Church Commissioners Written Answers: Repairs and Maintenance, Vandalism

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answerto questions from an MP on 30th September 2022:

Dr Matthew Offord MP (Con): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent discussions he has had with the Church Commissioners about repair and renewal of the church estate.

Andrew Selous MP (Con): The Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council have agreed to funding of £11 million for 2023-25 in support of Buildings for Mission, which includes £2m for places of worship maintenance/repairs, and funding for up to 20 support officers to work with communities on the care of their church buildings. This is alongside a one-off commitment of £190 million (over nine years) to support the whole Church, including its buildings, in the transition towards Net Zero 2030.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Church land

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP on 16th September 2022:

Mark Eastwood MP (Con): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church has taken to ensure that an (a) Agricultural Land Classification and (b) Soil Assessment is undertaken prior to any applications being submitted to Kirklees Council relating to land at Heybeck, Batley and Chidswell, Dewsbury.

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Church Commissioner Questions: Ukrainian Refugees, Persecuted Christians, Holy Trinity Church Wingate, Affordable and Sustainable Housing, and Accessibility of Churches

 On 8th September 2022, MPs put questions in the House of Commons to the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP:

Ukrainian Refugees

Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con):

1. What steps the Church is taking to help support Ukrainian refugees. 

Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con):

7. What steps the Church is taking to help support Ukrainian refugees.

Andrew Selous: Six bishops and hundreds of clergy have Ukrainian evacuees living with them, and the Church of England is using vacant vicarages in a number of places. Churches are also actively involved in recruiting new hosts where needed.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Church Development

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from an MP on 8th July 2022:

Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to the Low Income Communities Funding, if the Commissioners will ask the Bishop of Truro to pass on the benefits from that funding to mission in Truro’s lowest income communities, such as by reducing their parish share, as opposed to leaving it to underwrite the diocesan deficit.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Persecuted Christians

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP on 4th July 2022:

Jim Shannon MP (DUP): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Church Commissioners have had with Christians Against Poverty on protecting Christians from persecution.

Andrew Selous MP (Con): Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a UK-based debt advice charity independent of the Church of England. Staff of the National Church Institutions have held discussions with CAP but these have not been on the protection of Christians from persecution.

Hansard

Church Commissioners Questions: Archbishops’ Council

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP on 1st July 2022:

Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to Section 1(1) of the National Institutions Measure 1998 and the statement on page six of the Archbishops’ Council Annual Report 2022 that the Council was established under the National Institutions Measure 1998 to provide focus for leadership and executive responsibility and a forum for strategic thinking and planning, whether the Church Commissioners have made an assessment of the authority of the Archbishops’ Council in respect of the exercise of its executive functions.

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Church Commissioner Questions: Christian Persecution, Church Schools, Religious Freedom, Net Zero, Ukraine, Russia, Institutional Racism

On June 23rd 2022 MPs put questions in the House of Commons to the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP:

Persecution of Christians Overseas

Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)

  1. What steps the Church is taking to support the implementation of recommendations in the final report of the Bishop of Truro’s review on persecution of Christians overseas. (900659)

The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Andrew Selous): The murder of 50 Catholics in church this month in Ondo state in Nigeria and the ongoing murders for alleged blasphemy are a stark reminder of why the Church of England stands foursquare behind the implementation of the Bishop of Truro’s review.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Homes for Ukraine

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP on 14th June 2022:

Justin Madders MP (Labour): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, whether any properties owned by the Church of England are being used under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Church Finances

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP on 30th May 2022:

Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to Figure 10 of the report entitled Independent Review of Lowest Income Communities funding and Strategic Development Funding published by Sir Robert Chote and others in February 2022, how many of the national total of 25,923 new disciples the Church of England expects to be in Truro Diocese; and how many of the 5,019 new disciples have been recorded by the Strategic Development Unit.

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Church Commissioners Written Answers: Church Funding

Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from an MP on 27th May 2022:

Ben Bradshaw MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, with reference to the Transforming Wigan project in the Diocese of Liverpool, what Church Commissioners’ funding has been awarded to that project since its inception in 2014.

Andrew Selous MP (Con): The Diocese of Liverpool was awarded £900,000 of Strategic Development Funding in 2014 for its Transforming Wigan project.

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