Results 1-20 of 863 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Hugh Robertson

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Davies Committee (9 Nov 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: As a result of the de-listing of cricket, we now have a women's cricket team that leads the world. We have also poured an awful lot of money into disability cricket and grass-roots schemes such as the Chance to Shine scheme, which is active in almost every Member's constituency. What assessment has the Department made of the amount that it has been possible to invest in such schemes as a...

Olympics: Budget (9 Nov 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: According to the memorandum of understanding signed between the Minister and the previous Mayor in June 2007, the national lottery is due to be repaid once the London Development Agency has recovered its land acquisition and disturbance costs. In that memorandum of understanding, it was explicitly stated that those costs were not expected to exceed £650 million. Is that estimate still...

Olympics: Budget (20 Jul 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: A key element in containing the overall budget is the use of the stadium in legacy mode. I think that everybody would agree that Manchester showed the way after the Commonwealth games. In her initial public pronouncements Baroness Ford, the new chairman of the legacy company, has indicated her desire to re-examine the issue of a football use, and both the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Sport (North-West) (8 Jun 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: One of the most successful funders of sport in the north-west, not mentioned by the Minister, is, of course, the Football Foundation. There were reports last week that the Football Association intends to cut the grant it gives the Football Foundation by approximately 15 per cent., or at least £2 million each year. Incidentally, that contradicts all the assurances that we were given as...

Olympics: Construction Programme (8 Jun 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: The only venue yet to be constructed that continues to cause controversy is the shooting venue. I suspect that my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne) would have raised that issue had there been time to call his question, which is next on the Order Paper. The key issue is clearly cost. The shooting authorities make the claim, which was repeated in the House of Lords at...

Prayers: British Museum Act 1963 (Amendment) Bill (15 May 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: I start, as I did on the previous Bill, by congratulating the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) on introducing the Bill. I congratulate him also on his success with the previous Bill. As he correctly surmised, I suspect that I shall not be able to be quite as helpful on this occasion. It might inform the debate if we considered for a moment the background details that affect the British...

Prayers: Holocaust (Stolen Art) Restitution Bill (15 May 2009)

Hugh Robertson: I congratulate the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) on introducing the Bill and on his admirably brief speech. I do not think that I have ever heard him finish so quickly on a Friday—it has not happened in living memory. He is right to say at the outset that the holocaust was an event of such overriding horror, cruelty and depravity that, as my hon. Friend the Chairman of the...

Business of the House (23 Apr 2009)

Hugh Robertson: The Leader of the House will be aware of the concern felt on both sides of the House about the number of pubs that are closing each week—a concern that is particularly important to those of us who have breweries in our constituencies. She will be aware that the number of these small businesses closing each week has now reached 40 and she will be aware of the feeling in the industry that...

Olympics: Expenditure (20 Apr 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: The European Investment Bank website has revealed that an application for a £255 million loan for the athletes' village was lodged in February and approved on 7 April. Given that this is the first that many of us have heard of the matter, is the Minister able to throw some more light on the subject today? In particular, will she tell us at what interest rate the loan was agreed, what...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: Will the Minister clear up a narrow, technical point? This country is committed to a GB football team in 2012. As I understand it, the BOA will invite all home nations to put forward players for that team. If any home nation feels that its independence is under threat—whether that is right or wrong—and decides, therefore, not to put forward players, will we field a GB football...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: As is customary, I too start by congratulating the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) on securing the debate on the GB football team at the London 2012 Olympics. I hope that he will not mind my saying, however, that despite the evident good humour with which he spoke, as a sports fan I have not approached the debate with great enthusiasm. I do not think that it...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I shall continue. The situation is different for the women's game. Being part of the Olympics opens up unprecedented coverage to the UK's fastest growing participation sport, and it would be the pinnacle of any female footballer's career. After the failed attempt to field a women's team in Beijing, women's football would receive a huge boost...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: In a way, the hon. Gentleman is making the same point as me; it would have been better if we had managed to hold off and stop the issue becoming a political point.

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: No, I do not. As chairman of the organising committee, Lord Coe has to take his lead from the Government. The Government are responsible for the overall strategic direction of the 2012 Olympics, and the Prime Minister gave a lead. Lord Coe had to follow. He did not have the option. My third and final point is that given that we are where we are, the key thing is what to do next. The British...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: I thank the hon. Gentleman. That is two out of two. I shall continue. On a personal basis, I absolutely respect the decision, but I regret that things have come to this. As a result, both able-bodied and Paralympic athletes will miss out. A fantastic opportunity to showcase the women's and Paralympic games, with all the benefits for increased participation, will be lost. Broadcasting exposure...

[Mr. Greg Pope in the Chair] — GB Football Team (Olympics) (10 Mar 2009)

Hugh Robertson: I asked the British Olympic Association that question yesterday, and I think that the hon. Gentleman may not necessarily be correct. In Beijing, a home nation committee took over in many sports; it then morphed into a UK body—or a Team GB body. In this case, I guess that the BOA will invite the home nations to put forward players but that the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh will...

Olympics: Legacy (Essex) (2 Mar 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: Essex is one of the counties that has been making representations about the cost of policing venues external to London. I appreciate why the Department has not been able to answer questions on the issue until now, but given that the security plan was published at the end of last week, is the Minister now in a position to confirm whether the £600 million inside the main Olympic budget...

Olympics: Private Sector Partners (19 Jan 2009) has video

Hugh Robertson: Last Friday, there was an event at the Olympic park to celebrate the halfway point to London 2012 and the contribution made by many of the private sector partners mentioned by my Conservative colleagues, but, unfortunately, only Labour Members of Parliament were invited. Although I appreciated the call from the Minister on Friday, given the importance placed on cross-party working by the...

Olympics: Expenditure (10 Nov 2008) has video

Hugh Robertson: I am sure that hon. Members on both sides of the House will welcome the assurances that the Minister has just given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory), but can I tempt her to go a little further? Surely, given the current economic situation, which was not predicted at the time of the March 2007 budget announcement, a number of the costs contained in that...

Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (5 Nov 2008)

Hugh Robertson: I sense that the Minister is coming to the end of his remarks, and just before he does I want to thank him, for myself and my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Cambridgeshire, for his constructive and open-minded approach. We should very much like to take him up on his offer of a meeting. It sounds as if that would be most appropriate in the early part of next year, by which stage the...