argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Immigration
Questions: My right hon. Friend may be aware that I am participating in the police parliamentary scheme, seeing at first hand the excellent work of Greater Manchester police. What is being done to ensure that there are adequate and safe levels of community policing in my constituency?; How many of the approximately 800 British citizens who have joined militant groups in Syria have returned, and how many of them are back in communities?; Last week, 18-year-old Mohammed Hussain, a Kurdish refugee, died underneath a lorry as he attempted to flee violence and be reunited with his family in Manchester. The tragic story of Mohammed highlights the dangerous routes that many refugees are forced to take. When will the Government open up family visa opportunities to British citizens and settled residents so that we can prevent deaths like that of Mohammed from happening again?; Has the Home Office team had time to reflect on the extraordinary National Union of Teachers motion that condemned the Prevent duty? Do Ministers agree that we all have a responsibility to do all we can to prevent young people from engaging in terrorism and extremism?; The Home Secretary recently said at the launch of the Conservatives’ PCC election campaign that “the Conservative Government has protected overall police spending for the next four years”.However, Sir Andrew Dilnot, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, has confirmed House of Commons Library research that shows that forces will see a £160 million cut next year alone. In the light of that, and given the importance of the upcoming elections, will the Home Secretary admit that funding for our police forces has not been protected and is being cut again for each of the next four years?; The Investigatory Powers Bill, which is going through the House, provides important capabilities, along with new safeguards, to tackle cybercrime. Will Ministers update the House on how the changing nature of crime is being fought by the Bill
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Anyone from Malawi who wants to visit the UK has to apply online with a credit card. Given how few people in Malawi have access to electricity, let alone the internet or banking facilities, what steps is the Home Office taking to make sure that people who have a legitimate request can apply?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Immigration
Questions: My right hon. Friend may be aware that I am participating in the police parliamentary scheme, seeing at first hand the excellent work of Greater Manchester police. What is being done to ensure that there are adequate and safe levels of community policing in my constituency?; How many of the approximately 800 British citizens who have joined militant groups in Syria have returned, and how many of them are back in communities?; Last week, 18-year-old Mohammed Hussain, a Kurdish refugee, died underneath a lorry as he attempted to flee violence and be reunited with his family in Manchester. The tragic story of Mohammed highlights the dangerous routes that many refugees are forced to take. When will the Government open up family visa opportunities to British citizens and settled residents so that we can prevent deaths like that of Mohammed from happening again?; Has the Home Office team had time to reflect on the extraordinary National Union of Teachers motion that condemned the Prevent duty? Do Ministers agree that we all have a responsibility to do all we can to prevent young people from engaging in terrorism and extremism?; The Home Secretary recently said at the launch of the Conservatives’ PCC election campaign that “the Conservative Government has protected overall police spending for the next four years”.However, Sir Andrew Dilnot, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, has confirmed House of Commons Library research that shows that forces will see a £160 million cut next year alone. In the light of that, and given the importance of the upcoming elections, will the Home Secretary admit that funding for our police forces has not been protected and is being cut again for each of the next four years?; The Investigatory Powers Bill, which is going through the House, provides important capabilities, along with new safeguards, to tackle cybercrime. Will Ministers update the House on how the changing nature of crime is being fought by the Bill; It is right for the police to be given more powers in relation to the use of Tasers, stop-and-search and the Investigatory Powers Bill, but with greater powers should surely come greater responsibility. Therefore, will the Home Secretary confirm to the House that proper safeguards will remain in place to ensure that the police continue to have the support of the general public?
Elizabeth Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Two weeks ago, when four of my colleagues and I were in Calais, the French authorities tear-gassed the Calais camp simply because a protest was going on outside it. Does the Home Secretary approve of such measures, and if not—if she agrees with me that measures should be proportionate to the situation and that refugees must be treated humanely—will she contact her French counterpart and express the concerns of this Parliament?
UK Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Neil Charles Gray (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Business Secretary for giving me advance sight of his statement I welcome the news that Tata appears to have found a buyer for its operations in Scunthorpe. I hope that that will prove to be good news, and I hope that the same can be done for Port Talbot and other sites, although there is concern about possible erosions of workers’ terms and conditions as a result of the deal. Let us be clear, however, that this has happened in spite of the Government’s shameful approach to the crisis. They have done as little as possible—as little as they thought they could get away with. The fact that the Business Secretary was literally on the other side of the world at the height of the crisis provides a perfect metaphor, and a perfect personification of the Tory approach to the steel industry That contrasts starkly with the proactive, professional and diligent way in which the Scottish Government approached the crisis facing the Scottish plants at Clydebridge and Dalzell. Nicola Sturgeon said that her Government would leave no stone unturned to save a crucial industry, and that is exactly what happened. Liberty House has now bought the sites to maintain a crucial industry in Scotland, and I welcome the Business Secretary’s commendation of those efforts. SNP Members stand in solidarity with the steelworkers of England and Wales. We hope that the UK Government will now work more proactively and co-operatively with EU colleagues on anti-dumping measures, energy costs and other issues that face the industry, so that there can be a long-term future for a crucial part of the manufacturing sector. Imagine what could have been achieved had the Prime Minister spent the last year touring European capitals and pressing for action on steel, rather than testing the patience of European counterparts and colleagues with his EU referendum gamble Will the Business Secretary now publish details of all meetings, phone calls, visits and correspondence involving the steel industry in which he, the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and other members of the Cabinet have engaged with EU and international trade counterparts in the last year? If he has done the work that he claims to have done, he has nothing to hide, and publishing those details may well repair his tarnished reputation.
