Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of whether the £92 million Places of Worship Renewal Fund over four years provides equivalent financial support to places of worship compared with the Previous Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, in the context of grant-funded projects being subject to VAT from 1 April 2026.

The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will have a budget of £23 million per year, the same level of funding as provided by the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme in 2025/26. The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will award grants for projects to cover capital works, rather than just the VAT element of a project, as is presently the case with the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. In some cases the amount granted could be greater than just the VAT element currently funded.