Speeches by Hinds.

“I am supposed to be asking you about schools, which I will do in a moment. First, Jon, I want to pick up the bowling thing, which I find fascinating in a couple of ways. You said that you had a less visible sport, but I would note that you have about the most visible sport in the country, because every village centre t…”

“When is that?”

“Has anyone had a letter? I want to go!”

“You mentioned social prescribing. It feels like social prescribing is a huge potential reform. We tend to think of it most for working-age adults who are further away from the workforce—how you get re-engaged, and so on—but for older people, your sport in particular has huge potential for socialising, routine and all t…”

“Kate, to come to the other end of the age range, a lot of us admire Chance to Shine—the barriers you have overcome and the changes you have made in the attractiveness of cricket, and so on. What has been the secret to that success?”

“Do we know much, or enough yet, about how many kids continue with cricket into their adult life, having first experienced it through the programme?”

“There is a curriculum review—a curriculum and assessment review, technically—going on at the moment. What are your hopes for that process, and have you been given any indication of what may be in the outcome?”

“Thank you. Jon, I am going to let you off this question, just because of the time. Kate?”

“This question comes up quite a lot—the definition of a core subject. What difference do you think that terminology would make, or do you really mean, “We want a minimum of 2 hours a week, and that has to be programmed in. It is not an ambition or something we ask of schools; it is something we require”? What do we real…”

“Hopefully, your open weekend will introduce more children to it, including mine.”

“First, my sympathies to the hon. Gentleman’s constituent’s family in that terrible case. I do agree, and those are points I will come on to. Identifying vulnerable users is vital; some will already be known to the communications providers, but the list of vulnerable customers is further expanded by data-sharing agreeme…”

“I do. It is a major infrastructure change and there are particular considerations around the elderly and the vulnerable. I have heard from many constituents who have shared their concerns about the switchover, mostly about fear of losing that means of contact during a power cut and not having a mobile phone signal to f…”

“I am aware, and I do agree.”

“I hear him. The hon. Gentleman is right—I cannot claim coastal for my area, by the way, but I can claim rural. Telephony is a fundamental service, most acutely for contacting emergency services whenever that need arises, but there is also a broader question about people just being able to stay in touch. Although the wo…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of the switch to digital landlines on rural communities. It is good to see you in the chair, Mr Betts. You are correct that a 30-minute debate is normally a two-person debate. This subject has attracted more attention than is normally the case. I come at this fro…”

“This may be the last thing in the debate, but it is important to say that in many of our constituencies, there are places where people cannot make a voice call on a mobile telephone indoors. That is what an elderly person would be trying to do. It is not about a data transaction; it is about being able to make a phone …”

“Will the Minister give way? I know he is very short of time—”

“The Minister is right that the most vulnerable people must be at the very top of our list of concerns, but can I be really clear that this debate is not only about that group? It is about anybody who is cut off in a storm and may need to phone the emergency services, because anybody—they may not even be elderly—might h…”

“I agree entirely about the importance of communication. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) said, it is important for businesses as well as vulnerable consumers to understand some of those implications. When we communicate things, we need to think about people who do not use the internet. Organ…”

“Absolutely. I found it difficult to get reliable data for a local geographic area on the instances of power outages but, like the hon. Member, I can say from my personal experience, as well as from constituents’ reports, that in my constituency we do have power cuts—as we would call them in old language—that are freque…”