argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-06-30
Topic: Immigration
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Under Standing Order No. 9(3) and the Order of the House of 18 May, I must now put the Questions necessary to dispose of the new clauses selected for separate decision. Before I put the Question on new clause 7, I must inform the House that there is an error in the text published on the amendment paper. Lines 4 and 5 of new clause 7—the 11 words beginning with "(a)"—are duplicate text and should not have appeared. I do not think that that will make much difference to Members’ judgment as to whether they intend to support the new clause. The Deputy Speaker then put forthwith the Questions necessary for the disposal of the business to be concluded at that time (Standing Order No. 83E). New Clause 7 Time limit on immigration detention for EEA and Swiss nationals ‘(1) For the purpose of this section, a person ("P") is defined as any person who, immediately before the commencement of Schedule 1, was— (a) any person who, immediately before the commencement of Schedule 1, was— (i) residing in the United Kingdom in accordance with the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016; (ii) residing in the United Kingdom in accordance with a right conferred by or under any of the other instruments which is repealed by Schedule 1; or (iii) otherwise residing in the United Kingdom in accordance with any right derived from European Union law which continues, by virtue of section 4 of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018, to be recognised and available in domestic law after exit day (2) The Secretary of State may not detain any person ("P") as defined in subsection(1) under a relevant detention power for a period of more than 28 days from the relevant time (3) If "P" remains detained under a relevant detention power at the expiry of the period of 28 days then— (a) the Secretary of State shall release P forthwith; and (b) the Secretary of State may not re-detain P under a relevant detention power thereafter, unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that there has been a material change of circumstances since "P’s" release and that the criteria in section [Initial detention: criteria and duration (No. 2)] are met (4) In this Act, "relevant detention power" means a power to detain under— (a) paragraph 16(2) of Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971 (detention of persons liable to examination or removal); (b) paragraph 2(1), (2) or (3) of Schedule 3 to that Act (detention pending deportation); (c) section 62 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (detention of persons liable to examination or removal); or (d) section 36(1) of UK Borders Act 2007 (detention pending deportation) (5) In this Act, "relevant time" means the time at which "P" is first detained under a relevant detention power (6) This section does not apply to a person in respect of whom the Secretary of State has certified that the decision to detain is or was taken in the interests of national security.’—(Mr Davis.) Brought up. Question put, That the clause be added to the Bill.
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Commons, 2020-06-30
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. In the exceptional circumstances that have just been reported to me about an error made in the way in which Members were guided through St Stephen’s Hall and into Members Lobby, it has come to my attention that some Members were, correctly and in an orderly fashion, in the queue to vote and have been unable to do so. Fortunately, this matter has been reported to me before the Tellers have reported the numbers. I am therefore going to unlock the doors in order that the Members who have not already voted in the Division on new clause 29 and who are now present in the Division Lobby ready to vote may very swiftly and immediately do so.
Black Women: Domestic Abuse — House of Commons, 2020-06-30
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): May I begin by thanking the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) for a really thoughtful and obviously well-researched speech, which I know will have been heard beyond these walls? It was an extremely powerful contribution With the leave of the House, I will wind up the debate. As the hon. Lady has already indicated, I am standing in for the Minister for safeguarding, my hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), who is unable to be here. Although it is my pleasure to stand in her stead, I can say without fear of contradiction that she is personally deeply committed to this issue, and I know she would welcome the opportunity to speak to the hon. Lady further about the points she has helpfully raised this evening There is no dispute between the parties, I trust, that domestic abuse has a horrifying and devastating impact on individuals. The hon. Lady has spoken very powerfully about the stark and harrowing impacts it has on all people, but potentially in different ways, because we have to take account of the context—sometimes the cultural context—in which it takes place.
