The Advisory Group on the Reopening of Churches, established for the Scottish Episcopal Church, has today [5 June] issued the following statement:

“The Advisory Group has made good progress in working on guidance for the Church since its first meeting last week. Initial draft material has been produced and the Group has benefited from the opportunity for joint discussion of that material with the College of Bishops on Wednesday this week.

“The Group met again yesterday [4 June] and is now working towards finalising guidance in relation to Phase 2 for the Church in relation to the Scottish Government Route Map. The Group intends that it will be in a position to make its Phase 2 guidance available by no later than the end of next week [12 June].

“When available, the guidance will be emailed to clergy, lay readers and vestry secretaries and will also be posted to the provincial website. The Group will then undertake a similar exercise in relation to Phase 3 of the Route Map, as and when the Government provides greater clarity on how the detail of Phase 3 is to be applied in practice.”