argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Consumer Protection — House of Commons, 2019-06-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kelly Jane Tolhurst (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon lady raises an important point. The process we have followed has meant that the Office for Product Safety and Standards carried out a review. We obviously want to move on to the next stage, and this is a great example of what the Office for Product Safety and Standards is able to do. The statutory instrument describes a specific element of that, mainly relating to the investigatory powers. We are doing further work on consumer protection as we bring together—we hope, in the near future—a consumer White Paper on strengthening enforcement and a host of other things, on the back of the Green Paper that was announced last year. On the Secretary of State’s powers to investigate, local trading standards in Great Britain and district councils investigate claims about potentially unsafe products in their local areas. National incidents are designated under the Office for Product Safety and Standards’s national incident management plan triage process. We want the OPSS to lead on national incidents and to have the same investigatory powers as local trading standards. The Secretary of State already has equivalent investigatory powers to investigate any products regulated under specific legislation, such as cosmetics and electrical equipment, but not cots and DIY tools. This order aligns the Secretary of State’s powers with those that are already available to trading standards and ensures the consistency of the powers that could be used by the OPSS. The circumstances under which the Secretary of State would exercise those powers is where the OPSS’s national incident management plan triage process concludes that the nature of the product warrants such action With regard to the OPSS and its communication with our trading standards, I have to tell the House that the relationship between national trading standards, local trading standards and the OPSS is one of continuous communication and working together. We would not be able to influence and to have such a great enforcement system without those organisations working together. Yesterday, I met trading standards professionals across the enforcement landscape. A key part of my role has been making sure that I keep in touch with representatives of national and local trading standards. I wish to put it on record that trading standards officers do invaluable and exceptional work throughout the country. They work incredibly hard and are very much the unsung heroes.
Consumer Protection — House of Commons, 2019-06-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kelly Jane Tolhurst (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government took a great step when they formed the OPSS in January 2018. The OPSS was given additional funding of £12 million a year to build national capacity for product safety. The expertise—the scientific-based research— that it will be able to undertake will aid and assist local trading standards in carrying out their own functions. This is very much a working-together situation. We have committed £190,000 to behavioural insights to date and invested £498,000 on social science research. Over the next three years, £4 million will be spent on upgrading the scientific facilities in Teddington, and £750,000 of support has been provided in 2018-19 for testing and training trading standards, and there is another £500,000 funding for trading standards to carry out product safety testing, and that will increase next year. We have also trained more than 250 trading standards authorities, which included training 800 people. Such training enables local trading standards to have free access to the technical British standards, which really equips them and supports them in identifying compliance issues Let me move on now to the issues raised by the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson). She was very concerned about funding, and as I have tried to outline, the OPSS will take a strategic role in supporting local trading standards. The statutory instrument ensures that we have a clear enforcement strategy, which gives the OPSS and the Secretary of State the powers that they need.
Consumer Protection — House of Commons, 2019-06-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Kelly Jane Tolhurst (Conservative, Centre-right): The OPSS is ready. It is taking on not extra work, but an extra power, which it is quite ready to take on. I have already outlined what it has done in the case of Whirlpool I understand the concerns of the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), and she is a great campaigner in this area. She will know that work is ongoing with regard to secondary ticketing. That matter is not related to this SI, but I am more than happy to speak with her directly outside the Chamber to give her some more assurances if that is what she wants I almost forgot the contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley). I am grateful to him for raising those issues. We are looking at strengthening consumer protection, full stop. Perhaps we could meet. I have not spoken to him about this issue, but I am more than happy to meet him, so that we can investigate the matter further with the OPSS if necessary Without this order, we will not be maximising the potential of the new regulator. The British public would ultimately have less protection from unsafe and non-compliant products. Law-abiding businesses would have less protection in maintaining and growing their businesses and the UK economy, and that is not what this Government want. We are committed to making the UK product safety systems the best in the world, and ensuring that our regulators have the right tools to protect our people is a further step to achieving that goal Therefore, I commend this statutory instrument to the House Question put and agreed to.
Sustainable Development Goals — House of Commons, 2019-06-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin (Conservative, Centre-right): We have published this week the main messages from the UK voluntary national review. Obviously we will save for the high-level forum some of the details of the report itself, but my understanding is that publication is imminent. I am not able to specify precisely on which day it is coming out, because I am not sure whether that has been decided; as the hon. Gentleman knows, beings way above my pay grade decide such things.
Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What plans the Government have to negotiate visa-free travel between the UK and the EU for short visits after the UK leaves the EU.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK and the EU have committed to discussing the reciprocal provision of visa-free travel for short-term visits under the future relationship. Both sides have also said that they do not intend to require visas for short-term visits in a no-deal scenario.
Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What plans the Government have to negotiate visa-free travel between the UK and the EU for short visits after the UK leaves the EU.
