Three more INEQE safeguarding audits published

AN INDEPENDENT audit of safeguarding in the diocese of Exeter and its cathedral was published on Wednesday. It makes 41 recommendations for improvement, including the diversification of the safeguarding team, supervision, policies and processes, quality-assurance mechanisms, and record-keeping. “Routine attention” was required on processing DBS checks and case-management activity, it says. The report notes 89 “open cases” — referrals made to the diocesan safeguarding team — to which a “robust” approach was being taken, the auditors said. The diocese said in a statement that these were being “taken seriously and investigated further as appropriate”. As part of the ongoing national audit programme, INEQE Safeguarding Group analysed more than 500 documents in the diocese before conducting interviews with church staff and volunteers, victims and survivors, and others. The Dean of Exeter, the Very Revd Jonathan Greener, welcomed the recommendations, which, he said, would “be acted upon without delay”. It is the eighth diocese to be audited by INEQE. The audits of the dioceses of Newcastle and Worcester were published on July and October respectively, and are available at: churchofengland.org

King’s portrait taken up by quarter of churches

ONE quarter of C of E churches took up the offer of a free portrait of the King, according to official figures. The official photo, taken by Hugo Burnand at Windsor Castle last year, was made available to institutions by the Cabinet Office between November 2023 and August this year (News, 12 April and 9 August). In all, 20,565 portraits were ordered, The Daily Telegraph reports: 4031 by churches, 8384 by schools, and the rest by various public bodies. The total cost, including distribution, came to £2,710,705.

Bishop praises fracture liaison services

THE Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, has praised fracture liaison services (FLS) — which identify, assess, and treat osteoporosis in the over-50s to reduce the risk of long-term fractures — but warned that there were not enough of them. In a debate on the subject in the House of Lords on Wednesday evening of last week, the Bishop said: “There are also other inequalities of access to these services. We know that bone-density decline can be accelerated by other factors, including smoking, diet, and other illness.” Women, particularly menopausal women of Chinese and black African backgrounds, were disproportionately affected, she said. “The Government should be keen to recognise and promote” the services’ value for money, she said; would funding this service be part of its ten-year plan for the NHS? Baroness Merron responded by “restating our commitment to expanding access to these vital fracture liaison services”.