argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Northern Ireland Budget Bill — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Macroeconomics
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for that intervention. Several options remain under close consideration. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will continue his work with the kind of patience for which he has been roundly praised in the Chamber. Such work must continue. The Prime Minister will continue to give the process her wholehearted support and active attention. I will not go into further detail on the avenue down which the hon. Gentleman is trying to draw me, because our consideration of the Bill is not the appropriate vehicle for that. [Interruption.] Instead, we must pass this budget Bill and, with your support, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will conclude my remarks to allow us to do that The Bill is a necessary intervention in devolved matters, but it does not preclude the continuation of the talks. Indeed, it leaves spending decisions in the devolved space for a returning Executive to take, should the parties reach an agreement, which is what we all wish them to do. While leaving the decisions at a devolved level, the Bill none the less gives Northern Ireland Departments and other public bodies reassurance about their funding for the rest of the financial year. The people of Northern Ireland need that for their public services, and, as such, I propose that the Bill is read a Second time. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time; to stand committed to a Committee of the whole House (Order, this day). Bill considered in Committee (Order, this day). [Dame Rosie Winterton in the Chair] Clauses 1 to 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Schedules 1 and 2 agreed to. The Deputy Speaker resumed the Chair. Bill reported, without amendment. Bill read the Third time and passed.
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill (Money) — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Social Welfare
Margot Cathleen James (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill, it is expedient to authorise: (1) the payment out of money provided by Parliament of any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of the Act by the Treasury; and (2) the payment of sums into the Consolidated Fund I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) for his work in getting the Bill to this point, and the effort he has put in to engage with stakeholders and Members to ensure it has cross-party support. I would like to take this opportunity to restate the Government’s commitment to the Bill and their desire to see it succeed. The importance of the Bill is clear from the support for it across the House. We should therefore ensure that its financial element is clearly set out for the House to consider.
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill (Money) — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for setting out the financial implications of the Bill and for again confirming the Government’s support for it. I, too, am delighted and grateful that there is cross-party support for the Bill. Given such support, I feel confident that it will become an Act and that employed parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will have the right to a minimum of two weeks away from work to grieve. We can all agree that it will reduce the variation in the treatment—sometimes callous treatment —of bereaved parents by employers that sadly we have heard so much about The number of parents faced every year with the tragedy of losing a child is, thankfully, relatively low, so the cost of this important policy is therefore also relatively small. We can all agree that this will be money well spent on such an important provision. I pay tribute to the Minister for giving the Bill her full support. I am pleased to hear her reiterate the Government’s support at such a crucial time and look forward to continuing to work with her and her Department to ensure that the policy works for employers and employees alike It would be remiss of me if I did not pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince), who has helped to guide important conversations on this issue. As I said in previous remarks on the Bill, we should refer to it as Will’s Bill in recognition of his vital contribution. I also thank the all-party group on baby loss for its work and its continued efforts to champion the needs of bereaved parents. It is important that the momentum behind the Bill is maintained, and I urge all Members to support the money resolution Question put and agreed to.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to Mr Speaker for granting me this important debate, and I am honoured to have the chief constable of Bedfordshire present Keeping the public safe is the highest duty of any Government, which is why I take this issue so seriously. Back in 2004, the concept of "damping" was introduced to the police national funding formula. As a result, Bedfordshire police receive between £3 million and £4 million a year less than the Government’s own funding formula says it should. Bedfordshire police already have one of the smallest budgets of any force in England and Wales, at £102 million, and are in the lowest quartile of all forces for both budget and number of officers per head of the population For many years, Bedfordshire police managed to reduce crime on a reducing budget, and I understand, of course, that the Home Office has to play its part in helping the country to live within its means. Back in 2011-12, however, Bedfordshire had 1,264 police officers. It now has 140 fewer—only 1,124. In 2011-12 we had 128 police and community support officers. We now have 53, which is a reduction of 75. In 2011-12, we had 864 members of police staff. We now have 758, a reduction of 106.