A: No they have no power to pay for or contribute to an open church burial site or graveyard. They do have the power to contribute towards the cost of maintaining a closed or disused Church graveyard. As a burial authority they only have powers relating to non denominational "municipal" cemeteries not Church or faith based burial grounds.

As there is no specific power to do this the spending decision may be illegal and the councillors may be personally liable to a surcharge by the District Auditor. Your Parish Council should stop the practice immediately. They could use section 137 but the amount they could contribute would be very limited.