DESPITE “rebuilding from a low baseline”, current safeguarding practice in the diocese of Peterborough shows “progress being made”, an independent audit conducted by the INEQE Safeguarding Group has concluded. The report describes the diocesan board of finance (DBF) as “resolutely on a path of improvement”.

The report identified the culture in the diocese as in “a state of positive transition”, although some “stubborn challenges remain.” For instance, while “supportive” and “respectful” were the most popular words used to describe the DBF’s working environment, the third most referenced was “outdated” — used by almost one third of respondents.

Although the majority of the parish workforce and worshipping community agreed that a safeguarding culture was becoming established in their parishes, “confidence is less prevalent across the DBF itself with just over half of the workforce sharing this sentiment.”

The report, published late last month, commends the Bishop of Peterborough, the Rt Revd Debbie Sellin, who has “unequivocally accepted” responsibility for safeguarding, and has been praised as “a key driver in the recent positive change”.

The next Suffragan Bishop of Brixworth should, the report advises, support Bishop Sellin in “key aspects of the DBF’s safeguarding improvement journey”. The audit did not find evidence during the period under review of a “meaningful safeguarding footprint” involving the Suffragan Bishop, who has since retired.

INEQE recommends that the DBF introduce a quarterly safeguarding culture insight survey, publish a report that “details the specific actions taken to address past issues”, and implement a targeted plan to “improve systems and structures”.

Also audited by INEQE was Peterborough Cathedral, whose Dean, the Very Revd Chris Dalliston, was praised for his “reflective and considered approach”, particularly when “addressing the significant historic challenges that previously undermined confidence in the Cathedral’s leadership”.

But the report says that, despite this “leadership strength”, the pressure on the senior team could pose “a potential risk to continuity and effective safeguarding oversight”.

The culture is described as having moved from a “closed, secretive, fragmented” state to one “striving for openness, transparency, and integrity”. Yet, some of the respondents who engaged in the survey, focus groups, and one-to-one discussions were “less confident that progress was being made at the required pace”.

A few said that some “entrenched cultural factors” remained and could make it difficult for individuals to challenge or to report concerns.

Challenges listed by the report including the forthcoming retirement of the cathedral’s chief operating officer, Jan Armitage, and the recent sabbatical of the cathedral’s safeguarding lead, the Vice-Dean and Precentor, Canon Tim Alban Jones.

INEQE’s chief recommendation for the cathedral relates to capacity. It recommends the employment of a “dedicated, Part-time Professional Cathedral Safeguarding Officer/Adviser” to support further progress, as well as regular “pulse surveys” to measure performance and progress for the safeguarding culture.

The full report is available here.