§ 30. Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, what is the total number of women ordained as deacons in the Church of England as at 1 January.
§ Mr. AlisonOn 1 January 1991, there were 674 ordained women deacons in the full-time stipendiary ministry.
§ Mr. HughesI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. Will he ask the Church Commissioners whether they would be willing to assess—and then publish the results of the assessment—what would be the benefit to the Church in terms of personnel availability if women were able to proceed beyond the diaconate to become priests? As a matter of full-time ministry personnel provision for the Church, has that been considered and if not could it be so?
§ Mr. AlisonIt is a slightly hypothetical speculative variant on which to give a clear answer off the cuff, and while awaiting the progress of the measure, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that although the number of male clergy continues to fall, and has fallen each year for some years, the total of men and women taken together has risen from 10,641 ordained clergy in 1986 to 11,052 last year, so the impact of women deacons is tending the make the total number of clergy go up, whereas the total number would fall if there were a single-sex ministry.