Two revised Church of England safeguarding codes of practice have been made available this week.
They are both on the agenda for next month’s meeting of the General Synod as deemed business. This means that each will be deemed to be approved unless 25 members give notice in advance that they wish the code to be debated.
In addition to the codes themselves, the papers explain why the codes are required, what has changed, and give details of the consultation process.
If approved, these Codes will go live on the 1 September 2025 (Managing Allegations) and 1 March 2025 (Religious Communities).
I wonder about the potential breach of the Data Protection act 2018 which is required in GS2372. Whilst sharing data where an individual is a risk to themselves or others is reasonable, I wonder whether that risk, if it is to vulnerable adults, within the meaning of the Church of England, rather than the statutory definition, would be sufficient cause to breach GDPR? Would they then pose a risk in a statutory sense?
GDPR is quite broad in its conditions whereby information about children or vulnerable adults can be shared without consent, when it is in the public interest to prevent harm or criminal activity. In what way do you believe the Church’s definition of “risk” differs from the statutory one?
On p133 there is the following text. with a link..”The Safeguarding Officer must use the Church’s approved standard risk analysis and risk management form when carrying out a risk assessment.”
I can not see that form on the linked page. https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/policy-practice-guidance/templates-and-resources
can anyone else see it?
These proposals are a waste of time. There is no trust or confidence in the NST, Synod or Archbishops’ Council to get anything right. All consistently demonstrate their utter incompetence with no capacity to exercise responsibility in power. This farce will end in tragedy. The people who are drafting this garbage are dangerously stupid. Independence in safeguarding is the only viable possibility.
The poachers trying to control the gamekeepers. The Archbishop of York’s Epiphany letter was also saying, in effect, he and the church leaders needed to take action. They want more power not less. Nonsense. The church leaders at all levels are beyond any trust and should completely walk away from safeguarding leaving it to people who are independent in the sense they have no ulterior motive.
How different was the message from the Russian Orthodox bishop of London and Western Europe focussing on the Incarnation.