The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 3rd December 2021:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, (1) to investigate the purchase of agricultural farmland by multinational companies for the purpose of planting trees to offset carbon emissions, and (2) to prevent agricultural farm land being purchased for such purposes.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about purchasing of agricultural land for tree-planting”On 12th July 2021, the House of Lords debated the Environment Bill in the seventh day of the committee stage. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in the debate, expressing his support for amendments focused on sustainable forestry:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, it is a particular pleasure to speak in the same debate as the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, from whose wisdom, when I was a very young bishop some 20 years ago, I learned a great deal. I also an honour to follow the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, who has reminded us, powerfully, of the crucial role that commercial forestry and good moorland management should be enabled to play. Hence, I draw your Lordships’ attention to my interests as set out in the register, specifically my deputy chairmanship of the Church Commissioners, which the noble and right reverend Lord famously once took to court. We are one of the foremost owners of sustainable commercial forestry in the UK and beyond.
Continue reading “Environment Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on sustainable forestry”On 17th June 2021 MPs put questions to Andrew Selous MP, Second Church Estates Commissioner. Text of the oral and written answers is below.
Oral Questions
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con): Whether the Church of England plans to support online and in-person communal worship as covid-19 restrictions are lifted. (901321)
The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Andrew Selous): The Church of England is strongly encouraging churches to support both in-person and online communal worship, and training has been given to thousands of clergy to enable this. It is up to local churches to decide how best to do this.
On 12th March 2021, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Church of England: Land
Jim Shannon MP (DUP, Strangford): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the church is taking to encourage (a) regenerative agriculture, (b) more treeplanting and (c) good stewardship of hedgerows across its rural estates.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Questions: Land”
The Bishop of Salisbury received the following written answer on 5th January 2021:
The Lord Bishop of Salisbury asked Her Majesty’s Government, further to the response by Lord Callanan on 14 December (HL Deb, col 1410), what specific steps they are taking to meet their tree planting target for (1) 2020, (2) 2021, and (3) any future years.
Continue reading “Bishop of Salisbury asks about tree planting targets”
The Lord Bishop of Salisbury [V]: My Lords, the Government have made a number of statements, which, with the 10-point plan and the upping of the nationally defined contributions to the Paris Agreement, are very welcome. The Government’s manifesto commits to planting 30,000 hectares of trees per year. That is a really key target to aim for in relation to the climate change committee’s report, but it is one that we have missed by 71% in the last year and consistently over previous years. I much admire the Prime Minister’s ambition, but how are the Government to ensure that performance exceeds or matches that ambition?Continue reading “Bishop of Salisbury asks Government about missing its tree planting targets”
On 26th November MPs put questions to the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP, on public worship, tree planting, Christmas services, gender-based violence, Living in Love and Faith, cathedral services, Christian persecution, community support and consistory court appeals. A transcript is below:
Church Commissioners
The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners was asked—
Covid-19 Lockdown: Public Worship
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): What representations the Church of England has made to the Government on the importance of public worship during periods of covid-19 lockdown. [909344] Continue reading “Church Commissioner Questions: public worship, tree planting, Christmas services, gender-based violence, Living in Love and Faith, cathedral services, Christian persecution, community support, consistory court appeals”
On 29th October the Bishop of Salisbury received written answers to two questions of Government, on (i) tree planting targets and (ii) working with business to address species and habitat destruction caused by UK supply chains:
The Lord Bishop of Salisbury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reach their tree planting target as set out in the Tree Planting Strategy; and if they have not reached that target, what assessment they have made of the reasons why they have not done so. [HL9249] Continue reading “Bishop of Salisbury asks about tree planting, species and habitat destruction”
The Church of England in Parliament 
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