The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 27th January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they intend to meet the four UK-based pro-democracy campaigners who had bounties placed on them by the Hong Kong Police on 24 December 2024.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about pro-democracy protestors from Hong Kong”
The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answers on 27th January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish the review of calculations of child maintenance.
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester asks about child maintenance and domestic violence”
The Bishop of St Albans led a debate on support for farmers to adapt to climate change amid anticipated food shortages on 23rd January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government, following reports that the United Kingdom faces shortages of broccoli and cauliflower this spring, what steps they are taking to support farmers and growers to adapt to climate change.
My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition. I thank those Members of your Lordships’ House who have signed up to engage today on what I believe is an important and topical issue. Our debate is about the shortage of great British broccoli and cauliflowers—and, of course, many other vegetables as well—which have been part of our staple diet for years, and the difficulties caused, at least in part, by climate degradation. It is fitting that we have this debate just prior to the start of agri-science week in this Parliament.
Farming is an extremely tough profession at the best of times, and the range of setbacks and difficulties our farmers face is huge. I have to say I am deeply troubled by the low morale and depression that I hear at the moment from farms across my diocese, in all corners of the agricultural world. I want to take a moment here to pay tribute to all farmers and those involved in associated industries for their hard work, their dedication, their resilience and the critical services they provide to us all as they produce food. We must not take them for granted.
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On 23rd January 2025, Marsha De Cordova MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs:
Churches: Music
Stuart Anderson MP (Con, South Shropshire): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to support churches in rural areas engage local communities in music.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Church Music, Conservation, Food Banks”
The Bishop of Sheffield tabled a question on the topic of access to legal aid for asylum seekers on 23rd January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the availability and accessibility of legal aid for asylum seekers.
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest as a patron of the ASSIST charity in Sheffield.
Continue reading “Bishop of Sheffield asks about legal aid for asylum seekers”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 23rd January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what representations, if any, they intend to make to the government of Iran concerning the execution sentence of Pakhshan Azizi.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about status of political prisoner in Iran”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 23rd January 2025:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of research by Cambridge University and Fudan University showing a link between social isolation and the increased risk of heart disease, stroke and infections; and what steps they intend to take to address loneliness in the UK.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about impact of loneliness on health conditions, and benefits of strengthening advertising regulation”
On 22nd January 2025, the Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendments to the Mental Health Bill aiming to ensure culturally appropriate care in the mental health sector:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I support all the amendments in this group. I also want to communicate the support of my right reverend friend the Bishop of London, who apologises that she cannot be in her place this evening.
Turning to the amendments led by the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, on culturally appropriate care, I appreciated the noble Baroness’s references to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. I have worked with that community much over many years and very much enjoyed my interactions with it.
These amendments highlight issues that my right reverend friend has spent a lot of time considering, particularly from a faith perspective. I do not think we have heard that in the debate so far tonight. It is sometimes hard to grasp just how differently our health, especially our mental health, is culturally understood across different communities and faith groups. While our ability to discuss our own and others’ mental health may be generally improving—I think it is—it remains an extremely difficult discussion point for many cultures and many communities.
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The Bishop of Manchester responded to a government statement on Ukraine on 22nd January 2025, stressing the need for building community and civil society connections:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I hope the thin attendance tonight does not mean that we in the United Kingdom are losing interest in Ukraine, especially when I think of the huge number that gathered in Westminster Hall when President Zelensky came and spoke to us, and when many of us went across and sat in the Gallery in the other place when he spoke on a Zoom-type link in the early days of the conflict.
Continue reading “Bishop of Manchester responds to statement on Ukraine”The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on support for hospital services in Gaza on 22nd January 2025, during a discussion on the recent ceasefire in the conflict:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of the United Society Partners in the Gospel, one of the oldest Anglican global mission agencies. One of our key partners is the al-Ahli hospital in northern Gaza, a hospital that the people of that area rely on pretty well entirely now for any healthcare they can get. Most of the hospital has been destroyed—both the library and the historic church are now in use as wards. What assurances can the Minister give us about how we can get aid into the hospital, so that the people of northern Gaza, no matter how long the ceasefire lasts —I hope it will become permanent, but for the time being—will be able to get the medical help they need? Over 1,000 emergency patients are being admitted every day.
Continue reading “Bishop of Manchester asks about hospital services in Gaza”
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