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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the ability of places of worship to reclaim VAT on repairs and maintenance works following the replacement of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme with the Places of Worship Renewal Fund.

The Department has not made an assessment of the ability of places of worship to reclaim VAT following the ending of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will have a budget of £23 million per year. 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 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.