Craft Industry: Support

Lord Bishop of Chichester Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Grand Committee

[The Lord Bishop of Chichester]

My Lords, it is a great privilege to take part in this debate. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, for bringing it forward. I echo much of what was said by my right reverend friend the Bishop of Southwark and by the noble Lord, Lord Lingfield, with whom I worked at St Paul’s.

I would like to stress the importance of capacity for long-term funding in order that long-term planning can be undertaken by these fragile groups. I was disappointed that this morning there was no response from the Minister in the Statement on the spending review to indicate that there will be certainty about the future of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme beyond 2026, which is essential for so many churches, parishes and cathedrals, nor a review of the capping system of the VAT application, which once again destroys much of the benefit of knowing that there is funding ahead.

Though I could simply echo some of the comments about the forms of arts and crafts seen in cathedrals, I am not arguing for special treatment for the Church of England as a discrete group that wants to be okay alone. This is about the impact that the Church of England—its parishes, churches and cathedrals—has in the wider community. For example, the masons’ team at St Paul’s Cathedral offered people, many of them from Essex, the opportunity of a career in masonry. They were often the children of people who had a career in masonry at St Paul’s. This sense that there is something ahead of us is a very important part of the investment that cathedrals contribute through their renovation programmes.

My second point is about the use of conservation—both developing conservation skills and the benefit of conservation for others. In two cathedrals, Rochester and Durham, the display of their inheritance is not only of interest to tourists, which I will come back to, but of profound interest and an education to pupils in schools. School visits are one of the most important ways of introducing children to their inheritance. Both Rochester and Durham are places where there are levels of deprivation which can be very destructive for children, until they discover that they are the inheritors of this beautiful history, which is theirs. Cathedrals have an educational and a formational contribution to make to these communities.

My third point is about textiles. When I was at St Paul’s, we were fortunate to be funded, through the generosity of many of the livery companies, to commission textiles. This was not simply for the use of a small group of people worshipping in that building; it put us in touch with Central Saint Martins, which ran a competition for international students to win the prize of commissioning and designing these textiles. As a result of that, a group of local people who were interested in broderie was started, and it continues now. It gives the local community—not necessarily Christians but beyond that confine—an opportunity to identify with something that will create a heritage for the future.

Finally, I turn to music. For children, access to cathedral choirs is one of the most important ways of enlarging their educational experience and giving them intergenerational experience of working with adults in a professional way. It has also been used by the Probation Service as a way of bringing people who are at risk of offending into finding purposeful skills for which they receive applause.

These are all ways in which crafts overflow from the Church into the wider community.

Broadcasting Sector White Paper

Lord Bishop of Chichester Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The forthcoming media Bill will remove the current geographic broadcasting restrictions so that S4C can broaden its reach and offer its content on a range of new platforms throughout the UK and internationally. The recent funding settlement ensured that S4C was able to continue the work that is much valued in Wales and more widely.

[The Lord Bishop of Chichester]

My Lords, the Government’s Up Next policy paper claims that

“public service broadcasters … develop skills and talent, drive growth right across the creative industries”.

Will the Minister undertake to widen the Government’s vision for broadcasting to ensure that we also hear how skills and talents will be developed among pupils, students and young performers and designers when at present curriculum incentive and public investment are so often lacking in this area in our schools, colleges and universities?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The right reverend Prelate points to an important issue in talking of skills. The British Film Institute has looked at this very carefully and published its film and high-end TV skills review at the end of last month, which we strongly welcome and look forward to discussing with the industry to see how it engages with the findings. The Government are doing their bit by, for instance, the new pilots of flexible apprenticeships and through our regular support of more than £2 million a year to the National Film and Television School.

National Lottery

Lord Bishop of Chichester Excerpts

Wednesday 14th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Chichester]

My Lords, will the Minister undertake to review the abolition of the HLF grant for places of worship, which has resulted in congregations without financial resources finding it much harder to compete for maintenance and development funding? The effect of abolition has been profoundly demoralising for small rural communities and areas of deprivation in coastal towns, such as Hastings, where the church building can be a source of local pride and community cohesion but is in danger of falling into disrepair and representing a sense of abandonment by local and national government.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My Lords, I am happy to take the right reverend Prelate’s point back to colleagues in the department, but I hope that he will recognise the value of the work that the National Lottery Heritage Fund does.