Comments on: Archbishops’ Council lies about GMC in battle for secret clergy discipline tribunals

By: Even after Parliament called it out, Synod members are still being misled about secret hearings - Church Abuse

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 08:54:39 +0000

[…] July 2024 – “Archbishops’ Council lies about GMC in battle for secret clergy discipline tribunals”, documenting in detail how Synod had been misled about professional […]

By: The General Synod and Safeguarding – a look ahead to February’s Group of Sessions - Church Abuse

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 22:03:55 +0000

[…] until the papers are released whether any changes are being proposed.At the last group of sessions, Synod members were lied to about one of the fundamental problems with the legislation: the secrecy o…. Synod members were told that holding tribunal hearings in private was the norm in other tribunals, […]

By: Professional Conduct Panellist

Professional Conduct Panellist — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 11:45:36 +0000

It is wildly inaccurate. I sit as a professional conduct tribunal member (judge) for more than one of the statutory and/or professional regulators. It is one of the central principles of these tribunal proceedings that hearings are held in public unless there is good and sufficient reason to hold them in private. Applications can be made to hear the whole case in private, but these are very rarely successful, because a public interest test must always be applied, and in the vast majority of cases, this trumps any reason for hearing the entirety of the case in private.

What usually happens is where there is confidential evidence or mitigating information – usually sensitive medical information about the defendant, complainant (if an individual), and/or a witness- or where there is a vulnerable witness to be protected, the part of the hearing where this evidence is disclosed and questioned is heard in private, and the remainder in public. Panels are adept at this switching during a hearing, as are counsel.

I can confidently say that the regulators I undertake this role for do not hear hearings in private just to protect the reputations of the defendant, complainant or the organisation for which they work. So it is utterly inaccurate for Canon Wharton to claim there is any precedent for a policy of private hearings as normative among the professional and statutory regulators.

By: Opinion – 27 July 2024 | Thinking Anglicans

Opinion – 27 July 2024 | Thinking Anglicans — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 10:00:52 +0000

[…] Gavin Drake Church Abuse Archbishops’ Council lies about GMC in battle for secret clergy discipline tribunals […]

By: MR CHRIS REES

MR CHRIS REES — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 07:36:14 +0000

Gavin, this is quite excellent and VERY well produced. Chris

By: editor

editor — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 17:45:34 +0000

In reply to Tom Buchanan. I agree, but this is a direct quote. I assume that it was a slip of the tongue.

By: Tom Buchanan

Tom Buchanan — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 15:52:15 +0000

I think there is a mistake in this sentence; “Telling Synod why the committee continues to oppose the amendment she said: “it is worth noting that sitting in public does not mean sitting in secret”

Sitting in private surely?