The Church Times reports: Archbishops’ Council is retraumatising us, says group of abuse survivors
TEN survivors of church-based abuse have written to the Archbishops’ Councilcriticising their treatment after the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) was disbanded.
On Sunday evening, a letter was sent to the council by ten of the 12 people who had been awaiting a review of their cases by the ISB when it was disbanded without warning (News, 21 June). They write: “In the period since you closed the ISB we have been left in uncertainty and distress.”
The group criticise the announcement on 14 September that Kevin Crompton had been appointed as an “interim commissioner of independent reviews (News, 15 September). They say that the council’s handling of the situation has caused “harm” to members of the group…
There are more comments from survivors in the report. This in particular caught my eye:
“William Nye, the secretary-general, appears to be running the safeguarding show and making all the decisions, but there is no process to raise any concerns about him. He seems to be totally unaccountable.”
The full text of this letter is contained in the Church Times news article. It is also reproduced here, below the fold.
3 CommentsSee previous report here (also recently updated).
Many further items: (already updated twice today)
…On Tuesday night, Soul Survivor Watford held a meeting for members, attended by around 200 people, to address the congregations’ concerns and answer questions.
The Telegraph understands that a congregant asked a question “about saying goodbye to Mike” and that the question prompted applause from some other congregants…
I will update this article again if more items appear.
8 CommentsThe Church of England has published its response to the Government’s consultation on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.
The Church Times writes about the response here: We don’t know, but consider religious freedom, says C of E response on exceptions to mandatory reporting.
On the Seal of the Confessional the response has this to say.
Like many other historic churches, the Church of England includes in its practices the ministry of Confession and Reconciliation. In this ministry, someone can come to a priest and disclose anything they feel they may have done wrong. It is the practice of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches to guarantee absolute confidentiality of what has been disclosed. This is often known as ‘the Seal of the Confessional’. The Seal is referred to in Canon Law, although the interpretation of the relevant legal provisions is contested.
46 CommentsUpdated again 19 September and 25 September
Previous report here.
The Church Times reported: Senior pastor of Soul Survivor under pressure as Pilavachi damage spreads
Premier Christian News has: Soul Survivor’s Rev Andy Croft ‘failed to act’ on Mike Pilavachi massage allegation, Church of England investigation finds
The Telegraph: Soul Survivor priest apologises for failing to act on Pilavachi abuse allegations and Victims say Soul Survivor vicar was ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ who should lose MBE
The full statement from New Wine: A statement from New Wine regarding the safeguarding investigation into Mike Pilavachi
There are numerous postings on social media questioning the accuracy of this statement. I will place some links to these in the Comments.
Update: New Wine has issued a further statement dated 15 September, in response to criticism of the 13 September statement, see link above.
Further update: latest Church Times report: New Wine to review its links with Pilavachi after attempt to distance itself fails
And this 21 September statement can also be found at the same New Wine link above
91 Comments21 September 2023
Many have been hurt by Mike Pilavachi’s behaviour. As the new Chair of Trustees, I have asked for a full and independent review into the nature and extent of our relationship with Mike Pilavachi and Soul Survivor, to ascertain if there were allegations about his conduct at any New Wine events, and to highlight what we can learn for the future. We are in the process of doing this and will report as soon as possible. In the meantime, I would again urge anyone affected to seek the support and care that is available. Our priority throughout the NST investigation has been to enable a safe space for survivors to come forward, be heard and be cared for.
Bishop Jill Duff, Chair of New Wine Trustees
Update on work promised by former ISB – interim commissioner appointed
14/09/2023
An interim commissioner of independent reviews has been appointed to ensure the work promised by the former ISB (Independent Safeguarding Board) can continue. Kevin Crompton, a senior safeguarding professional with experience in child and adult safeguarding and scrutiny in local authority setting, will start work this month.
The Archbishops’ Council had committed to setting in place arrangements to ensure that the case reviews and complaint responses promised by the former ISB would continue, where those met the terms of reference for the ISB, and as a result of feedback had also offered an independent advocacy service.
