THE handling of safeguarding issues by Lambeth Palace will be subject to scrutiny as part of an external audit beginning next month. An independent team from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) will be conducting the audit, and are calling on anyone who has sought a safeguarding response from the Palace to provide details of their experience.

The Lambeth Palace audit is part of a national programme covering Church of England dioceses, cathedrals, and palaces (News, 4 April 2019), which was delayed partly owing to the pandemic.

The aims of the audit are to understand what is working well and what has gone wrong in the past, and to make recommendations for improvement. The SCIE team wish to hear from people who have disclosed abuse, raised concerns about failures to respond to such disclosures, or reported unsafe practices or people. All communications with survivors will remain confidential within the SCIE audit team.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s chief of staff, David Porter, said: “Archbishop Justin has made safeguarding a top priority for the Church of England. Lambeth Palace welcomes and supports any opportunity to enable us to see what is working well, identify where safeguarding improvements need to be made, and to plan for that improvement.

“These audits are part of the Church of England’s wider commitment to develop and embed good safeguarding practice and culture, ensuring a safer Church for all.

“The audit is expected to consider safeguarding arrangements including governance and leadership, policies and practice guidance, case-work, recruitment and training.”

Survivors and others with relevant experience are asked to email the auditors directly at learningtogether@scie.org.uk, or to phone 07921 251614 and leave a message. The auditors expect to be in touch during the first week of March.