CHANGES to the standing orders relating to the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) — the body which recommends new bishops to the Crown — were carried on Saturday morning. A series of amendments to the standing orders were successfully moved by Clive Scowen (London) without any objections from the floor.
His first amendment made provision for CNC members elected from the General Synod and who were unable to attend a meeting of the CNC to nominate an alternate.
Currently, it was in the hands of one of the Archbishops, as chair of the CNC, to nominate a replacement, with no guarantee that they would be of a similar mind to the absent member. This, Mr Scowen said, “seems unfair”, and his proposal meant that the member could nominate someone from the membership of the Synod whom they thought suitable, subject to the approval of the chair of the relevant House.
Nicola Denyer (Newcastle) supported the amendment, but asked for consideration of the balance of Northern and Southern Province representation on the CNC.
Jamie Harrison (Durham) also backed the amendment, and said that, until 2021, replacing CNC members fell to the chair and vice-chair of the House of Laity, which had worked well.
Luke Appleton (Exeter) was also in favour, but urged the Church to get to a place where it was no longer showing partiality of any kind, and did not need to “co-opt people because of their skin colour”.
The Archbishop of York said that he and the Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed all the amendments, and thanked the CNC central members for their flexibility. It was important that the CNC represented the breadth of the Church’s diversity, he said. There was more to do around gender, disability, geography, and church tradition.
Sarah Tupling (Deaf Anglicans Together) asked whether non-voting members of the Synod, such as her, could be co-opted on to the CNC.
Mr Scowen said in response that he was wary of introducing too many constraints and criteria on who could serve on the CNC, and that it was down to the members when voting to take into account which province a candidate came from. Non-voting members could not be co-opted, he confirmed.
The amendment was carried.
Mr Scowen then moved his next amendment, which would enable a disabled member of the CNC to have someone else attend meetings to assist them if needed. It was carried.
Mr Scowen then moved another amendment, to allow the co-option of a Global Majority Heritage (GMH) member of the Synod to the CNC if there was not already a GMH person present. He said that, due to the resignation of one of the members of the CNC, and the ordination of one who had been elected as a member of the laity, there was now just one GMH person among the ten remaining members.
Canon Andrew Cornes (Chichester) said that he understood that a co-opted person could attend the CNC but not vote, and said that should this be laid out in the standing orders.
Mr Scowen said that this was the case, but that it would be addressed in a subsequent amendment.
The amendment was carried.
Mr Scowen then moved his next amendment, which explained that a co-opted GMH member of the CNC could not vote.
The amendment was carried.
Mr Scowen moved a technical amendment to create an exception in the standing orders’ general prohibition against co-option. It was carried.
Mr Scowen moved a further technical amendment correcting a reference. It was carried.
Mr Scowen moved an amendment making the same provisions as already allowed for co-option, but when one half of a pair of elected members had already stood down. It was carried.
Mr Scowen moved a further two amendments to tidy up the definition of GMH people in the standing orders. They were carried.
Mr Scowen moved a final technical amendment, which was carried.