Stronger Towns Fund

Debate between Nicholas Dakin and James Brokenshire

Monday 4th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[James Brokenshire]

This is about towns coming forward with bids and having a sense of ambition, and a sense of how the fund can be transformative and make a difference to people’s life chances. There is still the work in relation to the UK shared prosperity fund, so the hon. Gentleman is wrong to try to link the two. I look forward to working with him, and with other colleagues on both sides of the House, as the further work on the towns fund is advanced through the prospectus involving the £600 million, and I want to see ambitious bids come from towns throughout the country.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Bottesford, Kirton and Scunthorpe are all great towns, but they have all been badly affected by the cuts in Government spending in our area across a whole range of services since 2010. The money that is now being talked about is only a third of what is being cut from local government over the next two years, and there is a bidding culture as well. Sometimes the areas most in need of support have the least capacity to make bids; what is the Secretary of State going to do about that?

[James Brokenshire]

There is the increase in funding for local government for the forthcoming year, which I have already referred to, and the town approach to this fund is profoundly about communities being able to shape this agenda, with civic leaders, business and the community being able to set out their ideas. I have talked about my ambition for the fund for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents and for people across the whole of our country.

Passport Office (Delays)

Debate between Nicholas Dakin and James Brokenshire

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

rose—

[James Brokenshire]

I give way first to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nicholas Dakin and James Brokenshire

Monday 28th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

T2. Will the Home Secretary confirm that for the past year, police have had to destroy the DNA of people arrested for but not charged with rape without the right to appeal to the DNA commissioner, which the Prime Minister promised they would have?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

We have amended the rights to retention of DNA to ensure that those convicted of offences are properly on the database, which the previous Government failed to do. We have introduced a new process whereby the police will be able to appeal to the commissioner, and they have not sought to address that in respect of historic DNA cases.