Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Culture Media and Sport written question – answered at on 30 January 2012.

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Photo of Jon Ashworth Jon Ashworth Opposition Whip (Commons)

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what change there was in the (a) number, (b) size and (c) nature of claims made to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme after the most recent changes to the scheme's eligibility criteria.

Photo of John Penrose John Penrose Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

In October 2010, this Department announced that in line with the need to reduce public expenditure, the Listed Places of Worship scheme would return to the original scope of the scheme in the final quarter of 2010-11 and claims for professional fees and repairs to organs, pews, bells and clocks would be ineligible. These changes came into effect on 4 January 2011. The difference in the number and size of claims made on the scheme between January 2010 and December 2010 and between January 2011 and December 2011 are set out in the following table:

January to December 2010 analysis
Value Number of claims Value of payments (£)
£1 to £10,000 3,840 9,599,198.50
£10,000.01 to £20,000 289 3,869,553.57
£20,000.01 to £30,000 58 1,393,308.58
£30,000.01 to £40,000 17 580,226.34
£40,000.01 to £100,000 19 1,095,704.58
£100,000.01+ 1 136,975.45
Total 4,224 16,674,967.02
January to December 2011 analysis
Value Number of claims Value of payments (£)
£1 to £10,000 3,278 7,513,188.36
£10,000.01 to £20,000 205 2,843,506.03
£20,000.01 to £30,000 40 994,074.67
£30,000.01 to £40,000 16 557,052.27
£40,000.01 to £100,000 16 961,742.64
£.100,000.01+ 5 842,283.69
Total 3,560 13,711,847.66

Following the announcement in October 2010, the scheme received a very high volume of claims as claimants submitted their applications before the changes to the scheme were introduced. There have been no notable changes to the nature of claims made after January 2011 apart from the ineligible works no longer being claimed.

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