Statutory Provision: The Vacancy in See Committees
Regulation 1993, as amended by the Vacancy in See Committees (Amendment) Regulation 2003.
1. Establishment and Composition
(a) In every diocese there shall continue to be in existence at all times a Vacancy in See Committee consisting of:
Ex Officio members:
(i) the suffragan bishop or bishops and any full-time stipendiary assistant bishop who is a member of the Diocesan House of Bishops.
(ii) the dean of the cathedral or, if he or she is unable to serve, a member of the Chapter of the cathedral elected by the Chapter excluding from election any person who is a member of the Committee in any other capacity; where there is an equality of votes, the matter shall be decided by lot.
(iii) two archdeacons elected by and from the archdeacons of the diocese; if there are no more than two archdeacons in the diocese, those archdeacons or archdeacon. Where there is an equality of votes, the matter shall be decided by lot.
(iv) the proctors elected by the diocese to the Lower House of Convocation excluding the representative archdeacon appointed as a member of Convocation pursuant to Canon H2.
(v) the members elected by the diocese to the House of Laity of the General Synod.
(vi) the chairman of the House of Clergy and the chairman of the House of Laity of the Diocesan Synod.
Elected members
(vii) not fewer than two Clerks in Holy Orders being clerks beneficed in the diocese or licensed under seal by the bishop of the diocese, elected by the House of Clergy of the Diocesan Synod except that no
archdeacon and no person in Episcopal orders shall be eligible for election under this paragraph.
(viii) not fewer than two actual communicant lay persons whose names are on the electoral roll of a parish in the diocese elected by the House of Laity of the Diocesan Synod.
(b) The number to be elected under sub-paragraphs (a) (vii) and (viii) of this Regulation shall be such as to ensure (having taken account of the place of residence of ex-officio members) that –
(i) every archdeaconry in the diocese will be adequately represented; and
(ii) the number of members of the Committee (including ex-officio members) who are in Holy Orders and who are lay persons shall, as far as possible, be equal and shall not otherwise exceed two clerks in Holy Orders and two actual communicant lay persons.
(c) The Bishop’s Council and Standing Committee of the diocese may nominate not more than four additional persons who reflect a special interest in the diocese or whose nomination is in the opinion of the Bishop’s Council and Standing Committee appropriate in order to secure a better reflection of the diocese as a whole to serve on the Vacancy in See
Committee for a term ending on the date on which the elected members of the Committee cease to hold office under paragraph (2(a) of this Regulation.
(d) The Committee shall have no power to co-opt additional members.
2. Elections:
(a) Subject to paragraph 3(d) of this Regulation the elected members of the Committee shall be elected by the Houses of Clergy and Laity of the Diocesan Synod and their term of office shall commence on the first day of January following the election of a new synod and end on 31st December following the election of the next synod.
(b) Persons eligible to stand for election shall be proposed and seconded by members of the appropriate House of the Diocesan Synod.
(c) The election shall be conducted by the method of the single transferable vote in accordance with the Regulations of the General Synod currently in force.
Chairman: elected by the Bishop’s Council from among the members of the Committee, both ex-officio and elected.
Function: (a) To prepare a statement setting out the needs of the diocese, to be sent to the Crown Nominations Commission of the General Synod
(b) To elect from amongst its members persons to be members of the Crown Nominations Commission for its work in
connection with the vacancy in the diocesan bishopric.
Panel of Assessors
Statutory Provision: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963: Clause 5 (1) of Part II of the Second Schedule.
For the purpose of providing assessors to sit with consistory courts in the hearing and determination of proceedings under Part IV* of this Measure, the diocesan synod of each diocese shall appoint a committee whose duty it shall be to draw up with the approval of the synod, and from time to time to revise with the like approval:
a) a panel of six priests;
b) a panel of six lay people who must be communicants.
* Part IV - Conduct of Proceedings against Priests or Deacons for offences under the Measure not involving matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremonial (i.e. any other offence against the laws ecclesiastical) including
i) conduct unbecoming the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders
ii) serious, persistent or continuous neglect of duty.
The Diocesan Conference on 21 May 1966 appointed the Standing Council (now Bishop's Council) as the Committee to draw up the panels of assessors for approval by the Conference.
By resolution of the Conference on 27 February 1967 the Conference approved a Panel of six priests and six lay people drawn up by the Standing Council for a term of office of six years. New panels have been regularly appointed by the Diocesan Synod, as successor to the Conference, to serve for terms of five years.

Panel of Examiners
Statutory Provision: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963: Clause 1 (1) of the Second Schedule
For the purpose of enabling examiners to be appointed for the purpose of enquiring under section twenty-four of the Measure into complaints laid under Part IV* the diocesan synod of each diocese shall appoint a committee whose duty it shall be to draw up with the approval of the synod, and from time to time to revise with the like approval, a panel of not less than three persons having a seven-year general qualification (within the meaning of Section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990) and possessing such experience as the Chancellor shall consider appropriate and as to whom the committee is satisfied that they are communicants.
* Part IV - Conduct of Proceedings against Priests or Deacons for offences under the Measure not involving matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremonial (i.e. any other offence against the laws ecclesiastical) including
i) conduct unbecoming the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders
ii) serious, persistent or continuous neglect of duty.
The Diocesan Conference on 27 February 1967 appointed the Standing Council (now Bishop's Council) as the committee to draw up a panel of examiners for approval by the Conference. Later in the same session the conference approved a Panel of three drawn up by the Standing Council for a term of office of six years. New panels have been regularly appointed by the Diocesan Synod, as successor to the Conference.