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope that the Government will listen to the chief constable, because damping—which, as I think the hon. Gentleman would admit, has been happening under Governments of both parties for a long time, starting in 2004—has had a cumulatively serious effect on Bedfordshire police Between 1 April 2016 and 31 August 2017, Bedfordshire experienced a 12.2% increase in crime, a 24% increase in the number of calls requiring an immediate response and a 48.9% increase in burglary, compared with the same period in the previous year. In my constituency, in 2013-14 Houghton Regis had an average of 391 crimes per month, which has risen by 13% to 440. In Dunstable an average of 235 crimes a month has risen by 24% to 292, and Leighton Buzzard’s average monthly crime has risen by 57%, from 136 to 214. I am acutely aware of the impact of rural crime, particularly on people in isolated communities. Many years ago, Bedfordshire police officers lived in the villages for which they were responsible, but that is no longer the case. We are also dealing with an unprecedented level of unauthorised Traveller encampments, which further increase the demand on already overstretched police resources Between 2011-12 and 2017-18, the Bedfordshire police force has already achieved savings of £34.7 million, but Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services has spoken of "an inability to maintain a preventative…presence across Bedfordshire."
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is exactly right. Community policing plays a vital role in prevention In Bedfordshire, 40% of the force’s activity takes place in Luton. While there is insufficient police capacity to deal with the challenges in that town, it means that the rest of Bedfordshire has less than its proportionate share of police cover, for which its residents also pay. A small police budget that has suffered from 13 years of damping would be serious enough even without the fact that Bedfordshire faces unusually high levels of serious threats and criminality which are not normally dealt with by a force of that size Let me spell this out. Bedfordshire has the third highest terror risk in the country, and its police force must deal with the fourth highest level of serious acquisitive crime in England and Wales. It has a higher proportion of domestic abuse offences per head of population than the much larger forces of Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Thames Valley and Hertfordshire, and 40% of all firearms discharges in the eastern region take place in Bedfordshire. The number of reports of missing persons between April and June this year was 350% higher than the number during the same period in the previous year. As a Bedfordshire Member of Parliament, I am not happy that the people of my county do not enjoy the same levels of police protection and response in an emergency as are available to the people of Hertfordshire and Thames Valley. We pay no less tax than they do, so what is fair or right about that In one incident of gang-related violent disorder this year, no response resources were available and CID detectives went to the scene with no uniform or protective equipment, and a number of officers were injured as a result. In one incident in Luton recently, a single female officer made three arrests on her own and called for assistance, which took eight minutes to come while she was in danger. At present, each Bedfordshire police officer is expected to investigate 12 to 13 crimes at any one time. The level of stress affecting Bedfordshire police officers is leading to burn-out and psychological and physical illness; that is unacceptable, as we owe them a duty of care Bedfordshire police are not able to respond to all the daily calls seeking a fast response, nor to all the daily incidents requiring a community response. Recently a Leighton Buzzard businessman being threatened by a man wielding a metal bar dialled 999 and officers failed to attend As guardians of taxpayers’ money, the Government are absolutely right to demand efficiency, effectiveness and value for money from our police forces. Bedfordshire police have already achieved £34.7 million of savings between 2011-12 and 2017-18. Bedfordshire also already has one of the most extensive blue-light collaboration programmes in the country, and its tri-force collaboration is improving effectiveness and delivering savings. Some 25% of its resources are already allocated to tri-force and regional collaboration.