Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what amount of financial support was provided to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals, for fabric repairs in 2022–2023 by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport and arm’s length bodies, such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has funded church buildings through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which makes available £42 million per annum. This scheme provides grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship.

In the period from 2022 to 2023 a total of £16,949,526 was provided to local churches, excluding cathedrals, for conservation and maintenance work from this scheme.

Additionally, the National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £15,759,986 to places of worship in England over the same period.

Historic England also provided public funding in this period for local churches through different funding programmes. A total of £218,286 was granted for urgent emergency works to church buildings in England in use for worship. In addition, grants were made through Historic England to churches, chapels and one tabernacle which are no longer in use for worship to a total of £902,453.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for funding were received by the National Lottery Heritage Fund from local parish churches, chapels and meeting houses (excluding cathedrals) in total in each of the last five financial years in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 607 applications from England over the last 5 years.

• From 2019 to 2020, there were 187 applications.

• From 2020 to 2021, there were 86 applications.

• From 2021 to 2022 there were 115 applications.

• From 2022 to 2023 there were 123 applications.

• From 2023 to 2024 there were 96 applications.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 25 applications from Scotland over the last 5 years.

• From 2019 to 2020, there were 6 applications.

• From 2020 to 2021, there were 4 applications.

• From 2021 to 2022 there were 5 applications.

• From 2022 to 2023 there were 3 applications.

• From 2023 to 2024 there were 7 applications.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 94 applications from Wales over the last 5 years.

• From 2019 to 2020, there were 25 applications.

• From 2020 to 2021, there were 36 applications.

• From 2021 to 2022 there were 17 applications.

• From 2022 to 2023 there were 9 applications.

• From 2023 to 2024 there were 7 applications.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund received 18 applications from Northern Ireland over the last 5 years.

• From 2019 to 2020, there were 4 applications.

• From 2020 to 2021, there were 3 applications.

• From 2021 to 2022 there were 6 applications.

• From 2022 to 2023 there were 4 applications.

• From 2023 to 2024 there was 1 application.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have commissioned any research into the tourism potential of local parish churches, chapels and meeting houses.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

His Majesty’s Government has not commissioned any specific such research, but the International Passenger Survey (2019) found that 21% of inbound visits to the UK included visiting religious buildings, which are an important part of our national heritage.

Additionally, as part of the Discover England Fund, VisitEngland supported the National Churches Trust to create a number of new visitor experiences and to help them work more closely with destination management organisations to improve their visibility in the visitor economy. A number of these experiences and things to do, in and around the Trust’s churches, were held on the Explore Churches website (www.nationalchurchestrust.org/explore). Visit England continues to support and work closely with the National Churches Trust.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many places of worship are currently on the Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Of the 4,871 entries on the 2023 Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, 943 are places of worship. Two other entries are also assessed as buildings or structures which affect places of worship.

The Heritage at Risk Register aims to protect and manage the historic environment. Historic England works with owners, ‘friends of’ groups, developers, and others to find solutions for historic places and sites at risk across England, ensuring their survival for the benefit of present and future generations.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many places of worship have been on the Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register for five years or more.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

There are 644 entries assessed as places of worship which have been on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register for at least five years. There are also two other entries assessed as buildings or structures which affect places of worship.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps Historic England are taking to reduce the number of places of worship on the Heritage at Risk Register.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Since 2009 Historic England has provided grants to enable churches and other religious denominations to employ support officers to advise, encourage and help local congregations to maintain and repair their places of worship and remove them from the Heritage at Risk Register. In 2022–23 the nine support officers in post directly supported 234 congregations and ran 22 training events, attended by 355 delegates, in addition to tailored training at individual places of worship.

Historic England architects, surveyors, engineers and technical advisers are also available to provide advice to help congregations address specific structural and repair problems across England. As a statutory consultee in both the national planning and ecclesiastical exemption processes, Historic England also provides formal advice on proposals for works to historic buildings, including informal advice pre-application and statutory responses in both legal frameworks. This expertise and assistance helps to remove places of worship from the Heritage at Risk Register.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what forms of financial support are available from the Government, and arms-length bodies such as National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, for fabric repairs to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

HM Government makes available £42 million per annum through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This reimburses VAT on eligible repair works over £1,000.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund invests Lottery players’ funding to sustain the UK’s heritage. The Fund runs open-access grant programmes, to which local churches can apply, providing their project meets its four principal investment themes: saving heritage, protecting the environment, inclusion access and participation, and organisational sustainability. Applicants must take all four principles into account in their application, although the strength of focus and emphasis on each principle is for them to decide and demonstrate.

Historic England provides grants for churches in specific circumstances: where the congregation has a long-standing moral objection to Lottery funding and can provide evidence of that; where the building is not eligible for any National Lottery Heritage Fund grant programme; where it relates to exceptional emergency funding to stabilise the condition of a place of worship; or to prevent further deterioration in the next two years and where the applicant can demonstrate that discussions have already begun with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To be eligible for a grant, a place of worship must be a grade I or II* listed building, or a grade II listed or unlisted building within a Conservation Area or London Borough.