argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Christopher James Green (Conservative, Centre-right): As the furlough programme comes to an end, a great many people will be concerned about their prospects. Does my hon. Friend share my appreciation of the work of the Bolton and Leigh jobcentres and all the work that they have done to make sure that they are fully prepared to support people during this difficult time? Will she also welcome the fact that many employers locally are reporting that they have jobs for people to go to?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Miriam Jane Alice Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I hugely appreciate the endeavours of all our work coaches, especially and including those in Bolton and Leigh JCPs. The Office for National Statistics says that our new monthly experimental vacancy data suggest that we are almost back to the pre-pandemic level in terms of vacancies; it was over 800,000 in May. Through our Jobcentre Plus provision, we have a wide variety of support available to help employers to fill those vacancies.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his knighthood; it is well-deserved given his political and public service. I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members have made on this matter. As the House will well know, we are absolutely committed not only to making sure that this is a temporary measure, but to helping people get back into work. We believe that that continues to be the best way, especially as there are vacancies across the country, and we will strain every sinew to help make that happen.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The vast majority of veterans make a successful transition to life outside the armed forces, with around 85% securing employment easily. The DWP provides support to veterans in a number of different ways, including through our voluntary entry to the work and health programme and through our network of hard-working armed forces champions up and down the country. That work complements the resettlement support provided by the Ministry of Defence, sponsored by Career Transition Partnership.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Social Welfare
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid I fundamentally disagree with the hon. Lady. I appreciate the question, but the two-child limit is a question of fairness and of putting those who are in receipt of benefits in the same position—facing the same life choices—as those who are not in receipt of benefits.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I think I have covered this one. As our economy improves, we will increasingly focus our support and work on in-work progression to improve the opportunities for those who are in low-paid work and to support them towards financial independence. The in-work progression commission will report shortly on the barriers to progression for those in persistent low pay. Our plan for jobs—those extra 13,500 work coaches, kickstart, restart, job entry targeted support and the sector-based work academy programme—will make a difference, and of course we have the strategy coming out of the in-work progression commission.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady should be aware, on 16 June we had a pension credit awareness day, working with Age UK, Independent Age, various other charitable organisations and the BBC to get greater uptake of pension credit, and I am pleased to say that pension credit numbers are improving. There is more to do, but we are working with stakeholders to ensure that that does happen.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to praise the staff at Maesteg jobcentre, and I join him in that. This is where the "Plus" is part of Jobcentre Plus. We are conscious that people may need to have many skills, and we continue to try to upskill our work coaches right across the country to make sure they do. It is fair to say that we need to make sure that our work coaches are trained to signpost people to the right services in their area. Many go above and beyond what would normally be expected, and I commend them for doing so.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Department and particularly the Harlow jobcentre for the work they have done in supporting vulnerable families during the pandemic. I welcome the kickstart scheme, which will provide a real incentive for employers to employ young people, but will my right hon. Friend work with the Treasury to reform the apprenticeship levy so that big companies can use more of the levy if they employ disadvantaged young apprentices?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Labor
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right to praise the staff at Harlow jobcentre, and I agree that they do an excellent job. In terms of what could be done with reform of the apprenticeship levy, that is one of the factors we should be considering in ensuring that some of the most disadvantaged young people get that extra foot on the ladder. We are trying to do that in certain ways through kickstart and then to provide elements of a pathway for those young people to make sure they have a longer lasting job, whether they go into an apprenticeship or directly into permanent employment.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): In an ideal and proper world, the documents should not have been available where they were, so that is where the original fault clearly lies. In the event of documents of this nature being found, clearly one would encourage members of the public to hand them in to the police. In this instance, they were handed in to the BBC. Naturally, I would have preferred the BBC to hand them over immediately and not made reference to them, but it has a job to do, and I recognise that it has behaved responsibly and handed the documents back to the Department. We are analysing that now.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Mark Andrew Pritchard (Conservative, Centre-right): Putting aside the particulars of this recent incident, may I ask the Minister of State when the Government will introduce their reform of the Official Secrets Act, particularly on the classification of papers and punishment for those who breach the Act? Given that the Act is over 100 years old, is it not the case that in some situations it is no longer fit for purpose, and that reform needs to come sooner rather than later?
