The Parish takes very seriously its obligation to safeguard children and vulnerable adults among its community and follows the practices and procedures established by the Diocese of Leeds within the national framework created by the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales to ensure so far as is possible that all those working as volunteers in the parish with children and vulnerable adults have no background which would render them unsuitable or unsafe to take on such roles.

All volunteers operating within the following groups are required to submit to a safe recruitment process involving interview, references, identity checks and Criminal Records Bureau clearance before taking part in any activity :- Baptism Preparation; First Sacraments; Children’s Liturgy; Confirmation; SVP; Eucharistic Ministry; Parents and Toddlers; Lourdes Pilgrimage; Altar servers; Parish appointed drivers; Sacristan; Entertainments officer; and other ad hoc appointments as decided from time to time. Over 100 people have been cleared through this process to date and constant vigilance by all members of the parish community is strongly encouraged.

In addition to this process for all our own volunteers, all those outside bodies hiring the parish centre for any activity involving children or vulnerable adults are required to show that they either have their own satisfactory safeguarding policies and procedures or that they are prepared to submit to the parish’s as outlined above. They are also required to produce evidence of appropriate insurance cover.

The parish has two representatives appointed by the Diocese to ensure that these practices and procedures are followed. They are Mary Swatridge and Mike Kenny, who can be contacted through either the parish telephone number or through the “contact us” feature of the parish web site. Any concerns in this area should be reported to them or to the Parish Priest.