(Walsall South) (Lab):...I take umbrage slightly with the
Leader of the House. He thinks that if we are doing something
remotely, we are not working. I have talked to many hon.
Members. Zoom is horrible—whatever
anyone says, it is awful. You have to concentrate, you have to
stare—it is just absolutely terrible. What makes people really
nervous about the whole thing is worrying about being late—suppose
you have not logged in on time? Who is walking around in the
background? Have you got the right background? It is terrible. Are
you dressed properly? We would rather be here, of course we would,
but we cannot be...
(Blaenau Gwent)
(Lab): I thank my right hon. Friend for her
contribution. She is doing a brilliant job, taking on board
colleagues’ points on both sides of the House. She is taking the
issue forward really well. Does she agree that colleagues across
Parliament are starting to use Teams and
Zoomproficiently now?
: They do, but we do not necessarily like them—especially
when they break down and we are not linking in the right place.
The point about broadcasting is important because we have got to
the stage where, on Zoom people can put their
hands up, so that could be a form of intervention...
(Hove)
(Lab): It has been suggested by Government Members that people in
other workplaces have to get sick notes, but will my right hon.
Friend clarify that they do not have to get those notes from a GP
in order to use Zoom? We are asking to use
Zoom to continue working, not to be signed off
work.
(Staffordshire
Moorlands) (Con):...The hon. Member for Hove () made a
very important intervention when he said that there is a
difference about the situation here. Nobody is asking to not be
at work. We are all at work. The idea that Members of Parliament
have not been working over the course of the past few months when
they have not been able to be here, or we are not in the full
Chamber, is ludicrous given the hours that are spent on
Zoom calls and Teams meetings, and the many,
many pieces of constituent correspondence that we are all dealing
with. In those few weeks at the beginning of the lockdown when
people had such confusion and there was no certainty, the
Government did an enormous amount of good in terms of the
financial support and the guidance that was issued, but right at
the beginning, everything was unknown.This was, as everyone says,
an unprecedented situation...
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