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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of projects supported by the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme that would have proceeded as planned without the Scheme; and what comparative assessment she has made between this estimate and the findings of section 2.3.2 of Harlow Consulting's Evaluation of the Listed Places of Worship Scheme, published on 22 January 2026.

The Department commissioned Harlow Consulting to conduct an independent evaluation of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. The Department has not made a separate internal estimate, and uses Harlow’s comprehensive independent assessment to understand the Scheme’s impact and additionality.

The evaluation used survey data from Scheme beneficiaries to determine how much of the activity was truly "additional" versus how much would have occurred anyway. It established that 80% of respondents indicated they would have done the work without the rebate. Section 2.3.2 of the evaluation provides a further breakdown of this figure, indicating that the Scheme had an impact on the timing and quality of the work. 51% of all Scheme users reported that the grant increased the timeliness of repairs. Likewise, 31% of users were enabled to carry out more extensive works or works of a higher standard.