19. The Rev Paul Cohen asked -

(a) Does the Standing Committee have the power to refuse access by the Synod or Synod members to reports received by it?

(b) How many times has (and which reports were they) the Standing Committee refused access to the Synod or Synod members a report received by it?

To which the President replied -

(a) A report commissioned by the Standing Committee for its purposes is the property of the Standing Committee. Generally speaking, no person other than a member of the Standing Committee has the right to see it. Notwithstanding this, the Standing Committee's general attitude appears to be that it has no objection to a copy of a report being made available to an interested Synod member, except in special circumstances such as where confidentiality is required.

(b) It is assumed that the time frame implicit in the question is the last 12 months. In the last 12 months, the only formal request for access to a report received by the Standing Committee arose in relation to the report of the committee of enquiry into the Anglican Counselling Centre. The request for access was originally denied (on 9 August), but the Standing Committee reconsidered the matter (on 23 August) and authorised the sale of copies of the report to Synod members.