In late February 2025, BSA wrote to The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Home Secretary, UK.
The letter, sent by email, stated:
We are writing to offer you our support in taking forward the recommendations of the IICSA inquiry and urge you to do so as soon as possible.
The Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) represents the interests of nearly 500 boarding schools in the UK, with a deep commitment to safeguarding and bringing together people with expertise in this area. BSA is also part of a wider BSA Group with a dedicated safeguarding arm, SACPA (Safeguarding and Child Protection Association), which serves over 450 professionals, organisations and charities working with children and at-risk adults.
Every day the implementation of IICSA is delayed means more suffering for the survivors and further risk that more innocent people become victims of abuse. We welcome your commitment to laying out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 IICSA recommendations by Easter. This process needs to happen speedily and with detailed consideration of how measures will be implemented in practice. We stand ready to support you in this work.
We support the inclusion of measures on mandatory reporting as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill. This is integral to creating a culture of effective reporting and will build on the framework of guidance and best practice that has been put in place in schools in recent years. However, there can never be room for complacency and the IICSA recommendations will help address some of the gaps that currently exist.
Furthermore, our organisation works closely with schools on educational guardian arrangements, and would welcome conversations on the licensing of guardians as recommended by IICSA’s residential schools investigation.
We would be happy to meet with you or your officials to discuss.
Categories: Sector News Uncategorised
