argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Social Housing — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Questions: After 13 years of Labour MPs in Gloucester in which not a single new social housing unit was built, we now have built some new social housing, but we want to do much more through a master plan involving the Government’s estate regeneration programme. Will my hon. Friend confirm that money may be available through the new national productivity investment fund to help to bridge any potential funding gap caused by low values?; There was much fanfare in the Budget about housing, but when will the Minister start to understand that if the Government are to tackle the social housing crisis, they must abolish the right to buy?
Martin John Vickers (Conservative, Centre-right): If we are to meet the demand for more affordable homes, there needs to be a partnership between the private and public sectors. What actions can the Minister take to ensure that local authorities work with both sectors in order to deliver the homes that we need?
Social Housing — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Questions: After 13 years of Labour MPs in Gloucester in which not a single new social housing unit was built, we now have built some new social housing, but we want to do much more through a master plan involving the Government’s estate regeneration programme. Will my hon. Friend confirm that money may be available through the new national productivity investment fund to help to bridge any potential funding gap caused by low values?; There was much fanfare in the Budget about housing, but when will the Minister start to understand that if the Government are to tackle the social housing crisis, they must abolish the right to buy?
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): In the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out the planning reforms that we are looking at, which will have an impact on local authorities bringing forward more sites more quickly for building. We have also announced an uplift of up to £1 billion for the housing revenue account, which will make a substantial difference.
Victims of Domestic Violence: Social Housing — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): Victims fleeing abuse must be given appropriate priority access to social housing. We are consulting on new guidance that makes it clear to local authorities that victims moving on from refuges should be given the appropriate priority and that any residency test should not be applied.
Victims of Domestic Violence: Social Housing — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Immigration
Andrew Theakstone Percy (Conservative, Centre-right): Members on both sides of the House hold Women’s Aid in high regard. It has stated that the Government’s new model will close refuges. What assurance can the Minister give the House that that will not be the case?
Victims of Domestic Violence: Social Housing — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure my hon. Friend that that will not be the case. We will continue the funding at exactly the same level as currently. There will be a dedicated grant for local authorities that will be ring-fenced in the long term, and we will also make sure that vulnerable people will not need to deal with the payment of rent at a very difficult time in their lives.
Business Rates Retention — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): The £240 million is new money from business rates growth. Let me share with the hon. Lady the startling fact that 100% of the local authorities that will get the business rate localisation pilot applied for it. When she goes back up to her constituency, she might like to ask her own Labour-controlled council why it could not be bothered to do so.
High-rise Buildings: Disabled People — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): Decisions on who is allocated particular properties are ultimately for local authorities and landlords to take at local level. However, our statutory guidance on social housing allocations encourages councils to give appropriate priority to those who need ground-floor accommodation, including disabled people.
High-rise Buildings: Disabled People — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The Grenfell inquiry is independent, so I will let the judge take care of that. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the Government will be publishing a social housing Green Paper next year, and that I am conducting a tour of the country and meeting social housing tenants directly. Of course we will consider access to accommodation for disabled people that is suitable for their needs as part of that work.
Garden Towns — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): We are working with 24 garden cities, towns and villages across England to unlock barriers, broker solutions and support them with infrastructure needs. I am announcing today £3 million of additional capacity funding for 14 garden villages, bringing our total funding through this programme to £19 million.
Garden Towns — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State will be aware that my local authority of Uttlesford is proposing three new garden communities, but significant infrastructure is required first. What reassurance can he give them that investment for this will be forthcoming?
Garden Towns — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to highlight the need for infrastructure when it comes to housing, which is why I am sure she will welcome the increase in funding that was in the recent Budget. I am also launching today a £25 million planning delivery fund and inviting bids from ambitious councils, and a consultation on regulations that will enable the creation of locally led new development corporations.
Garden Towns — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that a consultation on this has just closed, and we will be responding to it shortly. I have said before, and I am happy to repeat, that I see no reason whatever for new houses to be sold on leasehold.
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Government for their work on implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act. Will the Minister give us an update on what money and resources are being made available to local councils so that they can help us to achieve this ambition?
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we want to eradicate rough sleeping as soon as is practicably possible, but we are providing funding under the Housing First pilot to help Greater Manchester, along with the Liverpool city region and the west midlands.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Questions: Corby Nightlight is a fantastic charitable organisation that does brilliant work to help support homeless people in our community. What steps are the Department taking to support such organisations, which do important work in our communities?
