Citation, interpretation and commencement
1.—(1) This Resolution may be cited as the Church Representation Rules (Amendment) Resolution 2014 and the Church Representation Rules (Amendment) Resolutions 1973 to 2009(1) and this Resolution may be cited together as the Church Representation Rules (Amendment) Resolutions 1973 to 2014.
(2) In this Resolution any reference to a rule or Appendix is a reference to the rule or Appendix bearing that number in the Church Representation Rules.
(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4) below this Resolution shall come into force as follows—
(a)this paragraph and paragraphs 2 to 15 shall come into force on the same date as the coming into force of Amending Canon No. 32; and
(b)paragraphs 16 to 20 shall come into force on 1st January 2015.
(4) Nothing in this Resolution shall affect the composition of, or the filling of vacancies in the membership of, the House of Laity of the General Synod in existence at the date on which it comes into force.
Composition of the House of Laity
2. In Rule 35(1)(d), for “the Forces Synodical Council” substitute “the Armed Forces Synod”.
Number of Elected Members
3. In Rule 36(1) omit “the diocese in Europe which shall elect two members, and”.
4. After Rule 36(2) insert—
“(3) The secretary of each diocesan synod shall, not later than the 1st August in the fourth year after the last preceding election of the House of Laity, certify to the Clerk to the General Synod the total number of names on the rolls of the parishes of the diocese.”
Conduct of Elections
5. In Rule 39(3), after “diocesan electoral registration officer” insert “(which shall, in the case of each elector who has notified the diocesan electoral registration officer that he wishes to receive and send nomination papers and receive election addresses by electronic mail, include the electronic mail address which the elector has authorised for those purposes),”.
6. In Rule 39(3)(i), after “nomination papers” insert “(which, in the case of a person who has authorised the use of an electronic mail address, shall be sent to that address)”.
7. In Rule 39(3)(ii), after “register of electors” insert “or at some other address notified in writing to the presiding officer by the person concerned before the close of nominations”.
8. In Rule 39(3), after “any other person who requests them” insert “(and, if the person making the request authorises the use of an electronic mail address, the papers shall be sent to that address)”.
9. In Rule 39(4) for “is seeking re-election” substitute “has previously served as a member of the House of Laity”.
10. In Rule 39(4), after “by post,” insert “as an attachment to electronic mail,”.
11. In Rule 39(4), omit the words from “, provided that” to the end.
12. After Rule 39(6) insert—
“(6A) It shall be the duty of the presiding officer, before voting papers are issued, to post or cause to be posted on the website of the diocese concerned copies of all election addresses received by the due date in the prescribed form, together with a list of all the candidates.”
13. For Rule 39(12) substitute—
“(12) The full return of the result and the result sheet shall, until the end of the first group of sessions of the new Synod—
(a)in the case of an election in a diocese or part of a diocese, be displayed in the diocesan office, posted on the diocese’s website and displayed at the General Synod Office;
(b)in the case of any other election, be displayed at the General Synod Office and posted on the Church of England website.”
14. After Rule 48(8) insert—
“(8A) In the case of an election to fill a casual vacancy in a diocese or part of a diocese, the presiding officer shall within four working days of the declaration of the result to every candidate in the election—
(a)send a full return of the result and the result sheet to every person already elected in that diocese or part as a member of the Lower House of Convocation or the House of Laity of the General Synod (in addition to sending them to the persons specified in rule 39(11)); and
(b)post or cause to be posted on the diocese’s website the full return of the result and the result sheet.”
15. After Rule 48(11) insert—
“(12) For the purposes of paragraph (5)(b), the time when the period for holding a general election is due to begin is the time when the Convocations of the Provinces are dissolved under section 1(2) of the Church of England Convocations Act 1966.”
Appendix I – Synodical Government Forms
16. In paragraph 1 of the application form for enrolment contained in Section 1 of Appendix I, after “I am baptised” insert “, am a lay person”.
17. In the form of notice of revision of church electoral roll contained in Section 2 of Appendix I, after “Under the Church Representation Rules any” insert “lay”.
18. In the form of notice of preparation of new roll contained in Section 3 of Appendix I, after “Under the Church Representation Rules any” insert “lay”.
19. In the notice of election contained in Section 5 of Appendix I, omit paragraph 4.
20. In the form of nomination contained in Section 6 of Appendix I for “Year for birth” substitute “Year of birth” and omit “so as to be received no later than 12 noon on…”.
Approved by the General Synod on 15th July 2014
Dr J. Philips
Clerk to the Synod
Church House, London