argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Self-employment — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): This matter is particularly close to my heart, given that I was self-employed until a few months ago. Of course, there are many self-employed businesses in rural areas of West Oxfordshire. Can the Minister assure us that the Government will continue to make it easier to start and grow a business by deregulating, creating an attractive tax environment, and helping businesses to attract and seek the finance that they need?
Self-employment — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): We continue to work hard to make the UK a great place to start and grow a business. According to OECD statistics, we are internationally the third best place to start a businesses, but we are 13th when it comes to the best place to grow a business, which is where my focus as small business Minister is going to lie. I very much welcome the support of my hon. Friend.
Self-employment — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Victoria Lorne Peta Borwick (Conservative, Centre-right): North Kensington, an area that the Minister knows, has several fantastic initiatives through which new start-ups have access to shared space. Are there any plans to reduce business rates and provide relief for small companies using shared space initiatives?
Self-employment — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): The Treasury has no plans specifically for shared work spaces, but at the last Budget, the Chancellor announced £6.7 billion of cuts to benefit all business rate payers. They include permanently doubling small business rate relief and increasing the thresholds from 2017.
SMEs: Kent and Medway — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): SMEs in Kent are fundamental to our economy, as they are everywhere else. Through local growth funds, the work of Kent County Council and the business operations of Kent and Medway, the Government will ensure that the area benefits hugely from the increased number of SMEs.
SMEs: Kent and Medway — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I can reassure the hon. Lady that Kent and Medway is ably championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham and Rainham (Rehman Chishti), who asked the original question, but apropos of her specific point, we are in the process of appointing the small business commissioner at the moment; he will be in post by the summer and able to take complaints on the important issue of prompt payment in the autumn of this year.
Tidal Energy — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): But purely in relation to tidal lagoons; we are not talking about apprenticeships more widely or seeking to shoehorn a personal interest into a question to which it does not ordinarily apply. But the Minister is a philosopher and dextrous to a fault, so I am sure he will cope.
Tidal Energy — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): One hesitates to remind the hon. Gentleman that this is a different matter and a different technology from tidal lagoons, but I think he can take it as read that officials and Ministers will be thinking carefully about all the relevant precedents that might bear on this decision.
Tidal Energy — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman would say that, given that it was the Department’s expectation that the report might be published before Christmas and that it was in fact published only two or three weeks ago. There is no suggestion that the Department is dragging its heels, and nor will we do so, but we will, in the public interest, give the report proper, thorough consideration on value-for-money and other grounds.
Tidal Energy — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely share my right hon. Friend’s view that major infrastructure investment is an important part, although only a part, of the wider overall investment that can be made in this country as part of the industrial strategy. He is right to suggest that those wider considerations must be balanced by a tempered assessment of value for money, and that is what we will be giving them.
Leaving the EU: Research and Development (Scotland) — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What steps he is taking to safeguard investment in research and development in Scotland as a result of the UK's decision to leave the EU.
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes an important point. As the Prime Minister made clear in her speech the week before last, we greatly value the contribution that EU nationals make in our institutions. The Government have been exceptionally clear that during the negotiations we want to protect the status of EU nationals already living here. The only circumstances in which that would not be possible are if British citizens’ rights in other EU member states were not protected in return.
Life Sciences — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. Access to finance is key to a dynamic life sciences sector in the UK. In November, the Prime Minister announced a review of patient capital to identify barriers to access to long-term finance for growing firms, looking at all aspects of the financial system. We look forward to the review’s recommendations ahead of the autumn statement.
Life Sciences — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Ben Howlett (Conservative, Centre-right): The industrial strategy will have a major impact on speeding up Genomics England’s ability to sequence the genome. Will my hon. Friend confirm that he is working with the Department of Health to ensure that the Government’s investment will be spent effectively to encourage greater productivity?
Life Sciences — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The industrial strategy Green Paper highlights work on a new strategy for life sciences, bringing together the health system, industry and academia and potentially leading to an early sector deal. The accelerated access review sets out a vision of the NHS embracing innovation, and the Government will respond in due course.
Local Economic Growth — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to draw attention to the misbehaviour of the banks, especially with regard to small businesses, when they were inadequately supervised as a result of the destruction of the supervisory regime under the previous Labour Government. That has now been put on a much sounder footing. He will know that the lending opportunities for small businesses have been transformed, but the industrial strategy Green Paper is very clear that we want to make further opportunities available, particularly outside London and the south-east.
Access to Finance — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had discussions with the Chancellor on building the Government’s industrial strategy, which includes ensuring that businesses can access the finance they need. We already help businesses through the business finance and support finder on gov.uk, and we recently launched the finance platforms service, which offers small and medium-sized enterprises that have had finance rejected by the large banks the option of a referral to alternative finance providers.
Access to Finance — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Christopher Paul Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): With many new online alternative finance companies springing up across the UK, what is my hon. Friend doing, first, to ensure that our small and medium-sized enterprises know about these alternative ways of accessing finance, and, secondly, to give them the confidence to borrow from such organisations?