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to everyone involved in charities such as Corby Nightlight. We are providing a package of over £1 billion up to 2020 to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. Part of the package involves providing funding for services and projects such as the one in Corby, which does so much to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Questions: Corby Nightlight is a fantastic charitable organisation that does brilliant work to help support homeless people in our community. What steps are the Department taking to support such organisations, which do important work in our communities?; The move to calculate business rates using CPI instead of RPI is reducing bills for many small businesses across the country, but 62 councils are yet to move to CPI despite the Government providing Budget funding. What are the Government doing to ensure that all councils use CPI to calculate their business rates?
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): While the vast majority of local authorities have re-billed their businesses, it is unacceptable that some councils still have not. The Government have given councils a £435 million package of support for businesses, so I urge all councils that have not yet done the right thing to do so urgently.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Questions: Corby Nightlight is a fantastic charitable organisation that does brilliant work to help support homeless people in our community. What steps are the Department taking to support such organisations, which do important work in our communities?; The move to calculate business rates using CPI instead of RPI is reducing bills for many small businesses across the country, but 62 councils are yet to move to CPI despite the Government providing Budget funding. What are the Government doing to ensure that all councils use CPI to calculate their business rates?; Given that England’s private rented sector has doubled since 2002, what plans do Ministers have to emulate Scotland’s exemplary new policy under which such renters now have longer notice periods, indefinite security of tenure and a limit of one rent increase a year?; The positivity of small businesses in Bedworth last Saturday was tinged with frustration at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s decision to increase car parking charges, which has reduced footfall and seen fee income reduced by £200,000. Does the Minister agree that our councils should be far more focused on supporting our town centres, not on driving shoppers away?; The Surrey Vaults in Bristol has become the latest small music venue to close because of noise complaints. Can the Minister tell us how discussions are going with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about plans to introduce an agent of change principle into planning law so that small music venues are able to stand up to developers?; I am sure the Secretary of State will have seen today’s report from the British Chambers of Commerce, which concludes that, for our businesses to grow and compete, it is vital that local authorities provide an adequate supply of building land and consents for new commercial buildings. I know he is considering business rate retention, so will he ensure that proactive councils, such as Rugby Borough Council, continue to receive incentives to grow their local economies?; Bus users in the Potteries have been hit by a double whammy of fare increases and journey cuts. Although my constituents might appreciate the irony of two lots of bad bus news arriving at once, they certainly do not appreciate the inconvenience or the impact on their jobs. Many of those cuts could be avoided if Stoke-on-Trent City Council was prepared properly to subsidise public transport. What support is the Minister providing to make sure we have a bus system in the Potteries that is fit for purpose?
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): The affordability of a house is not just what it costs to buy or rent each month but what it costs to live in it thereafter. May I therefore encourage the Secretary of State to set the highest energy efficiency standards possible for new houses so that they can be cheap both to own and to operate?
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): May I remind the House of what I said fewer than 10 minutes ago? The question is about the resignation of the board, so questions should be about that matter; it is not unreasonable to hope that the same might also be said of answers.
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. That question, although delivered with the hon. Gentleman’s customary lucidity, also suffered from the disadvantage of being utterly irrelevant to the question of the resignation of the board. Perhaps we can return to the matter at hand.
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very sorry that the board has chosen to resign. The Conservative party has done so much for social mobility; I would consider myself an example from the ’80s. When it comes to appointing a new board, could we look at having more than four members to provide a bit more diversity?
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): I had thought that the hon. Gentleman was better than that. I think we have some great people on the board in Norwich, and I look forward to working with them to provide better opportunities for people in Norwich.
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes quite a political point. I note that the East Anglia Co-op is now selling goods that are past their best-before date, but I do not think this country needs Labour peddling policies that were well past their sell-by date in the 1970s.
