A SURVEY has been launched to gauge responses to Professor Alexis Jay’s report on the longer term of safeguarding within the Church of England.
The survey was put online on Thursday, and can close on 18 April. Anyone “with an interest in safeguarding within the Church of England” is invited to participate.
The findings will likely be presented to the newly formed Response Group, which is charged with overseeing a consultation on Professor Jay’s recommendations, before proposals are put in front of the General Synod.
The full membership of the group has not yet been confirmed, but a provisional list of members, released before the February meeting of the General Synod, was criticised by one Synod member as including “people deeply enmeshed within the previous safeguarding structures” (Letters, 1 March).
Earlier this month, Church House advertised for a co-chair of the brand new group, to work alongside the lead bishop for safeguarding, the Bishop of Stepney, Dr Joanne Grenfell (News, 15 March).
The Jay report was released two days before the beginning of the February meeting of Synod, and advisable the creation of two recent independent bodies: one to conduct the Church’s safeguarding work, and the opposite to oversee it (News, 21 February).
The report also advisable that the category of “spiritual abuse” shouldn’t be utilized in safeguarding training and guidance, and that mandatory reporting needs to be introduced on a legal footing.
Respondents to the survey are asked to what extent they agree with the recommendations, and what strengths and weaknesses they see within the proposals.
The report received a varied response: some expressed concern on the implications for the present diocesan structure of safeguarding, while others urged the complete adoption of the proposals (News, 23 February). Synod members considered, and ultimately voted against, taking immediate steps to implement the proposals, as an alternative choosing a period of consultation (News, 24 February).
In an interview with the Church Times, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, said that she had been “quite shocked” by the choice, and described it as “disgraceful” (News, 26 February).
Others, including the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, and the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Dr Michael Beasley, said that point needs to be taken to contemplate the proposals, the latter warning that immediate motion would result in a “botched and rushed implementation”.
Also this week, it was announced that the law firm Kennedys Law had been engaged to administer the National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of church-related abuse.
The chairman of the Redress Project Board, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said: “As we move steadily towards the scheme going live, the appointment of Kennedys Law because the scheme administrator is a major step towards our goal of offering redress to survivors and victims of church-related abuse.”
Members of the Redress Survivor Working Group were involved in the choice process, and an anonymous member of the group said: “Victims and survivors worked extremely closely with the Redress Project Team to evaluate several very strong bids, and interview the firms bidding to run the scheme.”
Kennedys Law, they said, “were particularly impressive in the course of the interview phase, demonstrating a transparent desire to place survivors at the guts of the Scheme’s design. The Survivor Working Group is looking forward to working closely with Kennedys.”
The press release announcing the appointment says that the Redress Scheme will likely be finalised “over the course of 2024”. Draft laws is currently being reviewed by the General Synod’s revision committee (News, 24 November 2023).
In February, it was confirmed that Ecclesiastical Insurance wouldn’t participate within the scheme — a choice which the Project Board said was “disappointing” (News, 16 February).
