Jim Shannon

The Church of England is committed to ecumenical partnerships at every level and is seeking to increase its work with others, including newer partners

Ecumenical activity in the Church of England is overseen by the Council for Christian Unity (CCU). This is supported by a network of local clergy who act as Denominational Ecumenical Officers (DEOs).

Evidence shows that ecumenical partnerships increase the effectiveness of local projects, including food banks, warm spaces, youth work and refugee resettlement. These partnerships reduce duplication and administrative burdens, enable better resource management, provide better support for volunteers, and build stronger relationships across diverse communities. There is some evidence that ecumenical partnerships are becoming significant in the pursuit of racial justice, particularly where unity groups consciously seek wider membership.

CCU is currently working with the Church of England’s Data Services unit to study Single Congregation Local Ecumenical Partnerships (SCLEPs). This research should also be available later in the year

The Church of England works with partners through ecumenical instruments. Churches Together in England (CTE) now has more than 50 member churches and has experienced notable growth amongst Pentecostal and Orthodox members. Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) works with the national ecumenical instruments and member churches, learning from the work of peace and reconciliation on these islands and building on that experience with collaboration on other areas of shared concern.

CTBI carried out research in 2024 into the work carried out by churches and charities around Climate Sunday. This research will help in the planning of future projects.

Lord Evans of Weardale KCB DL was appointed by the Prime Minister to be the Chair of the Crown Nominations Committee (CNC) for the See of Canterbury on 16th December: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/appointment-of-chairman-of-the-crown-nominations-commission-for-canterbury-16-december-2024

In February and March 2025 the Church of England will undertake an extensive public consultation exercise to inform the CNC's discernment. The consultation will consider the role of the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the mission of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, and the gifts, skills, and experience needed in the next Archbishop.

Through this consultation, Members of Parliament and the public will be able to submit their views on how the Church of England engages on a wide range of issues—including freedom of religion and belief—and the leadership required from the next Archbishop. Specific details of how to contribute to the consultation are expected to be made available in the next few weeks.

Once open, the consultation will be available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/governance/archbishops/appointing-new-archbishop-canterbury

The bishops of the Church of England frequently raise issues of freedom of religion and belief in the House of Lords, and seek to highlight the need for its protection overseas in their visits and public interventions. The Bishop of Winchester, in 2019 as Bishop of Truro, authored the Independent Review for the UK Foreign Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Office Support for Persecuted Christians. The Church also looks forward to working with the newly appointed Prime Ministerial Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief

Equalities Ministers have regular discussions with their colleagues across Government about tackling online harassment as part of the Government's commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. These include the Safer Streets Mission Board and Violence Against Women and Girls Ministerial meetings.

The Government is fully committed to the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), which protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace. The Act prohibits direct and indirect disability discrimination and requires employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and jobseekers to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues. This could include improving access to premises for wheelchair users, through installing ramps or other auxiliary aids or services.

The failure of an employer to make reasonable adjustments could amount to direct disability discrimination. However, the Act also recognises the need to strike a balance between the needs of disabled employees and the circumstances of their employers. What is ‘reasonable’ will therefore depend on the circumstances of each case.

Strong legal remedies are available to employees and applicants who feel that they have experienced disability discrimination by an employer. Guidance and codes of practice have been published by The Equality and Human Rights Commission and Acas, to help employers follow the law and employees and applicants understand their rights.

Church of England churches run or support 35,000 social action projects, including 60% of churches supporting 8,000 food banks with volunteers, donations, venues, or a combination of these. 12,000 churches are involved in the Trussell food bank network overall.

In July 2024, the General Synod voted by 274-1 in favour of a motion that noted the contribution to social welfare being made by churches and others in the provision of food banks, and with concern about the levels of dependence on food banks, called on His Majesty’s Government to review the adequacy of current social security provision. The debate highlighted specific examples from churches across the country in meeting the need for food and other essential goods.

This government is clear that no one should be disadvantaged because of their religion or belief. The Equality Act 2010 provides protection from discrimination to anyone with a religious or philosophical belief, as well as to those who lack a religion or belief.

The Minister for Women and Equalities will continue to work with the Minister for Faith in MHCLG to ensure that people of faith are not discriminated against, in line with the Act.

We are committed to strengthening equal pay and ending pay discrimination. The plan to ‘Make Work Pay’ will transform the lives of working women, including by strengthening rights to equal pay and providing protections from maternity and menopause discrimination and sexual harassment.

