Best practice would be to engage with the diocese in question, the insurance company and with local police, to discuss any specific equipment that might be needed and what local money may be available.

In some cases the insurance company working with the local parish and police can install equipment and devices if needed.

There is some advice on the Church of England website about responding to antisocial behaviour: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/deeper-god-mission-theology (link is under ‘Reconciliation’)

It is also worth looking at the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme, operated by the Home Office, to see whether this particular circumstance might be eligible. A crime reference number would be required

Depending on the cost of the equipment needed the parish may also wish to consider applying to the local authority, which has local discretionary small grant schemes. Under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 monies are available for local authorities to give financial assistance to parish churches for repairs and improvements.

In February 2018 the Church of England signed an Accord with HM Government to develop guidance for dioceses, parishes and Chancellors to enable digital connectivity. This was in response to concerns about the social consequences of uneven deployment of digital connectivity, particularly in rural areas. The Accord can be viewed online, here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a86eb9540f0b62305b9559c/2018_02_18_Church_of_England_-_HMG_Accord.docx__1_.pdf

Following its obligations under the Accord, and acknowledging the difficulty for Code Operators in dealing separately with many thousands of self-governing parishes, the Church of England’s commercial arm then signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with all four Mobile Network Operators

These MoUs provide a single point of contact for the Operators, a company called NET CS, a managed process to navigate permissions under church and planning laws for heritage buildings, and a template licence for use by parishes

The Electronic Communications Code, as amended by this Act, requires valuing a property rent at market value, but importantly this must now exclude any value related to it being for the “use of an electronic communications network”. This means that comparable evidence of telecom and Church rental agreements established before the Code was introduced can no longer be used to determine a rent, so that Church rental yields are likely to suffer materially.

In most cases this change to the valuation basis (in the case of churches, a relatively small space in a tower) means that for new agreements, or on renewal of agreements coming to term after perhaps 20 years, the revenue for landlords – churches, local and other public authorities, as well as private landowners - is much lower than it used to be before the changes to the Code, sometimes as much as 85% less

However, the consensual agreement with Operators under the Church of England MoUs is providing much better revenue for parishes than market value under the Electronic Communications Code, so long as parishes elect to use these MoU consensual agreements. This revenue is a useful addition for hard-pressed parochial church councils which are trustees of parishes charged with the costs of maintaining centuries-old listed heritage buildings.

Since 2018 the Church of England has provided specialist training and resources for parishes on how to use digital channels to grow their worshipping communities, through a programme called Digital Labs. With weekly blogs, regular webinars, and on-demand videos, this content has been seen more than 90,000 times a year. Bespoke in-person training and Digital Labs Clinics, where churches receive one-to-one advice and support, are also available.

Building capacity and expertise through the work of Digital Labs has helped parishes across the country to share their services online. In 2024, our church-finder site www.AChurchNearYou.com listed 2,444 online services for the public to watch.

The National Church Institutions also provide a weekly national online church service. This service airs every Sunday at 9 a.m. on the Church of England’s Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website. It is an essential resource for housebound individuals, those with caring responsibilities, and shift workers. It continues to be viewed over 150,000 times a week. The Church also offers services and prayer resources available through the Daily Prayer app, smart speakers and the free Daily Hope telephone line.

Church of England stipendiary clergy are members of the Church of England defined benefit pension scheme, which provides a guaranteed income for the whole of their retirement, plus an at-retirement lump sum and benefits for surviving spouses or civil partners. In July 2025, the General Synod voted to increase the pension scheme's benefits.

In addition, stipendiary clergy households that do not own their own home have access to the Church’s retirement housing scheme, which provides a secure lifetime tenancy of a rental property, subsidised to circa 60% of equivalent market rent.

The Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners have committed £95.7m over the period 2026-28 to support and subsidise the retirement housing scheme and provide new services to clergy to assist them in making provision for their retirement.

In-retirement support includes access to specialist advice services and a charitable grant scheme to support those on the lowest incomes.

All the foregoing are provided by the Church’s national bodies. Additionally, support is available from other bodies, including the Churches Mutual Credit Union, the Clergy Support Trust, and other clergy charities.

£5 million is not a forecast figure the Church Commissioners recognises in relation to the Spire programme in the triennium spending plans for 2026-28. The Church Commissioners’ triennium spending plan process involves forecasting high-level commitments over a three-year period to provide strategic direction and flexibility, recognising that actual costs and timings may vary across a multi-year programme

As this is a figure the Hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston has also mentioned in a prior question (UIN 63009) and during oral questions on 3 July 2025, I wish to clarify the Church Commissioners’ financing in relation to the Spire programme.

