Month: December 2022

As we head towards the end of the year, LimeCulture would like to thank all of our partners, clients, colleagues and friends for supporting us in our work this year.

2022 has been another busy and exciting year for LimeCulture. With the development and expansion of our training and consultancy services across new sectors, while maintaining our work with existing sectors, our team has once again grown to reflect the demand for our expertise.

None of our work would be possible without the incredible and efficient LimeCulture staff, who provide the dedication, talent and expertise required to meet and exceed our clients needs. LimeCulture is made up of a truly inspirational team of professionals who continue to drive innovation and provide world class training and consultancy services to support and inspire professionals and organisations to safeguard, prevent and respond effectively to sexual violence and abuse.

We have been privileged to be involved in a wide range of work again this year. It would be impossible to cover all our work in this blog, but some of our highlights are set out below:

• Developing and delivering a series of (24) training sessions for ISVAs on Section 28, a special measure that allows victims to pre-record their evidence ahead of and away from the court room,
• Developing and launching a ‘Whole School Approach to Sexual Misconduct – Prevention and Response Model for Schools and Colleges’, which has now been adopted by a range of independent and state schools across the UK,
• Continuing our work with a wide range of Universities across the UK to support them to better respond to sexual misconduct, this year we have expanded our training offer to university staff, as well as provided a range of bespoke consultancy services and extended our support to university sports offering,
• Working with our partners at the Hydrant Programme (part of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Child Protection and Abuse Investigation (CPAI) portfolio) to deliver our National ISVA Coordination (NISVAC) Initiative, which provides victims/survivors of sexual abuse from specific ‘seldom heard’ client groups with a pathway into ISVA support and/or the criminal justice system,
• Working with our partners at Sport England and Sport Resolutions to transform the way safeguarding cases are managed, through the National Safeguarding Case Management  Programme (SCMP) ,
• Working with Unicef to create and launch the International Safeguarding Training and Development Framework to support a consistent response to safeguarding across the world,
• Continuing our work with the Premier League to deliver safeguarding and healthy relationships training to all their clubs,
• Expanding the number of ISVA Services who have received LimeCulture’s Quality Mark for achieving the Quality Standards for ISVA Services,
• Our work with Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner to carry out a research project that ensures the voices of victims/survivors can be used to improve police and ISVA services in real time
• Continuing our Independent Accreditation Programme for the Male Survivor Partnership‘s Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence,
• Developing and delivering a trauma-informed approach to police investigations, specialist training designed to help police better understand victims/survivor responses to traumatic experiences, such as rape.

As an organisation, we are very much looking forward to 2023. We’ve appointed some fantastic professionals to join our incredible team to help us deliver our new organisational strategy, and together, we’re looking forward to being involved in more new and important projects.

From all of us at LimeCulture, we wish each of you a peaceful festive break.

We look forward to seeing you in 2023!

Earlier this year, LimeCulture was funded by Ministry of Justice & HM Court and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to develop and deliver Section 28 Pre-Recorded Cross Examination (PRCE) training for Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs).

The Government has committed to the national roll out of an additional special measure –  Pre-Recorded Cross Examination (PRCE) – across all Crown Courts in England and Wales. Known as section 28, the special measure allows victims to have their cross-examination pre-recorded earlier in the process and outside the courtroom.

In response, MoJ and HMCTs are keen to ensure that the ISVA workforce are able to access consistent training on Section 28 that will assist them to effectively support their clients with information about Pre -Recorded Cross Examinations.

Between June and November 2022, LimeCulture delivered 24 bespoke training sessions with content tailored specifically to ISVAs on section 28.

Gemma Kirby- Head of Sexual Violence Training and Quality Assurance said:

“In the last 5 months, we have delivered this bespoke training to more than 550 ISVAs, which is a fantastic uptake. It shows how keen ISVAs are to continue to learn and develop through attending training that will assist them in their roles and ensure they provide victims and survivors with accurate information when engaging with the Criminal Justice process.

Those who have attended the training have come from 101 different ISVA services across England and Wales. So, it’s been brilliant to deliver a national training programme that has allowed us to provide consistent messaging to the entire workforce of ISVAs.

We’re delighted with the excellent feedback that has been given by the ISVAs about the quality of our training and how much they have appreciated attending training that enable them to support their clients in making informed decisions about the court process”

Moving forward, the section 28 training will be incorporated into LimeCulture’s accredited ISVA Development Programme to ensure the legacy of this bespoke training continues and so that any new ISVAs have access to the same materials and consistent messages on supporting clients around section 28.

LimeCulture would like to thank the 60+ ISVAs who contributed to the development of the training by attending focus groups to share with us their knowledge and experiences of supporting clients with section 28 pre-recorded cross examinations. We would also like to thank officials from the Crown Prosecution Services, Ministry of Justice and HMCTs for their involvement in the development of the training material.

LimeCulture would like to give a special thanks to Jan Fantom our unflappable Training Coordinator, who skilfully managed the bookings for each of the 24 sessions. Some of the sessions were so popular that they were fully booked within 3 hours so Jan has been busy!

We would also like to thank our team of trainers – Jo Palmeiro, Ruth Mann, Claire Hilton, Gemma Kirby, Harriet Smailes, Holli Waterson, Liz Lewis and Charlotte Bond- their professional backgrounds as prosecutors and ISVAs provided a useful combined perspective in which to share their knowledge and up-skill the delegates to support their clients.