argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-10-27
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: The Prime Minister will know that my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Stuart Anderson) and I have both lobbied for funding for better training and skills provision for young people in Wolverhampton. The youth unemployment rate was unacceptably high pre-pandemic; now, sadly, it is the highest rate nationally. Will the Prime Minister urgently look at how the Government can level up opportunity so that young people in Wolverhampton can get the skills and the confidence that they need to find work?
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am sure that the thoughts and prayers of the entire House will be with Walter Smith—the legend that was the Rangers, Dundee United and Scotland manager—who sadly passed away yesterday. Many of us will not forget the day he led us to victory over France at Hampden Naturally, most of today’s focus and attention will turn to the Chancellor’s Budget after Prime Minister’s questions, but before we turn to domestic matters, I think that it is right and important to raise the dire humanitarian situation that is developing in Afghanistan. The World Food Programme estimates that more than half the population—about 22.8 million people—face acute food insecurity, and 3.2 million children under five could suffer acute malnutrition Given the history of the past 20 years, it should be obvious that we have a deep responsibility to the country and its people. They are dying, and they need our help. It has only been two months since the allied forces relinquished control of the country, so can the Prime Minister update us on what exactly his Government are doing to end the famine in Afghanistan?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-10-27
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: The Prime Minister will know that my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Stuart Anderson) and I have both lobbied for funding for better training and skills provision for young people in Wolverhampton. The youth unemployment rate was unacceptably high pre-pandemic; now, sadly, it is the highest rate nationally. Will the Prime Minister urgently look at how the Government can level up opportunity so that young people in Wolverhampton can get the skills and the confidence that they need to find work?
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The fact is that there is a humanitarian crisis and people are in need today. There was nothing there about tangible actions that the Government are taking on the ground now The situation is getting worse by the day. In August, the allies ran away from their responsibilities in Afghanistan, and now it very much feels as if this Government are washing their hands of the legacy that they left behind. Not only are the Afghan people being failed on humanitarian aid, but promises made to them on resettlement are being broken. When the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme was announced on 18 August, the Government talked about resettling "up to 20,000 over the coming years", but, more than two months on, we have heard nothing. The Afghan people are being left with no updates and with vague targets Can the Prime Minister finally tell us when the resettlement scheme will open? Can he guarantee that 20,000 Afghans will be resettled? When exactly is the deadline for that to happen?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-10-27
Topic: Environment
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): What has happened with the Acorn project is doubly galling, given that Scotland’s carbon assets have already been taken and now this carbon-capture asset is not being placed in Scotland, after all that has been taken from it over the decades.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-10-27
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alison Emily Thewliss (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Last week, in my constituency, I met representatives from the Glasgow School of Art, who raised concerns that the creative industries were part of the original industrial strategy, but that that now seems to have been lost given where the Government are going now. Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern that much economic activity can come from the creative industry—innovation as well as other things—and that perhaps it ought to form a larger part of the strategy?
Free Trade Agreements — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister will know that the ratio between damage from Brexit and the trade deals is substantial. Indeed, in terms of pounds, there is £490 of Brexit damage for a £1 gain from the New Zealand deal, £2 gain from Australia, £8 gain from the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership, and £20 gain from America, if that comes together. If all that happens, it comes to about £31. Where will the Minister find the £459 of Brexit damage that the trade deals cannot make up?
British Exports — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Exports from Northern Ireland to Ireland were €2.8 billion in the first nine months of this year, up 60% on the same period in 2020. Does the Minister agree that while Brexit has been an export disaster for GB, it has certainly been a boon for exports from Northern Ireland?
Labour Shortages: Exports and Imports — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Labor
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Eight out of 10 businesses in Scotland say that they need to recruit staff, yet three quarters are reporting skills shortages. Businesses cannot export what they can neither make nor supply, yet the Government’s already tired 12-point plan, which has been mentioned this morning, has nothing to cover workforce shortages or dealing with them. Will the Minister explain why?
Labour Shortages: Exports and Imports — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Clearly, the Government are keen to duck all these issues relating to trade. The Federation of Small Businesses reported to a Committee in this Parliament that a fifth of its members have ceased trading with the UK’s biggest export market—the EU—either temporarily or permanently due to bureaucracy or costs, yet the 12-point plan contains nothing to deal with that issue. The Government’s priorities are clearly elsewhere. Tory cronies are queuing up for a Christmas come early to get contracts and big donors are fairly leaping into the Lords. Why are backbone businesses being short-changed and served only a thin gruel?
Trade with the EU — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Steven Bonnar (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Between 2019 and 2021, the value of exports from Scotland decreased by 24%. In England the figure was 12%, in Wales it was 24%, and in the north of Ireland it was 15%. This follows a period of steady decline since 2018. It is economic vandalism. There is hardly a sector in the country that does not attribute at least some of the blame for its difficulties to Brexit. What agreement that removes all tariff and non-tariff barriers do the Government plan to make with another country that can account for 48% of all UK trade?
