Business of the House

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that question, and I understand the concern felt in her constituency. On Monday, we have the Queen’s Speech debate on home affairs, and I will make sure that the Minister replying to that debate takes her point on board and updates the House on the review to which she refers.

[Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North) (Con)]

I pay tribute to the courage and dedication of firefighters up and down the land. May we have a debate on funding for fire authorities because under the previous comprehensive spending review, shire authorities, such as your own, Mr Speaker, received on average an allocation of just 2%, whereas many urban authorities received up to 18%. Although we all understand the financial constraints that we are under at the moment, can the funding under the next review at least be fair across the land?

[Sir George Young]

There are oral questions to the relevant Department a week today, so I hope that my hon. Friend will have the opportunity to share his concern with Ministers and get a robust response.