Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and David Rutley

Thursday 13th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

T2. In Macclesfield, we are rightly proud of our rich silk heritage, which will be highlighted during the 200th anniversary of our Sunday school building, which is part of the Silk Museums Trust. With that in mind, will my hon. Friend tell the House what steps are being taken to celebrate the heritage of our traditional craft industries?

[Mr Vaizey]

Of course I can. My Department works with the Heritage Crafts Association and other bodies on the Craft Industry Board set up by creative and cultural skills to support the economic growth of the craft sector. I am also delighted that the craft sector has been chosen as one of the groups in the second phase of the apprenticeship trailblazers and that, at the end of last year, we managed to list at grade I the Queen Street Mill in Burnley, which is a late 19th-century textile weaving mill. I thank my hon. Friend for that question.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and David Rutley

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

We have allocated £100 million to the devolved Administration in Scotland. We have regular discussions, not just between the Minister responsible and me but among officials. We signed the highlands and islands enterprise agreement, which was one of the most difficult to sign because of the extremely rural nature of the area. I understand that roll-out plans continue apace, but I will certainly re-engage with the Scottish Minister at the earliest opportunity.

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

14. I welcome the steps that the Government are taking to improve broadband provision in rural areas, but will my hon. Friend tell the House what steps the Government are taking to make available best practice on community-led solutions to help our most isolated rural communities? Will he also tell the House whether BT and other service providers are involved in that important initiative?

[Mr Vaizey]

We work closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the rural community broadband fund, which is designed to help communities that are not part of the local and national rural broadband roll-out to get access to superfast broadband. Of course, we also work closely with BT and other providers on that.