argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for fitting me in to speak for a very brief time I want to pay tribute to the Celsa Steel workforce in my constituency, to many members of the community, and to all the steelworkers who have come up here today to meet us to emphasise what a crisis this is and what needs to be done. I have never before seen an issue on which there has been such unanimity about what the Government need to do among MPs in all parts of the House, among the unions and the management of the steel industry across the UK, and across the supply chain and all those involved in the industry I am not going to rehearse the arguments because I do not have time, but we have been making them for a very long time. I want to get from the Minister a real understanding of why it has taken so long to get to this point. I do not want to cast any aspersions on the work that she and the Secretary of State for Wales, who is also here, have done. They have both listened carefully and acknowledged the concerns expressed, and I hope they are really serious about wanting to take action However, I and many others have been meeting on these issues for well over two years. I met the Secretary of State for Wales and the former steel Minister, the right hon. Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock), on 11 November last year, and I was meeting BIS and DECC officials two years before that. We, and the industry, have consistently raised the concerns about dumping, energy costs, the impact of taxation, and the slowness in bringing forth the energy-intensive industries compensation package, yet only in very recent days have we seen substantive action. That reflects two basic things about this Government: first, the lack of an industrial strategy, and of political leadership, across Government; and, secondly and more fundamentally, their attitude towards Europe, on which I disagree with the hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove). We cannot deal with dumping by countries such as China unless we are working together across the European Union. I want to understand why this has taken so long. The Minister took action, but why was that? Why is this such a revelation at this stage? This should have been going on for years. That is the fundamental point that I want to make.
Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. We hear from the Minister that no people were coming forward to discuss projects to take over at SSI. She needs to correct that position, because there were consortiums of—
Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Alan Campbell (Labour, Centre-left): claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No.36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put Question agreed to. Main Question put accordingly (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question.
Steel Industry — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): I now have to announce the result of a deferred Division on the question relating to Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Ayes were 485 and the Noes were 61, so the question was agreed to [The Division list is published at the end of today’s debates.]
Junior Doctors’ Contracts — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. I am sorry, but hon. Members should know that interventions should be short. You cannot make a speech in an intervention, and that should be a lesson for us all. Many Members want to speak and I want to get everybody in.
Junior Doctors’ Contracts — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. The hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) may shake her head, but I expect voices in the Chamber to be a little quieter. I want to hear the Secretary of State, and I think all our constituents do. I understand that you might not agree.
Junior Doctors’ Contracts — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): This debate is reminiscent of 12 months ago and the "Agenda for Change", when the Government refusal to negotiate with 1 million NHS staff caused industrial action and a strike. The same thing seems to be happening again. Will the Secretary of State take the shackles off the negotiations and enable the professionals to put their case on the table? Will he listen to them and let them lead negotiations?
Junior Doctors’ Contracts — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Mary Helen Creagh (Labour, Centre-left): I will not give way. The Prime Minister said this morning that he was a feminist, but women junior doctors know that his warm words hide the cold reality of direct discrimination. Will the Minister tell us whether an equality impact assessment has been done on the proposals Finally, we have discussed the weekend effect, but Fiona Godlee, the editor of the British Medical Journal, has written to the Secretary of State criticising him for misrepresenting the research. He must think again and both sides must negotiate.
Junior Doctors’ Contracts — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No.36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put Question agreed to. Main Question put accordingly (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I thought I would start by setting in context the reason for initiating this debate. First of all, tomorrow the Labour peer Lord Davies of Abersoch—not just a peer but a leading businessman in our country—will be producing and publishing his final report on gender diversity on corporate boards. Secondly, as you know, Mr Speaker, I led for the Opposition on these issues for the past four years and maintain a very keen interest in them. Before entering this place, I practised as a lawyer advising companies large and small, and one of my big motivations for initiating this debate is that I often found, particularly when advising our large companies—attending board meetings, taking instructions from clients, going to a completion meeting for a transaction—that there were very few women in the room and I was almost always the only person of colour I want to make one observation before turning to the progress that has been made. Very often in this House, debate is characterised by sometimes extreme tribalism, which requires your intervention, Mr Speaker. The Minister shakes her head.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): Our debates have been described as "slightly yah-boo", but the issue of diversity has illustrated that when there is broad agreement across the parties, we can actually achieve great progress and effect change in our society. In the last Parliament we had a Liberal Democrat Business Secretary in a Conservative-led Government, commissioning a Labour peer to carry out a review and then produce a report into how we can improve the way in which our boardrooms in this country operate—what they look like—ensuring that they are more representative. What happened as a result of that approach? In 2010, women made up just 12.5% of FTSE 100 boards. In the FTSE 100 at that point there were 21 all-male boards. Later in 2010, Lord Davies was commissioned to do his work by Sir Vince Cable, the then Business Secretary. In 2011, Lord Davies reported, making a range of different recommendations, and perhaps the one that stood out publicly was the target to ensure that women make up 25% of FTSE 100 boards The initial reaction of some businesses and business groups was not necessarily terribly encouraging. We all hear the merit argument: "Why pay attention to somebody’s background? Appoint on merit." The problem with that argument, as ever, is that if boards have been appointing on merit, the reason that our boards do not look like modern Britain and do not have enough women on them is that there are not sufficient women who merit promotion to the board. That argument does not hold water. It did not hold water in 2010; it certainly does not hold water in 2015.