Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what percentage of the National Heritage Lottery Fund’s grants were awarded to local churches, chapels and meeting houses open for worship, excluding cathedrals, in financial years (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21, (e) 2021-22 and (f) 2022-23.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s places of worship are a major recipient of funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Churches of various sizes and denominations have benefited from National Lottery investment, ensuring that those who care for them can continue to share the significant and cherished heritage they represent with local residents and visitors alike.
In 2017–18, 13% of National Lottery Heritage Funding was awarded to local churches, chapels, and meeting-houses excluding cathedrals. In 2018–19, 15% of funding was awarded in this way. In 2019–20, 9% of funding was awarded in this way. In 2020–21, 5% of funding was awarded in this way. In 2021–22, 8% of funding was awarded in this way. In 2022–23, 8% of funding was awarded in this way.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and its predecessor bodies to Christian places of worship excluding cathedrals in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Since the financial year 2018-19, a total of £99,701,003 has been awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to Christian places of worship across the UK which are not cathedrals. The annual breakdown is as follows, with a more detailed breakdown included in the table below.
In 2018-19, £42 million was provided to England, £1.4 million to Scotland, £1.7 million to Wales and £900,000 to Northern Ireland.
In 2019-20, £20 million was provided to England, £360,000 to Scotland, £1.2 million to Wales and £1.7 million Northern Ireland.
In 2020-21, £7 million was provided to England, £240,000 to Scotland, £380,000 to Wales and £109,000 to Northern Ireland.
In 2021-22, £11.3 million was provided to England, £140,000 to Wales and £200,000 to Northern Ireland.
In 2022-23, £9.3 million was provided to England, £20,000 to Scotland, £1.4 million to Wales and £611,000 to Northern Ireland.
| 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | Grand Total |
England | £41,968,119 | £20,307,609 | £6,870,591 | £11,266,819 | £9,337,623 | £89,750,761 |
Wales | £1,725,000 | £1,151,900 | £370,700 | £137,701 | £1,133,727 | £4,519,028 |
Scotland | £1,360,000 | £350,900 | £243,700 | £0 | £20,318 | £1,974,918 |
Northern Ireland | £866,800 | £1,650,900 | £109,300 | £218,568 | £610,728 | £3,456,296 |
Grand Total | £45,919,919 | £23,461,309 | £7,594,291 | £11,623,088 | £11,102,396 | £99,701,003 |
This information can be found on the National Lottery database, a publicly available source of National Lottery data.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been provided by Historic England to Christian places of worship other than cathedrals in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Historic England has provided funding to Christian places of worship, other than cathedrals, through a number of different programmes over the last five financial years.
These include the following:
The COVID-19 Emergency Heritage At Risk Fund granted £5,754,330 in 2020 to Christian places of worship not classified as cathedrals.
The COVID-19 Grants for Programmes of Major Works gave £8,088,287 for Round 1 in 2020-21 and £9,740,031 for Round 2 in 2021-22 to Christian places of worship.
Historic England has also provided public funding over the last five years to Christian places of worship for Support Officer posts. These grants are given to dioceses and denominational bodies to provide local support, training and encouragement to congregations with responsibility for historic places of worship. In 2017-18 Historic England granted £692,000, in 2018-19 £564,000, in 2019-20 £484,800, in 2020-21 £236,800 and in 2021-22 £375,150. These figures represent Historic England’s commitment to building capacity and resilience for places of worship.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been provided by the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme to Christian places of worship other than cathedrals in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Since the financial year 2018-19, a total of £145,008,534 has been provided through the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme to Christian places of worship across the UK which are not cathedrals. The annual breakdown is as follows:
In 2018-19, £27,492,816 was provided to England, £2,376,216 to Scotland, £1,045,648 to Wales and £1,524,146 to Northern Ireland.
In 2019-20, £28,418,267 was provided to England, £2,828,133 to Scotland, £1,041,038 to Wales and £1,928,120 to Northern Ireland.
In 2020-21, £21,874,083 was provided to England, £1,563,280 to Scotland, £1,154,037 to Wales and £1,309,810 to Northern Ireland.
In 2021-22, £22,422,595 was provided to England, £1,617,947 to Scotland, £726,675 to Wales and £787,620 to Northern Ireland.
In 2022-23, £23,698,179 was provided to England, £1,235,955 to Scotland, £978,360 to Wales and £985,601 to Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the £100 million funding for local charities and community organisations announced in the Spring Budget 2023, when her Department plans to publish proposals for the use of that funding; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the recent Spring Budget, the government will provide over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England. This will be targeted towards those organisations most at risk, due to increased demand from vulnerable groups and higher delivery costs, as well as providing investment in energy efficiency.
Work is underway to finalise the delivery time frame and eligibility criteria. Further details will be announced as soon as possible - these will be published on gov.uk and a statement made to the House as appropriate.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish arrangements for disbursing the £100m of funding for third sector organisations announced in the Spring Budget; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the recent Spring Budget, the government will provide over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England. This will be targeted towards those organisations most at risk, due to increased demand from vulnerable groups and higher delivery costs, as well as providing investment in energy efficiency.
Work is underway to finalise the delivery time frame and eligibility criteria. Further details will be announced as soon as possible - these will be published on gov.uk and a statement made to the House as appropriate.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to maintain funding for financial inclusion through the Dormant Assets Scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
At present, the government is considering over 3,300 responses to the public consultation on what the broad social and/or environmental purposes of the English portion of dormant assets should be going forwards.
The government plans to publish a response in early 2023 setting out these future purposes of the English portion.
Until this response has been published, I am afraid that I cannot commit to a government position on financial inclusion.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason the fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Bill is not being applied to Category 2(b) firms; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We introduced the Online Safety Bill to Parliament on 17 March. We have designed the Online Safety Bill to be proportionate and risk-based.
The Bill will ensure that people using the largest platforms and where there is greatest risk of harm are protected from scams, and ensure these services do not profit from illegal activity.
The Online Advertising Programme will build on this duty and examine the whole ecosystem to provide a holistic review of the regulatory framework.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason the fraudulent advertising duty imposed on search engine firms in the Online Safety Bill is less stringent than that imposed on Category 1 firms; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We introduced the Online Safety Bill to Parliament on 17 March.
The duties on search engines reflect that they facilitate harm in a different way to user to user services. The duties on search engines are therefore designed to be proportionate and risk-based.
We have also launched a consultation on proposals for wider reform of online advertising regulations, including in relation to fraud.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2022 to Question 124952 on Gambling: Fines, in which of the 46 cases was the level of the financial penalty reduced following representations and evidence received from the company concerned.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Commission’s statement of principles for determining financial penalties and indicative sanctions guidance sets out the process governing imposition of a penalty, including the circumstances in which the Commission may consider it appropriate to reduce the size of a financial penalty. This can be for various reasons, including mitigating factors and affordability concerns.
Except in exceptional circumstances, the Commission publishes the outcome of its considerations and not the prior steps, which could involve release of commercially sensitive information and/ or provide a formula for pricing in non-compliance. It is not therefore appropriate to share further detail on specific cases by name. However, since April 2018, the Gambling Commission has identified five financial penalties which were reduced as a result of representations made to the Commission prior to the point of issue.