On 3rd July 2023, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from an MP:
Independent Safeguarding Board
Mr Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab, Exeter): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners:
- what steps the Church took to resolve the dispute with members of the Independent Safeguarding Board before the decision was made to give them notice.
- whether the Commissioners made an assessment of the potential implications of any obligation to provide an independent mediator to resolve the Independent Safeguarding Board dispute.
- what process the Church is using to appoint new members of the Independent Safeguarding Board.
- whether the work started in phase one of the Independent Safeguarding Board will be completed following the disbanding of the Board.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire: The Archbishops’ Council of the National Church Institutions is absolutely committed to developing fully independent scrutiny of safeguarding within the Church of England to ensure the Church of England is a safe place for everyone, to be transparent and accountable, and to hear the voices of victims and survivors. The actions of the Archbishops’ Council and reasons for the decisions taken are set out here: Statement from Archbishops’ Council on the Independent Safeguarding Board | The Church of England(opens in a new tab)
The work of independently reviewing cases will not stop, and the Archbishops’ Council has moved swiftly to put in place interim arrangements, which will be carried out as at present by external experts. The priority will now be to move to the next phase of setting up a fully independent Board, which will be fully separate from the Church. The Church of England will engage with victims and survivors and others to establish a process of working together to design a permanent independent oversight structure as soon as possible. It is not appointing further Board members at this stage.
The Archbishops’ Council has been seeking to resolve the dispute in good faith. But because the two board members were reluctant to engage in those discussions, for example they had not met with the Acting Chair since March, with great regret the Archbishops’ Council felt this was the only way forward.
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Clergy: Truro
Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how many parishes in the Diocese of Truro have a vacancy for (a) an incumbency and (b) a priest-in-charge; and how many (i) incumbent and (ii) priest-in-charge vacancies there have been in Truro Diocese in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous: Parish priest appointments are a matter for diocesan bishops. Data about the number of vacancies for incumbents and priests-in-charge per annum are not held centrally by the National Church Institutions.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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