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): As I mentioned to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), there are policies and procedures in place as to how documents can be safely taken out of the Department on the rare occasions when that is necessary. I think it is for the investigation to work through whether those procedures were followed in this instance and whether those procedures need to be reformed or improved for the future.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Mark Rory Logan (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK enjoys a strong bilateral relationship with Ukraine, highlighted by the recent trilateral agreement signed on board HMS Defender, but maintaining the highest levels of information security is critical to retaining confidence and credibility with our allies. I am reassured that the Minister’s Department is launching an investigation, but have the Minister and the Secretary of State spoken with our counterparts in the Ukrainian Government, along with our ambassador to Ukraine, to ensure that confidence and credibility with our allies has not been undermined and that Ukraine and the wider region remains uncompromised by this leak?
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Technology
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady refers to the BBC choosing not to report, and I think that was right. One would have preferred the BBC to have handed the documents straight over, but it acted responsibly by not relaying information that could have caused problems. We are going through the investigation. We are ensuring that all those documents have been returned, and we will be ensuring that any mitigating actions that need to be taken are put in place.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure my right hon. Friend that we constantly update and keep abreast of developments on the ground in Afghanistan and indeed in other theatres, but I would not wish to alarm him. There is an investigation under way that will test what information was in those documents, whether they have been returned and what mitigating actions, if any, need to be taken as a result.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): It appears to be a loss of documents rather than a deliberate act, although, as I say, I should not prejudge the investigation. That needs to be determined finally, but the loss of documents was reported by the individual concerned. Above official sensitive level, that is an extremely rare occurrence; no incidents have happened in the last 18 months. I checked over the last 18 months for the loss of documents above that level However, the hon. Lady is right that no one should take with equanimity information leaving the MOD in circumstances where it should not leave. The investigation is ongoing. I hope that it will report shortly. We will see whether it has recommendations as to how we can further tighten our procedures or whether this was a case of those procedures not being followed. If there are recommendations, we will take that very seriously and we will certainly share with the House.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): The investigation is partly to find out what happened and the circumstances behind the mislaying of these documents. I will not prejudge whether others were involved; it just needs to be discovered. I totally take the hon. Gentleman’s point that one should not jump to conclusions. We need to have a proper investigation. As I say, the police are involved. We need to find the conclusions of that. We also need to find out what we need to learn for the future, and I will make certain that the House is advised of the conclusions of the investigation.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand my hon. and gallant Friend’s concern, which will be shared by other hon. and gallant Members and by his former serving colleagues, but I think it is important that we have the investigation and find out exactly what is at fault. That also includes an examination of our policies and procedures to make certain that they are fit for purpose.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Transportation
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to say whether it is human recklessness, or what it is, until the investigation has reported. As I say, there are quite serious policies and procedures in place; whether they need to be tightened again is a subject for the investigation, and I will be interested to hear what it says. We will take what it says very seriously, I can assure the hon. Gentleman.
Loss of Secret Documents — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to update the House on the leak of classified and sensitive documents from the Ministry of Defence.
Jeremy Mark Quin (Conservative, Centre-right): The irony will not be lost on the hon. Gentleman that, whereas he referred to massive data accumulations through the internet and online services, what we are talking about here is paper documentation being left and mislaid. It is a different scenario. As I say, the investigation will check what happened, why it happened, what we can do to prevent document loss in future and whether there are more measures we need to put in place. Ultimately, however, this is the loss of physical documents. It should not happen. As I said to the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Cat Smith) earlier, I did do a trawl and we have no record of documents being mislaid at above official sensitive level in the last 18 months. I hope that this is an extremely rare circumstance, but we still need to learn the lessons.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Lady for her important questions, which I will seek to answer. It is important to understand that Government guidance is that official devices, email accounts and communications applications should be used for communicating classified information. Other forms of electronic communication may be used in the course of conducting Government business. Each Minister is responsible for ensuring that Government information is handled in a secure way, but how that is done will depend on the type of information and on the specific circumstances The right hon. Lady asked about the procurement of personal protective equipment, I believe, or a covid contract that was conducted allegedly via a private email address. I am happy to look into that. But there needs to be understanding of the fact that when we were at the height of the pandemic, a huge volume of correspondence was coming to Ministers via their personal email addresses, their parliamentary email addresses and their ministerial email addresses.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important that a distinction is made between material that was inappropriately sourced and then leaked and people who are trying to raise legitimate concerns that require public transparency. I shall look into the concern that my hon. Friend has raised to make sure that there is no blurring of those two very important and distinct issues.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for raising an important point. As I have said, sweeps are conducted across Departments. Ultimately, the permanent secretaries of Departments are accountable for security within them, but the Cabinet Office sets out clear guidance and continues to liaise with Departments about how that is adhered to. My hon. Friend raises an important point about covert devices, and we all seek the same reassurances as him on these matters.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: International Affairs
David Mervyn Johnston (Conservative, Centre-right): There is currently a lot of speculation in the newspapers about the implications in respect of foreign powers using these sorts of surveillance tools. Will my hon. Friend confirm that at this stage there is no reason to believe that foreign powers have been involved in respect of this particular camera at the Department of Health and Social Care but that the investigation will look at whether there is any connection?
