argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, who makes a critical point. If we set up a target process that deals with only one aspect of a symptom, we will not get to the root causes. We have set out to get to those families who are the furthest away from employment, and move them into independence through employment. The figures I have given on the number of people in social housing now back in work and those on the lowest incomes now back in work are dramatic. They are better than any other records previously established.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me remind the hon. Lady of the statistics. There are 800,000 fewer people on relative low income, 300,000 fewer children on relative low income, 100,000 fewer pensioners on relative low income, 670,000 fewer workless households, and 390,000 fewer children living in workless households. Those are the real statistics. Let me make this point to the hon. Lady: it is far better for us to look at the real life chances of families that were left behind by Labour. Those families were trapped in poverty because they could not change their lives, but we are changing them.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Oliver James Dowden (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the single best way out of poverty is to have a job, and is he pleased that the number of children in workless households is at a record low under this Government?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my hon. Friend to the House, and I agree with what he has said. Let me tell him about a couple of record lows. The number of workless households has fallen by more than 670,000 since 2010 and there are 50,000 fewer households in which no one has ever worked. Those are people who were left behind by the Labour Government.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the hon. Lady to the House, but she cannot have it both ways. The Scottish Government demanded and were given extra powers relating to, for instance, taxation. They cannot turn around and say, "It is not our fault that we cannot change anything in Scotland." If SNP Members want those powers, they cannot come to the House of Commons and complain because they cannot change anything in Scotland.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Craig Whittaker (Conservative, Centre-right): Poverty levels are at their lowest since the mid-1980s. That is good news, and it shows that work actually does pay, but does my right hon. Friend agree that the current poverty measure is out of date, and that we need a measure that highlights the root causes of poverty?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): As the House will know, we began a debate about that back in 2011, and engaged in a full consultation not long before the last election. I have thought for some time that we need a better way of measuring what happens to families who are trapped at the lowest income levels and do not seem to be able to change their lives. The current measures are inadequate and give no indication of how that problem can be resolved. Life change is the key, and we need to be able to measure the way in which we can bring it about.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Transportation
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman knows, Wales has historically experienced deep-rooted problems. Some of its communities have often found themselves literally, physically, distanced from developments in other parts of Wales. However, we are working hard to ensure, through transport links, that people can travel to work more quickly, and can travel further to find jobs. As the right hon. Gentleman said, employment in Wales has improved, which it was not doing previously. We are working hard, but I should be happy to talk to him about any specific details, because I am determined to help Wales to improve even more than it has already.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Education
Craig Paul Tracey (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that ensuring that all children are given a high-quality education and an opportunity to acquire vital skills is critical to enabling those who are growing up in low-income households to escape from welfare dependency and find well-paid jobs?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed I do. My hon. Friend—whom I welcome to the House—is exactly right. We must work harder to ensure that the circumstances of families with deep-rooted and deep-seated problems are turned around, and that they can obtain work and become independent, rather than depending on what the Government do.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I have never believed that people want to be on benefits; I actually believe the vast majority of people on benefits want to do something about that and change their lives. Everything I do is about trying to do that: every policy we have is aimed at getting the economy right and helping people get back into work.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State is right to stress that child poverty is a problem not just of income, but many families on low income need support—to make them work-ready, or those with mental health problems—and there are still many tens of thousands of children in this country with attachment problems. Although he rightly mentions the success of the troubled families programme, does he agree that we also need a pre-troubled families programme to tackle inherited problems at source, often involving attachment disorder?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I recognise and pay tribute to the huge work that my hon. Friend has done, and continues to do, to try to transform the lives of the most troubled families. The troubled families programme was a success but we are now extending it, and within that extension there is scope to do exactly what he wants to do.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right—I often find myself in agreement with him. I am now tasked with chairing the Social Justice Cabinet Committee, the purpose of which is to bring together all work on families and children and to ensure that we have a concerted, single approach to it. But he is absolutely right that that is half the problem in government.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State agree that today’s statistics, showing that the percentage of children in relative low income is at its lowest level since the 1980s, are proof that this Government’s policy is working not just in that area, but in terms of social justice as a whole?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe that is the case, but there is hugely more to do. I do not for a moment stand here today and say, "It is all brilliantly successful"—quite the contrary. This is a very difficult area, but we are dealing with and trying to turn around some of the most troubled and difficult families. My hon. Friend is right, but we have more to do, and that is my purpose and why I am here.