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1177281

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Christianity: Religious Freedom
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent discussions the Church of England has had with (a) officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Freedom of Religion and Belief on the volume of attacks on the Christian communities throughout the world.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>The Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishop’s Council is in regular contact with the Freedom of Religion or Belief Team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has engaged on this issue with relevant embassy staff when travelling overseas. They have also had a series of meetings with the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Freedom of Religion or Belief since his appointment. Senior Church leaders have also had meetings with the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy in recent weeks.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:54:11 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177282

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Churches: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church Commissioners have made of the effect of the Strategic Development Fund on local (a) churches and (b) communities.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14665
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>All projects supported by the Strategic Development Funding are subject to monitoring and evaluation. The majority of projects are ongoing and it is too early to assess the full impact of the overall programme, but generally projects have already reported nearly 9,000 new disciples, increased activity on discipleship, and a wide range of projects engaging with local communities. Examples of projects that the Strategic Development Fund is enabling include food banks, help for new mothers, outreach to homeless people, engagement with those in prison, and hospitality and other forms of support for those living in deprived communities.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:53:35 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177283

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Churches
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church of England is taking to monitor the effect of renewal and reform programme church planting on planting on local (a) churches and (b) communities.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14666
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>Church planting is an excellent way for local churches to develop their mission and ministry, especially into communities where the church presence may be limited. Over 2,000 fresh expressions of church have been created since the Mission-Shaped Church report in 2004. These churches have proved effective at reaching people who do not normally engage with church, and at reaching young people especially.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2016 the Renewal and Reform programme and Strategic Development Funding have supported dioceses to develop church planting capacity in major population areas. These churches have shown significant growth and are also reaching de-churched, non-churched and young people.</p><p> </p><p>We specifically monitor and evaluate all projects funded by Strategic Development Funding, including their impact numerically, spiritually and in term of community impact. The Church of England also collects statistics annually from every church, including church plants and fresh expressions of church, as well as commissioning additional research on the wider impact of church planting.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:53:10 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177284

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Church Commissioners: Investment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church Commissioners are taking to help ensure that companies they invest in and comply with the Paris climate agreement.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14667
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>The Church Commissioners have continued to pursue action on climate change as their overwhelming ethical investment priority.</p><p> </p><p>The Commissioners have helped grow the number of companies involved in the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), which is now backed by investors representing over $18 trillion of assets under management and advice. TPI scores companies according to the quality of their management of climate change issues and indicates whether their carbon emissions are aligned with the pathways required to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Commissioners have signed up to the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, requiring them to transition their portfolio to net zero emissions by 2050. The Alliance emphasises a change in the real economy and focuses on continued engagement with policymakers, companies and asset managers alongside low carbon investments, to create the conditions required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.</p><p> </p><p>The Commissioners are part of Climate Action 100+ and through their own programmes encourage as many high-emitting companies as possible to meet their climate expectations. Whilst the Church can divest from companies not taking climate change seriously, they are expecting to implement their next round of climate-related restrictions by the end of 2020. In 2023 a further systematic round of restrictions is expected if companies still do not change after engagement efforts, with tougher thresholds focusing on alignment of the fossil fuel sector and electric utilities with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Following sustained engagement from the Church and other investors BP have recently announced their ambition to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.</p><p> </p><p>The Church of England Pensions Board have also recently launched a Paris-aligned passive investment index with FTSE Russell and announced a commitment of £600m to the new Index.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:52:24 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177285

