§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he hopes to arrive at a decision on possible ways of providing some help for the preservation of churches of outstanding merit, whose congregations have insufficient resources to undertake the tasks themselves; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellI am inviting the Churches in Scotland to take part in a pilot scheme by submitting to me applications in respect of three or four churches for assistance by means of grants awarded on the advice of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland. The scheme will be confined to relatively small buildings of outstanding merit, probably pre-Reformation churches, where the congregations cannot afford to undertake preservation work. I will require an assurance, through a binding agreement, that the assisted building will not be demolished or altered without my consent; and the congregation will be expected to contribute as much as it can to the cost of repairs.
I will consider later what more can and should be done in the light of experience gained from this pilot scheme.