Corporate report

DBS Safeguarding and Quality charter

Published 17 November 2021

Purpose

The Disclosure and Barring Service’s (DBS) vision and purpose are to make recruitment safer by being a visible, trusted and influential organisation, providing an outstanding quality of service to all our customers and partners, where our people understand the important safeguarding contributions they make and feel proud to work here.

The co-creation of DBS’ 2020-25 strategy underlined the desire and drive to ensure we are recognised and perform as a safeguarding organisation. The aim to continue to develop and thrive, and provide services of the highest quality and standard, is clearly articulated in our strategy as the means by which we will enhance our contribution to the national safeguarding agenda.

This charter sets out how DBS is committed to safeguarding through the provision of a quality service. It describes the aspiration for safeguarding and quality to become a tangible and recognisable feature of the DBS culture that extends from floor to board, aligned with the DBS Excellence narrative and quality assurance framework.

We will know we have achieved the aspirations and commitment set out in this charter when each and every one of “our people understand the important safeguarding contributions they make”.

Vision for safeguarding:

The Safeguarding and Quality charter supports the delivery of, and focuses on outcomes for, all of our strategic objectives, upholding the OneDBS philosophy.

We want our people to understand the link between providing a high quality, accessible and inclusive service for our customers and the contribution that makes to the national safeguarding agenda.

We want our people to recognise the important safeguarding contribution they make through learning, development, and improvement and by hearing it articulated as such by leaders throughout the organisation.

We want our partners to recognise us as a safeguarding organisation with a valuable and unique contribution to play in the national and international safeguarding narrative, particularly around the recruitment/employment lifecycle.

We want our partners to recognise us as a valuable and trusted safeguarding partner that continues to be seen as flexible, responsive, and a source of safeguarding expertise.

Definitions within the DBS context:

Safeguarding:

• Prevent those who pose a risk to vulnerable groups from working in certain roles
• Protect the public by helping employers make safer recruitment decisions
• Protect the public by bringing expert contribution to the wider safeguarding debate
• Promote and safeguard the welfare and rights of vulnerable groups
• Promote and safeguard civil liberties and reduce the burden of intrusion into the lives of individuals

Quality:

The degree to which our services and products meet or exceed the needs of both:

• our customers and partners who use our information and services to make safeguarding risk assessments
• he public for whom our organisation exists to protect

Safeguarding and quality-focused:

The focus of quality assurance will be on the experiences, progress, and outcomes of our customers and partners, and the impact we have on our joint responsibility to protect the public.

In achieving our safeguarding and quality commitment we will:

• seek to engage a diverse population including those who benefit from our services and products, as well as those who use them
• influence by informing and guiding the wider safeguarding debate through our organisational profile, knowledge and expertise
• meet and strive to exceed partners’ expectations in terms of recommendations, time-frames, and performance in the recognition of how this impacts our ability, and our partners’ ability, to safeguard the public
• demonstrate how our strategic, business, and financial priorities and planning are informed by, and rooted in, our purpose to protect the public by helping employers make safer recruitment decisions
• nurture an organisational culture where quality is measured by our ability to safeguard first and foremost
• prioritise activities that enhance our ability to safeguard vulnerable groups, safeguard individual civil liberties and promote employers’ ability to protect the public
• challenge activities that undermine our commitment to safeguarding and quality, both internally and externally
• focus quality assurance activities on the customer and partner, and the impact we have on our joint responsibility to protect the public
• reflect on our work and shared learning, including learning from error and experience, and ensuring a feedback loop as the means by which we define ‘good DBS practice’
• articulate and demonstrate what we know about the quality and impact of DBS functions on our customers, and how our arrangements maximise the safety of the public including children, vulnerable adults, and the wider public
• communicate our safeguarding commitment and ambition to reach a wide and diverse population in a manner that embraces inclusivity and equality