Blake Stephenson

Churches, cathedrals and other historic sites are at the heart of England's cultural and spiritual heritage, attracting millions of visitors annually.

The Church of England operates 16,000 churches and 42 cathedrals. Cathedrals alone add over 6,000 jobs to the economy, and contribute over £230m to their local economies. Over 9.35 million people visited a cathedral in 2023, a 17% increase on 2022. Cathedrals also benefit from over 15,000 volunteers who contribute over a million hours a year to the welcome, services and special events taking place. Further information is available at:
https://www.ecorys.com/case-studies/the-economic-and-social-impacts-of-englands-cathedrals/#:~:text=Significant%20impacts%20were%20also%20generated,of%20this%20visitor%2Drelated%20spend

The Church of England has developed the Church Heritage Record: https://facultyonline.churchofengland.org/churches, which provides geo-located data on every Church of England church, including information on the history of the building where it is available. Local congregations are encouraged to add details of their church to this. The National Church Institutions are partnered with local churches to develop ‘A Church Near You’: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/, which provides online space for every church in the country to have a website for the public to find out about services, events and the history of the buildings

Churches and cathedrals will often contain great artworks and architecture, and will support artists and musicians by commissioning new works and special installations. Recent examples include the successful Luxmuralis light shows, the Peterborough Cathedral Catherine of Aragon festival, and nationally important commemorative memorials such as the Covid19 ‘Remember Me’ memorial in St Pauls Cathedral https://www.stpauls.co.uk/remember-me-memorial

In the St Albans Diocese, which covers Mid Bedfordshire, the Cathedral is currently hosting the Museum of the Moon. More information about the Cathedral events programme can be found here: https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/Pages/Events/Category/events?Take=12

Cathedrals and churches form a network across the country for pilgrimages and walking tours, which are growing in popularity. The Church has reestablished several ancient walkways, such as St Cuthbert's Way, the Canterbury Pilgrimage, and St Albans Pilgrimage. Details of the many walkways can be found here: https://www.britishpilgrimage.org/routes

Cathedrals and churches will often host their own choirs, but also provide space for local choirs, orchestras, and theatre groups to put on performances. Notable examples include The Three Choirs Festival (involving Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester Cathedrals) and the International Organ Festival in St Albans. In addition, churches play host to many fairs, markets, and seasonal festivals and exhibitions, all of which boost local tourism

Many churchyards are biodiversity hotspots and churches are looking at how to better engage with growing trends towards sustainable and eco-tourism.

Visit England also works with churches to promote them as key parts of the national heritage network. Many churches, cathedrals, palaces and vicarages also open their doors for the National Garden Scheme and other open house days, raising money for local charities, initiatives and events.

Evaluation results for the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign have not yet been finalised for financial year 2024/25. We expect initial economic returns generated by the campaign in 2024/25 to have been assessed and validated before the end of the year, and will be published via the GREAT website when appropriate.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th November is attached.

Departments are responsible for making salary and loss of office payments to their Ministers. This information would only be held by individual departments.

As of 31st October 2025, the Cabinet Office maintains 1 Deputy Director, 1 Grade 7 and 1 HEO to staff the ALB Review. Information on departmental staffing levels for the ALB Review is not held centrally.

This Government is committed to supporting British jobs and industry. As part of this, we have consulted on further reforms to public procurement. If appropriate, impact assessments will be undertaken following our response to the consultation, in accordance with the Better Regulations Framework.

As of 31 December 2024, there were 1,635 Level 7 apprentices across the Civil Service. This government remains committed to apprenticeships as one pathway to break down barriers to opportunity.

The Cabinet Office does not hold this information. We are committed to apprenticeships as a route to improving the skills of our workforce and opening up careers in the civil service around the UK.

MPs and Ministers have membership to the Parliamentary Contributions Pension Fund (PCPF) of which the ministerial share is typically around 8% of the total exchequer contribution.

In 2023/24, the Exchequer paid contributions totalling £7,693,885 into the fund and the Ministerial share was £643,123.98.

The total contribution information is available in the PCPF 2023-24 accounts (p45) using the link below:

https://mypcpfpension.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PCPF-Accounts-2023-24-Final-SIGNED-amended-and-certified-no-signature-10-December-24-002.pdf

The 2024-25 figures will be published by the PCPF Trustees in October 2025.

I refer the hon. member to the PQs 63750 and 64200.

In 2025/26, GREAT has allocated its budget to maximise the economic returns that the programme can deliver with the available resources. This includes delivering targeted campaigns and events in high-priority markets to continue to drive international trade, investment, tourism and student recruitment for all nations and regions of the UK.

I refer the hon. member to the PQ 63750.

