Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Marsha De Cordova and Rosie Wrighting

Thursday 28th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

2. What steps the Church is taking to preserve historic places of worship.

[Rosie Wrighting (Kettering) (Lab)]

4. What progress the Church Commissioners have made on reducing the backlog of works to restore parish churches and cathedrals.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The national Church institutions have invested £11 million in the Buildings for Mission fund, which provides money for repairs, specialist advice and grants to parishes of up to £12,000 for small-scale urgent work. Buildings for Mission can also be used to pay for essential improvements to church missions and ministries, such disability access, toilets or even a community kitchen.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rosie Wrighting]

St Andrew’s parish church and Holy Trinity church in my constituency are both listed buildings that provide vital community services. The former is saving for a heat pump and the latter for a new roof. They were hoping to use the listed places of worship grant scheme to undertake the work, but because the scheme is due to expire next year, their future is uncertain. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking the many churches across the UK and Kettering for the work that they do to serve our communities? What plans are there for the future of the scheme?

[Marsha De Cordova]

My hon. Friend is a strong advocate for the churches in her constituency. I am pleased to hear her mention that St Andrew’s church is upgrading its heating system; hopefully, it will benefit from some funding from the listed places of worship grant scheme. As I am sure will be said again in this question session, the scheme makes a huge difference to churches. Many have to do a lot of fundraising in their communities, but being able to rely on the scheme helps to cover some of the costs.