Meeting of the National Safeguarding Panel, September 2023

This was the first meeting of the Panel after the unexpected resignation of the Chair, Meg Munn in July 2023. The Panel did not have a vice-chair, so Andrew Bickley, the Panel Associate, facilitated the discussions. The Panel wanted it recorded that Meg Munn had been hugely committed to professionalising the approach to safeguarding scrutiny in the church, and her contributions and leadership had been appreciated by NSP members.

Future of NSP

The main topic of discussion was the future of the NSP, given the resignation of the Chair and the disbanding of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB). In preparation for the meeting, Panel members had taken part in a survey to consider options and Andrew had discussed options with relevant staff in NST and Archbishop’s Council.

The Panel was in agreement with the steer from Archbishops’ Council that while the Jay Review was ongoing, the work of the panel should continue. This meant appointing a replacement chair, but as the external appointment process would take some time, it was agreed to appoint an interim (caretaker) chair to oversee the Panel in the short term. Members felt that having a vice chair would be helpful if the chair was unavailable and to share leadership tasks. The chair or vice chair should be independent and with lived experience as a survivor to help strengthen the survivor voice on the Panel.

The Panel agreed to appoint an interim (caretaker) chair and interim vice chair from the existing membership until permanent recruitment could be completed. Interested candidates were asked to submit a written expression of interest, and a formal interview panel was to be set up consisting of independent and survivor representatives.

The Panel recommended that a new permanent Chair should be recruited through external advert as soon as possible, and appointed for a minimum of 12 months. This would be followed up with Archbishop’s Council and National Safeguarding Strategy Group (NSSG), the responsible bodies.

The rest of the meeting focussed on the outcome of the Jay review and what it could mean for the future role of the NSP. It was important that the work of the Panel was considered in the Jay review and agreed to approach the Jay review team to seek their engagement with the Panel and to ensure members contributed to the consultation process.

The Panel discussed the impact of the disbanding of the ISB for victims, survivors and other stakeholders and agreed that our concerns should be formally and constructively raised to the Archbishops’ Council to understand what had taken place and the learning gathered from this process.