argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Wendy Morton (Conservative, Centre-right): In a nutshell, the figure is significant, and I will come on to that shortly The charity funds vital support services that care for the child and often the whole family: financial advice, parental accommodation, as well as spiritual support and helping families to stay together and manage their lives during what can be very difficult and trying times The Great Ormond Street hospital charity has a large number of donors, individual companies and, I am told, celebrities who support their work. On fundraising, Members will be interested to know that the charity raised £80,981,000 in the financial year 2014-15—an increase on the previous financial year—so the figure is indeed significant One of the most generous donors in its history is, of course, J.M. Barrie. As the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is keen to take advantage of the opportunity to move to independent status, specific legislation is required to provide for the rights to the "Peter Pan" royalties to be given to the new charity. The idea of royalties being paid to a charity is not unusual in itself. As we approach the run-up to Christmas, I am reminded of songs recorded for charity where royalties go into charitable trusts, but the relationship between Great Ormond Street hospital and "Peter Pan" is different. It is already a unique situation, and a unique solution is required to enable the rights to the crucial royalties to be given to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, so that Great Ormond Street hospital can continue to benefit from the generous J.M. Barrie bequest.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with what my hon. Friend is saying. It is not just a question of the tactics that the trust can use to raise funds. The Bill will enable those who donate, and who participate in fundraising, to feel confident that the charity, and those who are independent of the Government, will spend the money and decide how it will be spent.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for your ruling, Madam Deputy Speaker—and I am drawing my remarks to a close I also think that the Bill is helpful in terms of general governance. As has been noted, Great Ormond Street currently operates two charities side by side. That requires two reports to the Charity Commission, two sets of audited accounts, and a duplication of arrangements involving busy people who could, quite properly, be engaging in other activities to raise funds.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not just about the duplication of effort but about the fact that money that has been spent on creating the accounts and on the bureaucracy could have been spent on the work that the charities carry out.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is an energetic champion of deregulation and trying to cut away as much red tape as possible. I am sure that the electorate of Erewash are delighted by that. I agree with her entirely that this could free up not just time but valuable funds for a more health-related purpose My hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills has delivered the Bill with great clarity. In this day and age, it is interesting and unusual when any Secretary of State is prepared to see power taken away from them. The Bill champions the cause of localism and local involvement, which is a good thing. Although the Bill cannot prove this of itself, there might well be opportunities to raise additional funds from trusts if potential donors understand that the trust is separate from, and not appointed by, Whitehall and Westminster, and that they can donate with confidence and comfort because the Charity Commission’s rules of governance for charitable trusts are writ large within the Bill as safeguards to ensure that any moneys raised are used for their proper purpose. I support the Bill entirely.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Anne Marie Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the benefits of this independence is that it encourages not only donations but people to give their time? Charities need not just money but volunteers to give their precious time not only for fundraising but to work with families, patients and young children. Does he have any thoughts on that?
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Charities depend on the money and time donated. That might mean time donated to raise funds for the charity or, as she mentions, for other work. Everyone can take part, rich or poor. An hour donated is an hour donated. As she will know, Torbay hospital’s cafeteria is staffed by volunteers. It not only raises money for the charity in the hospital but provides a service. People might have come in and heard not great news, or they might be anxious and stressed with a relative in hospital, and they get a valuable pastoral service over a cup of tea and a cake from volunteers who, in some cases, have been involved for many years. They provide an excellent service Today, we are naturally talking about the structures and finances of a charity. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) said, we should ensure that the money cannot go on Lucky Lad in the 3.10, but we should also not forget that volunteers are at the heart of charities and how they operate and work. If the charities are truly independent, that will only enhance their ability to attract volunteers, get donations and make a difference.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In my constituency, for example, we have many people over the age of 60 who have retired from professional careers. They reach the point in life where they wish to retire from full-time work, but they still have skills and abilities that they want to offer, and might be thinking about a social rather than a financial reward. Having more flexibility in the charities’ structures means that they can bring in more of those people. People who might be slightly reticent about being appointed by the Secretary of State, perhaps because of their previous job, might be delighted to be involved in an independent charity that is committed solely to its objects.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not have put it better myself. My hon. Friend is right that although the Secretary of State might appoint someone independent with skills and abilities such that they become a trustee by another route, the fact that they are appointed by the Secretary of State makes it appear that they are the Government’s person, even if they are diametrically politically opposed to the Government of the day. I am sure that the Minister will be able to think of examples of Government appointments who are not the most supportive of the current Administration.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Education
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed. This is a bit like the reforms to school governors, where we have reduced the number of local authority appointments. Although some were very independent minded and focused solely on the school and its interests, in other areas it was almost a tradition to have a certain number from Labour, a certain number from the Conservatives and a certain number from the Lib Dems.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Jeremy John Elton Lefroy (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend shares my dislike of overweening Executive action. Does he agree that sometimes in this place, particularly on Report, too little time is given to Members to allow us to discuss the kinds of thing that the Executive wish to impose on us centrally?
