In 1996, Forster was appointed the 40th Bishop of Chester. He was consecrated a bishop during a service at York Minster, by David Hope, Archbishop of York, on 13 November 1996. He was enthroned on 11 January 1997 and in 2001 took his seat as a Lord Spiritual in the House of Lords. In 2003, Forster raised controversy when he was investigated by the police for an alleged "hate speech" after suggesting that homosexual people should seek psychiatric treatment. However, no charges were made, and the police were satisfied that no offence had been committed. He was one of nine bishops who signed a letter disagreeing with the decision of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, not to block the appointment of Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading in 2003. In 2012, amid controversy over the amount of expenses claimed by bishops for attending the House of Lords, it was revealed that Forster had claimed more than any other bishop in 2010/11. In that year he was a member of two select committees. He had claimed £34,909 and had attended on 97 days. In March 2019, he called for Parliament to agree to Theresa May's Brexit deal during a debate in the House of Lords. In March 2019, Forster faced calls to resign following the cover-up of a child sex abuse scandal in the diocese. A priest who had been accused of sex offences 35 years earlier, wrote confidentially about the allegations in a letter to the diocese in 2009. Chester diocese failed to tell police, and allowed him to act as a retired priest for a further five years. The letter came to light during a police investigation in 2017 of a previous Bishop of Chester, Victor Whitsey, who has been named in abuse cases as a paedophile. Following a meeting with John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, Forster formally delegated all diocesan safeguarding responsibility to Keith Sinclair, Bishop of Birkenhead. Sir Roger Singleton CBE, interim director of the Church's National Safeguarding Team, instigated a Church Disciplinary Measure process against Forster, which can result in a tribunal if evidence of malpractice is found. The Bishop claimed that he acted in accordance with the policy guidance which applied in 2009, and vigorously contested the allegation by the Interim Safeguarding Director. The Church also announced plans for an independent review to identify any lessons that can be learned. In April 2019, Forster announced that he would retire on 30 September 2019.
Personal life
Forster married Elisabeth Anne Stevenson in 1978, and they have four children. His brother-in-law, Kenneth Stevenson, was also a bishop.
