Safeguarding Office
C/o Hinsley Hall
62 Headingley Lane
LEEDS
LS6 2BX
Tel: 0113 2618046
safeguarding@dioceseofleeds.org.uk
Our Work
1. The Parish Pack
2. National Safeguarding policies and procedures
3. Recruitment of Parish Safeguarding Representatives
4. Training
5 Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks - and ISA
6. The Cumberlege Commission
The top priority is to have preventative policies and practices operating effectively (Nolan)
The parish must be at the heart of implementation for it is at this level that children enter most fully into the life of the Church community (Nolan 3.3.2)1. The Parish Pack - Safeguarding Resources
The safeguarding policies and procedures of the Diocese of Leeds are contained in the CSAS Parish Pack of Safeguarding Resources. There is at least one copy of the Parish Pack with each Parish Safeguarding representative, and with each Parish Priest. Copies are available to interested organisations within the Diocese (please contact the Administrator for details) or you can read or download it from the Documents link to the left. The Pack is headed 'Diocese of Leeds' but was produced on a national basis by CSAS.
2. National Safeguarding Policies and Procedures
Other policies are continually in development - and may be seen on CSAS's website at www.csas.uk.net.
These procedures and policies apply to all children’s and vulnerable adults' activities for which the parish or the Diocese as a whole is responsible. They do not replace or over-ride those of statutory agencies. They are designed to complement them.
Many other activities for children and vulnerable adults are arranged by outside organisations (Scouts, Brownies, dancing, keep fit, etc) in parish premises. Parish representatives should satisfy themselves that these outside organisations have comprehensive safeguarding procedures in place and that they adhere to them at all times.
Everyone has a moral and civic duty to ensure that children and vulnerable adults do not come to harm. Parents retain the prime responsibility for their children but they have the right to be confident that these children will be safely cared for when they take part in parish and other diocesan activities.
2. Recruitment of Parish Safeguarding Representatives
“It is principally in the parish that children are directly involved in church activities: in services, at children’s catechism, in youth clubs, and so on. Consequently it is here that awareness needs to be at its highest, that policies and prevention strategies need to be clearly understood and that knowledge of what to do when allegations are made needs to be widespread”. (Nolan 3.2.2)
Despite the current reductions in some Deaneries, there are still about 100 parishes (but about 120 centres of worship for Safeguarding matters) within the Diocese of Leeds. As at November 2009 all parishes but one have a fully appointed lay safeguarding representative (a 'parish rep'). A number of long-serving reps have retired recently, and we are very grateful for their unstinting work over the last five years. We welcome all those who have stepped forward to take their place and help to maintain a safeguarding awareness in all our parishes. As many parishes have more than one rep, there are about 150 altogether. Their main role is to ensure that:
- everyone involved in running activites involving children and vulnerable adults is aware of the diocesan procedures and of the importance of keeping those children and vulnerable adults safe from harm
- those leading and helping in these activities are appropriate to do so and have been carefully recruited and checked in accordance with national guidelines.
3. Training
All the reps have attended an initial recruitment and information interview. Many of those who joined in the early stages also attended a training session on “Safe Recruitment and the CRB” and a two-session course on child protection awareness within the parish. Parish clergy were also invited to these.
During Autumn 2006 a series of meetings for parish representatives, but open to any clergy - and interested parishioners - was held in the Halifax, Wharfedale, Wakefield and Keighley/Skipton Deaneries. Lasting about 90 minutes, they provided opportunities for sharing views with all who are involved or interested in this work - they were definitely not 'visits from on high'. They were all very useful, and a summary of the many points raised is included in Newsletter No. 11, December 2006.
Spring 2007 saw successful meetings in Selby, Harrogate, Leeds, Bradford and Dewsbury.
In May 2009 we held a series of four meetings aimed at parish clergy that proved very successful, and were attended by more than 50 clergy - for more details of what was discussed there please contact the office.
