§ Mr. Lathamasked the hon. Member for Wokingham, as representing the Church Commissioners, whether he will set out in tabular form, for each of the years 1979 to 1983, inclusive, the recommended salaries fixed by the commissioners for archbishops, bishops diocesan and suffragan, deans, canons resident and archdeacons.
§ Sir William van StraubenzeeThe stipends paid by the commissioners to these groups of clergy (or, in the case of archdeacons, the range of stipends recommended to dioceses) in each of the financial years from 1979–80 onwards are as follows:
glebe into diocesan ownership. The measure did not of itself provide additional funds for the payment of the clergy but sought to enable the Church to deploy more effectively funds which were already available for stipend purposes.
Since the measure came into effect, dioceses have been seeking both to ensure that lettings of glebe are based upon proper commercial considerations and to rationalise their holdings mainly by the sale of small isolated plots and the purchase of more attractive property investments with the proceeds. The gross income derived from glebe in the 42 mainland dioceses where the measure came in force on 1 April 1978 was £2.1 million. The figures at the end of each subsequent year are:
£ million Year 31 December 1978 *1.3 31 December 1979 2.6 31 December 1980 3.2 31 December 1981 4.0 31 December 1982 4.6 * Nine month period. Complete figures for 1983 are not yet available.
The introduction of the measure has not required the commissioners to employ any extra staff or to incur any additional expenses. The commissioners do not have the detailed information to identify directly whether the measure has led to any increase in staffing or administrative expenses at diocesan level, but it is reasonable to assume that, if the dioceses have incurred any additional cost, this will have been more than offset 195W both by savings in the time of and cost to incumbents in administering glebe before 1978, as well as the substantial increases in income that have been secured.