Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2014

Church Commissioners Measure 1947

3 (1) The Church Commissioners Measure 1947 is further amended as follows.

(2) In section 4(5) after the word “post” there are inserted the words “or by electronic transmission”.

(3) For section 5(2) there is substituted the following subsection—

“(2) The Archbishop of Canterbury shall be the chairman of the Board and—

(a) he may appoint a deputy chairman from among the members of the Board, who may act as chairman in the Archbishop’s absence at any meeting to be held during the period of five years following the date of his appointment; and

(b) if neither the chairman nor the deputy chairman is present at any meeting, the members attending the meeting may elect a member to act as chairman of that meeting.”.

(4) Section 6 is amended as follows—

(a) the Audit Committee established by section 6(1) is re-named the Audit and Risk Committee and, accordingly, the references in that section and in any other provision of the Measure and in any other enactment to the Audit Committee shall be construed as references to the Audit and Risk Committee;

(b) in subsection (3A), in the definition of “actuary”, for the words “Institute of Actuaries or of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland” there are substituted the words “Institute and Faculty of Actuaries”;

(c) in subsection (3B), after paragraph (a) there is inserted the following paragraph—

“(aa) a duty to keep under review the risks, including financial risks, to which the Commissioners are exposed in carrying out their functions and the adequacy of the steps taken by the Commissioners to mitigate those risks;”;

(d) for subsection (4) there is substituted the following subsection—

“(4) The Standing Orders regulating the procedure of the Board, the Assets Committee or any committee appointed by the Board may provide for authorising the chairman, deputy chairman or an appropriate officer to act on behalf of the Board, the Assets Committee or other committee, as the case may be, in relation to such matters as the Board may think fit.”; and

(e) for the heading to the section there is substituted “Assets Committee and Audit and Risk Committee”.

(5) In section 9, there is added at the end the following subsection—

“(3) In this section “signature” includes signature by electronic means.”

(6) In paragraph 2 of Schedule 1—

(a) for the sentence beginning “Nominated Commissioners” there is substituted the following sentence—

“Nominated Commissioners shall hold office for such period as the person or persons making the nomination may determine.”, and

(b) the sentence beginning “In this paragraph” is omitted.

(7) In paragraph 5A of Schedule 1, for the words “a House” there are substituted the words “the House of Bishops”.

(8) For paragraph 6 of Schedule 1, there is substituted the following paragraph—

“6 Every lay Commissioner, other than a person who is a Commissioner in right of office, shall, upon appointment and before acting as a Commissioner, sign and return to an officer of the Commissioners a written declaration of membership of the Church of England.”.

(9) After paragraph 5 of Schedule 4 there is inserted the following paragraph—

“5A(1) The chairman of the Board or of any committee may, if he considers that any business can properly be conducted by correspondence, instruct the secretary of the Board or of the committee to circulate to the Board or the committee in writing or by electronic transmission proposals requiring the approval of its members.

(2) Unless objections to the proposals are received from any members in such numbers and within such period from the date of their posting or transmission (as the case may be), as may be specified in Standing Orders, the proposals shall be deemed, at the expiry of that period, to be approved by the Board or the committee with the same effect as if they had been approved at a duly convened meeting.”.