Black Women: Domestic Abuse — House of Commons, 2020-06-30
Topic: Civil Rights
Darren George Henry (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) for bringing this debate to the House. She makes a really good point that BAME is a bit too much of an umbrella term for an issue such as this, so my point will be about black women. I have been to Midlands Women’s Aid in Broxtowe and was told that there is a culture of shame and stigma around victims of abuse in black communities. Will my hon. Friend the Minister put at the heart of the agenda empowering women to access support?
Support for the Terminally Ill — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. I know that he has campaigned hard on the matter. We are reviewing all areas. The key three themes are: the six months and not having the status quo; improving consistency; and raising awareness to ensure that all those who will benefit from the special rules know what is available.
Benefits for People with Severe Disabilities — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is a very diligent representative of his constituents, as I saw with the casework he raised. Our forthcoming Green Paper is key, as is our national strategy for disabled people, where we will explore other ways to offer greater support, such as advocacy, signposting and removing barriers across Government and in wider society.
Extended Income Support: Seasonal Industries — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): I too have a coastal constituency with a significant tourism economy. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said, we are looking to get the tourist sector up and running as strong as possible, and extending it for as long as we can. That is a key part of the campaign. When it is back, we will invest heavily and ensure that we have a major campaign to encourage British people to take British staycations.
Covid-19: Support for Pensioners — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises a long-standing issue. I am aware that during the 2010 Administration, extra money was put in after the original proposal in order to support those on Equitable Life, but this is a matter for my right hon Friend the Chancellor and I would encourage my hon. Friend to follow up with him directly.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): When it is safe to do so, I would love to visit and see the work of RCS. I pay tribute to the great work it is doing in its community. We understand the role of good mental wellbeing and helping individuals into the job market, and in Wales we have provided £1.3 million to test the new individual placement and support. We also provide contracted employment support programmes specifically tailored to disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, as well as administering the Access to Work scheme and the Disability Confident campaign.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Civil Rights
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I can absolutely reassure my hon. Friend that disabled people will be at the very heart of the consultation on both the Green Paper and the national strategy for disabled people. As soon as it is safe to do so, we will begin the roadshow of consultation across the whole country, making sure that all voices are heard and shape our future priorities.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Thomas Patrick Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I have recently been contacted by a number of beauty salons, such as the Beauty Academy in Ipswich, that have serious concerns about not being able to reopen their doors as expected on 4 July alongside hairdressers. Many beauty salons under pressure have already shut their doors for good, causing a number of job losses. What discussions has my right hon. Friend had with the Business Secretary about preventing further job losses, including by allowing beauty salons to reopen on 4 July and giving them the certainty they need so that they can plan over the coming weeks?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Miriam Jane Alice Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely understand the importance of tourism to very many areas of the country; it is vital to jobs in my hon. Friend’s constituency and many others. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said that we are looking to get the tourism sector up and running as strongly as we can and to extend it for as long as we can for visitors and tourists. Meanwhile, our welfare safety net, the UC standard allowance rate, has been increased by £20 a week for this year to support people.