Cathedrals Measure

Baroness Sherlock Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow that contribution. I begin by declaring an interest as a Church of England priest and, more importantly, I was a member of the Cathedrals Working Group whose work led to the Measure before us.

The group was established because the episcopal visitation at Peterborough Cathedral, and that at Exeter before it, raised some important questions about the way cathedrals are governed. We first gathered 25 years after the Howe commission had been established in response to problems at two other cathedrals: Hereford and Lincoln. Our Cathedrals Working Group was altogether a more modest enterprise in terms of scope, time and resources, but we had an important job. In the last 25 years, best practice has changed a lot, and the Measure needs updating. I will not go through the proposals in detail, as they have been scrutinised carefully by synod and, even more dauntingly, the Ecclesiastical Committee.

The Measure enacts two major changes that we recommended. The first was a reorganisation to create specifically a separation of governance and management, as recognised by the noble Lord, Lord Wilson of Dinton. The idea is that the cathedral governing body remains a chapter chaired by the dean, but now with a majority of non-executive members. We proposed removing cathedral councils from the governance system for clarity, but a way forward has now been found so that councils can continue to operate but without cutting across clear governance lines, which is crucial. I know that councils are greatly valued by their deans and chapters as they bring a wealth of wisdom and expertise, often supplied by Members of this House, such as the noble Lords, Lord Wilson and Lord Cormack. This way the councils can carry on offering crucial advice and support without the constraints and liabilities that are brought with formal trusteeship.

The second big change was the registration of cathedrals with the Charity Commission by bringing them under the Charities Act. It has been observed that cathedrals are the only church bodies which do not report to a secular as well as an ecclesiastical authority, even though they are the institutions, in some ways, most obviously camped on the boundary between Church and state. The noble Lord, Lord Cormack, was not alone in asking how well placed and resourced the Charity Commission is for this task, but I think that most concerns have now been alleviated, chiefly due to the sterling work of the Third Church Estates Commissioner. The Church Commissioners are now providing money, expertise and assistance to support cathedrals to make sure that their governance, safeguarding and any oversight arrangements are all up to par even before the Charity Commission registration process begins.

The working group made a series of other recommendations about leadership and management, finance and buildings, audit and risk and, crucially, safeguarding—proposing bringing cathedrals into the whole-Church approach led by the CofE national safeguarding team. I have been hugely impressed at the willingness of the Church to accept and act on our recommendations. Having all your recommendations accepted is a rather novel experience for anyone serving on any working group, never mind a Church one, so those involved in receiving and implementing the report should be very much congratulated.

Inevitably, not everyone liked every recommendation. I know that concerns have been raised by some members of the Ecclesiastical Committee, whose deliberations I have followed with interest. But I think the need for most recommendations has been understood. All cathedrals need appropriate financial, operational and managerial controls, and, of course, there can be no compromise on the need for good, effective, modern safeguarding policies and procedures.

I have a few questions for the record. Can the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham confirm that all the recommendations of the Cathedrals Working Group have been accepted by the Church? Are all the recommendations which require legislative change included in the Measure before the House this evening? Is there a plan to implement the non-legislative recommendations? More specifically, if in the wake of IICSA the Church moves to create an independent body to oversee its safeguarding practices, would that cover cathedrals too?

Since this marks the end of a long process, I would like to record some thanks, if the House will indulge me. Thanks are due to the chair of the Cathedrals Working Group, Bishop Adrian Newman, the vice-chair —now the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Bristol—and the other members; Jacqui Phillips and her team, who provided such an excellent secretariat; Alex McGregor and colleagues in the legal office of the CofE, who kept us on the right side of the law with tact and precision; the Third Church Estates Commissioner, Eve Poole, for marvellous work; the CofE legal adviser, Eva Abeles; and all those who have worked so hard to advance these reforms.

In closing, the working group was full of people like me who love cathedrals. Indeed, our report describes them as

“spectacular and wonderful expressions of the mission of God in His world.”

So many of them are among the pinnacles of our architectural and cultural heritage. They are at the heart of their communities, hosting wonderful worship but also everything from graduations to art installations and now vaccination centres.

Cathedrals, like many city centre churches, are also where people go to take the things that they do not know what to do with: often pain or grief or loss or fear—things we have had so much of in the last year. We shall need our cathedrals more than ever in the years ahead, as we move, we hope, out of a pandemic into a place of recovery and healing. Because they hold such a unique place in the heart of our nation, it is crucial that cathedrals are, and are seen to be, well managed and safely governed. These reforms are born out of a desire to ensure that our cathedrals will be around and thriving well into the future.

If we end up with another cathedrals commission in another 25 years, I trust that at least then it will not be down to failures of governance, safeguarding or oversight. I commend this Measure to the House.