First Nolan Report

Executive Summary

1. Last summer, the Archbishop of Westminster invited Lord Nolan to chair an independent committee to carry out a review on child protection in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Our terms of reference are:

   To examine and review arrangements made for child protection and the prevention of abuse within the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and to make recommendations.

2. We have met nine times so far, and have received over 150 submissions from a wide range of organisations and individuals. In approaching its task the Committee has paid regard to what is viewed as good child protection practice and sought, wherever possible, to apply it to the policies and procedures of the Church. In the seven years since the 1994 Guidelines were issued much has been learned in the UK about how to ensure that sound principles are translated into effective action on the ground. Our recommendations reflect this new professional understanding. This is particularly important since it is clear that the ultimate test of the efficacy of our recommendations, and of the Church's performance in this area, will be the positive impact we hope and intend they will have on the safety and well-being of individual children and young people.
3. This first report includes 50 recommendations. The main ones are included in this summary but all are listed in Chapter Six of the report. We see our recommendations as complementing and reinforcing each other. They constitute a single programme of action.
4. This report, which is unanimous, has been prepared for consideration by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales at their Low Week meeting in April 2001. It gives a clear indication in broad terms of the arrangements that we believe need to be in place to enable the Church to be an example of best practice in the prevention of child abuse and in responding to it, and to restore confidence. We have not, however, yet had time to discuss the emerging conclusions and their implementation with all those we would like to, nor to develop a number of our recommendations in more detail. We intend to do this over the next few months and to produce our final report in the summer.
5. Child abuse is a great evil. It can leave deep scars on victims and their families. It is particularly abhorrent when a child or young person is abused by someone in a position of trust and responsibility. It is most abhorrent when that position of trust is held by a member of the clergy or a lay Church worker. The care of children is at the forefront of the teachings of Christ and is, therefore, one of the primary responsibilities of all members of the Church led by their priests and bishops. Because of the Church's particular message and the position it holds, it seems to us to be of great importance that it should be an exemplar of excellence in the protection of children which, in due course, others will look to and want to follow. We are confident that there is a great desire among the huge majority of members of the Church, both clerical and lay, to achieve this result. We have also been impressed by the work that many in the Church are already doing to bring this about. The Guidelines it adopted in 1994 were a significant step forward and we have been impressed by the work that many in the Church are doing to build on them. Our report, therefore, is based on this foundation: that the Catholic Church in England and Wales should become an example of best practice in the prevention of child abuse and in responding to it.
6. For understandable reasons the Church has concentrated so far on responding to allegations of abuse. However, while the proper handling of allegations is important, it is much more important that the opportunity for abuse does not occur, because an effective regime of good practice is in place, and is known to be so. We recommend that the top priority for an exemplary organisation is to have preventative policies and practices in place which will minimise the opportunity for abuse.
7. There has also been an emphasis on the position of priests. That is understandable because of the unique character of the priesthood and the central role which priests play in the life of the Church. For the same reason, of course, the occasions on which priests have been found guilty of abusive behaviour have been the source of the greatest scandal. But, as we know, child abuse occurs in a variety of settings in the home and in organisations, predominantly where some relationship has been established. The potential for abuse is therefore a risk in any organisation or setting where children are a part. For this reason, our general recommendations apply to lay workers as well as to clergy, regardless of age, gender or ethnicity.
8. We believe that the Church should adopt a single, clear policy statement on child protection. We recommend:

   The Church recognises the personal dignity and rights of children towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care. The Church, and individual members of it, undertake to do all in their power to create a safe environment for children and young people and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse. The Church authorities will liaise closely with statutory agencies to ensure that any allegations of abuse are promptly and properly dealt with, victims supported and perpetrators held to account.

9. The first essential is to put in place and then maintain a safe environment for children and young people and those who work with them. The Home Office publication Safe From Harm: A Code of Practice for Safeguarding the Welfare of Children in Voluntary Organisations in England and Wales (Home Office, 1993) remains the best set of guidelines that we know of. It sets out 13 principles which can easily be adapted to the needs of the Church, and which we recommend should be adopted by it. They are:

   Managing the organisation
   1. Adopt a policy statement on safeguarding the welfare of children.
   2. Plan the work of the organisation so as to minimise situations where the abuse of children may occur.
   3. Introduce a system whereby children may talk with an independent person.
   Managing paid staff and volunteers
   4. Apply agreed procedures for protecting children to all paid staff and volunteers.
   5. Give all paid staff and volunteers clear roles.
   6. Use supervision as a means of protecting children.

