TEIs must produce an annual report on safeguarding policy, procedures, and practice. As set out in the Roles and Responsibilities document, this report must be discussed and agreed by the Governing Body and sent to the most relevant bishop. The report should follow the suggested template (Appendix 1) and thus not contain any details about specific safeguarding incidents or any individual.
Most TEIs have a good relationship with local Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors (DSA), but few have any relation with a local Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP). A DSAP is an independent panel which has oversight and scrutiny of safeguarding within a diocese. Further information about the role of the DSAP is in the Roles and Responsibilities document. It is recommended that in addition to sending the TEI annual safeguarding report to a diocesan bishop, a copy is sent to a designated DSAP. This allows the DSAP to provide independent scrutiny. In response the DSAP may offer to the TEI comments, warnings and advice as appropriate. There is no specific governance role here, but ultimately the DSAP would be able to report any significant concerns to the chair of the national Quality and Formation Panel, and to the diocesan safeguarding team. The DSAP must raise concerns if they feel the reports indicate that the TEI might not be an appropriate or safe training environment. There is real benefit in TEIs building a strong relationship with a local DSAP. In some cases the TEI’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) might be invited to join or attend the DSAP. This will help continually improve approaches to safeguarding within the TEI and give the DSL a greater understanding of the breadth of the DSAP’s work.
A summary of the TEI annual report on safeguarding, along with the date and response from the Governing Body, should be used as part of the Annual TEI self-evaluation that is sent to the MDT. In most cases this will be the same as the current practice but with the added statement “The annual report was discussed and approved by the Governing Body on … and sent to Bishop XXX and the DSAP of YYY diocese”. If there are significant issues that need addressing, then this would be discussed more fully in the self-evaluation. This is not the primary method of scrutiny; it is confirmation by the TEI to MDT and the Quality and Formation Panel that appropriate scrutiny is happening.
A proforma for the Annual Report has been included in Appendix 1.
A sample role description for the DSL is included as Appendix 2.