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Civil Rights
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The turnout for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 was 85%. What target are the Government setting themselves for voter turnout, and what measures are they taking to replicate the huge successes of democratic engagement in Scotland?
Government Referendum Leaflet — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Can the Minister remind us how many of those sitting behind him who are criticising this decision voted for the legislation that has allowed it to happen? How many of them were as angry as this when the Government funded a booklet encouraging people to vote no to Scottish independence? How many of them were angry when the Government had to admit that they had used false case studies in a Department for Work and Pensions leaflet about tax credits? Is it not the case that this is not anger based on principle but anger from people who are happy to see taxpayers’ money spent on misleading propaganda that supports their views but not on an information campaign that they happen to disagree with?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Will the Minister tell the House exactly what he is going to do to ensure that that price reduction is passed on to consumers by retailers, who should not seek to continue to sell the product at the same price?
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Other
Kirsty Ann Blackman (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to speak in this Second Reading debate. I am delighted that you are back in the Chair, Mr Speaker, not least because I have written "Mr Speaker" throughout my speech and I get totally confused if a Deputy Speaker is in the Chair.
State Pension Eligibility — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; If his Department will make an assessment of the merits of options for transitional protection for women who will adversely be affected by the acceleration of increases in the state pension age.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister speaks often of equality, but his Department’s policies clearly have a disproportionate impact on so many women in this country. Not only are women born in the 1950s unequally affected by the pension plans, but many women will also lose out under the new single-tier pension rules. Should not the Government act now to allow people to opt to have a year treated as a qualifying year if, by including the income from two or more jobs, that person’s earnings are at least equal to the earnings factor for that year?
Under-occupancy Penalty — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Last week’s Court of Appeal ruling that the bedroom tax discriminates against disabled people comes hard on the heels of a ruling in November that the inclusion of carer’s allowance in the benefits cap also discriminates against disabled people. The Government have been forced into a climbdown on carer’s allowance. Why will they not do the same on the bedroom tax and end discrimination against disabled people?
Under-occupancy Penalty — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Civil Rights
Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): That really is just sophistry. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is currently investigating the UK for grave and systematic violations of the UN convention on disability rights. Ministers should be thoroughly ashamed that the UK is the first country to face such an investigation. Does the Minister agree that scrapping the bedroom tax is actually the best thing the Government could do to bring their policy into line with articles 9 and 20 of the convention, which ensure accessibility for disabled people, including access to housing, an adequate standard of living and social protection?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I very much welcome the move to turn the PRA into the PRC on a par with the MPC and the FPC. Does the Minister not have any anxiety, however, that that leaves the FCA, the consumer protection conduct of business element, out on a limb, with a different status from the other three committees?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister has used the words "guidance" and "advice" almost interchangeably in her last few sentences. Many of us across the House are concerned that it is advice that will be required, particularly by those with rather modest annuities. Can she give a guarantee that what is being offered is advice and not merely guidance?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I will try to do so, Madam Deputy Speaker It is always a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie), who chairs the Treasury Committee. Ninety-nine times out of 100, I would bow to his wise words. Indeed, his repository of knowledge often leads me to think that he should be one of the regulators, rather than sitting on the Back Benches in Parliament. However, in this instance, it pains me that I cannot follow him or the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier) I will try to get the right hon. Member for Chichester to understand why those of us on the Opposition Benches cannot accept the Bill as it stands. Fundamentally, it is about the shift away from the reverse burden of proof. Given the backlog of distrust on the banking system and given that the reverse burden of proof was put into legislation and is just about to come into operation in March, to shift away from it now will only make the public less likely to accept what is going on and to make them fear that the banks are being let off the hook yet again. I would say to him and the Minister that it would have been much better to let the legislation run for a few years to see how it worked in practice The right hon. Member for Chichester gave us a very good reason for saying that, after so much legislation, it was perhaps time to pause while we made sure that it works in practice. However, his argument can be turned against him, because we are changing legislation at the last moment, after we passed it two years ago, but not implemented it. We should do that: we should see how the reverse burden of proof works. That is why I support the hon. Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) in opposing the Bill as it stands.