5th Special Report - Protecting built heritage: Government response

This is the government's response, published 16 October 2026.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the report and agrees with many of its aims, but says it is "not proposing to adopt" a heritage-to-housing scheme and "not minded to accept" the national dataset recommendation, pointing instead to existing planning, funding and data arrangements.

• On housing, it "agrees" heritage regeneration and tackling vacancy are key priorities, but does "not agree" that national policy should require re-use to be prioritised before new build, citing the target of building 1.5 million new homes.
• On a national heritage dataset, it is "not minded to accept" the recommendation and is "concerned about the feasibility" of gathering and maintaining such information reliably and consistently.
• On funding, it says it "disagrees" that the National Portfolio Organisation model should be adopted for heritage and does not agree the taxpayer should routinely fund core operating costs, preferring capital grants that help custodians generate their own income.
• It commits to update the Committee on the Places of Worship Renewal Fund 6 and 12 months from submission of the report, and to "revert to the Committee in September 2028" on measuring heritage outcomes under the revised NPPF.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error