The campaign uses a comprehensive evaluation framework with timeframes for results tailored to each participating organisation's activities. Evaluation results for the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign have not yet been finalised for financial year 2024/25.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.

Individual departments are responsible for managing their workforces, including any instances of unauthorised absence. This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.

This Government is determined to reforming the state to deliver high quality public services and better value for money for the taxpayer.

The Government recognises the importance of transparency of public services, that appropriate feedback mechanisms help to ensure accountability by identifying and resolving problems, and that public participation can help to improve future service design to meet the needs of end users. The Service Manual provides guidance on creating and running public services in accordance with the Service Standards, both of which are available on GOV.UK.

GREAT has a robust evaluation framework which has been independently assessed by the National Audit Office, Ipsos and Deloitte and was recently commended by the joint Cabinet Office / HM Treasury Evaluation Task Force.

The independent GREAT Strategic Review conducted in November-December 2024 recognised the effectiveness of the GREAT Campaign in supporting the government's strategic aims and its role in delivering the economic growth mission.

In 2023/2024, GREAT contributed returns to the UK economy of over £900 million foreign direct investment, £631 million additional expenditure from international students, £210 million additional expenditure from international tourism and over £90 million export wins for UK companies.

GREAT has a robust evaluation framework which has been independently assessed by the National Audit Office, Ipsos and Deloitte and was recently commended by the joint Cabinet Office / HM Treasury Evaluation Task Force.

The independent GREAT Strategic Review conducted in November-December 2024 recognised the effectiveness of the GREAT Campaign in supporting the government's strategic aims and its role in delivering the economic growth mission.

In 2023/2024, GREAT contributed returns to the UK economy of over £900 million foreign direct investment, £631 million additional expenditure from international students, £210 million additional expenditure from international tourism and over £90 million export wins for UK companies.

The government is conducting a full line-by-line Spending Review which will cover the costs of proposed and existing ALBs to ensure value for money is being delivered for the taxpayer.

On 6 April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced a full review of all arm’s length bodies to drive efficiency and reduce bureaucracy and duplication as part of Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.This review is ongoing, and is being conducted by existing civil servants.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 7th May is attached.

The review will cover all arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), including proposals for new ALBs.

The UK will not compromise on economic security and will continue to prioritise national security and resilience.

We will continue to cooperate with China on trade and investment, recognising there will also be areas where we need to challenge non-market policies and protect sensitive sectors of the economy.

We will continue to support UK business to engage with the second largest economy in the world, while being clear-eyed to any risks and ensuring security and resilience.

The National Technical Authorities (National Cyber Security Centre and National Protective Security Authority) provide advice to critical national infrastructure (CNI) industry on best practice for CNI security and resilience.

The Government recognises the importance of engagement with MPs when making policy decisions. Honorable Members already have a variety of levers in Parliament by which they can engage Ministers on policies affecting their constituencies. There are no plans to change these existing arrangements. .

The review will cover all existing arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), and includes proposals for new ALBs.

Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established Arm’s Length Bodies. As stated in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, no ALBs have been formally established since 4 July 2024.

Since 2011, the GREAT campaign has developed a robust approach to evaluation, which has been validated by multiple external organisations, and consistently reported strong returns to the UK economy. The methodologies used continue to be reviewed and refined to support regular reporting, ensuring the campaign consistently drives good impact and value for money for the taxpayer.

The GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign remains an effective tool in driving economic growth and we will continue to work closely with partners to optimise the campaign’s resources to deliver growth across the UK as part of our Plan for Change.

The GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign remains an effective tool in driving economic growth and we will continue to work closely with partners to optimise the campaign’s resources to deliver growth across the UK as part of our Plan for Change.

The GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign remains an effective tool in driving economic growth and we will continue to work closely with partners to optimise the campaign’s resources to deliver growth across the UK as part of our Plan for Change.

The GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign remains an effective tool in driving economic growth and we will continue to work closely with partners to optimise the campaign’s resources to deliver growth across the UK as part of our Plan for Change.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has overall responsibility for resilience policy across government. He is supported by a number of ministerial colleagues with resilience responsibilities in their departments. The full List of Ministerial Responsibilities is available on GOV.UK here.

The Cabinet Office does not centrally collect data nor monitor consultations across Government. The Cabinet Office provides high level advice on the Consultation Principles to help departments consider how they should manage their consultations. Each department is legally responsible for how they run their consultations.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response from the Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 24 January is attached.

I, in my capacity as Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, speak regularly with my counterpart Maroš Šefčovič on a range of issues relating to the EU-UK relationship. In addition, HMG officials engage regularly with counterparts across the EU and EU Member States to ensure they are kept abreast of any changes regarding UK travel policy. This includes engaging on ETA.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 15 January is attached.