Cathedrals Measure

Lord Adonis Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Adonis (Lab)]

My Lords, this Measure is unsatisfactory because it seeks to improve the governance of England’s cathedrals but, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham has just said, it does not apply to the one cathedral whose governance has, for the last two and a half years, totally broken down: Christ Church, Oxford, which is both a cathedral and a college, and forms a substantial part of the University of Oxford. There is still no end in sight to this governance breakdown, and therefore it is essential to draw the situation to the attention of the House. I am glad to see that the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Oxford is also in his place.

Christ Church is a complex undertaking. The cathedral serves a diocese of 2 million people across the Thames valley and includes a cathedral school. The associated college has 700 students, 70 academic staff and a total staff of 400. It has an endowment of £600 million and an annual income of more than £30 million. It also maintains a leading research library and a public art gallery with a renowned collection of Old Masters.

The chief executive of this hybrid institution is the Dean of Christ Church who, since its foundation by Henry VIII, has had to be a vicar of the Church of England. The problem is that, to all intents and purposes, there is not a dean at the moment, and there has not been for two and a half years, since the relationship broke down between the present dean and the governing body of Christ Church, which comprises both the cathedral canons and the university academic staff of the college.

I do not want to get into the reasons for this breakdown, which, as the right reverend Prelate just said, are the subject of ongoing proceedings, but the key point in terms of governance is that, after two and a half years, legal fees now in excess of £1 million and repeated votes of no confidence by the governing body in the dean, who is not undertaking his functions, there is still no resolution in sight, nor even an indication of who might provide such a resolution. This is because, under the Christ Church Oxford Act 1867, which still applies, while there is a so-called governing body for the management of the college, that body has no role in the appointment of the dean, which lies with the Crown alone, nor does the governing body have power to remove the dean, except in the extreme case of conduct deemed scandalous.

Furthermore, the dean’s appointment is not term-limited, and there is no external body that has the power to resolve the breakdown between the dean and the governing body. Neither the Church of England nor the University of Oxford has any legal powers of intervention, and while the Charity Commission has regulatory oversight, this does not extend to a power to resolve disputes of this kind, unless the commission deems charitable trustees, who in this case are the entire governing body of 70, to be in breach of their charitable trusteeships, which is not an issue here.

We have to hope and, indeed, pray that this paralysis can be resolved quickly and a solution found to the position of the current dean, but once that happens it is essential that there is a radical reform of Christ Church so that this byzantine structure does not continue. I suggest two obvious reforms that should take place before the appointment of a new dean. First, the cathedral and the college should be divided as institutions. Secondly, both should get modern leadership and governance: the cathedral should come under this governance Measure and the college should become a conventional university institution that appoints and supervises its own chief executive. The post should not be restricted, as now, to a vicar of the Church of England, which is deeply inappropriate for a university in the 21st century, as well as contradicting equalities legislation.

Christ Church, Oxford, is one of England’s world-class institutions. Its governance has collapsed and it needs sorting out urgently.