The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 20th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support biodiversity in Hertfordshire.
Lord Benyon (Con): In England we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity:
– By 2030: to halt the decline in species abundance
– By 2042: to reverse declines; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat.
The Bishop of Southwark received the following written answers on 20th February 2022:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark asked His Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of Iraqi refugees in Jordan that have (1) applied for, and (2) been granted, asylum in the UK since 2014.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con): The Home Office publishes data on asylum and resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of asylum applications and initial decisions by nationality are published in table Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 respectively of the asylum and resettlement detailed datasets(opens in a new tab). Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q3 2022.
Andrew SelousMP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs on 14th February 2023:
Mr Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what meetings he has held in his capacity as Second Church Estates Commissioner with (a) evangelical groups and (b) groups representing other traditions in the Church of England in the last 12 months.
Andrew Selous MP (Con): In the twelve month period since February 2022 I have met with representatives of the groups listed below. This is in addition to the large number of regular meetings I have held with the National Church Institutions boards, committees and officials, and with individual bishops, Government ministers, officials, and Members of Parliament.
On 9th February 2023, the House of Lords debated a motion to take note of the current situation in Ukraine, following Ukrainian president Zelensky’s vist to the UK. The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham spoke in the debate, urging that efforts remain focused on supporting Ukrainians in the UK and supporting Ukraine’s own defence, while pressing for clarity on the government’s expectations of the future of the conflict:
The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham: My Lords, like others in this House I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, for tabling this debate. I wish to convey the apologies of my most reverend friend the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, having recently travelled to Kyiv, wished to take part in this debate but is detained by the business of the General Synod. He will follow the deliberations closely in Hansard. My most reverend friend and several others from these Benches took time away from the General Synod yesterday and were delighted to join Members of both Houses to hear the President of Ukraine address us.
I count it a privilege and not a little daunting to precede the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Soames, whose insight and wisdom on the matters before us are truly formidable. On behalf of the Lords Spiritual, I look forward to listening to and learning from his contributions to the work of the House in the coming days.
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 9th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many people have dual British-Iranian citizenship; and of those, what estimate they have made of the number currently residing in Iran.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con): Under UK law, there is no restriction on holding other passports so only the ‘relevant’ nationality to a case is generally captured in a analysable form.
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 9th Febraury 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how many people in rural areas do not have access to (1) landline phones, (2) mobile telephone coverage, (3) wireless coverage, (4) broadband, and (5) satellite internet.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con): Ofcom collects coverage as part of its reporting requirements, most recently in its Connected Nations Report, with data for the period to September 2022.
Ofcom reports that 96% of rural premises have indoor 4G coverage from at least one operator, rising to 99% for outdoor coverage. This equates to c.195,000 rural premises not having 4G indoor coverage, with c.26,500 not having outdoor 4G coverage.
On 8th February 2023 the Church of England General Synod debated a motion on same-sex marriage and the response of the College of Bishops to the Church’s Living in Love and Faith process. The Second Church Estates Commissioner addressed the Synod:
Andrew Selous MP, Second Church Estates Commissioner. Ex-officio 458:
I was called to answer an urgent question on this issue in the House of Commons on 24th January. I was amused to be told the urgent question would not be repeated in the House of Lords because there was apparently no one to speak for the Church of England in the House of Lords !
I pledged to make MPs views known to Synod. Of the twelve who spoke that day, eight expressed a hope that the Synod would change doctrine to enable same-sex couples to be married by the Church. There were deep and heartfelt stories from a number of MPs of the personal sense of hurt they felt at what they considered to be ongoing discrimination against LGBT+ people.
Others have contacted me in private, for fear of retribution, to support traditional doctrine and several said that it is for Synod, not for Parliament, to reach its own prayerful decision on this issue. Copies of the Hansard extract are available at the administration desk.
The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 8th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to expanding the sample size for the Food Standards Agency’s Food and You 2 survey to a minimum of 10,000 households.
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 8th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any security threat posed by the collection of biometric data by direct-to-consumer DNA testing ancestry companies.
Lord Murray of Blidworth: The Home Office has made no such assessment.
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 8th February 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with (1) the EU, and (2) other pork export markets, regarding regionalisation in the event of an African swine fever outbreak in the UK.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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