argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Delivery of Public Services — House of Commons, 2022-06-28
Topic: Health
Patrick Bosco McFadden (Labour, Centre-left): I will make some progress This is happening not just in the field of justice. Record numbers of patients are waiting for NHS treatment, and they are waiting longer than ever: the waiting list for NHS treatment is now 6.5 million, with more than 300,000 patients having been on the list for over a year. Given that the system had to focus on dealing with covid, some might point to pandemic effects. There would be some justification for that argument if we had not gone into the pandemic with waiting lists that had already rocketed, but we went into the pandemic with waiting lists of 4.4 million patients, almost double the number on the lists when this Government came to power. Long waits and more people waiting are not just features of the pandemic. The number waiting more than 18 weeks is now 2.5 million, but even before the pandemic that number was nearly three quarters of a million. Some 840,000 patients were told in April that they will have to wait more than a month for a GP appointment—if they can even get through to the surgery in the first place. Millions of people are struggling to get any access to NHS dental treatment. Last year 2,000 dentists left the NHS, almost one in 10 across the whole country. There are 4,500 fewer GPs than in 2013, and Conservative manifesto promises to increase the number of GPs have been broken repeatedly. These delays are not the fault of NHS staff or the patients; they are the result of 12 long years of the Conservatives presiding over the system we have and it is time they took responsibility for the backlogs and the delays that have resulted from their long period in office.
Delivery of Public Services — House of Commons, 2022-06-28
Topic: Health
Imran Hussain (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. The situation in our dental services is so dire that people are having to carry out do-it-yourself operations at home without anaesthetic or any other medical facilities. Does he agree that it is disgraceful that people are having to resort to such measures as a result of the Conservatives’ backlog given that we are the world’s fifth largest economy?
Syria — House of Lords, 2018-04-16
Topic: Defense
Andrew Robathan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in August 2013 I was working in the Ministry of Defence, and I well remember the vote. Surely the lesson from August 2013 is not what the noble Lord, Lord Newby, said; surely it is that, as my noble friend Lord Howard said, inaction can be much worse than military action, however awful that may be. The convention that has sprung up that Parliament must be consulted before taking any military action is foolish. No Government can survive without the support of Parliament for military action, but to stop to allow parliamentarians, who have very little knowledge of the issue, to take a vote, as happened in August 2013, is the wrong lesson. I suggest that it is likely and reasonable to believe that many Syrians have died from chemical attacks because Parliament voted against taking action nearly five years ago.
Syria — House of Lords, 2018-04-16
Topic: Defense
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): Bringing forward this Statement was the first opportunity through which to update Parliament. I am very pleased to say that this Thursday we have brought forward a debate within this House to take note of the national security situation. The list is open, so I look forward to hearing noble Lords’ contributions to that later on this week.
Delivery of Public Services — House of Commons, 2022-06-28
Topic: Health
Rushanara Ali (Labour, Centre-left): Does my right hon. Friend agree that, when the last Labour Government left office in 2010, satisfaction in the national health service was among the highest in the world and that through reform programmes, disruption and cuts in funding the Government have created problems in the NHS? They need to get a grip. We also have chaos in the courts. I see that in my constituency, where the family courts are really struggling with long waiting lists because of shortages of judges and lawyers. We also have passport queues and disruption across the country. The Government have lost control and need to get a grip.
Syria — House of Lords, 2018-04-16
Topic: Defense
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): On the noble Lord’s first point, we worked with our allies to establish what happened, and a significant amount of information, including intelligence, indicated that this was a chemical weapons attack. We have analysed a lot of intelligence and the World Health Organization has received reports that hundreds of patients arrived at Syrian hospitals with signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals. So we believe that the evidence was there. On defence spending, the noble Lord will be aware that the UK is one of very few allies both to meet the NATO spending guidelines, spending 2% of GDP on defence, and to spend 20% of annual defence expenditure on major equipment and associated research and development. We recognise the evolving threats, we continue to invest in defence, and we once again thank our brave armed services for all the work they do for us.
Delivery of Public Services — House of Commons, 2022-06-28
Topic: Health
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is being generous with his time. Surely he must be aware that his Government’s Health and Care Act 2022, which was enacted just a month or so ago, opens up the NHS to private sector takeovers that will be deeply inefficient because money that should be spent on patient care will be taken out and given to shareholders.
