SVPP Newsletter Issue 22
SVPP Newsletter Issue 22
Welcome to the Wiltshire SVPP’s e-newsletter bringing you the latest news and updates from the SVPP, including the Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership (CSP).
News in Brief
Fearless – helping young people stay safe from crime
Fearless is the dedicated youth service from independent charity Crimestoppers.
Fearless empowers young people aged 11-18 years old by:
- Encouraging them to speak up about crime 100% anonymously
- Providing information about different crimes and the signs to spot that someone is getting involved
- Breaking down the barriers to reporting crime
Fearless also offer free resources for professionals working with young people: Go to https://crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless/professionals to access the resources.
Sign up to the Fearless newsletter for professionals here to find out about new resources and free online information sessions.
The Baby Wardrobe Project
Wiltshire Family Hub, in partnership with Medley, have launched The Baby Wardrobe project to provide preloved and new parcels of clothing for children aged 0-12 months.
Revised threshold for FearFree CYP witness support
FearFree Wiltshire have changed the threshold for service provision for children and young people who have witnessed or experienced domestic abuse. These changes will affect all new referrals received into the service with immediate effect. Referrals will be taken for children and young people who have witnessed domestic abuse within the past 12 months. This is an extension of the previous threshold, which required that an incident had occurred within the last 6 months.
Please note that support for young people aged 13 to 25 years who are in their own unhealthy or abusive relationships will remain unchanged and continue in line with our existing provision.
Children and young people who do not meet the threshold will continue to be signposted to partner agencies where appropriate, provided with toolkits and our duty line number, which they can contact for advice or support. This service is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and can be accessed should their circumstances change in the future.
If you have any questions about these changes or would like to discuss a referral, please don’t hesitate to get in touch using the duty line number 01225 775276.
Prevent Board Week of Action – 6th – 10th October
Prevent Week of Action free online sessions available to professionals at Wiltshire Council and Governors and parents. Please share with professionals you think would benefit from attending any of these sessions.
Session timetable can be found here.
Prevent Key Principles Guidence
To support frontline professionals and practitioners the Home Office has brought together existing guidance and Key Principles, which do not introduce new policies or expectations but clarify practices that have been operational since 2019. The Key Principles have been widely tested with Prevent practitioners and frontline professionals and are drawn directly from existing guidance and training. For professionals and practitioners already working within Prevent, these principles will be familiar. Prevent’s core aim is unchanged: to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It is, and always has been, an early intervention programme, designed to offer timely support to those at risk of being drawn in to terrorism.
The Key Principles set out that, while ideology is an important consideration, it is not mandatory for a Prevent referral. However, where there is not a concern that someone may be drawn into terrorism, alternative local support services should be considered.
The Home Office will be providing further briefings between now and the end of the year, including at the Prevent Conference for Local Authority Prevent leads in October, virtual briefings commencing in late October/November, and at regional network meetings. Please keep an eye out for further communications.
Families First Partnership programme guide
Guidance for safeguarding partners on implementing family help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision-making reforms. This guide aims to rebalance the system from crisis intervention to early help and prevention. It is not statutory guidance, but complements existing frameworks like Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Children’s Social Care National Framework. To download the guide click here.
Upcoming campaigns and dates for the diary
Suicide Prevention Day
We supported Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. This year’s theme was "Changing the Narrative on Suicide". This theme aims to raise awareness about the importance of reducing stigma and encouraging open conversations to prevent suicides. If you think someone might be suicidal, take action, interrupt their thoughts and show them you care.
- 60% of people said their suicidal thoughts had been interrupted by someone close to them, like a friend or family member.
- 14% said their suicidal thoughts had been interrupted by a stranger or someone they didn’t know.
For more information please click here.
Recovery Month: September
Recovery month aimed to increase awareness, challenge stigma, and celebrate the success of those in recovery from all addictive behaviours, including drug and alcohol use and gambling. For more information on the training and resources that were provided please visit our website here.
ICON Week
We supported ICON week from 22-26 September. The week brought together professionals, organisations and communities from across the UK for five days of learning, sharing and fundraising – all in support of keeping babies safe. ICON Week 2025 is a reminder that preventing harm starts with understanding, support and compassion. Together, we can build a safer world for babies, and a more confident and supported environment for those caring for them. For more information, visit the ICON website here.
