argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Registers of Births and Deaths Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): The crux of the matter, it seems to me, is that there must be some great injustice in the current system if it needs to be changed. If the only reason for changing it is modernisation, we as Conservatives should not be supporting it—but perhaps my hon. Friend knows what the problem is with the current system.
Registers of Births and Deaths Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): That takes me on to the question of how we got to where we are now. For those interested in the background to this, let me explain that one of the former Members for the Christchurch constituency, George Rose, proposed a Bill to overhaul the registration system. He did that in 1812, and Hansard reported at the time: "It must, he thought"— this refers to my predecessor— "be universally allowed, that parish registers were of great importance to all ranks and classes of people from the nobleman to the peasant; and it was highly desirable they should be regularly entered, and safely deposited. At present, instead of being kept in the house of the clergyman of each parish, they were kept in a very slovenly manner in the dwelling of the parish clerk, and he had found, as Treasurer of the Navy"— in those days you could double up these jobs— "numberless instances of the widows of seamen, who, from this culpable negligence, were not able to prove their marriages." The legislation was passed, and proved to be inadequate. That ultimately led to the 1875 Act, which is the core of our current system. Under our current system, almost all the people who are born have their details recorded. I think that, according to the latest information available, there are about 20 cases a year in which people are born without having their details accurately recorded Fundamental to the issue is that it is a basic legal requirement to have a birth registration, and birth registration—I hope the Minister agrees—is one of our most fundamental human rights. The United Nations convention on the rights of the child acknowledges that every child should be registered immediately after birth. We now say that should be six weeks, and we have heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden and others that it can be very burdensome for someone to go off and get their child registered All I can say is that my daughter gave birth to a little baby girl about a fortnight ago, and she and my son-in-law are much looking forward to going to the district register office in Lymington to record the details, including the name, of their daughter. Whatever happens, that record will be on paper as well as being an electronic record. How sad that it seems to be the intent of the Government that, in the future, people who are lucky enough to have children will not be able to have the privilege of a proper written birth certificate—a hard copy holograph birth certificate. I think that that is quite an unnecessary restriction on those fundamental freedoms.
Registers of Births and Deaths Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Other
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): I have been thinking long and hard as the debate goes on. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill does appear to be a Government Bill but not in Government time, so it does not have an impact assessment? For that reason alone, when we vote later, I urge hon. Members to reject it to make sure that the Government bring it forward properly for proper scrutiny in Government time.
Registers of Births and Deaths Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s suggestion and it would be interesting to hear what the Minister has to say in response. [Hon. Members: "Hurry up, then!"] If the Minister wishes to intervene, I shall happily give way It is the Government’s prerogative to bring forward their legislation to the House. When they do so in the normal way, a Bill has a regulatory impact assessment, a cost-benefit analysis and so on. The Government should not avoid that system, and avoid the need to be transparent, by using the proxy system whereby a loyal Back Bencher takes on a Bill as a handout Bill My hon. Friend the Minister is a man of absolute integrity who has participated in almost as many Friday debates as I have over the years. In all those debates, I have not once found him wanting in terms of dealing straightforwardly with the subject matter under discussion. It is open to him to say that he will bring forward a regulatory impact assessment before we get to Committee so that we can examine it and we know the Bill’s full implications There is obviously no discipline or requirement on the Government to publish the impact assessment if they think that they have a majority of 80. I imagine that the Government will now bring forward the Bill as a Government Bill because my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and I are expressing concerns about it and it is not making progress in the House as quickly as they might wish. If they do that, there will be a proper Second Reading, Committee and Report, which is fine I hope that we will then have the regulatory impact assessment in front of us and we will be able to assess what the Government have in mind and what they are hiding from us. Having had the experience in the previous Session of being told one thing in the House by my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) about what would happen when we got to Committee, and those promises, or certainly expressions of intent, not materialising, I am very suspicious about the Bill People up and down the country will wonder why we are spending so much time discussing the issue of removing proper paper records of births. What will we do about all the people who will be adversely affected by that? I have another example of a constituent who is a South African citizen whose child was born in the United Kingdom and is therefore entitled to United Kingdom citizenship. To take his child to South Africa, he has to provide a hard-copy, holographed birth certificate. How will he do that in future if those hard copies do not exist That is another practical example of how the Bill’s provisions will adversely affect people of foreign citizenship who have children born in this country for whom they wish to have an old-fashioned birth certificate rather than one that has been put on a—
Portishead Railway — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish briefly to respond We have all become used to reading between the lines in these debates. I take it from my hon. Friend’s speech that the Government are not ruling out a decision earlier than April, which would be a good thing. If I am correct in that interpretation, let us get on with it My hon. Friend mentioned the environmental sensitivities in respect of Avon gorge; I should point out that the railway already runs through the gorge to get to Royal Portbury dock, so that is something of a red herring For many of us, with this recurrent delay, the pantomime season has come early. There is a very thin line between frustration and farce. I know that my hon. Friend sympathises with my points—I can tell from his tone—and wish him well in persuading his Department to see that, although it is something of an oxymoron, common sense is still the best way forward Question put and agreed to.
