Oral Answers to Questions

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

5. What recent progress has been made on the roll out of broadband to rural areas.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

10. What plans he has to roll out next generation broadband to rural areas.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

11. What progress he has made on his plans to roll out next generation broadband.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Superfast broadband in rural areas offers huge opportunities for things such as telemedicine, home education and working from home. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts estimates that when this is done, it will have created about 600,000 jobs. The difference between Government and Opposition Members is that when Labour were in government they had secured £200 million for broadband roll-out, whereas we have secured £830 million. I think the public know who is doing better.

[Harriett Baldwin]

The villages of Ripple, Shrawley and Aston Somerville have all been in touch with me recently about the problem of very slow broadband speeds. Is there anything I can say to my constituents now about what can be done to speed things up?

[Mr Hunt]

What my hon. Friend can say is that this Government have committed to this country having the best superfast broadband network in Europe. Labour Members promised 2 megabit access for the whole country, so they wanted us to be in the economic slow lane, whereas we want to be in the superfast lane.

Business of the House

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I believe that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor said in the CSR statement that there would be a steady cash settlement for the Sure Start programme, and that there would not be any cash reductions.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Mr Speaker, you were kind enough to grant me a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday on the regulation of independent financial advisers, which was extremely well attended by colleagues and generated an enormous amount of interest nationally. Will the Leader of the House consider holding a debate on the important topic of the regulation of the Financial Services Authority, and its performance against statutory objectives?

[Sir George Young]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on her well-attended debate yesterday. The Government will be introducing legislation to reform the FSA, as she knows, and that will provide the House with an opportunity to debate the issues she has touched on.

Information for Backbenchers on Statements

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hollobone]

My right hon. Friend is spot on. It is called spin. We in the House of Commons should be trying to un-spin things and ensuring that when statements are made to the House and new policy initiatives announced, we have the opportunity to fire in those questions. Actually, however, many of our constituents are beginning to say, “What is the point of having Members of Parliament, if you can read all about it in tomorrow’s newspapers?” The journalists are getting better access to Ministers about lots of policy announcements than we are in the House.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

I would like to make some observations as a new Back-Bench Member on the 24-hour media cycle. One of the things that strikes me is that, because the House does not sit on some days until 2.30 pm, the news media have ample opportunity to coax information out of Ministers that might be better given to the House. I, for one, would like to put it on the record that I would be very willing to come in and go home much earlier for sittings and have a much more family-friendly set of hours.

[Mr Hollobone]

That is a most helpful and excellent suggestion from my hon. Friend, and I am delighted that she has had the opportunity to make it. It would appear to most people outside this place that the hours we sit are in many ways absurd and certainly not family friendly. Furthermore, in many ways they are not the best hours for us to do good business in the House, and anything that would stop journalists getting information before hon. Members would need to be welcomed.

The hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) asked what comfort our Committee could offer minority parties. The invitation is open to the minority parties and every other Back Bencher: whatever party they might represent—this goes for independent Members too—they should come and tell the Committee what they would like to be discussed on the Floor of the House.