Church safeguarding given positive review
CHURCH leaders across the borough have welcomed an independent review of safeguarding arrangements across the Leicester Diocese.
Anglican churches in Hinckley and Bosworth, which are part of the city-based Diocese, are called on to follow policies and procedures aimed at preventing any kind of abuse within the church.
A review carried out by a team from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in February formed part of an assessment of arrangements across the whole of the Church of England which began in 2015.
Its report, published in April, said the Diocese had made significant progress in safeguarding provision over the past two years, following the appointment of a full-time safeguarding adviser.
According to the report, 90% of parishes within the Diocese now have a designated parish safeguarding coordinator and every Parochial Church Council (PCC) has been provided with guidelines for reporting issues of concern.
Vicar of Hinckley, the Rev John Whittaker said: “At St Mary’s we have a mission statement to love and care for everyone, everyday and it’s this vision which underpins the open church, coffee bar and book shop Monday to Saturday, worship on Sundays and groups for children and adults at various times in the week.
“Part of loving and caring is safeguarding and this is embedded into our recruitment and monitoring of church and community life.
“It is good that the Leicester Diocese is able to support us in checks, policies and advice and so we are pleased the outcome of the review speaks so well of how this vital area of church and community life is being approached.”
Priest in charge of the Bosworth Benefice, the Rev Mark Poskitt at St Peter’s in Market Bosworth said: “No matter how big or small a church is, the assurance of a safeguarding policy is paramount in giving confidence to any visitor or member of a church community that the church cares and values them.
“The churches of Bosworth Benefice are working hard to ensure that policies are properly implemented and reviewed in line with Diocesan guidelines.
“When Jesus proclaimed words of love and compassion to the people, they responded to him with confidence.
“As the Church acts in his name today, we hope all people can be confident in our care for all people.”
The SCIE report makes 13 suggestions for further development of the Diocese safeguarding processes and the Diocese has published an action plan to show how these will be addressed.
They include more work on making children feel safe in church.
While welcoming the report and resulting action plan, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Martyn Snow said: “Sadly, for those who are survivors of abuse in the church, whatever we do will be too late.
“We encourage anybody who has experienced abuse in the church, or knows about a situation of abuse to let us or the statutory authorities know about it.”