Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how many parishes have a vacancy for (a) an incumbency and (b) a priest-in-charge in each diocese; and how many (i) incumbent and (ii) priest-in-charge vacancies there have been in each diocese in each of the last five years.

Parish priest appointments are a matter for diocesan bishops. Data about the number of vacancies for incumbents and priests-in-charge per annum in parishes across the 42 dioceses of the Church of England are not held centrally by the National Church Institutions. It would incur a disproportionate cost to assemble and present the information requested.