With regard to STEM opportunities, we will continue to support learners who wish to have a career in STEM through our technical education offer with a range of high quality qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities at all levels. We have also looked specifically at support for those returning to the sector after a break for caring, and will feed this learning into wider work on breaking down barriers for women in the workplace.

The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace. The Act requires employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and jobseekers to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues. This could include improving access to premises for wheelchair users, through installing ramps or other auxiliary aids or services.

The Cabinet Office works with Departments across Government, and the National Cyber Security Centre, to assess and tackle cross-cutting risks to the UK’s critical infrastructure.

The cyber threat is dynamic and grows more complex each year, with implications for our Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). It is an issue this Government takes incredibly seriously, and we are committed to working closely with CNI operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to all threats, including cyber. This means understanding and managing cyber risk, and minimising the impact of cyber incidents when they occur.

For the health sector, in an increasingly digitised system, cyber-attacks are a direct threat to patient safety and people in care, as well as to public confidence. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are delivering an ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme that addresses the changing cyber risk landscape, expands protection and services and reduces the risk of a successful attack.

The uptake of apprenticeships within the Civil Service (in England) fell under the previous administration from 7,007 starts in 2022/23 to 6,508 starts in 2023/24.

This Government is committed to apprenticeships as a means of removing barriers to opportunities and building the skills needed for the future workforce.

The UK is facing an ever-changing and growing set of risks. All risks in the government's National Risk Register (NRR) are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity.

I refer the honourable member to my answer from 2 September, (2302) and would add that the UK Government does not comment upon operational security matters.

It is important that the new procurement regime commences with a statutory National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) aligned to the Government’s strategic priorities. The new NPPS will set out a mission-led procurement regime which meets the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth and social value. The NPPS will be informed by stakeholder engagement taking place over the coming months.

The Government is committed to working with Devolved Administrations and delivering compensation to people who are infected and affected as soon as possible.

As of 30 June 2024, 109 individuals in Northern Ireland have received interim compensation payments. This comprises 85 individuals infected with contaminated blood or blood products, and 24 bereaved partners of infected individuals who have sadly passed away. While the Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991. Due to the nature of the Infected Blood scandal there is uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible for compensation. The final number of eligible people will ultimately depend on the number of victims who come forward. The Government will compensate people who have been infected and affected by the infected blood scandal, and we expect the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to begin making payments by the end of the year.

The chemicals sector underpins almost all manufacturing in the UK and is fundamental to maximising growth and productivity across the economy to drive forward the government’s missions, including delivering growth for all. Reforms are underway to address planning barriers to growth, channel finance towards growth priorities and accelerate the transition to net zero.

This will be supported by our modern Industrial Strategy which will implement targeted policy interventions to drive long-term sustainable, inclusive and secure growth.

Last autumn’s Budget announced continued support for Energy Intensive Industries – including chemical companies - through £350M of additional funding across the next two years.

The Government is committed to ensuring that employed parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and family responsibilities.

The Employment Rights Bill will increase the flexibility of Paternity Leave. This Bill will make Paternity Leave available from ‘day one’ in a new job and enable it to be taken after Shared Parental Leave.

We will also review the parental leave system to ensure that it supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government, including with the Department of Work and Pensions.

We know from reviews of the existing legislative framework as well as the impact assessment of the measures in the Employment Rights Bill that there is clear demand for adequate flexible working arrangements from parents, as there is with other groups in the workforce. Flexible working can help parents manage their childcare responsibilities and reduce the cost of childcare.

Through Make Work Pay the Government committed to making flexible working the default except where not reasonably feasible, making it more likely that requests are accepted. Clauses contained in the Employment Rights Bill will achieve this aim.

The Government is committed to delivering a regulatory system that addresses market failures, creates economic certainty, and drives innovation to stimulate growth while protecting consumers and businesses. As part of this, HMG regularly makes comparative assessments of the UK's regulatory system and those of international comparators.

Attracting investment is one of the key pillars to the Government’s growth mission and is vital to helping address the challenge of achieving sustained growth, improving productivity and increasing the number of good, well-skilled jobs across the country. At the International Investment Summit, we secured £63bn worth of investments across the whole of the UK, creating nearly 38,000 jobs. On top of this we have launched Invest 2035, our vision for a modern Industrial Strategy “Invest 2035”: a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest.

As an example of the many steps we are taking to encourage investment, we have today (12th November) launched the Clean Industries Bonus which will encourage investment in renewable energy projects.

