"My hon. Friend makes an important point by talking about his mother’s circumstances. My constituents, too, have had similar experiences with the TV licence and the point they are trying to make is that these approaches by the BBC are overly aggressive. That has helped the push towards the introduction …..." David Rutley - View Speech
"The hon. Gentleman misses the point. No Government Member in this debate or in Committee was questioning the values of the BBC...." David Rutley - View Speech
"No, not the values. Some might have questioned some of the services, but not the values or the news services and values that are espoused there—absolutely not. The key issue is whether the late-payment approach should be decriminalised, and that is what all Government Members were keen to do...." David Rutley - View Speech
"I have been following the hon. Gentleman’s argument as closely as I can. He makes the point about how important it is to ensure proper programming and how important the licence fee is, but what we are talking about in this debate is whether it should be a criminal offence …..." David Rutley - View Speech
"Given that the 4 million self-employed in our country make a huge contribution to the economy and many have the potential to take on a first employee and bring thousands into the workplace, may we have a debate in the House on the support available for first-time employers in order …..." David Rutley - View Speech
"May we have a statement on how the Government have worked to improve transparency, particularly in relation to the use of Government procurement cards?..." David Rutley - View Speech
"9. What steps his Department is taking to support increased participation in mountaineering, hill walking and climbing...." David Rutley - View Speech
"As one of the co-chairmen of the all-party parliamentary group on mountaineering—we like to think of it as the pinnacle of APPGs—[Hon. Members: “Ah!”]—I thank the Minister for Sport for his ongoing support of mountain-related activities and of the British climbing team. As part of the Olympic legacy, the Outdoor …..." David Rutley - View Speech