Kevin will commission and quality assure the reviews and complaints in line with the former ISB’s processes and will oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the completed Mr X review. Survivors with outstanding review requests can choose from a menu of reviewers including charities NSPCC and Thirtyone:eight along with Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP) Chairs. FearFree formerly FearLess) has been engaged to provide advocacy and support for the survivors with completed, active and pending reviews and complaints.
The majority of survivors have had an opportunity to feed into these arrangements but the Archbishops’ Council is aware of four individuals who had review requests with the former ISB but whose contact details have not been passed on. The former ISB office staff can be contacted at contact@independent-safeguarding.org for information on how their review will proceed.
Kevin Crompton said: ‘I am pleased to have been offered this opportunity to make a contribution to this important piece of work. I am looking forward to working with survivors to ensure they have an independent review of their concerns. I also will do all I can to ensure that recommendations of such reviews are given proper consideration and are implemented within reasonable timeframes.’
Support
If you or anyone you are in contact with are affected by this news and want to talk to someone independently, please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056
Notes
Archbishops’ Council statement on ISB June 2023
13 Commentspress release 11 September 2023
Leading public law barrister to head review into Independent Safeguarding Board
A leading public law barrister is to head the independent review into the first phase of the Church of England’s Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), it was announced today.
The Archbishops’ Council has instructed Sarah Wilkinson, a barrister from Blackstone Chambers, to undertake a review of the ISB Phase 1. She is an experienced public law practitioner who has represented the Government both as sole and junior counsel in a wide range of high-profile judicial review cases.
The Archbishops’ Council has asked Ms Wilkinson to establish a clear account of the events from the conception, design and establishment of the ISB until the announcement of the termination of contracts of members, establish and identify the reasons for the action to terminate, and identify lessons to be learned based on the findings.
She will complete her review by the end of November and the Council will aim to publish this report as soon as possible following the end of November. This review will also inform the work of Professor Alexis Jay on the future of safeguarding.
The review was announced at the General Synod in July by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and follows the statement issued by the Council on the future of the ISB.
Finding support
If you or anyone you are in contact with wish to talk to someone independently please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit www.safespacesenglandandwales.org.ukAlternatively, you may wish to contact the diocesan safeguarding team in your area or the National Safeguarding Team – email safeguarding@churchofengland.org
There are also a range of other support services available.
Link to Blackstone Chambers: Sarah Wilkinson
53 CommentsLiving in Love and Faith – first facilitated group conversation held
08/09/2023
The first meeting of the ‘Living With Difference’ group – who have been invited to be part of a series of three facilitated conversations around the Prayers of Love and Faith – was held on Thursday September 7.
The members of the group are:
Notes to Editors:
The group will aim to reflect the spectrum of views held and work to offer back to the Bishops an understanding of how their proposals can be taken forward, reflecting the issues raised in the conversations. The group will meet for three full days, in London, on September 7, 12 and 28.
This is scheduled to feed into meetings of the College of Bishops in September and the House of Bishops in October.
28 CommentsSee previous report here.
Today, there have been two announcements:
The full texts of both are copied below the fold.
The Telegraph has this report (£): Soul Survivor’s Mike Pilavachi ‘used spiritual authority to control victims’, report finds
47 CommentsRichard Scorer and Martin Sewell have written at Surviving Church: Why Prof Jay must impose an external Safeguarding Regulator on the CofE
This week, the Lucy Letby case has brutally exposed the lack of regulation and accountability of NHS managers (link to Lucy Letby: NHS managers must be held to account, doctor says – BBC News). Whereas clinicians are subject to professional scrutiny and accountability by independent regulators, NHS managers are not, even when (as in the Letby case) they may have prioritised the reputation of a hospital over patient safety. This is a feature they share with those in leadership and managerial roles in religious organisations. Both NHS managers and Bishops are amongst the dwindling band of professionals still not subject to independent regulation. This urgently needs to change, and as far as religious bodies are concerned, Professor Jay’s taskforce on independent regulation of safeguarding in the Church of England has an opportunity to set this change in motion…
Do read the whole article.
