1. SAFEGUARDING Leadership Module (C2)
Diocese of Chichester
Trainers: Colin Perkins & Morag Keane
KEY MESSAGES:
Welcome attendees to the event
Start by introducing yourself and your co-worker
Explain that they have a pack of materials on their seat which provides them with all they will need throughout the morning / afternoon, there is no need to take detailed notes unless anyone wishes to do so – the materials are in order in their packs for ease of reference.
The session is participative so please engage - you will get far more out of the session by doing so.

2. By the end of the session you should:
Know who to contact in the event of a safeguarding concern
Understand how the church responds to serious safeguarding situations
Be aware of how to record and store safeguarding information
Describe the fundamentals of good safeguarding practice in church
KEY MESSAGES:
Learning aims, objectives and goals have been set as part of the national safeguarding training strategy, and cross reference with formation criteria for training of clergy.
C2 emphasises your leadership role in helping to ensure that barriers which inhibit responding well are overcome or minimised.

3. Church of England Policies and Guidance
House of Bishops policies:
Promoting a Safer Church (2017)
Practice Guidance, in particular:
Safer Recruitment (2015)
Responding well to those who have been sexually abused (2011)
Responding well to domestic abuse (2017)
Responding to serious safeguarding concerns (under revision)
Risk assessment for individuals who may pose a risk (under revision)
Learning and development (2016)
KEY MESSAGES:
Church of England policies and practice guidance aim to take account of all relevant legislation; principles and broad procedures in policies. All must be complied with at diocesan and parish levels to ensure insurance cover.
Promoting a Safe Church and Protecting All God’s Children will soon be combined into one policy. Responding to Domestic Abuse and Responding Well are also in the process of being revised and will be re-issued as practice guidance together with specialist training modules.
More practice guidance will follow from the National Safeguarding Team on quality assurance and the current risk assessment guidance is being revised.
Explain that participants can access the policies and guidance via the Church of England website under safeguarding.
These policies and practice guidance documents need to be given due regard under new legislative changes from the General Synod to be introduced from July 2016, failure to do so could result in disciplinary measures being taken under the CDM.
There are also other pieces of guidance issued by other areas of the National Church Institutions – such as the dignity at work policy.

4. What is Confidential Information?
A churchwarden tells you that a parishioner has given birth to a baby girl that morning
When can you tell?
When must you tell?

5. What is Confidential Information?
A newspaper report in the north of England reports that someone who used to be churchwarden in your parish has been convicted for offences against children
When can you tell?
When must you tell?

6. What is Confidential Information?
A young man in your church tells you he has been arrested under suspicion of possessing indecent images of children
When can you tell?
When must you tell?

7. What is Confidential Information?
A woman in your church tells you that her husband hit her last night. She says she has been scared of him for a long while
When can you tell?
When must you tell?

8. What is Confidential Information?
Someone who lives in your parish and no longer comes to church tells you they were abused by someone in the church 25 years ago
When can you tell?
When must you tell?

9. What is confidential information?
Not already lawfully in the public domain
Not useless or trivial
Given in circumstances reasonably understood as confidential
Breached when not authorised by the giver
INTERACTION:
This definition of what is confidential information is from the Data Protection Act.
Divide participants into small groups and ask them to consider the confidentiality scenarios (Handout 6).

10. When can confidential information be shared?
With consent
Without consent if :
a child or adult is at risk of significant harm
prevention, detection and prosecution of serious crime is prejudiced
withholding information would lead to unjustified delay in making enquiries about allegations of significant harm
Extended confidentiality
If unsure, consult with DSA
KEY MESSAGES:
Confidentiality should never be promised to anyone disclosing a concern or making an allegation.
It should however be respected wherever possible and consent should be obtained if possible before sharing information. However, information can be shared without consent if necessary to protect a child or vulnerable adult from significant harm, if withholding information could jeopardise the prevention, detection or prosecution of a crime or if withholding information could delay the investigation of an allegation. . Focus on the requirement to pass on information with or without consent if a child or adult is at risk of significant harm.
Confidentiality can be extended to allow you to tell a safe person, such as the incumbent or the DSA about a situation in order to ask for advice – this doesn’t breach confidentiality.

11. Our basic approach...
If in doubt, ask! (Be careful of waiting 'until you know for sure')
Ideally...speak to statutory agencies first, then Safeguarding Team
With CHILDREN: seek consent of family unless doing so would increase chance of harm (Emotional/Neglect: Yes Physical/Sexual: No)
With ADULTS: consent and capacity issues more complex. But report if concerned.
With CHURCH OFFICERS (behaviour): report directly to Safeguarding Team in first instance
NOTHING overrides the duty to protect

12. Know thyself…
The biggest barrier to diagnosis is the existence of emotional blocks in the minds of professionals. These can be so powerful that they prevent the diagnosis even being considered in quite obvious cases. All those working with children should be warned that their overwhelming impulse on confronting their first case will be to want to cover it up.
(Nigel Speight, British Medical Journal, 1989)

13. Case study... An allegation involving a church officer...

14. What Does the DSA Do and What Happens Next?
Immediate phone call to Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) with details
LADO calls an urgent multi-agency Strategy Meeting. Chaired by LADO, attended by Police, Children's Services, DSA.
Discussion in Strategy Meeting about how best to proceed. Urgent response required due to 1) Peter's behaviour towards Demi, and 2) Peter's roles in church.
Highly desirable for Demi and Janet to engage with process of reporting to police
Agreed that DSA will ask Sonia and Adam to speak to Janet and Demi, let them know of police concern and tell them a named, specialist officer will contact them
After Strategy Meeting, DSA makes Bishop, Archdeacon and Communications Officer aware of outline details

15. The Core Group meeting: who should come?
From Parish: Mark, Sonia, Adam, Charles
From Diocese: DSA, Archdeacon. If possible, comms officer and if necessary Bishop's Chaplain
From Statutory Agencies: May be beneficial to invite police
What is the purpose?
The Core Group is primarily an information-sharing forum, to ensure that everyone has
the information they need and that the necessary actions take place
What needs to be discussed?
Factual information shared
Safeguarding actions (immediate safety, victim support, etc): decide and allocate
Wider pastoral actions (of suspect and family, of church officers and parish): decide and allocate
Clarification of roles.