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill — House of Commons, 2022-07-15
Topic: Health
Christina Elizabeth Rees (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Member for all the help he gave me when he was a Minister; I am really grateful. I pledge my support to the Bill, because during lockdown I was blessed with two grandsons, and the provisions in the Bill would have made a huge difference to my daughter Angharad and her husband Ciaran—who we call "Shaky", but that is another story!
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill — House of Commons, 2022-07-15
Topic: Health
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Met Office has issued its first ever red warning for the heatwave that the country is likely to experience on Monday and Tuesday next week. Has the Department of Health and Social Care given you any notice of its intention to make a statement to this House about the health consequences for the public, not least given that this red warning means there is likely to be a risk to life Of course, our newspapers, television screens and airwaves are full of reports of overwhelmed ambulance services and accident and emergency departments. Given that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care failed to answer my urgent question on Wednesday, I would have thought that invisible man might make an appearance today to advise and reassure the public that our public services and emergency services will be able to cope in the light of this emergency.
Defence Jobs — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): May I make it simple for the Secretary of State? Defence jobs depend on orders, principally from his Department, and even export orders depend on British validation. He referred earlier to his support for the British defence industry, so why will he not now commit to ordering the fleet solid support ships to be built in British yards?
Defence Jobs — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Defence Secretary has just said that social value will be taken into consideration when awarding contracts. I have asked numerous parliamentary questions of the Department to try to quantify that; I have had no answer. I have asked the National Audit Office this question; it does not seem to know what is being used by the Department. Could the Defence Secretary clarify exactly what social value means, in quantifiable terms, when awarding contracts? It was clearly laid out in the excellent report that the right hon. Member for Ludlow (Philip Dunne) did a few years ago.
Defence Jobs — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): But the defence jobs that the Defence Secretary is cutting are those of our armed forces personnel. There are 40,000 less than when Labour left office, and right now we are cutting another 10,000 jobs. At a time when there is greater global instability, we could be utilising these vital armed forces personnel to de-escalate risk using soft power, which our armed forces are so good at. Could the Defence Secretary tell the House whether this determination is driven by him, by the former Chancellor or by the professional leadership of our armed forces?
Defence Jobs — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): May I congratulate the Defence Secretary and his team on ensuring that there has been continuity in defence while the rest of the Conservative Government have collapsed in chaos? Let me also say, lest this prove to be their last session of oral questions in their current jobs, that whatever our other disagreements, the Secretary of State’s cross-party working on Ukraine has helped to ensure that the UK has strong, unified support for the Ukrainians The right hon. Gentleman has been Defence Secretary since the Prime Minister, nearly two years ago, boosted defence spending and boasted that that would create 10,000 jobs every year. Only 800 new defence jobs have been created since then. Why the failure?
Defence Jobs — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): The answer is simple: direct British defence contracts first to British firms and British jobs, starting with the Navy’s new support ships The right hon. Gentleman has been Defence Secretary since the Prime Minister also pledged, at the last election: "We will not be cutting our armed services in any form." However, he then launched plans to cut the British Army by a further 10,000 troops. He uses the words "when the threats change". With Ukraine, the threats that we face are greater and our obligations to NATO are greater, so will he now do what Labour has been urging the Government to do for more than a year, and rethink these cuts in the strength of the British Army?
Defence Technology — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): A few moments ago, the Defence Secretary mentioned Typhoon and the advantages of international co-operation. Is this Government, post Brexit, prepared to have a clear strategy to say that co-operation across Europe is in the interests of defence jobs here in the United Kingdom?
Defence Technology — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Christopher James Evans (Labour, Centre-left): If this is indeed the last Defence questions for the present Defence team, I would like to place on record my thanks to the Minister for Defence Procurement for his kindness and generosity since I started shadowing him over a year ago. He is well known in the House for his attention to detail and he has been a formidable opponent for me "Complacent", "too traditional", and "resistant to change or criticism" are some of the words used to describe the Department by the Public Accounts Committee. With a new urgency for innovation due to the clear and present danger created by the war in Ukraine, and with deep concerns that the Department cannot manage large projects such as Dreadnought, is the Minister confident that the Department can deliver the new battle-winning capabilities this country needs, on time and in budget?
Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Aggression — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Putin obviously thought the west would fracture at the beginning, and it is good that the west has not fractured so far. It is also good that lots of different countries in the western alliance are providing military hardware, some of it lethal, to Ukraine, but one problem Ukraine is facing is that each country has procured something slightly different, and Ukrainian personnel have to be trained in how to use each of those different pieces of equipment. If we really are to stay in this for the long haul, will we not have to start developing military equipment that we can all give together so that Ukrainian personnel need only one training session rather than 34?
Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Aggression — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State today give an undertaking that the level of defence support to Ukraine in the next six months, both in value and in volume, will be as much as it was in the previous six months?
Defence Business Services — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for Defence Procurement for his answer, and for procuring some continuity in the Government, against the odds, by remaining in his post during this crucial time. Will he consider bringing the hubs in Liverpool and Manchester into the Defence Business Services workplace programme solution to avoid compulsory redundancies?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): When the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Wells (James Heappey), answered my urgent question on Thursday about new public allegations about British special forces in Afghanistan, he said that, "the Secretary of State is clear that he rules nothing out" He also said: "I am certain that the House will hear from him in the near future."—[Official Report, 14 July 2022; Vol. 718, c. 494.] With the summer recess starting on Thursday, when will the Secretary of State make a statement to the House on this?
Extreme Heat Preparedness — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Exposure to the sun can lead to skin cancer, and skin cancer, especially melanoma, can kill. The incidence of it in the UK has grown significantly in the last 15 to 20 years. Can the Minister make sure of two things? First, can we get rid of VAT on good-quality sunscreen so that it is cheaper and available to more people? Secondly, can we make sure that anybody who works in our emergency services, including all the police and the police officers working here outside the building, have free sunscreen?
Extreme Heat Preparedness — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): I thank everyone working in our frontline infrastructure services that have enabled us to get here today. I also thank the people I passed at an ungodly hour this morning, as I was on my way to the station, who are providing security at the Commonwealth games bowls venue in Leamington. The Minister says the Government are focused on this crisis, but how is it that frontline workers, on whom we depend, are showing up to do their job when the Prime Minister seems to be hidden away in a Chequers fridge?
Ambulance Pressures — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Health
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Since March, West Midlands ambulance service has been on the highest level of alert, and I understand that it was joined by the other ambulance services across England last week. In May, Mark Docherty, the director of nursing for West Midlands ambulance service, predicted that the service would collapse by 17 August—that is a month away from now—if hours lost by crews delayed outside hospitals kept increasing, which of course they have. Can the Secretary of State give some specific answer on what he is doing to address the issues in the west midlands, and also in our care homes, which are a root problem of trying to get people out of hospitals?
Ambulance Pressures — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Health
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Older and more vulnerable patients can become medically compromised very quickly in extreme heat. In Yorkshire, category 1 calls can be waiting for 9.5 minutes over the expected time, category 2 calls can be waiting for 18 minutes over, and those with other medical conditions can be waiting 2 hours 41 minutes over. People clearly need support and assessment far earlier. What is the Secretary of State doing to deploy first responders in such areas so that people can get a medical assessment and early intervention far quicker?
Ambulance Pressures — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his new post The Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee raised the question of what happens when people are ready to go into the community, but there is nowhere there for them to go. There is an even worse example: people who have major brain injuries, for instance as a result of a road traffic accident. The ambulance staff will get them to the major trauma centre, which will save their life, but if they are to get back their life with any degree of independence, they need a prolonged period of neuro-rehabilitation. Some of that will happen in hospital, but across large swathes of the country, there is nothing—absolutely no provision—outside hospital. With any other condition, we would not expect treatment, once started, not to be finished. How can we make sure that neuro-rehabilitation services, which give people back their life, are available across the whole country, and that there is no postcode lottery?
Ambulance Pressures — House of Commons, 2022-07-18
Topic: Health
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): It is worth remembering that the 2010 to 2015 Conservative Government took £6 billion out of social care, so it is no wonder that we are facing a logjam. Since 2015, not once have the Government hit their four-hour target at A&E, and it is down to less than 72% on average right now. This logjam is created by the Conservative Government’s mismanagement of our national health service, so what is the Secretary of State going to do to get back to the four-hour target for A&E?
