Interim chair and vice chair for Church’s National Safeguarding Panel

The National Safeguarding Panel, NSP, has appointed Kashmir Garton (r) as Interim Chair, and Jane Chevous (l) as Interim Vice Chair, until such time as the Church’s future independent safeguarding arrangements are finalised.  All independent Panel members were invited to apply for the roles, and the appointments were made by an interview panel that included survivor and professional representation.

“I am pleased to take on the role of Interim Chair and look forward to working with the Panel to continue the valuable work of providing independent scrutiny of the Church’s safeguarding work established by my predecessor Meg Munn,” said Kashmir Garton.

"I'm pleased to bring a survivor voice to this role", said Jane Chevous, a survivor representative and founder of Survivor Voices. "It's so important that independent professional and survivors perspectives continue to support and challenge the church in its safeguarding practice. I look forward to working with Kashmir to ensure the Panel's works continues, while decisions are made about the future of safeguarding."

The National Safeguarding Panel consists of independent professionals and survivor representatives and the role of the Panel is to scrutinise and challenge the Church’s safeguarding work. Their work does not include any involvement in casework.

The Bishop of Stepney, Joanne Grenfell, the Church of England’s lead bishop for safeguarding, said: “The NSP has been providing vital scrutiny and challenge to our safeguarding work for nearly 10 years and I am pleased that Kashmir and Jane have stepped into these interim roles to lead the Panel in its next phase of work. While the Church looks more broadly at independence in safeguarding having commissioned a review by Professor Alexis Jay, the work of the Panel continues during this period as does safeguarding in our 16000 churches everyday of the year. I look forward to working with them.”

Notes

The National Safeguarding Panel (NSP) was set up in 2014 to resource the Church of England's leadership with high level strategic advice and to offer guidance on policies and practice in safeguarding seeking to ensure that the Church of England meets accepted best practice. The work does not include involvement with cases. The panel was previously chaired by Meg Munn.

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