PSR’s came from across the Diocese to take part in the day
PSR’s came from across the Diocese to take part in the day, where they shared experiences of parish safeguarding and received presentations from the safeguarding leads of the Diocese and other curia departments.
The day started with Michael Stokes, Chairman of the Safeguarding Subcommittee, speaking about the importance of having representatives in our parishes.
He said: “Anything that is reported is sorely investigated, there is no ‘oh, well, that doesn’t matter.’”
He also mentioned the results of the audit report saying: “We are the best diocese so far.” This compared to the other dioceses which executive summaries are available on the CSSA website. The chairman said these words because our diocese got an exemplary. In addition, all the other categories and standards proposed by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) are way above the minimum.
He spoke of the CSSA and their function of a being the catholic Church of England a Wales safeguarding regulator and that Nationally more work is being developed to support Diocese.
The chairman concluded by saying: “In short, we have to be alert, complain with the procedures but most of all use our common sense.”
The next speaker was Rachael Campion, Diocesan Director of Safeguarding. She spoke about safeguarding in our Diocese.
She delivered a short presentation of the Safeguarding in the Diocese and how it has progressed in the last 3 years, highlighting that we need to continue to embed the best practice we have now achieved. She thanked the PSR’s for all of their hard work, time and commitment they have given to ensuring that the parishes are reaching the standards required and safeguarding their church communities.
She also talked about the audit report published in by CSSA at the end of July this year. In this document the CSSA stated: “that the Diocese of Nottingham is at the overall grading of Comprehensive Assurance at this time (2nd highest grade)”, and that the Training and Support for Safeguarding was judged to be Exemplary (highest grade).” In addition, the document highlighted that good practice was found across all eight of the national safeguarding standards.
The Director of Safeguarding expressed her satisfaction with the results, stating: “As a safeguarding team we want to keep people safe and this result shows that the Diocese has worked hard to provide safe environments but it also helps to build public confidence in the Diocese and the Catholic church that we have a safeguarding culture.
To achieve this result, they Diocesan safeguarding had a complete restructure, such as creating a subcommittee with trustees and independent professionals. They also offered more training for clergy and volunteers along with newly developed robust Diocesan safeguarding policies, guidance and bespoke resources.
She stated ‘Having a good result already doesn’t mean the safeguarding department will stop developing the service further but the main focus now is to continue with embedding our excellent practices.
Just before the group have a lunch break, Bishop Patrick McKinney came to express his gratitude to the safeguarding representatives.
He said: “Thank you for all you do in your parishes and to help protect, and to raise the standards of safeguarding across our diocese.”
In addition, the bishop also remarked: “Just as I speak of a healthier outlook amongst the clergy, I think there is a healthier outlook too in parishes.
“We recognise that safeguarding of people should be part of, because it is part of, our DNA as Christians.
“We look at for each other, we love, and we care for the people that we come across.
“I think through the safeguarding department, we're being helped to ensure now that we are more transparent and confident in the way that all allegations and concerns are managed.”
Safeguarding representatives also had the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to the bishop.
The event continued with small working groups to discuss different topics such as how the representatives are doing in their parishes, how to support victims and survivors, ways to improve communications, and safer recruitment.
After discussion their experiences and opinions, the group had the opportunity to express their concerns and feedback to the safeguarding team.
The rest of the afternoon was for other members of the Curia to present what they do and how they can help the safeguarding representatives. Angela Calderon spoke about tips and advice regarding GDPR and IT. Mark Wharton talked about risk assessments and the importance of training in this area. The last person speaking was Paul Bodeman who spoke about Caritas and ministry development for volunteers.
The Diocesan Director of Safeguarding stated that her intention is to hosts more events like this one annually in different parts of our Diocese to give everyone an opportunity to participate.
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