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Selaine Rachel Saxby (Conservative, Centre-right): The leaking of footage from inside private ministerial offices raises two important questions. Why had a camera been installed? If it had been done legitimately, how did the footage come into the public domain? Will my hon. Friend confirm that the matter will be investigated with the urgency it requires?
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): My understanding is that it is not within the Minister’s power to approve contracts—that goes through the approval of civil servants. I would like to offer the hon. Lady that assurance, but I am happy to look into the particular incident she highlights further if there are concerns that need to be looked into.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Jack Edgar Brereton (Conservative, Centre-right): Ministers will often need to discuss matters of the highest confidential nature and see highly confidential documents, so does the Minister agree that Ministers should be able to make such decisions in the British interest, without any fear or favour?
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): My understanding is that the general policy is that cameras are not sited within Ministers’ offices. I think this situation was an outlier in that regard, and we will have a better understanding of why it occurred once the Department’s investigation is complete.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): My point is that it is not Ministers who make the final decisions on contracts and that important processes are gone through. There may be questions about the direction of email traffic, but the point is that every decision is scrutinised under the same process when it comes to providing covid contracts—if that is the hon. Gentleman’s concern.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): As I say, there have been a number of investigations to look into some of the allegations that have been put to Government over the course of the pandemic, including the National Audit Office’s report. We have conducted our own investigations, because we take seriously some of the allegations that have been put to us. As I say, there are processes in place that people went through. There were a number of other challenges we faced at the height of the pandemic, which I have been candid about in Westminster Hall and in other places, but the public should be assured that their money has been spent with care. As I say, there were challenges we went through, relating to the sheer number of items of correspondence and emails that were coming in. It is not for Ministers to conduct and make decisions on contract awards over private email, and we are happy to look into any concerns in that regard.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
John Michael Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): If I understood the Lord Chancellor correctly this morning, he said that when he wants to read a sensitive document, he goes to a separate room in his Department to do so. Could we have a look at what procedures are in place across Government to make sure that Ministers can read sensitive documents safely?
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend will be aware, there are different levels of document classification, so procedures are already in place to ensure that Ministers can read such documents in privacy and with great security, but if there are concerns about whether those safeguards are robust enough, we will look into them.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman’s mind is blown. I am a Cabinet Office Minister who is responsible for overall adherence to Government security rules. When it comes to the placement of the camera in that office, I am afraid that it is for the Department of Health and Social Care to account for itself when it comes to what happened. It is already conducting an investigation, which we will want to look at.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Technology
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): I appreciate the hon. Lady’s question, but I am not asking her to believe anything. I am asking her to have patience while the Department conducts its own investigation into exactly what happened. On the use of emails, there are clear guidelines to which Ministers should adhere, but we have to accept that there was a situation in which we all had to move online, and we all have to account for the way in which we handled ourselves in that period.
Security of Ministers’ Offices and Communications — House of Commons, 2021-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Julia Louise Lopez (Conservative, Centre-right): Those are very pertinent questions, and ones that I have asked in advance of today and to which we will all want answers. My right hon. Friend makes an important and useful suggestion when it comes to the protocol in relation to CCTV or any other device that might be found in a Minister’s office. I am sure that other Ministers across Government will want that assurance.