TfL Funding: Discussions with Mayor of London — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that I do not recognise the hon. Gentleman’s description of the situation. It does not seem particularly vindictive to pay out £4.1 billion in support of TfL as it rightly battles its way through coronavirus. It is not entirely correct to say that all the problems are related to that; the £13 billion of debt that it has is considerably higher than when the Mayor took over. Putting that aside, I am keen to continue to support TfL. The House will be interested to know that I had to wait more than three weeks for the Mayor to come forward with measures that he was supposed to provide us with in the middle of November.
Zero-emission Buses — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Trudy Lynne Harrison (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government remain absolutely committed to supporting the roll-out of 4,000 zero-emission buses and achieving an all zero-emission bus fleet. This will support our climate ambitions, improve transport for local communities and support high-quality green jobs.
Major Road Blockages: Climate Activists — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): National Highways continues to pursue legal action against individuals who breached its injunctions. Thanks to those injunctions, which I asked National Highways to pursue, 11 people have been prosecuted and will be spending this Christmas at Her Majesty’s pleasure.[Official Report, 5 January 2022, Vol. 706, c. 2MC.]
Major Road Blockages: Climate Activists — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Civil Rights
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the right to protest is absolutely central to the way that we go about our democracy, but that does not provide people with the right to stop people getting to urgent hospital appointments, getting their kids to school and going about their lawful business. That is where we draw the line. It is why these injunctions have been used and, as has been discussed, we intend to put this into proper law as a criminal offence, rather than having to use the civil route.
Road Condition — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Housing
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): Coastal communities such as Clacton are part of this nation’s soul, and this Government are committed to such coastal communities and to levelling up across our Union. I can assure my hon. Friend that this Department works closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure that coastal communities recover from covid-19 and to help them to level up. Of course, that includes transport links.
A14 at Kettering: Junction 10A Funding — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Other
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend continues to make a powerful case for this scheme. I know that he has met my noble Friend the Baroness Vere before, but I am sure she will be delighted to meet him again to talk about this important scheme for his constituency.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: I represent a commuter constituency in East Surrey, where reduced train services have been causing workers misery. We are still trying to unravel the situation that arose after previous work-from-home measures. Part of the challenge has been the number of drivers who went out of circulation the last time we told people to work from home; there was the challenge of getting them back in circulation. Will the Minister reassure me that he will work with the train operators this time to make sure that that does not happen again?; Despite Burnley having a premier league football club, a university campus, world-class engineering companies and an incredible spa resort, there is still just one rail service between Burnley and Manchester an hour. Will the Secretary of State look at that, and meet me to see what we can do to increase that frequency?; Buckingham- shire Council recently refused to allow HS2 Ltd to use roads in my constituency for its lorry movements, because despite repeated requests, it failed to provide the amount of information needed to properly assess the impact of those truck journeys on local residents. Does my hon. Friend agree that if HS2 Ltd is to live up to its promise to be a good neighbour, it must provide all relevant information to local authorities, so that they can minimise the effect of HS2 on residents and businesses?
