UK charities have today committed to strengthening their leadership, culture and capacity around safeguarding.

The pledge was made at a summit in London this morning (Tuesday), hosted by the Charity Commission and the Office for Civil Society at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The summit brought charities working in the UK together with their regulators and other agencies, as well as independent safeguarding experts, and focused on setting out the specific safeguarding challenges facing charities working in the UK. It followed a summit on Monday, focused on charities working internationally.

Attendees acknowledged the impact on public trust in charities from the recent revelations around sexual exploitation by individuals involved in international aid agencies. They committed to working together to lead a meaningful response to safeguarding concerns facing the domestic charitable sector, and to achieve the highest standards of safeguarding.

Themes agreed for priority action were:

• leadership, culture and values
• law, regulation and the statutory framework
• capacity and capability in charities around safeguarding and
• responsibilities and reporting, accountability and transparency.

Helen Stephenson, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, said:

Keeping people safe must be the top priority for all charities, wherever they work and whatever they do – the public, rightly, expect all charities to be safe places for those who come into contact with them. Sadly, concerns about safeguarding in charities are not limited to international aid organisations. Charities working in the UK have their own safeguarding challenges that must be addressed. I am encouraged by the commitment shown today by UK charities to lead and drive improvements around safeguarding. That commitment must be followed by firm action, and we as regulator will work with and support charities in developing practical, workable changes.

Minister for Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, said:

Safeguarding must be at the heart of every charity’s culture and a central priority for its leadership. I have been clear to the sector that they must make safeguarding a key priority. It is crucial that the sector addresses this issue urgently to protect vulnerable people and rebuild the public’s trust.

The summit was chaired by Professor John Drew CBE, former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, and author of a review into South Yorkshire Police’s handling of child sexual exploitation.

Attendees agreed to develop action plans for each of the themes and reconvene in two months’ time, to commit to implementation and discuss early progress in delivering change. Charity regulators in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be leading their own action plans. This work will feed into a wider safeguarding conference planned for later in the year.

The Charity Commission this week confirmed that reports of serious incidents on safeguarding have nearly doubled since revelations of sexual exploitation by Oxfam staff in Haiti emerged at the beginning of February. The regulator has established a new taskforce to deal with increased serious incident reports, and to undertake proactive work to ensure prompt and full reporting of serious safeguarding incidents by charities. That taskforce is also undertaking a ‘deep dive’ of existing serious incident reporting records to ensure any gaps in full and frank disclosure are identified and responded to.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. The Charity Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales; charities in Scotland are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and charities in Northern Ireland are regulated by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. All three regulators took part in the summit.
2. Among the charities and organisations attending the UK safeguarding summit were NCVO, ACEVO, SCVO, Association of Chairs, Small Charities Coalition, Scouts Association, Alzheimer’s Society, Barnado’s, Scouts Association, The Children’s Society, Children in Need, NSPCC, Age UK, Big Lottery Fund, Managing Together Ltd, Bond, Children England, the Charity Retail Association.
3. On 17 February, the Commission set out a range of new measures on safeguarding.

Britain’s relationship with one of our oldest friends in the Middle East will begin a new chapter with the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman is visiting the UK for the first time since he became Crown Prince in June 2017 and since Saudi Arabia started a major programme of domestic reforms. Saudi Arabia is amongst the largest political, diplomatic and economic power in the Middle East, and the visit will usher in a new era in our bilateral relations with one of our oldest friends in the region.

The Crown Prince’s visit builds on the Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia in November 2017. It will help to enhance our co-operation in tackling international challenges such as terrorism, extremism, the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen and other regional issues such as Iraq and Syria.

Saudi Arabia has also set out Vision 2030, a roadmap to open up the country’s economy over the next 15 years. This will provide opportunities for British businesses in sectors including education, entertainment and healthcare where they have world-class expertise. It also includes plans for Saudi Arabia to become a global investment powerhouse and the Crown Prince’s visit will help explore ways in which Saudi Arabia can build on its investment in the UK in sectors such as infrastructure.

British Ambassador Simon Collis talks about the ties between our two countries

Saudi Crown Prince Visit

Find out more about the Crown Prince’s visit

Published 6 March 2018

I am appalled that yesterday’s joint aid convoy into Eastern Ghouta was forced to halt its critical life-saving work because of continued airstrikes in civilian areas by the Asad regime.

Yesterday’s incomprehensible actions by this brutal dictator, removing over 70% of everyday medical supplies for innocent families including vital insulin and dialysis equipment, serves purely to inflict as much misery as possible onto the Syrian people.

These actions have needlessly put thousands of lives at risk – some of those trapped and in need of urgent medical care will die unless all parties, including Russia, respect the 30-day ceasefire in Syria and allow unrestricted humanitarian access and the evacuation of the critically sick and wounded.

