Bishop of Southwark and Bishop of Guildford speak in a debate on the Commonwealth

The Bishop of Southwark and the Bishop of Guildford spoke in a debate on the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the future of the Commonwealth on 30th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford, for securing this timely debate. There is a tension throughout the history of the Commonwealth in its structure between cohesion and comprehension; between the fullest capacity to relate, and demands of function and utility. When the Imperial Conference of 1926 adopted the London declaration that the United Kingdom and dominions were

The Lord Bishop of Southwark

“autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs”—

comments which I think still resonate in terms of the last speech—the competing argument of imperial federation was in terminal retreat.

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Bishop of Gloucester speaks in a debate on crime and rehabilitation

The Bishop of Gloucester spoke in a debate on crime, reoffending and rehabilitation on 30th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, for introducing this debate. His work is inspiring; I want to say “yes” to all that he has said and am sorry that I have only six minutes. I too welcome the noble and learned Lord, Lord Bellamy, and look forward to his maiden speech. I refer to my interests stated in the register as Anglican Bishop to Prisons and president of the Nelson Trust. Last week, I visited HMP Wakefield. In reflecting with the governor on long sentences, he said that he had asked a group of prisoners whether, if they had known the tariff for their crime, it would have been a deterrent. For all but one, the answer was no. Most crimes are rarely planned in a calculated way.

Earlier this month, the Independent Commission into the Experience of Victims and Long-Term Prisoners published a report with a comprehensive set of recommendations, holding together for the first time the perspectives of the offender and the victim. The report highlighted that the number of people in England and Wales given a prison sentence of more than 10 years has more than doubled in a decade, at an ever greater cost. Where is the evidence that greater severity equates to greater deterrence, or a safer society? We need to curb the unhelpful and inaccurate rhetoric about keeping the public safer through longer, tougher sentencing. What matters more than longer and longer sentences is how people are spending their time while in prison, in terms of not only education and purposeful work but meaningful interventions which prevent reoffending and someone else becoming another victim. Holding together justice and restoration is central to Christian theology; I believe it is vital for us to rediscover how those two dwell side by side.

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Bishop of Gloucester asks about the effects of advertising on mental health and body image

The Bishop of Gloucester asked the following question on 30th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any link between advertising, body image, and mental health.

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Bishop of Gloucester asks a question on women in prisons

The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 30th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked Her Majesty’s Government how many women aged (1) 18 to 25, and (2) 26 and above, went to prison in each of the last 10 years; what was the average length of sentence for each of those categories; and what were the 10 most common offences that led to the imprisonment of women during this period.

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Bishop of St Albans asks a question on gambling addiction

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 30th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce (1) a Community Sentence Treatment Requirement for gambling addiction, or (2) a Gambling Treatment Requirement, similar to community sentence treatments for offences where alcohol, drugs or mental health issues were an underlying factor.

Lord Bellamy (Con): Offenders with a gambling addiction may be suitable for a Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) as part of a community or suspended sentence order where mental health has been identified as an underlying factor.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about young people using E-cigarettes

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 29th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government:

  • what estimate they have made of how many people in England under the age of 18 regularly use a vape or e-cigarette.
  • what research they are currently undertaking into the long-term health effects caused by smoking e-cigarettes and vapes.
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Bishop of St Albans asks about government response to financial challenges

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question during a debate on the Trades Union Congress: Levelling Up, on 29th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, the Government are to be congratulated on raising the minimum wage and I thank them for what they have done. There is, however, a really serious point here. As we are facing a serious range of strikes across many industries, the worry is that those people in positions of leadership and authority are not necessarily giving a lead.

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Bishop of Coventry on Freedom of Speech in Universities

On 28th June 2022 the House of Lords debated the Government’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, at its Second Reading. The Bishop of Coventry spoke in the debate:

The Lord Bishop of Coventry: My Lords, intense competition for students, jostling for promotion among lecturers, vigorous, often intense and sometimes rancorous debate, with dashes of sharp practice and occasional mob violence—not a preview of some future Office for Students report but a snapshot of the early academic career of Augustine of Hippo. One of his first publications was advice to lecturers and, significantly for this debate, he later asserted that “By force we can make no one believe.” I will make some general points about the Bill and then raise three more specific issues.

Timothy Garton Ash speaks of three “vetoes” that silence the ability of people to express themselves: shouting them down, the “heckler’s veto”; declaring what they say to be offensive, the “offensive veto”; and, in extreme cases, threatening to kill people, the “assassin’s veto”.

Sadly, it seems that we have seen each of these techniques in action within higher education, as some of the evidence submitted to the Bill Committee demonstrated.

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Bishop of Guildford asks about gender-based violence

The Bishop of Guildford asked a question about gender-based violence during a debate on Rape: Criminal Prosecutions, on 28th June 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Guildford: My Lords, gender-based violence has been a major theme in our discussions across the Anglican Communion, from a wide range of cultures. Many international communities look to the United Kingdom to lead in this area, given the deeply traumatising effect that such violence can have—obviously on the victims but also on whole communities over generations.

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Votes: Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc) Order 2022

On 28th June 2022, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Pharmacy Order 2022, at the approval stage. A vote was held on an amendment to the order, in which a Bishop took part.

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