Bill Kilgallon is Chief Executive of St Gemma’s Hospice, Leeds.

From January 2003 to March 2007 Bill was Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence an independent body established by government to establish a knowledge base for social care, identify what works and issue guidance for policy and practice.

Previously Bill had been Chief Executive of St Anne’s Shelter & Housing Action from 1978 to 2002, an organisation he founded in 1971. St Anne’s works with single homeless people, people with learning disabilities, mental health problems and problems relating to alcohol and drug abuse. It provides services across Yorkshire and the North East.

Bill was Chair of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust from 1998 to 2002 and Chair of the Leeds Community and Mental Health Services NHS Trust from 1992 to 1998. Bill was a member of Leeds City Council from 1979 to 1992. He chaired the Social Service, Housing and Environment Committees and served as Lord Mayor in 1990-91.

Bill has served on the management boards of a wide range of organisations at local, regional and national level. He has served on a range of government groups on mental health, learning disability, social care training and employment. He has led independent inquiries in local authority and NHS services.

Bill's first degree is in theology, and he has a Masters degree in Social Work and is a registered social worker. He also has a Masters degree in management.

Bill and his wife have been foster carers for almost thirty years.

Bishop Lang is the Bishop of Clifton which covers Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1975 for the Diocese of Portsmouth and ordained Bishop of Clifton in March 2001.

He was a member of the Cumberlege Commission which reviewed the Nolan Report concerning the protection of children and vulnerable adults. He is now vice chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission.

Within the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales Bishop Lang is part of the Department for Dialogue and Unity. He is the Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee (ARC) and also the Co-Chair for the Committee for Roman Catholic and United Reformed Church dialogue in England and Wales. He is the Bishop responsible for environmental issues. Bishop Lang was elected as Moderator of the next Churches Together in England Forum to be held in 2009.

He is a member of the Mixed Commission of Bishops and Major Religious Superiors and is a trustee of the Pontifical Missionary Societies.

Jane Bertelsen has been a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, an international missionary congregation for over 30 years. She is currently based in Godalming, Surrey where she serves on the Congregational Leadership Team. Following her initial training she was missioned to New Zealand in 1979 and then to Australia in 1983 where she spent the next 19 years before returning to UK in 2002.

Prior to her election to the Leadership Team she was the Regional Leader of the Australia/ Philippines region for 3 years and then the England/Scotland region for 6 years. During this time she served on the National Executive of the Conference of Religious in both Australia and England/Wales. Within her congregation she has also held various formation and administrative roles before taking on the ministry of leadership. During these periods of leadership she has been involved, on both sides of the world, with Safeguarding Issues and the development of policy and the formation of church members in the this area.

Jane has a background in primary & secondary education in New Zealand and Australia. Her first degree is in science and she also holds a theology degree and a Diploma of Education. She was a parish pastoral leader for 10 years in Melbourne working in a developing area of the city building a new parish community with a collaborative, inclusive leadership model.

Alongside her main ministries Jane has worked as a facilitator particularly with religious congregations and parish and diocesan groups.

Roger Bird was born in Somerset in 1939. He attended Millfield School and Bristol University where he read law. He qualified as a solicitor in 1965 and was in private practice in Bristol, specialising in family law, until 1979. During that period he was chairman of the Bristol Marriage Guidance Council. In 1979 he was appointed a county court and High Court Registrar (later District Judge). He retired as senior District Judge of the Bristol County Court and High Court District Registry in 2005 but still sits judicially on a part-time basis.

For 6 years Roger was a member of the Children Act Advisory Committee, which oversaw the introduction of the Children Act 1989, and for 10 years a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Ancillary Relief Advisory Group where he helped to bring about changes in law and practice in England and Wales. He was President of the Association of District Judges in 1995/6.

Roger is the author of numerous articles on family law topics and has written several books for lawyers, notably on child support, domestic violence and financial relief. He is editor in chief of Jordans’ ‘Emergency Remedies’ and ‘Family Law Precedents’.

