On 28th November 2024, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, gave the following answers to questions from MPs in the House of Commons:
On 22nd November 2024, Marsha De Cordova MP, on behalf of the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Church Commissioners: Charities
Danny Kruger MP (Con, East Wiltshire): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what the (a) charitable object and (b) nominal current value is of each (i) trust and (ii) other fund held by the Church Commissioners; and what document defines each such charitable object.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Charities”On 1st November 2024, Marsha De Cordova MP, on behalf of the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Church of England: Newcastle-Under-Lyme
Adam Jogee MP (Lab, Newcastle-Under-Lyme): To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme to discuss the condition of the Church estate in that constituency.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Newcastle-Under-Lyme”On 17th October 2024, Marsha de Cordova MP, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, gave the following answers to questions from MPs:
Small Rural Communities
Ms Julie Minns MP (Lab, Carlisle) asked: What steps the Church of England is taking to support parish life in small rural communities.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Questions: Rural Communities, Former Church Sites, Access to Places of Worship, Independent Safeguarding Board Review, Recognition of Positive Impact, Interfaith Understanding, Ordination of Women: 30th Anniversary, Restoration Funding,”On 23rd May 2024, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following answers to questions from MPs in the House of Commons:
Affordable and Sustainable Housing
Selaine Saxby MP (Con, North Devon) asked: Whether the Church of England is taking steps to provide affordable and sustainable housing on its land. (902965)
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire): I can tell my hon. Friend that the Church Commissioners are bringing forward substantial new amounts of housing across England, including affordable homes, in accordance with local planning policy in the areas concerned. Where the commissioners are able to, we also seek to go further— for example, through the use of rural exception sites to provide a higher proportion of affordable housing than the local plan requires.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Questions: Affordable & Sustainable Housing, Diocesan Support: Interregnums, Educational Attainment: Church Schools, Parish Churches: Funding, Academy Schools, and Support for People in Gaza”On 23rd May 2024, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to questions from an MP:
Slavery
Caroline Ansell MP (Con, Eastbourne): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners:
On 17th May 2024, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Layan Nasir
Sir Desmond Swayne MP (Con, New Forest West): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what representations the Church has made to the Israeli government to secure the release of Layan Nasir from administrative detention.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Layan Nasir”On 25th April 2024, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answers to questions from MPs:
Church of England: Slavery
Dr Matthew Offord MP (Con, Hendon): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church plans to publicly acknowledge historic links with the chattel slave trade.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire): The Archbishop of Canterbury has been unequivocal on the theology of this issue, noting on his visit to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana in February 2023:
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Slavery, Tree Planting, Churches in Cumbria & Lincolnshire, and Redundant Churches”On 18th April 2024, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following answers to MPs in the House of Commons:
Easter Church Services
Kevin Foster (Con, Torbay): To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent assessment the Church has made of trends in the number of families that attend a church service over the Easter period.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire): Although we do not yet have confirmed numbers of worshippers for this Easter just gone, our clergy report high attendance, among all ages, at services, which supports the post-pandemic trend of people returning to services on Easter day in person to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Questions: Easter Church Services, Families & Households, Abortion Legislation, Armenian Church in Jerusalem, Sale of Land, and Church Schools”On 17th April 2024, the House of Lords debated the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill in committee. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendment 54 to the bill, calling for the government to provide clarity over the scope of the bill in relation to charities and educational institutions:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I shall speak in favour of Amendment 54, to which I have added my name. I also support the other amendments in this group. I listened carefully to the previous debate. As other noble Lords have noted, there is a strong overlap between this and the previous group.
Again as others have said, my concern is that, before we pass this Bill, we get clarity on who it covers. I declare a particular interest in that those of us on these Benches, along with other diocesan bishops of the Church of England, do carry out public functions. From time to time, these might bring an individual, in our corporate capacity as bishop of a diocese, within whatever definition of a public body or authority we might eventually land on.
Continue reading “Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill: Bishop of Manchester calls for clarity on scope of bill”
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