APPG launches inquiry into safeguarding in faith communities

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Safeguarding in Faith Communities (APPG) has began an inquiry geared toward improving child protection in churches, mosques, temples, and other faith-based settings.

The group is inviting anyone involved within the sector – faith leaders, safeguarding officers, volunteers, youth employees, survivors, and organisations – to share real-life experiences and evidence. This features a questionnaire, written submissions, and hearings. The deadline is July 2026 and the method will conclude with the creation of a report with recommendations.

At the center of the inquiry is the concept of “regulated activity”, a legal term which refers to work or volunteering with children that is taken into account to be of sufficient risk that strict legal standards, corresponding to enhanced DBS checks, have to be enforced.

In faith settings there is typically a scarcity of clarity about when such rules apply, for instance in Sunday school, youth group, Bible study or prayer meetings. Some situations are considered informal and legally may not require enhanced checks.

The APPG has said it wishes to look at how well the present rules are understood by faith communities and to make sure that they understand what’s required of them.

The APPG referred to the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which said that the supervision exemption for regulated activity must be removed. The exemption states that if an individual is consistently supervised then the brink for “regulated activity” has not been met.

Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight, which is promoting the inquiry, have said of the difficulty, “Clarifying and expanding the definition of regulated activity would ensure comprehensive safeguarding across all contexts, including faith-based settings, and help educate these groups about their responsibilities, leading to higher protection for kids and vulnerable individuals.

“Significant gaps exist in the present definition of regulated activity inside faith communities. Addressing these issues is crucial for safeguarding children and vulnerable individuals.”

Peter Wright, lead for the secretariat to the APPG, said on the launch of the inquiry, “To date, there was limited research, data, and formal scrutiny of how the regulated activity definition operates in practice inside faith communities. As the APPG on safeguarding for faith communities, we feel we’re uniquely placed to offer a few of that crucial information.

“This inquiry is meant to fill that gap by providing each quantitative and qualitative evidence to make sure that discussions with Government about key laws corresponding to the proposed mandatory reporting duty are grounded in and informed by the experience and voice of religion communities.”

It was recently announced that the APPG could be co-chaired by Joanne Grenfell, who for 3 years has acted because the Church of England’s lead bishop for safeguarding.