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Review finds governance failings at Lambeth Conference

Finance | Tania Mason | 27 Apr 2009

The governance arrangements for last year’s loss-making Lambeth Conference, the Church of England’s ten-yearly assemblies of bishops convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, were “less robust than they needed to be”, a review has found.

An independent review of the financial planning for the Conference was ordered after the organisers requested interest-free loans of up to £600,000 to plug the deficit that arose from the event, from both the Church Commissioners and the Archbishops Council.

Of the £388,000 actually borrowed by the Lambeth Conference Company, £124,000 has now been repaid, leaving £132,000 owing to each organisation.

The review group, which was chaired by former Deloitte partner John Ormerod, found that although the Conference organisers acted wisely by setting up the Lambeth Conference Company to own the cost and contractual implications of decisions, it was established too late to be able to inform some key decisions, such as fee-setting.

“Overall governance arrangements need to ensure that challenges can be identified, options offered for their resolution, and solutions agreed by the appropriate parties and then implemented in a timely manner,” the review stated.

“It is in this regard that the group considers arrangements in place for the 2008 conference were less robust than they needed to be.”

Governance arrangements 'should be formally documented'

The group found that reporting lines, responsibilities and authority were sometimes unclear, despite the creation of the conference company and despite regular meetings between key staff and the Archbishop. It recommended that in future, formal governance arrangements should be documented and that all involved should work to clear written responsibilities and lines of authority.

“The governance documents…should recognise the responsibilities of the directors of the conference company as trustees of the charity and under company law.”

Conflicts of interest

The group added that the fact that some directors of the conference company were employees of national Church institutions while also accountable to the Archbishop for delivering the Conference, created conflicts of interest. As a result, it recommended that the company’s articles of association should be changed to enable its board to appoint a chair, and ideally a second non-executive director, who is independent of all the church bodies.

In order to avoid the financial situation being so precarious in future, the review group also recommended there should be more transparency and early negotiation with Anglican Communion provinces and other contributors about their actual input.

“Specifically, any funding commitment from the Church Commissioners should be discussed and agreed at an earlier stage and in advance of related expenditure commitments, and in time for inclusion in the funders’ relevant budgets.” No contracts should be entered into before the necessary funding to cover it has been secured; a proper fee-setting process should be devised, and an approved outline financial plan should be in place as early as five years before the next conference takes place.

Representatives of the Lambeth Conference did not respond to requests for comments.

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