On 21st March 2025, Marsha De Cordova MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs:
Churches: Repairs and Maintenance
Kevin Hollinrake (Con, Thirsk and Malton): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church Commissioners have made of the potential impact of the Law Commission’s consultation on burial and cremation, published on 3 October 2024, on the finances of local authorities taking over the maintenance of closed churchyards.
Marsha De Cordova MP (Lab, Battersea): The National Institutions of the Church of England submitted a response to the Law Commission’s consultation on burial and cremation. That response supported the introduction of a statutory code of practice for local authorities’ maintenance of burial grounds, including closed churchyards.
It also agreed with the Law Commission’s proposal that the Secretary of State should have the power to reopen closed burial grounds and that where a churchyard is reopened, the local authority should continue to have responsibility for its maintenance.
Local authority finance itself is not an area within the remit of the Church of England.
Church of England: Rural Areas
Jim Shannon MP (DUP, Strangford): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church has made of the potential impact of rural parishes on social isolation amongst elderly people.
Marsha De Cordova: Churches in rural areas often play an important role as a community hub and a place to connect with others. The Church of England has many examples of communities tackling social isolation and loneliness; this may be through traditional offering of worship services, via a home visit for the housebound, or through providing social spaces in the church or church hall for people to gather.
Across the country, and especially in rural communities, churches run around 31,000 community-based initiatives, offering warm spaces, intergenerational children and community projects, coffee mornings, health and wellbeing groups, dementia cafés, community libraries, village shops, as well as spaces for cultural experiences and art exhibitions.
A good example of this work can be found in the research produced by the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care. Commission Members visited a church-led cafe in Kirkby Thore in Cumbria, part of the Renew Wellbeing movement. This provided space for refreshments, games and quiet reflection for people of all ages, but proved particularly popular with older people.
The growing movement towards social prescribing in primary care recognises the important role that faith groups, including churches, play in the health of their communities. Churches are working closely with local GPs in many parts of the country to offer a wide range of specific activities that encourage group work or physical activity. Some good examples of this have been the development of churchyard working groups and gardening projects, community book group and discussion groups, and craft clubs, which all offer people the opportunity meet, chat and make new connections. A recent report has been published by the think-tank Theos, assessing some of the range of projects churches are engaging with, which can be found here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/research/2023/08/09/faith-in-social-prescribing
Churches: Pipe Organs
Jim Shannon: To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church is taking steps to promote the (a) cultural significance and (b) history of the church organ.
Marsha De Cordova: The Church of England works closely with the Royal College of Organists to encourage and promote the playing of the organ and encourage young people to develop their talents. The increased visibility of some high-profile players on social media is also increasing awareness of the instrument and opportunities for playing the organ in and beyond the church.
The Church of England offer grants to support the conservation of historic organs in CofE churches and works closely with organisations that promote organ culture and heritage, including the Royal College of Organists, British Institute of Organ Studies, and Institute of British Organ Building, to share policy interests and promote good practice.
Churches: Maintenance and Repair
Neil O’Brien MP (Con, Harborough, Oadby and Wigston): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Project Spire on (a) church parishes and (b) the maintenance of historic church buildings.
Marsha De Cordova: Project Spire is important missional activity. The anticipated impact on parishes is an increased understanding of historic links with enslavement, which exist in many parts of the Church of England, and possible ways to share, discuss and respond.
Funding for Project Spire will be sourced entirely from the Endowment Fund managed by the Church Commissioners. None of the money from parish income, or that is given to a parish church, will be used for this fund. Therefore, no direct financial impact is anticipated for parishes.
Contested heritage guidance has been developed that may support churches in considering contested monuments within churches, but this work is not part of Project Spire, which exists to respond to links between the historic endowment of the Church and enslavement.
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.