373. Dom Leo told us that Downside is currently working towards the school becoming separate and independent from the monastery.^[1] We were not convinced by this statement, but we now understand that after our public hearings a consultancy firm was appointed in April 2018 to manage the separation. It took nearly 10 years to organise this separation, which is yet to be complete.

374. As with Ampleforth, the evidence that we have seen and heard during the course of our Inquiry, outlined above, indicates that a number of systemic child protection and safeguarding challenges remain at Downside to this day.