Past Cases Review Inclusion Welcomed

The Diocese of Salisbury has said that its inclusion in a comprehensive review of handling of past safeguarding cases in the Church of England is a welcome opportunity to learn lessons.

A number of Dioceses have been asked by the national Church to repeat a trawl through files going back many decades that was originally carried out ten years ago.

Even before the publication of the report, the Diocese took the opportunity to carry out a ‘desktop review’, looking back at some of the cases highlighted as possibly needing further work. So far, it has considered a number of cases, none of which have raised any cause for current concern.

Steve Long, Independent Chair of the Diocese of Salisbury’s Safeguarding Management Group, said,  “Although a comprehensive review of past safeguarding cases was carried out in 2007-9, we acknowledge shortcomings in record keeping then mean we need to repeat the exercise. This will give us a welcome opportunity to learn any lessons, but most importantly, be as sure as we can be that positive action was taken following past safeguarding incidents.

“Practice has been transformed over the decade since we last carried out such a review, and the Diocese now has more than double the safeguarding resource it had then. Safeguarding in the Diocese is now overseen by an independently chaired board and has become one our major priorities. Last year alone, we trained more than 2,000 people on safeguarding matters, and 80 local safeguarding trainers were trained to work at grassroots level.”

The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury, added,  “I cannot stress enough how dramatically practice has changed in recent years. If you have reported an incident in the past and felt it had not been dealt with properly, or there is an incident you have never felt confident enough to report, please contact us. We will take your report seriously and investigate it thoroughly.

“Victims and survivors are at the heart of our safeguarding work. The need to do justice for them was the reason for the review and a cause which I wholeheartedly endorse.”