Church Commissioners The right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners, was asked— Marriage
Registration Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
2. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the
Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church of England has
made of the potential merits of proposals in the Registration of
Marriage Bill to enable a mother’s details to be...Request free trial
Church Commissioners
The right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church
Commissioners, was asked—
Marriage Registration
-
(Kingston upon Hull
North) (Lab)
2. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the
Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church of England
has made of the potential merits of proposals in the
Registration of Marriage Bill to enable a mother’s details to
be recorded on marriage certificates. [903524]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
I must declare an interest because I am promoting the Bill
that would enable a mother’s details to be recorded in the
registration of marriages, and I will introduce it for the
second time on 23 February. More importantly, the will introduce
an identical Bill in the House of Lords tomorrow. The House
could not have a stronger demonstration of how much the
Church of England would welcome this change.
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I congratulate the right hon. Lady on promoting the Bill. One
way that women have been written out of history is by not
having what work they have done in the past recorded on
official documents such as a marriage certificates. I very
much support what she is doing, but can anything else be done
to promote the Bill and get Government support?
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Dame
We are doing our very best. On 31 December, I was encouraged
to read in The Sunday Times that a Home Office spokesman had
told that newspaper that the Bill had been “signed off”. I
hope that might mean that the Government will give the Bill
time when it comes here from the Lords, as I am sure it will.
We all want this to happen. It would put an end to an
anachronism, and we would all cheer that. Many mothers who
have weddings in the offing would like this change to happen
in time for their children’s marriages.
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(Strangford) (DUP)
In a society where marriage break-ups and relationship
breakdowns happen daily, we welcome the right hon. Lady’s
assertion that it is now time to include the mother’s details
on the marriage certificate. Will she outline a legal
timescale for that, and say when it might be completed?
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Dame
As things stand, an identical private Member’s Bill is being
introduced in both Houses—that is a pincer movement to try to
make this happen. This is only the fifth time that the House
has attempted to get this important change to a law that
dates back to 1853. If the Government were to give the Bill
time in the House, that would speed up that change to the
law. I hope that the statement from the Home Office on new
year’s eve has some substance behind it, and that the Bill
will soon be given time in the House.
Religious Vocations
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Sir (New Forest West)
(Con)
4. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners, what recent
assessment the Church of England has made of trends in
the number of its religious vocations. [903527]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
I know that my right hon. Friend has a great interest
in this subject because he asked me about the training
of ordinands in April last year. I am pleased to be
able to tell the House that an additional 44 candidates
have presented for training as ordained ministers,
making a total of 544 in training. That means that we
are well on our way to our target of 750 a year by
2020.
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Sir
As so many clerks retire, what will be the future age
profile of my right hon. Friend’s holy orders?
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Dame
Like a lot of institutions, we face the prospect of
large numbers of older clergy retiring at the same time
as a result of previous pushes to increase the number
of people being ordained and entering ministry. I am
delighted to say, however, that the number of younger
ordinands in the under-32 age group rose by nearly two
fifths and now accounts for almost a third of the
total.
-
Mr (Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
I was disappointed to hear recently from the head of
Uber that only 5% of Uber drivers are women. What is
the gender balance among the ordinands the right hon.
Lady mentioned in the statement she just made?
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Dame
The hon. Gentleman has always been assiduous in asking
about gender balance. I am delighted to be able to say
that the intake of female ordinands has seen an
increase of 19% compared with last year. Although women
make up only a third of the fully ordained clergy in
place at the moment, we are moving, like other
professions, towards 50:50.
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Dr (Stroud)
(Lab/Co-op)
In the diocese of Gloucester it would seem that as soon
as we fill one vacancy, another arises. Bishop Rachel
is working very hard, but the situation can be sorted
only if we bring more people forward for training. What
is the Church of England doing to enable that to
happen?
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Dame
We celebrated the introduction of Bishop Rachel as the
first female bishop following the change in the law. We
now have a female bishop for Newcastle sitting in the
Lords, and very recently a female bishop for London was
appointed. There is clear evidence of progress, and
there is a method of positive discrimination whereby
dioceses eligible to be represented in the Lords are
encouraged to appoint a woman so that the Lords moves
towards better representation of female bishops.
Gay Conversion Therapy
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Mr (Exeter) (Lab)
5. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions
the Church of England has had with the Government as a
result of the General Synod’s call to ban gay
conversion therapy. [903528]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
Following all meetings of the General Synod, it is
standard practice for the clerk to the General Synod to
inform the appropriate Department. That was done on 21
July following the vote at the Synod to ban conversion
therapy. A response was received from the relevant
Minister on 24 August.
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Mr Bradshaw
It would be helpful if we knew a little more about what
that response actually said. As the right hon. Lady
will know, this so-called therapy does dreadful damage
to young people emotionally and psychologically; its
ban is long overdue. The sponsor of the excellent
motion in the General Synod has asked for a meeting
with the relevant Minister, but that has been refused.
I hope that the right hon. Lady will intervene on her
behalf.
