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857659

registered interest
date	08/03/2018
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Infrastructure
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 funding is available for church infrastructure projects.
tabling member constituency	Harlow
tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
uin	904239
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2018 answer text <p>The Church Commissioners provide financial and administrative support to cathedrals and dioceses. It is up to each self-governing church or cathedral to raise funds for development projects, and the National Church Institutions provide advice and support.</p><p>The changing priorities and declining budget of the Heritage Lottery Fund is a matter of concern, as this is where much fundraising money comes from; officers at national level continue to work with the Heritage Lottery Fund on the specific issues churches face. The HLF is currently reviewing its strategic priorities and I would encourage all Hon. members to consider sending in a response, making the importance of churches as community assets clear.</p><p>The Church of England has been in discussions with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and HM Treasury about the current underspend of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, realocating the underspend would enable the Church to deliver a number of the recommendations in the Taylor Review.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 08/03/2018 14:53:55 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon

855893

registered interest
date	06/03/2018
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Jerusalem
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 Church of England has had with the leaders of other Christian Churches on the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
tabling member constituency	Walsall North
tabling member printed	Eddie Hughes
uin	904236
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2018 answer text <p>The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has reopened following three days of closure which left pilgrims and visitors praying in the square outside. The dispute was over a new tax policy and proposed land expropriation law.</p><p>Officials from Church House and staff at Lambeth Palace were in regular contact with the Heads of Churches Group in the City of Jerusalem through Archbishop Suheil the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem as the events unfolded. On the 5<sup>th</sup> of March, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster wrote a joint letter to the Israeli Ambassador in the UK, to say that both Churches believed “the measures being pressed in Jerusalem and in the Knesset, were a clear and evident threat to the status quo and that this risked undermining prospects for peaceful coexistence between communities, at a time of already heightened tensions.” Specifically, that, “the new policy would cause serious damage to the Christian presence in Jerusalem, to Christian families, and to the Christian institutions, including hospitals and schools, which serve many of the poorest people, regardless of their background.”</p><p>The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference in England and Wales will continue to work closely together on issues relating to Israel and Palestine. Bishops from around the world make an annual joint visit to the Holy Land as part of the Holy Land Coordination Group. The Bishop of Southwark along with the Catholic Bishops will be hosting a meeting for all Members on the 15<sup>th</sup> May, 3-4pm in Committee Room 2A to discuss and feedback the findings of their visit.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 08/03/2018 15:02:00 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes

855895

registered interest
date	06/03/2018
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Financial Services: Education
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 steps are being taken to roll out financial education in Church of England schools.
tabling member constituency	Stalybridge and Hyde
tabling member printed	Jonathan Reynolds
uin	904237
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2018 answer text <p>In a recent submission to the Department for Education consultation on the future of PSHE education the Just Finance Foundation set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury reported that 40% of UK adults have less than £100 in savings and struggled to manage money. The impact of potential lifelong indebtedness makes financial capability an issue of pressing importance for younger generations. The Church of England approached this through the foundation of an education programme called LifeSavers.</p><p>LifeSavers was designed to practically demonstrate­ how schools can weave financial education throughout the teaching and life of the school in a way that is sustainable. Funding has currently has enabled the scheme to operate in 70 schools with a further 50 next year. Half of the number of LifeSavers schools operate in Church of England schools and more than 15,600­­­ pupils have already taken part in LifeSavers, and over 1,200 teachers have been trained through its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme. ­The results seen by the Just Finance Foundation to their projects has led them to press the Department for Education to put financial education on an equal footing within the PSHE curriculum.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 08/03/2018 14:54:35 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	4119 label Biography information for Jonathan Reynolds

855901

registered interest
date	06/03/2018
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Bureaucracy
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 steps the Church of England is taking to reduce the level of administrative paperwork for church communities.
tabling member constituency	Gloucester
tabling member printed	Richard Graham
uin	904242
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2018 answer text <p>The Church of England keeps the administrative burden on its clergy constantly under review. There is a current programme of work in process to simplify many aspects of its work. The simplification programme has already cut a great deal paperwork and moved much of its administration online. For example, applications for permission to make changes to church buildings under the Faculty process are now much easier and quicker. 30 of our 40 dioceses are now using the bespoke online application and file management system, which not only reduces the use of paper but also pre-completed forms, remembers past applications so text can be re-used, and stores key documents securely.</p><p>The Registration of Marriage Bills currently in front of both Houses also attempt to simplify the registration process for marriage by digitising aspects of the administration.</p><p>The Church of England has also developed a new Digital Communications team which supports the national, diocesan and parish level to improve communications through websites, social media and other digital channels.</p><p>Specifically, within the Diocese of Gloucester there is an imaginative vision in place which has four key themes around leadership, imagination, faith and engagement (LIFE). Liberating people for life-giving community engagement means looking at governance and administration in new ways.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Dame Caroline Spelman question first answered 08/03/2018 14:45:32 answering member 312 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman
tabling member	3990 label Biography information for Richard Graham