Oral Answers to Questions

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

As I said, it would be wrong of me to comment on specific proposals, but I am sure that Bradford city council will want to consult extensively with local people.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

The DCMS website says:

“We would be concerned if libraries were closed, or their services disproportionately reduced, just to save money.”

If the policy is not intended to save money, why does the Minister think that councils are proposing to close libraries?

[Mr Vaizey]

The Labour Government said in March last year:

“The Government recognises that library closures may sometimes be necessary but closures must form part of a strategic approach to service provision”.

I agree with that statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is right to say that we want the Olympics to be something that is exciting for everyone throughout the whole country. On the specific costs of travelling to London, I suggest that he talks to his rail company to see whether it can help out. We wish him every success, and will give him every support we can, in that process.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

The Labour mayor of Lewisham says that he did not seek election to close down libraries, but that is the scale of the cuts. In Milton Keynes, a Liberal Democrat councillor says that the financial challenge means that money will be taken out of the library service. My local council in Nottinghamshire, run by the Conservatives, tells me that, to reduce expenditure, 28 libraries will reduce their opening hours. So councils of all colours do not want to reduce library provision, but the Government are forcing them to do so. What will Ministers do about it?

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

I remind the hon. Lady that one of the reasons why councils have reduced funding is the economic mess that her party left this country in; that is why they are having to make the tough decisions that they are having to make. We are not standing by: I have contacted all local authority to remind them of their statutory duty and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council continues to work closely with a number of authorities on their proposals for the future of their library services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[John Penrose]

I am afraid that the hon. Lady will have to wait for Friday to see who wants to speak for how long during the debate, but I can assure her that I have already engaged in substantial discussions with my colleagues in BIS on this. My earlier answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale), from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, stands: this proposal could be tremendously valuable to the tourism industry as a whole, but that is not the only factor to be considered. There are issues for people who live north of border that need to be taken into account as well.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

Has the Minister made any impact assessment on increasing VAT to 20% on the tourism industry in Wells and elsewhere in Britain?

[John Penrose]

As I am sure everybody here knows, taxation matters are for the Treasury not for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. However, I am sure that the hon. Lady realises that any attempt to try to reduce VAT in any one sector will need to come with a fully costed proposal about the impact on this country’s large deficit, which we are trying to bring down. Given the impact of deficits in other countries in Europe, it will be very difficult for anybody, in the short to medium term at least, to advance plans of that kind—without a fully costed proposal—without seeming to be extremely fiscally dangerous to this country’s economy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for his well-informed question. He is absolutely right that at a time like this, boosting philanthropy and other sources of income for the arts is extremely important. Arts and Business has done some valuable work. Obviously its funding is a matter for the Arts Council, which operates at arm’s length. However, I am pleased to be able to tell him that before the end of the year, we will be announcing a package of measures designed to boost philanthropy and help to strengthen the fundraising capacity of arts organisations—something that will be helpful to them in difficult times.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State recall saying in January of this year:

“I want people to say that on my watch the arts not just weathered a very, very difficult period, but also laid the foundations for a new golden age”?

Last week we saw a 30% cut in the Arts Council budget and a 15% cut to the British Film Institute. Does the Secretary of State understand that his role last week as Chancellor’s little helper, rather than the champion for the arts, makes his words seem pretty hollow? How many arts organisations does he think will go to the wall as a result of the cuts?

[Mr Hunt]

May I start by welcoming the hon. Lady to her position? She brings with her considerable showbiz panache—something that, despite his many other talents, the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) tried but failed to do for many years when he was doing her job.

The hon. Lady has only been doing the job a short while—[Hon. Members: “So have you.”] Indeed. I will perhaps forgive her for not understanding how the figures work, because after the lottery changes introduced by this Government—changes that the Labour party opposed every step of the way—the actual cut in the arts budget is less than 12%. Perhaps this is a moment for the Opposition to review that policy; otherwise there will be two parties in British politics that want to throw a lifeline to the arts and one party that wants to take it away.

Business of the House

Gloria De Piero Excerpts

Thursday 1st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

I think I am right in saying that the Deputy Prime Minister intends to make a statement on that subject in the very near future, so my hon. Friend will have to be patient for a little longer—[Interruption.] It will, of course, be made in Parliament, which is the right place for such statements.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

A debate on police productivity would allow me to question Ministers on how much time police officers spend on the beat. Now that the policing pledge has been scrapped, how are we to guarantee that the police will spend 80 % of their time on the streets?

[Mr Heath]

The hon. Lady will know that this has been a recurrent theme over many years, since long before she was in the House. Members on both sides have been concerned about the most effective way of deploying police officers and reducing the bureaucracy that often prevents them from doing the job that we want them to do—namely, being out on the streets catching criminals instead of sitting in a back room in a police station filling in forms. I hope that we shall be able to make rapid progress on these issues. As a former chairman of a police authority, I know that this has been a problem for a very long time. The hon. Lady is right to bring the subject up, and it is equally right that we should find time to debate it at some stage.