On 19th September 2023, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs:
Derelict Land
Julian Knight MP (Ind, Solihull): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church of England is taking to release brownfield sites within its Estate to the Church Housing Association to increase social housing.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire): Following the ‘Coming Home’ report published by the Archbishops’ Housing Commission, the Bishop of Chelmsford (as Lead Bishop for Housing) has been working with colleagues from across the Church, including the Church Commissioners, to implement the recommendations from that report. This work includes plans to establish a Church Housing Association. As and when that Housing Association is in place we hope there will be scope for the Commissioners and other church land owners to be able to work in partnership with it to enable the construction of much-needed affordable homes.
At the same time, the Church Commissioners are exploring the potential to boost the supply of affordable homes on their own land through the provision of Rural Exception Sites within existing communities.
More information about the Archbishops’ Housing Commission, and its Report ‘Coming Home’, can be read here: About Coming Home | The Church of England(opens in a new tab).
Information on the Church Commissioners’ approach to delivering land for housing can be found here New development – defining what matters (churchofengland.org)
Finance
Mr Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab, Exeter): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to Review of Lowest Income Communities and Strategic Development Funding, published in March 2022, what steps the Church Commissioners have taken to implement new governance arrangements to ensure that Lowest Incomes Communities Funding is distributed to dioceses by the Archbishops’ Council is accounted for (a) effectively and (b) transparently.
Andrew Selous: The Independent Review of Lowest Income Communities Funding and Strategic Development Funding led by Sir Robert Chote was published in March 2022 and can be read here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/irls-final-report-2.pdf(opens in a new tab)
In respect of improving governance arrangements of Lowest Income Communities Funding (LInC) the Review recommended:
- Recommendation 2 – “Refocusing annual returns … towards more strategic reporting”.
- Recommendation 3 – asked staff to “identify and promote best practice … perhaps convening a learning symposium”.
- Recommendation 5 – asked staff to “communicate more clearly the extent to which LInC funding is sustaining ministry”.
The action taken so far by the Archbishops’ Council’s Vision and Strategy team in response to those recommendations has been to:
- Raise the profile of LInC funding within ongoing strategic conversations between its staff and diocesan teams, as part of dioceses’ strategic development processes, with the aim of improving its effectiveness.
- Ask dioceses to give information about the intended outcomes from their planned use of LInC funding, together with how they will be measured, as part of their annual return on LInC funding for 2022.
- Plan a learning event to bring together diocesan representatives to share and develop their approaches on the use of LInC funding, aiming to improve the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of LInC funding.
The Independent Review also made further suggestions in Recommendation 1: “encouraging dioceses to use LInC funding more for clergy transitions” and in Recommendation 4: “maintaining current levels of LInC funding”. While not related directly to governance, these may also feature in the learning event and in ongoing conversations with dioceses.
From the start of 2023, the new Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB), a committee of the Archbishops’ Council, has replaced the previous Strategic Investment Board and Strategic Ministry Board. It distributes and monitors funds made available by the Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council via LInC, SDF, and other similar funds.
The Boards of the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners are regularly updated by the SMMIB about funding decisions and projects supported by these funds. Members of the Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners Boards are part of the SMMIB and help monitor funding decisions and spending. The SMMIB will also provide an annual report to the General Synod.
More information about the role the SMMIB plays can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/new-board-oversee-unprecedented-church-england-investment-mission-and
The Church of England in Parliament 
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