Nigel Paul Huddleston (Conservative, Centre-right): EU countries are some of the biggest contributors to our inbound tourism industry. We had 6 million visitors from the EU in the last three months of 2018 alone, and we are always pleased to welcome hundreds of thousands of them to Worcestershire. Does the Minister agree that the continuation of visa-free travel is vital to our tourism industry, which sustains 3 million jobs in the UK?
Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What plans the Government have to negotiate visa-free travel between the UK and the EU for short visits after the UK leaves the EU.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Last year, EU residents made 25.6 million trips to the UK, spending more than £10 billion. Like him, I would like to see more of them come to beautiful Worcestershire and admire our part of the world.
Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What plans the Government have to negotiate visa-free travel between the UK and the EU for short visits after the UK leaves the EU.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will know that the recent suggestions from the Migration Advisory Committee included specific recommendations for lengthening the opportunity for people to stay after study. It determined that the best way to do that was to reform the existing system rather than institute a different one.
Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What plans the Government have to negotiate visa-free travel between the UK and the EU for short visits after the UK leaves the EU.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises an excellent point. As he will know, we set out to achieve a labour mobility framework that will allow for travel for short-term business visits. This is an important part of the next stage of the negotiations. The absence of a requirement for visas for short-term travel is a useful backdrop to that for both the UK and the EU.
Political Declaration: Dynamic Alignment on Rights and Protections — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with his EU counterpart on including dynamic alignment on rights and protections in the Political Declaration on the framework for the future relationship between the EU and UK.
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a real inconsistency here. Night after night we are told that we should trust the votes of the House of Commons. The Prime Minister has made a commitment not to lower standards below the current levels for workers’ rights and the environment, and our proposals on immigration go further than the commitments found in standard free trade agreements. It is odd that Opposition Members have so little faith in this House to protect the rights that workers need.
Article 50 Extension — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Other
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I would have thought it was logical for the hon. Gentleman to follow his manifesto, which said that he would respect the referendum result. Going back to square one and asking the question again is not consistent with the manifesto on which the hon. Gentleman stood at the last election.
Article 50 Extension — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Let us see if I can get an answer from the Secretary of State. A recent poll highlighted that six out of 10 people favour a people’s vote, and an extension is required for one to take place. I do not know how many times the Prime Minister has said there will not be a people’s vote, but should the Government not face reality and accept that there will be one and that they might as well start planning for it now?
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not know which selective poll the right hon. Gentleman is quoting from, but in our democracy we address these issues through the ballot box. In 2016 we had in essence the ultimate poll and 17.4 million people cast their vote to leave. The key message we get in our constituencies and very clearly from the business community—I do not need a poll for this—is that people do not want this process to drag on further. They want it to come to a resolution, and they want the House, instead of being against everything, to come to a decision. It is time we moved on and got this delivered.
No Deal: Prevention — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to pay tribute to my former colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris). He was a wonderful Minister and it is a shame that he has left us On the issue of professional qualifications, it is in the withdrawal agreement and it has always been the stated aim of the Government that there will be mutual recognition of qualifications. This is not controversial, and I think that it will assure many EU citizens in our country that they can continue to pursue their professions without any interruption or uncertainty.
No Deal: Prevention — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Other
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): What my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has got right is the fact that we need a solution to the impasse. That is why this week, she has very openly invited the Leader of the Opposition to talks to track a way forward.
Devolved Administrations: Discussions — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): There has been a huge amount of engagement with the Scottish and Welsh Governments through the Joint Ministerial Committee and the Ministerial Forum, which I co-chair. A number of issues have been raised about Scotland’s place in Europe and our shared policy is to pursue, for instance, co-operation with Europe on universities. However, the hon. Gentleman will recognise that Scotland’s share of UK immigration is very low, and it is, as the Migration Advisory Committee has made clear, only really possible to have an immigration policy for the whole UK.
No Deal: EU Citizens’ Rights — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What steps his Department is taking to help maintain the rights of EU citizens in the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK Government have been unequivocal that in any scenario, including no deal, EU citizens and their family members living here by exit day will be able to stay. We want them to stay; they are our friends and our neighbours.
No Deal: EU Citizens’ Rights — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What steps his Department is taking to help maintain the rights of EU citizens in the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
David James Duguid (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for his response, but can he specifically reassure EU citizens living in Banff and Buchan and, indeed, across Scotland that, contrary to suggestions and letters being circulated by the Scottish National party, the UK Government value them, want them to stay and are committed to upholding their right to live and work in the United Kingdom? [Interruption.] I have seen the letters.
No Deal: EU Citizens’ Rights — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What steps his Department is taking to help maintain the rights of EU citizens in the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is exactly right. It is hugely irresponsible for people to stir up fear in the way that we have seen. EU citizens are highly valued members of their communities and play an integral part in the economic, cultural and social fabric of the UK. I enjoyed engaging with EU citizens from the Nordic countries on a recent visit to Edinburgh, where we made it very clear that we want them to stay. We have designed the settled status scheme to help them to stay.
