argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Domestic Commerce
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): We appear to have rehearsed, more or less word for word, what happened in Committee. I am disappointed by the Minister’s responses, because he does not appear to have picked up on the concern about the imbalance between larger and smaller businesses—a fundamental element of what we think is missing from the Bill as drafted. I would like greater clarity from him, but perhaps that will come as the Bill is implemented. I urge the Government to consider the impact on smaller businesses. On own label, apparently once the rights holder has found out that an own label product is not made by a supermarket, such action would have to cease or it would be covered by the legislation. That was certainly our intention in the amendment I hope that our points about the need to protect smaller businesses have been well made. I thank the Minister for his responses, and beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Third Reading
Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Domestic Commerce
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): I join the Minister in saying that the provisions of this Bill are, overall, exactly what is needed to create a level playing field and support and encouragement for innovation and creativity. Those who develop ideas need to have their ideas protected and supported, and bringing together the different elements of intellectual property legislation in the way that this Bill does is very much the right way to go. I mentioned on Report some of the figures and the benefits derived from the fact that the UK has one of the finest IP systems in the world. We must do all in our power to ensure that that continues because it is one of the reasons that this country is an attractive place for investment, and that is one of the reasons we must be optimistic about our future, despite the many challenges that we currently face, particularly the uncertainty around Brexit However, we have raised concerns throughout this process. It is a shame that there was not more in the Bill about alternative dispute resolution. The opportunity to tighten things up in relation to smaller businesses would have been welcome, but that has not happened. We need to reward innovation and entrepreneurs, and to balance that against the creation of a fair market and a successful economy. The Minister mentioned the industrial strategy Green Paper. It is critical to the success of the industrial strategy that our intellectual property system functions as well as possible. I hesitate to say that I look forward to how this will develop during the Brexit negotiations, but we certainly need to work extremely hard to make sure that the success of our IP system is retained during those negotiations because of the very close linkage between IP in this country and across the European Union. The Minister mentioned the protection for legal advisers. That is a welcome step forward, as is the clarity and consistency achieved by this Bill. We certainly support its core principles and the overall aims and objectives that have been achieved I add my thanks to the Law Commission, to those who have worked on the Bill, and to those who served on the Bill Committee. I hope that the Bill will achieve what is intended for it Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed, without amendment.
Fuel Poverty — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gillian Furniss (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. We must be bold in these areas and consider everything that we possibly can. I thank him for that intervention Gas distribution networks, which manage the network infrastructure that transports gas to homes and businesses across GB, should deliver 14,864 new connections to fuel-poor households, but funding for new central heating systems available through the ECO is limited to 4,000 systems, so funding is lacking for over 10,000 households. In the spring Budget, the Chancellor completely failed to act on that and provided no extra funding to ensure that the most affected fuel-poor households are given the support to stay warm. Regrettably, that seems to be a running theme in the Government’s approach to tackling fuel poverty. Given the shortage of funds, I hope the Minister can explain how exactly the Government intend to tackle the off-gas homes that are most at risk of severe fuel poverty The warm homes discount is an annual payment of £140 to around 2.1 million households to relieve pressure on their energy bills, but it was revealed last year that only 15% of those in receipt of the discount were actually in fuel poverty. The Treasury, then under the new editor of the Evening Standard, said that the system was working, but the scheme’s targeting is a total failure. The Minister for Climate Change and Industry said in a Delegated Legislation Committee last year that the Government would address that through better data-sharing in the Digital Economy Bill, but the Government are yet to explain how they will improve targeting A co-ordinated, comprehensive approach to fuel poverty at a local level can be key to tackling the cold homes crisis. In its 2015 cold weather plan, Public Health England made it clear that fuel poverty and reducing excess winter illness and death should be deemed core business by health and wellbeing boards and should be included in their strategy plans. However, research has found that 40% of the 152 health and wellbeing boards in England failed to address fuel poverty in their strategies. I have written to my local health and wellbeing board to ask them about its progress on implementing the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. It replied that the savage cuts to local funding and the lack of Government funding to address fuel poverty directly have made it difficult to implement the NICE guidelines fully. This Government have been standing still on fuel poverty and going backwards on energy efficiency measures to address it.
Fuel Poverty — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): We debated this matter in the previous Parliament, but we never seem to resolve it. The Prime Minister has hinted that she may put a cap on prices, but if she is going to do that, she should really tackle the big six cabal, which was raised in the House last week. It is not good enough to tell people that they should shop around and get a different supplier—that does not work. It is about time that this Government put their money where their mouth is and tackled the big cartel.
