Catholic lead clergy for safeguarding
IICSA · The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report · Issued 10 November 2020 · Addressed to: Catholic Bishops Conference
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, E
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.
IICSA, The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report · 10 Nov 2020 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- 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).
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
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.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.