Introduction
There isn’t much time or space to be expansive here. I hope most of this is newsletter is self-explanatory. Your patience has been superb over the past year on several counts, not least over the promise of a Newsletter. I am sure my colleagues will do fine over the next few months in my absence. God bless you in all your work around Safeguarding. This is valuable gospel work.

Pearl’s Sabbatical 22^nd May to 2^nd September
I can’t believe it is 10 years since I left college, Wesley House, let alone 12 years since I left the Probation Service. However, I am looking forward to a break.

We are fortunate to have some additional cover with Deborah Miller working with me at MCH and Yvonne Criddle, former Youth Officer for the CofE working at CH, Westminster. However, it will be imperative that wherever possible concerns and good practice queries be picked up as locally as possible i.e. by the Districts, as is the trend anyway. The obvious cases that are exceptions to this are when Ministers are implicated in some way and where there are complaints, when Gareth Powell (who is standing in for David Gamble) must be involved. Ken Howcroft is Deborah and Kim’s manager (standing in for DG in that capacity) and he is also able to assist on occasions and will consult with Deborah and others as needed. Both Personnel and this office are able to assist where lay employees are concerned. We must be informed if issues are likely to get into the media and we do often consult with Anna Drew in Communications.

• I would also ask that the ‘Reporting Form’ on the Safeguarding pages of the Methodist web site be used wherever something serious arises.

• Also, it is important to involve the Connexional office whenever interdenominational cases arise or cases that span more than one district or country.

Kim will continue to be the linchpin and is available on: safeguarding@methodistchurch.org.uk and 020 7467 5189 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday am. and other times for emergencies only, plus her own email: medford-vassellk@… . [She now does part-time for Equalities and Diversity as well.]

Please don’t use Pearl’s direct line, mobile or btinternet email address.

More contact numbers are below.

Creating Safe Space chaplaincy – Alison McDonald
Last year York and Hull District Safeguarding Group (DSG) identified a need for a Chaplain to support the work it undertakes. We developed a role description which included work with members of the DSG and provision to those working with a safeguarding incident. This year we decided that we wanted to enhance the chaplaincy role to provide backing for Module A trainers and within the training events themselves. We believed this would be helpful to support the trainers – both in terms of their own needs and in terms of increasing the safety of the training itself. So how do we recruit and train these chaplains? We have asked ministers and deacons if they are those people or if they know those people (lay or ordained). Then we are asking interested individuals to come to a training day in July in which a recently retired safeguarding chaplain will explore the role and in which (after a good lunch!) a couple of workshops will be offered. We shall then arrange to have individual conversations and take up references, etc. Those for whom this role of chaplaincy is identified will be ‘clustered’ in an area of the District for their own mutual support. Continued training and opportunities to get together will also be offered. e believe this role will increase the quality and real availability of care within this challenging area of work and is firmly in our tradition of lay ministry. We’ll write a follow up next year and let you know how this progresses.

Creating Safe Space

1. Frequently asked questions

a)    Will Training Officers and District Safeguarding Teams (DSTs) be able to adapt/ modify module material?

Yes, provided they follow the objectives set out in the report. These may be modified slightly in the next year in the light of experience of developing the scheme.

b)    Will local trainers be able to adapt/ modify the Module A material?

The material in the local trainers pack will contain some options. Within this pack of material local trainers can ‘mix and match’, provided the Module A objectives are met.

c) Who is responsible for keeping a record of training undertaken?

Each individual is responsible for recording their own training and we will be designing a record card for them to do this. However, we would strongly recommend for each circuit and District also keep a record of training delivered and who received this training. Guidance and methods for doing and keeping these records easily and electronically is available on request. Let’s not reinvent the wheel.

d)    What will be the length of delivery of each module – a session/ half day?

