Oral & written questions in the Lords and Commons
The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 13th November 2025:
The Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of the impact of benefit sanctions on (1) the mental health of claimants, (2) levels of household debt, and (3) food bank use.
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The Bishop of Leicester asked a question on the important role of the BBC in providing trusted information through the BBC World Service Programme on 12th November 2025, during a discussion on recent changes in leadership at the BBC:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, I have just returned from a visit to a country in west Africa that I know very well, and which has sadly suffered a number of coups in recent years. However, I can testify first-hand that the role of the BBC in such situations is highly regarded. In a situation where people do not know where to turn to find out what is happening around them, and where there are huge amounts of fear and anxiety, it is to the BBC that they turn to find out what is happening. I believe that remains true today, even in the face of mistakes that have been made. Can the Minister reassure us that the BBC will continue to have the people and resources needed to play this vital role internationally?
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The Bishop of London asked a question on collection of data on the provision of telemedical abortions on 12th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, the extension of the regulations to enable early medical abortion to be provided without requiring in-person medical consultation was a significant change. We have heard about the tragic cases of early medical abortion pills being provided outside the law and women being put at risk as a result. We are now three years on from this change. What data has been collected in that time and what does it tell us about the workability of the new system in providing safe abortions within the law?
Baroness Merron (Lab, DHSC): The data available does not point to concerns about the provision of telemedicine. I should emphasise that, of course, abortions can take place only in an NHS hospital, in a place approved by the Secretary of State, or via telemedicine at the woman’s usual place of residence. Approval has to be given by the Secretary of State, and there is inspection by the Care Quality Commission, which inspects providers. The data thus far does not flag a difficulty in respect of telemedicine. In fact, all aspects of this are saying that this ensures that this safe procedure is assisting the situation for the women concerned.
On 12th November 2025, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Armed Forces: Ukraine
Mark Pritchard MP (Con, The Wrekin): To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what support the Church of England is providing to military chaplaincy training in Ukraine.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Armed Forces – Ukraine”The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 12th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester asked His Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of the effectiveness of benefit sanctions in supporting claimants into sustained employment.
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The Bishop of London asked a question on the importance of religious education following a government statement on the curriculum and assessment review on 10th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, we are living in an increasingly complex world, and the study of religious education is critical in helping young people to navigate it. The need for understanding and dialogue across different faith groups and worldviews is increasingly obvious. The Church of England has welcomed the scrapping of the EBacc, because it has positive implications for religious education. At present, schools with a religious character provide the most comprehensive RE in the country. Will the Government commit to ensuring that these new proposals do not undermine this or the historic role that churches have in providing education in England?
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The Bishop of Leeds asked a question on the government response to the Leveson recommendations on delays between charges and trials in the courts on 10th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, the Minister has said a couple of times that the response to the Leveson recommendations will be delivered in due course. Can she possibly tell us what “in due course” looks like, because it has been quite a long time already?
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The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on the appointment of a new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 5th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: Like many, I am grateful that the interim advice that was issued and caused such widespread alarm was withdrawn, albeit belatedly. As the Minister has just said, we need to get this right rather than done quick. With that in mind, can the Minister assure us that the forthcoming appointment of the new chair of the EHRC will be taken as an opportunity to reset an organisation that has, of late, lost the confidence of many?
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The Bishop of Manchester spoke in response to a government statement on the Huntingdon Train Attack on 4th November 2025, asking about bias in surveillance technology and methods of deterrence for knife crime:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, these Benches pay tribute to the train crew and others who responded so heroically. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those who have been impacted. The traumatic effects of being involved in an incident like that, in an enclosed space, do not just go away after a short period of time. I declare my unpaid role as co-chair of the national police ethics committee. I am grateful that information about the perpetrator was got out early, and not just the fact that it was not terrorism. Since Southport last year, we have known that releasing other information is vital to calming some of the public’s fears. That is something that my ethics committee has been discussing at length in recent times.
Like many noble Lords—I am looking at the noble Lord, Lord Goddard, who may want to intervene shortly—I travel a lot on trains that do not stop for quite a long distance and which have many carriages. I could have made some of the points that have already been made about this. It is about having enough first responders, who are equipped to respond effectively, on those trains throughout the journey.
My trains have CCTV in every carriage—it usually works. That helps. I think facial recognition technology has been referred to. That needs to be managed very carefully. Many of the models that I have seen still have an in-built ethnic bias, inherited from the fact that the original training of their algorithms is often based on the faces of white men such as me. These models sometimes struggle to distinguish people from other groups within society, leading to too many false positives and causing people who are entirely innocent to have their lives interrupted by being stopped and accused of an offence. If we are to increase stop and search, there is no problem with that as long as we ensure that the officers involved are trained in unconscious bias so that they are not carrying it out in a way that is unfair.
Finally, does the Minister agree that deterrence for knife crime and other crime is driven much more by fear of detection and arrest than by the theoretical length of a maximum sentence?
Continue reading “Bishop of Manchester responds to statement on Huntingdon Train Attack”The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on preventing forced marriage and pregnancy as barriers to women’s education during a discussion on official development assistance on 4th November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, while we are on the theme of supporting women, as I travel around I find that one of the greatest impairments to young girls completing their education is that they are forced into pregnancy—sometimes by their families—at a very young age, pre leaving school. What can His Majesty’s Government do to help prevent young girls being made pregnant, usually by older men and in very difficult circumstances?
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