Written question asked by Simon Hoare (Conservative) on Friday, 30 January 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 3 February 2026. It was answered by Ian Murray (Labour) on Monday, 9 February 2026 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Places of Worship Renewal Fund: VAT

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of places of worship liable for VAT on repairs in comparison to the number who will receive a grant to cover this additional cost from the listed Places of Worship fund.

Answer: The Listed Places of Worship Scheme was run on a first come first served basis. The new Places of Worship Scheme will instead target funding at areas of the most need, and Places of Worship will go through a proportionate application process. We are currently designing the criteria with experts from the sector, and have not made an estimate of numbers eligible, which will partly depend on the size of grants applied for. The fund will deliver £92 million over 4 years.

Secondary information