Families – Page 3 – The Church of England in Parliament

Bishop of Durham supports Refugee Family Reunion Bill

On 8th July 2022, the House of Lords debated the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill in its second reading. The Bishop of Durham spoke in the debate on this Private Member’s Bill- his speech and contributions from other peers are below:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I am pleased to speak today in support of this Bill. In doing so, I declare my interests as a member of the Refugee, Asylum and Migration Policy—RAMP—project and as a trustee of Reset.

The Bill proposes sensible provisions to consider the wider notion of family when enabling refugee families to come back together. Family reunification is often a neglected safe and legal route. The simple principle is that those who have been forced apart from family members due to persecution, war and other factors should be able to rebuild their lives with their loved ones when they have been granted protection as a refugee. In recent years, the largest safe route to the UK has been via family reunion, with 90% of those travelling this way being women and children.

It is on children that I would like to focus, namely the right of a child to reunite with their family, particularly their parents, when rebuilding a life here in the UK. Currently, we have the situation where we decide to layer more trauma on a child by expecting them to grow up separated from their parents and be placed in state care. Across Europe, the UK is simply an outlier in this regard.

Bishop of Durham speaks in a debate on Bill to front-load Child Benefit

On 8th July 2022, the House of Lords debated the Front-Loaded Child Benefit Bill at its second reading. The Bishop of Durham spoke in the debate on this Private Member’s Bill and his speech and contributions from other peers are below:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I rise to speak to this Bill with a degree of curiosity. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, for introducing it.

Children, and the family who cares for them, should be particularly supported in their early years. This is when their most important development happens, so we must want them to thrive. These early years are still too often overlooked in the impact they have on both the leading of a happy and healthy life or the long-term harm of adverse childhood experiences. The Bill is an interesting one, as I can see some of the arguments for front-loading child benefit. However, I also have some quite deep concerns. I understand that the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, has intentionally kept his briefing for the Bill minimal to accommodate the policy-making that would have to accompany it, but there are some key details to learn, or note.

Bishop of Manchester speaks in a debate on immigration and nationality

On 6th July 2022, the House of Lords discussed charges associated with processing citizenship cases involving children. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in the debate:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for giving us the opportunity to hold this short debate. The matters she raises are serious and require urgent address.

Greater Manchester—the Minister knows and loves it as much as I do—is a very diverse city region. Many of those who contribute to its flourishing and growth are families whose origins lie elsewhere. The children of those families enrich the life of our schools, including the 190-plus Church schools that educate over 60,000 children every day, often in the poorest communities. While these children rejoice in the distinctive heritage of their ancestral culture, and offer its riches to us, they are being brought up to be as British as I am. They know no other home. They are not immigrants—as the noble Baroness has said, we must not confuse the asserting of citizenship with immigration—they are British. They simply need to clarify that legally.

Ideally, I would not put a price on citizenship; it is far too precious. However, if a charge has to be made, it seems invidious to pitch it at a level where over half of the revenue is pure profit. Indeed, the profit levels might set the mouths watering of some of those who notoriously have milked our public coffers through the charges they have exacted for substandard PPE equipment—but perhaps that is for another day.

Bishop of Durham asks about the Nationality and Borders Bill (2022)

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 25th April 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government whether they have applied the Family Test to the Nationality and Borders Bill.

Bishop of Durham asks about families and the Home Office

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 25th April 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government which policies, if any, the Home Office has applied the Family Test to in the last year.

Bishop of Durham asks about public finances

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answer on 7th April 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government whether they applied the Family Test to the measures set out in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spring Statement on 23 March; and if so, what their conclusions and mitigations were.

Bishop of Leeds asks about the cost of living

The Bishop of Leeds asked a question about the impact of the rising cost of living on 23rd March 2022, during a debate on the government’s Loneliness Strategy:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, have the Government made any assessment of the likely impact of the cost-of-living crisis, including energy prices and all of that, on family breakdown in this country?

Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill: Bishop of Durham speaks in debate

On 18th March 2022, the House of Lords debated the Refugees – Family Reunion Bill in its third reading. The Bishop of Durham spoke briefly on the issue of family separation before the bill was passed:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I regret not having been able to speak earlier. As noble Lords know, I spoke passionately on this issue on the Nationality and Borders Bill. I do not think that it is too late for the Government to think about reintroducing this into that Bill on Tuesday in the other place. I hope that they might do so.

Hansard

Bishop of Durham tables question on support for larger families

The Bishop of Durham asked a question on adequacy of support offered to larger families by the Department for Work and Pensions on 11th January 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of support offered by the Department for Work and Pensions to larger families.

Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con, DWP): No assessment has been made as every household has different requirements. While there is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of support should be, the department will spend more than £110 billion this year—4.8% of GDP—on working-age benefits. Additionally, the Government offer a wide range of support to families with children depending on their circumstances, including free school meals, childcare, Healthy Start vouchers and the household support fund.

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