A nine-member independent panel has issued a wide-ranging report on pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church in England and intended to ensure church becomes "an example of best practice in the prevention of child abuse and in responding to it." The committee was headed by Lord Nolan, the former judge who presided over the committee on standards in public life aimed at putting an end to corruption among secular politicians. The committee was set up last September by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster, with the agreement and support of his fellow bishops, to investigate how the church was coping with the problem of child abuse. This, the committee's first report, includes 50 recommendations, and will be discussed by the bishops' conference of England and Wales when it meets in London April 23-27. The committee is due to present a final report later this year. Unlike the guidelines on child abuse that were adopted by the bishops' conference in 1994, the Nolan recommendations are aimed chiefly at preventing abuse from occurring rather than dealing, as the guidelines did, with cases or allegations of abuse after the fact. "Whilst the proper handling of allegations is important," said the committee, "it is much more important that the opportunity for abuse does not occur because an effective regime of good practice is in place and is known to be so." The committee recommended setting up a National Child Protection Unit to help dioceses and religious orders implement its recommendations and to relate to other agencies and charities in the field as well as with other churches; the appointment in every parish of a lay child protection representative as well as an independent person -- possibly covering several neighboring parishes -- to whom children who thought they had been abused could talk; the vetting of all church staff and volunteers, and especially strict vetting for candidates for the ministry. The committee also said those involved in selecting and training candidates for the priesthood "should err on the side of caution" and that bishops and religious superiors should not overrule selection boards "where reservations are expressed about a candidate's suitability for ordination on the grounds of possible risks to children and young people." Further, the church should have a single national database of information on all who apply for ordination and "decisions should not be made by selection boards, bishops or religious superiors without reference to it." In addition, everyone working with children and young people should receive appropriate training so that, for example, they would be able to identity signs of abuse by others. Every diocese and religious order should have a Child Protection Management Team, including child care professionals and a lawyer, to deal effectively -- and swiftly -- with any reports or incidents of child abuse. Both lay workers and clergy suspected of abuse should be suspended until the issue is cleared up, and the same procedure should apply if allegations are made against a bishop. Finally, the committee said that if a priest or deacon has been convicted of a criminal offense against children and is sentenced to more than 12 months' prison he should be laicized.