To ask His Majesty’s Government, following Historic England’s publication of the latest Heritage at Risk Register, what plans they have to ensure adequate support for listed historic buildings.
The Government are committed to protecting the historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations. DCMS and its arm’s-length bodies deliver funding to the heritage sector, including £8 million last year to rescue buildings on the Heritage at Risk Register. In 2024, 124 historic places from the register were saved, bringing treasured heritage assets back to life. Some 150 buildings were added, which highlights the need for continued support for our most vulnerable heritage.
My Lords, the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme comes to an end in April. It represents a group of buildings that host hundreds of thousands of weddings, baptisms and funerals, right at the heart of their communities—and 80% of those buildings host some 31,000 social action projects, such as warm spaces and food banks. Will the Minister ask her ministerial colleagues whether they would be prepared to answer the correspondence from the Church of England on the future of this scheme? Would she personally be willing to meet my right reverend friend the Bishop of Bristol and her team to discuss this as a matter of urgency?
I would be very happy to meet the right reverend Prelate’s colleague, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Bristol. The Government are very clear that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has been incredibly valuable in assisting more than 13,000 listed places of worship to recover VAT or repairs through the grants, totalling over £317 million since it was established more than 20 years ago.
On the outcome of any discussions about the future of the project, departmental budgets have been set following the Budget announcement in the autumn, and the outcome of the departmental business planning process, including any implications for this scheme, will be announced soon. However, I shall follow up the letter referred to in the right reverend Prelate’s question.
My noble friend is right. To give her some reassurance, I think the Treasury and DCMS are entirely clear on the contribution made by all creative industries to this country’s economy. I remind noble Lords that the creative industries are worth £125 billion in economic value to the UK and employed 2.4 million people in 2022. This is the first step in the Government’s plans for and support for creative industries, but I cannot pre-empt decisions made by the Treasury. As I mentioned earlier, the Budget will be held later this month.
My Lords, this is surely to be welcomed, and I think we are all delighted to hear these announcements, building on what has been said before. However, there is a deep concern in many parts of the country. In Hertfordshire, where I live, we have Elstree, Leavesden, the OMA V and the new studios being built in Broxbourne, and I have been privileged to visit some of those. Not only do we have the challenge of skills shortages for the film industry but we have a massive shortage already with the announcement on building extra houses. Can the Minister assure us that we are getting an integrated strategy, looking across the whole range of needs for skills, so that we can really get ahead of this game? Without that, we will have the facilities but simply not the people available to make the films.
The right reverend Prelate correctly identifies that, across the piece, we have a skills shortage in this country. If we are talking about legacies from previous Governments, this is one that I would not expect noble Lords opposite to be shouting about quite as much as they have in other points they have made. I stress the commitment to skills generally, through creating Skills England, and the intention to transform the apprenticeship levy into a new growth and skills levy. Both measures should create opportunities and give employers greater flexibility to train and upskill their workforce. We are very clear that this country will not succeed in the growth that we need to recover as a country without improving basic skills across the piece.