In response to historic links to African chattel enslavement, the Church Commissioners has committed £100 million for a new charitable fund, to enable grant funding and further research. As per the answer to question UIN 63010, the Church Commissioners requires Charity Commission authorisation to settle income from its general fund on a new charitable fund to enact this response. Until such regulatory authorisation may be obtained, the Church Commissioners will not deploy any of the £100 million, which therefore remains in its general fund. As mentioned in answer to question UIN 63009, expenditure on this work to date, therefore, has been limited to proportionate research into the Church Commissioners’ source of funds and consideration of its response to that history.

I refer the Hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston to the written answer to his question published on 21st March 2025 (UIN 29047). Subject to Charity Commission authorisation the Church Commissioners intends to settle income from its general fund on a new charitable fund through which the Church Commissioners intends to deliver Project Spire.

The Church Commissioners have not received any reports regarding the Additional Curates Society. As a separate charity, the Additional Curates Society does not come under the remit or management of the Church Commissioners or the National Church Institutions.

Peer-reviewed publications are usually written for an academic audience. For instance, an academic journal will send a proposed article to anonymous peer reviewers. Likewise, an academic monograph proposal will be sent for peer review. Documents intended for a public audience go through a different process of internal review.

The report was initiated in 2019 via a query raised at the Church Commissioners’ Audit and Risk Committee. It is rooted in the Church Commissioners’ risk management and fiduciary duties as a 320-year-old in-perpetuity endowment fund and responsible investor. Accordingly, the analysis in the Church Commissioners’ report was underpinned out by independent professional accountants who deployed fundamental forensic techniques: detailed transactions analysis, account reconstruction and asset tracing. An overview of the work carried out by the independent accountants can be found here. The Church Commissioners also engaged independent, expert, professional historians as advisors in compiling its report.

The Church Commissioners began discussions with the Charity Commission about Project Spire in February 2023.

The Church Commissioners have sought, and continue to seek, to keep the public informed about their research findings and their response to these findings through reports on their webpage, including a regularly updated Frequently Asked Questions section, stakeholder engagement sessions online and in-person, routinely answered correspondence, and published articles; including topics such as the structure of the proposed Fund of Healing, Repair and Justice – as that develops – and such statutory authority as the Church Commissioners may obtain

https://www.churchofengland.org/historic-links-to-enslavement

Subject to the approval of trustees, the Church Commissioners intend to make an application to authorise an ex-gratia payment under section 106 of the Charities Act 2011 on the basis of a moral obligation.

Subject to the approval of trustees, the Church Commissioners intend to make an application to authorise an ex-gratia payment under section 106 of the Charities Act 2011 on the basis of a moral obligation.

The Church Commissions have not made an application to the Charity Commission to seek authority for a payment under section 105 or 106 of the Charities Act 2011 in relation to Project Spire.

The Church Commissioners have held discussions with the Charity Commission about making an application to authorise an ex-gratia payment under section 106 of the Charities Act 2011 in relation to Project Spire.

Subject to the decision of trustees and the approval of the Charity Commission, the Church Commissioners plan to set up a new charitable fund, which they propose to call the Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice, as part of the delivery of Project Spire.

The Annual Reports of the Church Commissioners’ contains information on fees relating to forensic accounting services provided to support a research project into the fund of Queen Anne’s Bounty, one of the Commissioners’ predecessor bodies. Information (2023, p.105; 2022, p.105; 2021, p.90) can be viewed here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/governance/national-church-institutions/church-commissioners-england/who-we-are/publications

Further information will be included in the Church Commissioners’ Annual Report and Accounts for 2024, which will be published next month.

The Church Commissioners routinely take advice as they consider appropriate in the exercise of their functions where there may be legal implications.

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent discussions the Church Commissioners have had with the Charity Commission on Project Spire.

The fund for healing, repair and justice is the Church Commissioners’ response to its legacy links to the chattel enslavement of Africans. The fund will be sourced from the endowment managed by the Church Commissioners, and the board will always act in accordance with the charity’s legal powers. Once discussions with the Charity Commission are completed, the board will take a formal decision on those next steps. The hon. Member will obviously agree that I cannot prejudge the outcome of those discussions.

The funds that have been committed to projects via the Church of England’s reparations project are in fact for the upkeep of parish churches and the provision of salaries for the clergy. I know that the Second Church Estates Commissioner is dedicated to our parish churches and would not support anything unlawful, so will the hon. Lady please provide the grounds on which the Church Commissioners are authorised to allocate this money to aims for which it was not intended? What details can she share of the conversations that she has had with the Charity Commission to determine whether they can do this, as it seems to be unlawful?

The Church Commissioners are engaged in informal discussions with the Charity Commission to consider what regulatory approvals may be required to progress this project.