The Church of England in Parliament

Bishop of St Albans asks about enabling rural connectivity

On 23rd October 2024, the Bishop of St Albans asked a question about enhancing rural connectivity to increase rural productivity and promote rural sustainability:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, a recently published economic report by Pragmatix has identified the extraordinary gap between urban and rural productivity, including on homeworking, exacerbated by the problem of rural connectivity. Is the Minister aware of some of the local solutions that are now being tried? We are involved in some of those, for example with hosting antennae in church spires and towers and bouncing signals into more remote areas to enable homeworking and to increase productivity. Would he be willing to support some of these important initiatives for the sake of rural sustainability?

Bishop of St Albans asks about removal of VAT on defibrillators

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 22nd October 2024:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to remove VAT on defibrillators.

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill: Bishop of Leeds urges improvements to apprenticeship levy

On 22nd October 2024, the Bishop of Leeds spoke at the second reading of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill, calling for improvements to the apprenticeship levy, thereby incentivising small and medium-sized enterprises to hire apprentices and expanding opportunities for the most vulnerable young adults and learners:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare. I realise that I stand in the way of the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Beamish, which I look forward to hearing shortly. I shall try to be brief.

I support the Bill in principle, and certainly the ambition behind it—and I certainly understand the logic behind it. A number of questions have already been raised about it that will need some careful addressing and answering if the House is to be confident about what is proposed. I want to focus on the FE sector, which has been facing some difficulty in recent years—facing the uncertainty while awaiting the outcome of the Government’s pause and review of level 3 qualifications, deals with FE pay being considered separately from the ongoing negotiations for the recently resurrected School Support Staff Negotiating Body, and faces up to the impact of sustained cuts and falls in funding in real terms. But FE is doing amazing work, particularly with particular sectors of our young people.

Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill: Bishop of Leeds thanks Government and the House for support

On 22nd October 2024, the Bishop of Leeds spoke at the third reading of the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill, thanking the Government and the House for their support:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I think it is down to me to thank the Government. All the other Bishops are at a House of Bishops residential elsewhere. I thank the Government for taking this on and thank those who contributed to the debate at different stages. This is a mechanism to allow us to make the progress which we need to make more quickly. I am grateful to the Government and the House for their support.

Bishop of Leeds asks about link between poverty and absenteeism from school

On 22nd October 2024, the Bishop of Leeds asked a question on the causal correlation between poverty and absenteeism from school:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, is there any causal correlation between poverty, particularly in the wake of the cost of living crisis, and absenteeism from school?

Bishop of Southwark asks about official development assistance spending

The Bishop of Southwark received the following written answers on 21st October 2024:

The Lord Bishop of Southwark asked His Majesty’s Government whether the plan to allocate additional Official Development Assistance (ODA) for (1) 2024–25, and (2) 2025–26, to compensate for the share of ODA being spent on refugees in the United Kingdom.

Bishop of St Albans asks about environmental issues in retail and industry

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 21st October 2024:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the issue of ‘farmwashing’ by retailers; and what steps they intend to take to tackle this issue.

Bishop of Leicester asks about the impact of the current benefits system on children

On 21st October 2024, the Bishop of Leicester asked a question on the impact of the current benefits system on children from lower-income families:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, in his review, Sir David Bell looked at the attainment gap between children from less privileged and more privileged backgrounds. Can the Government commit to ensuring that the ministerial taskforce on child poverty will look at the impact of the current benefits system on children from lower-income families?

Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill: Bishop of Sheffield welcomes new routes for refugees

The Bishop of Sheffield spoke in support of the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill, a private members bill tabled by Baroness Hamwee, at its second reading on 18th October:

The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: My Lords, I commend the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for bringing forward this important Bill, and I acknowledge the work of other noble Lords on similar Bills.

The sustained interest in a Bill of this kind should tell us something: that the current route to family reunion is unduly restrictive and prohibitive. Government data shows that in 2023 there were over 7,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the care of local authorities in the UK, 141 of those in the communities that I serve as bishop in Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

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