Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, if the Church will have discussions with the Dioceses of (a) Hereford and (b) Lichfield on support with energy costs.

The Church Commissioners are in regular contact with the Dioceses of Hereford and Lichfield. During the winter of 2022-23, due to dramatic increases in energy costs, £3million of Church Commissioners’ funding was made available through the Archbishops’ Council to support additional ministry hardship funding for clergy and lay workers, and a further £15million was similarly made available in energy cost support funding for dioceses to allocate primarily to Parochial Church Councils. This money was in addition to the dioceses' own ministry hardship funding and discretionary funding.

There is no plan to offer a similar scheme this year over and above the money already available through diocesean discretionary and hardship funds.