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<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>
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