PARISH
Assembly to be hybrid
Thomas Baldwin reports on the decision by a Commission of Assembly to run this month’s General Assembly with a mixture of participants online and in person.
THE 2022 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will be a hybrid event, with a mixture of in-person and online commissioners.
Under the measures, agreed at a Commission of Assembly in March, an in-person Assembly will be held in Edinburgh, but at least a quarter of the Commissioners will attend virtually. Non-voting attendees, such as youth delegates and corresponding members, will also be able to elect to take part online if they wish.
This will enable numbers in the Assembly Hall to be capped at 550, leaving every second seat vacant.
The convener of the Assembly Business Committee, the Rev Donald McCorkindale, told the Commission that the 2021 Assembly had passed the standard act calling on the following year’s gathering to meet in Edinburgh, anticipating that Covid-19 restrictions would be behind us by then.
“With the benefit of hindsight,” he continued, “We might wish the Act had been caveated in some way.
“Legal restrictions have passed, but Government advice calls for personal responsibility. We may meet in person. A risk assessment has been carried out and established that with safety restrictions, we would require to cap on site attendance at around three quarters of commissioners and other participants.
“We also understand and hear that many commissioners would choose not to be in a crowded context.”
He added that there would be cost implications to allowing some commissioners to take part online, but that this would be more than offset by the savings in transport and accommodation expenses.
Presbyteries were instructed to notify the Principal Clerk’s office which of their commissioners will be attending online by April 8, and other participants who wish to do so must give notice by April 15. There will however be provision for people attending in person to switch to online before or during the Assembly.
The measures were passed almost unanimously, although a requirement that presbyteries submit exact numbers of online and in-person commissioners as directed by the Committee was deleted. The Rev Bryan Kerr, interim Clerk of the Presbytery of Forth Valley and Clydesdale, said that 55% of their commissioners had indicated that they would prefer to attend online; and that telling some that they had to attend in person would be difficult.
Mr Kerr added that the Assembly was not like a church service, meeting for an hour. “We are here as commissioners for five days, for between six to eight hours a day. We are going into slightly uncharted territory. It is one thing preparing a risk assessment, but it is another implementing it.”
He asked whether the risk assessment would be made available to commissioners. Mr McCorkindale replied that there was no reason for it not to be, and that there would be guidance to make sure people are kept as safe as possible.
“This year’s General Assembly, which opens on Saturday May 21, will be the first in person Assembly since 2019.
Marjorie Clarke asked whether commissioners would be allowed to choose to attend virtually for reasons other than Covid-19 concerns, such as the distance to travel. Mr McCorkindale said there was no intention to police this.
The Business Committee was also granted powers to take the Assembly entirely online if it becomes necessary, for instance if a new Covid-19 variant emerges.
While the plan is not to allow entry to the public, that could change should the number of commissioners attending in person be low enough.
At the close of the debate Mr McCorkindale made a plea to Assembly commissioners to take daily lateral flow tests and other steps to minimise the risk of infection.
This year’s General Assembly, which opens on Saturday May 21, will be the first in person Assembly since 2019. 2020’s Assembly was cancelled apart from a short ceremony to install the Moderator, and last year’s event was held virtually, with only the Moderator, officials and speakers in the hall. ¤