Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roberta Blackman-Woods and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

15. What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the national infrastructure plan.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

I published the updated national infrastructure plan on 4 December 2013. It includes an update on the Government’s top 40 priority investment projects, including a pipeline of £375 billion-worth of planned investment, of which the Government have contributed £100 billion in capital over the long term.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

Last month, after detailed analysis, the Financial Times reported that it found progress in infrastructure schemes to be slow, if not minimal, including on many of the 40 priority projects launched to great fanfare by the Government. What will the Minister do to rectify the situation and get infrastructure projects delivered?

[Danny Alexander]

I do not think that that analysis is correct. Thirty-six transport projects worth more than £1.7 billion have been delivered, upgrades to more than 150 railway stations and 350 flood and coastal erosion schemes have been completed, superfast broadband last year passed an extra 200,000 premises and electricity generation schemes are being completed across the country. Just last week we completed, several months ahead of schedule, the M4 and M5 managed motorway projects near Bristol—another example of infrastructure being delivered by this Government.

Investing in Britain’s Future

Debate between Roberta Blackman-Woods and Danny Alexander

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The road will be taken forward according to the plans set out previously. That will include some tolling for new capacity.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

The north-east leads the way in the British export industry, so can the Chief Secretary tell us what percentage of infrastructure spending will go to the north-east, and by when, to support the expansion of our manufacturing export base?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight the fact that the north-east is the only region in the country that is a net contributor to the UK’s exports. The infrastructure investment announced today, for roads, broadband and so on, will help those industries. I cannot give her a precise breakdown, but I urge her to encourage the local enterprise partnerships in the area to take a full part in the local growth fund, which is a huge opportunity for the north-east.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

Debate between Roberta Blackman-Woods and Danny Alexander

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman, with the greatest of respect, has misunderstood the Government’s message. Part of the guarantee programme will extend the benefit of Government guarantees to housing associations, to enable an additional 15,000 affordable properties to be built. That is why it has been welcomed by the National Housing Federation, which speaks for housing associations in this country. Housing associations recognise that they will benefit from the guarantee, because it will reduce the cost of finance and help them to build many more homes for the sadly limited amount of money that is available to this country at the moment.

The plans are also supported by the Home Builders Federation, which said:

“Government now clearly understands the constraints on delivery and has outlined action to address them.”

The Government are committed to delivering a sustainable, private sector-led recovery that is balanced across industrial sectors and geographical regions; to moving away from an economy focused exclusively on the south-east of England, which is reliant on financial services and unsustainable debt, towards an economy supported by a wide variety of industries across the United Kingdom; and to making the UK one of the best places in the world to do business, attracting foreign investment and promoting our exports. To achieve that vision, the Government are committed to delivering world-class infrastructure, thereby giving firms access to the communication and transport networks that they need, wherever in the UK they happen to be.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Danny Alexander]

I am going to make some progress, but I will come back to the hon. Lady.

We want to allow Britain to compete on the world stage. Our national infrastructure plan sets out an ambitious but credible road map for delivering on that vision. There is a pipeline of £200 billion of upcoming investments in major necessary projects, most of which will be delivered through the private sector. In addition, we want to see billions of pounds of investment in housing and infrastructure to support our public services.

Even in more favourable circumstances, raising the private finance that is necessary to deliver on those goals would be a challenge. Given the disruption caused by the instability of international markets and the eurozone, and its adverse effect on capital markets, it is clear that decisive action is necessary to enable these projects to be delivered. The Bill will allow us to take that action and to bring forward the investment that is required.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

Will the right hon. Gentleman explain why it has taken so long for the Government to recognise that additional investment in infrastructure is needed if the economy is to grow?

[Danny Alexander]

Again, I do not agree. By looking at the way we use capital moneys across Government, the decisions we took in the 2010 spending review have enabled us, for example, to devote more capital moneys to the Department for Transport for investment in our transport infrastructure over these four years than our predecessors were able to devote over the previous four years. The same could also be said of communications and broadband infrastructure. This Bill is a major development along that road. Labour could have put in place a guarantee scheme at any point in the previous 13 years, but it chose not to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roberta Blackman-Woods and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

10. If he will discuss with his ministerial colleagues bringing forward the timing of public infrastructure investment in order to encourage economic growth.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

We are having those discussions as we speak. We are already spending more on new roads and new rail now than we were at the height of the spending boom in the previous Parliament. We have provided £2.4 billion for the regional growth fund, £770 million for the Growing Places fund and £570 million for the Get Britain Building fund. We can also support infrastructure investment through the use of Government guarantees and will be announcing more about how we plan to do so later this summer.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

But will the Chief Secretary listen to the business leaders quoted recently in the Financial Times, who said that they had heard Ministers talking about infrastructure projects for months but with no visible results? Will he publish a timetable today, or very soon, for each region showing the projects that will be brought forward with their delivery dates?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Lady will have seen that last November we published the national infrastructure plan, which does precisely what she said and which was widely welcomed by business leaders and business organisations across the country. She will know that we are spending more on road and rail than the previous Government managed, including on a number of projects in her part of the world.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roberta Blackman-Woods and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I am grateful for the opportunity to do that. The fuel duty discount will come into force for customers, including on the islands in my hon. Friend’s constituency, from 1 March. That will reduce the cost of fuel by 5p a litre in the most remote island communities, reflecting the fact that they have the highest cost. The scheme has been open to retailers to register for it since 1 January, and I am pleased to report that almost every retailer has already signed up.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

2. What assessment he has made of the effects on families with children of taxation changes coming into force in 2012-13.