Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and James Gray

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

1. What recent estimate the Church Commissioners have made on the cost of metal theft from Church of England property.

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

6. What estimate the Church Commissioners have made of the number of churches from which lead has been stolen in the last 12 months.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Tony Baldry)]

Ecclesiastical, the insurance company that insures the vast majority of churches, reports that last year alone more than 2,500 churches suffered thefts of lead, and that the cost of the resulting claims was about £4.6 million. Each of those claims represents a loss to a local community and a distraction to parishes from using their resources for local community life.