To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to protect English heritage sites from decay and neglect.

Historic England, government’s statutory advisor on historic environment, compiles an annual Heritage at Risk Register. This indicates what steps the Government is taking to protect sites from decay and neglect, including those in the guardianship of English Heritage.

The 2019 Register, which was published on 17th October 2019, gives an annual snapshot of the critical condition of some of the country’s most important historic buildings, sites, monuments and places. In total there are 5,073 entries on the 2019 Register, 87 fewer than in 2018.

Throughout England, 310 sites have been removed from the Register because their future has been secured, often by community intervention and a partnership approach. Over the past year, Historic England has spent nearly £8.5m in grants on helping some of the country’s best loved and most important historic sites. This work continues, and we see many examples where bringing endangered historic sites and structures back to beneficial use has demonstrable economic and community benefits, and thus public value.