This week in Parliament the House of Lords gave a Second Reading to the Bishop of St Albans’ Bill to reform the marriage registration process, including to allow mothers’ names alongside those of fathers on marriage certificates. Bishops spoke in debates on cancer care, the NHS winter crisis, access to water in developing countries, and a private members’ bill on conscientious objection. They asked questions about the effect on families of the two-child limit and benefit cap, anonymity for those accused of serious offences, prisons, development aid to Burundi, and food imports. In the House of Commons, the Second Church Estates Commissioner answered questions from MPs on marriage registration, vocations, gay conversion therapy, Christians in the Middle East, counter terrorism measures at religious premises, fracking and religious education.
Church of England in Parliament. 26 January 2018
