argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Education
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): I do of course agree with my hon. Friend, who makes a very good point. This is all regardless of the fact that this policy still has a considerable funding shortfall, even under the new hourly rates, as the Minister himself has said. When Labour announced before the last election that we were seeking to increase the number of free hours from 15 to 25, he said that that policy would cost £1.2 billion. That is far greater than the funding allocation that the Government have put forward for an additional five hours a week. There are big funding gaps that they have yet to address, regardless of the hourly rate being paid and the information that has been put in the Library House of Commons Library analysis has shown that there are over 44,000 fewer early years childcare places today than there were in 2009. In addition, six in 10 local authorities tell us that they do not have an adequate supply of childcare for local parents. There is a downward trend in childcare places that should cause concern. As I said, private and voluntary providers make up the vast majority of childcare places in England. If there is not adequate resource for these nurseries, they will simply not offer the 30 hours, leading to a reduction in choice for parents. I welcome the increase in the hourly rate, but questions remain about how many new places will be provided. Without an increase in supply, costs will continue to rise for parents. Parents will also be very concerned that the quality of childcare could be damaged by the Government’s failure to adequately support their proposals. A wealth of evidence from the Education Committee and Ofsted clearly identifies strong links between outstanding provision and the best qualified staff. Poor childcare is worse than no childcare, as the Committee reported, and can be detrimental to a child’s development. I am very concerned that unless the Government have answers on adequate funding, the result will be a diminution in quality provision. Can the Secretary of State give a commitment today that, beneath the proposals and those outlined in today’s autumn statement, there are no plans to reduce quality, to increase ratios or to lower requirements for those who can offer the free entitlement? In summary, insufficient funds and poor delivery could have the opposite effect to what the Government want and lead to fewer places, poorer quality and higher cost for parents The Government have ample time to address those concerns before their policy is due to be introduced in autumn 2017. We want to work with Ministers to ensure that their plans are credible and affordable and meet the tests we have set out. Part of the problem is that the Government have no clear strategy for childcare. I hope the Education Secretary will reflect on that and come back to this House in due course with an overarching childcare strategy. [Interruption.] Would the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr Gyimah) like to intervene?
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): From my study of the Blue Book, it seems that childcare will not be available to parents unless they have a weekly income level per parent equivalent to 16 hours a week worked at the national living wage. That seems to contradict the idea of people, particularly women, being able to work flexibly.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Education
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) As usual, the debate on childcare has been split between a conversation about maternal employment rates and productivity and questions about school readiness and childhood development, which the SNP spokesperson raised so effectively. I would give more credence to her view if the rates of social mobility in Scotland under the SNP Administration were higher, yet if we look at the number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds going into higher education in Scotland relative to England, we see that the SNP has not delivered what it promised.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Education
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): I am delighted that this is probably the third or fourth U-turn of the day—it is hard to keep up—but it is important, when we think about this question, to focus on not only the economics, but the quality of early years provision. As the shadow Secretary of State said, there is strong evidence for a link between a judgment of "outstanding" for childcare provision and the presence of better qualified staff. It is vital that practitioners and settings are appropriately funded The Education Committee clearly set out in its excellent report that poor childcare is worse than none and can be detrimental to a child’s development. It is always a depressing moment when one sees young women—it is usually women—who struggle with their own educational attainment working with young children from disadvantaged backgrounds. All the challenges in oracy and early childhood development show that high quality of provision is essential.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): No! We are all united in this House on the need for measures to help working families and raise maternal employment rates. However, we need a much richer, deeper and more sophisticated focus on the quality of early-years provision, and on what it can do to tackle inequality and disadvantage.