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Pastoral (Amendment) Measure

rose to move, That this House do direct that, in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919, the Pastoral (Amendment) Measure be presented to Her Majesty for the Royal Assent. The right reverend Prelate said: My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to bring this measure to the House. While the legal framework surrounding it is complex, its purpose is essentially quite simple. Your Lordships will see that the Ecclesiastical Committee was satisfied that it was expedient and it was able to set out its conclusions in a brief report. I am glad to say that I, too, can explain quite briefly the general object of the measure and how it seeks to achieve it, without, I trust, getting involved in the legal complexities to which I have referred. The important purpose of the measure is essentially to facilitate the appropriate community use of churches that continue in use for worship. As consecrated buildings, such churches are within the jurisdiction of the consistory court of the diocese, and it is for the chancellor, as the judge of that court, to decide whether to permit alterations to them. Alterations can extend to changes of use; and so, consistory courts have been able, in appropriate cases, to authorise parishes to grant licences to bodies that wish to use the church for various purposes, including, for example, day centres for the elderly, nursery schools and medical centres. Parishes that wish to set aside part of their church for alternative use of that kind can find that, if it is to be possible, the intended user group needs to have a lease on the part of the church in question rather than merely the licence that can currently be authorised by the consistory court. In most cases, that will be because a lease is required to enable the user group to secure financial support from one or more public funding bodies, this being a common requirement of a number of such bodies. The difficulty is that at present the Pastoral Measure 1983 takes such a form that a lease of part of a church can be granted only after the making of a partial redundancy scheme under that measure—a procedure that is not only long and complex but which can also send the wrong messages about the future of the church building in question. The word ““redundancy””, even if prefaced by the word ““partial””, sounds like redundancy. The aim of the measure now before your Lordships’ House is accordingly to provide an alternative possibility, by amending the pastoral measure, so that the chancellor of the diocese is given a discretionary power to authorise the granting of a lease of part of a church. That procedure will sit alongside, but not replace, the existing power to authorise a licence—a possibility that will still accordingly be available when a lease is not required. However, the measure also recognises that the continued viability of the church building as a place of public worship must remain paramount when an alternative use for any part of the church is being considered. It therefore provides a number of safeguards for the continuing life of the congregation and the integrity of the church building. These include a requirement that, taken as a whole, the church building must continue to be used primarily as a place of worship; a requirement that the purpose and manner of any use of the church building under the lease must not be inconsistent with the use of the rest of the premises, primarily as a place of worship; and provisions preventing the tenant or lessee from obtaining any statutory security of tenure by virtue of the lease. Whether the requirements I have described will be met in a particular case, and the nature of any restrictions to be imposed through the lease to ensure that they are met, are matters the measure leaves as is best, to be decided by the Chancellor in the circumstances of that case. I understand, though, that the Ecclesiastical Judges Association will be providing guidance to its members on how best to approach these questions. I hope that this necessarily brief description of the purpose and effect of the measure is sufficient to demonstrate that it will widen the options available to parishes as they go about the sometimes challenging but always fascinating task of serving their local communities, while at the same time putting in checks and balances that respect the special status of a consecrated building continuing in use as a place of worship. I therefore commend the measure to your Lordships’ House. I beg to move. Moved, That this House do direct that, in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919, the Pastoral (Amendment) Measure be presented to Her Majesty for the Royal Assent—(The Lord Bishop of Winchester.) On Question, Motion agreed to.