The Diocese of Plymouth recently had its first safeguarding audit carried out by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. The role of the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency is to regulate safeguarding in the church. A set of eight national safeguarding standards have been created to protect children and adults at risk. The audit process is to help ensure compliance with these standards:
Standard 1: Embed safeguarding in the church body’s leadership, governance, ministry and culture.
Standard 2: Communicate the church’s safeguarding message.
Standard 3: Engage with and care for those who report having been harmed.
Standard 4: Effectively manage allegations and concerns.
Standard 5: Manage and support subjects of allegations and concerns (respondents).
Standard 6: Implement robust human resource management.
Standard 7: Provide and access training and support for safeguarding.
Standard 8: Quality assure compliance to continuously improve practice.
For further information please visit the CSSA website by clicking HERE
The process took place over a week during which the CSSA auditor met with various people from the diocese including members of the Safeguarding Team, the Chair of the Trustee’s Safeguarding Subcommittee, some of the Diocesan Officers, the Diocesan Administrator, the Deans and some of our clergy as well as a group of Parish Safeguarding Representatives.
We will receive a full report of the audit’s findings in the next few months.