Oral Answers to Questions

David Nuttall Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2013 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked—

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

1. What lessons the Church of England has learned from the increasing size of congregations attending services at cathedrals.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Sir Tony Baldry)]

I am glad to report that over the past 10 years there has been a 35% increase in average weekly attendance in cathedral services. A team from Cranmer Hall at St John’s college, Durham is conducting a detailed survey of the trends in increased cathedral attendance.

[Mr Nuttall]

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. It is indeed good news that there has been such a significant increase in the number of people worshipping in cathedrals over the past 10 years. Will the research seek to discover why attendance at services held in cathedrals has been going up at a time when attendance at many parish churches has been declining?

[Sir Tony Baldry]

Absolutely; the research will seek to understand the detail of attendance trends at cathedrals and I hope that the results of the study will be published early next year.