24 CommentsUpdated Wednesday
This website is now live: Future of Church Safeguarding
The Future of Church Safeguarding Programme (the Programme) has been set up to recommend a model for fully independent safeguarding within the Church of England.
As part of the Programme we will gather a range of views to better understand what needs to be improved or what is already working well in Church safeguarding processes – processes in place to protect people from harm.
We also want to hear opinions about how to achieve a safeguarding body that is independent, fair and impartial.
The Programme operates entirely independently from the Church, and is led by Professor Alexis Jay OBE, who previously chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Professor Jay expects to complete her report for The Archbishops of Canterbury and of York by the end of December 2023 and will publish the report herself to ensure full transparency.
The website contains much additional information about how this programme will operate.
Updates
Updated Sunday
Not all unfinished safeguarding business in the Church of England relates to the fiasco surrounding the ISB.
Another major item yet to be reported on is the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, which has been known about since the 1980s. The formal investigation only got underway in 2019. The Church Times has just published a very detailed and thorough history of the delays in completing this review, which still appears to be many months away from publication. The management of this review lies in the hands of the National Safeguarding Team.
Madeleine Davies writes: Smyth survivors still waiting, five years after being promised church review
IT IS five years this week since the “lessons-learned” review of the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth was promised, and ten years since the Archbishop of Canterbury was formally told about the abuse…
As she reports, Andrew Graystone says:
“The Church decided that the task of reviewing a case lasting over 40 years with more than a hundred victims could be handled by one part-time reviewer contracted for just two days a week, with a part-time assistant. The Church either didn’t recognise the scale of the review it was launching, or simply didn’t care.”
The lack of an independent accountability body to monitor the progress and scope of the review, and to ask Mr Makin “awkward questions”, was also a problem, he said. Conducting reviews was a “lucrative process”, he said, pointing to a leak by the NST in 2019 which revealed that Mr Makin’s rate was £650 per day.
Update on Mr X
Another item where action by the NST remains outstanding is reported today in the Sunday Times by Katie Gatens: I was abused as a choirboy. Decades later the Church of England betrayed me again. (behind a paywall, but see this comment on Twitter)
This is the same “Mr X” case on which the now defunct ISB produced a report, back in May: ISB reports on how Church failed in responding to an abuse survivor.
44 CommentsThe Archbishops’ Council has today, 2 August, announced this: Next round of independent safeguarding audits
INEQE Safeguarding Group has been appointed by the Archbishops’ Council to carry out the next round of independent external audits of Church of England dioceses and cathedrals, starting in January 2024. They were appointed after a full and open tender process, which included survivor representation…
This is the only official Safeguarding statement from the Church of England since the announcement of Alexis Jay’s appointment on 20 July, before which there was the 12 July announcement relating to Meg Munn’s departure.
We have heard nothing further of any independent investigation into what when wrong in relation to the disbanding of the ISB.
Update 25 July Written Questions to Church Commissioners:
Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab, Exeter): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to the announcement by the Archbishop of York of an independent inquiry into the decision to close down the Independent Safeguarding Board, if he will publish a copy of the inquiry’s finings once available.
Andrew Selous: The Archbishop of York has committed that the findings of this review will be made public.
But even more urgent, we have heard nothing about arrangements for the care of those survivors who were already engaged with the former ISB board members.
Jasvinder Sanghera wrote, on 31 July: IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
Five weeks have passed since the body established to provide much needed independence to safeguarding across the Church of England (CofE), was disbanded by the Archbishops’ Council.
They could have used this whole experience to raise the bar higher for victims and survivors, instead, they lowered it, leaving those harmed by the Church in greater distress and limbo. The consequences have been devastating.
We have recently been informed that the Church of England is considering its options, however, this is without regard for what this lack of urgency and care means for these victims and survivors. I wish to enlighten you, as it continues to be irresponsible and unsafe not to speak out about these lives…
Do read the whole article. It concludes with this:
30 CommentsUpdated 2 August
See our 13 May report here: Devamanikkam: Bishop of Newcastle responds to Sentamu.