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. Most of my colleagues are hugely involved in food banks and help them. I welcome food banks: I welcome decent people in society trying to help others who may, for various reasons, have fallen into difficulty. I do not accept that the single cause of that is welfare reform—quite the contrary. Food bank usage has been rising over a period. It was never part of the British system, but in Germany, where we can argue that their welfare payments are higher, 1.5 million people a week use food banks—much more than people do here.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to tackling the root causes of poverty, but one big issue for low-income families is their level of debt. What more can the Government do to help families in that situation?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Our purpose is to support people as they go into work and progress into full-time work—that is what universal credit is all about. I believe that what the hon. Gentleman will see as we complete its roll-out is that more families will benefit, to the degree of taking control of their lives and having that independence of a pay packet.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Paul Christopher Maynard (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State share my desire to focus on those children in persistent poverty—those in that situation for three years out of four—many of whom are, sadly, in my constituency and face multiple disadvantages within their family? Does he agree that they were a specific group wholly ignored by the previous Labour Government’s anti-poverty strategy?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has campaigned hard on this and he is right; one problem with setting a narrow measure such as this and then being governed by it is that it is all about rotating people at the top of the relative poverty scale and not actually dealing with the deepest and deep-set problems. Dealing with those is what our purpose must be as we go forward to look at new measures.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): Before the Secretary of State was in his post, I encountered a benefit culture in my constituency surgeries; people in families where nobody had ever worked were coming to my surgeries. Gradually, over time, that has shifted, with more and more people getting jobs. Is that not the root success story: if we can get people into work, we break the benefit culture?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): That is exactly the point. It is work that takes people out of poverty. We must support those who are furthest away and have the greatest difficulty, but we want the rest of them to move into work. We want the barriers, the debt problems and all those issues to be removed and we want to get them into work. We want to improve their kids’ education and improve their life chances. My hon. Friend is spot on.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his post. May I say that the latest figures from Scotland show a fall of 40,000 in the number in relative poverty between 2012-13 and 2013-14? Our position is to help the worst-off, to support pensioners through the triple lock and to get all of them into a sustained life of good income.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
John Philip Glen (Conservative, Centre-right): This week, I attended the launch of Scope’s Extra Costs Commission, which is looking at the barriers faced by disabled people in entering the workplace. May I urge my right hon. Friend to do all he can to continue the Government’s strategy to ensure that more disabled people are able to enter the workplace?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. It is worth reminding hon. Members that, through our Disability Confident programme and the support we are putting in to get more people with disabilities back into work, there are now more people with disabilities in work than ever before. That is still not good enough—the line is still too far below the line for others in work. We want to halve that gap by the end of this Parliament.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the greatest causes of difficulties for those families was the economy crashing and people losing their jobs. It is my Government who have raised the minimum wage faster and higher. Is it high enough? No, but we are committed to raising it again in October, and we want to drive it further up. I have made it clear that employers should be paying that living wage, as the Prime Minister has said. The hon. Gentleman will have to watch this space.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Tania Mathias (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that we want to eradicate poverty and I even have it in my constituency of Twickenham? [Interruption.] I have seen poverty in different parts of the world, but I have not seen there the isolation of families who are relatively poor in my area. May I applaud the continuing plans for free childcare for two-year-olds? That is where I have seen part of the eradication of poverty—families coming together and being part of the community in Twickenham.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): May I welcome my hon. Friend to her post? Opposition Members were making noise while she was speaking, but they should recognise that her back story is remarkable: the work she has done to help communities and families. I welcome her to the House. She is absolutely right. Getting those families who have educational difficulties and who are isolated from the community back into the community, and supported and helped back into work is absolutely key. She is right on the money.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The best thing we can do for those families is provide the support programmes that I have talked about. Those programmes are about helping those families get a better education, be more stable and get into work. Being in work and progressing in work is the greatest solution to poverty in the hon. Lady’s area, as it is in mine.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): Clearly, one triumph of the coalition Government was the troubled families initiative, which concentrated resources on those most in need. Will my right hon. Friend describe the impact there has been on the child poverty aspects of those families who have been assisted?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The impact has been enormous. We dealt with 120,000 families. Against all the target measures, including being in work and educational attainment, more than 105,000 of them had their lives turned around by February 2015. We will extend that programme to incorporate more troubled families.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Quite simply, the view is that we need to support people in work to ensure that they have the support that is necessary and that they progress in work. I make a simple point that I have made already in this House, which is that it is also the responsibility of companies to pay people a decent wage, and not to rely solely on Government to top up those incomes. We will continue to back those families, and universal credit will make that even more relevant with a greater level of support.