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February–May 2020

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2020

Frank Cranmer*
Affiliation:
Fellow, St Chad's College, Durham Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University

Extract

Much of the period under review was dominated by the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Advice both from the Government and from the Churches was at first fairly muted. On 10 February the Government introduced the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020, which applied to England only and which made provision for detention for screening for the virus under certain conditions and imposing restrictions on individuals to limit the risk of those with the infection contaminating others; however, at the same time, the Prime Minister was urging people to remain ‘confident and calm’. Similarly, an Ad Clerum on hygiene at Holy Communion issued by the Bishop of Peterborough on 20 February deprecated the practices of intinction and of receiving the bread directly on to the tongue but did not recommend the ending of communion in both kinds.

Type
Government and Parliamentary Report
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2020

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References

1 SI/2020/129.

2 D Rivers, ‘Boris Johnson urges UK to remain “confident and calm” amid coronavirus threat’, ITV News, 11 February 2020, <https://www.itv.com/news/2020-02-11/coronavirus-uk-boris-johnson-nhs-covid-19/>, accessed 29 June 2020.

5 HC Deb 16 March 2020, vol 673 col 724.

6 Much of the Act extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as to England and Wales. Further provision was made for Scotland by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which received Royal Assent on 6 April.

7 SI/2020/350. Similar provision was made by the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (SI/2020/353 (W. 80)) and the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI/2020/103).

8 SI/2020/447.

9 Cabinet Office, ‘Guidance: COVID-19 roadmap taskforces’, available at <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-roadmap-taskforces/covid-19-roadmap-taskforces>, accessed 26 May 2020.

10 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, ‘New taskforce developing plan to reopen places of worship’, available at <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-taskforce-developing-plan-to-reopen-places-of-worship>, accessed 26 May 2020.

11 Scottish Government, ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): framework for decision making - Scotland's route map through and out of the crisis’, available at <https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-framework-decision-making-scotlands-route-map-through-out-crisis/>, accessed 26 May 2020.

13 Last updated 14 May: available at <https://www.oscr.org.uk/guidance-and-forms/covid-19-guidance-for-charities/>, accessed 29 June 2020.

16 ‘Press statement by Michel Barnier following the second round of future relationship negotiations with the United Kingdom’, 24 April 2020, available at <https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_20_739>, accessed 26 April 2020.

17 ‘Remarks by Michel Barnier following Round 3 of negotiations for a new partnership between the European Union and the United Kingdom’, available at <https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_20_895>, accessed 26 May 2020.

18 The full text of the Rules, as amended, is available on the Church of England website at <https://www.churchofengland.org/more/policy-and-thinking/church-representation-rules/church-representation-rules-online-contents>, accessed 26 May 2020.