House of Lords House of Commons Ecclesiastical Committee Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 233rd Report Report, together with formal minutes, written evidence and transcript of the deliberation of the Ecclesiastical Committee Ordered by the House of Lords to be printed 26 September 2014 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 26 September 2014 HL Paper 45 HC 622 Published on 30 September 2014 by authority of the House of Commons and House of Lords London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Ecclesiastical Committee The Ecclesiastical Committee is a statutory Committee appointed under the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919. It comprises thirty members, fifteen of whom are Members of the House of Commons, appointed by the Speaker, and fifteen of whom are members of the House of Lords, appointed by the Lord Speaker. The quorum is twelve. Appointments to the Committee are generally made early in a Parliament. Unless the Speaker or the Lord Speaker decide otherwise, members appointed by them remain on the Committee for the life of the Parliament. While its powers are those laid down by the Act, the procedures it has adopted are those of a Joint Select Committee. Current membership HOUSE OF LORDS HOUSE OF COMMONS Baroness Butler-Sloss Sir Tony Baldry MP Lord Davies of Coity Sir Peter Bottomley MP Lord Elton Mr Ben Bradshaw MP Lord Glenarthur Alistair Burt MP Lord Griffiths of Burry Port Mr Frank Field MP Baroness Harris of Richmond Helen Goodman MP Lord Judd Sir Alan Haselhurst MP Lord Laming Sharon Hodgson MP Lord Lloyd of Berwick (Chair) Mr David Lammy MP Lord Luke Mr Gordon Marsden MP Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Sarah Newton MP Baroness Perry of Southwark Laura Sandys MP Lord Plant of Highfield Mrs Caroline Spelman MP Lord Shaw of Northstead Mr Gary Streeter MP Lord Walpole Remit The Ecclesiastical Committee examines draft Measures presented to it by the Legislative Committee of the General Synod of the Church of England. It reports to Parliament on whether or not it considers the measures to be expedient. It generally asks members of the General Synod to assist it in its deliberations. In some circumstances a conference of the Ecclesiastical Committee and the Legislative Committee may be convened. The Church of England Measure on which the Committee has reported is presented to both Houses in its final form at the same time as the Committee makes its report. Before the Measure becomes law, both Houses must approve motions that the Measure should be presented to the Sovereign for Royal Assent in the form that it was laid before Parliament. Once both Houses have passed the necessary approval motions, the Measure is presented for Royal Assent and becomes law. Publications The reports and proceedings of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of both Houses. All publications of the Committee are on the internet at www.parliament.uk Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Secretary of the Ecclesiastical Committee, Legislation Office, House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 3103. 2 Ecclesiastical Committee Contents Page 233rd Report of the Ecclesiastical Committee 3 Minutes of Proceedings 5 Legislative Committee of the General Synod: Comments and Explanations on the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 6 Introduction 6 Part 1: A brief background to the Measure 7 Part 2: Proceedings in the Synod in respect of the Measure 9 Part 3: The provisions of the Measure 11 Part 4: Other arrangements to be made in connection with the Measure 12 Part 5: The Equality Act 2010 17 Annex 1: Account of the discussion in the Church of England over gender and holy orders, including the events leading up to the introduction of the Measure 22 Annex 2: Comparison between the current package of proposals and the previous draft 36 Annex 3: Diocesan voting figures 38 Annex 4: Amending Canon No. 33 39 Annex 5: The House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests (GC Misc 1076) 42 Annex 6: Guidance note from the House on the Declaration (GS Misc 1077) 50 Annex 7: Note from the Archbishops of June 2014 (GS Misc 1079) 54 Annex 8: Draft Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests (Resolution of Disputes Procedure) Regulations 20-- 57 Deliberation of the Ecclesiastical Committee 62 Ecclesiastical Committee 3 233rd Report of the Ecclesiastical Committee Introduction 1. The Ecclesiastical Committee has met and considered the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure referred to the Committee under the provisions of the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919. 2. The principal purpose of the Measure is to enable women to become bishops in the Church of England. 