Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Justine Greening and Gavin Williamson(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Gavin Williamson
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I know this matter has been raised with me by a number of Scottish Conservative and Unionist MPs and it is certainly something I am looking at closely, but I thank him for taking the time to raise it in the House.
Justine Greening (Putney) (Ind)
I think leaving the European Union with no deal would be one of the most anti-social mobility steps this country could have taken in many years. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the left-behind communities that are so often talked about by Ministers will be the ones worst hit? Perhaps the only double whammy that could follow that would be to scrap the opportunity areas, which are at least helping some of them to improve education standards.
Gavin Williamson
I have spoken to quite a number of colleagues about the really valuable work the opportunity areas are doing and the impact—the very positive impact—they are having on the communities in which they are operating. We are looking at how we can develop that in the future.
Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts)
Debate between Justine Greening and Gavin Williamson(11 years, 4 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Justine Greening
My hon. Friend is right. Even when we are building up core basic services, the innovation of the private sector has a real role to play, and my Department has sought to tap into that. There is a strategic question about what we need to do for ourselves and what expertise we buy in from outside, but there is no doubt a key role for the private sector to play.
Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend use her position to encourage both her Department and the many aid organisations that it supports and funds to start buying more British-manufactured vehicles? Far too often we see foreign-manufactured vehicles being purchased by aid organisations, even though we all know that the best 4x4s are manufactured in the midlands and have a Land Rover badge on the front of them.
Justine Greening
My hon. Friend has made his point, and I am sure that the non-governmental organisations will have been listening to this urgent question and will have taken note accordingly. As I have said, we aim to get best value for the taxpayer, and I am sure that in many cases that best value is indeed British.
Rail Reform
Debate between Justine Greening and Gavin Williamson(12 years, 4 months ago)
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Justine Greening
We are not further fragmenting the industry; we are encouraging it to work collaboratively and more effectively. If by talking about fragmentation the hon. Gentleman is criticising our proposals to decentralise some decision making, I think that he is wrong.
Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)
The ticket office at Codsall station was closed a number of years ago and has been replaced by the fantastic Codsall station pub. My right hon. Friend has talked about allowing post offices the opportunity to sell tickets, but will she look at letting the Codsall station pub sell tickets?
Justine Greening
That sounds like a good idea that my hon. Friend’s local community might like to take forward. I encourage him to look through the document, which contains a section on how we want to see stations improve more generally.