THE UK:Five years after a landmark report, a review body says there is still "room for improvement" on child protection within the church, writes Martha Linden.
The Catholic Church in England and Wales was warned today that there was still "room for improvement" five years after a landmark report recommended sweeping reforms to the way it tackled child sex abuse.
A "great deal" has been achieved in a "remarkably short time" since the publication of the Nolan report aimed at improving child protection within the church, the Cumberlege Commission has said.
But the commission warned that the church risked a "serious reversal" of some of the gains it had made in tackling child abuse if it failed to deal with tensions within its own ranks over the issue.
"Five years on and the church can quite rightly take pride in the progress it has made and in beginning to distance itself from negative public perceptions," the report said.
"But the task is far from done and if the tensions that have come to the fore in this review are left unaddressed by those in the church with the authority to deliver, we believe they risk a serious reversal of some of the important gains made to date."
The independent commission, set up last year to review the progress of the church since the 2001 Nolan report, said the church has addressed either "completely" or "partially" 79 of the 83 recommendations made by Lord Nolan, the Catholic former Law Lord who died in January.
The commission said 55,000 Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosures have been completed on clergy and lay people in contact with children and vulnerable adults between the beginning of 2003 and the end of 2006.
More than 85 per cent of the 2,400 Catholic parishes in England and Wales had local child protection representatives in post at the end of 2006, it added.
But the report highlighted problems within the church. These include: a "strong and vocal" lobby of priests who believe that the system for dealing with allegations against them leaves them "exposed" and "vulnerable" and is a breach of Canon Law and natural justice; the view by some in the church that child protection policies and procedures are "too long, overly bureaucratic and impenetrable" and lacking in theological and spiritual context; a "patchy" will to drive through the "safeguarding" agenda among bishops and religious congregational leaders.
The report outlines a number of concerns: that, five years after the report, bishops and congregational leaders may be "minimising" the anguish that follows in the wake of child abuse; the "enormous toll" on volunteers of co-ordinating CRB checks in parishes; chronic staff shortages at the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA), the unit set up by the church to help promote child protection, which has meant its reach has "really not" extended to parishes "so awareness has been raised and practice improved, but not consistently at parish level".
The review, headed by former Conservative health minister Baroness Cumberlege, makes 72 recommendations, including adopting one set of child protection policies across the church, expressed in the language of the church.
It backed reforming and strengthening church procedures for investigating and managing allegations of abuse to achieve a "quicker, efficient more transparent process" for both victims and alleged perpetrators.
It urges bishops and religious congregation leaders to take a more central leadership role in safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults.
A number of organisational changes are also recommended including a new national safeguarding commission and a "change of focus" for COPCA, giving it a new name of the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service.
There should be "much more" focus on safeguarding vulnerable adults within the church, the report recommended.
The report was ordered by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, in the wake of intense criticism of the church following a string of child sex abuse scandals. Between 1995 and 1999, 21 of the 5,600 Catholic priests in England and Wales were convicted of offences against children.
The cardinal was affected by the scandal when he was criticised in 2000 for his handling of the case of Fr Michael Hill, who was jailed in 1997 for nine sex attacks, which included one on a boy with learning difficulties he met at Gatwick Airport chapel.
The cardinal faced calls to resign when it emerged that he was responsible for appointing Fr Hill as chaplain to the airport, even though concerns had been raised about the priest's behaviour.
Commenting on the review, Lady Cumberlege said the church had made "enormous" progress and had "laid solid foundations" in its work to tackle abuse.
She said: "The Catholic Church is a safer place thanks to the endeavours and commitment of so many for whom safeguarding children and vulnerable adults matters. What we need now is a sustained effort down to parish and community level ... to ensure excellent safeguarding practices are applied consistently everywhere."