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.

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.