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend, and I know how tirelessly he works for his constituents impacted by HS2. In this case, the Planning Inspectorate found that Buckinghamshire Council had been supplied with adequate information, and of course it is important that these decisions are not held up indefinitely, but I will of course continue to work with him and local residents in affected communities to ensure that we get the right approach.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Other
Questions: I represent a commuter constituency in East Surrey, where reduced train services have been causing workers misery. We are still trying to unravel the situation that arose after previous work-from-home measures. Part of the challenge has been the number of drivers who went out of circulation the last time we told people to work from home; there was the challenge of getting them back in circulation. Will the Minister reassure me that he will work with the train operators this time to make sure that that does not happen again?; Despite Burnley having a premier league football club, a university campus, world-class engineering companies and an incredible spa resort, there is still just one rail service between Burnley and Manchester an hour. Will the Secretary of State look at that, and meet me to see what we can do to increase that frequency?; Buckingham- shire Council recently refused to allow HS2 Ltd to use roads in my constituency for its lorry movements, because despite repeated requests, it failed to provide the amount of information needed to properly assess the impact of those truck journeys on local residents. Does my hon. Friend agree that if HS2 Ltd is to live up to its promise to be a good neighbour, it must provide all relevant information to local authorities, so that they can minimise the effect of HS2 on residents and businesses?; I applaud the Government’s decision not to go ahead with the eastern leg of HS2 through the Bolsover constituency. That gives huge relief to those in dozens of the villages that I represent. Can my hon. Friend give me the Christmas present that so many residents are looking for, and lift the safeguarding on the land across dozens of villages in the constituency?; Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is a fantastic early Christmas present that Melton and Leicestershire councils have come to an agreement on the Melton Mowbray distributor road, and that our bypass will finally be built, 40 years on? Will the Government continue to put their full weight behind the delivery of this crucial infrastructure for my constituency?
Christopher Heaton-Harris (Conservative, Centre-right): In the traditional way, I could "refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago"—to my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger)—but we are assessing all the schemes in the new year, and there will be answers then.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: I represent a commuter constituency in East Surrey, where reduced train services have been causing workers misery. We are still trying to unravel the situation that arose after previous work-from-home measures. Part of the challenge has been the number of drivers who went out of circulation the last time we told people to work from home; there was the challenge of getting them back in circulation. Will the Minister reassure me that he will work with the train operators this time to make sure that that does not happen again?; Despite Burnley having a premier league football club, a university campus, world-class engineering companies and an incredible spa resort, there is still just one rail service between Burnley and Manchester an hour. Will the Secretary of State look at that, and meet me to see what we can do to increase that frequency?; Buckingham- shire Council recently refused to allow HS2 Ltd to use roads in my constituency for its lorry movements, because despite repeated requests, it failed to provide the amount of information needed to properly assess the impact of those truck journeys on local residents. Does my hon. Friend agree that if HS2 Ltd is to live up to its promise to be a good neighbour, it must provide all relevant information to local authorities, so that they can minimise the effect of HS2 on residents and businesses?; I applaud the Government’s decision not to go ahead with the eastern leg of HS2 through the Bolsover constituency. That gives huge relief to those in dozens of the villages that I represent. Can my hon. Friend give me the Christmas present that so many residents are looking for, and lift the safeguarding on the land across dozens of villages in the constituency?; Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is a fantastic early Christmas present that Melton and Leicestershire councils have come to an agreement on the Melton Mowbray distributor road, and that our bypass will finally be built, 40 years on? Will the Government continue to put their full weight behind the delivery of this crucial infrastructure for my constituency?
Felicity Christiana Buchan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted that the Government have accepted my ten-minute rule Bill as part of the transport decarbonisation plan. The plan has mandated that all new homes and office buildings that were due to have car parking spaces should have electric vehicle chargers, and I think that that makes a great deal of sense. Can my hon. Friend update the House on the timing of the likely legislation?
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Peter James Bottomley (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister has talked about some of the costs that will be reduced. The problem with the reduction of Christmas cheer, especially in the hospitality and entertainment industries, is revenues If I listen to my publicans, restaurateurs and hoteliers, I know they will want to hear after the meeting this afternoon how their revenues can be lifted, how they can treat their staff properly and how the loss of revenue from those events that cannot be postponed will in some way be made up to them. That is what matters most in most constituencies, including mine.
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Philip Glen (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Father of the House for his comments, and point out that there is £250 million of funds still to be given to businesses through the additional restrictions grants. Three out of four local authorities have between 5% and 40% of their funds unallocated. However, I recognise that this is a distinct new challenge, and that is why I and the Chancellor will be having meetings with representatives from the affected sectors this afternoon to see what more needs to be done.
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): I am reassured that my hon. Friend the Minister will take out his team on Monday. Like him, I took a lateral flow test this morning. However, is it not the case that when officials give advice, it has a massive capacity to herd the public into particular behaviours? Therefore, while the Government have formally allowed hospitality businesses in particular to stay open, the reality in my constituency is that fantastic businesses such as The Old Queens Head in Penn and Tylers Green have seen massive cancellations. What reassurance can he give me that when officials speak—particularly from podiums at press conferences—they stay within the bounds of the policy decided by Ministers, and that what Ministers have decided takes into account the broad spectrum of collateral harms that follow from, for example, encouraging people not to mix together?
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): I sympathise with my hon. Friend and good neighbour in having to deal with data that is changing extremely rapidly. We know from South Africa and southern Africa that things may be changing, perhaps for the better, but we cannot rely on that, so the cautious words of Ministers and officials and the measures that we passed earlier this week are absolutely appropriate. Does my hon. Friend agree that, at a time of change such as now, it is important that the House is convened to debate the issues and that we should seek an opportunity next week and the week after for us to meet again so that Ministers can update the House on the current situation and change what is required one way or the other, if that is necessary? The public expect that level of leadership.
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Other
John Philip Glen (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend and neighbour for his question. As I think he will appreciate from his time in government, some of those decisions come from those above me. It is critical that we are clear about what we are doing and why we are doing it, and the basis for the decisions that we are making.
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): Clearly we are all going to have to live with covid for a long time to come. Businesses in my constituency report a double whammy: people cancelling bookings for hospitality and shortages of staff as a result of people testing positive for covid, doing the responsible thing and not coming in. Can my hon. Friend look at ways we can promote business and encourage people to take on short-term roles in the hospitality industry to cover these gaps? We need to provide incentives for business to continue.
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Greg Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my hon. Friend’s commitment to the meetings this afternoon, but a common theme has developed on both sides of the House of reports, including in my constituency, of pubs losing 50% to 60% of their bookings. Like the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), I have a local coach operator that reported losing £40,000-worth of bookings yesterday alone. While advisers press the panic button way beyond what this House voted for a couple of days ago, can my hon. Friend give me an absolute assurance that there will be a decision by Ministers after his meetings this afternoon that will give businesses the clarity they need on the support they will get in this effective lockdown?
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Martin John Vickers (Conservative, Centre-right): Like my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith), I have had a coach operator on to me this morning, so may I urge the Government to look at the wider impact of what is happening? It is welcome that the Chancellor and his team are meeting the hospitality sector, but the closure or limited closure of that sector has a massive knock-on effect, for example, on coach operators and taxi drivers. Sadly, this is going to mean more online sales and another hit to the high street, so may I urge the Minister to ensure that the wider aspects of what is taking place are considered in the meeting later?
Covid-19: Government Support for Business — House of Commons, 2021-12-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Philip Glen (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is absolutely right to draw the House’s attention to the wider impact across related businesses, which is why Ministers will this afternoon meet a range of representatives, to ensure that the full understanding of the Government is grasped.