“The particular genius of the parish church and the parish system is that it preserves and communicates meaning, value and belonging in places where people can serve and be served, and discover fresh perspectives on what it is to be human and to be a human community.”
Archbishop of York, Lords Hansard, 6 December 2024
Collecting ethnic data on Jews and Sikhs?
On Wednesday, Preet Kaur Gill (Lab/Co-op, Birmingham Edgbaston) was given leave under the Ten Minute Rule to bring in a Bill “to provide that, where a public body collects data about ethnicity for the purpose of delivering public services, it must include specific ‘Sikh’ and ‘Jewish’ categories as options for a person’s ethnic group; and for connected purposes”.
In her speech, she explained that Jews and Sikhs were in the unique position of being considered both ethnic and religious groups under the Equality Act 2010. In spite of that, the Commons Women and Equalities Committee had been told in 2018 that the Government’s race disparity audit had identified around 340 datasets across government but had found no data on Sikhs – the only data collected on Sikhs and Jews in more recent years had been religious data. She cited examples of how Sikhs and Jews had been disproportionately affected by COVID; Sikhs and Jews were “missing from whole swathes of public data” – including from data on the ethnicity pay gap. Her Bill would allow public bodies to start systematically collecting data on Sikhs and Jews to address discrimination and inequalities.
Her motion was unopposed, and the Bill was set down for second reading on Friday 7 March. We suspect that it has little chance of arriving on the statute book.
Political opinions are not protected beliefs
In reply to a written question from Richard Holden (Con, Basildon and Billericay) asking the Minister for Women and Equalities “if she will hold discussions with the (a) Equality and Human Rights Commission and (b) the Cabinet Office on the potential merits of issuing guidance to political parties on whether they are able to discriminate on the basis of (i) political and (ii) philosophical belief”, Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Women and Equalities, answered as follows:
“It is for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to determine what guidance it issues to political parties. Equalities Ministers will have periodic discussions with their Cabinet Office colleagues on matters of mutual policy interest. ‘Belief’ is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, meaning any religious or philosophical belief, rather than political opinion. As such, the issue of guidance on political belief discrimination that purportedly related to the Equality Act’s protected characteristics would be misleading.” [emphasis added]
It certainly would.
Parochial fees
Since 2019, we have published an annual explanatory post on the Parochial Fees in the Church of England, the latest for the year commencing 1 January 2025. These are written to assist those within and beyond the Church of England to negotiate the condensed information in the three tables published by the Church.
Whilst the legislation authorizing the fees for 2025 and 2026 was agreed by General Synod in February 2024 and the Order laid before Parliament at the end of March, the base data upon which next year’s fees are calculated were not published by the Office of National Statistics until late September. Nevertheless, it was not until early December 2024 that the most recent versions were placed in the public domain.
In view of the broad circulation of our posts on parochial fees, which for the year 2019 reached over 12,500 page views, the accuracy of the new post is rigorously checked. Nevertheless, we welcome comments on their accuracy and presentation.
Update: The Church in Wales has now published its own Funeral and Burial Fees 2025 and Marriage Fees, the format of which needs little further explanation.
Quick links
- The Church of England has nothing to learn from the Civil Service.
- Church of England: General Synod February 2025 – Outline of Business.
- The Church Mouse: Should religious MPs declare their interest in the assisted dying debate?
- Madeleine Davis, Church Times: National Safeguarding Team sets out next steps after Makin review.
- Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO): The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion.
- Esme Partridge, Civitas: Restoring the Value of Parishes: The foundations of welfare, community, and spiritual belonging in England.
- Timothy Roes, Strasbourg Observers: Missaoui and Akhandaf v Belgium: Cold Shower for Belgian Applications: on the recent ECtHR case in which a claim by two Belgium Muslim women against a ban on burkinis in Antwerp was deemed inadmissible.
And finally…
We note the breaking news from the Diocesan Synod of Rochester which, with the support of Bishop Jonathan Gibbs, backed a motion of no confidence in the Archbishops’ Council’s oversight of safeguarding.