On 17th February 2015 the House of Bishops published ‘Who Is My Neighbour? – A Letter from the House of Bishops to the People and Parishes of the Church
of England for the General Election 2015′.
Continue reading “Summary: Who Is My Neighbour? House of Bishops’ Letter for the General Election”
Welcome to the Church of England’s weekly round-up of activity in Parliament.
This week, bishops in the House of Lords took part in debates on the Modern Slavery Bill, the 2015 Budget statement, the EU & Russia, NHS public contracts, immigration detention and construction regulations.
The bishops also asked questions on rural deprivation, Nigeria’s Presidential election, the extractives industry and mental health,
The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act was granted Royal Assent. Parliament was prorogued and will return after the General Election in May.
Continue reading “Church of England Week in Westminster 23rd-27th March 2015”
On 26th March 2015 Lord Lloyd of Berwick led a short debate, “to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the Report of the Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom, published on 3 March”. The Bishop of Peterborough, Rt Revd Donald Allister, spoke in the debate, which was the last of the 2010-15 Parliament and the final contribution of Lord Lloyd, who was to retire.
The Lord Bishop of Peterborough: My Lords, from these Benches I too pay tribute to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, and thank him in particular for his service as chairman of the Ecclesiastical Committee of Parliament. He has chaired the committee for 13 years with a forensic eye for detail. He has taken the time and made the effort, as we know is typical of him, to understand the Church of England—and has maintained a sense of humour. It is remarkable and we are hugely grateful. He has also been a friend to many of us, for which we are also grateful. We wish him very much happiness in his retirement, not least in his lambing next month.
I was shocked and distressed to read this report. I did not take part in the inquiry but some of the facts that are presented here—which were to some extent in the public domain anyway but are now made clear before us—are deeply distressing. Continue reading “Immigration detention – speech by Bishop of Peterborough”
On 26th March 2015 the House of Lords debated a motion “that this House takes note of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015”. The Bishop of Chester, Rt Revd Peter Forster, spoke briefly on a point of clarification:
The Lord Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I have just one brief question for the Minister on the regulations. Paragraph 20 of the impact assessment refers to financial impact. It states that the deemed approach—which is much the better one, I am sure—will cost £1.3 million to homeowners and £4.6 million to contractors. All my experience is that costs to contractors get handed on to the people for whom they are providing their services, so how do we know that the £4.6 million will not simply be handed on to the homeowners to whom the services are being provided? How can one make that distinction? Continue reading “Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 – Bishop of Chester”
The text of the sermon delivered by the Bishop of Leicester, Rt Revd Tim Stevens on 26th March 2015 at the service of reinterment of King Richard III in Leicester Cathedral.
Search, Find, Honour….
The triple mandate given to the Looking for Richard Project four years ago has broken open not just a car park but a nation’s story.
King Richard has stepped from the pages of history into the fullest glare of the world’s attention. The search has laid to rest half a millennium of mystery surrounding his burial place and revealed that Richard belongs not just to the archaeologists, the chroniclers and the curators, but to all of us. Continue reading “Bishop of Leicester’s Sermon at the Service of Reinterment of King Richard III”
On 25th March 2015, three bishops took part in a division on the Government’s Modern Slavery Bill, relating to visas for domestic workers.
On 25th March 2015 the Bishop of Bristol, Rt Revd Mike Hill, received an answer from the Government to a written question on places of safety, as designated under the Mental Health Act:
Lord Bishop of Bristol: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many places of safety have been provided under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983; and what assessment they have made of the geographic spread of such places.
Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health): The Care Quality Commission has created an interactive web-based map showing the location of designated health-based places of safety in England for people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983:
http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/map-health-based-places-safety-0
The current version shows 167 places of safety in England.
(via Parliament.uk)
On 25th March 2015, the Bishop of Worcester, Rt Revd John Inge, received answers to written questions on regulation of the extractives industry:
The Lord Bishop of Worcester: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they will take against extractives industry companies which seek to subvert the intention behind the Reports on Payments to Governments Regulations 2014.
Baroness Neville Rolfe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills): The Government expects companies to comply with the requirements of the Reports on Payments to Government Regulations 2014.
The Regulations, which came into effect on 1 December 2014, set out the enforcement and penalty regime for any company that fails to comply in part or in full. It is a matter for the company to ensure that it is fully complying with the requirements. On a criminal conviction for not doing so the penalty may be a fine or a term of imprisonment for the directors of the company.
Reports made annually by companies under these Regulations will be published on Companies House website where both government and other interested parties will be able to consider the reports and their accuracy.
Continue reading “Bishop of Worcester- Extractives Industry (Written Answer)”
On 25th March 2015 the Bishop of Peterborough, Rt Revd Donald Allister, spoke in a debate in the House of Lords on NHS public contracts regulations. The Bishop raised concerns over the haste with which the regulations had been brought forward. The text of his contirbution is below, followed by the relevant sections of the Minister’s response:
The Lord Bishop of Peterborough: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for bringing this Motion. I will speak only very briefly because he has given most of the detail and said most of what I want to say, particularly about the confusion in the tendering and commissioning process. Integrating health and social care is obviously right—I very strongly support it—but why the rush? Why not do it slowly and carefully? If I understand aright, Scotland has entered a lengthy, considered stakeholder consultation and will finalise its regulations on health and social care at the same time, by April 2016, along with the majority of EU member states. So why do we have to go so quickly? I do not understand the rush in one-half of the equation, which unbalances the whole thing.
Continue reading “Bishop of Peterborough speaks on NHS public contracts regulations”
On 25th March 2015 the Bishop of Portsmouth, Rt Revd Christopher Foster, spoke in the debate in the House of Lords on the Budget Statement for 2015-’16. The Bishop raised encouragement of personal saving, the income tax threshold, and future welfare reform, amongst other issues. The text of his speech is below:
The Lord Bishop of Portsmouth: My Lords, it is right to acknowledge what is good and encouraging in the economic situation—particularly compared to the background of five years ago—and in much of what the Chancellor announced last week, and I am glad to do so. I warmly welcome the continuing fall in the number of people unemployed and, among the proposals, funding for wi-fi in public libraries, investment in transport infrastructure in the north of England, a boost to charities through the raising of the small donations gift aid limit and the extra allocation for mental health services for children and for new mothers, especially when half of my Bishop’s Lent appeal in Portsmouth diocese is to support local mental health charities. I am pleased, too, to hear of the planned rise in the minimum wage, though longing for the living wage to become the norm. There is much to welcome but, as I have indicated, with some caveats.
Continue reading “Bishop of Portsmouth responds to the budget statement”
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