Oral Answers to Questions

John Penrose Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of the role of tourism in stimulating economic growth.

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

We have made an assessment, and we believe the picture is particularly good. We believe the tourism industry can achieve projected growth of 150,000 new jobs and £34.5 billion extra gross value added by 2020. I intend imminently to publish a statement of Government policy, which will set out how we will work with the industry to support our economic growth objectives.

[Esther McVey]

Last year, tourism was worth £2.8 billion to the Liverpool city region. It is crucial to our region, and it is also a growing sector of our industry. Literature is part of the tourism offer, and as today is world book day and, as I speak, Frank Cottrell Boyce and a team of kids from Merseyside are on their way down to Euston with a local charity, the Reader Organisation, will the Minister extend his gratitude to the charity for the dynamic work that it is doing?

[John Penrose]

I am delighted and happy to praise both world book day and the Reader Organisation. The role of the creative arts in Liverpool’s regeneration and recent economic growth is undoubted, and the city got off to a brilliant start in 2008, when it was the capital of culture.

[Mr Burley]

One of the greatest tourist attractions in my constituency is the historic woodland of Cannock Chase, which The Times recently ranked as the best forest in the country for mountain biking. The newly created independent panel set up to consider the future of forests can give Cannock Chase the status of “heritage”. Does my hon. Friend agree that such labels are important in encouraging tourists to visit destinations and spend their pounds there?

[John Penrose]

I do agree. Britain’s heritage of all kinds—including both natural and built environment—is a tremendously important reason why people visit destinations in our country, both from abroad and as internal tourism, and it will only be to our strength and advantage if we can increase that offer still further.

[Amber Rudd]

The first annual May day bank holiday is very important to my town of Hastings, as we attract more than 20,000 visitors and £5 million in revenue. We are therefore very concerned about the consultation on moving this bank holiday. Will the Minister accept a petition to consider abandoning the proposal—which already has over 1,000 signatures—from me, together with a few morris men and our Mad Jack from Hastings?

[John Penrose]

I particularly look forward to meeting the morris men from Hastings, and I will, of course, be delighted to accept the petition. I should just reassure my hon. Friend that any proposals that are produced are not preferred Government outcomes; they are genuinely options for consultation, and the Government have no preconceptions about any potential solution.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

Every year at Stafford castle in my constituency there is an excellent outdoor Shakespeare production, which also makes a fair contribution to the local economy. Will the Minister encourage both the national and the new local television stations to make it a priority to bring such productions to a wider audience so that people may be persuaded to come and enjoy live productions?

[John Penrose]

I am sure that my hon. Friend will understand that, rightly, Ministers cannot direct broadcasters to broadcast particular programmes, although I understand that they are under a duty to include both arts and regional programming. However, I should have thought that it would obviously be a good thing for all concerned, including local performers and the local tourism industry, for such events to be showcased. We have already mentioned some of the benefits enjoyed by places such as Liverpool, and I am sure others will want to share in that success.

[Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)]

If we want tourists to come to Britain, can we give them a slightly better welcome? Arriving at terminals 1 or 3 at Heathrow is like arriving in a third-world slum—it is easier to get into Pakistan or North Korea. There are very surly, disagreeable officials and horrible 1970s collectivist architecture. Can we brighten up this gateway to Britain? Will the Minister talk to the Transport Minister about that?

[John Penrose]

I will leave aside the Foreign Office’s doubtless immediate response to try to repair relations with the countries that the right hon. Gentleman has just mentioned. I agree, however, that we as a country need to do more to make our entry ports more welcoming to foreign visitors, and to British people returning from abroad, and we are currently actively considering a number of measures.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Young people in Merseyside tell me that they are keen to take up jobs in the tourism, culture and creative sectors. Will the Minister tell me what measures he has asked the Chancellor to include in the Budget to help young people take up apprenticeships and other such opportunities in this fast-growing sector?

[John Penrose]

I am sure that everybody here will understand that if I did reveal what I have asked to be in the Budget, I would be summarily flayed by people in the Treasury, for rather understandable reasons. What I can tell the hon. Lady is that we regard the building of skills in the tourism industry as of paramount importance. There is an acknowledged shortcoming in some parts of our tourism industry, but there is a huge opportunity to demonstrate to people—if we get it right—what a great career path the industry can offer.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

York’s museums and mediaeval buildings draw thousands of tourists to the city. Sadly, last year, York Minster and the national railway museum lost £6 million of Government grants. I understand that the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) is coming to York tomorrow to encourage private sponsorship of our built heritage. I welcome him and wish him well, and I would like to know what plans the Government have to get more private sponsorship of our built heritage.

