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The Diocese of East Anglia has been awarded a judgment of Comprehensive Assurance by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) in an audit of its safeguarding provision.
Chair of the Safeguarding Sub-committee of the diocesan trustees, Christine Quinn, said: “This is one of the first audits the CSSA had carried out since being established and was in fact a pilot, for which the Diocese volunteered.
“The auditors gave the Diocese an overall judgement of Comprehensive Assurance, which is the second highest possible grade they could have awarded. The report is helpful to the Diocese, both in giving assurance about what works and giving guidance on how things could be even better.
“The role of the Parish Safeguarding Reps was a major contributor to this remarkable judgement. When the auditors were feeding back to the Diocese at the end of the process they informed us that the response rate of surveys returned by PSRs (70%) was the highest they had seen. This gave them a high level of confidence in the information they gathered from them.”
Bishop Peter Collins said: “As we share an executive summary of the recent audit of our safeguarding provision, I take this opportunity to express immense gratitude for the generous and extensive service of all those working within safeguarding in the Diocese of East Anglia. This report is a testimony to the fruit of their hard work, and the open cooperation with rigorous scrutiny shows our willingness to continue improving and strengthening our work of safeguarding.
“I thank the Safeguarding Coordinator, Mick Thurley, and the Safeguarding Administrator, Rebecca Bretherton, for their exemplary work, not only in facilitating the audit itself, but in all that they do. I also thank the many Parish Safeguarding Representatives, without whom none of this would be possible. Their generous efforts to ensure a safe environment in our worshiping communities is a powerful witness to a life lived in the light of the Gospel, and inspires us all to be more credible witnesses to the kindness and healing our faith can bring.
“We of course continue to remember in prayer those who bear the wounds of abuse, and renew our commitment to ensuring that we maintain peaceful and loving Christian communities to which everybody, particularly young and vulnerable members, can safely belong.”
If you would like to read the Executive Summary of the audit report, you will find it here.
