, gaming and mobile phone.” The NSPCC’s Helping Children Deal with Bullying & Cyberbullying | NSPCC page provides advice on how to spot the signs and effects of bullying on children and young people.

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One Conversation – Spoken word Film

North Yorkshire Youth have worked alongside young people in North Yorkshire to create a powerful and emotive short film, to raise awareness about bullying. This can be viewed on YouTube.

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Violence Against Women and Girls

The National Police Chief’s Council Violence Against Women and Girls (npcc.police.uk) states,

“The harm caused to victims and society by violence against women and girls (VAWG) in all its forms – including but not limited to harassment, stalking, rape, sexual assault, murder, honour-based abuse, coercive control – is immeasurable.

While men and boys also suffer from many of these forms of abuse, they disproportionately affect women. A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK. Domestic abuse makes up 18 per cent of all recorded crime in England and Wales. In the year ending March 2022, there were 194,683 sexual offences, of which 70,330 were rape.”

VAWG covers a number of different harms detailed What do we mean by Violence Against Women and Girls? – Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk)

At a local level, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe T h e role of the OPFCC – Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk) has stated,

“Everyone across North Yorkshire and City of York should feel they are safe wherever they are, whatever they are doing and whenever that is. But, in too many cases, women and girls do not. I need to change that.”

The “Addressing Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2022-2024” sets out our collective commitment to tackle violence against women and girls across different settings, communities and locations throughout North Yorkshire and City of York.

There are six strategic objectives that sit within a Delivery Plan which outlines how we intend to achieve the six strategic objectives and has been co-produced by the Joint Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy Delivery Group which is made up of representatives from local statutory partners. The Delivery Plan is underpinned by a detailed Action Tracker which sets out which partner will be responsible for leading different workstreams and by when.

The initial 6-month Progress Update report was published in December 2022 and there is now a further progress report Joint Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy – Progress Update – June 2023 – Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk) for the details of the work completed so far and the plans for achieving future progress.

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‘Just a Kiss’ Stalking Film

Just a Kiss follows the story of a young university fresher who, having met a man on a night out, becomes the victim of stalking. The film chronicles how stalking can quickly escalate and impact the lives of victims and displays the perspective of friends and family .

Each episode of Just a Kiss can be viewed on the OPFCC website, by visiting:
www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/justakiss.

If you feel you may be a victim of stalking or harassment, visit www.supportingvictims.org, or call 01609 643 100

Zoë Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner said:

“We were delighted with the reception that the first two episodes of ‘Just a Kiss’ received at our Violence Against Women and Girls Event in July, and we couldn’t wait for the whole film to be made public.

“The events portrayed in this film sensitively reflect the experiences not just of victims of stalking, but their friends and loved ones as well. I would urge anyone who feels they may be a victim of stalking or harassment to contact Supporting Victims, where they can speak to experienced professionals offering help and advice.”

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Children and Young People’s Mental Health

For the first time, the NHS is launching a month-long online conversation on children and young people’s mental health, with a focus on gathering learning and ideas on how they can improve waiting times and make services more accessible. Using the Solving Together platform, the team will be inviting partners involved in the children and young people’s mental health pathway, professionals, children and young people and their families, to have a say about this critical issue – with a focus on collecting ideas and best practice for ways to make NHS services better in the future. The team then plan to work with teams across the country to prototype and test the most promising ideas.

The conversations went live on 9th October and will be open for a month. Further details and to join in the conversation can be found at https://solvingtogether.crowdicity.com/

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Labour exploitation in the care sector

Yorkshire and Humber Region of the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) are offering a lunch and learn session focussing on labour exploitation in the care sector (both domiciliary care and private care settings). Sadly, this is a growing mode of modern slavery and one which many of our staff may be able to identify and/ or raise concerns about as they may visit people’s homes and care settings.

Initially, there are two sessions arranged for:

Wednesday 15^th November 2023, 12-1pm
Wednesday 17^th January 2024, 12-1pm

The sessions will be facilitated by Simon Watson, Regional Field Intelligence Officer for the Yorkshire and Humber Region of the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

To reserve a place on this training, please contact hnyicb-nel.safeguarding@nhs.net and Sue Major will arrange the link to be shared with you.

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Supporting Victims and Independent Hate Crime Reporting Centre

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner have put together a video which explores how victims of crime can be supported and provide information, this can be viewed at – Supporting Victims & Independent Hate Crime Reporting Centre – YouTube

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