To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, if he will assess the financial consequences of disestablishment of the Church of England. [76004]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 25 January 1999, Official Report, column 17.Disestablishment would not lie with the Commissioners to initiate and, without formal instructions and definitions, any estimates of costs are impractical.