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Keith Anthony Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way and I congratulate him on all the marvellous work that he did in opposition on this subject. His comments on gender equality also apply to ethnic minority representation. Today I attended the funeral of a great British entrepreneur—Gulam Noon, who created a business from absolutely nothing. There are people of talent around now—people such as the late Lord Noon—who could easily serve as executive directors on the board of British Airways or others of that kind. It is not that we wait for legislation; this can be done now, if corporate Britain decides to act.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend. Lord Noon was a trailblazer, and his passing is a great loss for our country. On behalf of Members in all parts of the House I extend our sympathy and condolences to his family. He was a big man and he made a huge difference Effecting change so that we have more Lord Noons and more diversity in the boardroom has required leadership from business groups such as the CBI, the Institute of Directors and the women’s 30% Club. The last Business Secretary also undoubtedly forced change. One of the most important aspects of this debate is the Government ensuring that they keep on the table for business the prospect of more prescriptive action if a business-led approach does not achieve sufficient change. The result of what was done on gender is that in 2015 there are no all-male boards in the FTSE 100, and 26.1% of board members overall are women—a fantastic achievement.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right; we are talking about the pipeline. He pre-empts my point that, given that we have seen such fantastic progress, there is now a strong instinct to take our foot off the pedal. Yes, the glass ceiling for women is starting to show cracks, but we have yet to smash it. We now need a crusade to ensure that we increase the number of female executive directors. It is a disgrace that in 2015 there are so few women at CEO level in the FTSE 100 and beyond when there is such an abundance of talent out there. That should not detract from our enjoyment of the moment tomorrow when Lord Davies presents his final report and reflects on what has been achieved on gender If gender diversity has increased, however, the appalling lack of ethnic diversity in UK boardrooms persists, and progress has gone into reverse in 2015. That is no way for our country to mark the 50th anniversary this year of the first Race Relations Act. The latest annual survey of 10,000 top business leaders by executive recruiter Green Park, which has done fantastic work in this area, shows that the number of visible ethnic minority CEOs is falling, and the number of all-white boards is increasing, at a time when 14% of our population is from a black or minority ethnic background. Today there are just four non-white CEOs in the FTSE 100, following Tidjane Thiam’s move from Prudential to Credit Suisse.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
David Lindon Lammy (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for all that he is saying, and I congratulate him on his engagement, which was announced in the last few days Does my hon. Friend agree that this is not special pleading? If we look overseas to America, we see that they have made huge strides with the appointment of African-Americans and Latinos to boards. That increases the diversity of talent, and most pioneering companies understand that to be the case.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend, and I thank him for his best wishes. On the point that he makes, he and I represent very similar constituencies, and we cannot carry on like this. When my young black constituents ask me what they should consider doing in the future, I want to be able to point to people who look like them in the boardrooms, to inspire them to think that they can do it too. In 2015 there are far too few people who I can point to and give as an example.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this Adjournment debate. It is this very subject that led us to create the all-party parliamentary group on governance and inclusive leadership. Members on both sides of the House recognise how important diversity is in business and on boards, and most businesses recognise the business case for diversity. Does my hon. Friend agree?
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I could not agree more, and I very much welcome the establishment of that all-party parliamentary group. My hon. Friend mentioned the economic benefits. We are not harnessing the huge benefits that our diaspora communities in the UK can bring to the boardroom—their family connections to and cultural understanding of the emerging markets, as we seek to export more and tackle from a trade perspective a current account deficit which is the largest on record In response to what I have said, I call on Ministers, first, to set a target for ethnic minority representation on FTSE 100 boards to be met by 2020, so that there are no all-white boards by 2020. That is a sensible target. The 2020 campaign led by Lenny Henry, Trevor Phillips and others has suggested that. I think that is a reasonable suggestion. Secondly, in 2013 the Companies Act 2006 was amended to require companies to include a breakdown of the number of female employees on boards, in senior management positions and in the company as a whole. We should do the same for ethnicity. If businesses do not know the problem in their workplace, they cannot do anything about it. Finally, Lord Davies has done a fine job on gender diversity. Let us now commission him to carry out a similar review on ethnicity. I praise the Government and the previous Government for their political will to make that happen on gender: get Lord Davies to carry out a similar review into ethnic diversity.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I agree. As is often said in debates when we are considering equality issues, it is not a case of either/or; it is and. We need to look at all these aspects Ultimately, if there is not sufficient progress in a reasonable time frame, Ministers must be clear that they will act. Both carrot and stick are necessary if we are to build that fairer, more equal Britain where all my constituents, regardless of their background, can aspire to achieve, to reach for the stars and lead British business.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): To answer the Minister’s question, Green Park in the main has produced the research. That is one reason why I think it would be fantastic if the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills asked Lord Davies of Abersoch to do on this what he did on gender. He collated the research, and I am sure the Minister’s civil servants have given her his various reports, which he produces every six months. We need the same kind of evidence-building and research on the reasons why—they may not be purely discriminatory or anything like that—to find out what blockages are stopping such people getting to the top.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): As you are making such good points, may I invite you to attend the all-party group and listen to the Powerlist Foundation and Green Park as we collate all the information and work out how we can fix the problem?