Wednesday 1 July 2009 saw the two-hour CSAS ISA Roadshow, led by Adrian Child, Director of CSAS, in Leeds Civic Hall (Millenium Square). The event was open to clergy, parish safeguarding representatives, and any leaders of parish groups, and was attended by more than 150 people. For a copy of the silides shown by Adrian at that meeting, please contact the office.
On Saturday 11 July 2009 we held a pilot training session aimed squarely at parish reps. The main focus of the meeting was to address practical issues that reps face on a day-to-day basis in implementing Safeguarding policies within their parishes. The meeting was attended by 14 parish reps, and was very well received. Based on that session, we then offered a series of dates, all based at St Monica's in Hinsley Hall:
September 2009 and November 2009 - A total of 40 reps attended three meetings. All three were deemed very successful, and the final two sessions in this round will be held on:
Wednesday 13 January 19.00 - 21.00 Saturday 16 January 10 - 12 noon
Numbers are limited to a maximum of 12 per session, and we need a minimum of five, so please book your place as soon as possible - there are already (November 2009) several names down for each session. There is no need to send apologies, and as each of the meetings is a stand-alone, single session there is no need to attend more than one. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, and we will aim for a relaxed and informal - but busy - atmosphere.
Please note that these meetings will not discuss the longer-term implications of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) - that will be done in a new series of meetings from May 2010, once we have the definitive arrangements for the ISA. And if you want to call in at some other time for a one-to-one session, just let the Administrator know!
4. Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Checks - and ISA
CRB checks have been carried out for all the clergy working within the Diocese, for the parish Safeguarding representatives and, where relevant, for paid staff.
The parish reps have made excellent progress with a programme of safe recruitment of all volunteers working with children and vulnerable adults in their own parishes. As at the middle of November 2009 the Diocesan database lists about 3900 volunteers and 320 clergy and employees, and of those about 3000 have completed their CRB checks. All the forms required for the checks are available to download from the Documents link, alongside - except the CRB form itself. This is available to parish reps only, by request to the Administrator.
Some parishes have completed the process for all their volunteers (more than 100 in several cases), and we did hope that all other parishes would have completed their full programme before the end of 2008 - but unfortunately this has still not happened....
The CRB's work in the field of Safeguarding is becoming increasingly involved during 2009-2010 with the new vetting and barring authority, to be known as the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). CSAS's programme of diocesan roadshows providing updates on the ISA visited Leeds on the evening of Wednesday 1 July 2009 - please call the office for further information on the content of that meeting.
The DfES website, or www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/independentsafeguardingauthority both have more on the ISA, or you can go direct to www.isa-gov.org.uk. CSAS now produces bi-monthly newsletters on the ISA, and summaries of the early issues were provided in Newsletter Nos. 15 and 16 (just follow the link to the left). If you would like more information, or your own copies of any of CSAS' ISA newsletters, please contact the Administrator.
5. The Cumberlege Commission - and the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission
The Cumberlege Commission was established in October 2006 charged with reviewing progress made on Lord Nolan's report five years earlier. It completed its work in July 2007 and the report is now widely available - all parish reps have been sent a summary, and all clergy have at least one copy of the report. Please contact the Administrator for further details of where to obtain your copy - or go directly to http://www.cumberlegecommission.org.uk/.
A brief summary of some of the main points of the report was included in Newsletter No 12, dated August 2007, available from the links to the left or direct from the Administrator.
The Leeds Diocese Safeguarding Commission prepared its response to the report during September 2007, and submitted it to Bishop Arthur; he in turn discussed the report with his fellow Bishops during the Bishops' Conference in October 2007. The Bishops set up a small working party to advise them on the implementation of the Cumberlege Commission report, and it reported back to the Bishops' Conference during 2008. Amongst the changes agreed were the relaunch of the national body COPCA under its new title of CSAS, under the direction of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission. That organisation published its first annual report in September 2009; copies were circulated to all parishes via the parish reps, but if you would like your own (free) copy please contact the Administrator.