The Government supports the Doha Declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health and, within that, a country’s right to use compulsory licensing, where necessary and appropriate, to achieve public health policy objectives in the case of national health emergencies. We are aware of the potential impact such initiatives may have on access to medicines, market dynamics, and innovation. We are closely following the process undertaken by Colombia and are in regular dialogue with them on this and other regulatory matters.

In recent years the Government has commissioned research covering both corporate and personal voluntary insolvency processes. In 2022 the company voluntary arrangement research report was published and on 17 October 2024 the research findings into Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) was published. Further research into corporate voluntary insolvency processes will be published later this year. The Government will be considering the findings of this research, and along with other evidence, may bring forward proposals for reform in due course.

For SMEs that pay interest at a variable rate, or those contemplating new borrowing, lower interest rates are clearly beneficial.

The Government introduced the Employment Rights Bill in the House on 10 October 2024.

The Bill will make basic protection against unfair dismissal a day one right for all employees, ending the current arbitrary system that leaves employees waiting up to two years to access this right.

This government wants to drive manufacturing growth. Manufacturing makes an important contribution to private capital, R&D, and exports, which leads to higher productivity, more investment and more jobs.

Building on existing support to industry, government will introduce a new Industrial Strategy to drive long-term sustainable, inclusive and secure growth - through securing investment into crucial sectors of the economy.

As announced in the Industrial Strategy Green Paper published on 14 October, advanced manufacturing has been selected as one of eight growth-driving sectors. The Strategy will also look at support for subsectors which provide critical inputs and infrastructure to these sectors.

This year, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has already supported UK maritime firms at Asia Pacific Maritime (Singapore), Posidonia (Athens), and SMM (Hamburg). Other upcoming events include METSTRADE, which will be taking place in Amsterdam this November, as well as Sea Asia in March. UK businesses can access DBT’s export services via Great.gov.uk, including the UK Export Academy, International Trade Advisers, Help to Grow, and the Export Support Service.

DBT will continue to review its offer to ensure businesses have the support they need to export and grow.

The Government is committed to delivering its Plan to Make Work Pay in full. Ministers are identifying the most appropriate delivery mechanisms for the commitments in the Plan, including an Employment Rights Bill that will be introduced to Parliament within 100 days of taking office.

The scope of the Bill is still to be determined and engagement continues with stakeholders with an interest in this legislation. This includes all Devolved Governments including the Northern Ireland Executive. The Plan is a core part of the Government’s mission to grow the economy and raise living standards across the country.

My department is working in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland through DBT’s Trade and Investment hub in Belfast and its wider global network to showcase NI as a location for investment.

We are focused on driving investment into all parts of the UK, including through our forthcoming International Investment Summit in October 2024.

DBT Ministers have engaged with the Northern Ireland Executive since assuming office, including productive meetings and correspondence at SoS and Minister of State level as well as detailed and ongoing official level dialogue regarding the interests of Northern Ireland Executive and businesses in Northern Ireland in the UK Government growth agenda.

This Government is focused on its five-point plan to breathe life back into Britain’s high streets. Our plans include tackling retail crime, ensuring a level playing field between online and high street businesses, stamping out late payments and ending the blight of empty spaces. This work will ensure that our high streets are great places for our businesses, supporting economic growth across the UK.

The British Business Bank supports SMEs to grow by improving their access to finance. The Growth Guarantee Scheme offers a 70% government guarantee on loans to SMEs of up to £2 million in Great Britain, and £1 million in Northern Ireland and is available until the end of March 2026.

The industry-led Retail Sector Council has identified High Street Regeneration and Investment as one if its key area of work and has been considering a sector vision for the high street.

The Secretary of State and I have met with Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, and the EP Group to discuss the proposed takeover of IDS.

The universal service obligation is a legally binding commitment on the designated universal service provider and its ongoing provision would be required irrespective of ownership of the business.

Under terms agreed between Airbus and Spirit, Airbus will acquire the elements of Spirit’s Belfast site responsible for the A220 airliner. This includes the wing and mid-fuselage sections. The Government is working with the Northern Ireland Executive to help ensure the best outcome for Short Brothers and all its incredibly skilled, hard working, staff. My Department is in touch with Spirit, Airbus, Boeing and other potential buyers. We have a keen interest in seeing that any acquisition includes a commitment to develop Short Brothers and its supply chain, and to provide the best possible opportunity for growth in Northern Ireland.