Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Carolyn Harris

Thursday 10th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

We are doing everything we can to speed up the roll-out in rural areas.

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

Since the Government launched their review of gambling, more than £2.8 billion—£57 a second—has been lost on fixed-odds betting terminals. I urge the Secretary of State to put an end to this misery.

[Matt Hancock]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady for her work on this subject and the cross-party effort she has led. We have looked at all the evidence, and we will be coming out with our response shortly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Carolyn Harris

Thursday 8th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I can assure my hon. Friend that I have not stopped and I will not stop communicating with my constituents, which is what this is all about.

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

Is the Minister aware of the recent estimate by the Centre for Economics and Business Research that 121,000 users of fixed odds betting terminals could be classed as problem gamblers, and that each suffers an average annual loss in welfare of nearly £10,000?

[Matt Hancock]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady for the work she has done as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on FOBTs. She has raised the issue repeatedly and I look forward to working with her on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Carolyn Harris

Wednesday 27th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

12. What recent progress he has made on implementing the Government’s transparency agenda.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Matthew Hancock)]

This morning we published further spending transparency data, which the Cabinet Office is committed to do as part of our agenda to be the most transparent Government ever.

[Carolyn Harris]

I thank the Minister of transparency for that response, but does he not agree that it is very difficult for him to lead by example on the transparency agenda when his own Department is being investigated by the Information Commissioner for refusing to publish routine spending data?

[Matthew Hancock]

It sounds like the hon. Lady wrote her supplementary question before she got the previous answer, because we published that information this morning. What is more, we are publishing Cabinet minutes at twice the pace that we ever saw under the previous Labour Government.