The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on better resourcing of prison chaplains during a discussion on the transition from youth to adult custody for prisoners on 3rd November 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, the age when young people transfer from the youth system to the adult system is precisely the age when they are most trying to identify themselves and understand their faith and spirituality. Prison chaplains do an excellent job across the youth estate. Could the Minister give us some hints as to how they might be better supported and resourced to prepare young people at that time of transition, both in their lives and in the prison estate?
The Bishop of Winchester asked a question on the role of religious literacy in promoting freedom of religion and belief on 30th October 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Winchester: My Lords, I was pleased to hear the Second Church Estates Commissioner confirm recently in another place that the Government are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Truro review, which I wrote several years ago at the invitation of the then Foreign Secretary. I have to say that that came as a pleasant surprise to me. In view of the significant and egregious growth in international violations of freedom of religion or belief in the intervening years, does the Minister agree with me that we need to ensure a high level of religious literacy among our young people and that professionally delivered RE is critical to that end?
The Bishop of Winchester asked a question on encouraging participation in youth mobility schemes for UK students and young people on 29th October 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Winchester: I am very grateful to the Minister for her Answer. For understandable reasons, His Majesty’s Government are very concerned at the moment to prevent people crossing the channel in one direction. However, it seems to me that we should be positively encouraging our young people to cross the channel in the other direction to take advantage of the very real opportunities a youth mobility scheme would offer, not simply for their own sake—although that is really important, as we have heard—but because, in an increasingly fractious and dangerous world, we sorely need young people with a broad, informed international perspective. Can the Minister confirm that—as well as, I hope, allowing such mobility—the Government will actually encourage such participation?
The Bishop of Norwich asked a question on monitoring methane leakage in the UK during a discussion on ending non-routine offshore oil and gas venting and flaring on 28th October 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, the Minister mentioned our ageing infrastructure. We have become a global outlier in leak detection and repair to stop methane leakages. Norway has monthly checks, the US has quarterly checks and Canada is bringing in monthly checks. What is our policy, and will it mandate these leak detection and repair testing regimes?
On 28th October 2025, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Churches: Aerials
Rebecca Smith MP (Con, South West Devon): To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Commissioners have made of the potential impact of the implementation of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 on revenue to churches.
On 27th October 2025, the House of Lords debated the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
During a debate on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on 27th October 2025, the Bishop of Norwich spoke to his amendment on the protection of chalk streams, which “would require a spatial development strategy to list chalk streams in the strategy area, outline measures to protect them from environmental harm, and impose responsibility on strategic planning authorities to protect and enhance chalk stream environments.”
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 94, and I thank the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, and the noble Baroness, Lady Willis of Summertown, for their support. I am most grateful to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, who has just spoken so powerfully about her amendment, as well as offering her support for this amendment. Amendment 94 would require a spatial development strategy to list chalk streams in the strategy area, outline measures to protect them from environmental harm and impose responsibility on strategic planning authorities to protect and enhance chalk stream environments.
Chalk streams, as we have heard, are a very special type of river. Some 85% of the world’s chalk streams are in England. They are fed primarily by spring water from the chalk aquifer, not rain, which means that they have clear, cold water and very stable flows. These globally rare habitats are found in a broad sweep from Yorkshire and the Lincolnshire Wolds through Norfolk, the Chilterns, Hampshire and Dorset. The Bure, Glaven, Wensum, Test, Itchen and Meon are river names that come to mind flowing, as they do, through the tapestry of English history and in our literature, such as the River Pang-based Wind in the Willows. They are rich in minerals, especially calcium, and this “base rich” environment supports a distinctive and rich ecology.
It is no wonder that this amendment and a similar one in the other place have received such positive support, including in your Lordships’ Committee. What it seeks to do is such an obvious thing, for what we love, we should desire to protect; what we value, we should safeguard; what is of global significance, we should be deeply proud of.
The Bishop of Leicester spoke at the second reading of the Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill on 24th October 2025, emphasising the strong support for the bill on the Bishops Benches and the need to ensure children in custody are treated with fairness and consideration:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, I rise to speak in support of this Bill, at the encouragement of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Derby, who regrets that she cannot be in her place today.
The Bishop of Leicester spoke at the third reading of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill on 23rd October 2025, querying whether the government minister would provide written confirmation of actions taken with regards to managing overpayments:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, I support this Bill and add my thanks to all those who have engaged so thoroughly in its detail. It has been an important learning experience for me in the processes of your Lordships’ House, an experience that I hope I can bring to bear on other business in this place.
The Bishop of Leicester tabled a question on staffing levels within Jobcentres on 23rd October 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the staffing levels within Job Centres.
Baroness Sherlock (Lab, DWP): My Lords, DWP monitors demand for jobcentre support on an ongoing basis and has well-established workforce planning systems to make sure that we have the right people in the right place at the right time. These systems help us to prioritise jobcentre activities where needed, protecting our most effective interventions and making sure that we maintain a constant focus on getting people into work, while remaining within funding limits and providing value for money.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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