47 Response Accepted

Catholic lead clergy for safeguarding

Recommendation

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious in England and in Wales should each nominate a lead member of the clergy for safeguarding to provide leadership and oversight on safeguarding matters to their respective Conferences and the wider Roman Catholic Church in England and in Wales.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the role description for the Lead Bishop for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales had been agreed (Government Response, Catholic Bishops' Conference, April 2021).
- In May 2023, the government confirmed that the Catholic Bishops' Conference had nominated a lead member of clergy for safeguarding as recommended (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by claude-opus-4-6 on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
E
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
22 May 2023

On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the role description for the Lead Bishop for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales was approved and Bishop Paul Mason was appointed to the role. The role description of Lead Safeguarding Religious was approved and Fr David Smolira SJ was appointed.

Read Full Response
Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report 10 Nov 2020
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Catholic Bishops Conference Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Roman Catholic Church Leadership Safeguarding
Recommendation age 5.4 yrs
Last formal update 1054 days ago