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Providing more free childcare for working parents was supposed to be an easy win for the Government. There should be nothing difficult or controversial about it, given the level of support in the country for it in principle and the amount of support the Government would have in this House for it in principle. The Government, however, seem to have somehow made an extraordinary mess of the Bill. In fact, I cannot remember another occasion when a proposal that was so warmly received in principle produced a Bill that was so comprehensively rubbished by everybody who set eyes on it. There are so many questions in relation to it. The defence of the Bill we have heard today is high on rhetoric, but what we want is reality. We do not want fiction. The problem is not a lack of enthusiasm for the Bill in principle. The trouble is that, as my nan used to say, warm words butter no parsnips Surely the most important place to start is this: how is it going to be paid for? I am not an expert, but I have been looking at the Blue Book published today and asking some obvious questions. If the amount spent per child from September 2017 will be £5,000—if I am wrong about this, perhaps the Minister could please interrupt me—and we are talking about term-time only working, so 38 weeks a year, then 30 hours multiplied by 38 is 1,140 hours. On the face of it, that means £4.38 per hour will be spent on childcare. I have already explained to the Minister that the average price of childcare in Islington is £9.40 per hour. I am then told that I am wrong, the figures are pooh-poohed, or there seems to be some suggestion that not all the money has been put into the frontline, as if the head of my early years is upholstering her three-piece suites in mink, but that is just the price of education for three and four-year-olds in Islington. The prices are high as they are—it is just a fact Then I am referred to a cost of childcare review, which I am told is in the Library but it is not. I send people off to have a look in the Library and they ask around but nobody can find it. Then I am told it is online and that it consists of 184 pages, but I have not got all of them. I have got the ones I could and they total 59 pages. I have therefore had 59 of 184 pages during this debate. I am told that 6,000 organisations have contributed to this review, but I have nothing from any of them. I would like to read this sort of thing, because I take this seriously.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Let me give the hon. Gentleman my view, which, again, is based on experience from my constituency. What happens is that the free entitlement is given to parents and a deal is done, whereby they get their free 15-hour entitlement and then they have to pay over the odds to be able to—[Interruption.] He shakes his head but I am telling him that this is what happens. Parents have to pay over the odds for the additional hours or they pay more money for meals; somehow or other this money is raked back to nursery providers, because they simply cannot provide the childcare at the level currently provided for. He has asked me a question, so I will ask him one, and I wonder whether he will be able to help me with it As I understand it, at the moment my local authority gets £4.84 per hour for three and four-year-olds, which is much less than the average charged of £9.40 per hour. If the new national rate announced today with such fanfare is introduced, will Islington actually be getting a cut and will our rate be going down to £4.35 per hour?
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Education
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Again, that sounds great, but it does not make any sense. Does it mean that my local authority will get a cut in its rate or not? If the hon. Gentleman knows, he may intervene on me again, because this is important. As I say, if Islington is going to get a cut in its rate to £4.35 per hour for it to provide places for nursery school children—three and four-year-olds—when the average price in Islington is £9.40 an hour, this is extremely bad news for Islington.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Education
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I would be interested to know whether the Minister regrets producing the document entitled "Cost of delivering the early education entitlement" halfway through the debate rather than earlier, if it was produced some time ago. He knows that one problem throughout the passage of the Bill in the Lords was that people criticised the fact that it was a cut-and-paste job from the Tory party manifesto put in a four-page Bill and that it has had no detail. The reason the Government have been getting into trouble is that everyone has been saying, "Where is the detail? Where is the plan? How much money are we getting?" And when the Bill finally reaches this place, keen people like me get a copy of half of this document halfway through the debate.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making some excellent points and scrutinising the Minister extremely well. She makes a good point about the true cost of childcare and how many private, voluntary or independent nurseries cross-subsidise to deliver the free offer. Is she aware that in parts of London in particular, and in other more expensive cities, many providers do not even offer the free entitlement because there is not a good enough business case for them to do that, and so families in Islington are probably missing out altogether?
