§ 42. Mr. ViggersTo ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, as representing the Church Commissioners, what support the Church Commissioners receive from Her Majesty's Government to enable them to maintain redundant and under-utilised churches. [11777]
Mr. BellThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport provides 70 per cent. of the cost of the Churches Conservation Trust, which preserves redundant Church of England parish churches of particular historic and architectural quality. Churches which are open for public worship are the responsibility of their respective parochial Church Councils who have access through English Heritage to the Government's State Aid scheme. The Commissioners themselves receive no direct financial support from the Government for these purposes.