Baroness Afshar
Main Page: Baroness Afshar (Crossbench - Life peer)
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right. It is not just Cumbria: Yorkshire, Lancashire and the other counties in that whole area are all suffering from flood damage. I can confirm that Ministers are in discussions with the insurance industry at the moment.
Baroness Afshar (CB)
My Lords, I would like to put on record the extraordinary generosity during this dilemma of the citizens of York, who, from day one, provided for everyone as much as they could. York is a point that pulls tourists northwards, away from London’s centre of tourism. Is it not essential at this point not only to applaud and recognise the generosity of the people of York, but to allocate a specific sum to renovate the museum, which cannot be accessed at the moment, in order to extend tourism?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Baroness is quite right that the Jorvik Viking Centre is of great importance in York. One of the most important things we have been looking at in the five-point plan for tourism is transport, in order to spread tourism away from the centre to the other parts of the United Kingdom. The Rail Safety and Standards Board is running a £1 million competition to boost ideas to get more tourists on to the railways and out and about in the United Kingdom.