Access to Finance — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): The British Business Bank has created the business finance guide, which is widely distributed and offers comprehensive information about the financing options available to businesses, including alternative sources of finance. The Financial Conduct Authority regulates peer-to-peer lending platforms and is currently reviewing its regulatory regime to ensure that it is robust and up to date.
Access to Finance — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): The impact of bank closures is, to some extent, ameliorated by the Post Office’s announcement a few weeks ago that it will be enabling both personal and SME banking customers to have a massive increase in face-to-face banking services across the country.
Access to Finance — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I call Mike Freer. He is not here. We will take the last question on the condition that we have a reasonably short, single sentence supplementary, as I want to move on to the main business promptly today. If it is a long question, we will not bother.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
David Thomas Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): As always, my right hon. Friend has been extraordinarily busy, but may I ask my extraordinarily busy right hon. Friend to turn his attention to Morecambe and Lunesdale, as we now have a new link road going straight to the Heysham port and we would like an enterprise zone? Will he help me to get an enterprise zone?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): I am never too busy for Morecambe and Lunesdale, and I know what a passionate campaigner my hon. Friend has been for the business prospects in his area. If I may, I will talk to the Minister responsible for the northern powerhouse, who has responsibility for enterprise zones—I am sure he will be happy to have a meeting with my hon. Friend.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What discussions has my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State had with representatives of industry, particularly the steel industry, about the UK’s leaving the European Union?; European Commission state aid approval for the steel industry is still not in place. Will the Secretary of State guarantee that compensation under the energy industrial package will be provided by the UK Government until the exemption is finally introduced?
Nicholas Richard Hurd (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course it will continue. We are in discussions about the mechanics of that, as part of a broader conversation that the Secretary of State and I are having with senior management of the steel industry and trade unions about securing a sustainable future for the industry.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Questions: What discussions has my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State had with representatives of industry, particularly the steel industry, about the UK’s leaving the European Union?; European Commission state aid approval for the steel industry is still not in place. Will the Secretary of State guarantee that compensation under the energy industrial package will be provided by the UK Government until the exemption is finally introduced?; The Government’s recent industrial strategy Green Paper is to be warmly welcomed. I have spoken to the vice-chancellor of Loughborough University, and we see lots of opportunities for the Loughborough constituency, the university, the college and local industry. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has visited Loughborough; perhaps I can tempt him to come again to hear about those opportunities, or could we meet in London?; The removal of the renewables obligation and the decimation of the feed-in tariff have had a huge negative impact on my constituency, where renewables are the one tangible business area we have that we can grow and that offers highly paid jobs. One year on from those draconian measures, what reassessment has been made of the policy’s effectiveness?; May I again welcome the first two pillars of the proposed industrial strategy: investment in science and developing skills? Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how the work of the Science and Technology Committee can act as a road map in delivering the Government’s aims?; It is estimated that an ambitious approach to the circular economy could create half a million new jobs. Cities such as Bristol would be very well placed to take advantage of that. It is disappointing that there is little mention of resource efficiency, low-carbon growth and sustainability in the industrial strategy. Can the Government reassure me that they are taking this seriously?; It is 100 years since the destruction of Hallsands village following an act of environmental destruction and vandalism that saw the removal of protective shingle from the shoreline. Communities around our entire coast, including in Start Bay, face an even greater threat from climate change. Will the Minister assure me that he will protect us from an act of environmental vandalism —withdrawal from the Paris agreement?; Since the EU referendum, the depreciation of sterling has boosted British manufacturing and exports, but, as we are leaving the EU, will the Government now start to use public procurement and necessary state aid to support the vital expansion of our industries and the promotion of import substitution?
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): We want British business and British industry to compete on the basis that they are price-competitive. There are opportunities that come from being outside some of the bureaucracy, which affects small businesses in particular when it comes to public procurement, and those are opportunities that we will be able to take.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What discussions has my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State had with representatives of industry, particularly the steel industry, about the UK’s leaving the European Union?; European Commission state aid approval for the steel industry is still not in place. Will the Secretary of State guarantee that compensation under the energy industrial package will be provided by the UK Government until the exemption is finally introduced?; The Government’s recent industrial strategy Green Paper is to be warmly welcomed. I have spoken to the vice-chancellor of Loughborough University, and we see lots of opportunities for the Loughborough constituency, the university, the college and local industry. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has visited Loughborough; perhaps I can tempt him to come again to hear about those opportunities, or could we meet in London?; The removal of the renewables obligation and the decimation of the feed-in tariff have had a huge negative impact on my constituency, where renewables are the one tangible business area we have that we can grow and that offers highly paid jobs. One year on from those draconian measures, what reassessment has been made of the policy’s effectiveness?; May I again welcome the first two pillars of the proposed industrial strategy: investment in science and developing skills? Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how the work of the Science and Technology Committee can act as a road map in delivering the Government’s aims?; It is estimated that an ambitious approach to the circular economy could create half a million new jobs. Cities such as Bristol would be very well placed to take advantage of that. It is disappointing that there is little mention of resource efficiency, low-carbon growth and sustainability in the industrial strategy. Can the Government reassure me that they are taking this seriously?; It is 100 years since the destruction of Hallsands village following an act of environmental destruction and vandalism that saw the removal of protective shingle from the shoreline. Communities around our entire coast, including in Start Bay, face an even greater threat from climate change. Will the Minister assure me that he will protect us from an act of environmental vandalism —withdrawal from the Paris agreement?; Since the EU referendum, the depreciation of sterling has boosted British manufacturing and exports, but, as we are leaving the EU, will the Government now start to use public procurement and necessary state aid to support the vital expansion of our industries and the promotion of import substitution?
