7 Dec 2011 : Column 291

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T9. [85140] Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): In these times of austerity and hardship for so many of my constituents in Lincoln, how can my right hon. Friend justify his reported desire to legislate to force successive Governments to continue funding projects in 27 other countries, including India?

Mr Mitchell: My hon. Friend will be aware that the coalition Government looked at our bilateral programmes and reduced by 16 the number of countries in which we have country-to-country programmes precisely to ensure that we champion value for money. For example, on the first day we stopped aid to China and Russia. His constituents can be reassured that we are focusing on results and ensuring that every pound of taxpayers’ hard-earned money delivers 100p of results on the ground.

- ENDS -

For the full Oral PQs, please go tohttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111207/debtext/111207-0001.htm#11120739000011  or for further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP atkarl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Substantive:

2. Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): What steps he is taking to promote women’s football. [70589]

The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson): I spoke at the launch of the Football Association’s new women’s super league in April. In June, I attended a reception at Downing street for the England women’s team ahead of the World cup in Germany. At the junior level, we made strong representations to the FA to increase the age at which girls can play in mixed teams from 11 to 13. I am delighted that that will happen from next year.

Supplementary:

Karl M^cCartney: I thank the Minister for that answer. Will he join me in congratulating all the teams, especially my own team, Lincoln Ladies, on the successful first season of the FA WSL? Lincoln Ladies’ attendance rose on average by more than 400% compared with the previous year. Does he agree that the first season laid an excellent marker for future seasons and that it highlights the continuing growth of the women’s game in Lincoln and throughout England?

Hugh Robertson: Of course I do. My hon. Friend will be delighted to know that I had the opportunity to meet a number of the Lincoln Ladies players during a visit to the city on 14 June. There is no doubt that the new league has been a fantastic success and I hope it will be a great driver of more women playing football.

….

Topical:

T2. [70609] Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): I was pleased to see Members of all parties and of the other place take part in the parliamentary archery competition on Monday afternoon on Speaker’s Green, courtesy of you, Mr Speaker. Thank you. I was certainly all of aquiver that I, with my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr Goodwill), managed to win the competition. Will the Secretary of State or one of his Ministers tell us what plans are in place to ensure that British archery and other less well-known sports receive adequate funding and, perhaps, media coverage in the run-up to and beyond the 2012 Olympics, thus giving Team GB the best chance of medal success across a plethora of events?

Mr Hunt: I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I strongly agree that we need to support all Olympic events, which is why we are preserving the funding for the whole United Kingdom elite sport budget for the training of Olympians and Paralympians despite a very difficult spending round. I have been to see our Olympic and Paralympic archers train at Lilleshall, and I know that we all wish every success to gold medallist Dani Brown and bronze medallist Alison Williamson, who are our big medal hopes for next year.

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

T2. [69955] Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): In light of the excellent work in Lincoln this summer of the pilot national citizen service managed by the Lincolnshire and Rutland Education Business Partnership, can my hon. Friend assure me that careful consideration has been given to the EBP’s bid for next year, which I wholeheartedly support, so that it can be the deliverer of the NCS for the whole of Lincolnshire in 2012?

The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Nick Hurd): I am grateful to Lincolnshire and Rutland Education Business Partnership for the excellent work that it has done this summer, which is a really good example of communities working together to support the NCS. As I have said before, we are giving careful consideration to all bids received to run the 2012 pilots and will be making an announcement very shortly. [Interruption.]

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): It is my understanding that public order training for police officers was reduced back in 2005. Does my right hon. Friend believe, as I do, that that might have exacerbated some of the instances that so annoyed the public who have watched the pictures on TV in the past few days, and would he like to see that trend reversed if it has not been already?

The Prime Minister: There will be lessons to learn about the extent of riot training and the balance between it and ordinary beat-based policing, and I know that we will want to learn all those lessons in the days to come.

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Taken from Hansard

18 July 2011 : Column 596

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Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): What recent progress he has made on delivering the Work programme. [66531]

The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling): The Department for Work and Pensions completed the launch of the Work programme by the end of June and it is now operational in all parts of the country. I have now visited a number of the providers and their centres and I am pleased to see the progress they are making.

Karl M^cCartney: I welcome the Government’s measures to help unemployed people in my Lincoln constituency, but what assurances can my right hon. Friend give me that the work programme will provide my constituents with sustainable, meaningful and long-term employment?

