Bishop of Lincoln suspended following complaint

The Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend Stephen Conway, has been suspended by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, while a complaint is investigated.

No details have been given of what the complaint relates to, but it has been made to the Church of England's national safeguarding team.

In a statement, the Diocese of Lincoln said the complaint had been referred "to the appropriate statutory authorities".

The diocese confirmed The Bishop of Grantham, Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, will act as the Diocesan Bishop during the suspension period and "support was in place for those affected".

It added: "We understand that this will be a deeply unsettling time."

Conway was previously Bishop of Ely and was named in the Makin Report, with the suggestion that he failed to follow up rigorously enough information he was given in 2013 by a victim about the abuses of the prolific abuser John Smyth.