Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Hands Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

If I am free, I will certainly do that.

[Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)]

6. What recent steps he has taken to increase inbound tourism.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (John Penrose)]

We have already mentioned the £100 million match funding marketing pot that we have created with key firms in the tourism industry. That will be aimed at promoting and marketing the UK abroad to potential inbound visitors.

[Greg Hands]

Returning to the issue of tourists at our airports, for many non-EU nationals the condition of London’s airports and the length of immigration queues in particular can be depressing. What reassurance can the Minister give that action could be taken, particularly for travellers from countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who do not need a visa to enter the UK?

[John Penrose]

I am delighted to confirm that we are in close discussions with the Home Office and the UK Border Agency about trying to move forward further and faster with measures to improve the queue management for anyone with a chipped passport, which is a relatively new piece of technology that allows us to process people in queues much faster and verify their identity much more quickly, thereby getting them through in a much more timely and welcoming fashion.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Vaizey]

We expect Ofcom to publish its auction rules towards the end of this month. Any delay was caused by the fact that the previous Government did not bring forward the statutory instrument in time. By the time that they did, substantial changes had taken place in the mobile telecoms landscape that necessitated a review.

[Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)]

T6. My right hon. Friend will be aware of BBC Worldwide’s bid for the remaining stake in “Lonely Planet” travel guides. Will he undertake to have a word with BBC Worldwide about the history sections in some of these travel guides? The one for England, for example, has a rather partial view of the 1980s. It says:“Trade unions archaic? She”—Margaret Thatcher—“smashed them. British industry inefficient? She shut it down. Nationalised companies a mistake? She sold them off”.Can he make sure that there is a slightly more nuanced and balanced section in these travel guides? Having said that, the section ends by saying that“her repeated electoral victories were helped considerably by the Labour Party’s total incompetence”.

[Mr Hunt]

I am a huge fan of the “Lonely Planet” travel guides, but I am not a great fan of its guides to the UK. The most important thing that it needs to update is the fact that there is an outstanding new tourism Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), who has taken charge of the British tourism industry and is ringing the changes to make Britain a better tourism destination.