Andrew Pelling: The organiser of this petition, Mr. Wayne Evans, has himself determinedly fought the effects of spinal cord injury. I am therefore very pleased to read the petition, which states: The Petition of People of the London Borough of Croydon, Declares that there is no provision within the NHS outpatient physiotherapy services of an ongoing exercise regime to improve overall health, fitness and...
Andrew Pelling: What recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on statutory protection of intellectual property arising in Scotland.
Andrew Pelling: What will be done to protect the intellectual property rights of the people of Stirling if the excavations at the Dominican friary show that the bones that have been found there are indeed those of Richard II, and to provide Government moneys to support DNA analysis and perhaps to allow for an exhibition before the bones of that English king are returned to this country?
Andrew Pelling: I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. He is renowned for fighting strongly for improved public transport for his constituents. The route to docklands is also important for many of my constituents who will travel into his constituency and east London for employment. Is it not important to ensure that Transport for London takes over more transport facilities so that there...
Andrew Pelling: I present this petition on Islamic burial spaces organised by Mr. Tahir Begg, the Muslim Association of Croydon, and Croydon mosques. Having campaigned on this issue since 2000, I am pleased to read the petition, which states: The Petition of the people of Croydon and South London, Declares that there is a severe shortage of burial space for the Islamic community. The Petitioners therefore...
Andrew Pelling: It is a pleasure, Mr. Gale, to serve under your chairmanship again this morning. It is interesting to see that a cross-section of those who were here for the pensioner debate are here also for the public house debate. Both debates have been attended by the highest class of Member. It has been a great pleasure over the past five years to attend debates secured by the hon. Member for Ribble...
Andrew Pelling: That obviously has an impact; but it has an impact also on those public houses used by families. The hon. Gentleman is right; if women feel that it is not appropriate or unsafe, or that it looks wrong to be smoking outside a public house, that too can have a disturbing effect. One point made in previous debates on the subject is that the public house acts as the centre of the community-as a...
Andrew Pelling: It is a great privilege to give way to the hon. Gentleman. I do not know how the House will be able to progress when it no longer has such independent-minded Members to ensure that Parliament thrives. It is important that public houses thrive. As we heard in the many debates in which the hon. Gentleman and others have taken part, the community can be undermined by the loss of the post office...
Andrew Pelling: I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this important debate. Will he comment on something that the managing director of Marston's said yesterday-that the tie protects people in the business?
Andrew Pelling: The Minister makes a good point, but we should not forget those men who live longer and lack support because they are probably less adept at family and friend networking than females in society.
Andrew Pelling: After consultation.
Andrew Pelling: I will be brief because other hon. Members wish to speak. It is important for politicians to defend the freedom pass because many local London councils that are upset about changes in funding and about money being taken away from London and put elsewhere talk rather darkly of compromising the provision of the freedom pass.
Andrew Pelling: It is a great pleasure, Mr. Gale, to serve under your chairmanship. I would very much like to congratulate the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), who has secured a number of important debates on social issues in Westminster Hall and the main Chamber. I would also like to place on record my thanks to Michael Knight of Croydon Retired Peoples Campaign-a group that I will address...
Andrew Pelling: The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, because if people are imprisoned in that way, it has a very significant impact on their mental health. The general issue is one of quality of life for the elderly. Perhaps it is the result of poor public transport-we are probably blessed with better public transport in Croydon than people are in the hon. Gentleman's constituency, although I know...
Andrew Pelling: I am very grateful for my hon. Friend's comments-I know that he has raised that issue in the House. To some extent, the Government are listening on this issue, but it is a very important concern.
Andrew Pelling: I am very grateful to the Minister for that intervention, and I think that that is a very good example of joined-up government. That approach, as long as we are in the happy situation of having that capacity and making it known to potential recipients, is a very cost-effective, caring and compassionate way of operating Government activity. Nevertheless, I sometimes feel a sense of...
Andrew Pelling: The partnership of independent Members has a great respect for this place and a great love for it but, in common with the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash), we feel that it is very much time to do politics differently. Although our debate is restricted by the terms of reference, we have to accept, sadly, that in some ways these are very modest changes indeed when it comes to reforming...
Andrew Pelling: Is it possible that in the Conservative party one of those three is the former editor of the News of the World?
Andrew Pelling: I hope that this will be a helpful intervention. There has been a lot of discussion about manifesto government, but is that not, in this new century, a rather weaker argument? This is not like the 1970s; Governments no longer come with a detailed manifesto in the same way they used to.
Andrew Pelling: Let me put a question to the Minister to prepare him for answering questions when he is mayor of Birmingham. Does he really think that it was appropriate that John Terry was sacked as captain of England?