Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering) Historical Sexual Abuse (Football)
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(7 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Karen Bradley
I invite the hon. Lady to meet my colleague the Minister for Sport, who would be happy to discuss those matters with her.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) on tabling the urgent question and my right hon. Friend on the way in which she has responded to it. In a place like Kettering, football is 95% a voluntary activity for the players and coaches. Basically, the dads are the coaches and the mums wash the team kit. [Interruption.] In the vast majority of cases, the dads are the coaches and the mums wash the team kit: that is what life is like in middle England. I think that they would want me to ask the Secretary of State to ensure that the judges get the message that, when these people are caught, exemplary sentences must be handed out to make clear that such behaviour is totally unacceptable.
Karen Bradley
I think I ought to put on the record that it is quite clear that not all coaches are male. My hon. Friend the Minister for Sport is a grassroots football coach, and an extremely competent one at that. I also know of many husbands who are very good at washing the dishes and making the food. I am sure that my husband, if he is watching the debate, would be concerned if I did not put that on the record. However, my hon. Friend’s point about the sentencing of offenders is very important, and I can tell him that I work with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that appropriate sentences are available.