The optimum length will be 2 to 2 ½ hours for a manageable evening session. However, District Safeguarding Teams and TOs may adapt the material for their audience and local needs. For example, if there was a need or less resistance to half a day on a Saturday or a whole day perhaps for ministers training then either two modules could be delivered back to back, or there will be available additional case studies which can be reflected on. However we are trying to keep the core material to 2 to 2 ½ hour sessions. Please don’t forget to supply breaks in longer sessions and refreshments at the beginning or end of shorter sessions.

e)    Will those who have done previous training in other spheres need to do the Church Modules the same and in the same timescale?

We are confident that those who have done other training in Safeguarding in other spheres, even professional safeguarding work, will appreciate that Safeguarding training must also be contextual. A paid/ voluntary role in the church is very different, with very different pressures when you are working with life-long friends and in a voluntary context, than a statutory context. The ‘power relationships’ are sometimes different too, between some officeholders and other church staff and members etc. So the requirements to do the training will be similar, but those with a professional background will have much longer to complete any required training. This will take some pressure of the early part of the roll-out.

f)      When will Modules and the DVD be ready?

– Please see below

1. Module A

This is still in a ‘final’ pilot form at the moment. Final editing will be done over the next week in order for it to go out electronically in June.

At the same time it will also go to publications for electronic and graphic enhancements so that when the other modules are ready it can all be put on a CD Rom together with electronic links between notes and handouts and the PP etc. When Module A is ready but before final publication together with the other modules, we hope that it will be downloadable from the web site in the Autumn. These publication details are still being finalised. We hope the other modules will be available by the Autumn to pilot and the CD Rom will be available the early part of 2010.

2. Modules B, C and D

These are being developed currently, by some TOs and District Safeguarding coordinators working both together and separately in small working groups. We will also be evaluating the material side by side in order to assess how the modules compliment each other and also each have their distinct focus.

3. The DVD

This is being developed currently by Anne Topping and a company we are commissioning to film the DVD. We hope to have a rough cut by September in order to show some focus groups. Before the final edit. It should be around 20 minutes in 4 sections with discussion points. It will meet the objectives set out in CSS for the DVD and enhance and underpin the whole CSS training programme.

4. The Standing Orders

These will be finally drafted by members of Law and polity in consultation with me during the next year and be taken to Conference for approval.

The requirement will be something like - that all those who have responsibility for work with children and young people, or who work with children and young people in a face-to-face capacity must attend Safeguarding training according to the requirements set out by Methodist Council (currently in the Appendices to Creating Safer Space) within 12 months of commencing their appointment. For those of you who like CPD we will seek to enter this in the same section as the conditions of holding office rather than insert something in every section where relevant officeholders/ workers responsibilities are outlined. Those with professional training or other locally provided training will need to complete the CSS training within 2 years. If they attend a course in another Church, or with CCPAS they will need to obtain a certificate and check with the District TO or Safeguarding team what other training they need. The District having assessed this their record card should also be signed appropriately.

5. Saying good bye and thank you to Deborah Miller

We are losing Deborah at the end of September after her short contract. Due to her limited time left with us, we will be asking her to focus on those regions for CSS where she has not had discussions or input so far about recruiting and training people to deliver Module A. She will not be able to train or revisit areas she has been previously (except for developing other modules with the working group in the NE). Here she describes her work over the remaining 4/5 months.

Deborah’s summer programme

I am working jointly with the Methodist Church and Church of England but want to highlight some of the areas that affect the Methodist Church

• Update the web site pages on Safeguarding in conjunction with our Communications Department
• Oversee the publication of Module A and other CSS resources with our Communications Department ready for the Autumn.
• Work in conjunction with our TO’s and other trainers to deliver Module A - in some regions
• Work in conjunction with our TO’s and other Trainers to develop and deliver training the trainers on Module A – in some regions
• Develop modules B,C and D in conjunction with a Working Party
• Deliver Safeguarding briefing sessions to new Superintendants and new Chairs of Districts and others – two dates planned.
• Attend necessary meetings - ISA, Christian Forum for Safeguarding, CSS Steering Group, Legal Group, Safeguarding Liaison Group, LSCB Culture and Faith Sub Group 
• Answer Safeguarding queries / advise on CRB disclosures.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to discuss your Safeguarding Training requirements with me and the options that are available to you - millerd@methodistchurch.org.uk

