Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions he has had with the General Synod on the steps it will take to agree the Vision and Strategy for the Church of England in the 2020s.

I have had no discussions with the Business Committee of the General Synod about the Vision and Strategy.

The Vision and Strategy was debated in July 2022, when the Synod voted in favour of the following motion:

‘That this Synod:
(a) welcome the spending plans by the Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council, set out in GS 2262, for financial distributions over 2023 to 2025 and indicative distributions for the subsequent six years;

(b) welcome the investment in ministry in parishes, chaplaincies, schools, cathedrals and other forms of church in support of the Church’s vision and strategy as set out in Annex A of GS 2262; and

(c) welcome the focused investment to support previously agreed commitments to a 2030 net zero carbon target and to address racial justice.’