Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1192320

registered interest
date	01/05/2020
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Coronavirus
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, when churches will be re-opened for worshippers.
tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
uin	42227
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2020 answer text <p>It is essential that when church buildings reopen for public worship or private prayer by members of the public, that it is done safely. In the meantime, churches across the country are holding virtual services and offering support to the vulnerable and elderly. Where they are unable to do this locally national resources are available such as the national church service on a Sunday and the Daily Hope phone line.</p><p> </p><p>The Church is adapting and rising to the challenge of supporting their community physically and spiritually during this medical emergency. The Church is regularly reviewing the medical advice and is in regular conversation with the Government. What is needed is a wide range of detailed protocols and practices to be established to ensure that church buildings and services do not represent risks for renewed transmission of the virus.</p><p> </p><p>The Church of England is currently preparing for the reopening of church buildings, but it must be recognised that not all churches and clergy may be able to satisfy all the necessary criteria, especially in the early stages of the recovery phase. This has been the experience in other jurisdictions such as Germany where the Government has advised that churches can be reopened for public worship.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 05/05/2020 15:01:28 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

1192321

registered interest
date	01/05/2020
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Coronavirus
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, for what reasons churches and other places of worship were not listed as essential services in the covid-19 lockdown guidance.
tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
uin	42228
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2020 answer text <p>Following the address to the nation made by the Prime Minister on the 23<sup>rd</sup> March, the Church of England took the difficult decision that it would ask this clergy to close their parish churches to the public due to the unprecedented high risk of transmission of the covid-19 virus. While the church buildings and halls were shut, their congregations have continued, where possible, to live out their vocation and mission to serve the needs of their local communities during the lockdown period.</p><p> </p><p>The Government listed the clergy as key workers during the medical emergency, and it has enabled them to continue to meet the needs of their communities right across the country, serving as chaplains, officiating at funerals, administering last rites, operating food banks and other essential community services.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 05/05/2020 15:00:29 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford