Mr Patrick Thompson: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 13 March. [18555]
Mr Patrick Thompson: Does my right hon. Friend deplore, as I do, the increasing tendency for Government policy to be discussed as a result of leaks in the media and elsewhere? Does he share my increasing concern about that trend?
Mr Patrick Thompson: I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the progress that he has announced for the electronic delivery of Government services, and I welcome his comments about personal contact. Will he confirm that the CCTA, which is based in my constituency, has been involved with the "government. direct" initiative, and will be involved in future in terms of the announcement and electronic delivery?
Mr Patrick Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she is taking to enforce discipline in schools. [16057]
Mr Patrick Thompson: Bearing it in mind that good classroom discipline and structured teaching are essential to a successful education, can my right hon. Friend confirm that the Government's welcome new approach to teacher training will give every new teacher rigorous instruction in classroom skills and handling techniques? Will he take this opportunity to accentuate the positive and pay tribute to those teachers...
Mr Patrick Thompson: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak briefly in the debate. I was interested in the remarks of the hon. Member for Motherwell, South (Dr. Bray), but I will not follow his analysis in detail. I certainly support what he had to say about my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Sir G. Shaw), the Chairman of the Select Committee. I am a fairly new member—not necessarily the best...
Mr Patrick Thompson: I am listening to my hon. Friend's speech with great interest. He is introducing a very good measure. Will he refer to how other countries deal with the same problem? Does similar legislation already exist in France, Germany or the United States?
Mr Patrick Thompson: In connection with education funding in Cheshire, some of us are becoming tired of the continual argument between local authorities and Government about education spending—I certainly am. Does my hon. Friend accept that some hon. Members still believe that education funding should be taken out of local government altogether?
Mr Patrick Thompson: This is becoming a very interesting debate. Before I became a Member of Parliament, I spent much time in the national park areas involved with the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and so forth. To what extent do these issues differ in national park lands and in the areas that he is describing in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire? Does national park status make a difference and, if so, how?
Mr Patrick Thompson: I am becoming genuinely interested in the point about public access. There is a distinction between public access and total exclusion of the public. Is there any halfway measure under which restricted access could be allowed, either now or in the future? I know that certain categories of people are allowed into certain special conservation areas. Is that relevant to the clause?
Mr Patrick Thompson: Mention of salt marshes makes me think of the coast of north Norfolk. I am not expert on this part of the Bill. Can my hon. Friend explain whether coastal saltmarshes would be affected by the regulations?
Mr Patrick Thompson: Will my hon. Friend pay tribute to the people working in the public sector research laboratories in Norwich? Will he confirm that the Ministry of Agriculture's Central Science Laboratory will stay in Norwich? It would be very good news if it did. Bearing in mind what my hon. Friend has just said, how much longer will people in Norwich who are working in the other research laboratories have to...
Mr Patrick Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to provide assistance to local authorities in respect of anti-social tenants. [7856]
Mr Patrick Thompson: The Government's recent announcements are good news for many council tenants in my constituency of Norwich, North. They provide another example of the good that the Government have done for my constituents since 1983. Complaints about anti-social tenants feature strongly in my constituency surgeries, so the news is indeed good. Can my hon. Friend ensure that Norwich city council starts the...
Mr Patrick Thompson: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 November. [4344]
Mr Patrick Thompson: Is my right hon. Friend aware of the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall in the House of Commons next week to highlight the tremendous achievements of our engineering and manufacturing industry in this country? Does he agree that engineering offers attractive career prospects for our young people and will he pay tribute to those who are working to promote the achievements of the...
Mr Patrick Thompson: I am very grateful for the opportunity to raise the subject of water metering in Norwich. I am pleased to welcome my hon. Friend the Minister, who is to reply to the debate. I was worried whether he would get to the Front Bench in time, but he is there and I welcome him and his colleagues. This is an important subject, because East Anglia has the lowest average annual rainfall of any region...
Mr Patrick Thompson: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate on the improving schools programme, which is more than a year old. At the outset, that programme recognised that the key to improving schools lay in the classroom. That view has been reflected in many of the contributions to this excellent debate. Sadly, another debate is taking place in the media, to which I shall refer later. I...
Mr Patrick Thompson: Flat roofs, too much sunshine coming in, the greenhouse effect and so on. Many of the schools that were built in the 1940s and 1950s—I know that is a long time ago—were faulty. I hope that the hon. Gentleman and his party will not get too carried away by the idea of new buildings. We should beware when any Government propose to build new schools, because good education does not correlate...
Mr Patrick Thompson: —and it looks as though he wants to clarify them now, so I shall give way to him.
