Oral Answers to Questions

Katie Lam Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

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

[Katie Lam (Weald of Kent) (Con)]

1. What recent discussions the Church Commissioners have had with the Charity Commission on Project Spire.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Marsha De Cordova)]

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

[Katie Lam]

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?

[Marsha De Cordova]

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.