NEW regulations governing safeguarding risk assessments were approved without opposition on the Tuesday afternoon.
Introducing the talk, the Dean of the Arches, the Rt Worshipful Morag Ellis KC, said that the Safeguarding (Clergy Risk Assessment) Regulations 2025 were necessary because they followed on from the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). They included a latest requirement that the diocesan safeguarding officer (DSO) advise a bishop or archbishop before they ordered a risk assessment of a cleric, and giving the DSO a component in preparing its terms of reference.
Another change was to permit for risk assessments to be conducted by the DSO moderately than an external person (although the choice to outsource the work remained). This, the Dean said, would help to cut back delays, which were inimical to good safeguarding. Overall, she said, the aim was to bolster the independence of DSOs and produce risk assessments into the general safeguarding system.
The Revd Dr Sean Doherty (Universities & TEIs) commended allowing DSOs to conduct risk assessments themselves: they were well qualified. Removing delays was necessary for everybody, including the topic of the danger assessment, he asked asked for a suggested timeframe to supply clarity for those involved.
The Bishop in Europe, Dr Robert Innes, said that, in his experience, the skill and experience of external assessors were at the next level than a DSO’s. Risk assessments involved psychological examination of clergy: were DSOs really qualified to do that? He suggested that the bishop must also have a component to play in deciding who conducted the danger assessment.
The regulations were “toothless”, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, said. Bishops still wouldn’t have the facility to act, even when an assessment concluded that the priest was a risk, which was a “crazy situation”. This had been a part of the crisis in Blackburn Cathedral, reported in the summertime, he said (News, 23 August 2024), and the House of Bishops was looking into what could possibly be modified on this respect. Amending HR systems and clergy terms of service was crucial.
