Safeguarding Review

The Convener of the General Council of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rev Dr David Bruce, made the following statement regarding safeguarding matters within the Church at a news conference held in Assembly Buildings, Belfast this afternoon.

Speaking at the news conference, Dr Bruce said, “My name is David Bruce and I am speaking to you today as Convener of the General Council of PCI. In following the remarks of Dr Gribben, what I will add today, is said in sorrow and with deep regret.

“I wish to speak about some matters which have come to light, and which will be of concern to many, both within and beyond the Presbyterian family on this island. Ensuring the safety of all those who take part in the life and work of our congregations has long been a priority for us.

“This essential work has been entrusted to our Safeguarding Team based in Assembly Buildings, who both organise safeguarding training and provide professional advice in difficult situations to ministers and leaders in local churches.  Indeed, the Taking Care guidelines implemented by PCI some years ago have provided a robust framework for safety in our congregations.

“Our current Safeguarding Team has identified a number of situations between 2009 and 2021, with one as late as 2022, where we have failed to deliver an adequate safeguarding service. In most instances, this involved a basic failure to follow our own Taking Care guidance. These failings were magnified by major gaps in necessary recordkeeping, so it is inevitable that we have not identified all situations where practice was unacceptable.

“The failures identified to date include:

• situations where we failed to make referrals to statutory authorities when these were required
• situations where we did not respond adequately to concerns expressed to us about individuals in congregations
• situations where we have failed to respond to people who, having suffered harm, have sought our help
• situations where some offenders returning to worship in Church, following referrals to us by statutory bodies, were inadequately monitored.

“The person with lead responsibility for this work during these years is no longer in post.  We are working closely in support of our current Safeguarding Team members to both follow up with those who have been let down where possible, and to improve our safeguarding governance arrangements and practice. In that respect, and to address these failings, we have taken the following main steps:

• we have liaised with appropriate statutory bodies in relation to both the overall failings we have identified, and individual poorly-handled situations
• all situations where offenders requiring supervision when worshipping with us have been reviewed and appropriate arrangements have been put in place in each case
• we have increased our staffing dedicated to safeguarding, and have reviewed and are updating both policies and procedures. You will appreciate this is an ongoing process that will continue in the months ahead
• we have put in place arrangements for people who contact our Safeguarding Team to escalate their concerns if they believe they have not been responded to swiftly
• we have enhanced the training curriculum being delivered to church leaders locally and also our central staff in Assembly Buildings
• we are currently refreshing our governance framework and arrangements for raising concerns about practice, also termed whistleblowing, within our central staff team
• we have set in place regular external cross-professional supervision for our Safeguarding Lead and Director
• We have implemented Practice Standards for Safeguarding, reporting against these to a revised oversight body to the General Council, which I convene
• We are commencing an audit of our safeguarding arrangements against a framework devised by the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland and will submit this once it is complete.

“Above and beyond all of these necessary steps however, rests our primary concern, which is the people who have been harmed, placed at risk, or who simply didn’t hear from us when they needed help or guidance. We have let you down, and for this I am truly sorry. It should not have happened. I want you to know that we will do everything we can to both put in place better arrangements to prevent this occurring again, and to put the appropriate help and support in place for you now.

“Anyone in our congregations, or those more broadly associated with us, either now or in the past, who may have been impacted can contact us directly through a dedicated response line, or email address. The details are on the screen behind me: telephone number +44 (0)28 9041 7308 or via email [email protected] These details will also be on the PCI website and we are available to take calls from 9am tomorrow morning.

“I would reassure anyone contacting the team that they will be listened to, heard and responded to, as they should have been previously. Our response team, is trained to take a trauma-informed approach in this extremely sensitive work.

“To conclude, I say to you, the members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and others associated with us now or in the past, our failure in doing what you have charged us with doing, is without excuse. 

I ask you to pray – that those who have been harmed might find healing in the time ahead, and that together, we might recover the qualities of caring compassion, which lie in our heart as a people, but which through these evident failings have been so seriously compromised. Thank you.”