Report on business from the General Synod in York

Sunday 9 July 2006

Synod business began after lunch with various financial matters.

First there was a presentation on pensions in the light of the problems being faced by the Church of England Pensions Board as well as other pensions bodies.

Synod then voted for a 2.9% increase in the overall budget of the Archbishops’ Council.
In particular the expenditure budgeted for 2007 is:

Training	£10,090,900	8.9% increase
National Bodies	£ 9,919,100	frozen
Grants	£1,522,100	7.5% increase
Mission Agencies	£740,000	frozen
CHARM	£2,900,00	6.7%

Mission agencies means the pension costs of clergy working for the mission agencies.
CHARM is the provision of retirement housing for clergy.

The Synod also had an opportunity to debate the Church Commissioners’ Annual Report.

Last business of the afternoon was a debate brought by Southwark Diocesan Synod on Carbon Dioxide Emissions. The resolution was:
‘That this Synod ask the Mission and Public Affairs Council to develop further the Shrinking the Footprint initiative to recommend how church members can make their contribution to reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 in line with the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC).’

In the evening the Synod received a report on the World Council of Churches assembly. The Synod voted earlier in the day to allocate £108,000 to the WCC and the cost of the assembly itself was £35,000.