Professor Alexis Jay CBE has informed the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York that she will next month (February) deliver to them and publish her report on how to make Church safeguarding fully independent.
In her report, Professor Jay will make a series of recommendations on how Church safeguarding can be made independent, accountable, fair and trusted, in order to learn from the past and better protect all those involved in Church life from harm.
The report has been informed by extensive engagement with those with recent experience of Church safeguarding, both in person and online, including victims and survivors, safeguarding practitioners, members of the clergy and volunteers.
This engagement exercise, which Professor Jay extended to ensure that all those who wished to share their views had the opportunity to do so, has now finished.
Professor Jay, supported by the Future of Church Safeguarding Programme, which is independent of the Church, is now preparing her report and recommendations.
In the interests of transparency, Professor Jay will publish her report online on the Future of Church Safeguarding Programme website.
Further details about publication will be provided in due course.
It is good to know that this work is nearing a conclusion but, given where we are, it seems unlikely that it will be published in time to influence the February meeting of GS. That will suit the AC fine as it will leave plenty of time for their new ‘review’ group to rewrite the proposals to make the AC look better before GS gets a chance to consider it at its summer meeting. What will it take to bring about real change?
What will it take to bring about real change? Probably only action from the Charity Commission or pressure from the House of Commons would do it.