§ [Relevant document: The Fourth Report from the Social Security Committee of Session 1996–97 (HC 352) on the Church Commissioners.]
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That the Pensions Measure, passed by the General Synod of the Church of England, be presented to Her Majesty for her Royal Assent in the form in which the said Measure was laid before Parliament.—[Mr. Alison.]
§ Mr. Stuart Randall (Kingston upon Hull, West)I am pleased that the Measure has been accepted, and that the Committee is content with it. The link between the commissioners and the Synod through the House has been maintained in a most gracious way by the right hon. Member for Selby (Mr. Alison) during his term as Second Church Estates Commissioner. I have often thought that the right hon. Gentleman, with his red book, was like a Minister on the Back Benches. It is much more comfortable to operate from the Dispatch Box, as I did for eight and a half years. The right hon. Gentleman has fulfilled his role in a quite extraordinary way. I thank him, through you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, from the bottom of my heart—I know that all hon. Members share those sentiments—for the gracious way in which he has discharged that marvellous responsibility.
§ Mr. Michael Alison (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners)Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am speechless.
§ Question put and agreed to.