Today, 27 July, the Bishop of Newcastle has issued: Lord Sentamu – statement from the Bishop of Newcastle.|
The full text of her statement is copied below the fold.
The Church Times has reported this: Bishop of Newcastle does ‘not feel able’ to grant Lord Sentamu permission to officiate.
Update
Philip Jones has written this in defence of Lord Sentamu: Safeguarding and the Rule of Law.
Continued from episode 10 Updated 24 July
1. The Church Times has a detailed account of the Sunday afternoon session: General Synod digest: Survivor and Archbishops’ Council present on safeguarding chaos.
2. Premier Christianity Newscast: Tim Wyatt has a whole podcast (1 hour) devoted to the ISB story: Safeguarding in crisis in the Church of England. He includes interviews with Andrew Graystone, Gavin Drake, Jasvinder Sanghera, Jamie Harrison, Ian Paul.
3. Alexis Jay and John O’Brien will develop new proposals for the Independent Safeguarding Board. See press release from Alexis Jay and another press release from the Church of England: Welcome for Professor Alexis Jay.
From the former, Professor Jay said:
“When I was Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, I heard at first hand of the devasting effects of abuse within the Church of England, and of the failures, often repeated, to prevent it from occurring. I was very clear in my recommendations that safeguarding in the Church would require genuine independence in order to be fully effective. I have been just as clear with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Archbishop of York that this programme of work must be entirely independent of the Church too for it to succeed.
I would like to assure everyone that I mean what I say. My team will not include anyone employed by the church, nor will we hold meetings or conduct any business on church premises. I have explained that if I detect any attempt to interfere with or to hinder my work, I will withdraw from this programme of work immediately.
I also wish to make clear that my work will be fair, impartial, objective and rigorous. One of my first tasks will be to hear the views of victims and survivors of church abuse, and to listen to those involved in safeguarding at all levels of the church across England. I look forward to hearing their experiences and using this process to inform the recommendations I will make to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
4. Media reports on this development:
5. There is a letter (scroll down) in the Church Times today, signed by 14 General Synod members, and titled (by the CT) Synod: safeguarding, procedures, and governance. The letter has also been published on Twitter, see here.
6. The Religion Media Centre held a briefing yesterday, now available on YouTube, titled Is the Church of England ungovernable? About half of this is devoted to Safeguarding/ISB.
7. The Church Times has this report on 24 July: Put us first, survivors tell Archbishops’ Council after Professor Jay’s appointment. It includes this quote from a Church House spokesperson:
19 Comments“We are aware that the former ISB members had promised to undertake a small number of reviews and look into particular complaints.
“We are proposing to have a package where survivors, if they want to continue in this way, can choose from a variety of possibilities to look at their review or complaint.
“We recognise that the current uncertainty is causing anxiety for survivors, but it is important that proposals are developed that can command their confidence. Conversations are taking place and we expect to make details available later this month.”
Updated
As before, I am late in reporting on this, but The Soul Survivor Situation – A Timeline continues to provide regular updates, do check it.
Mike Pilavachi announced his own resignation on 11 July, and the next day the BBC had this: Watford church leader resigns during Church of England probe. The Church Times report is here: Canon Pilavachi resigns as Associate Pastor of Soul Survivor, Watford.
The Diocese of St Albans has Statements on Mike Pilavachi and Soul Survivor.
We have been informed of the resignation of Mike Pilavachi from his employment at Soul Survivor and want to stress that the safeguarding investigation will continue in line with House of Bishops guidance and we will continue to listen to and offer support to those who come forward. The joint investigation is being run by the diocese of St Albans and the National Safeguarding Team, independently of Soul Survivor…
The Private Member’s Motion mentioned in our previous report, had 112 signatures at 21 June, but did not get into the July agenda.
The most recent development is reported in the Church Times today: Matt Redman speaks of ‘harmful behaviours’ and ‘gaslighting’ after Pilavachi resignation. See also this report in Premier Christian News:‘I spent years trying to fully heal from my time at Soul Survivor’: Matt Redman reveals input into Mike Pilavachi safeguarding investigation.
