Christmas Adjournment

It is nice to be able to respond to an afternoon of debate that has been so lively and marked by so many contributions. The first was of course the speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody). She made a powerful speech in which she was strongly critical of the local government reorganisation in Cheshire. I am sure that her arguments will be heard beyond this Chamber. It was interesting that my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mr. Hall) disagreed with much of what she said. In County Durham, we have gone through a similar reorganisation recently and I know that such processes can raise strong feelings, because the way in which local government is organised has an impact on public service delivery. The hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir Robert Smith) spoke initially about rural services and, in particular, his concern about post office closures. His points about the significance of the post office were echoed not only by those with rural constituencies, but others. They included my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire (Mr. McLoughlin), the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan), and my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz). All were concerned by post office closures and the method of consultation on those closures. I will certainly draw that to the attention of my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs. The hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine went on to talk about the importance of broadband extension, especially for rural communities. I will draw his points on that issue to the attention of colleagues in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. He talked about the switchover from analogue to digital television, but I am afraid that he went way beyond my understanding in the description of the technology. I think that he was saying that support for vulnerable groups needs to have a longer lead-in, especially for people who are blind or dyslexic. I will draw that point to the attention of Ministers in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The hon. Gentleman went on to make a complaint about the level of the winter fuel payment, which I did not think was wholly justified, given the high expenditure that the Government have put into Warm Front of some £800 million, benefiting 1.6 million people. That needs to be taken into account when considering fuel poverty, which has become much less prevalent in the last 10 years. He also talked about North sea oil and gas and expressed particular concern about future development. He said that for a long time the Treasury had taken a short-term view of it. In a former life, I was the civil servant on the North sea desk, so his suggestion that that was a longstanding problem made me rather uncomfortable. In any case, I do not think that it is a problem now. Finally, the hon. Gentleman made the suggestion that the Leader of the House should announce business two weeks ahead. Sometimes we do announce business more than one week ahead, but I will take his suggestion away and we will consider it.