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for those questions. She started by asking about the move of 321 people in Glasgow from serviced apartments into hotel accommodation, which occurred around the end of March. That was a separate process from the one I described earlier, involving the extra 4,000 places. The contractor, Mears, moved those 321 people from the serviced apartments into hotels because it was judged that, as the coronavirus epidemic took hold, the serviced apartments were not appropriate and not safe. It was done for safety reasons, and that has been entirely borne out by the subsequent statistics. Glasgow accommodates slightly over 5,000 asylum seekers, as the hon. Lady will know—many of them are in her constituency—and during the coronavirus epidemic over the last three months or so, of those over 5,000 service users, only two have tested positive for coronavirus, and both, I am pleased to say, have fully recovered. Among those people accommodated in hotels there has not been a single confirmed case of coronavirus. So the steps being taken to safeguard the public, and to safeguard the asylum seekers in particular, have been successful The hon. Lady asked about the plans for the future, and I can confirm that it is our plan to move people out of those hotels into more regular mainstream accommodation as quickly as possible. That was always the intention; it was only ever a temporary measure, and that applies to hotel accommodation, of course, in the rest of the United Kingdom as well as in Scotland. But I would say that these hotels are of good quality. The one involved on Friday was a three-star Radisson hotel; it was a good hotel with substantial facilities, including en suite showers for every single room The hon. Lady asked about evictions and whether people are being asked to move on, as would ordinarily be the case. That is currently not happening, as she knows, following the announcement on 27 March, but in due course, as life returns a little bit more to normal and now that the ban on moving home has ended, we will be returning to normal over time, but it will be done in a very careful and phased way. Nothing will be done in a rush, and I would point out that those who have successful asylum grants will actually be better off with universal credit when they move on, so it is in their interests as well There are a number of questions that the hon. Lady and her colleagues from Glasgow asked me in a letter dated a week ago today, 22 June. I do now have detailed answers to all those questions. I will be sending them in writing, to the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) in the first instance, in the next 24 to 48 hours, and then meeting with all Glasgow MPs who wish to meet her to go through those in detail either later this week or at the latest early next week.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Aaron Stuart Bell (Conservative, Centre-right): May I start, Mr Speaker, by associating myself with the sympathies you offered to the people of Glasgow on this horrible attack I agree with my hon. Friend the Minister that we have a proud history of helping those most in need. Does he agree that those who abuse asylum make it harder for those who are genuinely vulnerable, and so can he confirm that the Home Office is committed to reforming the system, so that it can make swifter judgments and truly work for those most in need?
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and he is right. Some asylum claims are meritorious—obviously, many are—and we should work quickly and humanely to grant those applications and offer help on integrating into UK society. But where there are meritless asylum claims, we need to make sure those are equally identified and rejected quickly, because it is unfair on the British public as a whole and on genuine asylum claimants if unmeritorious claims take up too much time in our system.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the shadow Minister for her question. I should take this opportunity to welcome her to her place, and I look forward to many exchanges across the Dispatch Box in the months and, perhaps if we are lucky, years ahead. She asked about the numbers of people being supported in asylum accommodation. We currently have 44,000 people being supported under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and some 4,000 people being supported under section 4; pre-coronavirus, we had about 48,000 people supported. The number has increased dramatically in the past four or five years—it has almost doubled in that period—so we are growing our asylum accommodation estate in order to cater for that growth. Of course, we are trying to get people into dispersed accommodation—the more stable accommodation—as much as we can. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell) alluded to in the previous question, the more we can make sure we can look after meritorious claims quickly but dismiss unmeritorious claims, the less pressure there will be on asylum accommodation in the first place Every asylum seeker is subjected to a risk assessment, on health and on other grounds, at the point of receipt into the system. I do not want to comment too much on this individual’s case, but when he first made one of his asylum claims—he made two—he flagged a health vulnerability, but it was a minor physical vulnerability, not anything that could have had anything to do with what happened on Friday. I assure the hon. Lady that those assessments do take place and there are round-the-clock facilities for asylum seekers to report any health or any issues that they may have.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for his answers thus far. Clearly, he is right to extol the virtues, which we in this country hold dear, of extending our hands and arms to those who are fleeing and who are extremely vulnerable. Many of them will have come from war-torn areas of the globe. Some of them will be dangerous to other asylum seekers and the British public, so what measures will he look at to assess those individuals’ risk of violence towards the British public and other asylum seekers?
