The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
Implementation Plan of the Recommendations of The McLellan Commission
The Implementation Plan of the recommendations from the McLellan Commission will be overseen by the Strategic Management Group on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. The Strategic Management Group comprises the General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, the National Safeguarding Co-ordinator of the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service, the Chair of the Conference of Religious Scotland Safeguarding Commission and the Safeguarding Representative of the Conference of Religious Scotland Safeguarding Commission. The Group will be responsible for ensuring that throughout the process the Paramountcy Principle is observed and that Survivors and an Independent Element are involved.
The Group may associate with itself particular experts or any relevant person when dealing with a specific issue. The Group will report in the first instance to Bishop Toal who has responsibility for these matters in the Bishops’ Conference.
The ultimate goal is the rewriting of the Safeguarding Manual for the Catholic Church in Scotland. The Strategic Management Group will be responsible for this by drawing together the work of the separate groups and completing those elements in the Manual not covered by any specific group (Appendix 1).
As each task is being undertaken the Bishops will discuss the matter at the Conference and then a team will be established which will be made up of people qualified and experienced in that specific area along with those working in Safeguarding in the Church in Scotland and others who may be appropriate. The National Safeguarding Co-ordinator of the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service will be the principal advisor to each group. The Strategic Management Group will oversee the work of each group and will receive their reports which will be passed onto the Independent Element, once this is established, for comment before submission to the Bishops’ Conference for the final decision.
Survivors will also be asked to comment prior to the Bishops’ decision on any particular report and on the final draft of the renewed Safeguarding Manual. The following plan allocates all the recommendations of the McLellan Commission to one of 6 groups, each with a specific task, and the remainder to the Strategic Management Group. These recommendations will be the basis upon which each group will work in addressing the topic for inclusion in the renewed Manual.
As each group is established it will be published on the website of the Bishops’ Conference and anyone will be able to make suggestions relevant to that group using a dedicated email.