3. The Comments and Explanations provided by the Legislative Committee of the General Synod are printed with this Report. They give further details of the provisions of the Measure and the background. 4. The Committee asked representatives of the General Synod, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby, a series of questions about the Measure. A transcript of the Committee's proceedings with the representatives of the General Synod is printed with this Report. References in this Report in the form “Q00” are to that transcript. The Measure 5. The Measure contains only four sections and one Schedule. The key provision is in section 1(1), which provides that “It shall be lawful for the General Synod to make provision by Canon for enabling women, as well as men, to be consecrated to the office of bishop”. 6. The Comments and Explanations include, in Annex 4, the text of the Canon proposed to be made under the authority conferred by section 1(1) of the Measure. 7. Section 2 provides that the office of bishop is not a “public office” for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. The Comments and Explanations describe section 2 as “a clarificatory amendment … designed to make clear that the office of diocesan or suffragan bishop is not subject to sections 50 and 51 of the Equality Act, which are concerned with appointments to certain categories of ‘public office’”, and explain in paragraphs 72 to 85 why the amendment is thought necessary. 8. Section 3 and the Schedule repeal various provisions which will become redundant on the repeal, by section 1(3), of the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993. 9. Section 4 makes provision for the short title of the Measure, its commencement, and its geographical extent. 4 Ecclesiastical Committee Context 10. On 20 November 2012 a previous Measure on this subject did not secure the necessary two-thirds majority in all three Houses of the Synod. 11. Since then, as detailed in paragraphs 12 to 32 of the Comments and Explanations, further work has resulted in the agreement by the Synod of a package of proposals including this shorter Measure, an Amending Canon and an Act of Synod. 12. The package also includes a Declaration and draft dispute resolution procedure Regulations. The Declaration provides for parishes to request, and have made for them, special arrangements. It was made by the House of Bishops in May 2014 and is set out in Annex 5 to the Comments and Explanations. The Regulations will make provision for the resolution of disputes arising from the arrangements established by the Declaration. They will be made by the House of Bishops under the Amending Canon. The draft Regulations are set out in Annex 8 to the Comments and Explanations. Consideration by the Committee 13. The Committee discussed the Measure and its implications with the representatives of the Synod. The representatives explained the work that had been done since the failure of the previous Measure in 2012 (see in particular Q1–Q2); outlined the relationship between the Measure and the Canon (Q3); described the development of the Declaration and Regulations and the principles underlying them (Q4–Q7); and discussed in broader terms the implications and intended effect of the whole package being put forward by the Church (Q8–Q13). The representatives also explained why section 2 of the Measure, which amends the Equality Act 2010, had been included (Q14–Q15). View of the Committee 14. The Committee is of the opinion that the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure is expedient. Ecclesiastical Committee 5 Minutes of Proceedings Tuesday 22 July 2014 Minutes of the meeting of the Ecclesiastical Committee held on Tuesday 22 July at 4.30pm in Committee Room 4A, House of Lords. Present: Baroness Butler-Sloss Sir Tony Baldry MP Lord Elton Sir Peter Bottomley MP Lord Glenarthur Alistair Burt MP Lord Griffiths of Burry Port Mr Frank Field MP Baroness Harris of Richmond Helen Goodman MP Lord Judd Sarah Newton MP Lord Laming Lord Lloyd of Berwick Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Baroness Perry of Southwark Lord Plant of Highfield Lord Walpole Lord Lloyd of Berwick in the Chair. Mr Peter Milledge, Counsel to the Chairman of Committees, in attendance. Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure The following representatives of the General Synod assisted the Committee in its deliberations: The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury The Rt Revd James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester The Ven. Christine Hardman, Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury Canon Margaret Swinson, Member of General Synod Mr William Fittall, Secretary General: Archbishops’ Council Mr Stephen Slack, Chief Legal Adviser to the General Synod The Committee deliberated. It was moved that the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure be deemed expedient.