§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what financial assistance the Government provide for church building repairs; and what total funds it provided in each of the last five years. [23099]
§ Mr. BanksThe reply relates to England only. Government financial assistance for the repair of historic religious buildings in use is channelled principally via English Heritage's church and cathedral grant schemes. Funding for historic places of worship is also available from the Heritage Lottery Fund. In addition, my Department provides 70 per cent. of the funding of the Churches Conservation Trust, which preserves outstanding Anglican churches no longer in use for worship, and contributes (both directly and by way of422W English Heritage) to the costs of the Historic Chapels Trust, which cares for a number of non-Anglican buildings.
Funding offered under these schemes in each of the last five years is as follows:
£ million 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 English Heritage church grant offers: 12.50 14.10 11.00 9.90 110.00 English Heritage cathedral grant offers: 4.70 0.30 3.00 3.00 23.00 Heritage Lottery Fund grant offers: — — 1.56 16.14 115.82 Churches Conservation Trust: 1.92 2.17 2.51 2.51 2.48 Historic Chapels Trust: £000 329,100 328,782 335,125 344,471 350,552 1 For 1997–98 English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund are collaborating on a joint application scheme for places of worship in England, for which both organisations have allocated £10 million. The figure for Heritage Lottery Funding includes an additional amount for funding outside the joint scheme. 2 Allocation. 3 Figures are £ thousand.