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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the delays that occur between the announcement of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant being made and permission to start being given to the recipient organisations.

The Heritage Lottery Fund work closely to support grant recipients in meeting the essential requirements prior to works starting. The HLF are not aware of a general problem with delays around the existing permission to start process, though timings can vary.