argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Fuel Poverty — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): I have just covered that. I am embarrassed that my remarks should be so ill-attended. The regulations for the new scheme, which launches on 1 April 2017, represent an increase from £310 million to £450 million a year. Combined with the warm home discount, that gives £770 million of support for low-income and vulnerable customers in 2017-18 We have also taken steps to improve targeting. The eligibility criteria for the ECO scheme, which is proposed to run from April 2017 to the end of September 2018, will improve the targeting rate to 34%. We do not believe that is enough. The targeting rate can go higher, and the Digital Economy Bill, which the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough mentioned, is currently going through Parliament and will enable greater data sharing and give the Government the opportunity to improve the targeting of the next generation of fuel poverty schemes, including the warm home discount When the regulations were made last summer, the Government stated that there is more to be done to target the schemes at those who most need them. That is still true, with the current targeting rate of fuel poor households at around 15%. However, Members should note that increasing that proportion in the current scheme, which is committed to 2021, would be at a cost to other low-income households. We will be mindful of that factor when making decisions on the future direction of the scheme The hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows) criticised the Government, whom she regarded as presiding over stagnant real incomes. All I can do is direct her to the fact that, last year, full-time pay grew by 0.7% in Scotland, whereas it grew by 1.9% in the UK as a whole. According to Scottish Parliament numbers, it fell for the three years following 2012 I yield to no one in my admiration for the hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford), and I was grateful for his support in being elected Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. He also comes from a nation I deeply revere and whose history I greatly respect, but I am afraid that he has embarrassed himself in this debate with an unworthy attempt to personalise a very serious set of issues. Mine was a response to the gap, which the stricture on unparliamentary language prevents me from describing as anything more than disingenuous, between his words and his deeds. The fact of the matter is that these matters are devolved. Even so, the Government have offered support, as I described, through the ECO, the warm home discount and a hydro benefit replacement scheme of £58 million to reduce energy distribution charges. Were network charges made universal across the country, as he desired, 1.8 million people in Scotland would face higher bills, and only 0.7% would see reductions. Does he really wish to add to the bills of 1.1 million Scotsmen and women?
Surrogacy — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Alun Craig Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will be aware of the work of my constituent Nicola and Surrogacy UK, to which I pay tribute. I very much welcome the Minister’s answer, but will she say something specifically about the remedial order to address the situation for single parents, for which my constituent Nicola is waiting?
Naylor Review — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What plans he has to ensure that the implementation of recommendations in Sir Robert Naylor’s review on the NHS estate is compatible with local sustainability and transformation plans.; When the Minister looks at the estates and transformation plans, will he ensure that arrangements for travelling to different sites are taken into account for healthcare professionals, patients and, importantly, patients’ visitors?
Philip Martin Dunne (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman knows, service reconfigurations require public consultation. I am not sure whether that particular walk-in centre qualifies, but I am happy to have a look at that. A number of walk-in centres were established under the previous Government in a random way, and they need to be located more appropriately for local people.
Social Care Budgets — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority social care budgets on the provision of adequate health and social care services.
David Mowat (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree that budgets make a difference, which is why we are increasing spending by £7.6 billion over this Parliament, but so do leadership, grip and best practice. Some 50% of all delayed transfers that are due to social care delays occur in 24 local authorities. Many other local authorities have virtually no delays. I recently visited the IASH team—Integrated Access St Helens—in the hon. Lady’s own constituency, which, working with Whiston hospital, has achieved spectacular results and some of the best outcomes in the country. I am sure that she will want to join me in congratulating those responsible.
Social Care Budgets — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority social care budgets on the provision of adequate health and social care services.
David Mowat (Conservative, Centre-right): As a direct answer to the hon. Lady’s question on the improved better care fund, let me tell her that it will be allocated in such a way that the combination of the fund and the precept will address real need. That is what we will be doing during the remainder of this Parliament, starting from April. We spend more on adult social care in this country than Germany, Canada and Italy, but it is very important that we spend it well.
Breast Cancer Drugs — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: I am delighted to do so, Mr Speaker—thank you very much. Given that there is no general hospital in my constituency and a large number of my constituents have to travel many miles for cancer treatment, what discussions has my hon. Friend had with the Welsh Government to persuade them to fund mobile cancer treatments?
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Centre-right): We have continual discussions with the Welsh Government to make sure that these issues are kept under review. I shall definitely write to my hon. Friend about this. I shall also be happy to meet him if he would like to discuss it in further detail.
