House of Lords - Welfare Reform Bill (Second Reading)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Morris of Manchester, who has done so much for disabled people over the years.
BTW
7 Mar 2007
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Morris of Manchester, who has done so much for disabled people over the years.
My Lords, I start by welcoming the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, to his new DWP duties. I have always found him open, courteous, thoughtful and honest in our exchanges on Treasury matters. I hope that by saying that I am not putting the kibosh on his career when Gordon Brown takes over. The House has been very fortunate in recent years in all its Work and Pensions Ministers: the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, and now the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie.
Thank you all for being here and thanks also to the Guardian Public Services Summit for their kind invitation to speak today. As you know, the theme of this year's Summit is how relationships are altering, and dynamics are changing, in the delivery of public services. Today's public service providers are returning to that theme again and again.
am delighted to be able to sum up on behalf of the Liberal Democrats; I have just been appointed the party's disability spokesman, and this is my first debate in post. I thank the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke) for triggering the debate, and for his well-thought-out introduction. I also thank the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) and for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) for their excellent contributions.
Norman Baker (Lewes) (LD): I welcome this important debate and thank the Government for making time available for it. I agree with the Minister, who said that the scheme is welcome. It will tackle social exclusion, help the environment and enable people who would otherwise be in their houses to get out and travel. All those outcomes are good. I do not subscribe to Mrs. Thatcher's view that anyone over 30 who uses a bus is a failure, as she said on one occasion. I am happy that people over 60 use buses, as do people of my age.
MCCSIS '08 is the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems. This year's conference (22-25 July) was held at Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam.