Advice for Out of School Settings Call for Evidence

See article on ‘Spectre of Sunday School Inspection Returns’ for background context

To respond should take around 20 minutes and can be completed here. The deadline is Thursday 21 August.

It is very important that you provide your own examples and opinions and do not copy the submissions of others. This means that your voice will be heard as a unique response, and not disregarded as a repeated piece of evidence.

Much of the call for evidence is multiple choice questions. We would ask for you to state that you do not believe further registration or regulation is needed given your experience. There are longer free text responses available at Questions 16, 33, 35, 37 and 41; these are opportunities for you to bring your own evidenced examples from your own experience and setting, and to highlight the dangers which you foresee in the state giving itself these powers and responsibilities.

For the free text questions please consider covering these points:

Question 16

• How your setting already maintains safety, with specific examples
• The damage which could result from changes envisioned, with specific examples
• That there is already guidance and advice available and this is enough
• That there are already avenues of report which are available should issues arise which you are aware of

Questions 33, 35 and 37

• The overreach of the state into the private and religious practices and beliefs of families and churches
• The danger that family homes and Christian parents will become regulated
• That churches and Sunday Schools should never be required to be registered and regulated
• That this approach (engagement or information-based approach) is unnecessary as there are already avenues of report which are available should significant safeguarding issues arise
• That state surveillance is a sign of a totalitarian approach to whatever future ‘progressive’ governments deem to be safe
• That state resources through local authorities are already stretched and not functioning for the children already known to be unsafe

Question 41

• Having answered ‘m’ provide your own stories and evidence that the vast majority of parents are the best judges of safety for children
• Provide evidence of safety over years of service from your own church or group
• Provide evidence of the lack of safety when children are currently in state overseen institutions such as children’s homes or state schools such as can be found in our articles

Please highlight the issues to your church leader, other children’s workers you know, and plan in some time to complete this call for evidence before the deadline of Thursday 21 August.