Fuel Poverty — House of Commons, 2017-03-21
Topic: Housing
Gillian Furniss (Labour, Centre-left): That is absolutely the way forward. We should be looking at new build homes that contain all the necessary measures, and many Departments have a part to play in that. Sheffield Heat and Power is good example of how to take waste and turn it into energy. That is what I mean when I said that we must be bold. We have to take every opportunity and learn lessons from other countries.
Naylor Review — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
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.
Karin Marguerite Smyth (Labour, Centre-left): I look forward to seeing the report, which has been due "shortly" for a while. Knowle West health park in my constituency is exactly the sort of community-based model that we should be promoting in STPs. It was established by the NHS and the council to prevent illness, to promote good health and to assist recovery after medical treatment. However, the NHS Property Services regime means that its bill has increased more than threefold—from £26,000 to £93,000. What assurances can the Government give that the Naylor report will ensure that there is co-operation on estates planning so that my constituents, who rely on the health park’s contribution to preventing ill health, can face the future with confidence?
Naylor Review — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
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?
Keith Anthony Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): In Leicester, the CCG is proposing to close a walk-in centre in North Evington and move it to another part of the city. Rather than being a walk-in centre, it will become a drive-in centre. Does the Minister agree that it is important that local people are consulted fully on the proposals?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Government’s recognition that the housing need in this country cannot be met by building homes for sale alone, and that we also need homes that people can afford to rent. May I therefore seek two points of clarification? In the case of schemes that receive public money, will the Homes and Communities Agency, councils and housing associations be allowed to negotiate the right tenure mix for each scheme, including through funding being made available for social housing where that is appropriate? Secondly, on section 106 agreements, will councils now be free to negotiate with developers the right types of affordable housing in each scheme, and will the requirement to give preference to starter homes be dropped?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Karen Patricia Buck (Labour, Centre-left): Constituencies such as mine will be stripped of desperately needed social housing by the proposals in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 for the forced sale of high-value properties. In the spirit of what the right hon. Gentleman is saying today and the White Paper, can he confirm that he will no longer proceed with that policy?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Catharine Letitia Hoey (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State have any special plans to deal with the very difficult situation in inner-city areas, particularly along the river, such as in my constituency, where we have owners coming from way outside this country and leaving flats empty for a very long time? Are the Government not prepared to buy up some of that land themselves and allow local councils to build truly affordable housing?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
David Julian Winnick (Labour, Centre-left): May I tell the Secretary of State that house prices in my part of the country are far removed from those in London and the south-east, yet many, many people are still unable to buy because of low wages? What they require first and foremost is decent, secure rented accommodation, which will come, in the main, from the public and voluntary sector. May I add that in all the years I have done this job, not one—literally, not one—person has ever asked me to be rehoused in the private sector?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): My constituents feel that localism is all but dead. Will the Secretary of State expand on how he intends to strengthen the planning laws to ensure that their voices are heard much more loudly than those of the avaricious developers who are trying to thwart the local plan and defy any remaining vestiges of localism?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Fiona Margaret Mactaggart (Labour, Centre-left): House prices in Slough have risen by 39% over the past two years, which is faster than anywhere else in the country, and our affordability ratio is something like double the one that the Secretary of State quoted. What is he going to do for places such as Slough that are built up to their boundaries but are surrounded by Conservative councils that simply will not provide homes in their areas? We are now housing people who commute to London, but we cannot find homes that the local nursery nurses, street cleaners and other people that our community really needs can afford.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Ann Coffey (Labour, Centre-left): Some councils have fallen short of meeting their housing need for years because their local plans have protected the green belt, limiting the supply of land. If that is also the Secretary of State’s priority, how is he going to achieve his ambition for safe, secure homes, particularly for families who do not want to live in high-rise flats, on the scale that he has outlined today?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): I am pleased that the Government have finally recognised that the housing market is broken, but I disagree with the Secretary of State’s prescription that supply is the only answer. In Manchester, we have built thousands of new homes and upgraded all the council homes to a decent standard, but far and away the worst-quality housing in Manchester is in the private rented sector. It is unfit for human habitation, infested, damp and dirty, and it is being paid for, by and large, by the taxpayer through housing benefit. When will the Government intervene in that broken market?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): The big lie at the heart of our housing policy is that we can create new houses on brownfield land. All the research shows that the brownfield land that is good for building has already been used. The fact is that we have to build on greenfield land to give people the chance of having a decent home. Why does the Secretary of State not have the courage to build on greenfield land?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Tracy Lynn Brabin (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State says that people yearn for honesty and truth. Travelling around my constituency, I am frequently shocked by the standard of the private housing stock. The English housing survey reveals that 29% of private rented homes are still non-decent. In the spirit of honesty and truth, why did the Government block Labour’s proposal to require landlords to let properties that are fit for human habitation?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Iain David Wright (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State outline how the White Paper aligns with the industrial strategy? How will the Government collaborate with the construction industry on skills, the supply chain, innovation and regional imbalances to ensure that the house building challenge can be met?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): Modular housing will not be the panacea to this country’s housing crisis. Traditional house building will provide the majority of housing in the immediate future in which people want to live. There is no mention in the White Paper of the critical shortage of skilled people in the building industry, so how will the Secretary of State build and meet his targets without the people to do it?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Ivan Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): My constituents are worried about proposals to build on the green belt, but we need more affordable homes. What will the White Paper do to force developers that are sat on brownfield sites and refusing to develop them to get on with building?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): How does the Secretary of State intend to help local authorities purchase land under compulsory purchase orders when he has devastated their budgets by up to 60%? He should be holding himself to account for his failures, not local authorities.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Andrew Murray Burnham (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) is right that it is time to take much tougher action against absent private landlords who rake in housing benefit but do not reinvest a penny of that money into the upkeep of their properties. Councils should be given much simpler powers to issue CPOs when properties are below a decent standard. We should send a clearer message to landlords: respect our communities or get out of Greater Manchester.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): Can the Secretary of State confirm whether he remains committed to the definition of an affordable home as one costing up to 80% of market rent or £450,000 to buy in London? Can he confirm what now counts as a starter home? Will local authorities still be subject to draconian compliance directives if they fail to deliver them?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): Nottingham City Homes recently won national recognition for Palmer Court, its newly built scheme for older people in Lenton, but across our city vulnerable tenants in supported housing are deeply worried by the proposal to cap local housing allowance. If the Secretary of State is serious about providing safe and secure homes, why does he not take this opportunity to drop that proposal?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): The National Audit Office estimates that the total Government spend on housing in the last financial year was £28 billion, but a staggering £20.9 billion of that total was spent on housing benefit. Is that not a demonstration that rents are too high and that even people in work cannot afford them? Did the Secretary of State give any consideration to reforming housing benefit when putting together the White Paper?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): We desperately need new houses, but development is not always popular with the public. The key issue is infrastructure. The best proposal I have ever seen is building new garden villages and putting in schools, roads and infrastructure at the same time. The Government have had a pilot, but is it something that they will take forward?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): I am glad the Minister eventually came around to realising the need to tackle land banking and developers sitting on properties, so the moves on completion notices and compulsory purchase are very welcome. But when will he start to listen to council leaders, who, despite his answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), are still saying they need the borrowing cap lifted? They need the freedom to borrow more so that they can build more houses.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Stephen James McCabe (Labour, Centre-left): Further to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), surely the Minister has to accept that his plans are going to lead to a reduction in the supply of supported housing in the midlands but an increase in London? That is a problem he could fix; that is a market he is breaking.
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Not a single new social home has been commissioned in York under this Tory Government and the Tory-led council, and we have no local plan because the proposals were so unworkable. How will this White Paper help to deal with York’s housing crisis?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): I note with alarm that the White Paper says the Secretary of State plans to review the size standards, as we know from University of Cambridge research in 2014 that house sizes in this country are among the smallest in Europe. We do not want to move to building lots of rabbit coops that are not good for young families, so will he offer the House assurances that he will proceed with great caution in this area?
Housing White Paper — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Housing
John Derek Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): My constituency is the most heavily urbanised in Cheshire. Most of the available brownfield sites have been built on, there is little green belt land and there is pressure on school places and on the local roads. Will the Secretary of State or his Minister therefore meet me to discuss the specific problems that areas such as mine, particularly small urban areas, have in meeting housing demands?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): You may recall, Mr Speaker, that in business questions last week I raised the inability of ordinary Members of this House to express an opinion, through a vote, on what was an unprecedentedly quick invitation to a Head of State. We owe you a debt of gratitude for deciding that, in this case, such an invitation should not be supported by Members of this House. We know why this happened—it was done rapidly to avoid political embarrassment for the Prime Minister—but any invitation to this House should not be extended to such a person as Donald Trump.
European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-07
Topic: Other
Christopher Paul Farrelly (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Ms Engel, I would be grateful if you explained not only to the Committee, but to the country that, of all the amendments grouped for debate, the Committee will only vote on new clause 1 today.