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1037194

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2019
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Cathedrals: Music
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Right Honourable Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what duty does (a) the Church of England and (b) cathedrals and abbeys have to cathedral choristers with long-term medical conditions under disability discrimination legislation; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Gravesham
	tabling member printed	Adam Holloway
	uin	205855
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/01/2019 answer text <p>The Church of England comprises a large number of legally separate institutions, which includes Cathedrals, Parochial Church Councils and Diocesan Boards of Finance. Each Cathedral, as an independent legal entity, is required to comply with the Equality Act 2010 (the “Act”) and so has a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons in accordance with the requirements of the Act. This duty applies in relation to a Cathedral chorister who has a disability for the purposes the Act (whether or not the disability is due to a long-term medical condition). However, there is no separate legal duty placed on cathedrals in relation to child choristers as a specific group.</p><p> </p><p>A cathedral has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to enable all persons with a disability to have physical access to the cathedral. As the Act does not override other legislation, such as listed building or planning legislation, the Church of England’s Cathedral and Church Buildings Division has produced a guidance note for cathedrals which specifically addresses this issue: <a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.churchcare.co.uk%2Fimages%2Faccess_and_disabled_people.pdF&amp;data=02%7C01%7Csimon.stanley%40churchofengland.org%7C7f8f83476a3945a932d408d6770832c2%7C95e2463b3ab047b49ac1587c77ee84f0%7C0%7C0%7C636827274435002881&amp;sdata=7imeo07BtD%2FGlA%2FWyQvLQIpo0BL6cM%2FRwHm%2BKz6OYc0%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">http://www.churchcare.co.uk/images/access_and_disabled_people.pdF</a>. Common reasonable adjustments made by cathedrals include the removal of pews to allow greater flexibility of seating and use of space and the addition of ramps and/or the levelling of internal floors.</p><p> </p><p>The duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Act rests with individual cathedrals. What constitutes reasonable adjustment in the situation of choristers will depend on the nature of the particular disability and what may be considered to be reasonable in the circumstances. I understand that several cathedrals have successfully integrated choristers with disabilities into their choirs.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 10/01/2019 14:38:29 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
	tabling member	1522 label Biography information for Adam Holloway

1037195

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2019
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Cathedrals: Music
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Right Honourable Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, how many cathedrals and abbeys (a) do and (b) do not appoint a head chorister.
	tabling member constituency	Gravesham
	tabling member printed	Adam Holloway
	uin	205856
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/01/2019 answer text <p>The operation and governance of cathedral choirs is not a matter for the Church Commissioners and no data on this is held centrally.</p><p> </p><p>In Rochester Cathedral which is nearest to the Hon. Member’s constituency the cathedral has appointed Dean’s Choristers (two boys and two girls) to share the responsibility, the rationale for which is to enable a larger number of choristers to gain leadership experience. This is also the case at some but not all other cathedrals.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 09/01/2019 17:11:27 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
	tabling member	1522 label Biography information for Adam Holloway