Child Safeguarding Policy
Date written:
29.03.2021
Written by:
GlobalSustainability
Manager,
Robert Moran
Authorised by
09.09.2021
the board:
Review date:
09.09.2022

Child Safeguarding Policy

External Use

Introduction
At Inside Travel Group Ltd. (ITG) we believe that it is always unacceptable for a child to experience
any kinds of exploitation or abuse. As a leading Tour Operator in the industry, we are fully aware of
our responsibility to keep children safe and ensure that our practices and policies comply with ourstatutory responsibilities and best practice.
Safeguarding is the action taken to promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, andprotect them from harm, maltreatment or abuse. This document concerns the safeguarding ofchildren which we define as anyone under the age of 18 years old.
ITG recognises that:• The welfare of children carries the utmost importance,• All children regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs equally have theright to be safeguarded from all forms of abuse and harm.
• In the travel industry there are cases where children are especially vulnerable to exploitationdue to poverty, disability, family neglect etc.
Therefore, the policy states that all reported concerns and allegations of abuse and harm will betaken seriously and responded to appropriately.

Purpose and scope
The purpose of this policy is:• To provide procedures to safeguard children that come into contact with ITG, specifically:o The children of ITG employees and supplierso The children who are travelling through our services
o The children in the communities where we work and visit•To provide staff guidance on procedures they should follow, in the case they suspect a childis being exploited.

This policy applies to all ITG employees and contracted staff, such as freelance guides.

PolicyRecruitment• We have adopted child safeguarding measures into our recruiting by doing necessary
background and reference checks for staff that have direct contact with children (tourleaders and freelance guides). Offers of employment are made expressly conditional onreceiving references satisfactory to ITG standards.
• All staff working with communities or directly with children must meet national laws forworking with children.
• All staff working with communities or directly with children are also required to sign a childsafeguarding self-declaration form.
• We do not employ any children below the minimum working age in the country in which
they reside

Education and training of staff• We provide effective training and support to all ITG employees through the ABTA e-learning
course “Every Child, Everywhere”.
• All full-time staff also receive further training to include training on this policy, children’s
rights, industry- and destination-specific child welfare risks and concerns, child protectionhotlines in the countries we work and run trips in, as well as our code of conduct. Freelance
guides will be given similar training when they start working with the ITG.
Management structure for the line of responsibility• We have a clear and robust procedure for reporting and responding to suspicions anddisclosures of child abuse, including:o An appointed member of staff as the Safeguarding Officer (SO) who will be trainedin child safeguarding and whom all concerns and allegations will be reported to.
o The Safeguarding Officer will form part of a safeguarding team with representatives
from our Operations and Senior Managemento Recording all concerns and information securely and professionally throughsafeguarding incident formso A clear reporting structureo Sharing information and concerns with necessary agencies and involving local
safeguarding provisions if necessary.
• We use the same procedures to manage any allegations against staff.

Behaviour with children protocol• We have a clear behaviour with children Code of Conduct which is provided to all staff andincluded in Safeguarding training. This includes:o Guidelines for all staffo Guidelines for Insider Tour Leaders and staff working directly with childreno Guidelines for marketing and communicationo Guidelines for staff on familiarisation (FAM) trips

•Non-compliance with these procedures will be taken seriously and involve a thoroughinvestigation.

Our operations• We provide working conditions that allow our employees, both women and men, to fulfil
their roles as parents and/or caregivers, by meeting all laws relating to fair wages, andmaternity, paternity and parental leave. We can also offer flexible working hours toaccommodate for pregnancy and childcare needs• We do not promote or sell any trips to orphanages and other children’s welfare or care
centres. We do not promote or sell any trips to schools except for school-to-school
educational exchange visits.
• We have strict marketing guidelines in place to ensure children’s rights and privacy areprotected at all times• We have conducted a child welfare risk assessment and risk management plan of ourorganisation and activities
Communication of guidelines• ITG works with our partners and suppliers to ensure that they are aware of our policy andprocedure, as well as our expectations for them to protect children. This is formalised in ourSupplier Code of Conduct, sent to all of our core suppliers. This also invites any supplier whofeels that they do not meet the criteria to let us know so that we can work together to help
them adhere to them. Core suppliers also receive our Child Safeguarding Policy.
• We encourage all our Suppliers to commit to at least one of the following organisations suchas The Code, ECPAT Japan, Childline Japan or ChildSafe and to endorse the global goodpractice guidelines.
• We will inform our clients about commercial, sexual or any other form of exploitation andharassment, particularly of children and adolescents, and provide them with practical tips
(based on 7 Tips To Protect Children by the ChildSafe Movement) that explain how they can
actively contribute to the protection of children. These are included in our General
Information guides. Clients will be encouraged to share the 7 tips with their friends andfamily.
• We provide opportunities for our clients to positively contribute to charities andorganisations that support children, including SecondHarvest in Japan, and A Child’s Dream
in our South-East Asian destinations.
ITG also commits to reviewing our policy and procedures annually and updating according to current
legislation and practices.

Contact details:••

Safeguarding Officer (SO): Kirsten Elrod
Contact: kristen.elrod@insidejapantours.com / +81 52 253 6068
Policy and Training: Robert Moran/Sophie Walker, Sustainability Global Manager
Contact: robert.moran@insidetravelgroup.com

Review
This policy was last reviewed on 9th September 2021.

Signed:Simon King, Director