Business of the House

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I would be delighted to join my hon. Friend in congratulating his constituents on working as a community to get the fibre broadband connection that rural communities such as his so desperately rely on—it really is the fourth utility. He is right to point out that the previous Government’s roll-out of broadband in rural communities was far too slow. We have science questions when we return, but I will certainly consider his request for a debate.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

Could we have a debate on putting children at the heart of public policy? In her statement, the Leader of the House mentioned children and the emerging Bill. She will know that there is an equality impact assessment in pre-legislative scrutiny, and that there can be no discrimination on the basis of age. There have been two dominant themes in these business questions so far: Herefordshire—as a Herefordshire boy, I am delighted by that—and children. I hope that the Government, across Departments, will consider a potential new policy that will look at policies, Bills and laws and how they impact children.

[Lucy Powell]

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s comments. We are absolutely putting children at the heart of our policy. We have a mission to ensure opportunity for all and that every child has the very best start in life, to really galvanise all the different Departments and places across the country, and Secretaries of State, including the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, are working closely on a child poverty taskforce. Putting children first is at the forefront of this Government’s mission. I look forward to working with the right hon. Gentleman on delivering that.