Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts
Thursday 19th July 2018

(5 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Blackrod Primary School in his constituency on earning that fantastic award. The Government want all children to have a broad and balanced curriculum, and the creative arts play an important role. We are investing nearly £500 million of funding from 2016 to 2020 for a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve arts provision for all children.

Rachael Maskell Portrait Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
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NHS Property Services has been required to dispose of the Bootham Park Hospital site. The city urgently needs capacity for new health services, yet developers want to move on to the site to build luxury apartments—we have far too many of those. Can we have a debate about public interest in the disposure of public sites?

Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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The hon. Lady raises an important issue. Having been to her constituency, I know it is very beautiful and I totally understand that there is a lack of space for things like a new hospital. I encourage her to raise the matter with Ministers at Health questions next Tuesday by asking what they can do to try to help to protect that space.