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): With regard to the point that the hon. Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) made about quotas, we looked at that in the previous Parliament, after the European Commission came forward with proposals. I think that the general consensus in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was not to rule them out completely for the future, but that they are not something people want to move forward with at the moment. We wanted business to lead the charge, and it has done that. I have a practical suggestion for the Minister. The Powerlist Foundation has been mentioned, and she will be aware of the existence of the list of the 100 most powerful black Britons that is produced every year. I suggest that she meet its representatives, because it would be a very valuable resource for her in finding out about research and getting advice on what to do next. I also ask that we change the narrative reporting rules to require large listed companies in the FTSE 100 to produce statistics on the situation in their business so that they know whether there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Corporate Boards (Diversity) — House of Commons, 2015-10-28
Topic: Other
Chuka Harrison Umunna (Labour, Centre-left): I very much welcome the Minister’s invitation to come to her Department to meet her and, I hope, the Secretary of State, and bring a group together to discuss how to move forward. I undertake to do that.
Pension Advice — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): Twenty thousand is a drop in the ocean, considering the enormity of the changes. How will the Government ensure that pensioners are getting good, sound advice—and quantify that they are—in order that pensioners are not ripped off by people advising them badly and therefore lose out in future years?
Temporary Accommodation — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Matthew Thomas Pennycook (Labour, Centre-left): Official figures show that in England the total number of homeless households in temporary accommodation has risen by an alarming 26% over the last five years. In my local area, it has risen by 55% in the last 18 months. The Minister will know that being placed in temporary accommodation is not only traumatic for the families but incredibly costly. Given that his Department’s policies have been a key driver in this increase, what is he doing, in conjunction with his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government, to come up with an urgent solution to the problem?
Temporary Accommodation — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Karen Patricia Buck (Labour, Centre-left): Discretionary housing payments were intended to mitigate some of the effects of welfare cuts—housing benefit and the benefit cap—and to prevent homelessness. In my local authority, however, half of expenditure is going to support house- holds that are already homeless and in temporary accommodation. Will the Minister tell us what proportion of expenditure nationally is going on paying for existing temporary accommodation? Does he think that is the point of discretionary housing payments?
Temporary Accommodation — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Simon Danczuk (Labour, Centre-left): Petrus Community, a homeless charity in Rochdale has told me that there has been a significant increase in the number of people requiring temporary accommodation. The figures show that it has nearly doubled over the last five years of this Government. The charity blames these results on the bedroom tax, benefit sanctions, and employment and support allowance claimants being wrongly declared fit for work. What will the Government do about the situation in Rochdale?
Temporary Accommodation — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): The Tory-Liberal Democrat Government tried to cut housing benefit some nine times. Since May, the Government have been trying again. All this has achieved is a massive increase in the number of homeless families in temporary accommodation, the largest housing benefit bill we have ever seen, and huge amounts of discretionary housing payments being given to local authorities. I am sure that it has occurred to the Minister—he is an intelligent man—that the answer is to build more real affordable housing. Would he like to have a quiet word with the Department responsible and ask it to pull the Housing and Planning Bill, because it will simply result in the sell-off of more and more affordable social housing?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Joan Marie Ryan (Labour, Centre-left): Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that over 4,800, or 7%, of children in Enfield live in temporary accommodation? I fear that his Bill, which damages the number of affordable homes available, will make this problem immeasurably worse.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State explain how selling housing association properties, subsidising that sale by selling council properties—half the stock, in the case of my local authority—reducing local authority incomes to build properties by reducing rent, and allowing developers to get away without building any social homes helps the thousands of people in housing need in my constituency?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State quoted what I said in a debate during the previous Parliament, when I did accept that the Government whom I supported for 13 years did not build enough homes, but if he looked at the remainder of the quotation, he would see that I said that the problem was that the coalition Government built even fewer.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Sadiq Aman Khan (Labour, Centre-left): On affordable homes in London, does the right hon. Gentleman accept his Department’s own figures, according to which, over the past three years, 9,025 homes have been sold in London under right to buy and there have been 1,310 starts on replacements? That is seven homes sold for every home started. If that is the Government’s record, why should we believe that things will be different going forward?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State accept that the failure of the Government to deal with the housing crisis has meant that private rents have reached an all-time high of £803 per month—and more in London—and have continued to rise, with a 20% increase since 2010? Yet wages have failed to keep up with that increase.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-02
Topic: Housing
Peter John Kyle (Labour, Centre-left): In areas such as Brighton and Hove, where land for development is extremely constrained, it is likely that the money that is raised from the right to buy will be spent elsewhere, outside the city. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the money raised through right to buy will be spent in the city?