Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Khan of Burnley on 16 October 2024 (HL1196), what plans they have to provide the finances for a Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to those of a Muslim faith who gave their lives in two World Wars, as announced in the March 2024 Budget.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are absolutely committed to remembering the vital contribution made by Muslim soldiers who fought incredibly bravely throughout the World Wars in the British Army and Allied Forces.
The Government are developing plans to provide funding of up to £1 million to build a fitting Muslim War Memorial and honour the lasting legacy of their vital contribution.
It is important that the Government considers a broad range of options for delivering the memorial and to inform our thinking, MHCLG ran a market engagement exercise earlier this year. The exercise was published on the Contracts Finder and Find a Grant portals. Responses have been evaluated and we are now developing plans for a competitive funding award process to be launched later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide the finances for a Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to those of a Muslim faith who gave their lives in two World Wars, as announced in the March Budget.
Answered by Lord Khan of Burnley
Our country has a long history of commemorating and honouring the brave actions of service men and women during the two World Wars, and we will never forget the sacrifices they made for our future. The government will set out further details on our plans to commemorate and mark the service given by our Muslim communities in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support efforts by local authorities and community groups to tackle issues experienced by people with dementia and their carers in rural areas, such as isolation, lack of transport, and lack of broadband.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government is committed to implementing the Dementia 2020 Challenge in full. We have supported dementia friendly initiatives and there are now over 2.2 million Dementia Friends and 225 Dementia Friendly communities in England, which cover a range of geographies including rural areas.
Local authorities and community groups in rural areas will be best placed to consider and respond to the needs of their communities, including people with dementia and their carers and taking into account such issues as transport needs and broadband. In 2016/17, English local authorities outside London received £265 million of funding to support socially necessary bus services and the Community Minibus Fund has provided over 300 local charities and community groups across England with over 400 minibuses to use for the benefit of their passengers. Improving broadband is also a high priority for the Government, including in rural areas. £1.7 billion of public money is being invested to support vital improvements in superfast broadband coverage across the UK.
We acknowledge that there is some evidence of increased cost of service delivery in rural sparse areas. This is why we provide specific funding for rural communities through the Rural Services Delivery grant which has provided £145.5 million for rural councils over the last two years.