Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Jamie Stone

Monday 19th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work with the jobcentre in Crawley to ensure that claimants get the best benefits. We have had some changes from the Budget, as he will be aware, and will bring forward more details of regulations to help to deliver those outcomes as soon as possible.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

T8. May I also welcome the Secretary of State to her post on the Front Bench? In the past I have mentioned the problem of the lack of online access in the remotest parts of my constituency, but in addition there is the problem of people in my constituency who cannot, as we say in the highlands, work a computer. They do not have the skills. What is going to be done to address that issue?

[Amber Rudd]

Yes, it is a very important point and one that we are well aware of. We cannot assume that everybody can, as the hon. Gentleman puts it, work a computer. We have made provision in the arrangements to ensure that people can have access and that job coaches can work with people remotely via telephone and also engage in their communities, perhaps in different places from the jobcentre. However, I will keep a careful eye on this issue to ensure that we are delivering a truly comprehensive service, so that everybody, whether they can work a computer or not, can access it.

Harassment in Public Life

Debate between Amber Rudd and Jamie Stone

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I thank my hon. Friend for making such an important point. It is for us all to remember that our staff—they are the frontline—so often have to deal with these abusive phone calls, and they do such a fantastic job in usually protecting us from them, but they often have to deal with a torrent of abuse. Yes, I completely share her view, and I wholeheartedly endorse what she says about the people who work for her, as I do about everybody whose staff working for them put up with a level of abuse that we all have to endure.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

On behalf of my party, I warmly—I repeat, warmly—welcome what the Home Secretary has said to us today. May I suggest that one way to help to tackle this problem would be to redouble our efforts in teaching about democracy, and teaching about debate and the courtesy of debate, in our schools the length and breadth of the United Kingdom?

[Amber Rudd]

That is a very interesting point. I believe that the coarsening of debate in the political environment has led to the acceleration of this, and I will certainly pass on that point to the Department for Education.