argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not recognise the plans the hon. Lady is talking about, but I say to her that we do need to change our service provision; we are dealing with many more older people, and her constituents need better care at home and in the community than they are currently getting. Any big changes will be subject to a proper consultation, and would indeed go before the Independent Reconfiguration Panel and if necessary end up on my desk. I also say to the hon. Lady that setting her face against all changes may be—
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): We are putting extra money into adult social care, and local authorities have the ability to increase their funding to adult social care through the new precept. In an ideal world, everyone would like more money to go into the NHS and social care system, but Government Members know that those systems are powered by a strong economy and that we can increase our budget only at a rate that the economy can afford. The past six years show that if we take care of the economy, we can increase the NHS and social care budget, and that is what we are doing.
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that, which is why we need to make difficult efficiency savings—around £22 billion during this Parliament. We made about £18 billion to £19 billion-worth of savings in the previous Parliament, so I think it is doable. It will not be easy, but she is right in what she says.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): May I unreservedly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, which builds on and elaborates previous work? I hope, however, that he will consider two issues during the Green Paper consultation. One of the greatest difficulties with the employment and support allowance is the binary choice that lies at the heart of its design, whereby it is deemed either that someone is too sick to work, or that they should work. We know that conditions can vary in many cases. Given that universal credit is now being rolled out, with this system forming part of that, would it be feasible to move away from that binary choice so that someone who moves into work can have that extra allowance before it tapers away? Given that universal credit is critical to this, will he look again at work allowances, particularly for those with limited capability for work, because they need to be increased to their original levels?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his support. He is right about the binary choice that has obtained up to now under ESA and the fact that under the universal credit system, which he introduced, we have the capacity in the welfare system to make our approach much more flexible. That is precisely what the changes to the work capability assessment are designed to achieve—so that people are not simply put in one group or another and then left there. The much more personalised approach will mean that everyone should benefit from the assessment. We will be able to separate out the level of benefit that people should get from the level of support that they need to make the best of their lives. On the question of reversing previous changes in allowances, we have no plans to do so.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her general welcome for the appearance of the Green Paper and her commitment to work constructively on it. Indeed, my hon. Friend the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work was in Scotland last week discussing with counterparts what needs to be done. As the hon. Lady might know, I will be there later this week to talk to the Social Security Committee The hon. Lady makes a point about resources, and I am able to tell her that there will be additional support for new claimants with limited capability for work. That will be £60 million next year, with the figure rising to £100 million a year by 2020. There will be new money for the third sector—something like £15 million by Christmas this year The hon. Lady made a very good point about employers. I agree that we need more than rhetoric, which is why we will be rolling out a small employer offer to support the creation of more job opportunities for disabled people. It will provide support for employers and enable them to apply for a payment of £500 after three months’ employment so that they can provide ongoing support. That kind of practical help, particularly for small businesses, will transform the situation for many people. We know that small businesses are the biggest creators of jobs in this country. We absolutely want them to use the great talent pool of people with disabilities, whose levels of employment are much less than those of people without disabilities.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, PIP is not a work-related benefit, as the hon. Lady knows. It is a benefit that is designed to meet the extra costs of those who have a disability, and it is sensible that people go through the appropriate assessment for it. As I have said, I completely agree that it is important to ensure that people have access to work, and that is why we are so keen on the Access to Work programme. There will be different ways for people to access work. As I have explained, the real-terms funding for the programme will increase through to 2021. I agree with her that this is an important issue, and we are doing something about it.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the revised system ensure that if somebody is found fit for work on the basis of receiving a particular level of support, the need for that support will be passed on through the system and that support will be made available?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): I too extend a warm welcome to the Green Paper. Within the next hour, we will launch, with the National Autistic Society, a report entitled "The autism employment gap", which shows that only 16% of people on the autism spectrum are in full-time employment. That gap is bigger than the disability employment gap. I welcome the personalised support to which my right hon. Friend has referred. Will he say more about how he will tailor it to meet the individual needs of autistic people in particular?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her kind remarks. I congratulate her on all the work she has done over many years in Parliament for those on the autism spectrum. I am pleased to tell her that we will have 1,100 specialists in autism services in Jobcentre Plus premises. She is quite right that we should never assume that disabled people are in any way homogenous: people have different needs and different requirements. She will know better than anyone that the needs of those on the autism spectrum are specific, and that they therefore need to be dealt with in a personal and specific way.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): Obviously, if the hon. Gentleman wants to write to us about his constituent he should please do so, because we do not want any wrong decisions to be taken. I will happily look at the individual case, although he will recognise that I cannot possibly comment on it at the moment. The one point on which I would take issue with him is when he says that this is the tip of an iceberg. Actually, the number of successful appeals against ESA judgments has fallen very significantly, from 14% to 5% in recent months, so the figures suggest that the system is getting better at making such judgments.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her supportive words. I hope she will see the personal support package make a difference. I have already mentioned the 200 community partners that will come in, so we will engage the third sector very actively in this process. We will also extend the journey to employment job clubs to 71 Jobcentre Plus areas—those with the highest number of people receiving ESA—so we are trying new ideas in the areas where we think they will particularly make a difference.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Amanda Jane Solloway (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that in order to utilise the talent and enrich the lives of those with disabilities and ongoing health issues, including mental health issues, we need to make further improvements to reduce bureaucracy and personalise employment support for individual needs?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Government Operations
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I do. On a day-to-day basis in our constituency work we will all have seen people who are frustrated by the bureaucracy. When my hon. Friend and other Members read the Green Paper they will see an emphasis on making the systems more human and more personal, so that people do not feel that they are being ground down by a very difficult bureaucracy. Bureaucracy always takes a long time to change, but we absolutely want to change it.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): It would be premature of me to try to set targets on either of those. The sensible thing is to take practical steps. For example, we are more than doubling the number of disability employment advisers to help with specialist and local expertise for disabled people. Along with everything else I have announced, that will be a significant step forward in halving the disability employment gap. Of course, doing so depends on both ends of it, as the halving of the gap will depend on what the total employment level is, and we are in good shape on that, as 80% of working-age people who do not have a disability are in work. But as the right hon. Gentleman knows, only 48% of those with a disability are in work. I want to make steady progress towards halving the gap, but it may take some time.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the expertise the hon. Gentleman brings to this. I will take both his points on board. In fact, on his second point, he may have seen that I have already announced that we are going to stop retesting those with a condition that already means that they cannot work and that will only stay the same or get worse. That seems to me a piece of pointless and fundamentally heartless bureaucracy that we can happily get rid of.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Heidi-Suzanne Allen (Conservative, Centre-right): I encourage the Secretary of State to apply his very human and welcome fresh pair of eyes to the whole system. Damage will be done to his very good intentions if he proceeds with the cuts to universal credit work allowances and the ESA WRAG. I urge him to personally understand the risks in proceeding with both of those cuts.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend knows, we have had private discussions on this point, and I have heard her discuss it on a number of public platforms as well. I can only repeat what I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith): although we are not looking for new cuts in the welfare budget or welfare benefits, we have no plans to reverse anything that has already been legislated for.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome today’s announcement. The chief executive of Scope, Mark Atkinson, rightly highlights that the assessment should be the first step for support. Therefore, will the Secretary of State set out how stakeholders and charities can not only shape future policy but help to deliver the expert tailored employment support so needed?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the support from my hon. Friend, who did excellent work when he was the Minister for Disabled People. I am happy to reassure him that there will be localised services, with facilitated pacts done at a local level so that in each individual jobcentre and area the appropriate type of support will be available after an assessment has been made.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right that there are increasing numbers of self-employed people, and we want to ensure that they are treated as fairly as everyone else. Indeed, one of the successes of recent years is the new enterprise allowance, which has allowed nearly 20,000 disabled people to start up businesses. That is about one in five of business start-ups, so it is a significant part of the system, and it means that we are very alive to the needs of self-employed people.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Wendy Morton (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and the announcement of the Green Paper, but will he reassure me that he will also look at making further improvements to the work capability assessment to make it as smooth as possible for claimants, because that will make a big difference?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): We have had five different reviews of the work capability assessment in the past six years, and the ideas I am bringing forward today are the latest response. There is no system so good that it cannot be improved, and I would welcome my hon. Friend’s input to make the system even better in future.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): My constituents in Kettering want to know whether the Secretary of State thinks that the film "I, Daniel Blake" is an accurate portrayal of the benefits system. If it is, do the changes he has announced in the Green Paper address the problems raised? If it is not, what are the inaccuracies?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not seen the film yet but have seen quite a lot of trailers. [Interruption.] I would point out to my hon. Friend and the hon. Lady on the Opposition Bench who is chuntering from a sedentary position that it is a work of fiction and not a documentary. It bears no relation to the modern benefits system. As I understand it, it is monstrously unfair to jobcentre staff, who are hugely conscientious people doing a job, sometimes in difficult conditions, and doing it very well indeed.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Green Paper’s direction of travel. Will its additional, personalised and tailored support for disabled people reach them by April, when they will lose the WRAG payments—which was a condition of support for the ESA cuts for many of my hon. Friends?
