15. Dr Barry Newman asked -

With reference to the recent Enquiry by Standing Committee into the Anglican Counselling Centre -

(a) approximately how many copies of the report of the Committee of Enquiry have been made available to Synod members subsequent to the Diocesan Secretary's memorandum dated 20 September 1999 indicating its availability to Synod members?

(b) approximately how many copies of the response of the majority of the Council of the Centre to the report have been made available to people who are not members of the Council or members of Standing Committee? and

(c) approximately how many of this number have been made available to members of the Synod?

To which the President replied -

This answer has been prepared on the assumption that the questioner is seeking information about the number of copies of reports and responses which have been circulated by the Diocesan Secretary for or on behalf of the Standing Committee.

Before answering the specific questions, some background might be useful. On 23 August 1999, the Standing Committee agreed to make available to Synod members, upon request, the report of the committee which enquired into the Anglican Counselling Centre, the response of the majority of the members of the Council of the Counselling Centre and the 2 minority responses, subject to the majority of the Council and the persons preparing the minority responses agreeing to their respective responses being made available.

The Diocesan Secretary wrote to the Chairman of the Counselling Centre and the persons preparing the minority responses seeking their agreement. One of the persons who prepared a minority response has given permission for her response to be circulated; the other person preparing a minority response declined to give his permission. No formal response has been received in relation to the report of the majority of the members of the Council.

With this background, the question can be answered as follows-

(a) 4. A further 4 copies had been distributed prior to 20 September 1999.

(b) None, since permission to circulate the response has not been obtained.

(c) Cannot be answered, because of the answer to (b).