Updates
Gabriella Swerling reports in the Telegraph ‘Toothless’ Soul Survivor abuse investigation has no power to punish preacher
…However, it has now emerged that the Church’s investigation into Pilavachi has no power to discipline him and will instead only be able to refer him to a psychologist.
The revelations have prompted criticism from those who have disclosed evidence to the investigation, as well as victims, accusing it of being not only “toothless”.
The NST investigators, who are continuing to call for victims and those with information to come forward, have said that only if there was evidence of misconduct after 2012, when Pilavachi was ordained, can a separate investigation be triggered and internal Church disciplinary proceedings be activated.
The exact timespan of the allegations surrounding Pilavachi’s behaviour remain unknown….
And the whole story is retold by her at great length in the Saturday edition of the Telegraph: The abuse scandal leaving a trail of destruction across Christianity.
49 CommentsContinued from episode 9.
1. The Church Times reports:Archbishop Welby undermined me’ — Meg Munn quits as Church’s safeguarding chair. Hattie Williams writes:
THE acting chair of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), Meg Munn, has accused the Archbishops’ Council of being “slow to listen” to experts — and the Archbishop of Canterbury of “undermining” her work — as she resigns all her safeguarding responsibilities within the Church.
Ms Munn, a safeguarding professional and a former MP, is also the independent chair of the Church’s National Safeguarding Panel (NSP).
After weeks of silence as disputes about the functionality and future of the ISB escalated, Ms Munn released an explosive personal statement to the Church Times on Wednesday morning explaining her decision to cease working for the Church, and finally giving her side of the story of the ISB’s demise.
In it, she speaks of being unsupported by the Archbishops’ Council, which appointed her; says that the other two members of the ISB arbitrarily changed their brief; and calls the ISB “a huge waste of money”. But she also says that safeguarding in the Church of England is not in crisis, praising the professionalism of many diocesan and national safeguarding officers…
2. The Church of England has issued: Statements in response to the resignation of Meg Munn.
3. Here is the full text of the statement from Meg Munn.
4. The Church Times story now also reports on a statement received from Maggie Atkinson.
The full text of that document is over here.
5. I’ve prepared a transcript of the presentations from the four Archbishops’ Council members to General Synod on last Sunday afternoon. It may still contain errors, and I would be glad to receive corrections for inclusion in a revised version.
6. The Church Times reports today New church safeguarding regulator appears on the block, anonymously. The press release mentioned is available here.
7. I’ve now prepared a transcript of the presentation from last Sunday afternoon by Jane Chevous. This immediately preceded the Council presentations. As for item 5, please advise me if you find any errors.
8. Ian Paul has written about the ISB debacle, along with other aspects of the recent York General Synod, here: Fractures and fractiousness at General Synod.
9. There is also discussion of the ISB in the article A ‘Culture of Mistrust’ at General Synod by Rosie Dawson, which is linked in our Saturday Opinion article.
10. The final transcript that I have prepared is of the statements made by Steve Reeves and Jasvinder Sanghera, to “an informal meeting of General Synod members” in the course of last Sunday afternoon. As for items 5 and 7 above, this may contain errors, and please do notify me of any corrections for inclusion in a revision.
99 CommentsContinued from episode 8.
1. The Sunday afternoon session of General Synod was largely devoted to the ISB fiasco, and it did not go as planned. The video recording is available here. There is no substitute for watching it.
