Question

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, if she will (a) publish the amounts certified under subsection 2(6) of the National Institutions Measure 1998 for each year since that provision came into force and (b) place copies of the annual statutory certificates issued to the Church Commissioners under subsection 2(6) in the House of Commons Library.

The Church Commissioners will be able to publish the 2024 certificate after the annual general meeting on the 19th June, when the Church Commissioners' annual report will be published and laid in the House of Commons Library. The Commissioners have committed to publishing certificates from 2024 onwards on the Church of England website, but are unable to publish the retrospective information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

Recent copies of the Church Commissioners' annual report state which grants have been made to the Archbishops’ Council. In the 2023 annual report, this information can be found on page 101 (the-church-commissioners-for-england-annual-report-2023_1.pdf).

Many of the older reports are available online at: Publications | The Church of England.

The complete collection of annual reports is available from the House of Commons Library.

Further details can also be found in recent Archbishops’ Council annual reports, at: Archbishops’ Council | The Church of England (scroll down). In the most recent 2023 annual report, the additional information is located on pages 68-75, where the Church Commissioners' funding provided the majority of the Archbishops’ Council's charitable expenditure.