DISCIPLINARY action against individuals criticised in the Makin report is to be considered by a panel including a lawyer known for his work prosecuting Rochdale grooming gangs, it was announced on Thursday.

The lawyer Nazir Afzal will sit as one of the three decision-makers on a panel also comprising the Church of England’s National Director of Safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, and a former Director of People at Croydon Council, Barbara Peacock.

Mr Afzal is also chair of the C of E’s National Safeguarding Panel (NSP), which offers independent scrutiny and guidance to the Church’s National Safeguarding Team, led by Mr Kubeyinje (News, 13 September).

The announcement from Church House on Thursday says that Mr Afzal’s work on the new panel “is separate [from] and independent” of his position with the NSP.

Ms Peacock is also a member of the Response Group convened to recommend next steps in light of reports on church safeguarding by Professor Alexis Jay and Dr Sarah Wilkinson.

The new panel will decide whether to bring cases under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) against individuals criticised in the Makin report. While decisions will be made by the three members, the panel will take advice from church lawyers and members of the NST.

The possibility of including survivors in the panel was “carefully considered”, the Church House statement says, but it was decided that it ran the risk of prejudicing the CDM process, if someone making the decision to bring a case was subsequently called to act as a witness.

The statement explains that those criticised in the Makin report will receive a letter from Mr Kubeyinje informing them whether a case is to be brought against them.

The decision will be made on the basis of the Makin report, “relevant safeguarding policies and guidance which were in force at the time”, and the “factual evidence” available. After the publication of the Makin report, a number of people mentioned were asked to step back from their positions in the Church (News, 15 November; News, 28 November).

Also on Thursday, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha de Cordova MP (News, 7 October), faced questions in Parliament about the C of E’s response to the Makin report.

Ms de Cordova said that the report “made clear the devastating abuse suffered by children and young people at the hands of John Smyth”, and that it should be a “defining and watershed moment for the Church”.

She said that she was “awaiting a full and thorough update from the Church on the detailed progress being made on each recommendation” of the Makin review, but that some had already been implemented.

The MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, Chi Onwurah, asked what the Church Commissioners could do “to ensure that dioceses have the resources necessary to implement a high standard of safeguarding and to ensure that the Church is focused on the interests of the victims and the vulnerable, rather than the career interests of leading clergy”.

Ms de Cordova said that the Church had “an enormous amount of work to do to create a cultural shift”, and that she would be present at the General Synod debate in February when the next step for independent safeguarding will be decided.

The MP for Stone, Great Wryley and Penkridge, Sir Gavin Williamson, asked that “more people are properly held to account and that some of the people who have been named are cleared out of those top jobs”.

He mentioned the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, and the “bishop in charge of the Episcopal Church”.

It seems likely that Sir Gavin was referring to the Anglican Communion’s Bishop for Episcopal Ministry, Dr Jo Bailey Wells, who was chaplain to Archbishop Welby in 2013 when Smyth’s abuse was reported to the diocese of Ely, of which Bishop Conway was then diocesan bishop, and Lambeth Palace was notified.

In early December, it was announced that Dr Bailey Wells had “stepped back from her ministry in the Diocese of London, pending a safeguarding risk assessment” (News, 5 December).

Bishop Conway and Dr Bailey Wells were criticised in the Makin report for their response to disclosures, in particular whether they were adequately reported to the police. Three retired police detectives, however, have disputed Keith Makin’s conclusion, arguing that proper action was taken, and that church officers should not be blamed for the decision by the police not to pursue the case against Smyth in 2013 (News, 27 November).