Oral QuestionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

Tabled: 3 February 2020Answered: 6 February 2020

Asked by

Liz Twist

LabourBlaydon and Consett

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Answer from Hansard

Marsha De Cordova

It is so important that we celebrate women who have been ordinated. Tuesday 12 March 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the first ordinations of women as priests in the Church of England, and about 6,500 women have been ordained since 1994. Women now make up about one third of the clergy in England, and obviously this proportion is growing. Many services of celebration have taken place across the country to recognise the considerable contributions that these women have made and continue to make to the Church. However, as we all know, there is still a long way to go and much more work to be done in this area.