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): Madam Deputy Speaker is giving me one of her looks. As much as I would like to discuss reform of the House of Lords, I would be ruled out of order. If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I must get back to jobbery, because jobbery and avoiding jobbery are at the heart of the Bill I was explaining how jobbery, when it starts, is not a deliberate corruption. It is merely the recognition that it just would not do to appoint somebody on the other extreme of politics. We can hear Sir Humphrey going to the Secretary of State and saying, "It would be a little brave, Minister, to appoint such a person who is on so different a wing from you." The next time an appointment comes up, there is the thought, "Well, if I couldn’t appoint someone who was actively opposed, perhaps I should really only appoint people who are on my side"—in other words, our mates and friends. Thus we get to the heart of jobbery. Appointments are made purely because of somebody’s political colour and context In the primary care trust in Bath and North East Somerset which preceded the current organisations a local Conservative had a judicial review against the previous Labour Government to get himself appointed as its chairman, because he was the most qualified person and had been refused only on the basis that he was a Conservative. Therefore, the idea that jobbery has completely left the system is false, and so too is the idea that Governments are so high and mighty and Olympian in their decision making that they do not descend to mere political jobbery.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an absolutely brilliant and crucial point. We want to get away from jobbery wherever it happens, and it is most likely to happen in areas where one party is in government for a very long time.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): There was an urgent question on the matter, and I do not think that there is any more for me to say on it Jobbery is a real problem. It comes more when a party is in office for a very long time. The system gets accustomed to appointing people who belong to routine consensus political views, and they are the ones who get the baubles Many of these charitable baubles are unpaid, but they come with a great deal of status in their communities, so there is a benefit to the person receiving them. It is right that such decisions should be more independent of the Government. It is right not just because of the ability to get away from jobbery, but because many people—those on the Treasury Bench will be shocked to hear this—do not trust the Government.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (Conservative, Centre-right): I am extremely grateful for that intervention, because that is exactly the point. It is one of those occasions where rigour really helps. If donors feel that their money will be used properly, they are more willing to give. It is fascinating how charity law has developed in this direction in recent years. Historically, if people gave money to charities, they gave it to the charity for its general purposes. Then they discovered that the general purposes of charities included all sorts of jolly things, such as lunch at the Ritz, so increasingly they have given money for limited purposes, and the funds can then only be spent on those purposes, even within a single charity. For example, if people viewing this debate wish to make donations for the renewal and restoration of this Palace, that money could only be spent on the renewal and restoration of this Palace; it could not be used for other purposes. Charity law has gone that way because it encourages people to give, as they have confidence in how the money will be spent. That is crucial for NHS charities, because there is this large pool of Government money, but it is never quite enough. We hear of deficits, and hospitals and doctors wanting more money, and all of that is a constant pressure on the health service.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very tempting to go down that path and discuss various issues relating to devolution, but I am conscious, Madam Deputy Speaker, that to do so would not be in order. Does my hon. Friend agree that the benefit of the Bill is that it would make the charities independent so that they can select who is best to be on their board of trustees from the whole area, regardless of politics or boundaries?
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): That is precisely why I support the Bill, and it is no doubt why my hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills has attracted support from so many Members today. The crucial matter is independence. Unfortunately, in my previous role I had experiences that went the other way when independence was lacking, and that had a negative impact on outcomes for my constituents.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Anne Marie Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): We have heard today about a great number of institutions that undertake such voluntary work. This is a timely debate, because we are approaching Christmas, a time when more and more of this sort of work, volunteering and giving takes place. Does the Minister agree that it is absolutely on point for us to be debating the Bill at this time of year?
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes her point well. This is traditionally a time when people look very hard at what they plan to give, both for the Christmas season and for next year. A number of appeals will be run and local hospitals recognise that this is an important time for them. I imagine that many charities will benefit from the sentiment described by my hon. Friend.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Anne Marie Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the questions we have not touched on is how that transition will be made. Will the Minister add a few words about how, in practical terms, we will move from having two sets of trustees and pots of money to one set? We clearly want that to be as unbureaucratic as possible.
NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc.) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Government Operations
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): There has been a National Audit Office report on Kids Company and I believe that the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is looking into it. This Bill is about ensuring that the charities affected have the freedoms and benefits that all other charities have. There is a wider discussion to be had, perhaps at another time, about how charities should be structured to ensure that they operate appropriately and have good corporate governance.
Off-patent Drugs Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): Because if the message that goes out from this debate is that there is only one way to get these drugs, and if people feel that they cannot get them because of what has been said here, that would be darkness indeed. That is not the truth. That is not the position.
