SCOTLAND
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
Introduction
Each year the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service (formerly National Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults) in the person of the National Co-ordinator presents a report to the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland at their November meeting which details an Audit of the eight dioceses in Scotland in relation to the work of safeguarding in the previous calendar year. For example the 2012 Audit was presented earlier this month to the Bishops’ Conference. The process began with an audit in 2006, by 2007 the format was established.
The Audit contains details of how safe environments are created with disclosure checks on those involved with children and vulnerable adults in a Church setting. When the Disclosure Scotland scheme was introduced it was decided by the Bishops that all Clergy, anyone applying for seminary and all volunteers in parishes would be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure, the most rigorous level. All employees of the Church engaged in work with children or vulnerable adults are required at recruitment to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure. This Disclosure scheme is presently being systematically replaced by the PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) scheme.
As well as Disclosure/PVG Training plays an important role in creating safe environments. The current national safeguarding training programme developed by professionals within the Catholic Church is called “Awareness and Safety in Our Catholic Communities”. The training programme includes a Welcome Guide for all volunteers in the parishes with clear guidance about appropriate safeguarding procedures and good practice. This training is mandatory and delivered by experienced and trained Diocesan safeguarding Trainers. The Audit contains details about the training undertaken annually.
Finally, the Audit presented to the Bishops’ Conference contains details of any allegations which have been made and how these have been dealt with.
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