What kinds of reports does the Church of England produce? Some are technical (e.g., annual reports, financial statements, etc.); others are more practical (e.g., safeguarding, ministry); whilst others are doctrinal or ecclesiological (e.g., ARCIC, a report from the Doctrine Commission, such as The Mystery of Salvation, 1995, etc.). Others are hybrid in character, taking issues and concerns (e.g., leadership, vocations, etc.) as pragmatic problems to be resolved and to which a theological gloss is added. This paper focuses on the nature of these hybrid-type reports as exemplars of consecrated pragmatism. In so doing, the ethos of the reports traces the trajectory of the Church of England as it continues to shed its theological capacities and dissolve in a culture of ecclesial managerialism, ontologised bureaucracy and frantic ecclesionomics. The paper offers ‘a report on knowledge’ and questions the nature and purpose of the writings that the Church of England publishes on a range of doctrinal and practical theological arenas.

This Research Note is based on interviews with stakeholders and advocates for child safeguarding in Japan’s entertainment industries conducted by the researchers in Tokyo in July 2024. We argue that, if, as suggested by new legislation, there is an intention to apply UK-style “safeguarding” understandings to prevent reoccurrence of child sexual abuse such as that perpetrated by Johnny Kitagawa in Japan, there are four key barriers to overcome that necessitate increased information-sharing and cooperation between stakeholders in government and industry: precarious work, a reluctance to regulate, a lack of industry accountability, and a lack of societal awareness of child sexual abuse and its impacts.

This article traces the developments in the laws and guidance underpinning safeguarding practices in the Church of England over the last 30 years and critically analyses the methodologies used, and outcomes reached, in a number of Lessons Learnt Reviews (including the Makin Review).

Multiple instances of safeguarding failures and criticisms of poor process and weak governance have afflicted the Church of England for many years, despite repeated assurances that ‘Lessons would be learned’. An Independent Safeguarding Board has been formed and then abolished without being replaced. A report by Professor Alexis Jay, former Chair of Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, recommending the creation of two independent charities to oversee Church safeguarding has been passed to a Response Group and is being resisted by various groups within the Church. This article examines issues of the management of safeguarding within the overall governance of the organisation, compares issues within the Church with those which have been exposed by the Post Office Horizon scandal and considers the potential role of the audit function to concern itself with safeguarding matters as part of its oversight of risk management and corporate governance.

Policy and professionalism go hand in hand. When safeguarding policy is all but absent as it is in the Church of England, it leaves clergy and others ill equipped to diagnose or to respond to concerns over abuse. Complex issues such as conflict of interest, evaluation based on verifiable objectives linked to safeguarding priorities, setting a balance between confidentiality and disclosure, safe recruitment and implementing the recommendations of safeguarding reviews are in effect left dangling. Expertise and professional judgement are needed both to develop policy and to apply it in real-world cases of prospective and actual abuse. Statistics about safeguarding cases covering associated resources, expenditure and outcomes are not readily available. Safeguarding reviews, mostly about particular cases, are difficult to generalise and ‘lessons learned’ are typically left at that without evidence of how safeguarding has changed as a result. The focus of safeguarding should be on the welfare of the people concerned, including survivors and perpetrators as well as congregations and church workers. Confrontational and legalistic approaches are all too common and do more harm than good. The objective should be to restore broken relationships, not necessarily between the survivor and the perpetrator, but between everyone involved in the case and the church.

Mental health services are recognised to have an important role in responding to domestic abuse, but approach across the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is inconsistent. We describe an example of taking a whole- organisation approach to responding to domestic abuse in one NHS mental health foundation trust.

This article is based on an Ecclesiastical Law Society London Lecture delivered on 17 November 2021. It builds on a previous lecture entitled ‘Safeguarding in church and state over the last 50 years: “from Ball and Banks to Beech via Bell”’, which also formed the basis of an article published in this Journal in 2020. That article, among other things, identified a number of significant cases of sexual abuse by clergy which were/are the subject of ‘lessons learned’ reviews and concluded by suggesting how investigation and fact-finding might take place in the future, independent of the bishops, but under the supervision of a ‘judge’, and argued that effective risk assessments could only be based on findings of fact. The author was subsequently asked to chair a working party for the Ecclesiastical Law Society aimed at addressing how the Clergy Disciplinary Measure 2003 (‘CDM’) should be reformed. This article now deals with events that have occurred since, from the publication of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA)'s investigative reports into the Anglican Church (inter alia), the Lambeth group's proposals for reform of the CDM, through to General Synod's responses to both sets of recommendations. It also surveys in some detail the approach the church has taken to the assessment of risk within its safeguarding policy in recent years, as well as its historical approach to clergy discipline. The article concludes by drawing some threads together as a result of the author's own work and research into these two subjects over the past two years, and finishes by suggesting some possible directions in which the church ought now to move.

This paper examines the current legal framework in relation to minors who are the recipients of exorcism. Such individuals are ordinarily doubly marginalised, by virtue of their membership of a minority religious or cultural community and their disempowered position as children. This piece aims to assess whether the current arrangements strike an appropriate balance between respecting personal and collective autonomy, as well as protecting vulnerable young people, paying particular attention to the impact of their intersectional position and multiple marginalising factors at play. It seeks to define exorcism and emphasise the very diverse settings in which it arises within twenty-first-century England and Wales. It examines proposals being made for a blanket prohibition in relation to children, considering both the desirability and viability of a ban. It also highlights that exorcism is not the only context in which religious minors will find themselves in a position of multiple marginalisation, and explores what debates in this area might reveal about the wider operation of Article 9 and the ECHR.

Financial abuse is a significant form of elder maltreatment and is frequently ranked in the top two most common forms of abuse perpetration. Despite this, it is under-identified, under-reported and under-prosecuted. Financial institutions, such as banks, are important environments for identifying and responding to the financial abuse of older people. Traditionally, banks have not always been part of inter-sectorial responses to financial abuse, yet are important stakeholders. The aim of this study is to explore perceptions and experiences of financial abuse in five national banks. Data were collected from 20 bank managers and five members of the National Safeguarding Committee in the Republic of Ireland. Using thematic analysis, four themes were identified: defining a vulnerable adult; cases of financial abuse of vulnerable adults; case responses to financial abuse of vulnerable adults; and contextual issues. The data demonstrate the multiplicity of manifestations and the complexity of case investigation and management. Findings point to the need to enhance banks’ responses, through additional education and training, and promote integrated inter-sectorial collaboration. In addition, a change in societal beliefs is needed regarding financial entitlement, responding to ageism, public awareness of the consequences of financial decisions and types of financial abuse, as well as ensuring such crimes are addressed within the legal system.

This article tells the story of initiatives of the Instruments of Communion to enhance the safety of all persons within the Anglican Communion over the past three decades. These Initiatives have taken place against the backdrop of the significant evidence that has come to light in recent years of abuse being perpetrated by clergy and lay leaders against children, young people and vulnerable adults in the provinces. It describes the actions of the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the work of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission.