The BBC has responded to a letter from the Methodist Church about the plan to merge its Religion and Ethics department with the Factual department.

In a letter to the BBC last weekend, the Methodist Church said it was grateful for the “outstanding work of the BBC in the field of Religion and Ethics”, and praised the BBC for its “creativity and authority in their engagement with a vast range of ethical issues”.

The Church added, however that it was “deeply concerned” about plans for the new Factual and Religion department and asked for reassurances that the new department would maintain standards and “be given space and resources to creatively develop”.

Since then, the Methodist Church says it has received “some clarification” from the BBC. The BBC said that the changes were mainly concerned with management and with Nick Patten, the head of the Factual Team, who will now also take charge of the Religion and Ethics Team. The Religion and Ethics Team will also feature a new post of Commission Editor.

Anna Drew, chief Media Officer at the Methodist Church, said, “I have received reassurance from Tom Archer, Controller of Factual Production for the BBC, that the Religion and Ethics department in Manchester will continue to provide specialist programming for the BBC and that the new changes will allow for greater creative development of Religion and Ethics programming.”

She added that the Church continued to offer “prayerful support” to BBC staff as the new management structures were implemented.