“Serious questions about who knew what and when?”

Andy Churcher • September 18, 2023

And here we are again, another scandal erupting in some of the UK’s most high profile organisations. This week its how the BBC and Channel 4 made decisions about engaging Russell Brand between 2006 and 2013, a period of time when allegations have now been made against him of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse. Today, the Conservative MP and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes said there are "some serious questions about who knew what and when".

It’s positive that such illegal, abusive, exploitative and inappropriate behaviours are being revealed as this is the first step to stopping them even if over 10 late. Strong governance, focussing on the right areas, could potentially have protected victims of this behaviour and prevented so many people being hurt.

Strong and effective governance means that leaders understand and manage the risks associated with their organisations, specific to their sectors and act to prevent the organisation’s reputation being damaged. All organisations place or maintain people in positions of power which those individuals can use to abuse people. Such positions of power include those situations provided by the legal definitions of positions of trust [a], providing opportunities to receive public adulation or even in the management of staff. Therefore, decisions about the appropriateness of people in positions of power must be of interest to Boards.

Considering how both strategic and operational business decisions could result in the abuse of children and adults at risk, or the exploitation or assault of anyone, must be a fundamental part of the Board’s role. They must challenge the organisation’s executives about how business decisions could put people at risk, in the same way they would challenge them about the strategic implications of other management decisions.

But too often safeguarding, conduct and protection are too far down the priority list for Boards, and they are not focussed on this fundamental part of their role.

In the case of Russell Brand, it seems that specific concerns were raised about his conduct to executives, but he remained in prominent presenting roles with the broadcasters. But the parallels to similar failings are stark, including the way allegations of abuse within gymnastics were responded to by the Board of British Gymnastics [b], the descriptions by the Baroness Casey Review of the Met Police’s governance arrangements as “fog” which contributed to the failings there [c], and numerous conclusions of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse [d]. Sadly, there are many more.

Lord Laming concluded in 2003 in his inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié: “Never again should people in senior positions be free to claim – as they did in this Inquiry – ignorance of what was happening to children.” Hopefully we are moving to the point where senior leaders are unable to claim ignorance to any of these issues and prioritise safeguarding, conduct and protection alongside their other responsibilities.

Keep Safeguarding is working with organisations, large and small, to refine their structures to effectively provide oversight of safeguarding and misconduct issues to ensure they provide effective governance in this area too. Give as a call if you are interested in finding out how we can help you.

Sources and further information:

[a] How are we going to do it?, Positions of trust: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet, Home Office 2022

[b] The Whyte Review: Final Report of Anne Whyte QC, Sport England 2022

[c] Baroness Casey Review Final Report Metropolitan Police Service 2023

[d] The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, IICSA 2022

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The value of safeguarding within a mosaic of factors to improve attainment

By Andy Churcher • March 21, 2025

The recently published DfE research report The link between attendance and attainment in an assessment year [1] outlines the significant benefits to schools and their pupils of improving attendance levels. I know that most schools are very proactive when it comes to supporting pupils to increase their attendance, and rightly so. Ofsted are interested in understanding this work during inspections with a recent report stating, “The school has addressed the significant challenges with pupils’ attendance and punctuality through effective actions to support and engage families.” But, of course, attendance isn’t the only factor impacting attainment in assessment. In fact, much research demonstrates that academic success measured by attainment is influenced by the whole life experience of the child. Ofsted’s 2022 paper Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence [2] identified interdependencies between attendance and safeguarding. Effective and empathetic communication with parents is also an important tool in reducing absence. The same paper noted, “It is clear that leaders who have succeeded in raising attendance levels listen to parents properly and ask the right questions in order to find out why their children are not attending well enough.” There is also extensive research which helps us to understand the link between challenging behaviour and abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Truth Project, part of the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse [3], gathered the insight of more than 6,000 victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. In its report, IICSA noted that victims and survivors knew their behaviour deteriorated as a result of being sexually abused sometimes, but not exclusively, as a deliberate attempt to communicate that they needed help, although sadly these signals were rarely recognised by others. And if behaviour can influence attainment then, of course, so can being the victim of abuse. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s 2024 National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment [4] stated that “abuse was reported to have impacted children’s education in nearly a third of reviews”. And, if all that’s the case we can begin to see a complex mosaic of interdependencies for children which have the power to influence their risk of being a victim of abuse, their behaviour in school, their attainment throughout their education and their whole life experience. Safeguarding and wellbeing should never be seen as separate to any other part of a child’s experience. I wonder if school leaders take a truly strategic view of this mosaic which results in a co-ordinated approach which is greater than the sum of its parts. Or if work to support pupils is often too fragmented at an organisational level to be sufficiently effective in tackling these interdependencies. Last year the Department of Education published a rapid literature review [5] to shape the work of the longitudinal Education and Outcomes Panel Study (EOPS). It identified this mosaic of issues that impact educational outcomes categorising them into four themes: Theme 1: Children’s cognitive and non-cognitive capabilities and wellbeing Theme 2: Children with SEND and experience of social services Theme 3: Home environment Theme 4: Experiences of school