Monthly news bulletin from the Communications Office, Church House, London.

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This news bulletin is issued to members of General Synod, recipients of the e-mailed daily briefing, within the National Church Institutions’ All Staff bulletin and to parish magazines via the http://www.parishpump.co.uk website. It is also available on the Church of England website at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/cofegazette/

Please scroll down to read items. Comments, please, to Peter Crumpler, Director of Communications on peter.crumpler@c-of-e.org.uk

This month’s contents:

• Archbishop of Canterbury pays tribute to the Prime Minister
• Archbishop of York's statement on Tony Blair's resignation
• Offender Management Bill
• UK Borders Bill
• Archbishop of Canterbury gives Wilberforce Lecture: Freedom and Slavery
• Archbishop of York speaks at London Press Club Awards

Archbishop of Canterbury pays tribute to the Prime Minister as he announces that he will be standing down

Responding to the Prime Minister's announcement that he will stand down from 27 June, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made the following statement:

“Tony Blair has understood as well as any Prime Minister in recent times why religion matters, how faith communities contribute to the common good and why religious extremism should have no place in a progressive society". For the full text see: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/releases/070510.htm

Archbishop of York's statement on Tony Blair's Resignation

Statement from the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, following the announcement of the Prime Minister to resign from Office.

"I fundamentally disagreed with Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq – which I saw as a breach of international law – but disagreement is part of the free and fair society which he has endeavoured to uphold during his time in office". For full text see: http://www.salvonet.com/diocese_of_york/cgi/
news/news.cgi?t=template&a=1075

Offender Management Bill

As an organisation working extensively with offenders in prisons and in the community, the Church of England has followed closely the far-reaching changes associated with the creation of the National Offender Management Service. We firmly support the principle of “end-to-end” supervision and support of offenders in contrast to the fragmented and uncoordinated operation of criminal justice agencies which has often impeded effective work for rehabilitation and public protection. We are less convinced about the appropriateness of the organisational and strategic framework of NOMS as a means of achieving the desired goals. (Incidentally, we believe that the very concept of “offender management” stands in tension with the ethos of skilled and demanding personal interaction with offenders which represents the best traditions of the Probation Service.)

In principle we welcome the closer involvement of the voluntary and community sector in offender management – a process which is already under way within the existing probation system. Voluntary organisations, including many that are church- or faith-based, can bring local knowledge, commitment, flexibility and innovation to this field. The Government has recognised the valuable pioneering work being done in resettlement by “community chaplaincies” which bridge the gap between prisons and local communities.

However, we are anxious that the mechanism of commissioning services regionally through a process of “contestability” will prioritise competition over co-operation, will seriously disadvantage small voluntary groups and will not necessarily produce an appropriate mix of offender services. We are also concerned about the long-term implications of faith-based voluntary organisations accepting responsibility for public service delivery, in this as in other fields.

The Offender Management Bill currently in the Lords is almost a legislative footnote required to facilitate major changes which have already been made. The Church will support amendments which clarify the “probation purposes” for which contracting-out is undertaken, and which preserve the proper role of the Probation Service in assisting the courts. We will also look for assurances that commissioning processes will be designed and operated so as to allow broad and effective participation by the voluntary sector, including faith-based groups.

UK Borders Bill

The Bill is concerned with powers of the new Border and Immigration Authority . The Church of England remains concerned that the asylum system should be effective, fast and fair - trusted by those seeking asylum as well as those for whom the system is often portrayed as ineffective. Numbers should not be a political football. The best way of reducing numbers is through effective humanitarian and political intervention in regions where economic and political forces drive people into migration, not through an increasingly draconian system of deterrents.

Clause 17 provides the opportunity to raise the issue of the support of failed asylum seekers. The Church of England has recently joined the Still Human Still Here Campaign with its aim to 'End the threat and use of destitution as a tool of Government policy against refused asylum seekers'. While returning refused asylum seekers to their country of origin has become a politicised question, the Still Human Still Here campaign recognises that immediate repatriation is rarely straight forward or a humane course of action. The current practice leaves many families without support through no fault of their own.

Last year, an ecumenical and interfaith report, Faithful Cities, on life in Britain's cities in the 21st century recommended that "asylum seekers should be allowed to sustain themselves and contribute to society through paid work. It is unacceptable to use destitution as a tool of coercion when dealing with ‘refused’ asylum seekers."

Joining the campaign is a direct response to that recommendation. Other campaign partners include the Catholic Bishops Conference; Church Action on Poverty: Amnesty International UK and the Refugee Council.

Archbishop of Canterbury gives Wilberforce Lecture: 'Freedom and Slavery'

As part of the Church's response to the Bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave the Wilberforce Lecture at the City Hall in Hull on 24 April 2007. The lecture, entitled ‘Freedom and Slavery’, can be read at: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/070424.htm

Archbishop of York tells of his own captivity in repeated call for release of Alan Johnston

The Archbishop of York's address at the London Press Club Awards on 10 May. "Standing among you all, I feel like the youngest, the put upon and the most inexperienced lion in Daniel’s den of lions"! For full text see: http://www.salvonet.com/diocese_of_york/cgi/news/news.cgi?t=template&a=1074