THE P RTAL
May 2015
Page 10
News from the Anglican
C of E
News
The Revd Paul Benfield keeps us up to date
In January
a report entitled ‘Optimising the role of the National Church Institutions’ was published.
It contained a proposal that the way the Church of England makes its laws should be greatly simplified.
This has now been worked on and a consultation document was published in April.
The problem identified by the report is that to pass
or amend existing primary legislation is complex
and time-consuming. At present church legislation
normally has to pass through five stages in the Synod
(first consideration, revision in committee, revision
in synod, final drafting and final approval) followed
by consideration by the Ecclesiastical Committee of
Parliament and by both Houses of Parliament before
receiving Royal Assent. This takes time. The example
given in the consultation document is that of the
legislation which introduced common tenure for
clergy. This resulted from a report in 2002 and did not
come into force until 2011. But in fact the proposals
on common tenure were subject to significant
modification after consultation with the wider church
and debates in Synod before the legislative process
even began.
First consideration of the actual legislation was not
given by Synod until February 2007. Major changes
were made during the synodical procedures, not least
my amendment which removed the provision which
would have vested parsonages in the diocesan board
of finance rather than the incumbent.
burden, or the overall burdens, resulting directly or
indirectly for any person from any legislation”. So the
Archbishops’ Council proposes that it should have
power to make an order which would repeal or amend
church legislation, including primary legislation in the
form of Measures and Acts of Parliament. There would
be certain pre-conditions that would have to be met
before the power could be exercised.
A draft order would have to go before a Scrutiny
Committee of Synod which could suggest amendments
or that the order be withdrawn. The Archbishops’
Council would consider those suggestions and amend
the draft order or not as it saw fit. The draft order
would then come before Synod which could approve
it or reject it, but not amend it. The order would then
pass to Parliament where it would be passed as a
statutory instrument, thus by-passing the Ecclesiastical
Committee.
Questions which need to be asked are, firstly, will
this procedure produce properly scrutinised and
workable legislation? This has often not been the case
with government orders passed under the secular
legislation. Secondly, is this part of a continuing
The Measure received Royal Assent in April 2009. process of centralisation of the Church of England,
Because of its complexity, the legislation could not whereby the Archbishops’ Council would become akin
be brought into effect quickly and so it did not come to the board of a public company, with full executive
into force until 2011. Nevertheless, the authors of power over all matters?
this consultation (which goes out under the name of
William Fittall, Secretary General) are content to give
the impression that it was the legislative process which
caused a delay of 9 years.
The Archbishops’ Council believes that the solution
to the problem of slow legislative process is to reduce
substantially the categories of legislative change that
require to be made by measure. It is proposed that an
enabling measure be passed which would be similar to
Part 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006.
This Act allows a government minister to make an
order for the purpose of “removing or reducing any
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