The Bishop of Sheffield tabled a question on the Refugee Family Reunion Scheme, asking what the timeline would be for introducing a new application route for families on 14th October 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield: To ask His Majesty’s Government, following the temporary suspension of new applications to a refugee family reunion scheme, what is the timeline for introducing a new route.
Continue reading “Bishop of Sheffield asks about application routes for refugee families”
The Bishop of Chelmsford asked a question on the high rate of conversion of family homes into houses of multiple occupation on 27th February 2025, during a discussion on affordable rented housing:
The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, one consequence of sustained high rents in the private sector is the conversion of family homes into HMOs. Are the Government monitoring this trend, and what action are they taking on the loss of family homes in this way?
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The Bishop of Manchester received the following written answers on 7th October 2024:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, to increase the minimum income threshold for applications for a (1) spousal, and (2) family, visa.
Continue reading “Bishop of Manchester asks about minimum income threshold for spousal and family visas”The Bishop of Norwich spoke in a debate introducing the Support for Infants and Parents Bill on 6th September 2024, welcoming the bill and referencing the work of the Archbishop’s Commission on Families and Households:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I apologise to noble Lords for speaking in the gap. I did not expect to contribute today, but listening to the contributions so far, I was struck by the crossover with work underway by the Church and the Mothers’ Union, particularly when the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, mentioned the role of churches and faith communities.
I welcome the Bill and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, and the right honourable Dame Andrea Leadsom on their work on this issue. Churches across the country offer support to new families and parents, providing spaces for parents to meet, share experiences and be directed to support, if needed. They provide child development services through toddler and children groups, which are essential for the formation of children before they start nursery or reception classes in school. Through Messy Church and these toddler groups, hundreds of churches are already implementing many of The Best Start for Life recommendations. Churches are delivering perhaps more than 18 of the 24 recommendations and are often partnering with local authorities to develop joint working on issues that affect all our communities.
Continue reading “Support for Infants and Parents Bill: Bishop of Norwich welcomes legislation”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 13th March 2024, the Bishop of Leicester asked a question on whether the government would increase the rate of statutory paternity pay entitlement in order to better support new families during a discussion on the wage gap between mothers and fathers in the UK:
The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, the same report from Pregnant Then Screwed also found that a significant proportion of new fathers and secondary parents simply cannot afford to take their full paternity leave because of the low level of statutory paternity pay. Most other European countries have far more generous paternity leave entitlements than the UK’s, in both length and pay, which bring benefits for family bonds and support gender equality. Will the Government commit to increasing the statutory leave entitlement so that families in the UK can also reap these benefits?
Continue reading “Bishop of Leicester asks about rates of paternity pay”The Bishop of Chelmsford spoke in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s debate on the work of the Families & Households Commission and the “Love Matters” report on 8th November 2023, bringing up the need for stable and affordable housing:
My Lords, I too thank my most reverend friend the Archbishop of Canterbury for securing this important debate. Love Matters is, as noble Lords have already remarked, impressive for its scale and breadth. Covering subjects from tackling child poverty to valuing single people in our churches, the report is able to draw some creative links across a range of topics.
Today, however, given my role as the lead bishop for housing in the Church of England, I want to focus my remarks on the report’s findings on bricks, mortar and the communities that well-designed, affordable housing can foster. It is in houses and flats that families and households of different shapes and sizes are built, and housing which, done right, creates homes and can enable the health and prosperity of those who live in them. I want here to thank in particular the noble Lord, Lord Mann, for his valuable contribution on housing-related issues in this debate.
Noble Lords will know that this report is the last in a series of three. The first, published in 2021, was on the work for which I am now responsible: housing, church and community. I cannot take any credit for the report itself, but I am delighted to be involved in that work. The report, to which the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury has already referred, was called Coming Home, and it recommended, among other things, that housing needed to be stable, affordable and of high quality to enable people to put down roots and build healthy lives, families and neighbourhoods.
Continue reading “Bishop of Chelmsford raises need for affordable and sustainable housing for families during Archbishop of Canterbury’s debate”The Bishop of Gloucester spoke in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s debate on families on 8th December 2023, focusing on the criminal justice system and its effects on families:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I will try to do even better than 10 minutes. I am grateful to my most reverend friend the Archbishop of Canterbury for putting forward this Motion. I should like to focus my remarks on families and children in relation to the criminal justice system, and particularly imprisonment, and I declare an interest as Anglican Bishop for Prisons in England and Wales.
Jesus Christ once placed a child front and centre as he taught his listeners. I want to use that image simply to pose the idea that we would navigate things differently, we would see different sorts of manifestos committed to the long-term and make better policies if the child were always the central focus and starting point for all our policy-making. It seems that so much of government policy is focused on short-term fixing for the now or a few years’ time. What would it look like if policy and legislation were shaped in response to the child born today into a network of relationships, and then their life as an adult in 20 or 30 years’ time?
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester speaks on the criminal justice system during debate on “Love Matters” report of the Families & Households Commission”On 8th December 2023 the Archbishop of Canterbury led a debate in the House of Lords on the following motion:
The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to move that this House takes note of ‘Love Matters’, the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Families and Households.
The opening speech made by the Archbishop is below. More information and a copy of the report on which the debate was based, can be read here.
On 20th July 2023, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked the following questions by MPs in the House of Commons:
Ordinands
Mr Louie French MP (Con, Old Bexley & Sidcup) asked: What recent steps the Church of England has taken to increase the number of ordinands.
Andrew Selous MP (Con, South West Bedfordshire) I am very pleased to be able to tell my hon. Friend that there are 1,100 clergy in training in 2022-23, and that £10.3 million has been given to 25 dioceses to fund more curacy posts and £4.3 million has been given to 19 dioceses to make sure that clergy leaving training have a post of first responsibility to go to.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Questions: Ordinands, Community Sponsorship, Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act, Ordination, Freedom of Religion & Belief, Family Relationships”
The Church of England in Parliament 
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