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Archbishop of Canterbury
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what the outcomes were of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent visits to the (a) Democratic Republic of the Congo and (b) South Sudan.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14668
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>A) The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November 2019 when he spent four days travelling to see Ebola treatment centres and meet doctors, patients and survivors. The Archbishop's Office has been working with aid agencies to promote resources and best practice for clergy who are working in areas of outbreak. On 4<sup>th</sup> February 2020 the Archbishop released a statement of concern following a new wave of violence leading to the death of 70 civilians in Deni. Among those killed was the Reverend Yese Ngulongo and others within the local Christian community. The Archbishop called on local and international leaders to pursue a comprehensive strategy to bring lasting peace and reconciliation to the country.</p><p>B) The Archbishop and His Holiness Pope Francis remain committed to finding a peaceful way forward in South Sudan, and the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches have been jointly at the forefront of efforts to bring peace to the country. The Church is encouraged that some progress appears to be being made and the ceasefire is holding. However concerns remain that the South Sudanese Principals have not yet been able to find ways to resolve outstanding pre-transitional issues. While this situation continues it will be very difficult for His Holiness and the Archbishop to visit the country, which they have committed to doing together. Conversations are ongoing at an international level to encourage those in Government to use their power to find solutions that would enable all South Sudanese peoples to return home.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:51:08 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177286

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Anglicanism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what the outcomes were of the recent Anglican Primates meeting in Jordan.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	14669
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>The Anglican Primates Meeting took place in Jordan in January 2020. The Primates of the Anglican Communion are Archbishops, Presiding Bishops, Moderators and chief pastors of the 40 provinces. Their Churches are autonomous yet inter-dependent in their relationships with each other.</p><p> </p><p>The 33 Primates who attended the meeting discussed preparations for the Lambeth Conference 2020 and also approved the formation of the new province of Alexandria, which covers Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They also discussed the proposal for the creation of the new province of the Church of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The full communique can be read here: <a href="https://aco.org/media/355576/primates-meeting-2020-communique.pdf" target="_blank">https://aco.org/media/355576/primates-meeting-2020-communique.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/02/2020 17:50:27 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1177598

	registered interest
	date	11/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Church of England: Carbon Emissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the right hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what support the Church of England is receiving from (a) local authorities and (b central government to help reduce their carbon footprint.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	504
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2020 answer text <p>The National Church Institutions of the Church of England are not receiving support from central government or local authorities to help reduce their carbon footprint. While there may be instances of local parishes being given one-off small grants, records of these are not held centrally.</p><p>The Church of England's General Synod met in February 2020 to discuss reducing the carbon footprint of the Church. The Synod voted to call upon all parts of the Church of England to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. More information about the vote at the Synod can be found here: <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/general-synod-sets-2030-net-zero-carbon-target" target="_blank">https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/general-synod-sets-2030-net-zero-carbon-target</a></p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 13/02/2020 14:37:09 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1180185

	registered interest
	date	24/02/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Churches: Bats
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the right hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what (a) policy changes and (b) steps the Church of England is taking in relation to the 2019 survey of bats in churches undertaken with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund,
	tabling member constituency	Christchurch
	tabling member printed	Sir Christopher Chope
	uin	19751
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2020 answer text <p>The £3.8m funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund that was secured in 2018, enabled not just one survey, but a five-year Bats in Churches partnership project made up of the Church of England, Natural England, Historic England, the Bat Conservation Trust, and the Churches Conservation Trust.</p><p>The project is working with ecologists, church architects, heritage experts and church communities to support and develop bespoke solutions for around 120 churches struggling with unsustainable bat roosts across the country. Churches that are part of the project are continuously monitored to ensure there is no damage to the bat populations. Additionally, a nationwide volunteer-led four-year survey, the ‘Bats in Churches Study’ is to be launched this summer and will give an in-depth picture of how bats are using Church of England churches and the attitudes of churchgoers towards them.</p><p>The Bats in Churches project is now in its second year and can report the delivery of three successful mitigation works in some of the worst affected churches, in Braunston-in-Rutland, Tattershall and Swanton Morley. These three schemes have enabled congregations and the wider community to co-exist harmoniously alongside the bats and for church heritage to be respected.</p><p>Other projects nearing completion include:</p><ul><li>St Pega’s Church Peakirk, following a lead theft that has enabled bat mitigation to be incorporated into the re-roofing repair work.</li><li>St John the Baptist Church in Cold Overton is similarly incorporating bat mitigation into its repairs.</li></ul><p>Support for churches sheltering bats is available from the Bats in Churches project who are running events to build networks of volunteers, links to bat and heritage groups and specialist cleaning workshops and advice.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 28/02/2020 10:56:16 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	242 label Biography information for Sir Christopher Chope