Nursing — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Education
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): Are there any plans to roll out the associate role to include Wiltshire, and to enable the new nursing degree apprenticeship schemes to be offered in larger further education colleges so that counties like Wiltshire that have no university can still make that provision?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: The recently introduced one-year cancer survival rate indicator is a beacon of light in a system still too focused on process targets. What more can the Government do to hold underperforming clinical commissioning groups to account for that outcome indicator, given that we are still failing to catch up with international averages when it comes to our survival rates?; If someone in St Ives suffers a severe stroke, they will have a far better chance of a full recovery if they get quick treatment and then proper therapy and rehabilitation in the community. That does not happen for everybody. What is the Department going to do to ensure that there will be a national stroke strategy?; My Falkirk constituents, Michelle and Justin Young, have been through the lengthy treatment approval process for their son, Michael, to access the Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Translarna. Thankfully, Michael is now receiving it. With a growing number of emerging treatments for rare diseases expected in the forthcoming years, what action are the Government taking to increase the capacity of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency when the UK leaves the EU? Most importantly, will the Secretary of State or the Minister agree to meet Muscular Dystrophy UK—; People in Lancashire will be pleased that the emergency department in Chorley has reopened, providing access for people 12 hours a day. Will my hon. Friend welcome that good news and thank everyone involved?; Last year, hospital trusts were urged by Department of Health officials to raid their capital budgets to cover resource funding. Does the Secretary of State think that is a good way forward, and what instructions is he giving officials this year?
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I recognise that it is not a sustainable position to have to do that. Pressures on the frontline meant that it had to happen, but we do need to invest for the future and I agree with the hon. Lady that capital budgets are very important.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Education
Questions: The recently introduced one-year cancer survival rate indicator is a beacon of light in a system still too focused on process targets. What more can the Government do to hold underperforming clinical commissioning groups to account for that outcome indicator, given that we are still failing to catch up with international averages when it comes to our survival rates?; If someone in St Ives suffers a severe stroke, they will have a far better chance of a full recovery if they get quick treatment and then proper therapy and rehabilitation in the community. That does not happen for everybody. What is the Department going to do to ensure that there will be a national stroke strategy?; My Falkirk constituents, Michelle and Justin Young, have been through the lengthy treatment approval process for their son, Michael, to access the Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Translarna. Thankfully, Michael is now receiving it. With a growing number of emerging treatments for rare diseases expected in the forthcoming years, what action are the Government taking to increase the capacity of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency when the UK leaves the EU? Most importantly, will the Secretary of State or the Minister agree to meet Muscular Dystrophy UK—; People in Lancashire will be pleased that the emergency department in Chorley has reopened, providing access for people 12 hours a day. Will my hon. Friend welcome that good news and thank everyone involved?; Last year, hospital trusts were urged by Department of Health officials to raid their capital budgets to cover resource funding. Does the Secretary of State think that is a good way forward, and what instructions is he giving officials this year?
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Young people with severe anxiety can spend years out of school and become very isolated. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to think more imaginatively about community and voluntary solutions to reach out to those young people, whose futures we must not give up on?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Law and Crime
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. People have a right to appeal, and many cases go to appeal in our constituencies, but frankly, some of them are frivolous cases that really should not be appealed. One reason why that happens is that there is currently no cost attached to making an appeal. It is free, so many people do it. That is going to end, and we have announced in the White Paper that we are introducing a fee.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Environment
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend confirm that it is still Government policy that London’s green belt is a priceless asset for both the nation and London? Will he further confirm that if a local authority ducks difficult decisions and fails to produce a local plan, it cannot short-cut its way out of that through a £2.5 billion development where the green belt is at its narrowest around London, earning a nice little £1 billion for the developer and the landowner?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Government Operations
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): The £2.3 billion fund, which was announced in the autumn statement, will be launched in April and will be run by DCLG. It will involve a bidding process, through which local councils and possibly other parties can bid directly for the necessary infrastructure. I am conscious that many colleagues are eager to get more details, so we will publish them as soon as possible.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Environment
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): We have made it clear in the White Paper that the green belt will retain all the protections that it enjoys today. For the first time, we have clearly set out what we expect a local authority to go through to demonstrate that it has looked at all other reasonable alternatives.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Environment
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend understands that I cannot talk about a particular plan or application, but I can confirm that we have thought very carefully about measures that will help areas, such as his constituency and mine, that have huge amounts of green belt. As part of that, we are asking all local authorities to do more to co-operate with their neighbours. One of the requirements in the White Paper is a statement of common purpose, which we will consult on. Every single local authority will be required to talk to its neighbours and come up with a statement of common purpose.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Environment
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend on both counts. First, the words "Lib Dem" and "lazy" do go well together. Secondly, she is right about ancient woodland. She has spoken to me about that on a number of occasions, and in the White Paper I did not see why ancient woodland should have less protection than the green belt, as is the case currently. That is why we are upgrading the protection of ancient woodland to the same level as green belt.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Macroeconomics
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): We have increased local councils’ borrowing ability, but where the most ambitious councils that have good, sensible plans want to come forward to do a deal with central Government, we are listening. That invitation is in the White Paper.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Environment
