Deprived Communities
Thursday, 26 February 2026
Contributions
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)Labour
2. What steps the Church of England is taking to support deprived communities.
The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Marsha De Cordova)Labour
The Church remains a major investor in deprived communities. Funding for the period from 2026 to 2028 has reached a record £430 million, focusing on strengthening ministry and providing long-term support for the lowest-income communities. That is in addition to the £91 million already spent in the period between 2023 and 2025 in dioceses in urban, post-industrial and coastal communities. Just recently, at the last General Synod meeting, we marked the 40th anniversary of the landmark “Faith in the City” report into tackling structural deprivation.
Over the last few weeks, I have visited Winton and Parkstone community pantry at the Winton Christadelphian church, which is supported by FareShare, and the sanctuary project at St Andrew’s church in Kinson, which has a food bank supported by the Trussell Trust. Both churches go out of their way to support our community members in need. Will the hon. Lady join me in paying tribute to the churches and their volunteers? Will she outline what more they can do to provide support with the cost of living and isolation in our communities?
Churches are cornerstones of all our communities, and I congratulate the clergy, volunteers and congregation of St Andrew’s church in Kinson and the Winton Christadelphian church on their hard work and contributions to supporting the community pantry and the sanctuary project. Across the country, churches are delivering around 31,000 community projects, including 8,000 food banks, 4,000 parent and carer groups, 5,000 lunch clubs and 3,000 community cafés. These programmes offer practical support, companionship and advice to those facing hardship, demonstrating the Church’s ongoing commitment to serving and standing with all our communities nationwide.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)Conservative
St Nicholas church in Shepperton in my constituency made an application under the listed places of worship scheme to get £16,000 of VAT back on essential repairs that it has made. It got an auto-reply saying that the scheme has been used up and that there is no money left. On behalf of the Church Commissioners, will the hon. Member entreat the Government to look again at that application and see whether the VAT can be reclaimed?
Mr SpeakerSpeaker
I am not quite sure that question is relevant, actually.
That is what I was going to say.
Yes, do not worry about it. Let us move on.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5250859.