Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many expressions of interest for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund for projects which fell within or serve areas in Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1-3 have been rejected in the first round.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
During the Expressions of Interest (EOI) stage of Round 1 for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund, 85 EOIs that fell within or served areas in Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) deciles 1–3 were rejected on the grounds of ineligibility. In addition, 21 eligible projects within or serving IMD deciles 1–3 were deferred to Round 2 due to oversubscription. These deferred projects will be automatically considered in the next funding round without the need for applicants to resubmit an application.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what the average response time was for applicants to receive a decision on their expression of interest to the places of worship renewal fund.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England runs a competitive process to allocate funding for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund (PWRF), with clearly defined application windows, deadlines and target response dates published online to accompany applicant guidance.
The selection process for PWRF begins with an initial EOI submitted within the publicised application window. These EOIs allow HE to evaluate high-level project urgency, building eligibility, and alignment with regional priorities before inviting selected applicants to submit a full application. In the second stage, shortlisted applicants provide detailed technical specifications, comprehensive costings, and proof of deliverability for full assessment. Because both stages rely on set submission deadlines and fixed outcome notification dates, all applicants within a round progress concurrently and share the same overall response timeline.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what the average response time was for applicants to receive a decision on their application to the places of worship renewal fund.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England runs a competitive process to allocate funding for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund (PWRF), with clearly defined application windows, deadlines and target response dates published online to accompany applicant guidance.
The selection process for PWRF begins with an initial EOI submitted within the publicised application window. These EOIs allow HE to evaluate high-level project urgency, building eligibility, and alignment with regional priorities before inviting selected applicants to submit a full application. In the second stage, shortlisted applicants provide detailed technical specifications, comprehensive costings, and proof of deliverability for full assessment. Because both stages rely on set submission deadlines and fixed outcome notification dates, all applicants within a round progress concurrently and share the same overall response timeline.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications to the Places of Worship Renewal Fund for projects which fell within or serve areas in Indices of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1-3 have been rejected.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England, who administers the Places of Worship Renewal Fund on behalf of the Department, received a total of 1,128 Expressions of Interest for Round 1.
From Round 1, 93 projects were invited to submit full applications by 10 July and over 200 projects were deferred from Round 1 to Round 2. Deferred projects will be automatically considered for the next funding round without having to resubmit an application. Final decisions on projects to be funded for Round 1 are in the process of being decided and the full list of funding recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.
Expressions of Interest for round two are currently being accepted through to Friday 2 October 2026.
We are not yet in a position to share information regarding the total number of listed places of worship awarded funding, or the number of rejected applications within IMD deciles 1–3, at this stage.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many expressions of interest were received for the first round of applications to the places of worship renewal fund.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England, who administers the Places of Worship Renewal Fund on behalf of the Department, received a total of 1,128 Expressions of Interest for Round 1.
From Round 1, 93 projects were invited to submit full applications by 10 July and over 200 projects were deferred from Round 1 to Round 2. Deferred projects will be automatically considered for the next funding round without having to resubmit an application. Final decisions on projects to be funded for Round 1 are in the process of being decided and the full list of funding recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.
Expressions of Interest for round two are currently being accepted through to Friday 2 October 2026.
We are not yet in a position to share information regarding the total number of listed places of worship awarded funding, or the number of rejected applications within IMD deciles 1–3, at this stage.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many expressions of interest for the places of worship renewal fund were successful in the first round.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England, who administers the Places of Worship Renewal Fund on behalf of the Department, received a total of 1,128 Expressions of Interest for Round 1.
From Round 1, 93 projects were invited to submit full applications by 10 July and over 200 projects were deferred from Round 1 to Round 2. Deferred projects will be automatically considered for the next funding round without having to resubmit an application. Final decisions on projects to be funded for Round 1 are in the process of being decided and the full list of funding recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.
Expressions of Interest for round two are currently being accepted through to Friday 2 October 2026.
We are not yet in a position to share information regarding the total number of listed places of worship awarded funding, or the number of rejected applications within IMD deciles 1–3, at this stage.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many listed places of worship have been awarded grants through the Places of Worship Renewal Fund.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Historic England, who administers the Places of Worship Renewal Fund on behalf of the Department, received a total of 1,128 Expressions of Interest for Round 1.
From Round 1, 93 projects were invited to submit full applications by 10 July and over 200 projects were deferred from Round 1 to Round 2. Deferred projects will be automatically considered for the next funding round without having to resubmit an application. Final decisions on projects to be funded for Round 1 are in the process of being decided and the full list of funding recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.
Expressions of Interest for round two are currently being accepted through to Friday 2 October 2026.
We are not yet in a position to share information regarding the total number of listed places of worship awarded funding, or the number of rejected applications within IMD deciles 1–3, at this stage.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have held any meetings with the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church regarding the protection of cathedral schools and their choral traditions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Ministers and departmental officials hold regular meetings with both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. The most recent meetings with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education took place earlier this month. There have been no issues or concerns raised about the protection of Cathedral Schools and their choral traditions.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering adding the church choral tradition to the list of inventories under the UN Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Communities of practice will be able to submit their living heritage to the inventories when we open for submissions later this year. We would welcome a submission on church choral tradition.
Asked by: Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Community Municipal Investment (CMI) green investment bonds, such as those offered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich, Southwark, Hounslow and Hammersmith and Fulham, are authorised by any regulator; and whether retail investors in such municipal bonds have any form of protection under the (1) Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme or (2) Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 establishes a framework whereby any person, whether an individual or firm, can only carry out a regulated activity by way of business if they are authorised by the appropriate regulator or are exempt from the authorisation requirement. Under this framework, the government determines which activities are regulated activities, by specifying them in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (RAO).
Where local authorities are the issuers of bonds, or borrowers under loans, they themselves would not require authorisation from a financial services regulator to act in that capacity, and would not be subject to regulation by the financial services regulators.
Financial services firms facilitating access to such funding by local authorities may, depending on the circumstances, be subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority, and investors may be eligible to refer disputes with the regulated firm to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Depending on the precise circumstances of any products offered, compensation in the case of default may be available under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.