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, as always, makes a very good point. As I said in response to the shadow Minister a moment ago, risk assessments take place at the point of arrival and on an ongoing basis. I assure him that with asylum seekers, whenever UKVI identifies risk to others, appropriate action will always be taken. Everybody’s vigilance will be elevated to even higher levels after the incident on Friday.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman asked whether we would have discussions with Glasgow City Council about the ongoing asylum accommodation estate in that fine city, and of course we will. I believe that discussions took place this afternoon—in the last two or three hours—between Home Office officials and Glasgow City Council on the very topic of moving people out of hotels and into more stable accommodation The hon. Gentleman mentioned healthcare. Healthcare for asylum seekers, wherever they may be in the country, is taken care of by the local NHS or, in the case of Glasgow, by the Bridge Project, which is co-ordinated by Glasgow City Council. I have every confidence in the service that Glasgow City Council and the NHS in Scotland provide The hon. Gentleman asked about meeting Glasgow City Council, and I would be very happy to meet the leader of Glasgow City Council at any time. As I mentioned, I will be meeting Glasgow MPs, if not later this week, certainly next week. On the question of restarting move-ons, I have been very clear that as the country returns to normal, so we would expect the asylum system to return to normal. In a measured, phased and careful way, we will return to the system as it was before, which worked extremely well, but we will be extremely thoughtful in the way we do that.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to our extremely proud record. I have already referred to the fact that we took in more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children last year than any other European country. We also took in some Dublin children during the coronavirus epidemic. About six or eight weeks ago, we took in a number of them from Greece who had been accommodated in the camps. We were pretty much the only European country allowing Dublin returns of that kind during coronavirus, which says a great deal about this country’s proud track record In terms of the future, clearly we are in the process of negotiation at the moment. An amendment to the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill on Report tomorrow has been tabled but, as required by statute, the Government are negotiating with the European Union in good faith to secure a replacement agreement for Dublin, to allow the reciprocal reunification of unaccompanied children—in both directions. A few weeks ago, we tabled a detailed legal case to facilitate that, and more negotiations are happening this week, I believe. I am sure that all of us in this House hope that those negotiations on a reciprocal basis are successful.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): The reason for the rapid move, which we discussed earlier, around about the end of March, was the unsuitable conditions in the serviced apartments. That is why those 321 people were moved. As I said, it has been successful in that not a single one of the people moved into hotels in Glasgow has tested positive for coronavirus The right hon. Lady asked about the financial element. When someone is in dispersed accommodation or a serviced department, they get the allowance, which is principally to cover food and some other essentials. When they move into a hotel, all those things like food, the hand sanitiser she referred to, hygiene products, laundry services and so on are provided by the hotel, removing the need for the cash grant.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Anthony James Holland Mangnall (Conservative, Centre-right): I, too, associate myself with your remarks at the start of the debate, Mr Speaker, to the people of Glasgow and the victims of last week’s atrocious act. This Government have been committed to supporting asylum seekers and children. What steps will the Minister’s Department take to assure councils of future support mechanisms for children?
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): Looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is extremely important. As a Member of Parliament representing Croydon, which has either the highest or second highest number of UASCs, I have seen at first hand how much care and support they often need. My hon. Friend asked about support for councils doing that. He may be aware that a few weeks ago, earlier in June, we announced a substantial increase in the funding for councils looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and care leavers. Councils with the largest number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children will get a 25% increase in their funding this year. All councils with care leavers will get increases of between 20% and 60% in their funding, which is a powerful demonstration of this Government’s commitment to ensuring that children are properly looked after.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): There is currently a police investigation under way, so the right thing is to wait for the outcome of that investigation by Police Scotland before making any further comment. On the conditions that asylum seekers live in, as I have said, this country has an extremely proud history of looking after asylum seekers. We look after them much better than many, if not most, other European countries, with free accommodation, council tax paid for, utilities paid for, NHS treatment provided free, education provided for those with children, and a cash allowance in addition. I am proud of our record and am very happy to defend it.
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers — House of Commons, 2020-06-29
Topic: Immigration
Stuart Paul Anderson (Conservative, Centre-right): I also echo your comments, Mr Speaker, and my thoughts are with everyone in Glasgow impacted by the incident Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary have been doing great with asylum seekers throughout the covid-19 pandemic and have been brilliant at making sure everyone is connected with each other during this difficult time. At the end of the pandemic, will my hon. Friend come and meet them to see the great work they are doing in Wolverhampton?