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I set out the increases in crime on the record for the House just now Bedfordshire Police’s unearmarked reserves are only £3 million, the absolute minimum they should be allowed to fall to. Merger with Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire would not be agreed by those two counties on the current level of Bedfordshire police funding. Further savings could only be made by reducing the already inadequate frontline resource Planning is already under way for over 50,000 new homes across Bedfordshire over the next three years and a large number of those are likely to be rated at less than band D council tax, which leads to a much reduced income from the police precept. Bedfordshire police believe they need a minimum of 300 more officers and 80 more detectives in order to provide an acceptable service. An increase of 300 officers would only be a net increase of 160 officers on the number the county had in 2011-12 I am indebted to the Leighton Buzzard Observer newspaper for printing a few years ago an article by former Leighton Buzzard police officer Neil Cairns, who pointed out that in 1988 Leighton Buzzard and Linslade had 12 civilians, one inspector, six sergeants and 27 constables; that is a total of 34 warranted officers in the town’s station. Today, 29 years later, Leighton Buzzard has eight officers and three PCSOs; that is a reduction of over three-quarters in the number of warranted officers in the town, which is the third largest in Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire Police has also recently stated that Leighton Buzzard has a larger number of officers than are currently based in Dunstable or Houghton Regis I have run out various statistics this evening, but statistics are dry. Let me illustrate the impact of burglary on one of my constituents, a Dunstable resident who wrote to me last week: "My young daughter arrived home this week to find we had been burgled and it took the police more than an hour to attend. During this hour anything could have happened to my child and this situation is completely unacceptable. Please note that we have been burgled four times within the last five years and I now fear for the safety of my family." He goes on to ask whether he should consider leaving the area, as he does not feel supported as a contributor to the town. I want to be able to give that constituent, and indeed all my constituents, the reassurance they need and deserve In 2001, when I was first elected to this House, I stood on a platform of restoring the 88 police officers that had been lost to Bedfordshire under the previous Government. In 2005, when elected to the House for the second time, I stood on a platform that committed the Government to recruiting an extra 5,000 police officers nationally every year. By holding this debate tonight, I am holding true to the pledges I made to my constituents when they first gave me the honour of serving them in Parliament.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I note the Minister’s typically fair comments about the comparator forces, but does he agree that what distinguishes Bedfordshire’s case is the unusual level of challenge coming from Luton, from the terror issues and from the particular and serious nature of the crime mix within the county? When those things are put together, Bedfordshire’s case is genuine.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicholas Richard Hurd (Conservative, Centre-right): I reassure my hon. Friend that I totally understand why he would say that, and it is an argument that is made by the leadership of Bedfordshire police. Comparisons are always a little awkward, but Kent does have additional counter-terrorism demands due to the presence of major ports and Essex has responsibility for Stansted, which is the fourth-busiest airport in the UK—those forces do have pressures. I do not necessarily want to labour that point; I am trying to reassure my hon. Friend. After years of pressing the police to find savings and efficiencies, to which they responded extremely impressively, the decision in 2015 was to try to protect police funding. The total amount of taxpayers’ money going into the police system money is significantly up on 2015, but—
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicholas Richard Hurd (Conservative, Centre-right): I totally accept that point, and I think I said in my earlier remarks that we have to recognise the challenges specific to Bedfordshire police The "but" I was coming to, having said what I said about the decision to protect police funding, is that we recognise that the context is changing, although not necessarily dramatically. Since 2015, the state of the public finances remains very constrained, as my hon. Friend well knows. There is evidence that demand on the police is rising and changing. The police are having to spend more time on safeguarding the vulnerable and on responding to increased demand in areas of complexity, such as domestic violence, modern slavery and counter-terrorism, and as a Government we have to recognise that We also have to recognise that there are very real cost pressures on the police system, not least in the recent pay award. That is why, as my hon. Friend knows, since my appointment in June I have personally led a review of every single police force in England and Wales. I have spoken to or visited all 43 of them, including Bedfordshire, to make sure that, alongside the other work we are doing, the Government genuinely understand what is happening out there: the shifting demand on the police; how the police are responding to manage that demand; what their current plans are for improving efficiency and effectiveness, because that matters a great deal; and what their plans are for managing their reserves, which are considerable I recognise that Bedfordshire is using its reserves, and I recognise that, as a percentage of revenue, Bedfordshire’s reserves are below the national average, but across the police system something like £1.6 billion of public money is tied up in reserves. The public and the taxpayer deserve to know about those plans in a lot more detail than we have had in the past. That is part of the review process I am leading.
