On 13th October 2016 the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Rt Hon Dame Caroline Spelman MP, answered questions from MPs on school admissions, ecumenical relations, community cohesion, refugees, LGBT pastoral care, Scrooby parish, same sex marriage and cathedral repairs.
Church Commissioners Continue reading “Church Commissioner Questions – October 2016”
On 11th October MPs debated a motion from Andrew Mitchell MP (Sutton Coldfield, Con), “That this House has considered the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo and more widely across Syria.” The Second Church Estates Commissioner, Rt Hon Dame Caroline Spelman MP, made a short intervention in the debate during the speech of Patrick Grady MP, to draw attention to the plight of Christians and religious minorities.
Dame Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Con): While the UK Government are right to focus their efforts on providing aid in the region, the refugees we have agreed to take, particularly under the community sponsorship scheme, include only 2% of Christian refugees from Syria, despite the fact that religious minorities constitute up to 12% of the Syrian population. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need to make more effort to reach out to frightened religious minorities in Syria? Continue reading “Caroline Spelman raises plight of Christian refugees and religious minorities in Syrian”
On 10th October 2016, Baroness Hussein-Ece asked the government “how many lone children in Calais with family links in the United Kingdom have been allowed into the United Kingdom in the past 12 months.” The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt. Revd. Graham Jones, asked a supplementary question.
Continue reading “Bishop of Norwich calls on Government to prioritise vulnerable children in Calais”
On 6th September 2016 Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty’s Government “what plans they have to speed up the reuniting of refugee children in the camps of Calais and Dunkirk with their families in the United Kingdom.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev Justin Welby, asked a follow up question:
The Archbishop of Canterbury: My Lords, the Question has been extremely specifically put about children who have families in this country; this is not about all unaccompanied children. My own diocese of Canterbury has taken on a staff member who is working in the Jungle, in co-ordination with a staff member taken on by the Catholic diocese of Arras. We are still having continual reports of delays for really quite young children who are not being brought across. Does the Minister not agree that where children—particularly young ones—have families in this country there is no reason why they should not be brought across within the day? Continue reading “Archbishop asks Government to speed up process of bringing lone children with families in UK across from Calais Jungle camp”
On 20th July 2016 Lord Dubs asked Her Majesty’s Government “what is their assessment of the threatened demolition of the Calais Jungle camp and the position of child refugees.” The Bishop of Southwark, Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, asked a follow up question:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I welcome the noble Baroness to her post. Mindful of the fact that over 200 children went missing when the southern part of the camp was dismantled, will a commitment be given in the case of unaccompanied children to avoid the perils of sudden dispersal? Continue reading “Bishop of Southwark asks about safety of unaccompanied children in Calais Jungle camp”
On 13th June 2016 Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty’s Government “what arrangements are in place to fulfil their decision to welcome unaccompanied child refugees into the United Kingdom.” The Bishop of Gloucester, Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, asked a follow up question:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, are the Government working closely with Home for Good, which has several thousand potential foster carers who are willing to assist with welcoming these children at risk? Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester asks Government about fostering arrangements for child refugees”
On 10th May 2016 the Bishop of St Albans, Rt Revd Alan Smith, asked a question in the House of Lords on support for unaccompanied child refugees. His question, the follow up and further questions from Peers are below:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what extra resources they plan to provide to local authorities to support the foster care of unaccompanied refugee children, and what plans they have to engage charities that may have volunteers available to help.
The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Keen of Elie) (Con): My Lords, the Minister for Immigration will shortly be writing to local authorities to set out the new funding rates for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. We are consulting with local authorities across the United Kingdom to understand how many children they can support, and we will engage charities with relevant expertise as a part of that process.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: I thank the Minister for that Answer. In all our debates and statistics, it is vital that we remember that the needs of the child are paramount at every point. A number of my colleagues have signed a letter that was published in the Times today, calling on Her Majesty’s Government to ensure that the unaccompanied children living in the Calais camps who have families here in the UK are reunited with them in time for the new school term in September—and, furthermore, calling on the Government to act on the 300 unaccompanied children in Greece and Italy and deal with that in the same timeframe. In the light of this profound humanitarian need—indeed, crisis—would the Minister assure the House that the Government will act on these matters immediately? Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks Government about support for unaccompanied child refugees”
On 26th April 2016 the House of Lords considered amendments made in the House of Commons to the Government’s Immigration Bill. Labour Peer Lord Dubs proposed an amendment (as an alternative to his previous one, rejected by MPs), that would require the Government to “make arrangements to relocate to the United Kingdom and support a specified number of unaccompanied refugee children from other countries in Europe”. The Bishop of Leeds, Rt Revd Nick Baines, spoke in support of the amendment:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I was recently in northern Iraq, visiting internally displaced people and Syrian refugees. In a meeting with the United Nations office for the co-ordination of humanitarian aid, we were told that despite the generosity promised by many international donors, only 9% of the money had actually got through. That was not specifically applied to the UK. I do not know how much of the UK’s promised aid has gone but it was 9% overall. So when we hear about the amount of money that has been promised, it does not tell us how much has been delivered. Continue reading “Immigration Bill: Bishop of Leeds supports UK welcome for lone child refugees”
On the 12th April 2016 the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun received a written answer to a question about Syrian refugees.
Continue reading “Bishop of Southwark: Written Question on Syrian Refugees”
On 21st March the House of Lords considered the Government’s Immigration Bill at Report Stage. Lord Hylton tabled an amendment, co-sponsored by the Bishop of Southwark, that would expand the rules on family reunion and asylum. The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James, spoke in support of the amendment, and Lord Bates responded on behalf of the Government. The amendment was withdrawn after debate. Continue reading “Immigration Bill: Bishop of Norwich supports amendment on family reunion”
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