Second Referendum — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: If he will make an assessment of the potential negative effect on his Department’s policies of a second referendum on the UK leaving the EU.
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): In respect of the second referendum, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), it is Government policy to honour the 2016 referendum. That is what we have been tasked to do, and that is what we are 100% focused on. The second referendum is a red herring, frankly. It is not something that we countenance. We want to deliver on the 2016 referendum.
Financial Services Sector — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As part of the political declaration, the Government have negotiated an agreement on the future relationship for financial services that would be of greater depth than any other the EU has with a third country, while enabling our financial services sector to take up the global opportunities on offer.
Financial Services Sector — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Housing
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): Is the Secretary of State aware of the latest Reuters Brexit city tracker index, which revealed that no less than 7.6 million square feet of new leases were signed in the City of London last year, which is a record? The market is currently within 5% of its record high. Fewer than 2,000, or 0.5% of City jobs, have either relocated or been substituted elsewhere on the continent. When is this Armageddon because of Brexit going to happen?
Financial Services Sector — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As a former City Minister, I take a close interest in these issues. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw the House’s attention to some of the developments we have seen in recent months in the City. The City has opportunities in growth areas of finance. Green finance is a key opportunity, for example, and FinTech is another. There are very good opportunities for the City in a post-Brexit world.
No Deal: UK Citizens’ Rights — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What steps the Government are taking to help ensure the protection of the rights of UK citizens living in the EU in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): Where I agree with my hon. Friend is that we should absolutely protect the rights of citizens and do everything in our power to do so. We have always been steadfast in our commitment to protecting those rights. Today, we have announced a further series of measures to protect UK nationals in the EU and those who choose to return to the UK after exit. There are important measures on social security co-ordination, a seven-year transition period for UK nationals in the EEA and Switzerland to continue to access student finance and home fee status in England and a transition period for UK nationals who return to the EU with their non-UK family members for those family members to apply to the EU settlement scheme.
No Deal: UK Citizens’ Rights — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What steps the Government are taking to help ensure the protection of the rights of UK citizens living in the EU in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): It was very welcome news this week that Germany will be unilaterally guaranteeing the rights of UK subjects in Germany. Will my hon. Friend tell us which if any of the EU27 are not known to be guaranteeing the rights of UK nationals?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Questions: Will the Minister confirm that it is still the Government’s position to take us out of the common fisheries policy, with the UK participating in annual negotiations as an independent coastal state no later than December 2020?; The digital single market copyright directive is on its way to becoming law in the EU. This could have significant implications for the UK’s intellectual property-rich creative industries, particularly publishing, whose successes are underpinned by the gold standard copyright system. How consistent will the UK’s copyright regime be with the EU’s when—perhaps I should say if—we leave?; The Prime Minister has confirmed that the future declaration is not legally binding, so what assurances can the Government give us on trade tariffs, rights at work, food standards and environmental protections that will be binding on whoever ends up negotiating our permanent deal with the EU?
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend, as always, is short and to the point. He correctly identifies the risk of rule taking. We talked earlier about financial services and the tax take from that sector alone. The UK taxpayer, who underwrites the liabilities of a sector such as financial services, will have concerns if the rules are being set in countries in Europe, rather than in this Parliament.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-04-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Will the Minister confirm that it is still the Government’s position to take us out of the common fisheries policy, with the UK participating in annual negotiations as an independent coastal state no later than December 2020?; The digital single market copyright directive is on its way to becoming law in the EU. This could have significant implications for the UK’s intellectual property-rich creative industries, particularly publishing, whose successes are underpinned by the gold standard copyright system. How consistent will the UK’s copyright regime be with the EU’s when—perhaps I should say if—we leave?; The Prime Minister has confirmed that the future declaration is not legally binding, so what assurances can the Government give us on trade tariffs, rights at work, food standards and environmental protections that will be binding on whoever ends up negotiating our permanent deal with the EU?; When in 2017 the former Brexit Minister, the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker), claimed that so many DExEU staff were on loan from elsewhere in the civil service because the nature of the Department was temporary, I bet he did not foresee his own departure, along with five other Ministers, the latest one being the no-deal Minister, the hon. Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris), who says his work is done now. When do the Government envisage the job of exiting the European Union being complete, enabling this young Ministry, which has experienced so much churn, to be wound up?;   Will the Minister outline what conversations he has had with the Home Office to ensure that the settled status scheme works effectively for EU nationals?
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question—it is important to make sure the scheme works as effectively and smoothly as possible. The Home Office is providing assisted digital support over the phone from more than 200 centres throughout the UK, and at home with a trained tutor. Applicants can have their identity verified by the identity document checkout at more than 50 locations, one of which I am pleased to see is in my constituency, as well as by post. I am pleased that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary confirmed recently that Apple has said it will make the identity document check available on its devices by the end of the year.