In August 2023, INEQE Safeguarding Group was appointed by the Archbishops’ Council to carry out the next round of independent external audits of Church of England dioceses and cathedrals. The purpose of these audits is to make sure dioceses, cathedrals and palaces are doing all they can to create environments where everyone feels safe, valued and respected.
The independent audit programme will run for 5 years from 2023 to 2028, with audits commencing in January 2024. Audits will be carried out in the diocese and cathedral at the same time (previously this was done separately). To ensure the most productive use of time, INEQE’s approach during the independent safeguarding audits will be to analyse all available information in advance of site visits, using the online 360° Safeguarding Audit Tool.
The 360° Safeguarding Audit Tool is a series of questions modelled against the CofE’s ‘National Safeguarding Standards and Quality Assurance’ framework. Issued to both DBFs and cathedrals, the tool is used to capture baseline evidence about policies, practice and other information relevant to each audited body. The tool will be completed by the Diocese of Norwich project team a minimum of three months in advance of their audit site visit.
The majority of individual stakeholders from within the DBF, parish and cathedral communities are engaged through online surveys. These were designed as mechanisms through which the audit team could hear about the experiences and views of those involved with the Church. They were both anonymous (the Audit team was not seeking to identify individuals) and confidential (individuals who chose to provide their details were not identified in our report). The Audit Team also engaged with a range of individual stakeholders as part of the NST audit, including the national workforce, local diocesan and cathedral staff and victims and survivors of abuse who had engaged with the NST.
Diocese of Norwich surveys are currently LIVE for a limited period. Take part by clicking here.
One audit report is produced per diocese based on geographical area (i.e., usually a single report covering the diocesan board of finance, diocesan bishop’s office and cathedral(s)). The audit and subsequent report identifies and recognises areas of good practice and success. It also includes meaningful recommendations for each individual Church body to help them develop and improve the quality of their safeguarding practice. Following drafting and feedback stages, reports are published on INEQE’s Church of England webpage.
We recommend reading the annual reports undertaken by INEQE that reflect the consistent trends across the diocese audited. These can be found here.