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Brief background and history on the National Safeguarding Panel

Background 


The National Safeguarding Panel (NSP) was established in 2014 to provide high-level strategic advice on Church safeguarding systems to the Archbishops' Council and the House of Bishops. Initially chaired by the lead bishop for safeguarding, the panel saw its first independent chair appointed in 2018. Nazir Afzal OBE is the current independent chair and was appointed in September 2024. The panel is supported by a contracted independent adviser and a governance support officer from the National Safeguarding Team (NST).

While future safeguarding arrangements for the Church are under consideration, the NSP remains the sole body offering quality assurance and scrutiny for the Church’s safeguarding policies, practices, and behaviours. 

The panel membership has recently been refreshed and includes several roles:

Independent members

  • Chair: Nazir Afzal, OBE.
  • Vice Chair: Jane Chevous.
  • Representatives of survivor organisations working with survivors of abuse (recruitment in progress for an additional role, October 2025).
  • Survivors of abuse (recruitment in progress for an additional role, October 2025).
  • Independent members with specialist skills in the scrutiny of adult safeguarding (recruitment in progress for an additional role, October 2025).
  • Independent member with specialist skills in offender management.
  • Denominational representatives with specialist skills in safeguarding (recruitment in progress for an additional role, October 2025)
  • Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP chair)- recruitment in progress, October 2025

Staff in attendance
 

  • Lead bishop for safeguarding or deputy lead bishop.
  • Representative of the Archbishop of York.
  • Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • Senior leader from National Safeguarding Team (NST), as required
  • NSP associate.
  • NSP governance coordinator.
  • Ordained Parish representative- recruitment underway October 2025.
  • Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO)- recruitment underway October 2025.
  • Regional Safeguarding Lead- recruitment underway October 2025

 

The panel engages in a wide range of safeguarding activities, including: 
 

  • Bimonthly Scrutiny of safeguarding policy areas or themes.
  • Reporting to the National Safeguarding Steering Group.
  • Receiving and scrutinising National Safeguarding Team (NST) overview reports
  • Contributing to safeguarding policy consultations.

Panel Scrutiny Sessions 
 

In 2025, the NSP meetings, held every six weeks, adopted a new, more scrutiny-focused approach. To facilitate this, the meeting structure is divided into two sessions: 
Fact-Finding Session: The morning session, from 11:15 to 13:00, is a 'call for evidence'. This session offers an opportunity for the NSP to hear experiences and perspectives on the scrutiny subject from a range of stakeholders. Anyone wishing to contribute can attend in person, join the meeting online, or provide a written submission. These discussions are used to inform and explore themes in the scrutiny session. 

Scrutiny Session: From 13:30 to 14:30, the panel question the NST representatives or policy leads and examine some of the issues that arise in the 'call for evidence'. Attendees from the fact-finding session are not usually involved in the scrutiny part of the meeting. 

These sessions aim to help the panel understand the Church's response to the scrutiny subject, and offer recommendations on how to build on strengths, and address weaknesses. The conclusions from the panel sessions are presented to the National Safeguarding Steering Group (NSSG), which oversees the responses. 

The panel does not engage with or scrutinise individual safeguarding cases or conduct individual case management reviews. Survivors who contribute to the process are not required to discuss their own personal cases or the cases of others, or to share confidential information.  The aim of the fact-finding session is to hear people’s experiences of the scrutiny topic for that meeting.

It should be noted that the number of attendees contributing to the session, either online or in person, needs to be managed to ensure the panel has the time to hear contributions meaningfully. There is no restriction on the number of written submissions.

For each scrutiny session the NSP is seeking contributions from a diverse range of individuals and stakeholders to inform the fact-finding part of the meeting including survivors. A separate protocol is being developed to support survivors’ contributions to the sessions.