Question

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what were the dates of any determinations made by the Church Commissioners in accordance with its duty under section 2(1) of the National Institutions Measure 1998 during the last ten years; what were the amounts of income determined on each occasion, what were the periods applicable to each determination, what were the amounts of income distributed to the Archbishops' Council during each period in accordance with this duty and what steps were taken to ensure that these income distributions were and are being applied in accordance with the statutory restriction at section 2(3) of that Measure.

The determinations of the Church Commissioners distributions are made in General Meetings. The dates of the relevant meetings are set out in the table below.

The allocation of funds available for distribution is made in a ‘money available resolution’ which is included in the Church Commissioners’ statutory annual report and accounts for each year. Copies of the annual report and supporting documents, which include the details of the total grant made to the Archbishops’ Council, are available in the UK Parliament Library and on the Church of England and Charity Commission websites

An analysis of the legal powers under which grants to the Archbishops’ Council were made up to the end of 2023 were provided in previous answers issued to the Hon Member for East Wiltshire, specifically written questions UIN 52344 and UIN 19811. Figures for 2024 and 2025 can be found in the annual certificates provided to the Church Commissioners by the Council which are available on the home page of the Archbishops’ Council’s website: 2024-certificate-signed.pdf and ^{AC(26)46_A6 2025 certificate signed.pdf}

Recent money available resolutions have analysed the planned expenditure into four categories: historical, transformational time-limited, core in-perpetuity distributions and strategic on-going additional distributions. The supporting papers prepared to aid the charity trustees in their decision making provides additional detail of how the funds are planned to be distributed across a range of expenditure categories all of which are in line with one or more of the powers under which the Church Commissioners are able to distribute funds.

Each year at one of its trustee meetings, the Church Commissioners consider the annual certificate provided by the Archbishops’ Council stating how the funds provided to the Council by the Commissioners have been distributed. This now covers funds provided under section 1 of the Miscellaneous Provisions Measure 2018 as well as under section 2(3) of the National Institutions Measure 1998. In addition to this, the Commissioners receive and discuss reports on specific areas such as safeguarding and the grants made to support parish mission and ministry.