Senior politicians who were briefed before the inquiry was announced last week did not seek assurances that the college would be open with the resultant report, but said they anticipated no problems obtaining it in due course.
Some States agencies are understood to believe that the college could have alerted them sooner to recent disclosures of abuse dating back to the 1970s and 80s and its intention to set up the inquiry, but Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez and Education president Paul Montague backed the college’s approach as ‘transparent’ so far.
‘We both separately discussed the review with the principal of Elizabeth College and offered her our support,’ they said in a joint statement.
‘While the question of whether the findings will be shared with the States did not immediately come up, our expectations are that they will be shared.
‘The school has been transparent about launching the review, so we are confident it will be transparent about the findings, while of course respecting victims’ right to confidentiality.’
The college said it had appointed child protection expert Joanna Nicolas to provide abused ex-pupils with an independent and confidential process, provide the school with a fuller understanding of past events and make sure lessons have been learned.
It guaranteed that the findings and recommendations of her inquiry would be shared with ‘safeguarding partners’, but it was yet to decide whether they would be published in any form.
‘Given the sensitivities around safeguarding and bearing in mind the confidentiality rights of survivors, the board will consider the output from the review carefully and determine what is appropriate to share in due course,’ said a college spokesperson.
Ms Nicolas is one of the UK’s leading experts in safeguarding and child protection and has more than 30 years’ experience working with national organisations in the public and private sectors.
However, the college denied a request to speak to Ms Nicolas about her career and current inquiry, saying that she was ‘very much focused on the progress of the review’ and did not intend to give interviews.
It would appear that she has not been asked to complete her inquiry by a certain date or to keep the costs within a set budget.
‘Ms Nicolas has committed to carrying out the review efficiently and sensitively. How long this takes, and the resource required, is a matter for her. It is too early to estimate at this time,’ said the college spokesperson.
The police refused to answer a direct question about whether they were satisfied with the speed at which the college had told officers about former pupils’ disclosures of abuse.
Instead, a police spokesperson said: ‘Any victims of crime, historical or otherwise, should contact police directly. Anyone with safeguarding concerns can contact the Multi-agency Support Hub (MASH). We have worked with the college to ensure this is made clear to anyone who comes forward as part of the review.’
The college said that it always referred such matters to the police and other agencies in line with its legal duties and advised that disclosures of criminal behaviour should be taken to the police.
It said that disclosures made to Ms Nicolas which indicated potential criminal conduct or safeguarding concerns would be reported in line with standard arrangements, which include the police and MASH.
Deputies de Sausmarez and Montague encouraged anyone who thought they had been the victim of a crime to report it to the police.
Any former student of Elizabeth College who would like further information about how to participate should contact Ms Nicolas by email at nonrecentcasesreview@joannanicolas.co.uk and she will explain the process and approach.
Anyone with immediate concerns about child safeguarding in Guernsey or Alderney should contact the Multi-agency Support Hub (MASH) by calling 01481 223182. An emergency duty team for safeguarding is available out of hours by calling 01481 222222.