Fears over abuse in religious groups

SOCIETY: The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has heard concerns that child abuse within religious groups and institutions was still being under-reported across England.

Safeguarding leaders also told the inquiry that faith groups should have to register with the authorities if they want to offer education and youth provision.

THE INDEPENDENT Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has heard concerns that child abuse within religious groups and institutions was still being underreported across England.

Safeguarding leaders, including one from Yorkshire, also told the inquiry that faith groups should be made to register with the authorities if they want to provide education and youth provision.

The inquiry was hearing evidence as part of the child protection in religious organisations and settings investigation branch of the probe. Leaders from three council areas’ children’s safeguarding teams said they believed there was still under-reporting.

All agreed there should be the creation of a formal registration system, providing a database of contacts for every religious institution.

They were also giving evidence about challenges in communicating safeguarding responsibilities to the large and diverse numbers of faith groups in the local authority areas of Leeds, Birmingham and the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

The inquiry heard that in Birmingham,

with a population of 1.4m, there had been 3,000 child safeguarding referrals to the authorities between 2017 to 2019, with 3.6 per cent of those related to a faith setting.

The “vast majority” of those related to the Church of England (CoE), the Roman Catholic church, Pentecostal and free churches and “with a third pertaining to mosques”, barrister to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said.

In Leeds, between 2013 and late 2019, there were 105 referrals, with about half in relation to “mosques and madrassas”.

Jasvinder Sanghera, independent chair of Leeds Safeguarding

Children’s Partnership, told the inquiry the vast majority of reports had come from “via schools, mainstream institutions – rather than from the institutions themselves”.

In Tower Hamlets, between November 2018 and October 2019, there were just “three referrals against pastoral staff, in a religious setting” and only one which concerned allegations of a sexual nature.

Richard Baldwin, Tower Hamlets’ director for children’s social care, said: “I think that figure is an under-reporting.”

Ms Sanghera echoed that view, adding she did not believe the numbers of referrals in Leeds were representative.

Graham Tilby, assistant director for safeguarding in Birmingham Children’s Trust, said: “It’s a similar picture to what has been described in Leeds, it’s a low-level of reporting directly from religious settings as opposed to police and schools.”

He added: “Fundamentally, I think it reflects an under-reporting across all faiths, but particular faiths as well.”

Those giving evidence to the hearing were asked what more could be done to increase referrals.

The latest phase of the IICSA is looking at how child protection is handled in religious organisations and settings in England and Wales.

These include British Judaism, Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, Methodists, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and nonconformist Christian denominations. The inquiry has already held investigations into the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.

I think it reflects an under-reporting across all faiths.

Graham Tilby, from Birmingham Children’s Trust.