[John Penrose]

I understand that we have plans for £80 million of match funding to encourage just the kind of donations that the hon. Gentleman describes.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

The £100 million Titanic signature project is nearing completion in Belfast. What conversations has the Minister had with Executive Ministers in Northern Ireland about how best the 2012 anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking can be exploited for tourism when people come to Britain for the Olympics?

[John Penrose]

It is tremendously important that we use the Olympics as an opportunity to showcase the whole of Britain, rather than just to showcase London for a couple of weeks in the middle of the year, so I completely share the right hon. Gentleman’s aims and ambitions. The main thing that we are doing is to create this £100 million of match funding that the Secretary of State mentioned. That is aimed at marketing the whole of the UK to everybody abroad to showcase what the UK can offer, and not just during the fortnight of the Olympics and during the Paralympics thereafter. We want to create a step-change increase in the number of people visiting in 2013 and the years after.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

3. What information his Department holds on the effects of tourism on the economy; and if he will make a statement.

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

As I just mentioned, the tourism industry is a tremendously important part of our economy. It accounts for £90 billion of spend—more than £115 billion if we include the companies that supply the tourism industry and the leisure economy—and for 4.4% of our jobs.

[Miss McIntosh]

I hope that I can entice you, Mr Speaker, as well as many right hon. and hon. colleagues, to North Yorkshire to sample some of the delights of the market towns, the seaside at Filey, and Castle Howard and other places of historical interest. Will the Minister accept a representation from me today as part of the Government’s consultation on tourism? I can tell him that North Yorkshire will not be helped by being submerged in the dark and the cold during even longer and darker mornings, so I hope that the Government will put an end to the consultation, which will not do anything for tourism in North Yorkshire.

[John Penrose]

I am sure that my hon. Friend would accept that any change in daylight saving time is the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. However, I take her point that the tourism industry has campaigned quite loudly on that. At this point, I can only repeat the Prime Minister’s assurance that no progress will be made without the agreement of all parts of the UK; we do not want to impose anything over the heads of, for example, the Scots or the Northern Irish.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

5. How much Arts Council England spent in (a) London and (b) Croydon in 2010-11.

--- Later in debate ---

[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.

[Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Next month, the Turner Contemporary, which is set to become one of Europe’s finest art galleries, is due to open in Margate and we hope that it will attract visitors from all over the world. On the opening weekend, Network Rail is to carry out major engineering works on the line between London and Margate. Could my hon. Friend have a word with the Department for Transport to ensure that it understands the importance of keeping roads and railways open so that visitors can get to the attractions that we wish them to see?

[John Penrose]

Until my hon. Friend rose to his feet, I was not aware of that problem. I will take it very seriously and I look forward to discussing it with him immediately after Question Time.

[Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)]

9. What plans he has for the future use of the Olympic stadium after the London 2012 Olympics.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Don Foster (Bath) (LD)]

As currently drafted, the Localism Bill would allow local development plans to circumvent the existing rules on listed buildings. Does the Minister agree that this could play havoc with our current built heritage? What discussions is he having with the Department for Communities and Local Government to avoid that problem?

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

I am glad to reassure my hon. Friend that at no stage has any DCLG Minister come to me and said that they wish to drive a coach and horses through the listed buildings regulations; I am sure that he was not implying that anyway. I am happy to reassure him that, as we speak, officials from DCMS are in close consultation on this very issue with the authors of the Localism Bill.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Further to that question, two weekends ago, I spent a very cold evening trying to protect the former EMD cinema in Walthamstow from an illegal rave, during the course of which I discovered that that beautiful listed building had been flooded with water. Similarly, whenever I pass the Walthamstow dog track and see the derelict state it is now in, I fear for its future. Will the Minister agree to an urgent meeting with me to discuss what more can be done to protect such heritage buildings from unscrupulous landlords such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and London & Quadrant, given their listed status?

[John Penrose]

I would of course be delighted to meet the hon. Lady to discuss those issues. I assure her that, by and large, individual structures spend between two and four years on the buildings at risk register. In most cases, solutions are found but there is a small but real nub of cases that have longer-term problems. If the two cases that she describes are part of that nub, I would be delighted to talk them through with her.

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Heart radio has more than halved the number of local stations for which it was granted licences. Those lost include the one in Colchester. If Heart is not prepared to reopen that station, surely the frequency should be offered to the local community to run its own radio station—Radio Big Society Colchester.