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Dame
I am obviously not responsible for the Government’s
decision, but the General Synod voted clearly and
unequivocally to ban gay conversion therapy. I can
share some of the contents of the letter that the
Minister wrote to me. The Government are strongly
against the practice of so-called reparative or
conversion therapy. They have no current plans to ban
or restrict it through legislation, because existing
voluntary registers already provide safeguards for the
public, but I will certainly assist in the way that the
right hon. Gentleman suggests by writing to the
Minister.
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(Bishop Auckland)
(Lab)
More widely, in some parishes anti-gay prejudice
masquerades as theology. What further action can be
taken to tackle that?
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Dame
The leadership of the Church of England could not be
clearer on this point. Archbishop Justin managed to
secure a commitment to stamp out homophobia throughout
the Anglican communion, when all the bishops were
convened here in London. It has been established
unequivocally, from the top of the Church all the way
down, that homophobia has no place in the Anglian
communion.
Christians: Middle East
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(Hendon)
(Con)
6. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners, what support the
Church of England is giving to Christian communities in
the middle east as a result of attacks on those
communities during Christmas 2017. [903530]
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(Shrewsbury and
Atcham) (Con)
8. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden,
representing the Church Commissioners, what support the
Church of England is giving to Christian communities in
the middle east as a result of attacks on those
communities during Christmas 2017. [903532]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
The Church of England is in regular contact with the
diocese of Jerusalem and the diocese of Egypt with
North Africa and the Horn of Africa. I am pleased to
report that the news from the region was comparatively
positive over Christmas, especially when compared with
that of only a few months ago.
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Dr Offord
Yesterday, I had a not only interesting but humbling
experience when I visited the Holocaust Survivors
Centre in my constituency. Many of the people there
were actually survivors of the holocaust—the Shoah.
Does my right hon. Friend accept that those people are
not only concerned about attacks in other countries on
the basis of religion, but feel that we need to do more
to help the Egyptian Government to prevent such
attacks, which are, effectively, a form of genocide?
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Dame
The proximity of Holocaust Memorial Day reminds all of
us that, sadly, such atrocities are ongoing in our
world, and that people are persecuted for their faith.
Egypt was relatively quiet over Christmas—quieter than
in recent months—but it is the ancient Coptic Church in
that country for which we, as fellow Christians, fear.
It is a fact that Egypt has moved from 21st to 17th on
the world watch list of countries about which we should
be concerned, not least because of the rise of Daesh
there.
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There is growing concern about the level and extent of
the persecution of Christians throughout the middle
east and north Africa. What representations is the
Church of England making to the Government and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about the
disproportionately low number of Christians who are
identified for resettlement to western countries?
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Dame
We are in regular contact with both the Government and
the UNHCR about the plight of persecuted Christians. We
wanted to get to the bottom of why the percentage of
Christians in refugee camps in a number of these
countries is so low. In fact, the Christian diaspora is
extensive, and Christians living in other countries
where they can help to provide safe havens often enable
their relatives to travel over. It is significant that,
for example, 30% of Syrian refugees in America are
Christian. Christians frequently choose to save
themselves in such ways.
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(Belfast East)
(DUP)
I am in no doubt about the spiritual and pastoral
support that the Church of England offers fellow
Christians throughout the world, but will the right
hon. Lady outline some of the financial or monetary
contributions that are made to programmes for those
most directly affected?
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Dame
Because the Anglican communion has a network of
churches throughout the world, it can often provide
food and resources, clothing and shelter for persecuted
communities who are otherwise very hard to reach. Only
yesterday, I met the Bishop of Goma, from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, who bravely puts his
own life on the line to provide essential humanitarian
assistance, at his own expense, for the Christians who
suffer in his country. That is one of the strengths
that the Anglican Church has to offer.
Counter-terrorism
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(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
7. To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing
the Church Commissioners, what counter-terrorism measures
are in place to protect Church of England premises; and
if she will make a statement. [903531]
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The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline
Spelman)
Six cathedrals have received money from the programme
launched in July 2016 as the places of worship security
funding scheme, which became, in 2017, the vulnerable
faith institutions scheme. To get funding, a place of
worship has to show evidence that it is vulnerable, and
cathedrals have been given up to £45,000 to assist with
measures that they need to undertake.
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I thank the right hon. Lady for the interest she has
shown in the counter-terrorism measures that York Minster
is trying to put in place. However, the funding for its
specific work and the planning regulations are
inadequate. Will she work with me to try to ensure that
worshippers at York Minster are safe?
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Dame
Unfortunately, I do not think it is possible
retrospectively to reimburse the Minster for the measures
it has taken, which I believe are in any event temporary
at the moment, but may I share the good practice of the
House of Commons, the parliamentary estate, Westminster
Abbey and Westminster City Council, which work together
to try to make these public spaces safer after the
terrible events of last year? I will do everything I can
to assist the hon. Lady in getting that kind of good
partnership working around York.
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(Torbay) (Con)
Given that the Church of England is responsible for some
iconic sites, the attention given to this work is
welcome, but will my right hon. Friend reassure me that
those wishing to meet the living God will not find a
palisade fence separating them from His house?
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Dame
My hon. Friend is right: as Parliament does not wish to
turn itself into a fortress because that would cut
against what democracy stands for, no more does the
Church want so to provide security measures that it
becomes a less accessible place to meet with God. That
balance has to be struck.
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