Fuel Poverty Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab) 5. What
steps the Church of England is taking to tackle food poverty.
[900618] The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman) First of all, may I congratulate the hon. Member for
Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on her
appointment to her role representing the Speaker’s Committee on
the...Request free trial
Fuel Poverty
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(Bristol East)
(Lab)
5. What steps the Church of England is taking to tackle food
poverty. [900618]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
First of all, may I congratulate the hon. Member for Houghton
and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on her appointment
to her role representing the Speaker’s Committee on the
Electoral Commission? I thought she did a very good job of
answering the questions.
Seventy-five per cent. of churches collect food, 38% provide
volunteers, 29% help to manage a food bank, and 21%
distribute food vouchers. Churches also work in partnership
with organisations such as Citizens Advice and Christians
Against Poverty to tackle the underlying causes of food
poverty.
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I thank the right hon. Lady for that response. As she will
know, the is the
president of Feeding Britain, and I was pleased to be able to
launch its latest pilot in Bristol on Friday. I appreciate
the work that churches are doing in providing food banks, and
the other work that she outlined. What more can they do to
lobby the Government on the underlying causes of food poverty
that cause people to resort to such measures?
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Dame
Christians Against Poverty is proactive in trying to tackle
the underlying causes by offering free debt advice and
financial education programmes, for example. The charity has
just appointed Dickens Heath church in my constituency to
provide those courses over a wide region, so I suggest that
the hon. Lady may like to approach it about doing the same in
Bristol.
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(Brecon and Radnorshire)
(Con)
Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating June
Osborne, the Bishop of Llandaff, who was consecrated in
Brecon cathedral on Saturday, becoming the second female
bishop in the Church in Wales?
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Dame
I am quite sure that the Bishop of Llandaff will focus on the
needs of people who may suffer from food poverty in her
diocese, but I of course congratulate her on her appointment.
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Mr Speaker
Very deft.
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Dr (Stroud) (Lab/Co-op)
The right hon. Lady will be pleased to hear that food banks
in Stroud are run largely through the churches, but they are
under huge pressure due to the number of volunteers they need
and the amount of food that they have to collect. Will she
have a word with the Government about the sanctions regime,
which is one of the major causes of the increase in food bank
usage?
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Dame
As Members of Parliament, it is important that we address the
underlying causes. I had a letter from the Trussell Trust
just last month, which said that people
“may be reassured to hear that, on average people are only
referred to Trussell Trust foodbanks two times in a 12-month
period”,
and that the model is
“designed to help people in a crisis”.
As Members, we need to address the nature of the crises that
make it necessary for people to get help.
Rural Parish Growth
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(Banbury)
(Con)
7. What funds the Church of England makes available for
rural parish growth. [900622]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
Rural parish funding is primarily the responsibility of
the individual diocese, but the Church Commissioners
have made available national support under the
strategic development fund. To date, the fund has
provided £34.6 million for 32 projects in 25 dioceses.
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As you know, Mr Speaker, I talk a lot about my worries
regarding the recruitment of obstetricians in Banbury,
but I am equally concerned about recruitment to the
rural Church. Can my right hon. Friend help me by
explaining what more the Church can do to encourage the
right sort of ordinands to apply, and what sort of
training can we give them when they apply?
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Dame
The Church is committed to doubling the number of
people entering training by 2020, and it has made very
good progress with the push on training ordinands.
Since 2014, we have seen an increase of 14% in the
numbers training for priesthood, and my hon. Friend may
be interested to hear that there has been an
above-average number of women—14%—and that 25% of that
cohort is under the age of 32.
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Mr (Exeter) (Lab)
But would not growth in the Church of England be easier
if it moved on from its cruel and outdated approach to
both clergy and laity who are in same-sex relationships?
Will the right hon. Lady tell the bishops that simply
kicking this issue into the long grass for another three
years, as the General Synod agreed last week, is just not
acceptable?
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Dame
It is important to see in balance the progress that has
been made by the Church. At the Synod, important
decisions were made, including on tackling homophobic
bullying in Church of England schools—the Church is the
largest provider of education in this country—and on
taking steps to ban trans and conversion therapies; that
was voted on in the Synod. The fact that the Church is
making progress in this area is hopefully an indication
of more to follow.
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(Cleethorpes)
(Con)
Rural parish growth is being handicapped by the fact that
the clergy are responsible for six, eight or even more
parishes. What efforts are being made to ensure that more
people are recruited to the clergy, and that they are
directed towards rural parishes?
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Dame
As I said, the Church has set itself a target—that is the
important thing—of doubling the number of people entering
training by 2020, and it is making progress by increasing
the numbers coming into training.
It is perhaps worth noting that the Church has changed
the ways in which people can train for the priesthood.
They can train by residential course, as is traditional,
but they can also train on the job and through
peripatetic learning, which makes it generally easier for
a much wider range of people to train for the priesthood,
if they feel called to do so.
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(Lichfield)
(Con)
rose—
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Mr Speaker
Oh, very well.
-
On the subject of training, does my right hon. Friend not
also think that training in human resources and personnel
is important? She will know that the Dean of
Peterborough, Charles Taylor, was sacked from that
cathedral and given only 24 hours’ notice to leave the
deanery. Does she think that that was not only
unprofessional on the part of the chapter, but very
unchristian?
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Dame
Obviously, I have sympathy with anyone who loses their
job, but with the greatest respect, those facts are not
quite correct. On 2 October 2016, the dean announced his
retirement, and he did not leave the deanery, and was not
asked to leave it, until the following February, giving
him six months’ residence—
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No, he was not. That is wrong.
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Dame
Those are the facts I have been given.
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