Questions for next week’s meeting of the CofE General Synod were issued on Friday and will be taken on the afternoon of Monday 10 February 2025. Questions Q153 and 154 [*] mark an important step towards greater transparency of the discussions at meetings of the House of Bishops, an issue discussed by Andrew Atherstone in his post The House of Bishops of the Church of England and public transparency.

[*] Question Q153: The Revd Andrew Atherstone (Oxford) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops

In May 2024, the House of Bishops committed itself to “maximum transparency”, including the publication of its agendas (before each meeting takes place) and its minutes, as outlined in GS Misc 1387. What processes are now in place to ensure the regular publication of these papers in an expeditious manner?

The Archbishop of York to reply as Vice-Chair of the House of Bishops:

A Thank you for the question and I am grateful for your persistence and help on the important question of how we can build trust through transparency in the work of the House of Bishops.

The minutes of the House of Bishops meetings are now available on the website at House of Bishops | The Church of England [scroll down]. I recognise there has been a delay to publishing the minutes, but in future these should now appear in a timely manner after they have been agreed by the House. Regarding the publication of the agenda – we are aware of further work needed to complete the points set out in GS Misc 1387 and will be working with colleagues on that over the next few months.

Question Q154: Mrs Mary Durlacher (Chelmsford) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops

GS Misc 1387 (Transparency of the House of Bishops) which came to Synod in July of last year had a number of recommendations aimed at ‘increasing the openness and transparency of the work of the House’. For each of the four Recommendations, please confirm if the recommendation has been actioned and from what date, and if not, what is the cause of delay and an estimated timetable for implementation?

The Archbishop of York to reply as Vice-Chair of the House of Bishops:

Thank you for your question. The information is available in the table below

	Recommendation	Complete	Commentary
1	“Minutes of all meetings of the House of Bishops should be published…once they have been approved at the subsequent meeting”	YES	Available at [House of Bishops | The Church of England].
2	“Formal legal advice…or written advice from the Faith and Order Commission should be provided to the General Synod as an annex to the relevant GS paper”.	YES	See for example annex to GS 2378 and GS Misc 1407.
	“Agenda for each House of Bishops meeting will be published with the circulation of papers”	NO	Further work is needed to be done to make this happen.
3	“The House of Bishops should continue to meet without public attendance and should amend its should amend its standing orders to be honest that it is doing so”	IN PART	Except for September 2024, the House of Bishops has met in private. The Standing Orders have not yet been amended because of pressures of other legislative business coming before General Synod.
4	“The House of Bishops will propose changes to Canon H 3 and potentially other legislation to provide for acting diocesan bishops to vote at meetings of the House and General Synod”	NO	The proposed changes to Canon H3 have not yet been actioned because of pressures of other legislative business coming before General Synod.