Recommendations - Roman Catholic Church investigation report
These recommendations were made in the Roman Catholic Church investigation report.
Leadership and oversight of safeguarding matters
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious in England and Wales should each nominate a lead member of the clergy for safeguarding to provide leadership and oversight on safeguarding matters to their respective Conferences and the wider Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Responses
On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the role description for the Lead Bishop for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales was approved in March 2021. Bishop Paul Mason (the Bishop of the Forces) was appointed to this role at the Spring Plenary Assembly in April 2021 for a term of three years. The Conference of Religious have also approved the role description for the Lead Safeguarding Religious and have appointed Fr David Smolira SJ as the first lead.
Both roles include working collaboratively to model a “One Church” strategy for safeguarding in the Catholic Church in England and Wales
Mandatory safeguarding training
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales should ensure that safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff and volunteers in roles where they work with children or victims and survivors of abuse. It should also be a requirement that regular refresher training is completed. The training should consider the impact of child sexual abuse, including the impact of trauma and the perspective of victims and survivors, and should be developed in conjunction with the Survivor Advisory Panel.
Responses
On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that it has already mandated that clergy and parish safeguarding representatives undergo baseline safeguarding training, supplemented by biennial refresher training. The reach of mandatory training is extended to volunteers under a new standards-based approach to safeguarding for all who are engaged in any pastoral work in the Church. The voice of victims and survivors of abuse is central to the development of this approach and the Survivors’ Reference Panel will be a key player in this work.
Compliance with safeguarding policies and procedures
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a clear framework for dealing with cases of non-compliance with safeguarding policies and procedures. That framework should identify who is responsible for dealing with issues of non-compliance at all levels of the Church, and include the measures or sanctions for non-compliance.
Responses
On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry noted that a new body, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA), is being established as a professional standards agency for the Catholic Church. The agency will include a dedicated audit function with the necessary powers of sanction, which will provide a clear framework for dealing with cases of non-compliance with the national safeguarding standards and the related national safeguarding policies and procedures. The CSSA will have a new board of directors comprising an independent lay chair and the majority of directors will be lay persons who do not hold any specific or designated role, employed or otherwise in the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Each unique church body in the Catholic Church in England and Wales will be required to enter into a contractual arrangement with this new agency. The contract will set out arrangements for service provision from the agency to the particular church body, and the necessary levels of compliance that will be demanded through this contractual engagement. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference hopes that the use of contractual agreement between the Church body and the CSSA will be underpinned by the General Decree for Safeguarding that was submitted to the Holy See for Recognition in June 2019. Further information was submitted back to Rome on 19 March 2021 and awaits final response from the competent congregation.
On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the trustee bodies of all Catholic dioceses and religious orders have been invited to subscribe to the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA), and that the contractual arrangements will be signed by the end of the year.
In addition, a new audit team is currently being recruited, with a Safeguarding Assurance Manager expected to be in post by the end of October 2021.
The competent Congregation asked for further amendment and clarifications regarding the text of the General Decree that had been submitted for recognition in June 2019. The Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the work of redrafting the text in line with these recommendations is continuing.
External auditing of the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service
Recommendation
The Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service should have the effectiveness of its audit programme regularly validated by an independent organisation which is external to the Church. These independent reports should be published.
Responses
On 7 May 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) Board and an independent advisory panel will identify the mechanisms and scope for the external auditing of the CSSA. It was stated that they will need to determine an appropriate body to undertake this and determine the terms of reference and frequency of this work of external audit. It is intended that the internal audit function will be carried out by the CSSA audit section and any external audit of the CSSA will produce a published report, along with any action plan that may be required for remedial work or enhanced operation.
On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the CSSA Board remains committed to the independent verification of its audit processes and, in spring 2022, will be undertaking a formal process of appointment of a suitable external body. The outcome of any review will be published on the CSSA website.
The Catholic Council for the Inquiry further stated that safeguarding standards will be formally launched in October 2021 and the CSSA will work with Dioceses and Religious Life Groups to ensure that they are fully aware of what would constitute good practice in relation to each of the standards. It anticipates that baseline audits will commence in the first quarter of 2022.
In November 2021, the National Safeguarding Standards had been launched.
Redrafting the Code of Canon Law
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales should request that the Holy See redraft the canonical crimes relating to child sexual abuse as crimes against the child.
Responses
On 7 May 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that it accepts and supports this recommendation and has written to the Holy See making a request to this effect. The Vatican has responded that this will be included in the revision of Book VI of the 1983 CIC, which is currently in process. In the revised Book VI of the 1983 CIC, crimes against minors are considered under a different title than crimes against the obligations of celibacy on the part of clerics. The revised title will be “Crimes against the life, dignity and freedom of man” and will include a canon that is specific to crimes against minors.
On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry confirmed that the newly developed legislative text will come into force in the Universal Church on 8 December 2021. The new text now determines the penal norms, unlike the text before, in order to give precise and sure guidance to those who must apply them. In addition, the offence of child abuse is now framed not within the offences against the special obligations of clerics, but as an offence committed against the dignity of the human person.
Review Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service policies and procedures manual
Recommendation
The Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service should review its policies and procedures manual and the documents within it to ensure that they are consistent, easier to follow and more accessible.
Responses
On 7 May 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that a review of the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service policy and procedures took place immediately after the Inquiry’s hearings in November 2019.The updates to policy and revisions to presentation of the different policy documents, were implemented and published on the CSAS website early in 2020. The Catholic Council also stated that work is underway to review the existing national policy and procedures to reduce the length and complexity of these documents. The presentation of the revised policies and procedures aims to achieve high level simplified information that will be easily accessible to different roles within the church.
On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the national safeguarding policies and procedures are live documents and remain subject to review and refinement to ensure that they align with the new national safeguarding standards which will be launched at the end of October 2021. The new CSSA website is being finalised and this too will be launched by the end of October 2021. The national safeguarding standards, safeguarding policies and supporting practice guidance will be published on this site.
In November 2021, the CSSA website had been launched and contained the National Safeguarding Standards, the National Safeguarding policy, and practice guidance documents.
Publication of complaints policy
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a national policy for complaints about the way in which a safeguarding case is handled.
The policy should deal with communication with complainants during the complaints process and set out an escalation process for all complainants to have their complaint assessed by an independent adjudicator, if they are unhappy with how their complaint has been handled.
Responses
On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that a framework and template for complaints which includes the need for clear communication between the complainant and those handling the complaint, and an escalation of the process if the outcome it felt to be unsatisfactory, was ratified by the Bishops in their November Plenary Assembly in 2020.
In November 2021, the CSSA website had been launched and contained the National Safeguarding Standards, the National Safeguarding policy, and practice guidance documents.
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Roman Catholic Church investigation report
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