   Choosing the right paid staff and volunteers
   7. Treat all would-be paid staff and volunteers as job applicants for any position involving contact with children.
   8. Gain at least one reference from a person who has experience of the applicant's paid work or volunteering with children.
   9. Explore all applicants' experience of working or contact with children in an interview before appointment.
   10. Find out whether an applicant has any conviction for criminal offences against children.
   11. Make paid and voluntary appointments conditional on the successful completion of a probationary period.

   Dealing with abuse
   12. Issue guidelines on how to deal with the disclosure or discovery of abuse.

   Training
   13. Train paid staff and volunteers, their line managers or supervisors, and policy makers in the prevention of child abuse.

10. In Chapter Three we work through the application of these principles to the Church and make some 16 further recommendations. In particular we recommend that each parish should have a designated child protection representative and each diocese and religious order a Child Protection Co-ordinator to oversee implementation, and that the Church should establish a single national database of information on all applicant candidates for ordination.
11. In Chapter Four we look at how the Church should respond to allegations of abuse. We recommend that each diocese must have good arrangements in place for responding to allegations swiftly and effectively when they arise, working with local social services and the police. Risk assessments will need to be undertaken and alleged abusers (whoever they are) withdrawn from contact with children when necessary. Historical allegations need to be handled in the same way as current ones. Altogether we make 15 recommendations in this area.
12. We recommend that the Church should make more pastoral provision for help to victims and for support to parishes where abuse has occurred.
13. We also recommend that advice should be made available to alleged abusers.
14. Clergy and lay workers who have been cautioned or convicted of a serious offence against children should no longer be allowed to hold any position that could possibly put children at risk again. We have considered whether abusing priests or deacons should be removed from the clerical state, and recommend that laicisation (the nearest equivalent) is appropriate in the most serious cases.
15. Chapter Five consolidates our recommendations on organisation, the primary purpose of which is to provide support and structure for the parishes, which are the main communities which form the Church. We spell out the role of the parish child protection representative. The first line of support for parishes is the diocese, and we explain what diocesan and religious order Child Protection Co-ordinators are to do and the Teams they should have for implementation and training, for risk assessment and responding to allegations, and for support and advice.
16. We also recommend that the Church should establish and maintain a small National Child Protection Unit to provide support and expert advice, to collect and disseminate good practice, to hold databases of training facilities and other information, and to liaise with the statutory agencies (including the new Criminal Records Bureau) at national level, with professional bodies and leading charities in the field and with the other Churches. The Unit would also have a valuable role in collecting data, monitoring that effective arrangements are implemented in dioceses and religious orders, and in seeking to secure improvements where that is not so. It should bring any apparent failure in arrangements immediately to the attention of the bishop or religious superior and make annual reports to them on the effectiveness of arrangements. It should also make an annual report, which we suggest should be published, to the Bishops' Conference on the position overall.
17. The structure of the Church requires that responsibility for action lies primarily with individual bishops and superiors of religious orders. However, we are clear that the wider perception of the Church's commitment in this field will only significantly be changed if both the whole Church in England and Wales and the individual bishops and superiors commit themselves
    • to a single set of policies and practices,
    • to effective and speedy implementation in parishes, dioceses and religious orders, including a programme to raise awareness and train those involved,
    • to a national capability (which we call the National Child Protection Unit) which will advise dioceses and orders, co-ordinate where necessary and monitor and report on progress, and
    • to the resources to support these arrangements.
      
      Diversity of policy and practice, insufficiency of resources and a lack of national support and co-ordination will, in our view, lead to a weakened, inconsistent and inadequate response.
      
18. The Committee are aware that the overall impression of this report is highly prescriptive. Faced with the many problems concerning child protection we have made very specific recommendations. However, we are aware of the necessary limitations of such a prescriptive approach. The fact is that should every parish throughout England and Wales follow our recommendations the problem of child abuse would not thereby be eradicated. But our hope is that this report will help to bring about a culture of vigilance where every single adult member of the Church consciously and pro-actively takes responsibility for creating a safe environment for children and young people. Our recommendations are not a substitute for this but we hope they will be an impetus towards such an achievement.