HC Deb 27 July 1979 vol 971 cc494-5W
Mr. Field

asked, the hon. Member for Wokingham, as representing the Church Commissioners, if he has considered moving the Church Commissioners' administrative headquarters at 1 Millbank to an area of high unemployment such as Merseyside; and, if any consideration has been given recently to this matter, he will publish the relevant papers on the financial savings and the jobs that would be created by such a move.

Mr. van Straubenzee

The possibility that the Church Commissioners' office might be moved out of London has been considered by them on several occasions and was also discussed in a report of the General Synod published in 1975. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of this report—GS 263. While acknowledging that operating costs in Central London are high, the report questioned the scale of the economies that might follow such a move and advanced a series of practical arguments against a move with which the Commissioners are in full agreement.

The Commissioners employ just over 400 staff to carry out their many duties and responsibilities and there would be no net creation of jobs if they moved their offices from London.

Mr. Field

asked the hon. Member for Wokingham, as representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church Commissioners were invited to sign the shareholders' statement criticising Shell's participation in breaking Rhodesian oil sanctions; and, if so, whether they consulted the British Council of Churches, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, and the Methodist Church's Overseas Division who, unlike the Commissioners, thought it proper to sign.

Mr. van Straubenzee

The Commissioners were given the opportunity by the Rhodesian oil sanctions working party of joining in support of the resolution which was defeated at the recent AGM of Shell.

Whilst the Commissioners are, of course, concerned over the implications of the Bingham report, they decided not to support the resolution because of the possibility of a further Government inquiry and the fact that the investigations being carried out by the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that all the facts had not yet become known.

In arriving at their decision the Commissioners took into account the views of the BCC and also the views of the financial arms of the other main Church denominations.