HC Deb 30 June 2003 vol 408 cc16-7
22. Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth)

What representations the Commissioners have made in the course of the review by the Department of Trade and Industry of employment rights for atypical workers. [122054]

Second Church Estates Commissioner (Mr. Stuart Bell)

My hon. Friend will recall from previous answers that I have given to the House that the Archbishops Council responded to the Department of Trade and Industry's discussion paper at the end of last year. I have placed a copy of it in the Library.

Mr. Edwards

May I express the hope that the Government will recognise that ministers of religion and other clergy should be included in employment legislation? Does he accept that that is only the first stage and that they should also be included in anti-discrimination legislation? Does he share my view that all those ministers and clergy who are subject to discrimination on grounds of their sex, race or sexual orientation deserve our support and, most especially, the Bishop of Reading?

Mr. Bell

The position of the Bishop of Reading runs as a thread through our Question Time. However, I shall refer to the specific question, which is about the employment rights of the clergy. I assure my hon. Friend that the convocations in the House of Laity will put forward a paper on this subject at the July sessions of the General Synod. The Church is considering carefully the issue of human rights within the Church and employment rights. It is opposed entirely to discrimination of any sort and, in particular, to the discrimination of the sort to which my hon. Friend refers.

Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)

I agree with the hon. Members for Monmouth (Mr. Edwards) and for Reading, East (Jane Griffiths) and assume, for the purposes of this question, that a bishop can be considered to be an atypical worker, so will the hon. Gentleman underline the point that Bishop John's skill as a theologian and his capacity for spiritual leadership should be the guiding criteria in favour of his appointment? His personal proclivities in terms of sexual orientation are no concern of anyone.

Mr. Bell

As I indicated earlier, the appointment of a suffragan bishop falls within the Acts of Parliament of 1534 and 1898, and none of those Acts refers to the matters that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. The appointment has been approved by the sovereign under those Acts, and the archbishop is legally obliged—in the absence of any lawful impediment—to proceed to the consecration of the suffragan.

Mr. Ben Chapman (Wirral, South)

On the matter of employment rights, the Commissioners have given the impression of proceeding at the slowest possible pace and in a manner that is somewhat grudging. Will my hon. Friend tell me whether that impression is rightly or wrongly based?

Mr. Bell

I am happy to assure my hon. Friend that it is wrongly based. I thought that he would have taken comfort from the fact that the convocations in the House of Laity will put forward an interim report at the July sessions of the General Synod. I am sure that he will also be comforted by the fact that there has been an initial meeting with Amicus. Therefore, the Church is not being tardy; in my view, it has been quite sprightly.