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1354305

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2021
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Churches: Repairs and Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what most recent financial estimates the Church of England holds on the outstanding cost of fabric repairs to its parish churches.
	tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
	tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
	uin	45956
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2021 answer text <p>Fluctuating material costs and the availability of specialist workers affect cost estimates significantly, so it is difficult to give a precise figure.</p><p>It is estimated, based on available architectural inspections and costed works, that the outstanding capital cost of all repairs over the next five years is close to £1bn for our 16,000 parish churches, or around £200m a year.</p><p>At best parishes currently raise and spend approximately half of that annually, so there remains a significant and growing maintenance deficit on these beautiful and treasured buildings.</p><p>England’s Anglican cathedrals were surveyed in 2019 to establish their repair and maintenance liabilities and from that it is estimated that these 42 buildings require £140m in the next five years in maintenance and repair. This estimate does not include precinct properties.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 13/09/2021 17:08:29 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

1354306

	registered interest
	date	09/09/2021
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Churches: Repairs and Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how much the Church of England spent on the maintenance and repair of its parish churches in the financial year 2019-20.
	tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
	tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
	uin	45957
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2021 answer text <p>A comprehensive record of maintenance and repair spend is not held centrally, as all parishes operate as independent entities. However it is estimated that parish communities spent at least £130m a year pre-pandemic on church building projects, including repair and maintenance, conservation of collections such as manuscripts, silver and textiles, improvements to accessibility and environmental sustainability, and inclusion of community facilities such as toilets and kitchens. Specialist building firms, craftspeople, archaeologists, conservators and others rely on churches to provide them with work and a training ground for passing their skills on to apprentices and trainees.</p><p>The vast majority of this money is raised locally and we are grateful to national bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, National Churches Trust, Wolfson Foundation and Pilgrim Trust, who continue to provide essential grants. The overall maintenance deficit continues to grow since the ending of the dedicated places of worship repair scheme in 2017.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 13/09/2021 17:14:39 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

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

1196249

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Church Services: Attendance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what is the average church attendance each week in (a) Rother Valley Constituency, (b) Yorkshire, and (c) England in each year of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
	tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
	uin	47487
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2020 answer text <p>The most recent survey of church attendance was published in 2018, and the table below contains figures aggregated from 2014-18 using average weekly attendance figures at all age services. These figures are collected each year during four weeks in October.</p><p>The figures in the table below include adult and child attendance at Sunday and midweek church services and fresh expressions, but not attendance at services for schools. Special local services such as memorials to commemorate flooding – can lead to fluctuations in the figures.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rother Valley*</p></td><td><p>1,450</p></td><td><p>1,260</p></td><td><p>1,170</p></td><td><p>1,130</p></td><td><p>980</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Yorkshire*</p></td><td><p>82,600</p></td><td><p>82,800</p></td><td><p>77,600</p></td><td><p>75,500</p></td><td><p>75,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Church of England</p></td><td><p>975,300</p></td><td><p>959,900</p></td><td><p>921,700</p></td><td><p>893,900</p></td><td><p>870,900</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>More information can be found in the annual Statistics for Mission report: <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/18763" target="_blank">https://www.churchofengland.org/media/18763</a></p><p>Parish boundaries do not coincide with constituency or county boundaries. Figures in the table are based on reasonable approximations as follows:</p><ul><li>The Rother Valley figure refers to the parishes in the Deanery of Laughton along with the parishes of Whiston and Wickersley.</li><li>The Yorkshire figure refers to the Dioceses of York, Leeds, and Sheffield.</li></ul> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 19/05/2020 17:10:19 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

1233452

	registered interest
	date	10/09/2020
	answering body	Church Commissioners
	answering dept id	9
	answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
	answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
	hansard heading	Christianity: Oppression
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church of England has made of the extent of global persecution of Christians during the covid-19 pandemic.
	tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
	tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
	uin	88422
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2020 answer text <p>The Church of England is in regular communication with the Government and the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief on the issue of persecution of Christians worldwide.</p><p>The Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating the challenges facing Christians in places of conflict or persecution. The leaders of the Anglican Communion are in close contact to support each other in practical and prayerful ways.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 14/09/2020 16:11:20 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
	tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford