The CSSA judges the Diocese of Nottingham as achieving ‘Comprehensive Assurance’ in safeguarding people.
31 July 2024
Nottingham Diocese, in the first audit of their safeguarding practice today, has been judged by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Authority (CSSA) as reaching ‘Comprehensive Assurance’. The safeguarding regulatory agency for England and Wales report that the Diocese demonstrates very significant evidence of working towards the eight national safeguarding standards.
The Diocese was able to robustly satisfy independent auditors from within the CSSA about how it helps keep people safe. Nottingham showed best practice in safeguarding training and support, reaching ‘Exemplary’ in this area. Good practice was found across all eight safeguarding standards. Governance, communications, case management and human resources were particular strengths.
Crucially, auditors found that the Diocese showed a culture of safeguarding, led by the Bishop and wider leadership. There was evidence that victim-survivors are listened to by the Bishop. Case management was found to be strong. Safer recruitment processes are robust. Nottingham was able to demonstrate how safeguarding is seen to permeate all aspects of Diocesan work and ministry.
The CSSA’s recommendations for Nottingham focus on building on existing work that the Diocese had already recognised. Broad areas for further development include formal processes for capturing learning from safeguarding allegations, concerns and complaints to enhance continuous improvement. Further proactive public initiatives to engage victim-survivors were also recommended.
Steve Ashley, Chief Executive Officer, CSSA, says: “We are pleased to have found enough evidence in Nottingham Diocese to judge that their safeguarding work offers ‘Comprehensive Assurance’. It is very good to see this level of good practice, particularly when it comes to a culture of safeguarding. We think that Nottingham’s leadership in this field could be modelled for others.
“The CSSA sets high standards, for which we make no apology. So, to see Nottingham reach this standard in safeguarding is very encouraging. They must now maintain this consistently and grow even further.”
Having exceeded potential lower gradings (in a scale ranging from ‘below basic,’ ‘basic’ ‘early progress’ ‘firm progress’ and ‘results being achieved’) Nottingham have further work to do to achieve the one higher possible grading (‘Exemplary’). The overall grading of ‘Comprehensive Assurance’ represents a combination of the Diocese’s scoring across eight areas of work relating to safeguarding standards.
The CSSA publish the Executive Summary of safeguarding audits from every Catholic Church body in England and Wales. You can find the Executive Summary of Nottingham’s audit HERE
ENDS
More information about the CSSA’s audit process can be found here.
Journalists: to speak with Steve Ashley, CEO, or Nazir Afzal, OBE, Chair, please initially contact Sarah Gleadall: sarah.gleadall@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk