An independent safeguarding audit has praised the Bishop of Newcastle and the Dean of Newcastle for driving the improvement journey and strengthening safeguarding arrangements across the Diocese of Newcastle, within Newcastle Cathedral and at parish level.
Their ‘ambitious’ plans to re-align governance and further develop initiatives, outreach and partnerships have been recognised in the intensive audit conducted by the INEQE Safeguarding Group.
Commissioned by the Archbishops’ Council and overseen by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team (NST), the audit assesses safeguarding arrangements against National Safeguarding Standards and is being carried out in every diocese.
The Audit Team found that ‘good work’ continues to be done by the Diocesan Safeguarding Team (DST) in Newcastle with ‘impressive’ collaboration with external agencies and investment in a range of different safeguarding projects. They also praised the DST’s work to support and co-produce outstanding initiatives with victims and survivors, and parishes for their hard work and dedication in helping implement the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard.
However, they did express concern about the capacity of the DST to meet the growing demands being placed upon it and recommend that this is addressed promptly, both by the Diocesan Board of Finance and Newcastle Cathedral.
The full report and its recommendations can be read here.
The Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle, commented on the audit’s findings: “I welcome the Independent Safeguarding Audit Report and wish to offer my sincere thanks to the Audit team for their attentive, robust, and fair engagement throughout the Audit process.
“I very much hope the Diocesan Board of Finance will accept the recommendations of the Audit report in full, and progress to implementing its recommendations without delay. I accept full responsibility for safeguarding and its provision in the Diocese of Newcastle and look forward to the recommendations being implemented in full.”
The Very Reverend Lee Batson, Dean of Newcastle, said: “I am very happy to be able to add my thanks to those of the Bishop, to all involved in undertaking the Safeguarding Audit of the Diocese and the Cathedral. My senior team shares her belief that the process was ‘attentive, robust and fair’ and as a result will be recommending to Chapter that all the recommendations are implemented as quickly as possible.
“We have already started to implement some of the recommendations in the report, and will turn to the others as soon as we possibly can. We are confident that the action plan that will be developed as a result of the Audit will ensure the Cathedral will be an even safer space for those who engage with us.”
The Audit Team analysed more than 400 documents, interviewed a range of church officers, external partners, victims and survivors and other stakeholders, and gathered 382 anonymous surveys.
