Community Pharmacy in 2016-17 and Beyond

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

1st reading: House of Commons
Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[David Mowat]

The right hon. Gentleman makes an extremely good point. They are not yet in place, but they will be by 1 December.

[Mr Edward Vaizey (Wantage) (Con)]

I congratulate the Minister on his statement. It is worth reminding the House that many urban pharmacies are located in clusters and are very close to one another. It is therefore quite right that we should look at how they are subsidised. I am pleased that, as a result of these savings, he will be looking out for rural pharmacies, which are more dispersed. They are the ones that really need the help.

[David Mowat]

The access scheme to which I referred will apply to rural and urban pharmacies. Indeed, there is more urban than rural in it, but it will protect rural pharmacies in the way my right hon. Friend mentions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Tuesday 11th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[David Mowat]

The STP process is an attempt to upgrade our public health and mental health provision and cancer outcomes. Every STP will be expected to provide an assessment of local public health priorities and the timetable for progress towards that.

[Mr Edward Vaizey (Wantage) (Con)]

Wantage community hospital in my constituency has recently closed because of the threat of Legionnaires’ disease, and it will not reopen until we have finally concluded consultation on the sustainability and transformation plan—if it reopens at all. This consultation has been delayed, and that naturally worries my constituents. Will the Minister join me in urging Oxfordshire to get on with consulting on this very important plan, so that we can have a reasonable discussion?

[David Mowat]

I will join my right hon. Friend in doing that. I am not familiar with the specifics of the Wantage case, but it does not sound right that it is an ongoing thing that is not fixed quickly.

Regional Arts and Culture

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Tuesday 4th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Vaizey]

My briefing from the Arts Council says the opposite: that it is 70% now and was on average 60% under the previous Government. We can trade statistics, but lottery funding has increased and additional funds are available: £45 million for the strategic touring programme, which helps organisations tour outside of London; £37 million in the creative people and places fund, which was specifically set up by the Arts Council to support the arts where they are not well represented in certain regions; and £15 million to support 6,500 apprenticeship places, many of which will be outside London. There is also the £171 million that I secured with the Secretary of State for Education for music hubs. For 2015-16 alone, the Arts Council will have something like £570 million to invest in the arts up and down the country.

It is important, however, to understand why in the pure statistics it looks like London is getting a disproportionate share of the funding. The national museums are based in London, but the Victoria and Albert Museum is opening a multimillion pound extension in Dundee and it works with Sheffield galleries, as I know from my visits. The British Museum only this week sent me a wonderful publication detailing all the work it does across the country with other organisations. Plus Tate works with 26 contemporary art museums in the UK. The Science Museum has homes in York, Bradford and Manchester. The Royal Armouries is based in Leeds. The Imperial War Museum has bases in Duxford and Salford, as well as in London. There are also organisations that tour, such as the English National Ballet. I spoke to the director-designate of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris, about his ambitious plans to support theatre and produce productions outside London and bring them into the National Theatre. That will no doubt be helped by the Chancellor’s generous decision to create a tax break for theatre specifically to support productions outside London.

The list goes on and I could go on and on, but I want to list some of the places that I have visited as culture Minister. I went to Durham to view the Lindisfarne gospels and saw the huge impact the exhibition had on the city. I have visited the Turner Contemporary, which has already welcomed 1 million visitors, the Hepworth Wakefield, Nottingham Contemporary, Sage Gateshead and Bristol Old Vic, which is one of the foremost advocates of arts policy in the country.

[David Mowat]

I thank the Minister for giving way. I am listening hard to his catalogue of stuff going on in the regions. Based on that, is it his position that the current balance of spending per head between London and the regions is about right and that the report and its recommendations for rebalancing are not a useful contribution?

[Mr Vaizey]

I was going to go on to mention the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth, Thinktank, which is the Birmingham science museum, Liverpool, which has been European capital of culture and contains one of our national museums, the Manchester international festival, Manchester’s plans for a new arts centre called HOME, Aldeburgh, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal, Opera North, the Lowry and the Bowes museum. It is no coincidence that the shadow culture spokesperson holds the Bishop Auckland seat given the huge philanthropic act of Jonathan Ruffer, who saved the Zurbarán paintings and opened up Auckland castle, which I visited a few months ago.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 12th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

I would never accuse the Secretary of State for Education of being narrow-minded. I take on board the hon. Lady’s praise for my Secretary of State who is leading the growth in the creative industries. We in DCMS are led by a Secretary of State who is leading a Department for growth. That is very good news indeed, and I repeat what I said: there is a huge input from the Secretary of State for Education.

I really would not take too much from an Ofsted report that looks at music hubs four months after they have been created and condemns them. The hon. Lady should speak to her friends in the Musicians Union, who are furious about that report.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

9. What steps she is taking to reduce differences in Arts Council funding spent in London and the regions.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

Arts Council England makes its funding decisions independently of Government, but it must take care to ensure all areas of the country have access to its funding. We have discussed this with the Arts Council and continue to do so, and the Arts Council has indicated that a priority in its forthcoming investment round will be to achieve a better balance from public funding and lottery investment across the country.

[David Mowat]

The Minister might be aware of the recent report, “Rebalancing Our Cultural Capital”, which stated that in 2012-13, £69 per head was spent in London while £4.60 per head was spent in the English regions. That represents a ratio of 15:1, which does not exist anywhere else in the world. How long will it take to get this fixed?

[Mr Vaizey]

I think we are making very good progress—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 20th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

The hon. Lady raised this point in yesterday’s Opposition day debate. She also extolled the many cultural virtues of Liverpool, and I heartily endorse her comments. I am sorry that I did not answer her question then. As I understand it, the Arts Council is talking to Liverpool about the cultural support it can give around the international festival, and I will talk to the Arts Council about its plans, and write to the hon. Lady.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

T6. The England football team is a valuable national asset, yet of the millions of pounds raised, over 50% goes to the professional game, not the impoverished grass roots; I speak as a director of Warrington Town football club, an example of the impoverished grass roots. Does the Minister intend to follow the Select Committee recommendation and make it Government policy to make a switch in regard to that funding?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 28th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

We will regularly monitor progress on superfast broadband on several fronts, including cost, access, take-up and speed. British Telecom deserves to be congratulated as it is now rolling out superfast broadband to 90,000 homes a week, which I think is the fastest roll-out anywhere in the world. I hear what the hon. Lady says, and I hope that she will soon be able to have a meeting with Broadband Delivery UK to raise these issues directly.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

12. What financial support the Government plan to provide for the 2013 rugby league world cup; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Mowat and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

9. What progress has been made on implementation of the proposals set out in the coalition agreement to give the National Audit Office full access to the BBC’s accounts.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I had a brief meeting with the chair of the BBC Trust last month. My officials are now working with the BBC Trust to ensure that the commitment is achieved by November 2011, as announced in the Department’s structural reform plan, in a way that preserves the BBC’s editorial independence.

[David Mowat]

The move by part of the BBC from London to Salford has been good value for the licence payer, good for the north-west and will be good for the BBC. Does the Under-Secretary agree that it would be useful for the National Audit Office to consider moving further functions of the BBC from inside the M25 to the north-west, particularly Salford?

[Mr Vaizey]

That is not a matter for the National Audit Office, which examines how the BBC spends its money, but for the BBC and the BBC Trust.