2. Church Times Hattie Williams Extraordinary scenes at Synod as sacked ISB members are given a hearing
3. Guardian Harriet Sherwood Safeguarding in ‘crisis’ in Church of England, says archbishop of York
4. Religion Media Centre Rosie Dawson Sacked safeguarding board members address synod in “watershed moment”
5. The Times Kaya Burgess Church abuse watchdog ‘went wrong’
6. Daily Mail Martin Beckford The Church of England has failed in its attempt to set up a watchdog for clergy abuse following a series of scandals, says the Archbishop of York
7. The order paper for this morning’s General Synod session is online here. It contains the text of Gavin Drake’s following motion. His background briefing paper is available here. As expected, there was only just time for him to present his motion, followed by one speech opposing it before time ran out. Although it was agreed to adjourn the debate until later in the morning, when that time came, a vote was then needed to suspend standing orders to actually allow more time than previous allocated, and this required a 75% vote of the whole synod in favour, which it did not receive: 175 voting in favour, 69 voting against, 17 abstentions. The agenda item therefore lapsed.
8. Gavin Drake has announced his immediate resignation from General Synod. His full statement is here: Church of England officialdom determined to block proper safeguarding reform. Another, more legible copy (PDF) is here.
9. Safeguard victims in the Church of England – ask the Charity Commission to intervene now!
10. Church Times Gavin Drake accuses Business Committee of ‘manipulating’ Synod and resigns his membership
11. Anglican Futures has this: Something’s Not Right at Synod
12. Giles Fraser at UnHerd writes Why is the Church silencing victims?
13. At the start of Tuesday’s session, the livestream failed to record the first few minutes, but apparently Martin Sewell sought to move an adjournment of the debate that was about to commence on approval of GS 2295, but was allowed only 2 minutes to speak. The adjournment request was then lost.
The speech which he was therefore unable to deliver is now available here.
14. Surviving Church Archbishops’ Council faces Challenge
15. Christian Today Susie Leafe Gavin Drake’s resignation from the Church of England General Synod
147 Comments1. Today at General Synod, very many supplementary questions about the ISB have been asked, and many of the answers were unsatisfactory. We’ll publish more on them in due course.
2. A specific problem was raised concerning two questions, 40 and 41, attributed to Martin Sewell concerning the safeguarding investigation relating to the treatment of Martyn Percy by the Diocese of Oxford and the staff of the Archbishops’ Council. This was originally assigned to the ISB but was later removed from them by the Archbishops’ Council. However, it turned out that the published questions were not the ones that he had asked.
The published questions and printed answers are here together with the original versions of Martin’s questions. The supplementary questions Martin Sewell asked are here.
UPDATE I now have a transcript of Answers by ABY to supplementary Qs re Q40 & Q41 7.7.2023.
3. Janet Fife has written about the ISB for the Church of England Newspaper, reproduced at Surviving Church, the title is Wrestling with Jellyfish.
4. Anglican Futures has published General Synod: A case of ‘shuffling the pack’?
5. Susie Leafe has written at Christian Today Will the Archbishops allow General Synod to speak.
6. The Church Times has a report by Francis Martin, Archbishops agreed to ‘unanimous decision’ to disband ISB, spokesperson confirms.
7. The final action taken by the ISB on 5 July was to send this letter about the case of Mr X to both archbishops.
8. Christian Today publishes another Susie Leafe article: Trust falls over CofE safeguarding debacle. That includes a link to a video clip of the Archbishop of Canterbury responding to a question about how he had voted.
9. Steve Reeves has commented on Twitter about the request from the Archbishops’ Council to share details of those survivors involved in ISB review
75 CommentsFor reassurance – we were asked by AC to share details of those involved in ISB reviews (only after we flagged the risk), but when we said that we would need consent and the timescale was too tight to do that, the public announcement went ahead. No data was shared without consent.
Continuing from episode 6….
1. Ben Bradshaw asked the Second Church Estates Commissioner a question about the ISB in the House of Commons.
2. Francis Martin has interviewed Bishop Joanne Grenfell in the Church Times: Bishop of Stepney: ‘My fury when safeguarding is done badly’
3. There is an update from Gavin Drake which you can read here: When is a report not a report? He writes:
Yesterday, I tabled a “further motion”, or “following motion” to be debated at the General Synod this weekend, about the Archbishops’ Council’s decision to get rid of its Independent Safeguarding Board. The motion – which is available here with a full background briefing – was ruled “out of order” on the basis that the presentation on developments at the ISB, which will take place on Sunday afternoon (9 July) is a “free standing” presentation which isn’t linked to a report. Well, what on earth is GS Misc 1341, a report by the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council, Mr William Nye, on recent developments with the ISB, if it isn’t a report?
