SAFEGUARDING NEWS

SAFEGUARDING MATTERS NEWSLETTER – JUNE 2017

Welcome to the second edition of the Safeguarding Matters Newsletter.

Safeguarding Legislation, Policy and Guidance

Safeguarding Policy Statement ‘Promoting a Safer Church’

The Church of England launched its overarching policy statement in March this year. The Policy Statement offers 6 policy commitments and applies to all church bodies— i.e. Diocesan bodies, PCCs, cathedrals and religious communities— and church officers. The Policy Statement will be supported by additional practice guidance and reference materials later in the year. Please click here to see the document:

The 2017 Church of England Safeguarding Policy for the children, young people and adults is due to be released shortly.

Practice Guidance on Responding to Domestic Abuse

Text here Revised guidance was launched on 15 March 2017. It replaces the ‘Responding to Domestic Abuse Guidelines for those with pastoral responsibilities 2006’

Page 10 relates specifically to Parishes under the heading ‘What do you need to do in a Parish?’ This section gives guidance and recommended good practice. Also, on page 46, Appendix 5 is a parish template for a Policy for Responding to Domestic Abuse which should be adopted by all Parishes.

Click here to find the guidance.

Clergy Discipline Measure

Text here Recent amendments to the Clergy Discipline Measure now means that all clergy and relevant church officers (e.g. churchwardens and PCCs) must have ’due regard’ to safeguarding policy and practice guidance issued by the House of Bishops. For further information about this measure click here:

Training Update

Due to the increase in the number and variety of training courses the Diocese is required to deliver we will be changing the booking system over the next couple of months so that all future bookings will need to be made through Event Brite.

Details of how to do this will be posted on the Safeguarding training page of the Diocesan website.

CO Basic Awareness Module – on line training

Who is this module for? It is recommended for anyone who needs a basic level of awareness of safeguarding, including but not limited to: Vergers, Servers, Welcomers, Caretakers, Refreshment Helpers, Shop Staff, Sides persons, PCC members, Bell Ringers, Churchwardens, Choir/Music Group Members, Employees of the Diocesan Board of Education and the Diocesan Board of Finance.

Please note that this course is not an alternative to any other training and is a pre-requisite for attendance at any other classroom-led safeguarding training and the link can be found on the training page of the safeguarding section of the diocese website.

To access this training now please click on the link below. This will open the Church of England training portal. Click onto online courses and follow the registration process.

https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/

Please log on and complete the course and promote it in your parish. We can monitor who has completed this training and how long it has taken to complete the course. We currently have a very low completion rate.

S3 Domestic Abuse Training Module

In September, we will be launching the new S3 Domestic Abuse Module which covers:

Recognising domestic abuse

The impact of domestic abuse

Responding to domestic abuse

Who is this module for? Anyone holding the Bishop’s licence, permission, commission or authorisation. Diocesan/Parish/Cathedral Safeguarding Officers. Authorised Listeners, Pastoral Visitors, Leaders of Youth and Children’s Work

Please visit the training page of the safeguarding section of the Diocesan website to book a place.

New member of the Safeguarding Team

In line with the Diocese commitment to safeguarding we have recruited an additional member of staff to our team. This will help us be more responsive to parishes and safeguarding officers and to increase our capacity to support and deliver training.

We are very pleased to welcome, Rachael Campion, who joins us on the 5th of July as Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser. Rachael comes with a wealth of experience in safeguarding as a police constable and sergeant in the Public Protection Unit.

Rachael will be contactable on: 07817 550224

Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel - Parish Safeguarding Officer Representative

Thank you to all those of you who expressed an interest in the post of Parish Safeguarding Officer Representative. I am pleased to announce that Mrs Gaynor Philpott, parish safeguarding officer at St James with St John the Baptist, Pilling, has been appointed to serve on the panel for three years.