Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Denis MacShane(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Pickles
I have good news for my hon. Friend. Based on calculations, it is not 57% green belt, but 60%.
Mr Pickles
It is as the right hon. Gentleman says.
Of course we are not looking to affect my hon. Friend’s constituency. The green belt is immensely important. It is a green lung and prevents major conurbations from bumping into one another.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Denis MacShane(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Pickles
I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating Tendring. The council did not make the headlines for many years, but suddenly it has started coming up with lots of new initiatives. It is certainly in the forefront of transparency, and where Tendring leads, I am more than happy to follow.
Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)
Frankly, it is not good enough, because the Department is not publishing spending between 50p and £500, and that is where—on credit cards and in other areas—a lot of things go wrong. Can we have some transparency in this wretched Department, instead of the cover-up it is currently practising?
Mr Pickles
I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman is quite wrong. We have published every penny of spending on credit cards, and that is why we know that Labour Ministers wined and dined at some of the finest restaurants in the country, including the Boisdale, Somerset House, the National Gallery, the Wolseley and the Cinnamon Club. It may be of interest to know that Labour Ministers were not alone—the Audit Commission managed to go to L’Escargot, Coq d’Argent and the Cinnamon Club, and its board members even went to an oyster bar to discuss corporate governance, and then lost the receipt.
Local Government Finance
Debate between Lord Pickles and Denis MacShane
Mr Pickles
They will gain access in precisely the same way they have gained access this year and in previous years: they will bid for an amount. No authority has ever received 100% so the £200 million will be apportioned on a percentage basis. I look forward to receiving applications from authorities throughout the country.
Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)
The verdict on this policy will be delivered next May and in May 2012, and I fear that the Secretary of State has just written the Götterdämmerung of Conservative councillors over the next four or five years. In Rotherham, there are literally hundreds of voluntary organisations relying on just a small helping hand from local government of a few hundred or few thousand pounds—not big money. May I ask him to pay particular attention to that to ensure that the voluntary sector does not go under as a result of the settlement?