Latest updated edition of child protection policy published
The fourth edition of Protecting All God’s Children, the Church of England’s child protection policy since 1995, has been published. The latest version builds on the work of past editions, updated with regard to the recent government legislation and guidance (most notably the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010).
The policy is freely available at www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/protecting_all_gods_children .
Schools Minister praises ‘excellent’ CofE academies
“We very much value the contribution that Church of England schools and academies make to our education system,” said Schools Minister Lord Hill at the Church of England’s recent Academy Family Conference. The CofE is currently the largest provider of academies, with the majority replacing failing or vulnerable schools in areas of social deprivation.
Lord Hill added: “Faith schools play a central role in delivering excellent, publicly-funded education in this country. I look forward to seeing more excellent Church of England academies opening over the coming months, working in partnership with other schools to raise aspiration and tackle disadvantage in line with the moral purpose of the Church of England’s educational mission.”
Vulnerable children paying price for debt-free future’
Thousands of vulnerable children will be the innocent victims of “devastating cuts” in funding to the voluntary and community sector. That is one of several key points raised in an open letter to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education written by more than a dozen UK charities, including Spurgeons and the Children’s Society.
In particular, the letter highlights that although our generation has a responsibility to the next to clear the deficit, “some of the most vulnerable children will be asked to pay today, in order to achieve that debt-free future.” Children’s and young people’s charities and community groups are already experiencing deep cuts to their front-line services at local level. This will only be exacerbated by the 28 per cent cut in local authority grant, which includes a ‘staggering’ 49 per cent cut in the projected budgets for children in care.
Church of England publishes latest statistics on web
The Church of England has published its latest information about parish income and expenditure and trends in ministry numbers in Church Statistics 2008/9.
PARISH INCOME
Despite the difficult economic times, parishioners’ tax-efficient planned giving continued to increase in 2008, reaching an average of £9.77 a week, while the total income of parishes exceeded £900 million for the first time at £925 million. Total voluntary income rose to £505 million or £8.31 per electoral roll member per week. At the same time, total parish expenditure rose to £874 million, with nearly £52 million of this being donations made by parishes to external charities.
Dr John Preston, the Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer, said:
“Giving to parishes in 2008 saw an increase to record levels, a sign of the high level of commitment that so many have to supporting their local parish church. Legacy giving has also bucked the national trend – reaching the highest ever level – of £48.1 million.”
ORDINATION CANDIDATES
Another 491 candidates were accepted to train as future clergy in 2009, making a total of 1338 in training. In total, 564 new clergy were ordained in 2009, 10 less than in 2008 and 77 more than in 2006 (the lowest in recent years). Of those, 309 were entering full-time paid ministry, compared with 321 in 2008 and 226 in 2006.
At the end of 2009, there were some 28,000 licensed and authorised ministers, ordained and lay, active in the Church of England.
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/statistics/churchstats2008/statistics