Off-patent Drugs Bill — House of Commons, 2015-11-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Alistair James Hendrie Burt (Conservative, Centre-right): Because I still do not believe fundamentally that the passage of legislation is what is needed in order to reassure people that they have access to the drugs that they need Let me make a little progress and deal first with the concerns expressed by the hon. Member for Torfaen about what has happened since last year.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): Last night, unelected Labour and Liberal peers voted down the financial measure on tax credits approved by this elected House of Commons. That raises clear constitutional issues that we will deal with. We will continue to reform tax credits and save the money needed so that Britain lives within its means, while at the same time lessening the impact on families during the transition. I will set out these plans in the autumn statement. We remain as determined as ever to build the low tax, low welfare, high wage economy that Britain needs and the British people want to see.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): We will give the hon. Lady’s constituents, and indeed the constituents we all represent in this House, support by continuing to deliver economic security in this country—economic security that has seen unemployment fall in her constituency by 44% since 2010. One of the ways we deliver economic security is by controlling our welfare bill and making sure this country lives within its means. That is what we will continue to do.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Social Welfare
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): This House of Commons voted three times for the changes that were rejected by the House of Lords. I am sure that we look forward to the support of the Scottish National party on that constitutional question. I would make this point to the hon. Lady’s constituents: we need to have a welfare system that works. We need to move to a lower welfare, higher wage economy. We do that by introducing the national living wage and having a welfare bill that the country can afford. That is the best thing we can do for the security of the people she represents.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Social Welfare
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): We will deliver the welfare savings that we were elected to deliver in this Parliament. We will help people in the transition to that lower welfare, higher wage economy. I remember a time when the Labour party used to support moving from welfare to work; it has entirely abandoned that approach. We will be the party that stands up for working people, and working people need controlled welfare and a country that lives within its means.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Andrew Tyrie (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Chancellor agree that whatever our views may be in this House on the tax credit dispute, in overturning the settled will of the elected Chamber, the unelected Lords has exercised the powers of a Chamber of Parliament in the tax area, whereas for at least 100 years it has been well established that it has, and should have, only the legitimacy of a consultative assembly?
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): The Chair of the Treasury Committee makes an important point. Of course, on only five occasions in recent decades has the House of Lords blocked or rejected a statutory instrument, but never on a financial matter. We heard a whole range of opinions yesterday—from Lord Butler, the former Cabinet Secretary, to constitutional experts such as Vernon Bogdanor—telling us that this was unprecedented. We are going to have to address it—the Prime Minister has made that very clear. That is what we have to do to make sure that the elected House of Commons is responsible for the tax-and-spend decisions that affect the people of this country.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): I have written to the Chancellor about a lady in my constituency, Stacey, to whom I have talked at length. She earns only £11,000 a year and says that £31 a week is being cut from her budget. I know that the Chancellor will meet me to discuss that. Surely the point is that we should have the conversations here, and he will listen, and that ultimately we will be held responsible and chucked out. What is not right is that unelected people, who never have to stand again, should decide how the people are taxed and how we spend our money.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Social Welfare
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend on the constitutional point, which is a matter that the whole House of Commons will want to address. I take very seriously the point he raises about his constituent. I have made it clear that we will listen with regard to how we make the transition to a lower welfare, higher wage economy. When we introduced controversial welfare changes in the last Parliament, such as the removal of child benefit from higher earners and the introduction of the welfare cap, we made changes, having listened to Parliament, to smooth the transition to both those important reforms. Of course we will listen to the House of Commons in this respect, but the end goal is clear: this country cannot have an unlimited welfare budget that squeezes out other areas of public expenditure. We cannot have a situation whereby we have 1% of the world’s population and 4% of the world’s economy, but 7% of the world’s welfare budget.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): May I urge the Chancellor to stick to his guns on tax credits? Gordon Brown spent billions of pounds he did not have on tax credits, to try to buy votes at the 2010 election. Does the Chancellor agree that there is no painless way out of huge debt and that people would do well to remember that before they ever elect a free-spending Labour Government again?
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Spending on tax credits went up three times during the last Labour Government, yet working poverty increased during that period. In other words, it had completely the opposite effect from that intended. The people who suffer when the country loses control of its public finances are, indeed, the low paid. They are the people who get turned out of work. It is not the richest in the country or the trade union barons who lose their jobs when that happens; it is the poorest in the country. What we can deliver for them is economic security. So, yes, we will listen on the transition, but we are determined to deliver controlled welfare and economic security for the working people of this country.
Tax Credits — House of Commons, 2015-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (Conservative, Centre-right): I will set out at the autumn statement how we make sure that we smooth the transition to the lower welfare, higher wage economy that the people of Rotherham and the rest of the country want. We have to make choices in this country. Are we prepared to see our country decline, our budget go out of control and jobs lost, or do we want to continue delivering the economic security that sees a record number of people in work and that has seen employment increase in Rotherham?