Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Caroline Spelman and Bridget Phillipson(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Mrs Spelman
The hon. Gentleman wrongly credits his party with being at the centre of the improvement in recycling rates. The fact is that local authorities have achieved this, and the majority of them are Conservative controlled to boot. Perhaps we can also nail this myth about delay. Our business plan makes it clear that the waste review, which was launched in June last year, will be published in June this year. This is not a question of delay. The hon. Gentleman will have to wait just a short while to see the importance that the Government attach to undertaking a thorough review of waste, which includes picking up some of the mess that the previous Government left behind.
Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)
2. What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on allotments.
Forestry (England)
Debate between Caroline Spelman and Bridget Phillipson(13 years, 8 months ago)
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Mrs Spelman
The one that comes to mind is the Post Office consultation, which we all remember really was a sham.
Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)
A huge number of my constituents have written to me in the strongest possible terms on this important issue. Will the Secretary of State set out clearly and fully how they can make their views known in public directly to the panel?
Mrs Spelman
I think the hon. Lady will know from the e-mails she has received that the fears of many of our constituents were raised by their understanding of the forestry clauses in the Public Bodies Bill, and one of the things she can do is write to her constituents to explain that those clauses have now been removed. The Department always responds to all correspondence directed to it, and the hon. Lady has more than one vehicle to suggest by which the public can engage with us on the way forward in forestry and woodland policy in this country.