NATO Accession: Sweden and Finland — House of Commons, 2022-07-06
Topic: Defense
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Of course I completely support Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. Indeed, I remember having conversations with Alexander Stubb back in 2009, trying to persuade him to put this matter more firmly on the agenda for Finland. However, one of my anxieties around NATO is that my Ukrainian friends have been telling me that the lethal equipment that is being provided by different countries around Europe comes in 34 different shapes and sizes, with 34 different manuals. Would it not be much more sensible, if we are really to make sure that Putin does not win, to have an industrial strategy to ensure that the equipment provided to Ukraine is usable by the Ukrainians and does not require 34 different training sessions?
NATO Accession: Sweden and Finland — House of Commons, 2022-07-06
Topic: Defense
John Derek Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): The statement is almost low-key given this extraordinary moment in NATO history, especially for Finland and Sweden, whose accession I of course support. We should not underestimate this massive change in policy. The world, not just Europe, faces an extraordinary threat from what Russia is doing, not just in Ukraine but elsewhere. Aligned with that, the Government must take a decision to increase defence spending, capability and personnel numbers in the armed forces—I suggest that the Minister looks at the Defence Secretary’s comments in reply to my questions in yesterday’s Select Committee meeting—quickly in response to the threat that we now face
NATO Accession: Sweden and Finland — House of Commons, 2022-07-06
Topic: Defense
Nicholas Desmond John Smith (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her statement: it is great that Sweden and Finland will be joining NATO. However, will her Government halt their cuts to our Army? We now have the smallest British Army for 300 years. We need to increase the size of our armed forces, not make the cut of 10,000 troops that the Government are still pushing through.
NATO Accession: Sweden and Finland — House of Commons, 2022-07-06
Topic: Defense
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): We all cannot overstate the significance or momentousness of this announcement. Many of us will have lived through the many decades of the cold war and will appreciate that for Sweden and Finland to be making this decision now underlines the seriousness of the situation. I welcome the announcement from NATO to increase its high-readiness force from 40,000 to 300,000, but I have concerns, as mentioned by my hon. Friends the Members for Halton (Derek Twigg) and for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith), that by reducing our Army’s personnel by 10,000, we are reducing it to a smaller capacity than the US Marine Corps. Will she agree with Labour that we must halt those cuts immediately?
UK Arms Exports: Transparency — House of Commons, 2022-07-21
Topic: Defense
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): In February, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs issued its biggest ever fine of £2.7 million for breach of the arms exports controls. HMRC has refused to publish any details so we do not know who was fined, the name of the company, the military goods exported or where they ended up. How does the Minister expect us to have any faith or confidence in our arms export controls when they are so shrouded in secrecy?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-06-29
Topic: Defense
Angela Rayner (Labour, Centre-left): When Conservative Back Benchers were asked about the absent Prime Minister’s plans to stick around until 2030, one said that he had "lost the plot" and another said that "anyone with half a brain" would realise how dire things are. A former Conservative leader said that "the country would be better off under new leadership." Now the Prime Minister is at war with his own Defence Secretary after confirming that he will break his manifesto pledge to increase defence spending. Under this Government, Britain is set to have less troops, less planes and less ships. The only thing the Prime Minister is interested in is defending his own job. Just how many more troops have to lose their jobs before the Deputy Prime Minister finally says enough is enough?
Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill — House of Commons, 2022-06-29
Topic: Defense
Peter John Kyle (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, as always. We recognise that service personnel were victims too, including the 722 service personnel killed by terrorist actions during the troubles. I put on the record yet again that we cannot forget the service they provided. They must have justice. Many of them and their families remain without the justice they deserve.
Ambulance Waiting Times: Royal Cornwall Hospital — House of Commons, 2022-06-29
Topic: Health
Luke Pollard (Labour, Centre-left): This issue is important not only in Cornwall but in Plymouth, because Derriford Hospital serves part of Cornwall, providing some of the ambulances she mentioned. She is right that this is not the fault of the people who drive the ambulances or who dispatch them, but does she agree that it is utterly unsustainable that many ambulance crews may get only one shout per shift, because they spend the remainder of the shift queuing outside an emergency department in Cornwall or Plymouth waiting to hand over their patient? That is simply unsustainable if we are to have the NHS recovery we need in the south-west.