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very happy to discuss the case in my own constituency with the hon. Gentleman, but the Pubs Code Adjudicator is doing a good job. His line of inquiry has received 435 inquiries to date and 121 referrals for arbitration, but I will discuss the problem with the hon. Gentleman.
Crime (Aggravated Murder of and Violence against Women) — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Civil Rights
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that, for reasons that I will set out, I oppose this Bill as it is currently framed. For the benefit of the morons on Twitter, and for some in this House, I should make it clear from the start that obviously, along with everybody else, I oppose women suffering from honour-based violence, but it seems that I am the only one in this House at the moment who equally opposes honour-based violence against men too I certainly commend my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Nusrat Ghani) for her wish to tackle the politically correct culture that sometimes surrounds certain cultures in this country and which can be very damaging to those caught up in them. I attended a meeting organised by Baroness Cox where three very brave Muslim women explained how they had been very badly treated by sharia courts. Unfortunately, despite all the people here who claim to be concerned about women, I was the only Member of the House of Commons at that meeting, so concerned were people about the violence that those women had faced through judgments from sharia courts This Bill deals, quite rightly, with dangerous political correctness, as it does not get any more serious than murder. I completely agree with my hon. Friend about the term "honour killing"—there is nothing honourable about murdering someone. I would encourage her to keep making this point, as even without legislation she could make some progress. I am afraid, however, that while tackling one element of political correctness, she has opened up another politically correct can of worms The main reason I oppose this Bill is that it relates only to female victims and not all victims. I fear that we are going to have a rerun of the debate on the Istanbul convention that we had not so long ago in this House. We cannot let—[Interruption.] I know that people do not like any other opinions being expressed, but this is a Parliament; this is a democracy. [Interruption.]
Crime (Aggravated Murder of and Violence against Women) — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Members will have noticed that I was keen to move on from Question Time on time today, not least because of the number of would-be contributors to the main Second Reading debate. I do not want matters to be delayed, but the hon. Gentleman must be heard.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes his point in his own inimitable way. As he knows, I always take the view that people’s votes in this House are a matter for their own honour and their own beliefs.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I do not want to have to keep saying this, because I know it is very tedious. I know that the Secretary of State is a most attentive Minister, but may I appeal to him not to keep turning around and looking at people behind him? It is incredibly frustrating for the House. I know that is the natural temptation. [Interruption.] I am sure that he has made a very valid point, but it suffered from the disadvantage that I could not hear it.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I know that the hon. Gentleman is in a state of great animation and excitement, and I do not want to spoil that for him, but I have always had the courage of my convictions, and, therefore, his breach of parliamentary protocol is, in this case, mildly offensive. May I just remind him that debate here takes place through the Chair? The word "you" is not only not required, but should be deleted from any part of his text.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
Sheryll Murray (Conservative, Centre-right): It has taken a long time for the hon. Gentleman to take my intervention, but I am somewhat confused as to how he expects to get a 600-page White Paper on a two-clause Bill. Can he explain that to me please?
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins) has made it clear that he is not giving way, and may I gently say that an enormous amount of heckling is taking place, sometimes from the hon. Gentleman’s own Benches? They are heckling more loudly than I shout when watching Britain in the Davis cup, and I do not do that while play is in progress.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Civil Rights
William Nigel Paul Cash (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, Bob Cryer, and others. This has been a huge battle, and I do not disrespect the Governments of either party for the decisions that they have taken during this period, because they have been forming judgments, although they fell short of what we needed in this country. In this democratic cockpit, we had to fight our battles and to stand up for our own constituents. As my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe said, we had to stand up for what we believed in. Conscience, principles and convictions must drive our decision making. Remoaners who wish to vote against the Bill simply do not get the scale of what this revolution involves. They say that they respect and accept it, but they do not.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-31
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. Just before I call the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), I must appeal to Members not to keep coming up to the Chair and asking where they are on the list, either explicitly or by the back door by asking, "Is it all right if I go to the loo?", "May I have a cup of tea?" or "Am I permitted to eat a biscuit?" I shall do my best to accommodate everyone in the substantial amount of time available, but I appeal to colleagues to show a little patience and some regard for the Chair needing to concentrate on the debate. I will get you in if I possibly can, and so will all other occupants of the Chair.