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend helps me to highlight, again, the way in which we have tackled the green belt in this White Paper by keeping all its existing protections and demonstrating, for the first time, exactly all the hoops a local authority has to go through to show us categorically that it has looked at all other reasonable options.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Government Operations
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): It will help York in many of the ways in which it will help across the country, for example, through the requirement for every local authority to undertake an honest assessment of need and plan on that basis.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Government Operations
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I can absolutely reassure my hon. Friend on that point. The White Paper contains a specific requirement on all local authorities to plan for the needs in their area, so if the demographics differ from area to area, as of course they will, that is exactly what will need to be catered for.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Government Operations
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important that the local connection rules are appropriate and are working as we have set out. My hon. Friend also makes a link to section 106 agreements; as I referred to earlier, we have not yet made the final decisions, but that matter is subject to a separate consultation and we are looking at how we can improve it.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Transportation
Christopher James Green (Conservative, Centre-right): Urban sprawl creates excessive pressure on local road infrastructure in my constituency, which means Daisy Hill and Atherton stations have to have increased capacity at their car parks. Will the Secretary of State do all he can to ensure that we build up, not out, especially within walking and cycling distance of established public transport routes?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Further to what my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) said—of course I entirely support him, and I have enjoyed a very good relationship with the Chair—yesterday did cause a number of us some concern. It was noticeable that there was great enthusiasm on the Opposition Benches and a rather subdued aspect on the Government Benches. We want to support you in the Chair, Mr Speaker. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States is an extremely important one, and the Prime Minister, in the view of many of us, managed to secure a very favourable outcome of what was undoubtedly a tricky visit. Although I was keen yesterday not to accuse you, Mr Speaker, of making an executive order in respect of another matter, I do hope that you will help us to ensure that we can have full confidence in your impartiality, because that is the way that this House has to proceed.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the Secretary of State, and I think that this may be helpful—[Interruption.] Forgive me, the shadow Secretary of State. I hope that this will be helpful to him. He has mentioned the fact that the Government have made a commitment to a vote at the end of the procedure. Later, when I address the House, I will be outlining what I intend that vote shall be, but it may be of assistance to him now to know what is proposed. First of all, we intend that the vote will cover not only the withdrawal arrangements but also the future relationship with the European Union. Furthermore, I can confirm that the Government will bring forward a motion on the final agreement, to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before it is concluded. We expect and intend that this will happen before the European Parliament debates and votes on the final agreement. I hope that is of assistance.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): Would the hon. and learned Gentleman—I nearly said "Friend"; I will have to be careful—agree that it is really important that, as a nation and a House, we now come together, putting aside all the party political differences, to do the right thing by our country? But most importantly perhaps, on the very point he makes, does he share my concern that, in the event of no deal being reached, this House must also decide what happens next?
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I had hoped to speak at the end of the debate, but it may be of assistance to the Committee if I deal with some of the matters that the shadow Secretary of State touched on. However, I do not want to go into the details of the various amendments that other hon. Members will no doubt wish to speak to. With your consent, Ms Engel, I will address them briefly at the end of the debate May I first repeat what I said to the shadow Secretary of State when I intervened on him a few moments ago? The Government have repeatedly committed from the Dispatch Box to a vote in both Houses on the final deal before it comes into force. That, I repeat and confirm, will cover not only the withdrawal agreement but the future arrangement that we propose with the European Union. I confirm again that the Government will bring forward a motion on the final agreement—
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I will just finish the sentence, because it is rather important. The Government will bring forward a motion on the final agreement to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before it is concluded, and we expect and intend that that will happen before the European Parliament debates and votes on the final agreement.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I must preface what I am about to say by saying that we do not expect that we will not achieve such an agreement, but my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has already made it clear that if we cannot come to an agreement, we will have to fall back on other arrangements. The Government have consistently been clear about that.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): What the hon. Lady says is, of course, true. An agreement has to be negotiated by two sides, and it is always possible that we will not be able to achieve such an agreement, but I believe that we will. We have also made it clear that we see it as important that during the negotiations for the new arrangements, whatever they are, we consider what implementation period may be necessary following the agreements.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): May I first deal with the point that my right hon. and learned Friend has made? After I have done so, I will come back to the hon. Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) This will be a difficult and complex agreement, and the negotiation will, from time to time, be subject to reports to the House, to the Exiting the European Union Committee and so on. What we are proposing, and what I am committing to from the Dispatch Box, is that before the final agreement is concluded—the final draft agreement, if you like—it will be put to a vote of this House and a vote of the other place. That, we intend, will be before it is put to the European Parliament. That is as clear as I can make it.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I would have thought that, in the circumstance that this House had voted down the agreement, it would be highly unlikely that it would ever be put to the European Parliament. Of course, there are all sorts of scenarios to be considered.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: International Affairs
Mark James Harper (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to come back to the point made by the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr Clegg) about the timing of the two deals that are being negotiated in parallel: the exit deal and the framework for our future relationship. I think we can be a little more optimistic than he is. In article 50, it is envisaged that the negotiation for the exit agreement can only be done taking into account the framework for the future relationship. Article 50 envisages those two agreements being negotiated in parallel, so I think that what the Minister has set out has every prospect of coming to fruition.