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am trying to avoid pointing the finger and drawing inferences. What I will do, in agreeing with the hon. Gentleman, is to quote the right hon. Member for Chichester. I hope he will forgive me for doing so. When the LIBOR scandal emerged in 2014, after the Banking Commission, he said: "As time passes, the pressure for reform will weaken"— it is, is it not?— "The old system failed disastrously…Maintaining or resuscitating parts of the failed system, whether at the behest of bank lobbying or for the convenience of regulators, must not be permitted to happen." I think we are getting both: we are getting bank lobbying, but we are also getting the regulators wanting a quiet time The hon. Member for Wyre Forest made a reasonable point. He said that by extending the senior managers and certification regime, the Bill will place in law a very detailed duty of responsibility on senior bankers to take all reasonable steps to prevent wrongdoing. However, at the same time, it will place the onus on the regulators to prove that that responsibility was discharged. Suddenly, it gives the regulators a job—
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Absolutely As the right hon. Member for Chichester pointed out, time after time when there have been regulatory failures, the regulators have been implicated. I therefore do not want to return to a situation in which it is up to the regulators to prove that something has gone wrong in the new regulatory regime, when they are partly responsible for it. I want the onus to fall on the bankers themselves It is worth looking more forensically at the reasons against the presumption of the reverse burden of proof. Andrew Bailey has argued that there is a worry that when the next crisis comes along, senior bankers will rush off to the European Court and claim that their rights under the European convention on human rights are being taken away because of the reverse burden of proof. That is rubbish The Parliamentary Commission was perhaps a little unwise to use the phrase "the reverse burden of proof", even though we all use it and I use it. We are not talking about criminal law and making people guilty until proven innocent. We are talking about infractions in banking if, say, a banking crisis takes place. The legislation that the Government are trying to change would make it an infraction to be responsible for an activity in which wrongdoing took place, rather than for committing the wrongdoing itself. To give a flippant example, if it is a criminal offence to be in charge of a bawdy house, the prosecution needs to prove only that somebody was in charge of that house of ill repute, not that they were selling their own body. It would be no defence that they thought the bawdy house was a nunnery The reverse burden of proof regime makes managers responsible for the activity in their banks. When a disaster takes place, it is up to them to prove that they failed to stop it happening, rather than, as has always been the case, it being up to the regulators to find the solution and explain what happened, which means that everyone hides behind collective responsibility.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I respect the logic of the hon. Gentleman’s argument. Sadly, we will never get a chance to see the legislation that he voted for in the last Parliament put into practice and to watch it fail. I look forward to his contribution—he will have time to make it if I hurry up—and to finding out why he has changed his mind I am interested in Mr Bailey’s tick-box argument, which is that if we reverse the burden of proof, senior bank officials will hold endless seminars with those on the trading floor, explaining to them why doing the sort of things that happened in the LIBOR scandal is wrong. When the inevitable crisis happens, they will come with list of who they spoke to—they told the traders that this should not happen, but it did It is not enough to have lots of meetings; we must change the culture of the banks. It is also important to remember—I hope the Minister remembers this—the title of the Parliamentary Commission’s report on banking standards: "Changing banking for good". There are a lot of good things in the Bill, but it does not change banking for good. It is half a loaf, and I am afraid that another half loaf will lead us more quickly to yet another banking crisis for which nobody is responsible. Ultimately, we need responsibility In conclusion, we are being offered a duty of responsibility versus a presumption of responsibility. Once upon a time, there was a convention: when a ship sank, the captain went down with the ship, whether it was his fault or not. It was presumed that it was his fault no matter what happened, because he was in charge of the ship. What happens these days is that the ship goes down, the captain gets into the first lifeboat, and he turns up at the inquiry to say—to use a Scottish term—"It wisnae me; I did my best". Once upon a time Ministers also resigned when something went wrong. We should return to a situation where if there is a banking crisis the captain goes down with the ship, and we assume that he will do that, whether it was his fault or not, because he or she was in charge and leading the bank. If we do not change that culture, we will go on having banking crises ad nauseam.
Financial Conduct Authority — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, which absolutely confirms what I think and what I said here last week. People cannot afford to go to litigation. Even when they do go, they do not get the satisfaction that they should get because of the mish-mash of regulators and mish-mash of regulations I shall sit down at this stage because I believe I have made my point quite clearly. Something needs to be done to take everything back to the stage where people trust regulators, trust banks and trust financial products.
Financial Conduct Authority — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is making a compelling case and I echo his sentiments. My constituent, Victor Singh, owns a property company in exactly the same position. His fear is that the report is being delayed by RBS as a tactic to delay the litigation and reach a more favourable position for the bank. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the House should use this debate to call on the FCA to publish that report as soon as possible so that the litigants can have a fair hearing?