Church of England 'failed to protect children from sexual abusers' - BBC News

The Church of England failed to protect children from sexual abuse, and created a culture where abusers "could hide", a report has concluded.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA)'s report says the Church's failure to respond consistently to victims and survivors of abuse often added to their trauma.

It added that alleged perpetrators were often given more support than victims.

The Church of England is expected to publish a response later.

The report, which is the latest in a series of publications from the IICSA, says 390 clergy members and other church leaders were convicted of abuse between the 1940s and 2018.

In 2018 there were 2,504 safeguarding concerns reported to dioceses about either children or vulnerable adults, and 449 allegations of recent child sexual abuse.

The inquiry said the Church of England was "in direct conflict with its own underlying moral purpose to provide care and love for the innocent and the vulnerable".

Its chair, Prof Alexis Jay, said: "Over many decades, the Church of England failed to protect children and young people from sexual abusers, instead facilitating a culture where perpetrators could hide and victims faced barriers to disclosure that many could not overcome.

"Within the Church in Wales, there were simply not enough safeguarding officers to carry out the volume of work required of them. Record-keeping was found to be almost non-existent and of little use in trying to understand past safeguarding issues."

She added it was "vital" that the Church improves how it responds to allegations of child sexual abuse, and it should give "proper support" to victims.

The report, which is based on the inquiry's public hearings held in July 2019, made several recommendations, including:

• the Church of England should improve how it responds to safeguarding complaints - by, for example, reintroducing a rule to expel any member of the clergy found guilty of child sexual abuse offences
• responsibility for safeguarding should be taken out of the hands of diocesan bishops and given to safeguarding officers employed by the central hierarchy of the Church
• the Church of England and Church in Wales should share information about clergy who move between the two institutions
• both Churches should introduce policies for funding and support of survivors of child sexual abuse whose perpetrators had a connection to the Church.

Prof Jay said she hoped the report and its recommendations would help to "ensure these failures never happen again".

Church leaders 'truly sorry'

Earlier on Tuesday, ahead of the report's publication, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York apologised to those who had suffered at the hands of the Church.

In an open letter, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell promised to "listen, to learn and to act" upon the report's findings.

"We are truly sorry for the shameful way the Church has acted," they wrote.

"We cannot and will not make excuses and can again offer our sincere and heartfelt apologies to those who have been abused, and to their families, friends and colleagues. We make an absolute commitment to taking action to make the Church a safe place for everyone, as well as to respond to the needs of survivors for support and redress."

What is the child sexual abuse inquiry?

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales is investigating claims against local authorities, religious organisations, the armed forces and public and private institutions - as well as people in the public eye.

Following the death of BBC presenter Jimmy Savile in 2011, hundreds of people came forward to say he had abused them as children.

The spotlight has also fallen on sexual assaults carried out in schools, children's homes and at NHS sites.

At the same time, there have been claims of past failures by police and prosecutors to properly investigate allegations.

The inquiry was announced by the then Home Secretary Theresa May to "expose those failures and learn the lessons" from the past.

In 2018 the inquiry published an interim report with 18 recommendations - some of which have been acted upon. Its other regular publications include overarching investigation reports and statistics.

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2020-10-06 11:15:00Z
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Boris Johnson delivers speech to Tory party conference – watch live - Guardian News

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1. Boris Johnson delivers speech to Tory party conference – watch live  Guardian News
2. Boris Johnson: Wind farms could power every home by 2030  BBC News
3. Live: Boris Johnson unveils renewable energy policy  The Sun
4. Boris Johnson to unveil plan to power all UK homes with wind by 2030  The Guardian
5. Boris Johnson pledges green recovery after coronavirus  BBC News
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2020-10-06 09:54:57Z
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Coronavirus: Labour call on Matt Hancock to consider quitting over 'disgusting' testing blunder - Sky News

Labour's deputy leader has called on Health Secretary Matt Hancock to consider quitting over the "disgusting" technology blunder that saw 16,000 coronavirus cases missed by contact tracers.

Angela Rayner told Mr Hancock he should be "completely embarrassed" by the delay in the reporting of 15,841 COVID-19 infections in England between 25 September to 2 October.

With the details of the cases having not initially been passed to the NHS Test and Trace scheme - due to an error in the handling of data - the government has been forced to draft in extra contact tracers in an effort to try and track down the contacts of people whose positive tests went unreported.

Image: Matt Hancock was told he should be 'completely embarrassed' Pic: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Mr Hancock has admitted that almost half of the nearly 16,000 people missed by the Test and Trace system have still not had their contacts traced.

Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Mrs Rayner said the health secretary "should be considering his position" over the IT problems, adding: "He's had a multiple of failures ever since he took on the role."

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"In terms of the test, track and trace system, we were promised a world-leading one and yet, over the last couple of months, we've seen the system creaking and 16,000 of these tests were knocked off an Excel spreadsheet after spending £12bn on that investment," she said.

"Of those 16,000, half of them were in the North West - I'm a North West MP, we've seen in Greater Manchester rises in the infection rate.

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"If we can't test and trace people, how are we supposed to keep on top of the virus?"

Mrs Rayner called on the government to "give us that world-leading test, track and trace system they promised".

"By doing that, what they need to do is allow local authorities' local tracing to happen instead of having a big multinational company look at it, who have obviously failed miserably," she added.

"Can you imagine the outcry if a public body had done that and wasted all that money on an Excel spreadsheet that isn't working?

"It's disastrous for England and it's been disastrous, in particular, for the North West when over half of those tests were the ones from that area.

"It's disgusting and the government really needs to step up and start doing their job properly."

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Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Mr Hancock said the technical problem with the system "that brings together" data from NHS test sites and tests processed by commercial firms "should never have happened".

But he insisted the team had "acted swiftly to minimise its impact".

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2020-10-06 08:59:50Z
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Coronavirus: Chancellor Rishi Sunak defends Eat Out To Help Out scheme in face of UK's second wave - Sky News

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has defended encouraging people back to pubs and restaurants over the summer, prior to the government being forced to take fresh action to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Sunak's "Eat Out To Help Out" scheme handed Britons discounted meals during August, as ministers attempted to restart the economy after the UK's lockdown.

Pubs, bars and restaurants - along with the rest of the hospitality industry - have since been handed a 10pm curfew as the government attempts to deal with a second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Live coverage of the latest coronavirus news and updates

Image: Rishi Sunak defended his Eat Out To Help Out scheme

At the weekend, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the meals discount programme for protecting jobs, but suggested new measures were needed to "counteract" the possible impact of the scheme on the spread of transmission.

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But, speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, the chancellor played down a link between his scheme and the growing rise in cases across the country as he cautioned against "jumping to simplistic conclusions".

"More broadly, if you think of the spread of the virus this time around, what's happening here is pretty much in sync with what's happening around the world in second waves," he said.

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"Whether it's France or Spain, where very specifically our scientists said we were following exactly the same curve.

"So, actually, this seems to be more a feature just of the virus and the season than anything specific."

Mr Sunak highlighted how the South West had seen the greatest use of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme, in proportion to the size of the local population, and was now a region with some of the lowest incidences of COVID-19 "anywhere in the country".

Between 10 August and 20 September, Public Health England (PHE) said that - among people who tested positive for COVID-19 - eating out was the most commonly reported activity in the two to seven days prior to the onset of symptoms.

But Mr Sunak warned of a "big difference between correlation and causation", adding: "I would be, I guess, cautious about jumping to simplistic conclusions."

He also said different analysis of PHE data had revealed "a very small percentage" of the causes of transmission were hospitality settings.

"One thing we know is, and I speak to our scientists almost every day, it's incredibly difficult at such a granular level to pinpoint exactly the cause of transmission," he continued.

"So I think we should have some humility about our ability to do that."

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Mr Sunak also pointed to how household mixing within homes was the "key source" of transmission in parts of the country, such as the Midlands.

"Depending on where you are in the country, the exact source of the virus spread will vary and that's why our response can be targeted and nuanced to the situation we confront," he said.

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2020-10-06 07:19:01Z
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Covid: Nearly 500,000 redundancies planned since crisis began - BBC News

British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in August, taking the total to 498,000 for the first five months of the Covid crisis.

Some 966 separate employers told the government of plans to cut 20 or more jobs, compared with 214 last August, a more than fourfold increase.

However, the figures were down from the levels seen in June and July, which both saw 150,000 job cuts planned.

The figures were released to the BBC after a freedom of information request.

Employers planning 20 or more redundancies

HR1 forms submitted

The economy bounced back in the summer after the unprecedented economic downturn earlier in the year, as workers were urged to return to the office, and customers encouraged to spend more by schemes such as the Eat Out To Help Out restaurant vouchers.

However a number of big businesses from many of the hardest-hit sectors, such as retail and restaurants, announced big redundancy plans, including Debenhams, DW Sports, Marks & Spencer, Pret a Manger, currency exchange company Travelex, and WH Smith.

