Image from one of our members, Jewish Heritage UK
Consultations
This page provides a list of current and past consultations with government (some of them informal), and our response where we have made one.
The English Cathedrals and Churches Sustainability Review has a separate page.
TAILORED REVIEW OF HISTORIC ENGLAND (closing noon 9 May 2019)
The Government is undertaking a ‘tailored review’ of Historic England. Every public body is required to undergo such a review once during the lifetime of the a Parliament.
The online consultation can be found here. If you want to pre-plan your answers, a pdf of the questions in the review is available here here (not available on DCMS website, but kindly provided by DCMS at our request).
HRBA responded on 8th May 2019. You can read the letter here.
The Diocese of Southwark responded on 9th May 2019. You can read the letter here.
The Catholic Church for England and Wales also responded on 9th May 2019. Read their response here.
PREVIOUS CONSULTATIONS
CLOSED: HLF reviews (2017) here and here
CLOSED: Feed into a refresh of Historic England’s and the University of York’s Statements of Significance on-line tool
CLOSED: 2016 consultation on Shale Wealth Fund
Our response to the government’s consultation on the Shale Wealth Fund.
CLOSED: 2012 consultation on details of changes to Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
The government has begun a short consultation on the details of the changes to the LPWGS, so that it will cover alterations as well as repairs. The deadline for response is 13 July 2012. The consultation paper is here.
Result: The government extended the scheme to the end of the present Parliament.
CLOSED: 2012 Gift Aid small donations scheme
The Government is introducing a small donations scheme for Gift Aid from April 2013. The HRBA is not responding to this consultation. The deadline for responses is 25 May 2012, and details may be found here http://tinyurl.com/ctjawem (opens in a new window).
Update 30 June 2012: The Government has published the Small Charitable Donations Bill, together with the customary Explanatory Notes. Also released was a summary of responses to the consultation on the detail of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme – and many of the views expressed – though not all – have evidently been fed into the drafting of the Bill, though much of the detail remains to be filled in by the detailed Regulations currently in preparation.
CLOSED: 2012 cap on tax relief on charitable giving
In the Budget of March 2012 the Government announced that there would be a cap on tax relief for charitable giving. The Heritage Alliance supports a campaign against this new tax burden (see The Heritage Alliance News page). Members of the HRBA are encouraged to consider signing the ‘Give it back, George’ campaign at http://giveitbackgeorge.org/ (opens in new window)
Update 30 June 2012: On 31 May 2012, the Chancellor George Osborne dropped plans to limit tax relief on charitable giving.
2012 VAT on alterations to listed buildings consultation closed, results available
In the Budget of March 2012 the Government announced that VAT on alterations to listed buildings (including places of worship) would in future be zero-rated for VAT. To mitigate this, the sum of £5m would be added to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LWPGS) annual budget.
The Heritage Alliance campaigned against this new tax burden, and the details of the campaign can be found at The Heritage Alliance News page.
The HRBA supported the stance of the the Heritage Alliance, and itself wrote to the Chancellor soon after the initial announcement (but before the figure of £5m had been announced)
HRBA Letter to Chancellor re removal of Alterations zero rated VAT 18 4 2012
Subsequently, on 16 May the HRBA responded formally to the consultation
HRBA Response to HMRC re Consultation on removal of Alterations zero rated VAT 16 5 2012
Subsequently it was announced that the sum of £30m (rather than £5m) would be added to the LWPGS. Discussions are ongoing (22 May 2012) about the details of this (and see the consultation on details to the LWPGS noted in an entry earlier on this page).
The following government documents are relevant, with the first one (the consultation document) being most important.
Update 28 June 2012. The Government has issued the results of its consultation over the planned changes to VAT. As regards the imposition of VAT on alterations to listed buildings, there has been a useful softening of the transitional arrangements. The details may be found on page 24 of the summary of responses.
CLOSED: 2011/ 2012 one off capital grant
At the end of 2011 the Government asked for our informal views on how to distribute a one-off capital grant. Our response is here. The Government announced it is distributing the money via the hybrid option.
2012 01 13 letter to DCMS re one off grant FINAL