Police Funding: Bedfordshire — House of Commons, 2017-11-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicholas Richard Hurd (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not a tribalist, but every time someone asks for more money, Labour’s answer is, "Yes. How much?" We will be more demanding in that respect, because we also act on behalf of the taxpayer. Public safety is priority No. 1 for any Government, and particularly for this Government, and although we are determined to make sure the police have the resources they need, we will continue to challenge them as to how they are using existing resources and how they can improve their efficiency and effectiveness ratings, as in the case of Bedfordshire, because that is what the public demand and deserve The point I am trying to elaborate is that the Government are listening. We recognise that the operating context has changed. There is a consistent message across the police system about that shift in demand and the strain on the system, and not just from Bedfordshire. That is why we are listening very carefully. We want to take decisions based on evidence not assertion, and those decisions will come before the House in the Government’s provisional grant settlement proposal, which I hope will come in early December. That will be the fruit of this review and the discussions we have had over many months with police leadership and the independent inspectorate to update our understanding of what is happening out there in terms of demand on the police system My hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire has been very tenacious and persistent on this front, so let me reassure him that public safety is the Government’s No. 1 priority. We of course have a responsibility to make sure the police have the resources they need. We have a responsibility to adapt if we have a clear picture of what is happening out there in terms of shifts in demand and cost pressures. We are grateful to the police for their co-operation in that process. I ask for a little more patience from him on the long journey he has had since being elected here. I hope that before the end of the year we will be able to come to this House with proposals for the 2018-19 police funding settlement. We are absolutely determined to make sure that this country has the most effective and trusted police force in the world. That is what we want for this country and that is what we want for Bedfordshire Question put and agreed to.
Shortage of Doctors: Medical Provision — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): What Simon Stevens noticed, and we all noticed, was that when he came with this plan in 2014 Labour refused to back it, and in the 2015 election they refused to fund it—to the tune of the £5.5 billion more that the Conservatives were prepared to put in, but the hon. Gentleman’s party refused to put in. He is quoting Simon Stevens, who also said that when the British economy sneezes, the NHS catches a cold—it will be far worse than a cold for the NHS if we have Labour’s run on the pound.
Lung Disease — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: Environment
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister, who cares deeply about these issues, share my concern that lung capacity often never recovers after being damaged in childhood? Is not that a powerful reason why we need to make significant progress on air quality issues?
Leaving the EU: Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: International Affairs
Philip Martin Dunne (Conservative, Centre-right): As I indicated in response to the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens), finding an appropriate relationship with the EMA post-Brexit is one of the core strands of work the Department is doing. As the hon. Lady will be aware, next Monday the other EU nations will vote to decide which country will host the new EMA. It is our intent, as we have made clear to the EU negotiators, to seek mutual recognition.
Leaving the EU: Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: Foreign Trade
Philip Martin Dunne (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady will be aware, we are looking for a relationship with the EU to ensure that we have tariff-free access to the single market, including for drugs and medicines, because the life sciences industry is such a critical element of our economy. Contingency plans are being put in place for a no deal. She will have to wait, as will the rest of us, to see whether or not that eventuality happens. Of course we do not want it to occur—it is not our intent.
Innovative Treatments and Technologies — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: Technology
Jacqueline Doyle-Price (Conservative, Centre-right): I cannot disagree with the hon. Lady’s point. One reason why we set up the accelerated access review and pathway was to make sure that we invest where innovation is taking place. There is no reason why Manchester cannot be a part of that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-11-14
Topic: International Affairs
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): That is absolutely our intention. We have signalled to the EU and to European countries that we want the closest possible relationship post-Brexit. We have made that big and generous offer, and we hope that they accept it.