Since 2001 Roger has been Chair of the Clifton Diocese Child Protection Commission (now the Clifton Diocesan Safeguarding Commission). He is a trustee of the Ammerdown Centre, near Bath which is dedicated to achieving peace and reconciliation in accordance with the ideals of Vatican 2, and is Chair of Governors of a catholic school. He is married with 2 adult sons and one grand-daughter and lives in Wells, Somerset.

Matthew Blake was born 1962 in Ireland, the eldest of a family of six. After finishing school and working for a while with an insurance company he joined the Carmelite Order in 1981. He studied in Ireland and Rome and was ordained a priest in 1988.

For thirteen years he was director and administrator of the Carmelite Retreat House outside Oxford. Most of his ministry has been in the area of retreats and spiritual direction.

Over the years in the Carmelite Order he has held many positions of leadership, formation and administration. Currently he is superior of the Carmelite Community at Kensington and parish priest.

Among the other ministries he is involved in are the following:

• Spiritual support of the lay members the Carmelite Order
• Retreats
• Spiritual Direction
• Pastoral care of priests
• Spiritual director of St. Patrick’s Evangelisation School, Soho Square.

Also, at present, he is involved in the setting up of a charity to work with victims of sex trafficking and prostitution.

He is a former member of the executive of the Conference of Religious and currently works with COR in the area of Safeguarding.

Until June 2006 Valerie Brasse worked for nearly 20 years in the Department of Health in a number of senior posts dealing with health and children’s social care and was seconded to the Victoria Climbie child abuse inquiry as its social care adviser. On leaving the civil service she was appointed secretary/adviser to the Cumberlege Commission and was responsible for drafting its report ‘Safeguarding with Confidence’- a review of the Catholic Church’s safeguarding arrangements for children and vulnerable adults.

Valerie is a non executive board member of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority and has recently been appointed an independent lay member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

Kevin Caffrey is currently CEO of a Social Care Charity (Father Hudson's Society, Archdiocese of Birmingham) and responsible for social care services to children, families and adults in need. Previously he was Area Director of Social Services (Derbyshire) and has a background as qualified social worker in practice, training and management. He has many years operational experience of child protection and adult protection services.

Kevin is currently chair of the Safeguarding Commission of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and is a parish safeguarding representative.

Sister Ann Cunningham is currently Congregation Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Newcastle, Natal – otherwise known in the UK as the “Bushey Dominicans.” She is in her fourth year as Congregation Leader.

Prior to her election as Congregation Prioress in 2004, she served two terms of fours years each as Region Prioress in South Africa. During her term of office as Region Prioress, she was also President of FEDOSA (Federation of Dominicans of Southern Africa), as well as co-ordinator of the Southern Zone of DSA (Dominican Sisters Africa). Moreover, she served as Chairperson of the “Catholic Schools’ Board” in both the Johannesburg and Durban Archdiocese.

In her teaching profession, she was Principal in several schools in South Africa, and on one occasion served as Boarder’s Mother in both the Junior and High School.

Within her Congregation she held the port folio of “Formation” and was responsible for the “Initial Formation” of young women wishing to join the Congregation. She also helped pioneer a programme for the training of “Formators” within the context of South Africa. She was a member of the “Founding Team” for five years.

Sister Ann is trained in giving retreats, and is a trained “Spiritual Director.” She has a “Masters in Pastoral Studies” with an emphasis on “Formation.”

As a trained facilitator, Sister has facilitated at “Congregation Chapters,” “Community Building,” “Leadership Training,” and workshops for “School Boards.”

Bishop Peter Doyle was born in Lancashire on 3rd May 1944. The family then moved to Essex in 1951. his secondary schooling was at St. Ignatius College, Stamford Hill. In 1961 the family moved to Hampshire. He had a place at Sandhurst, but applied to the Bishop of Portsmouth as he wondered whether he had a vocation to the priesthood. Bishop Peter’s Jesuit headmaster told him not to talk as if he had measles!

He studied for the priesthood at Allen Hall Seminary, and was ordained priest on 8th June 1968. Following two postings as an assistant priest at St. Joseph’s, Copnor and St. Edward’s, Windsor, he was Administrator of St. John’s Cathedral for twelve years and then Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s, Maidenhead for three years and of St. Peter’s, Winchester for almost fifteen years. In addition, he had varied Diocesan responsibilities.