The UK’s Minister for the Commonwealth has visited Edinburgh today (Tuesday 6 March) to explore the historical and present-day links between Scotland and other Commonwealth nations ahead of the Commonwealth Summit.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister of State Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon met students from Kelvin College, Glasgow and heard about their textile design project, run in collaboration with students at a women’s community college in Guntur, India. The project centred around the history of the famous Paisley Pattern, which originated in India, and culminated in joint fashion shows in both Paisley and Guntur.

Lord Ahmad visited the Scottish Youth Parliament to meet young people active in their communities, including individuals who will attend the Commonwealth Youth Forum during the summit. They discussed issues facing young people in Scotland, and how the summit can best capture the voices and interests of young people across the world.

He also attended a lunch with diaspora members and faith representatives to hear about how different communities will be involved with the Summit and to uncover more about the international relationships that act as living bridges between Scotland and other Commonwealth countries today.

In April, the UK will host the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting with world leaders travelling in to take part in a week-long programme of activities.

Lord Ahmad said:

My father arrived in Glasgow from the Indian subcontinent in the 1950s and made a home in the UK. For this and many other reasons, Scotland, and its Commonwealth ties, is very important to me.

The Commonwealth is a unique family of nations and its members account for two and a half billion people. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April will focus on young people as we strive to meet the aspirations of the one billion people in Commonwealth countries under the age of 25. I want to see Scotland, especially its young people, involved in shaping decisions that affect their future.

I am incredibly confident in the future of the Commonwealth and the role Scotland has to play in it.

Lord Ahmad met Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, to discuss the key role that the Scottish Government has in the run up to the Commonwealth Summit, including through hosting Commonwealth ‘Big Lunches’ and engaging young people.

Further information

I’m delighted to welcome you here today and in particular to His Excellency, Mr Gamal Hassan, the Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development of the Federal Republic of Somalia today and our other distinguished guests. I’d also like to thank Mark Lowcock for initiating this meeting, and for all the work his team has done with my officials to bring us all together today.

I am proud of the UK’s partnership with Somalia. This time last year, Somalia was on the brink of disaster and we realised that we had to step up. Together we have averted a famine and saved thousands of lives.

Last year’s response was an important success story, both for Somalia and for the international humanitarian system. But the job is not finished yet. The humanitarian situation remains a major cause for concern, and the famine risk remains high.

We need to sustain and build on our humanitarian response to ensure that we meet the most immediate and urgent needs. Alongside this, we also need to recognise the need for long-lasting solutions to break the cycle of this crisis. That is why we have called this meeting today.

My Department, and the UK Government, remain committed to working with the Somali authorities, local and international NGOs, UN agencies, and new partners who can help us reach the 5.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance after some of the worst droughts on record.

In January I visited Mogadishu and saw first-hand the lifesaving work we are doing together, and I also announced £21 million in UK funding towards the 2018 humanitarian response.

Today, I’m pleased to confirm a further commitment, bringing our total contribution to £86 million. This includes £24.6 million from the UK Crisis Reserve, which helps us respond to emergency situations. I’m pleased to confirm that £46 million of this will be released before the end of this month, to ensure that funds are available to support early action and intervention. And I would like to thank all of you for your continued support to Somalia and encourage you to step up to the challenge in 2018 as we try and avert a potential famine.

I hope that this meeting will serve to encourage all of us to sustain our efforts to continue to tackle the drought, and ensure that the famine we helped to prevent last year does not happen again instead, to ensure that funds are available to support early action and intervention. I would like to thank everyone for your continued support.

I know that the spring rains will be critical in determining how severe the situation becomes this year. But even if the rains are good, humanitarian needs will still remain high. That is why I have asked my officials to keep me updated. As the year unfolds we will consider if additional UK resources are required.

As we join together to meet the challenges ahead, we must also ensure that we deliver against the Grand Bargain commitments that we all signed up to.

We must do better at including the most marginalised Somalis and ensuring that we protect the most vulnerable – women and girls and disabled people in particular. This means ensuring that aid is able to reach conflict-affected areas. And I call on the Somali authorities, and international partners, to do all they can to ensure that access for humanitarian aid is not restricted.

And we must also look forward and beyond the current situation. Drought need not turn into widespread food insecurity and famine. It is vitally important that we balance both the short and long term needs of vulnerable Somalis, and make sure there are stronger links between our humanitarian and development work so we can build resilience and the ability to cope with future shocks. As Somalia’s government makes progress in addressing insecurity, rebuilding its institutions, and creating economic opportunities for its citizens, we will be better placed to break this persistent cycle of crisis.

And having recently visited, I am optimistic about the future.

Long term solutions require stability and a real commitment from Somalia itself. We have seen that we can work together to stave off disaster. We are also seeing growing evidence that Somalia is heading towards a future where it can better take care of its own needs, including making good progress on its re-engagement with the IMF and the development banks and raising its own revenue.

This is why the UK government will continue to play an active role in supporting Somalia to meet all these objectives, including helping develop new ideas for economic recovery and continuing the progress being made towards re-engagement with the international financial system.

I wish you a very fruitful meeting today and I thank you again for your continued commitment to Somalia.