18 July 2011 : Column 597

Chris Grayling: There are two things about the Work programme that will help my hon. Friend and his constituents. First, the providers are free to deliver whatever solution works for the individuals—a crucial difference to past programmes—and, secondly, they are rewarded not simply for getting people into work but for sustaining them in work for periods that can be as long as two years and three months. I hope that will deal with the challenges in the labour market in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

- ENDS -

Please find the full DWP PQs at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110718/debtext/110718-0001.htm#1107184000006

Taken from Hansard

14 July 2011 : Column 464

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T3. [66044] Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): Using his extensive business experience, as demonstrated by his confident and oft-repeated ability to foresee the economic downturn over many years, would the Secretary of State like to impart some of his wisdom and comment on how his Department, under his expert leadership, has helped small businesses to flourish, particularly management and IT consultants?

Mr Prisk: As you can see, Mr Speaker, we are able to work closely together as a team and assume all sorts of identities.

The key thing to bear in mind is that when we look at the number of small business start-ups this year and last, we see an increase of 51,000. According to leading independent surveys, there were 470,000. That is a good sign that we are making early progress, but there is much more to do.

- ENDS -

The full BIS questions as seen in Hansard can be found at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110714/debtext/110714-0001.htm#11071464000013

Taken from Hansard:

13 July 2011 : Column 412

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Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP): My party has no hesitation in backing the motion. The debate has now moved on. There will be inquiries. There will be an investigation of the wrongdoing, and there will be an investigation of the police and their activities. However, one thing must be dealt with if we are not to see a repeat of these events and a further undermining of our democracy. I refer to the whole issue of the concentration of press power in the hands of one organisation. It does not matter whether it is concentrated in the hands of News International, Rupert Murdoch or anyone else, but as long as that concentration is there, there will always be a tendency for those of us who are involved in the political field to want to be on the right side of the people who hold the power.

Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the debate is about more than a media mogul owning newspaper and television companies? Does it not also flag up the issue of dual share structures, in which the owners of one class of share, such as the class A non-voting shareholders of News International, have no voting rights?

Sammy Wilson: We must address everything that leads to that concentration of power. If that is not dealt with, there will always be a tendency to rush after and try to please those who have such influence.

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Taken from Hansard

12 July 2011 : Column 141

1. Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): What arrangements are in place to ensure increased funding for the NHS during the comprehensive spending review period. [65106]

The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley): We will increase NHS funding in real terms in each year of this Parliament. Compared to the level of expenditure in the national health service in the last financial year, the resources available to the NHS will increase by £12.5 billion by the end of the spending review period. The budget available for the NHS in the financial year 2011-12 is 3.9% higher than spend in the previous year, 2010-11.

Karl M^cCartney: Can my right hon. Friend give me any examples of how the increased funding this Government have promised here in England is, unlike what is happening in Wales, delivering better care for our NHS services?

Mr Lansley: Yes, I can indeed do that. We are committed to real-terms increases in the NHS budget in England. According to an analysis by the King’s Fund, the Welsh Assembly Government—a Labour-led Welsh Government —are going to reduce the NHS budget by 8.3% in real terms by 2013-14 in comparison with 2010-11. That might be one reason why it is already the case that in Wales, 26.4% of patients in April 2011 waited more than 18 weeks for treatment.

- ENDS -

For the full Health PQs, please go to http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110712/debtext/110712-0001.htm#11071255000011

Taken from Hansard

11 July 2011 : Column 22

T10. [64631] Karl M^cCartney (Lincoln) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the five schools in my city of Lincoln constituency that have converted into academies, the latest being Ermine primary school? Does he agree that academy status can bring significant benefits to schools across England by providing them with greater freedoms, rather than top-down bureaucracy, as was witnessed under the previous Labour Government?

11 July 2011 : Column 23

Michael Gove: That question was epigrammatically brilliant and requires no further elucidation from me, other than to say, “Hear! Hear!”

- ENDS -

Please find the full Education PQs at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110711/debtext/110711-0001.htm#11071115000006

 

Thursday, 9 June, 2011:9 Jun 2011 : Column 295

Karl McCartney (Lincoln) (Con):
With continued disquiet across the House regarding the ongoing role of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, and following the recent debate instigated by my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie), would my right hon. Friend care to update us on any meetings or discussions that he has had about that?

Sir George Young:
As a result of the debate that the House had before the recess, we agreed to set up a Committee of the House to look at some specific issues that the House referred to it. That is the body to which my hon. Friend should address his attention when we set it up, which will be in the near future. In the meantime, we have a liaison committee between the House and IPSA, with six or eight Members on it, and he might like to make contact with them. If he has any issues that need to be addressed urgently, I would be happy to use what influence I have to sort them out.

- ENDS -

For further information, please go to http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110609/debtext/110609-0001.htm#11060943000006.htm or contact Karl McCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk