Results 1-20 of 860 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Maria Miller
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Will the Minister give way?
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Will the Minister give way on that point?
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Will the hon. Lady allow me to ask a question on the issue of outreach?
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Will the Minister give way before she moves on?
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs. Dean. I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), who brought a note of realism to our discussions. I do, however, congratulate the Minister on calling the debate. It is a pity that it clashes with such an important defence debate in the main Chamber. I am sure that if we were having this...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Perhaps I can make some progress before—
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I think that I shall make a little progress before taking my first intervention from the Minister. In our policies on Sure Start, we are looking to sharpen the delivery of Sure Start and use Sure Start health visitors to do that as an integral part of Sure Start. I shall come on to that when I have made a few other comments. Before moving on to my main remarks, I need to cover the Minister's...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I am not sure that that directly links to the point that I was making, but as the Minister will know, from having perhaps read the document more than she let on earlier, the prime objective behind having health visitors working integrally at the heart—[Interruption.]—of Sure Start—[Interruption.]—is that they will have a professional outreach role, which as she will...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: The Minister is clearly over-excited. If she holds on to that excitement, she will hear a little later about how important it is that we get outreach right. She will of course have listened to the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, who brought a note of realism into the debate: outreach has not been as effective as it needs to be. If the Minister is complacent about the way in which...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I could not agree with you more, Mrs. Dean. Perhaps the Minister needs to calm down a little.
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: May I first complete the point that I am making? It is important that we get outreach right. If we do not get that important service properly through Sure Start, not only will the Government be ignoring a lot of evidence but they will be letting down the most vulnerable groups in our communities. I am sure that that is not the intention, but if the Minister were to listen to the points that...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I am not sure that such an intervention should have been made, as I have not yet raised the subject. I am not sure that a Government debate on the progress of Sure Start should allow the House to scrutinise the financial details of Conservative party policy. The hon. Lady may not have seen our document, but I can tell her that the funding for such a policy is to be found in the Government's...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I shall give way, but this is getting tedious.
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I am not sure how that point ties in with the objectives of Sure Start. The hon. Gentleman needs to focus a little more on my speech rather than on making interventions that may have been given him by his Whip.
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: The hon. Gentleman may not have been focusing on what I was saying earlier. Ultimately, we support Sure Start and its objectives. That is the important point. However, I wish to continue my speech rather than have an in-depth discussion of Sure Start's budget. I do not know whether the Minister has a reason for pressing the matter further, but we are here today to discuss the progress of Sure...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I shall resist giving way to the hon. Gentleman again. He could have made a speech himself rather than making a series of lengthy interventions that were almost speeches in themselves. When discussing whether Sure Start has been making progress, we need to consider the evidence. It is not a small programme. It is important not only for the impact that it has on our communities, which has been...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: The hon. Lady makes an excellent point. If individual Sure Start centres have an embedded health structure, they can start to pick up on specific local issues. The Sure Start centre in Chatham, which I visited, has a strong relationship with its primary care trust, and has addressed the very issue that the hon. Lady raises. It has identified obesity as one of the main issues in its local...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: I understand the hon. Lady's point. What I was saying was that there is an awful lot of evidence, which is not simply from the Department's own national evaluation of Sure Start but from other organisations, that points out that more can be done. Obviously the centres in the hon. Lady's constituency are working incredibly hard to reach out to disadvantaged families, and I am sure that they...
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: Of course, I would not want the Minister to be anxious for any longer than absolutely necessary. She is well aware that the Conservative party has no plans to cut Sure Start. That has been made clear by several colleagues and by me for a long time. Could she give us the evidence on which she bases her assertion that that was a previous position of our party?
- [Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Sure Start (15 Oct 2009)
Maria Miller: The Minister misunderstood the policy.