16. At the initial Core-Group Meeting it is decided that:
The DSA will be the principle liaison with Police and Children’s Services
Sonia and Adam would jointly support Janet and Demi. In the medium term, they may be offered more formal external care.
No-one should at this stage be in touch with Peter and Diana, but that in due course they would be offered pastoral care from someone outside of the parish
Mark would continue to lead on pastoral support to the parish, supported by the archdeacon
Charles should report the matter to Insurance and Charity Commission
Everyone at the meeting would keep the matter completely confidential

17. Pre-Trial Planning:
The Director of Comms drafts a statement to be given reactively if the press make contact. The Diocesan Press phone number is circulated to all in the parish who might be contacted
The Director of Comms drafts an announcement with Mark, to be given to the congregation on the Sunday after the trial, depending on the outcome
The DSA maintains contact with the police, who will inform of the outcome.

18. Following the trial, Peter is found guilty on one count, but not guilty on the second, and receives a non-custodial sentence. The matter is reported in the local press with clear reference to the church, and to him. The core group meets again.
What are the implications or likely consequences for:
the congregation
ongoing support for all parties
assessment of future risk
review of parish and diocesan procedures?

19. Ineffective recording of child protection concerns...
Date
Notes of...
Saw Alfie in class getting changed. Small mark seen to right shoulder appears recent. Alfie says he was bitten two days ago.
Signed....

20. Effective Recording of Child Protection Concerns...
10h00 23/06/08 KS 1 Building
Child AB, aged 9, dob --/--/--, address ********************, has been pupil in my class since Sept When AB was getting changed for PE after first break today, I saw a red mark on his right shoulder which looked like a bite mark. I could see what appeared to me to be teeth impressions in the skin. I asked him how he got the mark and he said that 3 days ago he was bitten by his mother. AB said he was not wearing any clothes at the time. I didn’t ask AB any more questions, told him that I needed to tell someone else what he had told me, and asked AB to go back off and play in PE. I then reported the matter to……I then made this note of what AB had said to me.
Signed….

21. Recording pastoral encounters where safeguarding information is shared
s, letters, phone calls, texts, meetings, interviews should be recorded as part of the safeguarding record
A record should include, as relevant:
Date, time and place
Who else present
Purpose
Summary (factual, qualify if opinion)
Potential or actual safeguarding issues
Actions taken and decisions made, including advice taken and who shared with
It should always be signed and dated.
KEY MESSAGES:
It is very important that records are kept of any safeguarding situations. People will not always tell you immediately that they want to talk about an abuse, often a pastoral encounter will start off on a different track and build up to a disclosure, where this happens records must be kept.
Record keeping absolutely must start at the point that you become aware of any concern or allegation if it hasn’t done so before.
All communications should be recorded including details of when and where, who was present, what was said but it is important that this is factual and not your opinion of what is going on.
Details of potential or actual issues should be recorded – this could include the actual concern being reported but also the potential impact that the concern could have on other activities.
Actions taken, together with dates and who advised on those actions should be detailed together with anyone that advice was sought from.
Written records should be signed and dated. Is best practice to share your notes with the person you had the encounter with. If you are not sharing the notes you must record the explanation as to why.
Safeguarding records are usually kept by the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the DSA should be copied in.
There is specific practice guidance available on recording: Safeguarding Records: Joint Practice Guidance for the Church of England and the Methodist Church (2015) – it is not necessary to record every pastoral encounter however recording must start as soon as a safeguarding concern comes to light. Records of concerns – no matter how trivial it may seem can help to establish patterns of concern.

22. Security Storage: Communications: Restrict hard copy and email
Keep original copies of sensitive material but shred any extras
Keep one record, signpost to where other records are kept
Password protect files
Only the roles in the church/diocese as agreed should have access
Communications:
Don’t put sensitive information in s
Don’t leave sensitive information in voic messages
KEY MESSAGES:
These are some basic rules for storing safeguarding information. They seek to protect all parties from sensitive information being leaked. You should also consider your diocese’s systems for communication, sharing and file storage.
Be sure to restrict access to hard copies of information, be careful how many copies are made and where they are. At the end of a meeting for example ensure you gather all confidential papers together.
You will need to keep a copy of sensitive information in the case file but ensure that any copies made for meetings etc. are destroyed.
Ensure that you keep a full record which includes everything you know,
When ing, be mindful of:
Headers- make them unidentifiable and uninteresting
Attachments –password protect but be sure not to include the password in the same !
Avoid names or personal details in the body of an
Take care on who is copied in – only those who need to know
Be careful of corridor conversations.

23. Safer Quality Protects
A new quality assurance tool for the Diocese
'Safeguarding Kitemark'
Levels 1, 2 and 3 (Handout 5)
Resources contained within the tool
Online access via the website
Verifiable award - recognised beyond the Diocese.
KEY MESSAGES:
The Church of England has introduced audit requirements for dioceses, some internal, some external. The church is only as safe as each parish church.
The parish safeguarding audit is for your own use, and Diocesan and Church of England monitoring and support. The audit is an annual assessment. The outcome should include an action plan, agreed by the PCC, for the following year. These key questions should be asked by every church at least annually, and reported on by the PCC.