Ampleforth Abbey Trust is committed to upholding the highest standards of safeguarding for children and adults at risk.
Legal responsibility for safeguarding across the monastery and in relation to the Ampleforth community as a whole sits with AAT. Under canon law, safeguarding responsibility within a religious community rests ultimately with the Monastic Superior, but under civil law, it is the trustees of Ampleforth Abbey Trust who must ensure that their charity's beneficiaries are safe and free from harm and the risk of harm.
Under our governance structures a Safeguarding Committee (a subgroup of the AAT Board) oversees day to safeguarding activity and reports to the Board.
A Safeguarding Panel, a subgroup of the Committee has been established to oversee safeguarding casework in respect to the community.
Safeguarding Committee
The purpose of the Safeguarding Committee is to scrutinise, advise and report to the Board on the overall performance and effectiveness of safeguarding across the activities of the Ampleforth Abbey Trust, enabling the trustees to discharge their duties in safeguarding.
The Safeguarding Committee members are:
- Phillip Noyes OBE, Chair (NSPCC and Trustee)
- Nicola Engel-Khan (Counsellor and former senior officer Local Authority Children’s Services)
- Stuart Piper (Independent Safeguarding Consultant)
- Abbot Robert Igo OSB (Abbot of Ampleforth)
- Fr Cedd Mason OSB (Trustee)
In attendance:
- Paul Davies MD
- Jim Hopkinson Director of Safeguarding and Wellbeing
- Liam Kelly, Clerk
The terms of reference for the Safeguarding Committee can be found here.
The Safeguarding Committee will constitute a standing panel of independent co-opted experts with appropriate safeguarding expertise to manage individual casework, and make recommendations to the Religious Superior, via the Safeguarding Committee, in relation to the safeguarding arrangements for members of the monastic community about whom safeguarding concerns have been raised.
The Panel will operate in accordance with procedures set out by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. The membership is made up of people with specific experience and expertise in Safeguarding and includes representatives with experience from the NSPCC, Police, Social Care, the Probation Service and services for adults at risk.
Safeguarding Panel members are:
- Marcus Erooga (Chair)
- Annie McIver (Former Director of Children’s Services)
- Mark Milsom (Former Assistant Chief Constable)
- Frank Walton (Former Senior Probation Officer)
- Paul Bott (CEO St John of God Hospitaller Services)
In attendance:
- Phillip Noyes OBE, (NSPCC and Trustee)
- Paul Davies MD
- Jim Hopkinson, Director of Safeguarding and Wellbeing
- Rosemary Cannell, Safeguarding Assessor
- Mark Griffin, Safeguarding Assessor
- Alastair Dunn, Ampleforth College DSL for selected items
- Abbot Robert Igo OSB (Abbot of Ampleforth for selected items)
- Liam Kelly, Clerk
The terms of reference for the Safeguarding Panel can be found here.