Social Mobility Commission — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I am sorry, but I am going to conclude at this point. I know only a few Members are left to ask questions, but there will be many opportunities fully to air this matter. Looking at the perspicacious Members who were standing, I am quite sure that even if I had not said that, they would anyway have found such opportunities.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. The news is actually that Juncker is confident there will be a deal next week. Is it not wrong to say that the Prime Minister is coming back empty-handed when there is almost certainly going to be a deal? Is it not the Europeans who are going to be empty-handed if they do not get their hands on our £50 billion?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): That underlines the importance of not jumping the gun. I understand the hon. Gentleman’s impatience, but we must not allow this to become a spat between people who want to say that all is well and those who want to say that all is ill. I simply invite the House to be a little patient: these matters will be addressed by one means or another—almost certainly by the proffering of a Government oral statement—very soon.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. If Members only want to repeat what others have said, but with the words they have busily rehearsed in front of the mirror, they might think it better to save them for the long winter evenings that lie ahead.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is making a passionate speech, but does she accept that powers are not being ripped away, given that they are not there for the devolved Administrations at the moment? [Interruption.] Whether hon. Members think it right or not, as a matter of law those powers are vested in the EU, so if they come back to the devolved Administrations, they will be additional powers. Powers are not being taken away.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be delighted to explain, but I probably will not be able to today. It is a lovely idea, and I would be more than happy to spend 20 minutes or so on it, but—
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Douglas Gordon Ross (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that his tone and language in this debate are quite different from what his Ministers say when they come out of their meetings with UK Government officials? We should reflect on the progress that has been made to date, rather than continually try to find a political divide on this most important of issues.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I hesitate to interrupt the right hon. Gentleman, but he knows what I am going to say: I am not going to trample over anyone—well hardly anyone—this afternoon. I would be grateful if he addressed the Government as the Government.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Paul Masterton (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely agree, but the point is that the amendments proposed by the Scottish and Welsh Governments go far too far. There is some middle ground, on which, if the hon. Gentleman will allow me, I will set out where I believe we can get to.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I am always grateful for the help of the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands). Thank you very much. Mr Masterton must have a chance to answer the point made by Ms Cherry before we have any further interventions, although there will probably be another one in a moment.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Ross Thomson (Conservative, Centre-right): That is absolutely the case. That is why there are 13 Scottish Conservative MPs and only seven Scottish Labour Members. Indeed, a number of my colleagues are in their place on the Conservative Benches, whereas the hon. Gentleman seems to be the sole Scottish Labour Member in the Chamber. I think that the Scottish Conservatives are doing well in standing up for Scotland.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. No he cannot. We are discussing new clauses and amendments to the Bill, not what people are seeing on Twitter. If the Prime Minister has anything to report to the House, I am sure that she will come at the earliest opportunity to give such a report.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Paul Masterton (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman does not seem to have read his own amendment. I do not want either clause 11 as it stands or clause 11 as suggested by the Scottish and Welsh Governments, because both go too far. We need a middle ground, and that means knowing what the position will be in relation to powers. We do not seem to be too far apart, but the hon. Gentleman is intending to vote for something that he is not arguing for.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not agree more, but I hope that the hon. Gentleman will acknowledge—I am not being accusatory—that this has been a failure of previous Governments as well as this one. When the Select Committee visited the Welsh Assembly and the Welsh Government during the 2010 Parliament, First Minister Carwyn Jones actually complained to us, perhaps with more rhetoric than was justified, that he had been trying to get a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron for months and months—more than a year—but had not been allowed to have one. We need fewer excuses for people who want to be destructive and more confidence that meetings will take place and that they are valued by all parties.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I hear the hon. Lady’s impatience, but we need to be more patient. We are not completing the consideration of this Bill this evening, and I am encouraged by the work done by the First Secretary of State, who chaired the last meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee and seemed to be drawing people together around some agreed principles for how joint frameworks might be approached. We all want to see that, so let us hope that that work will continue.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): Sir David, am I to be tempted to enter a debate on today’s negotiations, or should we wait until tomorrow, when perhaps someone will come to tell the House something about what has been going on A formal inter-parliamentary council that meets on a regular basis would be another opportunity for parliamentarians to understand each other better.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I will not give way again. I have said everything I want to say My Committee is continuing its inquiry. If any right hon. or hon. Member wants to have their say, they can always submit evidence to our Committee.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
Paul Masterton (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the amendments he is discussing do not reflect the recommendations of the Scottish Affairs Committee and go further than those recommendations? Does he therefore understand why we as Scottish Conservatives are not in a position to support those amendments? It is not about talking Scotland down or being whipping boys for the Conservative Government, but a recognition that that is not the agreeable position where the Scottish Affairs Committee landed?
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Robert Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will not get involved in a running commentary on what he has been reading on Twitter. I look forward to hearing what the Prime Minister has to say when she is ready to speak to us My priority from Brexit is twofold. My first priority is to protect the integrity of the UK internal market, which is worth four times more to Scottish businesses than that of the European Union. The other priority is to get the best possible access to the EU market. That, I believe, is also the priority of SNP colleagues, although there are differences over how we define the word "possible" The amendments proposed by the Scottish and Welsh Governments would, I believe, put the United Kingdom internal market at risk, which is why I cannot support them. By automatically devolving powers, they would place unnecessary barriers to trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK, our largest market. While accepting the need for common frameworks, the Scottish Government’s approach seems to be that everything should be devolved on day one and there should then be a process of trying to re-reserve powers to Westminster at a later date once we know what trade agreements require a UK-wide approach. That approach would bring an extra layer of uncertainty at an already uncertain time.
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Other
John Robert Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Significant progress is being made between the two Governments, which was why I was so disappointed with the opening remarks of the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber. There is not a million miles between the two Governments.