Oral Answers to Questions

Alexander Stafford Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Danny Kruger (Devizes) (Con)]

What additional support has been provided to the clergy and churches to help people attend church in person or online during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

What additional support has been provided to the clergy and churches to help people attend church in person or online during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Andrew Selous)]

The Church is grateful to the Government for not imposing another national closure of religious buildings. It is right that parishes take local decisions on what to offer. There were nearly 36 million viewings of the Church’s Christmas “Comfort and Joy” series. For those who prefer the telephone, the DailyHope worship has received 350,000 free calls.

[Andrew Selous]

Indeed I do. Over 7,000 people have now attended the Church’s digital training, equipping parishes across the country to stream services on a variety of different platforms. My own rector has now been commended for her YouTube skills by eight-year-olds in her benefice.

[Alexander Stafford [V]]

Many churches in Rother Valley have adapted during these times by holding online services, such as the many wonderful services at the Wales parish church and St Joseph’s, Dinnington. However, Rother Valley’s churches have lost a great deal of income from the in-person offertory collections and fundraising events, putting church maintenance and repairs at risk, including the much-needed repairs to St Simon and St Jude church in Thurcroft. Does my hon. Friend share my concern regarding the black hole in local churches’ budgets and potential delays to repairs, and will he work with churches to ensure that they have what they need to survive?