John Howell
Main Page: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)Department Debates - View all John Howell's debates with the HM Treasury
(12 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberI understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern—he has raised this matter on behalf of his constituents a number of times. The Treasury and HMRC are always seeking to improve the system. It is in a better place than it was four or five years ago, but none the less, there are still issues. I constantly tell HMRC that we need to find ways to address problems when information is provided but not taken up and used.
4. What progress he has made on implementation of the national infrastructure plan 2011.
Work on the implementation of the national infrastructure plan is now under way across Government, led by the Treasury. This month, for example, the Government have approved High Speed 2 to Birmingham and are working to resolve radar interference issues that are holding up wind farm developments. We will update the House on progress at the Budget on 21 March.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the national infrastructure plan is welcome and timely because it is about real investment in our infrastructure and because it shows that the Government are thinking for the long term, both of which will encourage co-investment in those projects?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The national infrastructure plan sets out a medium-term plan for £250 billion of much needed investment in this country’s infrastructure. Alongside that, we brought forward plans at the autumn statement for £6 billion of further investment in capital projects in this Parliament and announced a scheme working with pension funds to get £20 billion-worth of pension fund investment into infrastructure. Those are all the right things to ensure that in the long term, we rebalance our economy and make our infrastructure stronger.