HL Deb 27 April 1939 vol 112 cc751-2

4.25 p.m.

THE LORD BISHOP OF ST. EDMUNDSBURY AND IPSWICH moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Ecclesiastical Officers Remuneration Measure, 1939, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent. The right reverend Prelate said: My Lords, this also is a domestic matter. Your Lordships will be aware that there are certain ecclesiastical officials who do duties and perform acts for individual churchmen for which fees are payable. These fees are regulated by Orders in Council. Tables of fees have been drawn up in the past, as a rule, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor, and confirmed by His Majesty in Council. It is inevitable that tables of fees of that sort get out of date. New duties arise which impose work on these officials, and in some form or other they must be paid for the additional work they have to do. It was therefore decided that a Measure should be framed and presented to Parliament, after being passed by the Assembly, to enable fees to be adjusted from time to time.

The authorities have thought that this is entirely a matter for the Church of England and that it was unreasonable that the Lord Chancellor should be appointed to fix fees of officers doing ecclesiastical work. Therefore the present Measure has been drawn up and approved by the Church Assembly, and certified by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as one suitable to be passed. It gives power to the Archbishops, with the assistance of their Vicars-General, from time to time to adjust the fees of these diocesan officials and present them to the Assembly. If the Assembly passes them, they would be laid on the Table of each House of Parliament, and unless some Motion is moved that they should not be approved, they will naturally have the force of law. That is the whole of this simple Measure dealing with the remuneration of ecclesiastical officers, and I beg to move.

Moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Ecclesiastical Officers Remuneration Measure, 1939, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent.—(The Lord Bishop of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.