Kirstene Hair
Main Page: Kirstene Hair (Conservative - Angus)Department Debates - View all Kirstene Hair's debates with the Leader of the House
Business of the House
Kirstene Hair Excerpts(6 years ago)
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Andrea Leadsom
We always seek to give as much Back-Bench time as we can, because the hon. Gentleman has some very important debates going on and we seek to support them wherever possible. He also raised the issue of upskilling, and I can tell him that we have committed to reaching 3 million new apprenticeship starts in England by 2020, and that there are more than 1.2 million starts already. So we are in a good place and we seek to do more. With the new apprenticeship levy, we expect to see many more taken up in due course. We have also abolished the cap on student numbers in further and higher education, and record numbers—particularly of disadvantaged young people—are now going to university. I do not think we should be concerned about a failure to upskill our young people; on the contrary, there is an enormous improvement going on that we should all be proud of.
Kirstene Hair (Angus) (Con)
The town of Montrose in my constituency is suffering from the impact of coastal erosion. The world-class golf course there is eroding hole by hole, and if the erosion continues at this pace, the town will be at risk of flooding. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should debate the impact of coastal erosion on our communities in the United Kingdom and discuss what we can do to alleviate it?
Andrea Leadsom
My hon. Friend is quite right to stress the importance of our coastal communities and the impact of coastal erosion. I am aware of the problems at Montrose golf club in her constituency, and of its request for help. She will recognise that this is a devolved matter, but in England we have committed nearly £1 billion to support defences against erosion and coastal flooding. She might want to seek an Adjournment debate, which might be answered by the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey), who is a fellow coastal constituency Member as well as being an Environment Minister.