Having worked very happily as a priest in a parish for thirty seven years, he was appointed Bishop of Northampton and ordained Bishop in Northampton Cathedral on 28th June 2005. The transition from Parish Priest to Bishop has been even greater than he had anticipated, but he has have received enormous support from the clergy and people of Northampton Diocese.

In his earlier years Bishop Peter played rugby for Windsor and Portsmouth. Now he is a keen spectator and supporter of Northampton Saints. He still skis and plays the occasional game of golf.

In the light of the Gospel and of his pastoral experience, Bishop Peter considers himself privileged to be a member of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission and is committed to its role in the life and mission of the Church.

Susie Hayward originally read law and trained as a barrister.  She worked negotiating television contracts for the entertainment industry and then moved into television journalism and production.  Having married, Susie spent time at home with her children and worked voluntarily for charitable causes.

She became involved with church related affairs some twenty-five years ago and joined a number of committees organising adult religious educational and justice programmes in the Diocese of Westminster.  Subsequently Susie studied theology at Allen Hall (Westminster Diocesan Seminary) and Spiritual Direction at Heythrop College (London University).  Resulting from these studies Susie has given workshops and retreats worldwide.  She became increasingly interested in psychology and spirituality and to that end she studied psychology at the University of Surrey.

Susie went on to gain an MA in humanistic psychology from CIIS (Calif.USA) specialising in addictions.  Her work took her to the Far East where she worked in adult religious education with refugees and the expatriate community.  Returning to the UK, Susie trained as a psychotherapist continuing to specialise in addictions and abuse.

Her combined trainings in spiritual direction, theology and psychology led Susie to work in particular with priests and religious.  For the past five years Susie has been the resident psychologist and consultant to a large monastic community.  Her work there included formation and care of historic cases.  Susie sometimes lectures and has written a number of published articles and essays relating to her field.  In 2007, Susie was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her contribution in developing sustainable communities.

Father Kristian Paver was ordained in 1992 and is a priest of the Diocese of Plymouth.  He has been Judicial Vicar of the Diocese since 1996 and Parish Priest of Totnes, Devon, since 2000.  Father Kristian is presently a lecturer in canon law at St Mary’s University College, Strawberry Hill (2003- ). He is a Judge of the Diocese of Oslo since 2004. Father Kristian represents the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the National Conference of Priests and the Conference of Religious on the Clergy Working Group established by then Department for Trade and Industry (now BERR) to consider the employment status of clergy and is a member of the Healthcare Reference Group of the CBCEW. He acts as canonical consultant to various Religious Institutes.

In addition to degrees in theology from the Catholic University of Leuven and a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University, including the gaining of Certificates in the Jurisprudence and Practice of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and of the Congregation for the Clergy, he has taken specialist courses in the Laws of South Asia and Human Rights in the Developing World at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and attended courses in Anglican Canon Law at the University of Cardiff.

His previous experience includes:

• Lecturer in canon law at the Missionary Institute London
• Lecturer in canon law at Heythrop College, University of London
• Judge at the Metropolitan Tribunal of Westminster
• Defender of the Bond for the Diocese of Gibraltar.   
• Member of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland’s Working Party on Child Protection Procedures to consider the canonical implications of the Nolan Report Recommendations and to produce written guidance for bishops and others
• Member of the CBCEW Canon Law/COPCA Working Party
• Member of the CBCEW Cumberlege Implementation Group

Rose is the Secretary to the NCSC.

A registered nurse with 36 years of experience in the NHS, she was Clinical Risk Manager and then Head of Clinical Governance in a large NHS Trust prior to her retirement in 2005. She has experience of implementing government policy through local procedures, employing staff, setting up incident reporting and investigating procedures and advising the Trust Board on Governance.

Rose now undertakes a variety of roles: she works as a Management Consultant (part time) and is also a part time Diocesan Safeguarding Officer for the Diocese of Lancaster. She is a Trustee for the Abaseen Foundation (UK), a registered charity which supports healthcare and education in North West Pakistan.