The Historic Religious Buildings Alliance’s BIG UPDATE is your chance to keep up to date with what’s happening to secure the future of historic religious buildings, and to chat to others with similar interests and concerns. The only event of its kind, it’s friendly, lively, …

This edition of Heritage Update has been edited by Daniella Briscoe-Peaple, who has joined the Alliance for a short time to support its Policy and Communications team. Since graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Classics in July 2017, Daniella has been …

Theresa May stated after a five-hour long meeting yesterday, that the cabinet has backed a draft withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU. Nine ministers reportedly spoke out against the agreement, but the cabinet reached a collective position and a draft agreement of over …

The Times has reported that development secretary Penny Mordaunt proposed withdrawing the UK from UNESCO, following decisions made by the USA and Israel to do the same… Keith Nichol, Head of Cultural Diplomacy for DCMS, has shared HMG’s official position that: “There has been no …

On 9 October 2018 Jeremy Wright, the Secretary of State for DCMS, delivered a speech at the Creative Industries Federation Summit. He stressed the role of creative industries in increasing UK soft power. In the framework of Brexit, it will be important to show the world the …

The importance of soft power is increasingly being recognised internationally as something that is fundamental to a country’s success, both in terms of politics and economics. The UK ranked highest in the 2018 Portland Communications Soft Power 30 report. The British Council has now published …

The Government has published a statutory instrument intended to ensure that the environmental impact and strategic environmental assessment regimes continue to operate after the UK leaves the European Union. These instruments make no substantive changes of policy, but when the UK leaves the European Union, these instruments …

On 3rd November 2018, The Communities Secretary, James Brokenshire, has announced a new commission to champion beauty in the built environment. Click here to find out more. The ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful’ Commission is intended: • To gather evidence from stakeholders and other sources. The Commission will …

HM treasury has responded to the petition promoted by the Listed Property Owners’ Club to reduce VAT to 5% on repairs and approved alterations to listed buildings. The petition, which closes on 2 January 2019 and has reached 11,282 signatures so far, stemmed from LPOC’s awareness of …

“We know what the NHS does is life-saving. But what the arts and social activities do is life-enhancing.” Recalling the 2017 Creative Health report produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, the HSC Secretary Matt Hancock spoke on 6 November 2018 to the …

Following Tracey Crouch’s resignation, the Government appointed Mims Davies as Minister for sport and civil society on 5 November 2018. Davies has been the Conservative MP for Eastleigh since 2015. She was previously Assistant Government Whip from January to November 2018, and Parliamentary Under Secretary …

Historic England has recently published its Planning Bulletin for November, highlighting some of the recent and forthcoming developments in planning legislation and policy. Among other news, it is worth noting that the Environmental Assessments and Miscellaneous Planning (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 has been published to ensure …