Business of the House

Mark Spencer Excerpts

Thursday 28th May 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I welcome the hon. Lady to the House. She makes an important point. We recognise that there are still some deep-rooted social problems in our communities. That is why we established the troubled families programme and why we will do everything we can to improve the situation in those families. It is a central part of what the Government have worked on and will continue to work on. The best way of ensuring that all families in all parts of the United Kingdom have the chance to prosper is by getting more people into work and getting our economy growing so that everyone shares in that prosperity.

[Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

May we have an urgent debate on BT’s provision of broadband within Nottinghamshire for areas such as Lamin’s Lane and Burntstump Hill, where constituents of mine have been connected because of a fault in the system, only to be disconnected later because BT wants to reconnect them to a system that does not supply superfast broadband?

[Chris Grayling]

I do not know about the circumstance to which my hon. Friend refers, although it sounds as if something has gone badly amiss in his constituency. I have no doubt that he will be champing at the heels of BT to ensure that that situation is rectified. He will have the chance in the debate next week on the economy to raise matters related to broadband, which is an important part of our strategy of ensuring that this country has the modern infrastructure—not simply transport but IT infrastructure—that we will need to continue the economic progress we have made in the past five years.