On 18th July the House of Lords considered the Government’s Policing and Crime Bill at its Second Reading. The Bishop of Southwark, Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, spoke in the debate, focusing on proposals for police reform, gambling, mental health and young people.
The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I congratulate Ministers and their officials on bringing forward such a large Bill in so orderly a fashion. This is a Bill of nine parts; even Gaul was only divided into three. I hope your Lordships will forgive me if I make a number of points from so varied a terrain.
While the Bill addresses licensed premises for the sale of alcohol, we have no mention in it of other licensed premises, which are also vulnerable to criminal activity. We know from freedom of information requests reported in the press that from 2013 to 2014 there was a 20% rise in the number of police call-outs to betting shops. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, who wished to attend this debate, himself submitted a freedom of information request recently to the Gambling Commission, which reveals a 68% rise in reports of violence against the person at London betting shops over the last five years. Continue reading “Policing and Crime Bill: Bishop of Southwark responds”
On 11th May 2016 Lord Farmer led a debate in the House of Lords on the motion “to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to deliver the Life Chances Strategy to transform the lives of the most disadvantaged people in Britain, as outlined by the Prime Minister on 11 January.” The Bishop of Truro, Rt Revd Tim Thornton, spoke during the debate. The full text of his speech and extracts from the Minister’s reply are below.
On the 13th April 2016 Lord Harris of Haringey asked a question of the Government about the assessment they have made of the number of deaths amongst child and adolescent patients in psychiatric units, in the light of the investigation conducted by the charity Inquest. The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith asked a supplementary question about mental health care available to young people. 
The Lord Bishop of Bristol: My Lords, I, too, am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Crisp, for introducing this debate and this very big idea into the Chamber. Already we start to see that the breadth of material that needs to be thought about in relation to creating a healthy society is indeed vast. I sat here for some of the debate thinking were I the Minister—God forbid—how I might respond to such a plethora of concerns that have been articulated. I wish him well with that.
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.