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): We have taken millions of people out of tax altogether, which has dramatically improved their incomes. Something like 25 million people have seen their tax bill reduce directly. For those who have a limited amount of income, this is a huge change and a huge support. That is not ever recognised by the Opposition, who basically raised taxes rather than lowered them.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with the hon. Gentleman. The purpose is to get income inequality down, and it actually fell over the last Parliament. The way to do that is to improve the numbers going into work, to get them to go further and into full-time work. Universal credit helps that enormously.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I invite the Secretary of State to come to Taunton and to Halcon, where he will see how the Government’s long-term strategy to address the root causes of poverty is working. Halcon is among the 4% most deprived parts of the country and has four generations of unemployed families. The One team’s project with police, education and everybody working together is working, so may I urge him to come and have a look?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): It is interesting that the hon. Gentleman says that, because I genuinely believe that we should expect British employers to pay a decent wage to the people they employ, and I am engaged in that process. I do not think that he is right, as I think it will take a much shorter time to get employers to face up to their responsibilities, but as he has offered his support I am very happy to talk about it.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Secretary of State for taking time to visit Nelson job centre with me. In Pendle, we have some fantastic local organisations, such as branches of Christians Against Poverty, the local citizens advice bureau, Colne Open Door and many others, running job clubs. What is his Department doing to work with such organisations and charities to help families out of poverty?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I have done. I insisted that all the contractors in my Department pay a London living wage and the Department for Work and Pensions pays a London living wage. We showed that we did not lose any jobs, that efficiency improved, and that people were happier and did a better job. I agree with the hon. Lady. I am determined that others should learn from that and recognise that we need to pay people a decent wage for the job that they do.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Christopher James Skidmore (Conservative, Centre-right): In Kingswood, unemployment is down from 1,320 in May 2010 to 609 today, a fall of 54%. Does my right hon. Friend welcome this and agree with me that the most important action that can be taken to reduce child poverty is to reduce long-term unemployment, ultimately ending long-term welfare dependency?
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): That is not directly in my Department, but I am very happy to talk about any specific issues and problems if the hon. Lady wants to come and see me. Through my Social Justice Cabinet Committee, we can drive to ensure that the support is available for those who need it.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Right. If we do sanction someone, the processes before that happens are exhaustive—[Interruption.] Oh yes they are. People continue to be supported through all the child support mechanisms, including child benefit, and the household support that is available as well.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): We have got more people back into work and more people progressing through work, and more people are better off. They are better off in work than they are out of work—a fact that the hon. Lady seems to miss completely. The tax changes and the reductions in tax on take-home pay mean that people are actually better off. The answer to her question is simple: we will continue to support people who need that support through getting into work and beyond. That is the purpose of universal credit, she should stand assured.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Okay, that is an interesting argument. I simply say that, if the hon. Lady wants to claim that, she can also claim the disaster of the crashed economy that the Labour party delivered, putting millions of people out of work.
Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope the hon. Gentleman also tells them that his Government failed to halve child poverty against their target. Before we get another lecture about child poverty from that lot over there, I simply say to them that their economic mess—crashing the economy and putting millions out of work—did more damage to his constituents than anything else. We are here to help them and get them back into work.
Network Rail — House of Commons, 2015-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): It is true that I have been Transport Secretary for two and a half years. Despite the catalogue of terror that the hon. Gentleman has outlined, over those two and a half years there have been only two occasions on which the Opposition have chosen to debate transport on Opposition days. One was a day after I was appointed, and the other was on the day that the hon. Gentleman’s predecessor was sacked as shadow Transport Secretary. With regard to their warning us and wanting the subject lifted up the political agenda, we have heard nothing from the Opposition, because they are truly embarrassed by their record, whereas we have invested in the railways, lifted them and given encouragement to the railway industry Today I have made no cuts whatever to the rail investment strategy—the largest rail investment strategy that has ever taken place. The amount of money invested is exactly the same as it was last week—the budget within which the strategy has to be delivered. I will take no lessons from a Labour party that in 13 years electrified 10 miles of railway lines; we have electrified more this year than it did in all that time. Then there is the £895 million project to rebuild the railways around Reading and to remove major bottlenecks; the £750 million transformation and upgrade of Birmingham New Street station; the refurbishment of Nottingham station, with all the investment going into it. There has been more investment in Nottingham in the last five years than was seen in the 13 years of the last Labour Government. Then there is the new station built at Wakefield; the completed Ipswich Chord and the Doncaster Chord; phase 1 of the £6.5 billion Thameslink project; the completion of Crossrail tunnelling. I could go on a lot more, Mr Speaker. I will take no lectures. I am determined to get on top of, and see the delivery of, those programmes, which are so important for our constituents.