Cycling

Debate between Bob Stewart and Maria Miller

Thursday 16th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I agree that cycling infrastructure is important. It is an important way of communicating to people that cycling is a safe option. I will address that later in my comments.

I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than on my bike with my son on the lanes and off-road cycle routes around Basingstoke. As my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (Sir George Young) and I both know, Hampshire is blessed with 750 miles of off-road cycle routes and urban cycle paths. Cyclists are getting everywhere. This year, for the first time, St John Ambulance is using cycle responders at festivals across Hampshire. In Basingstoke, our local police effectively use mountain bikes for town centre patrols and to help police work around parks and other public areas.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Maria Miller]

I should like to make a little more progress, as I fear that I might run out of time.

As a result of more people cycling, the figures show a decline in the risk of having an accident when cycling. But the absolute number of accidents and tragic fatalities remains a real concern for anyone who cycles regularly, or who has a friend or family member who has been in a cycling accident. There is still so much more to be done to make cycling safer and a real option for more people.

I wish to focus on two areas of the all-party group’s report, namely road design and education, which are key to achieving the Minister’s ambitions. We need to design cycling into our everyday lives. Like many successful towns, Basingstoke faces the big problem of road congestion. I thank the Minister and his Department, especially the Secretary of State, for the investments that they have made recently in our local roads in Basingstoke. More than £30 million has been spent on improving the roundabouts for which Basingstoke is so famous. I must say though that that investment should have been put in place a decade and a half ago when the Labour party set high housing targets for Basingstoke. That money is there not to allow cars to move around more easily, but to reduce traffic congestion. Encouraging more people to cycle and indeed to walk is part of achieving that strategy.

The Prime Minister himself has made it clear that all new big road developments will incorporate the needs of cyclists, which was underlined in the Government’s delivery plan today. Like many other communities, we have a persuasive group of cycling campaigners. In particular, I pay tribute to my constituent Ms Heather Rainbow for her tenacity and campaigning zeal. For any campaign to work, we need practical changes in the roads. Nationally, two-thirds of non-cyclists think it is just too dangerous to cycle on roads; indeed almost half of all cyclists think that too. Changing road design will help change that attitude and encourage more people to cycle. We cannot allow new road designs simply to reflect the current pattern of use.

Press Self-Regulation

Debate between Bob Stewart and Maria Miller

Tuesday 8th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I have nothing to add other than I am sure that employers will want to look at the proposal. It is important that I am focusing efforts on making sure that the charter is in place to oversee the self-regulatory body. That is my priority at the moment, but I will, obviously, pick up on the point raised by the hon. Gentleman.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

How will my right hon. Friend insist that the self-regulatory system that has already been set up by the press be morphed into the new system if the press refuse to do it?

[Maria Miller]

That is an issue for the press. The last thing I want to see is the Government becoming unnecessarily involved in the setting up of a self-regulatory system. That is very much for the press. As I said in my opening statement, I believe the press is making good progress. We have been clear in our response to Leveson and I am sure it will have taken that into account. It is for the press to deal with these matters.

Press Regulation

Debate between Bob Stewart and Maria Miller

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I thank my hon. Friend for that endorsement of our approach. He makes an extremely important point, which is that we have to understand that our local papers are a vital part of our local communities. We must ensure that they can continue to be vibrant and that they do not fall foul of an approach that was not really designed to affect them; it was designed to deal with abuses in other areas of the press. He makes an extremely important point.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend said that the Government totally accept the main principles of Lord Justice Leveson’s report. She also suggested that the report’s main recommendations are acceptable. Is it possible for those main recommendations to be instituted without some form of statutory underpinning?

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend raises the issue of Leveson’s criteria and approach, which we believe can be effected in the main without statutory underpinning. What we have been talking about, however, is the importance of recognising the exemplary damages through statute, which would need to be in place to make sure that it is as effective as it needs to be so that the balance of provisions that Leveson put forward work in the way he intended.

Same-sex Marriage in Churches

Debate between Bob Stewart and Maria Miller

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend has made his point extremely clearly. This is about ensuring that that choice exists. I would add that it is also about showing respect, and that both sides showing respect will go a long way towards ensuring that we come out of this with a policy of which this country can be proud.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend explain why the Government are so hellbent on upsetting so many thousands of our citizens who are in normal marriages, especially at this time?

[Maria Miller]

I do not think that anything I have set out today—or that my colleagues have talked about in recent days, weeks and months—does anything to upset anybody who is already in a marriage. I respect the point that my hon. Friend makes, which is that some people with a religious faith feel that this matter falls outwith their faith. I absolutely respect that, and it is important that we introduce clear safeguards and protections so that he, his constituents and others can understand that we are talking about strengthening marriage and not about undermining it.

Specialist Disability Employment

Debate between Bob Stewart and Maria Miller

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

In evaluating the bids that will be taken forward, our first priority is to ensure that the bids that protect most jobs for most disabled people are given priority.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

Will the Minister reassure me that personal caseworkers will have the resources to tailor a place of work when assisting a disabled person to find work, so that they help the person as much as possible? Will she also assure me that those resources will be available at the point of delivery?

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend is right to focus on the support package we are putting in place to ensure that people affected by today’s announcement get all the help they need to get into mainstream employment. That will be in the form of both a personal budget, which can give the flexibility to ensure that training is put in place for individuals, and access to any of the mainstream programmes that the Government run, including Work Choice, the Work programme and Access to Work.