1183889

	registered interest
	date	10/03/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Church of England: Travellers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on (a) making Church land available for Gypsy and Traveller sites and (b) other plans to tackle racism and discrimination as agreed at the General Synod in February 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Stretford and Urmston
	tabling member printed	Kate Green
	uin	27547
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2020 answer text <p>The Church Commissioners manage the charitable and historic endowments of the Church to support mission and ministry financially. The Commissioners seek to make provision for a range of housing types on their land but have not recently been made aware of any requirements for the direct provision of Gypsy and Traveller accommodation on that land. Other land at a parish and diocesan level is not under the ownership or management of the Church Commissioners.</p><p>The Church has an active network for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and is also running an annual training day for clergy that offers support and guidance, alongside a conference on 24<sup>th</sup> March 2020 which aims to give voice and visibility to minorities not traditionally heard, seen and represented in the Church of England.</p><p>The Church of England’s Ministry Division and clergy senior appointments team have developed a programme of work to support vocations from UKME communities and is working towards increasing representation in the senior leadership of the Church.</p><p>The Church will also be making an additional £20 million available over three years under its new Social Impact Investment Project, which incentivises positive investment in communities over the maximisation of financial return. One of the key areas for this project will be looking at the social impact of housing and consideration will be given to the housing needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller peoples.</p><p>At its February 2020 session the General Synod of the Church of England debated and passed the following motion:</p><p>“<strong>Windrush Commitment and Legacy</strong></p><p>That this Synod, commemorating in 2018 the martyrdom of the Revd Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., noting with joy the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush liner in the United Kingdom in June 1948 bringing nearly 500 Commonwealth citizens, mainly from the Caribbean, to mainland UK; and the eventual arrival of approximately half a million people from the West Indies, who were called to Britain as British subjects to help rebuild the post-war United Kingdom:</p><p>a. lament, on behalf of Christ's Church, and apologises for, the conscious and unconscious racism experienced by countless black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Anglicans in 1948 and subsequent years, when seeking to find a spiritual home in their local Church of England parish churches, the memory of which is still painful to committed Anglicans who, in spite of this racism from clergy and others, have remained faithful to the Church of England and their Anglican heritage;</p><p>b. request the Archbishops’ Council to commission research to assess the impact of this on the Church of England in terms of church members lost, churches declining into closure, and vocations to ordained and licensed lay ministries missed, and to report back to this Synod and the wider Church.”</p><p>c. express gratitude to God for the indispensable contribution to the mission, ministry, prayer and worship of Christ's Church in this nation made by people of BAME descent in the Church of England;</p><p>d. acknowledge and give joyful thanks for the wider contribution of the 'Windrush generation' and their descendants to UK life and culture in every field of human activity, including service across the Armed Forces and other services during and after the Second World War; and</p><p>e. resolve to continue, with great effort and urgency, to stamp out all forms of conscious or unconscious racism, and to commit the Church of England to increase the participation and representation of lay and ordained BAME Anglicans throughout Church life;</p><p>f. request the Archbishop’s Council to appoint an independent person external to the Church to assess the current situation as regards race and ethnicity in the Church, in order to present a report to this Synod with recommendations for actions to achieve reconciliation and authentic belonging so that we can move towards truly being a Church for all people;</p><p>g. to the greater glory of the God in whose image every human being is made.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 12/03/2020 15:49:54 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4120 label Biography information for Kate Green

1184662

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Church of England: Marriage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, in what circumstances a Church of Scotland minister is able to conduct a wedding in the Church of England.
	tabling member constituency	New Forest West
	tabling member printed	Sir Desmond Swayne
	uin	28560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2020 answer text <p>The clergy of other denominations cannot conduct Church of England marriages, though they may be able to participate to a limited extent in Church of England weddings by, for example, reading lessons, or leading prayers by agreement with the local incumbent or priest who is officiating.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 18/03/2020 17:12:17 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	55 label Biography information for Sir Desmond Swayne