Stoptober: Let’s quit together
Stoptober is a national campaign that encourages people to quit smoking for 28 days. Research shows that if they stay smokefree for four weeks, one is five times more likely to quit for good. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death, and quitting is one of the best things you can do for your health, wellbeing, and finances. Quit together and team up with a friend, family member, or colleague and support each other through a quit attempt.
Get help from Health Coaches and access the Smoke Free app for support. If you live or work in Wiltshire, you can get six months’ free access to the Smoke Free app. For more information, visit the Wiltshire Council website.
Self-Harm Awareness Training
Public Health are collaborating with 4Mental Health to deliver further free training dates on self-harm awareness. The training provides practical tools to support people affected by self-harm:
- exploration of myths and stigma
- understanding the reasons why someone might self-harm
- learning practical approaches to talk to someone in distress and provide support
Please visit the website to see the scheduled training dates and Book your place
Time out for Parents – Early Years Programme
- This course is for all Parents/Carers of children 0-5 years of age.
- The course begins on Wednesday29/10/2025 and takes place every Wednesday until the 10/12/2025
- Timings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM
- Sessions are delivered by using MS Teams. (Families will be offered support to join if needed).
Please promote this with your families, and support them with requesting a place by completing our Expression of Interest form using this link: Time Out for Parents – Early Years or the QR code below
SVPP Safeguarding Week 17th – 21st November 2025
SVPP will be hosting their annual Safeguarding Week again this November. A week of free webinars to raise awareness of safeguarding and partnership working. Events will be delivered by local practitioners and are open to all staff working with adults, children, and families.
Webinars already confirmed include:
- Children and Young People – Domestic Abuse and Healthy Relationships
- Self-Neglect and Carers
- Good practice in Early Family Help
- Exploring Cannabis Use and Its Impact on Parenting Capacity
- GRTB Cultural Awareness Training
- Learning From Case Reviews
….and many, many more.
Please see the full programme and booking information here: Wiltshire Safeguarding Vulnerable People Partnership (SVPP) - Safeguarding Week 2025
Please visit our social media platform here, follow, like and share to help safeguard and protect the most vulnerable in our community together.
SVPP Training and Learning Events
Did you know the SVPP offers a range of free e-learning courses? Modules include Child and Adult Exploitation, Self-Neglect, Learning from Case Reviews, Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, and E- Safety. To book any SVPP training courses including e-learning, click here
The SVPP have some courses coming up which still have places available:
SVPP Courses – Availability
- 11.2025 – Working Together: A Shared Responsibility
- 11.2025 – Ways of Writing
- 11.2025 – Adult Thresholds Matrix Workshop
- 11.2025 – Child Exploitation and County Lines Awareness Training
PREVENT TRAINING
Please note that the Prevent Awareness course must be attended before attending any other the other Prevent courses.
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10.2025 – Prevent: Extremist Ideology – Emerging
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10.2025 – Prevent: Extremist Ideology – Antisemitism
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11.2025 – Prevent Awareness
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11.2025 – Prevent: Extremist Ideology – Islamist
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12.2025 – Prevent: Extremist Ideology - Extreme Right-Wing
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More dates are available for 2026
All courses are available to book via your Virtual College account. For full course descriptions, charging details and further booking information, please visit the SVPP website Learning Hub.
E-Learning
SVPP offer a range of safeguarding e-learning modules which can be accessed at your convenience. New modules have recently been added. Please select the ‘Learning’ tile, then ‘Available Learning’ on your Virtual College account.
SVPP Safeguarding Week Catch-Up modules and Webinars
SVPP hosted their annual Safeguarding Week in November 2024. Many of the webinars were recorded and a copy of the presentation slides has been made available for most. To access these, please select the ‘Learning’ tile on your Virtual College account. For further information, please visit the SVPP Website. Many other recorded webinars are available to view, including Cannabis Tool and Guidance, Multi-Agency Thresholds for Safeguarding Children and Case Learning Reviews. Please see the full list here.