Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what amount of financial support was provided to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals, for fabric repairs in 2022–2023 by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport and arm’s length bodies, such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has funded church buildings through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which makes available £42 million per annum. This scheme provides grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship.
In the period from 2022 to 2023 a total of £16,949,526 was provided to local churches, excluding cathedrals, for conservation and maintenance work from this scheme.
Additionally, the National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £15,759,986 to places of worship in England over the same period.
Historic England also provided public funding in this period for local churches through different funding programmes. A total of £218,286 was granted for urgent emergency works to church buildings in England in use for worship. In addition, grants were made through Historic England to churches, chapels and one tabernacle which are no longer in use for worship to a total of £902,453.
Asked by: Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forms of financial support are available from the Government, and arms-length bodies such as National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, for fabric repairs to local church buildings, excluding cathedrals.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
HM Government makes available £42 million per annum through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This reimburses VAT on eligible repair works over £1,000.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund invests Lottery players’ funding to sustain the UK’s heritage. The Fund runs open-access grant programmes, to which local churches can apply, providing their project meets its four principal investment themes: saving heritage, protecting the environment, inclusion access and participation, and organisational sustainability. Applicants must take all four principles into account in their application, although the strength of focus and emphasis on each principle is for them to decide and demonstrate.
Historic England provides grants for churches in specific circumstances: where the congregation has a long-standing moral objection to Lottery funding and can provide evidence of that; where the building is not eligible for any National Lottery Heritage Fund grant programme; where it relates to exceptional emergency funding to stabilise the condition of a place of worship; or to prevent further deterioration in the next two years and where the applicant can demonstrate that discussions have already begun with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To be eligible for a grant, a place of worship must be a grade I or II* listed building, or a grade II listed or unlisted building within a Conservation Area or London Borough.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to preserve sites of local cultural heritage.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to protecting the historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations. DCMS is responsible for the statutory heritage protection system and welcomes applications — through Historic England — for heritage assets to be considered for designation.
Significant public funding is distributed to heritage assets across the country, via both Government and our key partners such as Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Historic England provides funding for heritage through various grant schemes, including £11.3 million annually for Heritage at Risk. Historic England has also awarded public funding to 67 historic High Streets across England through the £95 million High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme, with the majority of this funding being used to repair and improve heritage assets.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund also provides funding for heritage projects with a community angle across the country, awarding more than £8.4 billion in Lottery funds to more than 46,000 heritage projects across the UK. The Fund has made awards in every parliamentary constituency in the UK.
Through the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, HM Government is directly investing in many projects which benefit heritage across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The £150 million Community Ownership Fund is also open to groups across the UK to take ownership of heritage assets which are at risk of being lost to the community. Many of these projects are benefiting heritage assets in areas across the country.
DCMS also provides up to £42 million for the Listed Place of Worship Grant Scheme, which provides grants to reimburse the VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship, to support our historic spiritual architecture for the benefit of present and future generations.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) value of grants awarded by and (b) number of grant recipients for the Listed Places of Worship Scheme was since 2010.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was established to reimburse the VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. The grant scheme has been managed by multiple administrators on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since it was established in 2001, and there are limited data predating 2014. Since 2010, a total of £358,356,027 has been allocated in grant funding to support places of worship throughout the UK. Based on the data the Department does possess, it can be estimated that 22,633 listed places of worship were the recipients of grant funding through the scheme since 2014.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has taken steps to support the musical tradition of the Church of England in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
HM Government has a strong commitment to all forms of music, including church music. Government support for church music is primarily channelled through Arts Council England, which between 2019/20 and 2023/24 has funded activity with a choral element or focus by more than £190 million. Although this funding is not specifically aimed at music traditional to the Church of England, this funding has supported the development, touring and promotion of choral music throughout England, including organisations the focus of which is on music in the tradition of the Church of England.
Government provides support for churches via the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which provides grants to cover the VAT expenses associated with repair and conservation of listed churches. This includes conservation efforts for monuments situated in listed places of worship. At present there is up to £42m available per year and this amount of funding has been secured until 31 March 2025. One of the eligible costs for the LPWGS is pipe organs permanently fixed to the structure of the listed building, with essential restoration and repair works being enabled through Government financial support. Since August 2022, £39,054,024 has been funded to historic churches across the UK through the grant scheme. In the Romford constituency specifically, the total funding since August 2022 has been £60,619.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which listed places of worship in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) South Holland and the Deepings constituency have received funding since 2017; and how much each received.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, jointly funded by HM Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to provide up to £42 million per annum, was established to provide grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. Through this scheme, 1,177 grants have been awarded to places of worship in Lincolnshire since 2017, amounting to a total of £3,882,071. In the South Holland and the Deepings constituency, 130 grants have been awarded since 2017, amounting to a total of £323,285.
A dataset showing a full list of grant scheme recipients — including those in both Lincolnshire, and the South Holland and the Deepings constituency — since August 2022 is available here on gov.uk.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 help conserve historic churches in (a) the UK and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport supports the preservation of historic churches through financial assistance provided by the Department's Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme provides grants to cover the VAT expenses associated with repair and conservation of listed places of worship. This includes conservation efforts for monuments situated in listed places of worship. These grants apply when the monument is an integral part of the building's structure.
Since August 2022, £39,054,024 has been funded to historic churches across the UK through the grant scheme. In the Romford constituency specifically, the total funding since August 2022 has been £60,619.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to provide financial support for (a) art, (b) music, (c) heritage, (d) sport and (e) other local cultural offerings.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government provides funding opportunities for arts, music, heritage, sports and other cultural organisations through a range of sources, including direct Government funding, through arm’s-length bodies like Arts Council England, and indirectly through local authority funding.
We have delivered significant support for heritage, including the High Street Heritage Action Zones, a heritage-led regeneration programme administered by Historic England. With a budget of £95 million, this programme focuses on fostering growth in historic high streets throughout England. HM Government also supports the upkeep of listed places of worship via the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which allocates up to £42 million per year. This scheme provides grants for the reimbursement of VAT incurred during the maintenance of the nation's listed churches. Arm’s-length bodies, like Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, provide further support to the heritage sector through various grants, including the Repair Grants for Heritage at Risk programme..
We are committed to supporting the arts, music, and wider cultural sectors, including through our arm’s-length body, Arts Council England. Through its current investment programme, more than £444 million of public money is being invested each year in arts and culture across England. This is an increase from £410 million in the previous portfolio, and will support 985 organisations across England – more than ever before. In addition, through Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grant funding, in 2022/23 over £105 million of awards went to individuals and arts organisations across the country.
For sport, Government support is delivered alongside National Lottery funding through the UK Sports Councils, and UK Sport provides funding to support potential Olympic and Paralympic athletes. We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s-length body, Sport England, which receives over £100 million in public funding each year. In addition, direct Government financial support worth over £350 million is being delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, Swimming Pool Support Fund, and the tennis court refurbishment programme.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which listed places of worship in (a) the North East and (b) Sunderland received funding since 2019; and how much each received.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was established to provide grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places or worship. Through this grant scheme, 829 awards have been issued to places of worship in the North East of England since 2019, amounting to a total of £3,532,709. In Sunderland, 39 awards have been issued to places of worship since 2019, amounting to a total of £663,885.
A dataset showing a full list of grant scheme recipients since August 2022 is available here on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nearly-5000-churches-across-the-united-kingdom-benefit-from-42-million-conservation-fund.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the impact of her Department's Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on places of worship in the West Midlands.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was established to provide grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed places of worship. A total of 727 claims have been paid out in the West Midlands, worth £2,935,543, since August 2022.