The Ecclesiastical Committee is a statutory joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, created by the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919. Its role to review Church of England measures submitted to Parliament by the Legislative Committee of the General Synod, and to advise on whether or not they should be approved by Parliament. The committee has 30 members. The Lord Speaker appoints 15 members from the House of Lords, and the Speaker of the House of Commons appoints 15 MPs. Members are appointed to serve for the duration of a parliament.
The names of the members for the current parliament have recently been added to the UK Parliament website, although there is one vacancy for a member of the House of Lords. The members are listed below the fold.
The chair of the committee is Baroness Butler-Sloss.
Members from the House of Commons
| Name | Party | Constituency |
| Catherine Atkinson MP | Labour | Derby North |
| Juliet Campbell MP | Labour | Broxtowe |
| Tom Collins MP | Labour | Worcester |
| Jonathan Davies MP | Labour | Mid Derbyshire |
| Marsha De Cordova MP | Labour | Battersea |
| Patricia Ferguson MP | Labour | Glasgow West |
| Zöe Franklin MP | Liberal Democrat | Guildford |
| Danny Kruger MP | Conservative | East Wiltshire |
| Luke Myer MP | Labour | Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland |
| Dr Al Pinkerton MP | Liberal Democrat | Surrey Heath |
| David Smith MP | Labour | North Northumberland |
| Rebecca Smith MP | Conservative | South West Devon |
| Sarah Smith MP | Labour | Hyndburn |
| Dan Tomlinson MP | Labour | Chipping Barnet |
| Martin Vickers MP | Conservative | Brigg and Immingham |
Members from the House of Lords
| Name | Party or affiliation | Type |
| The Rt Hon the Baroness Butler-Sloss GBE | Crossbench | Life peer |
| The Earl of Cork and Orrery | Crossbench | Excepted Hereditary |
| The Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC | Crossbench | Life peer |
| The Baroness Eaton DBE DL | Conservative | Life peer |
| The Lord Faulkner of Worcester | Labour | Life peer |
| The Lord Glenarthur DL | Conservative | Excepted Hereditary |
| The Lord Griffiths of Burry Port | Labour | Life peer |
| The Baroness Harris of Richmond DL | Liberal Democrat | Life peer |
| The Rt Hon the Lord Jones | Labour | Life peer |
| The Lord Lisvane KCB DL | Crossbench | Life peer |
| The Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall | Labour | Life peer |
| The Lord Shinkwin | Conservative | Life peer |
| The Rt Hon the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean | Labour | Life peer |
| The Rt Hon the Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE | Conservative | Life peer |
Is the vacancy for a member from the House of Lords being left open for the time being with a view, perhaps, to it being filled by Lord Evans of Weardale when he has completed his task of chairing the CNC for the see of Canterbury?
Good no nonsense Chair, who of course is herself a former Chair of a Canterbury CNC. Good also to see Lord Dannatt appointed, for the first time I think.
How significant is it that there are now only 7 Conservative members? Presumably this in part simply reflects the balance of MPs in the Commons following the Labour victory. But at a time when the CofE is under mounting pressure from public and politicians over safeguarding, same-sex marriage etc, it now has far fewer natural defenders of establishment on the committee (and many of those are increasingly critical of its stances anyway). Marsha De Cordova, as Second Church Estates Commissioner, is of course a defender of establishment, and Labour MP. Thoughts from anyone who knows the workings of this committee?
Interesting question. I wonder how many “defenders of establishment” there are in the Church?
Does it matter whose on it? Or rather – – does this committee actually do anything to change any legislation passed by Synod or does it just rubber stamp it? Have there been any examples of where this group has sent something back / amended it? I imagined from the description that unless Synod passes something actively hostile to parliament these people will just rubber stamp it, and if someone doesn’t like it they can blame the church. This is surely just one of the ancillary honours given to people in parliament) (maybe with a small stipend of expenses) but… Read more »
The committee has indeed delayed Measures or put pressure on the Church to change their substance in the past (over women’s ordination, pensions etc) and could easily do so again (eg over safeguarding, same-sex marriage, governance, etc). It is not toothless. Its power derives ultimately from the 1919 Enabling Act by which Parliament delegated governing authority to the Church (extended further when General Synod was created). The key word is delegated. Unlike that of other churches or religious bodies, the Church of England’s power of self government is wholly derived from the power of Parliament. That is an essential plank… Read more »
The days should, quite rightly, be over, when this Committee defends the “establishment”. One of the baseline problems with the CofE is the obsession with the Bishops in preserving the institution of the establishment.
