The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 7th October 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether it remains their policy to increase the minimum income for spouse/partner visas to £38,700 by 2025.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about visas for married people, driving test availability, tackling robbery, and rural crime”On 12th September 2024, the Bishop of St Albans spoke in a debate on the government’s strategy for rural libraries, calling for an integrated rural strategy with a commitment to sustainability:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, if we are to stop the decline in the number of rural libraries, we urgently need something that many of us have been calling for for a long time, which is an integrated rural strategy with a commitment to rural sustainability. There is huge, mainly untapped potential in the countryside to use existing community buildings as hubs and provide many services such as access to computers and the internet—vitally important—banking services, basic dispensing, post offices and, of course, libraries. They could be sited in our rural schools or sometimes in underused village halls or even church buildings. We have managed to do that in some places; we can do it more. We need to find ways to make this vital service work economically. Will the Minister commit to supporting this radical rethink about rural services?
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans calls for integrated and sustainable approach to rural library services”The Bishop of St Albans tabled a question on ensuring accessibility of pharmacies for those living in rural areas on 10th September 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that pharmacies are accessible to those living in rural areas.
Baroness Merron (Lab, DHSC): My Lords, pharmacies are key to our plans to make healthcare fit for the future, as we shift healthcare out of hospitals and into the community. We will expand the role of pharmacies, including the introduction of prescribing services. People’s experiences of accessing pharmacies differ across the country; we will look closely at this. There are dispensing doctors in areas where pharmacies are not viable, and online pharmacies delivering medicines free of charge to patients.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about access to pharmacies in rural areas”On 18th July 2024, the Bishop of St Albans gave a speech on issues affecting rural communities during the debate on the Kings Speech, also welcoming the new government’s plans to fight pollution in waterways:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition and add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, on her new role.
As a long-term advocate for rural areas and the people who live and work in them, I know that our farmers and rural communities are uniquely placed to deliver the Government’s missions of clean energy, increased building and the need to protect and restore our environment. Rural communities and rural businesses play an absolutely crucial role in the economic and social fabric of our country.
I welcome His Majesty’s Government’s plans to introduce measures to tackle pollution in our rivers, lakes and waterways. In my diocese of St Albans, covering Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, we are home to several of this country’s beautiful chalk streams, which, despite being extraordinarily rare and precious habitats, have been utterly devastated by both extraction and pollution. For example, the River Ver in Hertfordshire has been found to have six times higher levels of E. coli than is acceptable in bathing water. Between March and June this year, sewage was discharged directly into the River Ver for more than 2,400 hours.
Continue reading “Kings Speech Debate: Bishop of St Albans speaks on rural and environmental concerns”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 30th April 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government:
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 29th April 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact of rural pharmacy closures on access to primary care.
Lord Markham (Con, DHSC): It is the statutory duty of every local authority in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas including those that are rural in nature, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about pharmacy provision in rural areas”On 22nd February 2024, the Bishop of Hereford made his maiden speech during a debate on poverty reduction, focusing on tackling poverty in rural communities:
The Lord Bishop of Hereford: My Lords, I begin by recording my grateful thanks for the welcome and encouragement I have received since my introduction to your Lordships’ House. I am especially grateful for the forbearance of the staff as they have helped me navigate the labyrinthine corridors of this place, and to my colleagues for their patience in introducing me to the various procedures and protocols that govern our business.
I became the Bishop of Hereford in early 2020, just before the start of the first lockdown. The diocese of Hereford celebrates the 1,350th anniversary of its foundation in 2026—we are a diocese that predates the foundation of England. Indeed, the earliest timbers in the episcopal residence were acorns in the year 910. I have both worthy and ignoble predecessors in this role. I have already done better than four of them, who never actually came to the diocese at all. I hope not to emulate one of my Saxon predecessors, who, angered by the burning of the cathedral by the Welsh in 1055, took up arms with some of the canons and died in battle as a result. I also hope to avoid the fate of the cousin of the bishop who was murdered in the garden in 1256 on the coat-tails of his cousin’s unpopularity.
Hereford is the smallest and most rural diocese in England. We comprise the counties of Herefordshire and the southern half of Shropshire, one parish in Worcestershire and 14 in Wales. Sustaining a diocesan infrastructure with such a small base presents its challenges. For every 800 people who live here, we have one church building, and three-quarters of them are grade 1 listed.
Continue reading “Bishop of Hereford makes maiden speech on poverty in rural communities”The Bishop of Norwich spoke in a debate on closure of high street banks and the need for a national network of banking hubs on 25th January 2024, raising the impact of bank closures on those in rural areas and market towns:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler of Enfield, for this timely debate. I will speak particularly about rural areas and market towns.
The diocese I serve across Norfolk and Waveney is largely a rural one, but it is one where market towns play a key part in peoples’ lives. Historically places of transaction, they contribute to the warp and weft of community life, especially with their rural hinterland. It is no accident that, in Norfolk, they are fairly evenly spread out across the county, having developed so that livestock could be driven to them for sale and the bonds of extended familial friendship and trust strengthened.
From my internet searching, I estimate that we lost at least 12 bank branches in Norfolk last year. The market town of Wymondham saw the closure of NatWest, HSBC and Barclays within 12 months. The parish church’s treasurer now has a 26-mile round trip to bank the cash collection and cheques. Banks are vital for small rural businesses and charities that deal with cash. Yet, as we have heard, closures are accelerating, and this seems to be a pattern across the UK.
Continue reading “Bishop of Norwich speaks on impact of bank closures in rural areas and market towns”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 12th December 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to respond to the high level of transport poverty in rural areas, as outlined in the report Getting the measure of transport poverty published by the Social Market Foundation on 15 November.
Lord Davies of Gower: The Government understands that the transport needs of communities in rural areas differ from those in urban environments for a variety of reasons including demographics, lower population density and travel distances.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about transport poverty in rural areas”The Bishop of St Albans asked a question on digital connectivity in rural communities on 22nd November 2023, following a government statement on the levelling-up agenda:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I declare my interests as president of the Rural Coalition and a vice-president of the LGA. The 9.6 million people living in rural areas are glad that there is a mention of rural in the opening paragraph, but we cannot quite see how that rolls out. I wonder whether the Minister can help us a little. One of the crucial things about rural sustainability, improving levels of employment and offering healthcare in rural areas is digital connectivity, yet 17% of rural houses are not on superfast broadband, and nor are 30% of rural commercial premises. How does this relate to the need across the country to roll out a much higher level of rural connectivity? It has been done with a fantastic project in Cornwall and a lot was done in Shropshire at one stage, so it can be done. How do we get that sort of rural levelling up in digital connectivity?
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about digital connectivity in rural areas”
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