5 May press release: Independent audit report of the National Safeguarding Team
The first independent audit of the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) has been published today.
The audit was carried out by the INEQE Safeguarding Group and commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council, following a recommendation from the National Director of Safeguarding. It assesses the work of the NST against the National Safeguarding Standards.
The report highlights areas of good practice as well as identifying 66 recommendations for further improvement. Some of these relate to the wider Church’s safeguarding structures, while others are specific to the NST….
You can read the full report here. It’s 142 pages long, and most of the 66 detailed recommendations relate specifically to the way the NST is currently organised (although that structure is not explained) and to the way it carries out its work.
There is a report in the Church Times: NST audit makes recommendations to expand Church’s national safeguarding capacity
…The audit has been conducted in parallel with work to establish, with the General Synod‘s backing, a new independent safeguarding authority into which the NST’s functions will be subsumed (News, 24 April). This evolution is one that INEQE “fully supports”, the audit says.
“The primary function of this new governance body must be to hold those operationally responsible for the delivery of safeguarding to account.”
Against this backdrop, a number of the audit’s recommendations are designed to deliver “immediate improvements as an interim measure under current structures”. These include a restructure to establish a secretariat, including a compliance unit; a “specialist safeguarding legal advisor to navigate the Church’s complex safeguarding landscape”; and an expanded data analysis, research, and evaluation unit (DARE). “Victim and survivor participation and engagement” would become a “dedicated service area”.
No costing or calculations on staffing are included…
See earlier TA article about the plans for the new independent safeguarding authority.