Business of the House

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern, which has been in the news today. He will know that we are moving from an array of different benefits to a universal credit—a move that I hope hon. Members on both sides of the House will welcome—under which everyone will be better off in work. There is a particular issue, to which he has just referred, as we migrate from where we are to universal credit, about what happens to entitlement to free school meals. He may have heard the Minister of State, Department for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather), speaking about this. We are determined to protect vulnerable children—those children on low incomes. We recognise that free school meals are an important ingredient for them and we are in consultation to ensure that, as we move to the new regime, we continue to protect those in most need.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

In March, Conservative-led Pendle council purchased Brierfield Mills, a landmark grade II listed building, thanks to a £1.5 million grant from the Homes and Communities Agency. Under the previous Government, the building had been bought by Islamic Help, which controversially planned to turn it into a 5,000-place Islamic girls school. Thankfully, now, the site will remain in economic or commercial use. May we have a debate about what the Government are doing to support the economy in the north of England and such economic regeneration?

[Sir George Young]

I was interested to hear of the project referred to by my hon. Friend, and we are anxious to promote regeneration in his constituency. The regional growth fund is on schedule. The first two rounds allocated £1.4 billion, but a new bidding round has opened recently and an additional £1 billion is now available. I hope that projects in his constituency will consider applying for this so that we can regenerate, provide employment and create wealth.