Department for Culture, Media and Sport written question – answered at on 14 March 2025.
Chi Onwurah
Shadow Minister (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), Chair, Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Chair, Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 34259 on Cathedrals: Conservation, whether her Department recognises cathedrals as heritage assets.
Chris Bryant
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Cathedrals are amongst some of the country’s finest heritage, with the great Majority of them on the National Heritage List. There is no set definition of what constitutes a 'heritage asset'. This country has many significant heritage sites and government cannot afford to maintain them all alone.
Yes2 people think so
No1 person thinks not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