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I think that that is right, and there was a hint of that, I think, from the hon. and learned Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Lucy Frazer) when she was talking about the importance of the rate that is being paid in order to ensure that there is childcare provided in her area. Although Cambridge is not as expensive as Islington, I imagine that it is another area where childcare is likely to be provided at a fairly high rate, and is likely to be very expensive Having looked at the Blue Book, I have another question. As I understand it, to pay for these additional hours of childcare, the Government will not provide free childcare for parents whose income is more than £100,000—I do not think that there is any problem with that—but the other part is—[Interruption.] I am sorry, but I am asking the Minister a question. I can say it again. The other part of the condition is "and a minimum weekly income level per parent equivalent to 16 hours (worked at the national living wage)" Does that mean that my single parents on the Market estate, who are currently working nine hours, will not get free childcare, and that in order to get free childcare they will need to work not only 16 hours but—because they are all on the minimum wage—16 hours at the equivalent of the national living wage, which presumably means that they will have to work something like 24 hours?
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): The point is—[Interruption.] I am just pointing out that the Blue Book refers to "a minimum weekly income level per parent equivalent to 16 hours (worked at the national living wage)" A parent could be working 16 hours at the national minimum wage, but still not get free childcare. That is as I understand it, but we are not in Government. We are involved in scrutiny.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Is the Minister therefore saying that people do not need to be earning a minimum weekly income at the national living wage, because tax credits would make it up? Or is he saying that people have to get an income equivalent to 16 hours worked at the national living wage, and then they will get tax credits and the 30 hours? These are important questions. This Bill has already been in the Lords. We are now in the Commons. It is important for us to understand the Bill We are not against childcare, as some have suggested. We are absolutely in favour of childcare, but we would like it to be funded properly so that people get proper access to it, and that includes my single mothers from the Market estate who may be working only a few hours at the moment, but who would like to have additional childcare available to them so that they can look for other jobs, because if Asda will not increase their hours, they will try to find a job somewhere else. They need childcare if they have three and four-year-olds so that they have some time to fill in their CVs, and go to Jobcentre Plus to get the assistance they need to work further hours. I hope that the Minister understands that.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Labor
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Therefore, someone who works 16 hours on the national minimum wage will not get 30 hours of childcare a week. That is an important point, and I am grateful to the Minister for clarifying it. That message needs to go out if we are talking about fairness. No wonder the end of paragraph 2.61 of the Blue Book states that this measure "will save £215 million by 2020." If we are talking about fairness, opportunity, and ensuring that women are able to go to work, I am concerned about the changes being made.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I assure the hon. Gentleman that it was produced halfway through. We sent people to the Library to look for it. It eventually appeared on the internet and attempts have been made to print it out. The process should not be some sort of marathon. If the report had been produced yesterday, we would all have sat down and read it overnight. I am sure my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) would have read all of it, even if I had not. We would then have had an opportunity to scrutinise the Bill properly. Given that the criticism throughout has been of inadequate funding and a lack of clarity on that funding, the situation is disappointing, to say the very least I think I have made my point. I am not an expert on the subject, but I am concerned about the inadequate amount of childcare that will be produced on time, before single mothers of three and four-year-olds are forced to look for work. I am very concerned that there will not be sufficient childcare, that it will be available only during term time, that it will not be sufficiently flexible and that it is not sufficiently funded. I am particularly concerned about the process we have indulged in on the Bill. It has already been discussed in the other place, but the details we have been given are still inadequate. I am very disappointed.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): Aside from the hourly rate, the bigger question that the Minister has been asked today is about the overall package of funding for the offer, which by any calculation falls well short of previous predictions. The key variable is the number of families who will access the offer. On the basis of the original calculation of a cost of about £1.5 billion, about 650,000 families would have been accessing it. However, the costings that the Government have outlined today suggest that they now believe fewer than 250,000 families will access it.
Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): I actually made the costings calculation myself at the last election. The discrepancy in the figures is way bigger than the Minister has outlined. The cost per year of the Government’s additional hours proposal will be about £2,500 for each family who qualifies for it. If the Minister divides the overall budget that they have allocated for it by that number, he will find that his Department has significantly reduced the number of families that it anticipates accessing the offer from about 600,000 to about 250,000.
