Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I gently remind the hon. Lady that we have quadrupled the amount of money available for superfast broadband; we have brought forward the roll-out of superfast broadband from the next Parliament, which was and still is Labour’s policy, to this Parliament; and in October the Chancellor announced £150 million to get rid of mobile coverage gaps and increase mobile coverage to 99% of the population. I think that our record is pretty good.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to encourage inbound tourism from other EU member states.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (John Penrose)]

Visit Britain’s tourism marketing activities have been refocused to include a stronger emphasis on promoting the UK to potential EU visitors. That is in contrast to the previous Government, who took this important market for granted. Our most recent initiative is GREAT, a major international campaign announced by the Prime Minister on 21 September, which will promote the UK globally as one of the best places to visit, study, work and invest.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

The exhibition of the Staffordshire hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold in Washington DC is a great success and will encourage tourism to the UK. Will my hon. Friend work with the owners of the hoard to encourage the promotion of similar exhibitions in European cities?

[John Penrose]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the Staffordshire hoard is a glittering jewel, both literally and figuratively, in the British crown. It shows our history in a completely new light and transforms our understanding of a particular period of our nation’s story. It will indeed draw many tourists to this country, and I hope that it will be involved in many international tours to spread that message more widely.