In August 2023, the Church of England appointed INEQE Safeguarding Group to conduct Independent Safeguarding Audits of the Church of England to make sure dioceses and cathedrals are doing all they can to create environments where everyone feels safe, valued and respected.
As part of the audit process, INEQE Safeguarding Group hope to engage with the following groups:
- Our Cathedral workforce
- Cathedral worshipping community
- Your parish workforce
- Parish worshipping communities
- Diocese workforce
- Victims and survivors
- Children and young people
People in the above groups are invited to complete an online survey (link below) which will act as a mechanism through which individuals can comment on any matters relevant to the Audit’s focus.
The survey is both anonymous and confidential. We would therefore ask you to be open and honest with your responses. The survey results will be received directly by INEQE’s Audit Team and not by the Church of England. The survey is now live and will close at 11.30 pm on Thursday 7th March 2024.
To access the survey relevant to you please click here.
We would be extremely grateful if you could share the link to the survey widely. To assist with this request we have prepared posters (link below) to be displayed and there is also a Powerpoint presentation (link below) to be used in parishes. We very much hope you can help us to encourage people to engage with the survey and share their thoughts.
Contacting the Audit Team
Should you wish to share any further information or if you would be interested in participating in a focus group you can contact the Audit team via: https://ineqe.com/churchofengland/newcastle/#contact or our Safeguarding Operations Officer at Newcastle Diocese, Donna Brown: d.brown@newcastle.anglican.org
NOTE: The only time an individual’s confidential engagement with the Audit team might be breached would be in the event of a disclosure of suspected harm to a child, adult at risk or criminal conduct. In such circumstances the information will only be shared with the appropriate statutory agency.
The Safeguarding Team would be extremely grateful if you would engage with this survey as we are all keen to ensure our churches are safe and protected spaces for everyone.
Resources for you to download:
Awareness raising poster can be downloaded here
Link to Powerpoint presentation for parishes can be downloaded here