Lambeth Palace to Undergo Safeguarding Audit in March
It has been announced that the Social Care Institute for Excellence will be conducting “an external independent audit of Lambeth Palace’s safeguarding arrangements in March.
The audit was originally scheduled to be performed in March of 2021 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
The announcement said:
“The independent team want to hear from people with first-hand experience of seeking a response from clergy, or others in Church-related roles, at Lambeth Palace, to safeguarding issues. You may have disclosed abuse, you may have shared Church failures to respond to such disclosures or you may have shared concerns about unsafe practices or people. The independent auditors want to understand what is working well and what has gone wrong in the past.
“The role of the Palace in this aspect of the audit is simply to help publicise that the audit is taking place and that the external team want to hear from abuse survivors. Nobody at any level within the Church will be told you are taking part and please be assured that all communications with survivors will remain confidential within the SCIE audit team.
“The aim of the independent audit is to support safeguarding improvements and the final report of the audit will be published by Lambeth Palace.
“Canon David Porter, Chief of Staff to the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “Archbishop Justin has made safeguarding a top priority for the Church of England. Lambeth Palace welcomes and supports any opportunity to enable us to see what is working well, identify where safeguarding improvements need to be made, and to plan for that improvement.”
Those wishing to contribute to the audit, “as a survivor or as someone who may have raised a safeguarding concern” are asked to email the team directly at: learningtogether@scie.org.uk. Those wishing to phone rather than email are asked to call: 07921 251614 and leave their contact details.
The audit is scheduled for March 1 — March 4.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence was founded in 2002. Its Chair is Paul Burstow.
