About the college

Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme

The College has a duty to ensure that all staff employed by the College, and students going on a placement that will involve regulated work with children or protected adults, are checked against the PVG Scheme to verify that they are not barred from working with vulnerable groups (i.e. children and protected adults).

Staff

Here is a summary of our staff policy:
1. All staff, including the Board of Governors, will be checked against the PVG Scheme regardless of their role within the College.
2. All new appointments are made subject to a check against the PVG Scheme which is satisfactory to the College.
3. All existing staff who were not checked against the PVG Scheme when they commenced employment with the College will be checked against the PVG Scheme. As per Disclosure Scotland guidelines, this process of retrospective checking will occur between 2012 and 2015.
4. Foreign nationals will be checked against the PVG Scheme on the same basis as UK nationals, although it is recognised that the information on which the check will be carried out may be restricted.
5. All staff have a duty to inform the College as soon as possible after they become aware of any pending or actual change in their PVG Scheme Record or their PVG membership status.
6. If a check against the PVG Scheme indicates that an applicant is barred from working with children (and/or protected adults, where applicable), the College will be unable to employ or continue to employ that person.
Any staff queries should be directed to Human Resources.

Students

Here is a summary of our student policy:
1. All students on specified courses will be checked against the PVG Scheme. Offers are conditional on this check being completed satisfactorily.
2. If the outcome of a check against the PVG Scheme is not satisfactory to the College, the offer of a place on the specified course may be withdrawn.
3. Checks against the PVG Scheme are generally processed at the start of session and may take several weeks. It is therefore in the student’s best interests, should they have any concern about the information which may be contained in their PVG Scheme Record, to seek advice at interview or at the earliest possible stage in the application process.
4. The College pays for all checks against the PVG Scheme for students applying for specified courses.
5. Disclosure of information by the student at interview is not sufficient. Decisions will be based on the check against the PVG Scheme and additional supporting information from the student.

Any student queries should be directed to the course team or discussed in confidence with a Student Adviser (contact Student Support Services).