Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jim Cunningham

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It is quite a long statement. I reiterate your advice, Mr Speaker, that if my hon. Friend wants to take the matter further, he should pursue it with the Finance and Services Committee.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

First, I thank the Leader of the House for getting me a reply from the Secretary of State for Education. When will we have the promised statement, which we have been waiting on for about six months, on the capital programme for schools? There are schools in Coventry that are dilapidated, falling down and badly in need of repair. The Government are letting down teachers and kids in Coventry.

[Sir George Young]

There were questions to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on Monday this week. I do not know whether there was an opportunity to raise the issue then. I will raise it with my right hon. Friend and seek to establish when an announcement will be made about the capital programme, particularly as it impacts on Coventry.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jim Cunningham

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who raises a similar issue to that raised by his hon. Friend the Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy). I have already undertaken to raise the matter with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and I shall ensure that the hon. Gentleman is copied in to the letter that will be on its way.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

When will we get the Secretary of State for Education’s promised statement on the capital programme for schools? In the past, Ministers have made promises to visit schools in Coventry but they have not materialised. We have schools that are falling down and badly need a rebuild. The midlands in general badly needs those capital programmes, which could revamp the west midlands economy. When are the Government going to do something about it and when will we get that statement?

[Sir George Young]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, when we came into government we sought better value from the capital programme for schools and we brought to a halt a rather extravagant programme that we had inherited and introduced one that gives much better value for money. I shall raise the concerns with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and ask him either to visit Coventry or to write to the hon. Gentleman to set out our programme for investment in that city.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jim Cunningham

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful for that helpful suggestion—the only suggestion that we have had so far from the Opposition—as to how money might possibly be saved. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have announced a strategic defence and security review, which will examine the issues that he has raised, and he will have an opportunity at Defence questions to press Ministers on the specific projects that he has outlined.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

May I ask the Leader of the House when we are going to have a debate on what the Government call quangos, because there are 700 jobs at stake in Coventry? More importantly, do the Government consider regional development agencies such as Advantage West Midlands to be quangos? Do they also understand that major problems are now building up in the civil service itself—among the lower-paid, not the higher-paid? If the definition of quango includes them, should we not have a major debate on this?

[Sir George Young]

On the specific issue of the west midlands regional development agency, we have just had an hour’s questions to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which included, I understand, a question on the west midlands RDA. On the issue of quangos generally, quangos cover a wide range of Government Departments, and it may be better to look at the quangos within the context of each individual Department and see how they fit in, rather than have a wide-ranging debate on quangos spanning every Department.