Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions he has had with leaders of the Muslim community about allowing burials in Church of England graveyards to take place at weekends. [38473]
§ Mr. BellNone. So far as I am aware, no approach has been made to the Church of England's national organisations on this topic, and I do not know whether it has arisen in any parishes.
Anyone who was resident in a parish or who died there, whatever his or her faith, is legally entitled to burial in a Church of England parish churchyard, provided it has not been formally closed for burials and space is still available there. It would not be possible to use a non-Christian religious rite in the churchyard, but the Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 lays down a procedure under which the burial can take place without any religious service, subject to the conditions set out in the Act, for example as to the day and time of the burial. The design of grave markers would be subject to the jurisdiction of the Church's consistory courts.
I understand that issues of timing may also arise in the case of interments in local authority-maintained burial grounds, although that is not a matter for the Church authorities.