Delegated Legislation — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: Government Operations
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 9 and 10 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Representation of the People, Scotland That the draft Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 12 October, be approved Representation of the People That the draft Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 12 October, be approved.—(Simon Kirby.) Question agreed to.
Safety in Deep Sea Diving: Stephen O’Malley — House of Commons, 2015-11-25
Topic: International Affairs
Louise Joyce Ellman (Labour, Centre-left): I appreciate the Minister’s comments and the care he has clearly taken in preparing for this debate, but would he or the relevant Minister make further representations to the appropriate authorities, which I assume are the Danish authorities, to reopen this case? I am making my own representations, my constituent is making her representations, and it would certainly be helpful to us if the appropriate Minister could assist by doing that.
Arctic and High North — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): Perhaps I can help the Minister with a question that does not involve waiting until half-past 3. A lot of our focus is currently on the middle east and north Africa. Does he agree, however, that with two Russian Tupolev bombers off our coast recently, as well as a Russian submarine, it would be naive for us to take our eye off the strategic risk to the UK from the High North and Arctic region?
Free Syrian Army — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Graham Peter Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Do the Government not recognise that as part of the solution to the ISIS issue we need peace in Syria? Do they not recognise that what they are proposing is a failed policy, and that by investing in a client as a proxy in a civil war, all we are doing is simply escalating the war and perpetuating a greater number of deaths?
Military Veterans — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What conversations have taken place with the Chancellor to discuss the impact of tax credit cuts on military families, including the families of veterans?
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): The social care crisis is affecting people all over the country, including those who have sustained an injury or condition while serving our country. Those who were injured on or after 6 April 2005 receive a payment under the armed forces compensation scheme, which local authorities disregard when assessing them for social care, but those who were injured before that date receive the war pension, which is not disregarded. When will the Government address this inequality?
ISIL — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will be aware of the concept in international law that when a sovereign state is unable or unwilling to take action against a non-state actor carrying out acts of aggression from its territory, there may be a justification for action. To what extent does he think that that applies to Daesh, and what comparisons would he draw between this situation and the operation of the Taliban in Afghanistan when it was supporting al-Qaeda?
National Security and Defence — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): Indeed, Mr Speaker. I am saying that we must have the police and security services fully resourced and able to do what is necessary to protect the public. I ask the Prime Minister to think very hard about the remarks made to him by senior police officers and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in this respect, and to assure the House today that those cuts in policing services will not go ahead.
National Security and Defence — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister has said that he will come back to the House on Thursday to respond to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Will he also ensure a full day’s debate in Government time on this issue, well before the Government table a motion on military intervention, so that we can have a full debate, not only on the day of a vote, but well in advance, and so that the House can give this proper consideration
National Security and Defence — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Prime Minister accept that the continued existence of the so-called caliphate is itself probably one of the most important drivers of radicalising young people here and elsewhere, in Europe and the wider world? Does he accept that before the public can be convinced of the need to take further action, particularly in Syria, a clearer case needs to be made about what the aims are and what the scale would be?
National Security and Defence — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Christopher Michael Leslie (Labour, Centre-left): Before the Prime Minister makes his statement on ISIL and Syria on Thursday, may I urge him to listen carefully to Labour Members who have an open mind on this question, but want reassurances on specific issues—chiefly reassurances about humanitarian protection and the need to prevent further displacement and suffering, but also a specific commitment to long-term reconstruction and stabilisation once the conflict has ended?
National Security and Defence — House of Commons, 2015-11-23
Topic: International Affairs
Dennis Edward Skinner (Labour, Centre-left): Like many Prime Ministers before him, this Prime Minister is already talking about a decision that he is going to put before the House to wage war in Syria. Has he got an exit strategy? Nobody else has ever had one.