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Clergy

Asked by Andrew RosindellReform UKChurch CommissionersTabled Answered 1 September 2025UIN 69758

The question

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, how many clergy of incumbent status have been dispossessed by diocese in each of the last five years; and how many (a) dispossession of office and (b) other schemes are being prepared.

Answered by Marsha De Cordova

In the period 2020-2025 there have been 11 dispossession cases under the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011. There are 7,340 stipendiary clergy, meaning dispossession cases represent a very small (less than 1%) proportion of overall clergy numbers.

By diocese these break down as follows:
• Portsmouth – 6 cases
• St Albans – 2 cases (plus one in process)
• Southwark – 1 case
• York – 1 case
• Leeds – 1 case

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