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758629

registered interest
date	07/09/2017
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment she has made of the effect of admission costs for cathedrals and abbeys in England on the ability of UK families to visit such places.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	9310
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2017 answer text <p>There is no central policy on charging for entry at Church of England churches and cathedrals. It is for the cathedral chapters and church incumbents to decide how best to meet their financial obligations, such as running costs and repairs, and in the case of the most popular, to manage their visitor numbers.</p><p> </p><p>However, only nine out of the 42 Church of England cathedrals, and very few churches, charge for entry. All churches and cathedrals which charge for entry give free access to those attending services and for private prayer, and some give free entry on Sundays and at other times. Many also run a full programme of outreach, education programmes and events for children and families which are accessible at little or no cost.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 13/09/2017 10:42:15 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

748474

registered interest
date	05/07/2017
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 Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Commissioners have had with Church of England representatives on encouraging clergy to install bat boxes to provide alternative accommodation for these mammals.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	3275
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2017 answer text <p>Bat roosting remains a significant and costly issue for around 100 churches, where large roosts mean constant cleaning, damage to significant artefacts and delays to repair work, all of which reduce the use of the building by the congregation and community. Our experience is that bat boxes are not always the best solution, since there is no guarantee that the bats will use them.</p><p>The Church of England has recently secured Heritage Lottery funding as part of a partnership led by Natural England for a project to mitigate the impact of bats in churches. This work will include looking at ways that bats can be moved to more suitable locations when the roost has an adverse effect on the congregation. More details of the project can be found at: <a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.batsandchurches.org.uk%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Ccaroline.spelman.mp%40parliament.uk%7Cce2d399c7fb44acf61a608d4c786a2c4%7C1ce6dd9eb3374088be5e8dbbec04b34a%7C0%7C0%7C636352828440490556&amp;sdata=nB8DRan2yfmUY2JOhTRkJHRuAKwISw7xGnNjYiRZ%2Fi4%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">http://www.batsandchurches.org.uk/</a></p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 10/07/2017 11:38:20 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

748475

registered interest
date	05/07/2017
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Camping Sites
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Commissioners have had with Church of England representatives on expanding the availability of champing in England's churches.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	3276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2017 answer text <p><strong>‘</strong>Champing’, or overnight camping in a church, is a new form of holiday pioneered by the Churches Conservation Trust. It currently uses only closed churches, 12 of which across the UK are available for visitors to stay the night in, between April and September. The Church of England is however working in partnership with the Churches Conservation Trust to bring the Champing model into operation for open churches, to offer high end accommodation that enables congregations to generate income, whilst also maintaining space for worship and community use.</p><p>The Church of England has developed a model for a high quality and revisable timber structure, which can be placed in open churches to provide a lettable insulated space, which in turn can generate income needed to maintain the building, thereby releasing money for mission. Designed to support rural parishes this model is being piloted in the Diocese of Hereford thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and AllChurches Trust. More information is at: <a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.champing.co.uk%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7Ccaroline.spelman.mp%40parliament.uk%7Cce2d399c7fb44acf61a608d4c786a2c4%7C1ce6dd9eb3374088be5e8dbbec04b34a%7C0%7C0%7C636352828440490556&amp;sdata=EC71jPHUwRiZbms%2BjBeKwn65m7w1hBPppp3zl%2FUTJkU%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">http://www.champing.co.uk/</a></p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 10/07/2017 11:38:57 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord