Northampton Town Football Club

Debate between Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Greenhalgh

Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I am happy to take away all these suggestions around how we can improve the governance of our national game.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, this is sad, because football is about romance, not just finance. Fans love their local club, whatever division it plays in. Although this is about a council loan, the loyal fans of Northampton Town Football Club, which formed in 1897, had their hopes of a new stadium dashed. Will the Government take into account the findings not only of the KPMG public interest report but the report of the then internal auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, in 2016, which also made various recommendations?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I am sure that the successor council will take on board the recommendations of the public interest report and any recommendations that have come out of the local audit system. It is important that those are acted on.

Homelessness

Debate between Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Greenhalgh

Monday 13th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

The noble Lord is right to highlight the importance of multiagency working to tackle homelessness. However, I point to the fact that we have made several announcements in the last two months, including £105 million to support the ending of rough sleeping and, in the previous month, £433 million to provide thousands of additional long-term homes for vulnerable rough sleepers. This money can be used for that endeavour.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, no hero should be homeless. Of 343 local authorities, 252 do not include Armed Forces veterans in their housing strategies. One hundred and seventy-six local authorities fail to even consider the needs of these valiant veterans in their homeless strategy. Indeed, housing allocations for these homeless heroes have declined by nearly 11%. What steps will the Government take to remedy this unjust situation?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I note the noble Lord’s raising of the issue of support for our Armed Forces and will write to him on the initiatives that we as a Government are taking on that front.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Debate between Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Greenhalgh

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. It is very important that we consult the local community and voluntary sector. This is an opportunity, through one fund, to reduce bureaucracy and avoid form-filling, and for precisely that reason we will engage with the wider voluntary and community sector.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, inequality anywhere is a threat to equality everywhere. Will the Minister confirm that the priorities and objectives of the UK shared prosperity fund will remain—in particular, to boost economic development, especially in the inner cities and other impoverished areas—irrespective of the Covid-19 situation?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank the noble Lord. We have to ensure that we level up and that that cuts across all communities that are lower than the national average. That will be a focus for the fund in question.