Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts
Tuesday 2nd September 2014

(10 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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George Osborne Portrait Mr Osborne
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The Government, including me, did inadvertently give the wrong information, but the explanation provided by the permanent secretary at the HMRC was accepted by the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, the right hon. Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge), as a fair explanation of what happened.

Duncan Hames Portrait Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
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The Treasury’s infrastructure fund is paying for increased transport capacity in enterprise zones, through roads and rail services, unlocking large new housing developments. Is the Chief Secretary prepared to use the fund also to pay for the internet and communications infrastructure that those homes and businesses will desperately need?

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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The support we are offering to enterprise zones includes access to high-speed broadband, and my hon. Friend will also know that a significant part of our infrastructure plan is precisely to invest in and ensure that high-speed broadband is available in the vast majority of homes in this country. That is certainly something we will turn our minds to again in the autumn statement.