Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Glen and Marsha De Cordova

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova]

My hon. Friend will know that the Church does not receive any regular financial support from the state, and church buildings often rely on fundraising by local volunteers. The Government’s listed places of worship grant scheme is extremely helpful for all our faith communities with listed buildings across the UK, reimbursing the cost of VAT spent on repairs to those listed churches. This year, more than 5,000 Church of England buildings received support through the scheme. That is transformational for local communities, and enables work on the vital fabrics of those spaces. It is important that that funding scheme continues. The Church has written to the Treasury, along with others, and I hope that my hon. Friends in the Treasury will consider extending the scheme in the upcoming Budget later this month.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her new role, and I associate myself with her tribute to her predecessor. In recent times, the late noble Lord Cormack in the other place convened a meeting of MPs from cathedral cities and their deans, and there are plans to resurrect that meeting. Will the hon. Lady meet me to discuss how we can support her with plans to lobby the Treasury for capital grants for our great English cathedrals, including Salisbury, to maintain their presence in our country?

[Marsha De Cordova]

Yes, I am very happy to meet the right hon. Gentleman.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Glen and Marsha De Cordova

Tuesday 28th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

Over the years, we have had considerable dialogue on many of these measures. As I said, the legislation that the sector is looking for will be introduced in the next few weeks. I am aware of the Bill of the hon. Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick), and I am seeking to have a meeting with him imminently—in the next few days or next week—to discuss it and to see what we can support.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

11. What fiscal steps he is taking to help reduce the impact of inflation on households’ cost of living.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Glen and Marsha De Cordova

Tuesday 15th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

We worked to give widespread support to lots of individuals across the economy. I cannot give the hon. Lady the exact chapter and verse on individuals who have been supported, but we will continue to work on Companies House reform, which will be the most significant reform of the companies register in 170 years, and later this year we will publish a second economic crime plan and fraud action plan to address the threats that we continue to see.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Glen and Marsha De Cordova

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

4. What fiscal steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of funding for youth services.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)]

In September, the Chancellor announced a new £500 million youth investment fund to build and refurbish youth centres and deliver high-quality services to young people across the country. That will include £250 million of capital investment, which is expected to deliver 60 new youth centres, 360 refurbished facilities and more than 100 mobile units for harder-to-reach areas.

[Marsha De Cordova]

Over the past decade, spending on youth services has been cut by more than £1 billion. In constituencies such as mine and across London, the number of youth clubs has almost halved. Will the Chancellor finally own up to the devastating effect that austerity has had on young people in my constituency and commit to funding a proper statutory youth service in his upcoming Budget?

[John Glen]

What I can promise the hon. Lady is that the Government are committed to funding local government with a settlement, which was announced before the election, of an additional 4.4% in real-terms increase that will give local authorities that additional spending power alongside the youth investment fund announcement that I mentioned earlier.