Dyslexia
Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Swinfen
Baroness Garden of Frognal
Yes, indeed. The point that the noble Lord made was about assistive technology. In my answer I said that it was developing very fast and offered to get the interested parties together to see whether we can find a way forward with that. On the subject of dyslexic apprentices, I point out that the apprentice of the year is a dyslexic woman called Emma Rogers, who gives credit to her college at Weston for having helped her through. She is a tremendous role model.
Lord Swinfen
My Lords, what help is being given to dyslexic children at school?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
With the increasingly high profile of dyslexia and other forms of disability, it is becoming part of the teacher training programme, and teachers are very much more aware of trying to recognise the signs at an early point, when more help can be given to children, rather than, as so often happened in the past and can still happen, leaving it undiagnosed until pupils are quite advanced in the educational process. Schools have different ways of dealing with it, and by and large we get very good reports of good practice.
Telecommunications: Mobile Phone Services
Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Swinfen
Baroness Garden of Frognal
Indeed, my Lords, we are aware of that. As I said, it is always a question of taking the balance of the commercial factors, the planning factors and the fact that, as the noble Lord said, in some areas having no signal can be extremely hazardous. Probably, the long-term answer will be the point raised by my noble friend of going to satellite communication for such areas, but at the moment, this is one factor. As I understand it, health and safety is not specifically taken into consideration, but in the overall package of service to the community, that would be part of what Ofcom would look at.
Lord Swinfen
My Lords, what is being done to improve broadband for e-mail in rural areas? I declare an interest, as I run a charity that relies solely on e-mail.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
The issues around e-mail run into the same sort of practicalities as e-mail for mobile. We hope that, as these technologies advance, so the provision for e-mail will become easier as well. Once again, I fully acknowledge my noble friend’s point.