The 58,000 positions put at risk in August was considerably lower than previous months, but it was still more than 150% up on the previous year.

"There was a sense of optimism in August, we were starting to see more spending and more activity, there were hopes for a quick recovery," said Rebecca McDonald, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank. "That seems a lot less likely now."

Planned redundancies

Proposed dismissals submitted

A government spokesperson said: "Supporting jobs is an absolute priority, which is why we have set out our plan for jobs to protect, create and support jobs across the UK.

"We are helping employees get back to work through a £1,000 retention bonus, creating new roles for young people with our £2bn Kickstart scheme and doubling the number of frontline work coaches."

How will the end of the furlough scheme affect redundancies?

The big summer rush may have been partly caused by firms preparing to cut staff before the end of the furlough scheme on 31 October.

That scheme, where the government pays part of workers' wages when their employers cannot, has helped to reduce the number of pandemic-related redundancies. A total of 9.6 million jobs were furloughed.

But given that most redundancy processes take months to complete, firms planning significant dismissals by the end of furlough would have had to notify government in the summer.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, unveiled a new employment support scheme last month, where government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their usual hours due to reduced demand.

It is less generous than the furlough scheme, and the next few months of redundancy data will give an early indication of how successful it has been in protecting employment.

"Many employers will have difficult decisions to make in the coming months. Given the design of the new scheme it seems likely that there will be a significant number of redundancies in the winter," said Ms McDonald.

"We are concerned that it will be the lowest-paid workers in the hardest-hit sectors who will be affected the most."

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Employers are obliged to notify government when they plan to make 20 or more staff redundant in any single "establishment" using an HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy form. However, they often make fewer positions redundant than the number they initially notify.

These figures pick up an increase in redundancy plans long before the Office for National Statistics' redundancy figures, which appear with a lag of several months.

ONS numbers showed 156,000 redundancies from May to July, up from 107,000 in the previous three-month period.

However, any redundancy process involving fewer than 20 people doesn't show up in these figures so the eventual total is likely to be larger than the HR1 numbers suggest.

Companies in Northern Ireland file HR1 forms with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and they are not included in these figures.

Have you been made redundant as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? Are you worried you will be? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

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2020-10-06 06:45:52Z
52781101225067

Covid: Nearly 500,000 redundancies planned since crisis began - BBC News

British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in August, taking the total to 498,000 for the first five months of the Covid crisis.

Some 966 separate employers told the government of plans to cut 20 or more jobs, compared with 214 last August, a more than fourfold increase.

However, the figures were down from the levels seen in June and July, which both saw 150,000 job cuts planned.

The figures were released to the BBC after a freedom of information request.

Employers planning 20 or more redundancies

HR1 forms submitted

The economy bounced back in the summer after the unprecedented economic downturn earlier in the year, as workers were urged to return to the office, and customers encouraged to spend more by schemes such as the Eat Out To Help Out restaurant vouchers.

However a number of big businesses from many of the hardest-hit sectors, such as retail and restaurants, announced big redundancy plans, including Debenhams, DW Sports, Marks & Spencer, Pret a Manger, currency exchange company Travelex, and WH Smith.

The 58,000 positions put at risk in August was considerably lower than previous months, but it was still more than 150% up on the previous year.

"There was a sense of optimism in August, we were starting to see more spending and more activity, there were hopes for a quick recovery," said Rebecca McDonald, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank. "That seems a lot less likely now."

Planned redundancies

Proposed dismissals submitted

A government spokesperson said: "Supporting jobs is an absolute priority, which is why we have set out our plan for jobs to protect, create and support jobs across the UK.

"We are helping employees get back to work through a £1,000 retention bonus, creating new roles for young people with our £2bn Kickstart scheme and doubling the number of frontline work coaches."

How will the end of the furlough scheme affect redundancies?

The big summer rush may have been partly caused by firms preparing to cut staff before the end of the furlough scheme on 31 October.

That scheme, where the government pays part of workers' wages when their employers cannot, has helped to reduce the number of pandemic-related redundancies. A total of 9.6 million jobs were furloughed.

But given that most redundancy processes take months to complete, firms planning significant dismissals by the end of furlough would have had to notify government in the summer.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, unveiled a new employment support scheme last month, where government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their usual hours due to reduced demand.

It is less generous than the furlough scheme, and the next few months of redundancy data will give an early indication of how successful it has been in protecting employment.

