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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to invest in heritage buildings in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is committed to investing in heritage buildings, ensuring these buildings serve the needs of local communities. Historic England, the government’s statutory advisors, have taken several steps to do this through;

• Supporting the Stoke-on-Trent North Council to find sustainable new uses for historic buildings in Burslem and the surrounding area.

• Funding emergency safeguarding repairs at the Wedgwood Institute, providing conservation architectural and surveyor expertise at no cost at The Leopard, Price & Kensington, the Wedgwood Institute and Burslem Market.

• Provided funding to support Re-Form Heritage, whose office is based in the constituency, in employing staff dedicated to delivering heritage projects.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has identified Stoke-on-Trent as one of twenty Heritage Places across the UK. Heritage Places is a UK-wide initiative to help places thrive by unlocking the potential of their heritage. Stoke-on-Trent council has been awarded £250,000 for collaboration and development of plans for preserving the city’s heritage. The Architectural Heritage Fund has also chosen Re-Form Heritage in Stoke-on-Trent to be part of its Heritage Development Trust programme.

Specifically in Kidsgrove, The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £9,700 to Engage Communities CIC for a project to explore the heritage of games and sports traditionally played by South Asian people engaging local young people in the project.