The Earl of Cork and Orrery’s days are numbered as the hereditaries will soon be removed from the Lords. Lady May and Lady Bottomley are both active Anglicans and possible candidates.
Sir Peter Bottomley was a member for many years, so keep in the family!
Nepotism? So very ‘Establishment’? Better than hereditary peering, or ‘Honours List’ or power of appointment? Too much to hope for some radical reform?
He is an elected peer. As an Irish peer he would have no hereditary right to a place in the House of Lords.
The Earl of Cork and Orrery is also Baron Boyle of Marston in the Peerage of Great Britain. It is this latter title that allowed him to stand for election as one of the hereditary peers with a seat in the Lords. But once there he uses (as is custom) his higher ranked, Irish title.
Aha. In the same way that Lord Longford took his place in the Lords as Lord Pakenham of Cowley.
Those familiar with the history of the early Stuarts will perhaps smile at the presence of an earl of Cork on the ecclesiastical committee. There was no greater predator of Church lands in Munster than Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork, whose fortunes waxed greatly on the back of collusive and destructive beneficial leasing of Church property. By erecting a huge monument to his second wife Catherine (daughter of his patron Geoffrey Fenton, another pillager of Church property) on the site of the high altar in St Patrick’s, Dublin, he grievously offended William Laud, John Bramhall (bishop of Derry and… Read more »
The Cork title has shifted sideways several times owing to lack of sons, so connections with early Stuart times are very tenuous. In the 20th C it was a very naval family, & the current holder is an ex-submariner who served exclusively in diesel-electric boats. He is thus a member of a notoriously irreverent & outspoken tribe, quite unlike Lord Dannatt.
All Earls of Cork are, however, descended in the male line from Richard Boyle, the first Earl via his third son, Roger Boyle. The famous scientist and founder member of the Royal Society, Robert Boyle (after whom Boyle’s Law about gases — that pressure is inversely proportional to volume, or PV = k) was the fifth son of the first earl.
Surprised that the MP for Glasgow West is on the Committee. Any link to the Church of England is likely to be through the Scottish Episcopal Church. Having said that, I have absolutely no idea what Ms Ferguson’s religious affiliation, if any, is at all. The other name that stands out is the Labour peer, Lord Griffith of Burry Port, who is a Welsh Methodist. It would be interesting to know how many of the Labour MPs are ‘active’ Anglicans. One suspects that, with so many MPs to be accommodated for committee posts, the Labour whips may simply have based… Read more »
It has always been considered right and proper that there are people on the Committee who are not members of the Church of England. The role of the Committee is to examine Measures passed by the General Synod to ensure that they are “expedient”. They have a duty to ensure that the rights of other people in the country are not adversely affected by Church legislation. Non-members have an interest.
Yet I see no Muslims on the list.
I wonder how far religious affiliation is considered as relevant in appointments to this committee. After all, it is Parliament as a whole, not just the Anglican members of it, that has oversight of it and the synodical decisions which it considers. The failure of the 1928 Prayer Book to gain parliamentary approval was partly down to Scottish Presbyterian MPs who would never have had to use it voting againt it!
Not just Presbyterians and other Christian dissenters. One of the most prominent parliamentary leaders of the opposition to Davidson’s revised Prayer Book was Shapurji Saklatvala, Communist MP for Battersea North (Ms de Cordova represents all Battersea) and a Parsi from Mumbai.
Actually a majority of English M.P.’s did vote for it.
I would like to say how much I am looking forward to hearing of the deliberations of this esteemed committee, and its fruit, in due course.