Baroness Gill (Lab)

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to debate this important topic, and sincerely thank the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Prentis of Banbury. I recognise that places of worship are an important part of the UK’s heritage and architecture. It is fair to say that my opinion differs greatly from the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, who spoke before me. I have taken a particular great interest in them since I was a board member of English Churches Housing. Places of worship have held a special fascination for me, regardless of the faith—not just for their spirituality, serenity and intimacy, but because they give real insights into the history of the locality. Over the last years, post Brexit, I have regularly visited my local churches for art lessons, musical performances and local fêtes. From the number of activities posted on the boards, you can see they are a real centre of the community—a hub for community cafés, parent and toddler groups, food banks and for addressing many other welfare concerns. Likewise, sacred places of other faiths provide similar support for their congregations. My own experience of Sikh gurdwaras is that many of them provide a daily hot meal to everyone in the community, not just to the practitioners of that faith. Therefore, I believe the renewal fund of £92 million of capital funding over four years announced earlier this year will address the challenging state of repairs of some of our oldest buildings in disrepair. The fact that the funding priority will be to those areas of high deprivation is a positive factor, given it is harder for those places of worship to raise funds in their localities. I appreciate that many of the oldest buildings are churches and cathedrals. Nevertheless, there are notable older buildings belonging to other faiths that will qualify, including 27 synagogues, 15 mosques, seven Sikh gurdwaras and five Buddhist temples. I am particularly pleased that many of them are in my old constituency in the West Midlands. However, I have had a lot of feedback about the loss of universal VAT refunds. This will be felt as a real cut by many places of worship, which will no longer have access to VAT-free repairs. I recognise that many of these are new, but they are iconic landmarks, such as Guru Nanak Road Gurdwara in Southall, Neasden Hindu Mandir Temple and Birmingham Central Mosque. They are not listed, but they are very important centres for long-established communities. I recognise that they have recourse to National Lottery funding, but there are real dilemmas faced by the committees of those organisations about accessing funds from gambling. Regardless, I welcome that this Government are safeguarding our heritage for future generations to enjoy—believers and non-believers. Could I finally ask the Minister whether any additional support in navigating complex application processes will be given to deprived neighbourhoods which lack dedicated heritage staff?