A new Safeguarding resource
There is some preliminary work afoot to cost, design and develop the idea of a ring-binder folder for the new handbook/ resource. In addition, some preparatory work has gone into the ‘Safer Recruitment’ section which will be the first to be ready and will address and update both current best practice with recruitment of volunteers and staff, but also it will spell out what individuals and all levels of the church will need to do to comply with the Vetting and Barring Scheme and ISA registration. Discussions on the publication and timetable for the handbook resource are taking place this week before my sabbatical starts.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme
Final guidance on this is not yet available, but we are now in possession of a penultimate draft for review. We are developing a number of things to assist people in understanding the scheme.

• We are planning workshops in February and March 2010 prior to the new start date July 2010.
• Guidance on making referrals to ISA will be available from end of September or October at the latest. A draft protocol on this is in my report to Conference. It can be regarded as a ‘working draft
• Ecumenical FAQs will be ready by end of September together with a list of roles and work situations for whom the new legislation applies.
• CAS will draw up a plan for May to July next year when the old forms will cease being used and the new ones will apply.

Renewals every 5 years are also more important now the main scheme has been postponed.

Due to my sabbatical I would be grateful if you could ‘hold’ many of your questions about VBS and ISA until later in the year, but if you do have a question you wish to send in about this Kim will store them up and add them to the FAQs for me to complete later September.

Minister’s Disclosures
We are in the final stages of ensuring that all our ministers in any active work (i.e. not fully retired supernumeraries) are CRB checked. There are some left. We have yet to establish how the Connexional systems may assist in ensuring that renewals happen. This should be possible with electronic assistance via the Methodist database in due course. We are in discussions with Personnel about this.

Policy and Good Practice with Adults who may be Vulnerable
With the development of the Safer Recruitment policy and guidance part of our new handbook we will be well on the way to this piece of work. The guidance we gave in 2005 (Link Mailing - Pastoral Care and Safeguarding) is still valid but needs building upon. Any new guidance in this area of work will be incorporated into the new handbook on Safeguarding in due course. We do not have a timescale for this at present and we are still recommending other Churches handbooks in the meantime, notably the Baptist ‘Safe to Belong’ and Church of England ‘Promoting a Safe Church’. CCPAS also do a very full and weighty tome on this area.

In the meantime we have also set up a joint working group together with Church of England representatives and a few District Safeguarding coordinators/ advisers to consider how this work is taken forward in Dioceses and Districts and to support each other in this work.

New Verifiers
As many of you know we are now allowing Church/ Circuit Safeguarding contacts and/ or Circuit Administrators to verify criminal record application forms. If Circuits register people on line or by sending their name in for the Database manager they can then start using those people. If they are not properly registered or not yet registered then there may be an error charge from CAS.

There are a few District Safeguarding Teams who are less enthusiastic about this scheme, but it must be an informed decision by the relevant body. The teams simply advise on Safeguarding and are not a decision-making body in their own right. The reason I sent the schedule out via Chairs and District Safeguarding groups was to ensure it was then distributed widely to all circuits and in an informed way. It is important that we do not presume these officers/ roles will do the verifying. The ministers were being inundated with information from the Connexional Team at the time. When someone takes on this role, they must be properly briefed and equipped in the verifying task. The CAS website has guidance for verifiers.

Other Contact details:
Deborah Miller  -  020 7467 5119 or Mobile 07772888154
Ken Howcroft    -  020 7467 5147
Gareth Powell   -  020 7467 5140
Anna Drew       -  020 7467 5191

Please feel free to use NSPCC and ‘Stop it Now’ as appropriate

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