List of Recommendations |
|
|
Chapter 3 |
|
| 1. | The independence of the Royal Peculiars from diocesan and provincial control should be preserved. |
| 2. | Except in this respect, good practice already established in equivalent institutions should be adopted. |
|
Chapter 4 |
|
| 1. | Westminster Abbey should keep under review its present arrangement for a single-sex choir school limited to choristers only. |
| 2. | Consideration should be given to developing the educational responsibilities of the Dean and Chapter in the maintained sector. |
| 3. | We urge the wider development of the Abbey's educational role in relation to teaching and evangelism. |
| 4. | The Abbey's role as patron of the arts should be continued and encouraged. |
| 5. | Further extension of the Abbey's corporate service is to be encouraged. |
| 6. | Mission and evangelism should be given equal weight with the duties connected with public occasions and the management of visitors. |
| 7. | A means should be sought for consultation with those who do worship or wish to worship at the Abbey on a regular basis. This might be associated with the setting up of an Association of Friends (see para. 41). |
| 8. | Social inclusion and an active policy aiming at diversity and equality of opportunity should be central aims in all activities and especially in employment matters. |
| 9. | The Abbey's policy in relation to volunteers should be kept under review. |
| 10. | The practical needs of managing large numbers of visitors should be balanced against their pastoral and educational needs. |
| 11. | More attention should be given to promoting the Abbey's wider role and to disseminating news of its activities in the realms of teaching, evangelising and mission. |
|
Chapter 5 |
|
| 1. | The Dean and Chapter of St. George's Chapel should further consider how their local involvement can be enhanced. |
| 2. | Further consideration should be given to changing the focus of Sunday worship from Mattins to a Sung Eucharist, followed by the opportunity for fellowship with the congregation. |
| 3. | Consideration should also be given to introducing greater flexibility in the use of invited preachers. |
| 4. | The handling and training of volunteers should be reviewed in the light of best practice established elsewhere. |
| 5. | The Dean and Canons should consider how their role and mission can be made more widely known, and to a broader constituency. |
| 6. | The authority of the Dean and his role as Ordinary should be clarified (see also Chapter 7, recommendation 10). |
| 7. | Consideration should be given to adopting a more streamlined management structure for the College of St. George and to relieving the Canons of some of their direct management duties. |
| 8. | Means should be investigated of giving the School more independence from the Dean and Chapter, and to introducing more lay people into its governance, with a view to reducing the liability of the Dean and Canons and their exposure to risk. |
| 9. | Appointments to Canonries should be made with specific reference to suitability for the work in which those appointed are likely to be involved at St. George's House. |
| 10. | The future mission of St. George's House should be reviewed and its governance structure clarified. |
| 11. | Further consideration should be given to streamlining its staffing structure. In particular it is not clear to us that its size warrants the two paid posts of Warden and Director of Studies. |
| 12. | There should be wider dissemination of the results of consultations held at St. George's House and consideration should be given to other ways in which its role and activities can become more widely known and understood. |
| 13. | Wide consultation should take place about the nature of future clergy courses and a system of monitoring, training and evaluation put in place. |
| 14. | A full survey should be undertaken of the state of all the buildings owned by the Dean and Canons, with a long-term plan for repairs and restoration. |
| 15. | A detailed plan of the relevant areas should be drawn up as a matter of priority. |
| 16. | A five-year business plan should be prepared covering all the activities of the College of St. George. |
| 17. | Urgent consideration needs to be given to the issue of future funding for necessary work to the historic fabric. |
|
Chapter 6 |
|
| 1. | Regular overall reviews of their different arrangements, and more regular contact between the clergy of the three Chapels Royal would be beneficial, both with a view to removing discrepancies where appropriate and in order to facilitate relations with the Historic Royal Palaces Trust. |
| 2. | The arrangements for clergy stipends at the Tower of London and Hampton Court should be reviewed by the Royal Household, with a view to removing what seem to be current anomalies. |
| 3. | There should be a similar review of the levels of choir payments and arrangements in each of the Chapels Royal. |
|
Chapter 7 |
|
| 1. | A Register of the Customs of Westminster Abbey should be drawn up, and should include a list and summary of all Statutes and supplementary governance documents (see also chapter 4, para. 27). |
| 2. | A Standing Commission for the Royal Peculiars should be established, to which the Sovereign and the Lord Chancellor would delegate the performance of their Visitorial functions. |
| 3. | The role of Visitor at St. George's Chapel should revert to the Sovereign. |
| 4. | The Standing Commission should consist of no less than three and no more than five persons, appointed by the Crown. One should be a senior bishop of the Royal Household other than the Bishop of London, Dean of the Chapels Royal, one a person who holds or has held high judicial office, and another should have financial expertise. The bishop should be the chairman. Appointments should be made for five years with the possibility of renewal for a further term. |
| 6. | The Standing Commission should meet at least once a year, and make an annual report to the Visitor. It should receive the annual budget, the audited accounts and an annual strategic report from each institution, and act as an advisory body. |
| 7. | The Standing Commission should where possible exercise a mediating role in the settlement of disputes. |
| 8. | It should also act on behalf of the Visitor in the case of the investigation of complaints or disciplinary matters. These may be secular or ecclesiastical. |
| 9. | In matters of ecclesiastical discipline, clergy in the Royal Peculiars should become subject to disciplinary procedures laid down by Measure, subject to modification as required. |
| 10. | The Deans of Westminster and Windsor should each be clearly recognised as the chairman of their Chapter with a casting vote if need be, and further consideration should be given as to what is meant by the term 'Ordinary', with a view to clarifying what seem to be discrepancies in understanding between the two institutions and in order to arrive at a common mind. |
| 11. | Two lay persons should be appointed as members of each of the Chapters of Westminster Abbey and St. George's Chapel. Subject to the views of the Deans and Chapters the Receiver General and the Chapter Clerk should be added, and their present specific duties as Clerk to the Chapter separated out. |
| 12. | The lay appointments should be made by the Crown for a period of five years with the possibility of renewal. One member in each case should have financial experience. |
| 13. | Residentiary Canons should henceforth be appointed with limited tenure. We suggest appointments for seven years, renewable for another three. A similar provision should also be considered for the posts of Sub-Dean and Chaplains at the Chapels Royal. When making such limited-term appointments we hope that the Crown would recognise a duty to assist in the onward placement of the individuals concerned. |
| 14. | Attention should be given to appointing women among the clergy of the Royal Peculiars, including the residentiary Canons. We make a similar recommendation in the case of senior lay appointments, including those of lay persons on the two Chapters. |
| 15. | In the cases of Westminster Abbey and St. George's a finance committee should be appointed which should include persons having financial expertise and experience and which should advise the Dean and Chapter in connection with their responsibilities in the field of financial and investment management. |
| 16. | Both Westminster Abbey and St. George's Chapel should now come within the Care of Cathedrals Measure 1990. |
| 17. | In the period before the necessary legislation is in place, an independent chairman should be appointed for the Westminster Abbey Fabric Commission and the Dean and Chapter should cease to be voting members. |
| 18. | Enforcement should be a matter for the Standing Commission, acting on behalf on the Visitor. |
| 19. | Assuming 16-18 above, we think that the present separate treatment of the Pyx Chamber and the Chapter House would merit reconsideration. |
Return to contents page