To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners,
what processes there are for complaints against senior staff of the National Church
Institutions.
<p>The National Church Institutions have an external NCIs Complaints Policy, which
can be found on the Church of England website at: <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/national-church-institutions"
target="_blank">National Church Institutions | The Church of England</a>. A complaint
is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction with the service offered by the NCIs
to an individual or organisation, which could include an issue with the standard of
service, a specific action taken (or not taken) or the behaviour of individuals working
within or on behalf of the NCIs, in their interactions with the complainant. This
could include the behaviour of NCI senior staff.</p><p>Complaints may come from any
individual, volunteer or organisation directly involved with a specific matter being
handled by the NCIs, including the general public, members of the clergy and staff
in a church body.</p>
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners,
what the total number of people employed in full and part time diocesan roles across
the UK was, excluding parish priests and lay readers, in (a) 1959, (b) 1979, (c) 1989,
(d) 1999, (e) 2010 and (f) 2020, including Bishops, Suffragen Bishops, Archdeacons,
governance managers, human resource management, operations directors, inclusivity
and diversity managers, directors of giving, mission enablers, directors of social
justice, environment managers, training leaders, youth leaders, conference centre
managers and wardens, and all associated support staff.
<p>No information is held centrally about the number of staff employed by each diocese,
so the requested information is not readily available and could not be obtained without
disproportionate cost.</p><p>For most of the information requested, figures have not
been collected consistently, if collected at all. However, the following information
about clergy numbers was provided in response to a similar question asked at the General
Synod November 2021 group of sessions:</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Category</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>1959</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>1979</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Archdeacons</p></td><td><p><sup>
</sup></p></td><td><p>106</p></td><td><p>104</p></td><td><p>106</p></td><td><p>109</p></td><td><p>129</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Suffragan
bishops</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>70</p></td><td><p>72</p></td><td><p>67</p></td><td><p>58</p></td><td><p>67</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Diocesan
bishops</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>39</p></td><td><p>39</p></td></tr></tbody></table><ol><li><em>For
1959 to 2000, this includes Suffragan and Assistant Bishops. For 2010 onwards, this
includes Suffragan bishops only</em><em> </em></li></ol><ol start="2"><li><em> For
1959, this includes Archbishops and Diocesan Bishops. For 1979, this includes Diocesan
Bishops only</em></li></ol><p> </p><p>All figures are taken from publications available
on the Church of England web page: <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about/research-and-statistics"
target="_blank">https://www.churchofengland.org/about/research-and-statistics</a>
. These publications also contain methodological information and further detail.</p><p>
</p><p> </p>
To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what
proportion of Church of England employees are practising Christians.
<p>It is not possible to give the proportion of employees either at a parish, diocesan
or national institution-level who are practising Christians as information on this
is not recorded or held centrally. Some posts within the National Church Institutions
have a Genuine Occupational Requirement to either be a ‘Practising or Communicant
member of the Church of England or a member of a Church in communion with the Church
of England’.</p>