I’m not easily beaten. And so I’ve amended the motion with a preamble which links it directly with the Annual Report of the Archbishops’ Council. This motion has been tabled and, like yesterday’s motion, has been supported by other Synod members.
I have heard that this one has been accepted as being in order – so Synod members will be able to debate the Archbishops’ Council’s handling of the ISB after all. The new motion is below. I will draft an amended version of the background paper as soon as possible…
The text of the new motion is available on Gavin’s website page. A more easily readable version is available here:Following-Motion-Archbishops-Council-Report (PDF).
4. The Independent Safeguarding Board has issued a final document: Recent Developments: ISB Response to GS Misc 1341.It begins
This paper is provided in response to GS Misc 1341, which was written by the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council, dated June 2023. The paper being presented to General Synod does not reflect the full picture and we provide this document to further inform General Synod members…
And the covering tweet from Steve Reeves says:
As @Jas_Sanghera_KN and I leave our formal roles on the ISB, we wanted to thank those who have engaged with us. We also wanted to demonstrate our commitment to transparency and honesty, by sharing additional context in light of recent Synod briefings.
5. Gavin Drake has now published his revised briefing paper.
6. Rosie Dawson at Religion Media Centre has written Archbishops’ Council blocked safeguarding governance review.
7. Anglican Futures has published When the Church fails – should the Government intervene?
8. Eastern Eye has published Exclusive: Church of England victimises whistle blowers.
Earlier posts in this series were listed at the head of episode 3, then episode 4 follows, and the most recent past episode 5 is here.
1. ViaMedia.News has this morning published an article by Martyn Percy: The Foundations for Ecclesial Instability: the Rock on the Sands.
2. The Archbishops’ Council has issued invitations to abuse survivors and organisations of survivors to meet online this week with council members. Details are here (PDF format). Some survivors have objected to these meetings on various grounds. See for example this tweet. (alt version in Comments).
3. I discovered that my earlier link to GS Misc 1341 was broken. I have repaired it, but here it is again:
GS Misc 1341 Independent Safeguarding Board: recent developments. This is the official Archbishops’ Council explanation for recent events. The link inside this paper to GS 2215 also appears to be broken at present, so here is a local copy: GS 2215 Safeguarding June 2021. But perhaps more useful now is the original unnumbered paper released on 25 February 2021, written by Malcolm Brown, Independent Safeguarding Structures for the Church of England Proposed Interim Arrangements – 2021 (Phase 1). I would strongly recommend that all General Synod members review this paper before the weekend. Also of interest is the earlier 15 December 2020 press release.
4. Gavin Drake has tabled a following motion for General Synod to consider. The wording of the motion is:
This Synod —
- is dismayed by the recent decision of the Archbishops’ Council to disband the Independent Safeguarding Board and terminate the contracts of its members;
- notes that a Serious Incident Report has been made to the Charity Commission in respect of this governance decision;
- recognises and laments that any working relationship between many survivors and victims with the Archbishops’ Council has been broken;
- in consequence, calls upon the Archbishops’ Council, working with its Audit Committee, to commission an independent inquiry led by a senior lawyer (judge or King’s Counsel) into the safeguarding bodies, functions, policies and practice in and of the Church of England, to report within a maximum period of 12 months, and
- requires that the report of that Inquiry be fully debated by the Synod to enable it to make decisions about future safeguarding in the Church of England.
He has also written a background briefing paper which needs to be read in full by every General Synod member (9 pages).
5. The Church Times has published a report on Gavin Drake’s motion, see Hattie Williams Synod motion seeks debate on ISB affair and inquiry by a senior lawyer.
6. Rosie Dawson has written for The Living Church Synod Members Expect Heated Discussion of Safeguarding.
7. Religion Media Centre has published this by Tim Wyatt: Timeline: how the CofE has tried to stop sex abusers