On 8th July 2021, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs:
Selaine Saxby MP (Con, North Devon): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church Commissioners have made of (a) the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on church parishes and (b) the support that dioceses will require to (i) recover and (ii) ease the legal and administrative burdens experienced by those parishes as a result of that outbreak.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire): The Commissioners, in partnership with the Archbishops’ Council, provided £75m of immediate liquidity support and established a £35m Diocesan Sustainability Fund programme, plus a £20m Cathedral Sustainability Fund, following the decline in churches’ and cathedrals’ income from donations and visitors during Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The Legislative Reform Committee of the General Synod and the Church Commissioners are consulting on simplifying legal and administrative burdens experienced by parishes. A review of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011 is currently underway, and a green paper has been published, which will be debated at the General Synod at its July meeting. The green paper forms the basis of a consultation with dioceses, parishes and other stakeholders. The consultation will remain open until 15 September 2021.
The Church Commissioners would welcome the views of all Members and their constituents on the questions set out in the paper, and I am placing a copy in the Library of the House of Commons for reference.
The Green Paper and supporting material are also available on the consultation website at: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/parish-reorganisation-and-church-property/review-mission-and-pastoral-measure-2011
Jim Shannon MP (DUP, Strangford): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church has taken to support the covid-19 vaccination programme.
Andrew Selous: Support for the vaccine programme has been provided at the local and regional levels by clergy engaging pastorally in their communities, and the use of cathedrals and larger churches as vaccination centres. As part of the NHS-backed #GiveHope campaign, bishops and church leaders joined together in sharing video messages encouraging communities to seek accurate information on vaccines, hold local conversations, and to encourage one another to take up offers of vaccines: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/bishops-and-church-leaders-target-covid-vaccination(opens in a new tab)
The Church has also been supporting VaccinAid, to encourage those who have been vaccinated to donate to enable other people around the world to have access to vaccines: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-releases/church-england-backs-vaccinaid-campaign-give-world-shot-help-defeat
The Church of England in Parliament 
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