Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Thursday Volume 583 3 July 2014 No. 18 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 3 July 2014 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2014 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1057 3 JULY 2014 1058 Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con): The House of Commons Secretary of State will be aware that alongside the national lottery, society lotteries contributed £145 million Thursday 3 July 2014 to good causes in 2012-13 and could provide a lot more if the prizes, draw and turnover rules were deregulated. The House met at half-past Nine o’clock His Department has long promised a consultation on this but has yet to publish it. In the light of the recent PRAYERS Centre for Economics and Business Research report on society lotteries, can he tell the House when the consultation might come? [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] Sajid Javid: Changes in lottery and gambling markets have made it clear to us that the consultation on society Oral Answers to Questions lotteries should be more wide ranging than we had previously thought. The Gambling Commission is providing us with further information and advice, and we are CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT planning to conduct the consultation later this year. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab): The Arts was asked— Council announced this week that 99 organisations will National Lottery Funding be financed solely by the national lottery and it has to cut support to 58 other arts organisations because of 1. Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con): What the huge cuts in the Department. Local authorities have steps he has taken to promote national lottery funding also been forced to reduce support to arts organisations. to sport, heritage and arts groups in the past 12 months. Given that London gets 20 times as much philanthropic [904613] money per person as the rest of the country, does the Secretary of State agree with the statement from the The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (Sajid Javid): Through the work of the national lottery the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) that arts promotions unit and individual national lottery distributors, organisations that cannot raise philanthropic funds are we continue to raise awareness of funding for good totally misguided and “pathetic”? causes. Demand for lottery funding continues to outstrip supply, with over £1.5 billion spent on national lottery Sajid Javid: The hon. Lady will know that I do not projects in just the past 12 months. agree with her. She knows that Government grants for Iain Stewart: The Heritage Lottery Fund recently arts funding have been cut because the Government of made a large contribution to the new visitors centre at whom she was part left our country with the largest Bletchley Park in my constituency and also paid for the deficit in the industrialised world and left us with very restoration of some of the old codebreaking huts. May difficult decisions to make. The good news is that the I invite my right hon. Friend to visit Bletchley Park to Arts Council receives funding from other sources and, see for himself what a vital role the Heritage Lottery taken together with total funding of almost £3 billion Fund plays in preserving the heritage of the country? during the life of this Parliament, the level of funding is virtually unchanged from the situation in the previous Sajid Javid: I have visited Bletchley Park a number of Parliament. times, as I am sure all hon. Members have done, to look at its vivid story and see how that is brought to life. I Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD): Given would be more than happy to do so again. It is a fitting that many regions, particularly in the north, generate tribute to the remarkable men and women who worked disproportionately more revenue for the national lottery, there, including a wonderful woman in my own what further steps will the Government take to ensure constituency, Betty Webb, who served there. I am delighted that other regions where more money is generated get that Bletchley Park has received funding from the Heritage their fair share of sport, heritage and arts funding? Lottery Fund for its restoration. My hon. Friend is right to give credit to John Major, as he has done in the Sajid Javid: The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that past, for setting up the fund. important point about the regional distribution of the Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): The funds. It is something we discuss with the lottery, and I Secretary of State may know that as chair of the John shall be taking it up with it further. Clare Trust, I have been the beneficiary of quite a lot of Heritage Lottery funding. I am delighted with it and Superfast Broadband would like more for projects going forward in my constituency, but will the right hon. Gentleman remember 2. Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con): that it does not replace a Government committed to What steps he is taking to ensure that superfast culture and heritage? broadband is available in remote areas of the UK. Sajid Javid: I am pleased to hear that the hon. Gentleman [904614] supports the work that the fund is doing for the causes that he holds dear, which are very good causes. The The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport principle of additionality is very important and the (Sajid Javid): The Government’s broadband programme distributors must adhere to it at all times. will provide superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises 1059 Oral Answers3 JULY 2014 Oral Answers 1060 by 2017. In February 2014 we announced nearly £3 million Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab): The analyst, Redburn, in further grant funding to support superfast coverage has pointed out that claims that the UK is doing well on in Cornwall. superfast broadband are “only true using a rather unambitious definition of superfast”. Sheryll Murray: One of my constituents who runs a A number of European countries now have over 20% fibre- small business in a not-spot area purchased satellite to-the-home penetration, with symmetric 100 megabits- broadband after being told that they would not get a per-second services. The Under-Secretary of State, the fibre-optic connection. Can they now bid for some hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), told me in a money if Cornwall council is successful to enable other written answer on 23 June that he does not know how connections, and will it cost people more for any other much of that we have in the UK, but the industry type of connection? estimates penetration to be about 0.5%. Surely we need to be doing much better. Sajid Javid: Superfast Cornwall has a satellite broadband offer for premises that currently have slow-speed broadband Sajid Javid: The right hon. Gentleman will be pleased and are not likely to gain a fibre-optic connection. The to know that superfast coverage in the UK is the highest grant of almost £3 million that the Government gave in among the EU5 countries; it is higher than Germany, February in phase 2 will help increase coverage. My higher than Spain, five times higher than Italy and three hon. Friend’s constituent can make an application to times higher than France. Superfast Cornwall, and that will be a decision for it to Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD): I was pleased make. We are making progress on the issue, but I agree when the Government announced the awarding of the that there is much more to do. contract to look into ways of using satellite to bring superfast broadband to remote areas of Scotland that 10. [904626] Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan fibre-optic cables cannot reach. It is very important that an Iar) (SNP): Finland and Sweden will cover about that work is done as soon as possible. What time scale 99% of their populations with 4G networks capable of does the Minister envisage for bringing superfast broadband delivering high-speed broadband, but the UK’s model to remote areas of the highlands and islands by satellite? of coverage with 2G and 3G has failed many people in rural and island areas. Will the Secretary of State Sajid Javid: These pilots began in June, so they are consider a different approach to 4G for rural areas, very recent and it will take a number of months before including mast-sharing and controls on rents at mast any results are known. We have deliberately picked a sites, especially as 4G will deliver up to 30 megabits and number of different companies with different types of might wirelessly reach areas that cable broadband technology to ensure that we learn as much as we can. I might not reach? envisage that we will have more information in six months. Sajid Javid: The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to Tourism Industry know that there has been a significant increase in superfast broadband coverage since 2010, rising from 45% to 3. Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con): What 73%, but there is much more to do. There has also been steps he is taking to support the tourism industry. a significant change in 4G coverage in the UK, which [904615] many people use for broadband, as he rightly highlights. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport For example, O2, which has a licence for 4G, is committed (Sajid Javid): The tourism industry is central to the to extending it to 99% of the country.