Welcome
Daniel Singleton from FaithAction, secretariat, welcomed those in attendance and opened the meeting.
Election of officers
Officers were elected as follows:
- Chair: Zöe Franklin MP
- Officer: Anna Dixon MP
- Officer: Danny Kruger MP
- Officer: Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London
Background to the APPG on Faith and Society
Daniel Singleton, FaithAction
The APPG on Faith and Society was formed in order for parliamentarians to support faith groups and their vital work.
Previous work includes the development of the Faith Covenant – 33 local authorities have signed up so far, with Cornwall being the most recent area.
The APPG also works with academics to promote their research, in the past this has included issues such as addiction, and anti-slavery.
The government is keen to work together on faith and society issues.
Faith Covenant
Jeremy Simmons, FaithAction
The Faith Covenant provides the blueprint to enable partnership work and alleviate mistrust on both sides of partnership.
The Faith Covenant is most successful when a practical programme of work is involved, so that it is not just a symbolic declaration.
We are supporting a number of areas that are currently working towards signing a Faith Covenant.
There is potential to pilot a Faith Covenant around health.
There is scope for bringing more partners on board due to the reorganisations of local governments.
Comments
Anna Dixon would like the APPG to offer sessions for MPs in Faith Covenant areas, to ensure that they are aware of it, and to offer the opportunity of joining the APPG.
Next Steps
Zöe Franklin MP
Zöe Franklin would like work on Faith in Partnership 2025 to continue, potentially incorporating the session for Faith Covenant area MPs (as mentioned above). Anna Dixon suggested that Faith in Partnership Week would be a good opportunity explore ICB Covenants by bringing together NHS voices and local governments.
Zöe Franklin noted that one more area of focus is realistic for the coming year. This could be on:
- The Casey Review – a roundtable with faith leaders
- Faith literacy – such as faith in the workplace
- Academic approaches to highlight their work.
Comments
Social Care
Darren Paffey said that social care is the next big urgent thing that the government needs to deal with, and input from the APPG could be crucial. Anna Dixon agreed that the government needs to build in the voice of faith groups to their review, as faith supports many disabled and older people in many ways. Lord Rook agreed that faith communities make a massive contribution and have creative solutions to tackle the issue.
Ethical Finance
Lord Alderdice suggested that it may be beneficial to liaise with officers of the APPG on Islamic and Ethical Finance for a conversation around faith and ethical finance. There is an annual conference taking place in September. Anna Dixon added that there is a credit union in her constituency that has links to faith settings and that it is the less risky way for people to borrow money, adding that the Archbishop of Canterbury did work looking into ethics and finance. Lord Rook commented that Ethos bank is religiously driven finance which is Shariah compliant, and may be of relevance for this discussion.
Child Poverty
Darren Paffey mentioned that faith groups do a lot around child poverty – many examples in his own constituency around things like foster care and churches. There is a taskforce on child poverty, many examples of good practice and solutions in this area.
Lord Rook said that Department for Work and Pensions need more effective consultations with faith groups around child poverty strategies – there is a letter signed by faith leaders that complains about the lack of engagement around policy on child poverty.
Anna Dixon acknowledged that APPG capacity needs to be kept in mind, but that being responsive within the window to influence, through adhoc meetings with the right voices and examples, and may be more effective than a fixed programme of works.
Youth Strategy
Zöe Franklin mentioned that faith groups could feed into the youth strategy due to the huge volume of work they do with young people.
Civil Society Covenant
Daniel Singleton drew attention to the Civil Society Covenant – Joy Johnson, faith adviser at No. 10 asked him to be on task and finish group as her concern was that faith had not been mentioned. Lord Rook said that Department for Cultural, Media and Sport initially didn’t consider faith groups within the broader VCS, however the No. 10 has been keen to amend this as lots of VCSE organisations are in the faith space.
Quality of Discourse
Lord Rees said that he had been discussing the topic of quality of public discourse, with church leaders in Bristol. There is a great concern about how journalists frame discussions, and that language used around political discussion is often violent and binary.
Inter Faith
Anna Dixon asked if there was an APPG on Inter Faith, particularly around social cohesion, which could provide concrete examples of good practice.
Close
Zöe Franklin thanked attendees for their contributions and closed the meeting.