Everyone will be aware of the awful events in France over the last few weeks including the murder of a Catholic priest this week as he led his congregation.
It is, therefore, a timely moment for church leaders to look at the security in their churches. Churches are charities, and so their charity trustees are under a duty to minimise the risks to their church and congregation. Part of this risk might be an attack.
National Operational Police Lead for Protect and Prepare Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu has said:
“There is no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK. However, as we have seen, Daesh and other terrorist groups have targeted Christian as well as Jewish and other faith groups in the West and beyond.
“Following recent events in France, we are reiterating our protective security advice to Christian places of worship and have circulated specific advice today. We are also taking this opportunity to remind them to review their security arrangements as a precaution.”
It is suggested that church leaders should:
As part of minimising the risk churches should:
As a general principle, all charities, including churches, should regularly carry out risk assessments and put suitable measures in place to manage those identified risks.
It is also worth noting that this week the Home Office also announced the Places of worship: security funding scheme for the provision of protective security measures for places of worship in England and Wales. The scheme is part of a wider cross-government effort to stop all forms of hate crime and to provide security measures to places of worship. Bids for funding can be made for the next 8 weeks until 5pm on 20 September 2016. A second round of bids will open in spring 2017. For further information please click here.
For more information, particularly in relation to risk assessments, please contact Edwina Turner.
Hilary Homfray joins Anthony Collins Solicitors after working for Birmingham City Council for 14 years. With more than 60,000 properties, she was kept busy!
The use of large up-front fees and disproportionate deposits has already resulted in significant cost consequences for one care provider.
The government announced on 16 May that it will provide a fund of £400m to cover the costs of removal and replacement of cladding to high rise residential blocks which have failed tests.
Whilst some people are under the impression that preparing a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is simply a case of completing a form and ticking a few boxes, it is about far more than this.
A big fear for some people facing divorce and the inevitable carving up of the matrimonial assets. They seek assurances that such assets will be “ring-fenced” and retained for them.
Thinking about the legal status of being a cohabitant probably isn’t at the top of the ‘to do’ list.
When an individual is thinking about making a gift to another individual, consideration needs to be given to the Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET) trap.
We are now only a few weeks away from the biggest change to data protection laws in over 20 years. Are you compliant?
The tragedy, in this case, is that there were options readily available to the midwives that they could have used. This was not a case of having to go above and beyond.
Arising from the recent Family Division announcement, people who think they are legally divorced may in fact still be married.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.