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my hon. Friend has a deep interest in this area, and, when he reads the Green Paper in full, he will find that there are many measures we can take immediately so that help will flow through in the coming months to many people who have a disability but also have the burning desire to get back into work.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I did not water down the commitment. The original commitment in the manifesto did not have an end date, so I am merely repeating the manifesto commitment. We will publicise all the relevant information so that the House and the public will know the progress we are making. There has been progress in the past few years. The percentage of disabled people employed has gone up in recent years, but I intend to improve on that progress in future.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said, we are doing large-scale, localised consultations, and that is the way to do it. There is a huge network of 750 jobcentres around the country, so the DWP has the power to get into local areas and know what local conditions are. That is by far the most powerful tool we have to make sure that the services we offer can be appropriately sensitive in every local area.
Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Labor
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise that more jobs are available and being taken in our economy than ever before. General levels of unemployment are very low—4.9% is a rate that would have been unimaginable in previous eras, so we should be proud of that. The key is to make sure that those jobs—I agree with him on this point—can be matched to those who may have a disability or long-term health condition so that they can take advantage of the vibrant jobs market we currently have.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Foreign Trade
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State is to be congratulated on his announcement, which is clearly very good news for Sunderland, but I think that he will understand Parliament’s desire to understand the terms on which these and other negotiations are conducted. May I ask whether he has discussed this matter with the International Trade Secretary, and whether he will be in the driving seat of future trade negotiations? We all think that he is rather good at it.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Foreign Trade
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman started well, Mr Speaker, although I certainly have not been slapped down, up, sideways or any other way by the Prime Minister, I am pleased to say The approach I have set out to the House and stated previously simply reflects what I would have thought is common sense: in an area—we have been talking about the automotive sector—in which there are substantial exports that come from Britain to the EU and from the EU to this country and components go backwards and forwards, there is a clear common interest in having arrangements that are free of tariffs and the bureaucratic impediments I mentioned. So it seems to me that when we embark on any negotiation, it is about finding the common ground and having a positive volition so to do. That is what I set out and that is what I described to Nissan, and indeed would do to any other manufacturer. It is on that basis, along with the other points I have made, that Nissan felt able to make this fantastic investment not only in the north-east, but in the United Kingdom.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Foreign Trade
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister surely has not slapped down my right hon. Friend, but has slapped him on the back as a gesture of congratulations on a remarkable deal. I ask my right hon. Friend to come clean on one other issue he left off his list, which I am sure he mentioned to Nissan, however. He will have reminded Nissan that the UK outside the EU will be able to set its own new trade deals—and guess which car manufacturers will benefit from free trade deals with the rest of world.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Foreign Trade
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s endorsement. As the Prime Minister said, we are going to make a success of Brexit, and we want every sector of our economy, including the automotive sector, not to be disadvantaged by Brexit, but to reap the benefits and be more competitive in the future.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: Macroeconomics
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the generous compliment the Chairman of the Select Committee pays me. I am certainly not going to disagree with him on what he said about the north-east, but I should say that Kent ranks equally. I am looking forward to coming before his Select Committee, not only to answer questions but to talk about the industrial strategy. The approach I not just intend to take but am already taking is to take time to meet the firms in our economy and understand the different needs of different sectors, so that we can be informed by them as we form our negotiating mandate. Those needs will obviously be different from sector to sector, and my commitment, which we will share when we meet in his Committee, is through our industrial strategy to make sure that we have confidence both for individual sectors and for individual places, because there is a very interesting confluence there. Investment in Nissan is good for the sector and good for Sunderland and the north-east.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: International Affairs
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a high personal regard, exemplifies what my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) was saying: he looks so glum at this news. What I set out to the House, to Nissan and to any firm that is in this country is what my colleagues have said repeatedly: there is a great common interest among other European Union nations and ourselves in having a deal following the negotiations that maximises the benefit to both sides. That seems so obvious that it is hardly worthy emphasising. That is the demeanour with which we will approach the negotiations. It is the approach that I have always taken in negotiations, and it seems as though that is something that people are glad to hear.
Nissan: Sunderland — House of Commons, 2016-10-31
Topic: International Affairs
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): This goes beyond any discussions that I have had with any company here. Why would we not aim to avoid bureaucratic impediments as a matter of negotiation? That seems to be common sense and that is what I set out.