"Many employers will have difficult decisions to make in the coming months. Given the design of the new scheme it seems likely that there will be a significant number of redundancies in the winter," said Ms McDonald.

"We are concerned that it will be the lowest-paid workers in the hardest-hit sectors who will be affected the most."

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Employers are obliged to notify government when they plan to make 20 or more staff redundant in any single "establishment" using an HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy form. However, they often make fewer positions redundant than the number they initially notify.

These figures pick up an increase in redundancy plans long before the Office for National Statistics' redundancy figures, which appear with a lag of several months.

ONS numbers showed 156,000 redundancies from May to July, up from 107,000 in the previous three-month period.

However, any redundancy process involving fewer than 20 people doesn't show up in these figures so the eventual total is likely to be larger than the HR1 numbers suggest.

Companies in Northern Ireland file HR1 forms with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and they are not included in these figures.

Have you been made redundant as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? Are you worried you will be? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

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2020-10-06 06:21:33Z
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ALEX BRUMMER: Free lunch is over... but don't crush the wealth creators - Daily Mail

Title goes here

By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail

Published: 22:34 BST, 5 October 2020 | Updated: 22:34 BST, 5 October 2020

As the pandemic unfolded, Rishi Sunak was the Cabinet minister left holding the safety net, charged with protecting jobs, businesses and public services from harm with the biggest peacetime spending spree in the nation’s history. 

But finally the day of reckoning has arrived and the Chancellor had little choice but to issue a bleak warning that the Government must get the nation’s unsustainable debt levels back under control. 

Quite understandably, Mr Sunak postponed this autumn’s planned budget because of the continued uncertainty over the pandemic. 

But Britain should now be on red alert that his first full budget, expected to be next March, will mark an end to largesse and a start to balancing the books. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak, pictured on Monday, faced little choice but to issue a bleak warning that the Government must get the nation’s unsustainable debt levels back under control, writes ALEX BRUMMER

For in the eyes of the Treasury, playtime is over. It will almost certainly mean a new round of tax increases, while those levies that have been suspended will no doubt rear their unwelcome heads. 

Also on the horizon are a raft of new fuel duties and a brutal cut in the tax relief for those saving for pensions. 

Fortunately, the Chancellor also made it clear yesterday that the route back to turbo-charging Britain’s beleaguered economy is to encourage its army of entrepreneurs and the self-employed to take risks to create wealth and jobs. 

He vowed to respect the ‘nobility’ of work and free enterprise. But make no mistake: the age of the free lunch in terms of furlough and job subsidies is coming to an end. 

He made it clear that the far less glamorous but Conservative value of living within our means is back in the driving seat. 

Public debt has reached levels worth more than the output of the whole economy in a full year

Of course, the Chancellor will draw some comfort from the fact that, in spite of the latest restrictions, the UK’s resilient economy still has a pulse. 

The latest survey of the services sector, which accounts for three-quarters of national output, is encouraging, with the widely followed Purchasing Managers’ Index – a measure of the economic performance of the manufacturing and service sectors – up for the third successive month in September. 

Yet the postponement of the budget has rightly piled on the pressure for Mr Sunak to come up with a lifeline for restoring the credibility of the public finances. 

For the Government’s long list of pandemic interventions – from the wildly expensive Bounce Back Loan Scheme for the smallest firms (which has gobbled up £37billion so far) to the eyewateringly costly Job Retention Scheme – has put unprecedented strain on the nation’s resources. 

To put it in perspective, the public borrowing in the current financial year, ending in April 2021, will be north of £350bn – more than twice the £150bn of bills run up during the financial crisis of a decade ago. 

Public debt reached £2trillion in August. 

That is more than the output of the whole economy in a full year. Even with record low interest rates, to describe financing that level of debt as a huge burden would be an understatement. 

Should interest rates have to be raised because of a new burst of inflation or a run on the pound, the Chancellor could be faced with a catastrophe. 

Rishi Sunak launched schemes such as Eat Out to Help Out and the furlough scheme, but now he is desperate to raise the nation's income

Mr Sunak realises that there is only so much cash that can be harvested from the money tree and is resisting Labour’s calls for more help for employees in danger of losing their jobs. 

And so he is understandably desperate to raise more income for the nation. But it is crucial he recognises the best way for Britain to pay its outstanding bills is to grow its way out of trouble. 

For ultimately, tax increases on the nation’s wealth creators would only drive business investment, which is already in a perilous state, overseas. 

At a time when the UK is looking to reach out into the world post-Brexit, that is the last thing it needs. 

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2020-10-05 21:34:26Z
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