Trade with the EU — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): If the members of the Minister’s party had not cold-shouldered the positive and constructive suggestions made by the Scottish Government immediately after the referendum—if they had even bothered to open and read the document—we might not be in the mess that we are in now This month, our figure has improved slightly from an all-time low, which is nothing to celebrate. Exports of food and drink from the United Kingdom to Europe have halved. The Food and Drink Federation has described that as a "disaster" and said that there have been only tiny gains in other markets. There was never going to be a Brexit that would be good for British businesses, but why do the Government not finally come clean and admit that their botched handling of Brexit has made the position even worse?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Earlier this year, in partnership with Google, I arranged a digital course to train and upskill service sector businesses across Rother Valley. Will my right hon. Friend set out how our trade deals, including the recently announced New Zealand trade deal, support the service sector, 70% of which is based outside London and some of which is based in Rother Valley?; National Farmers Union Scotland says the Australian trade deal is“a slow journey to the Australians getting unfettered access to UK markets and with no guarantees that the promises of other safeguards will address the fact that very different production systems are permitted in Australia”.When was the last time the Department involved officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish farming representatives in the negotiation of future free trade deals?; I was recently fortunate enough to visit the DP World London Gateway container port in my constituency to hear about its exciting plans—its commitment to the construction of a fourth berth, and its ambition to become the largest container port in the UK and to use the opportunities that freeport status brings. Will the Minister update the House on what the Department is doing to support freeports and promote UK exporters?; Last weekend, we saw the release of the Xinjiang papers, highlighting how human rights atrocities go right to the heart of the Chinese Government. As a result, I want to ask what steps is the Minister taking to review our trading relationship with China, because it cannot be business as usual?; With the exponential growth in offshore wind, including off the East Anglian coast, where 50% of the UK’s wind farms are located, world-class knowledge and skills have developed and the UK is now a global leader. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps that are taken in negotiating trade deals to both promote this expertise abroad and attract inward investment into the UK offshore wind sector?
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I could never have thought that I was about to be called, Madam Deputy Speaker In a few weeks’ time, the United Kingdom will start to apply import controls to goods coming from the European Union. Last year, when the European Union started to apply its controls, a large number of small and medium-sized exporters, particularly in the Scottish food and drink industry, felt that they were simply left to sink or swim. What assurances can the Government give that small import businesses in Scotland will not be hung out to dry next year in the way that small exporters in Scotland were left hung out to dry last year?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Earlier this year, in partnership with Google, I arranged a digital course to train and upskill service sector businesses across Rother Valley. Will my right hon. Friend set out how our trade deals, including the recently announced New Zealand trade deal, support the service sector, 70% of which is based outside London and some of which is based in Rother Valley?; National Farmers Union Scotland says the Australian trade deal is“a slow journey to the Australians getting unfettered access to UK markets and with no guarantees that the promises of other safeguards will address the fact that very different production systems are permitted in Australia”.When was the last time the Department involved officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish farming representatives in the negotiation of future free trade deals?; I was recently fortunate enough to visit the DP World London Gateway container port in my constituency to hear about its exciting plans—its commitment to the construction of a fourth berth, and its ambition to become the largest container port in the UK and to use the opportunities that freeport status brings. Will the Minister update the House on what the Department is doing to support freeports and promote UK exporters?; Last weekend, we saw the release of the Xinjiang papers, highlighting how human rights atrocities go right to the heart of the Chinese Government. As a result, I want to ask what steps is the Minister taking to review our trading relationship with China, because it cannot be business as usual?; With the exponential growth in offshore wind, including off the East Anglian coast, where 50% of the UK’s wind farms are located, world-class knowledge and skills have developed and the UK is now a global leader. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps that are taken in negotiating trade deals to both promote this expertise abroad and attract inward investment into the UK offshore wind sector?
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Let us try again, Madam Deputy Speaker Exports from Ireland to GB soared in the first six months of 2021 after Brexit, as imports sent in the opposite direction declined. I wonder whether the Minister can come to the Dispatch Box and advise the House on this matter. With a post-Brexit imbalance in trade, with Irish imports up 20% in the first six months of 2021 and GB exports to Ireland down by more than £2.5 billion, do they not recognise that, for GB—not Northern Ireland—Brexit is a trade disaster?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Environment
Questions: Earlier this year, in partnership with Google, I arranged a digital course to train and upskill service sector businesses across Rother Valley. Will my right hon. Friend set out how our trade deals, including the recently announced New Zealand trade deal, support the service sector, 70% of which is based outside London and some of which is based in Rother Valley?; National Farmers Union Scotland says the Australian trade deal is“a slow journey to the Australians getting unfettered access to UK markets and with no guarantees that the promises of other safeguards will address the fact that very different production systems are permitted in Australia”.When was the last time the Department involved officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish farming representatives in the negotiation of future free trade deals?; I was recently fortunate enough to visit the DP World London Gateway container port in my constituency to hear about its exciting plans—its commitment to the construction of a fourth berth, and its ambition to become the largest container port in the UK and to use the opportunities that freeport status brings. Will the Minister update the House on what the Department is doing to support freeports and promote UK exporters?; Last weekend, we saw the release of the Xinjiang papers, highlighting how human rights atrocities go right to the heart of the Chinese Government. As a result, I want to ask what steps is the Minister taking to review our trading relationship with China, because it cannot be business as usual?; With the exponential growth in offshore wind, including off the East Anglian coast, where 50% of the UK’s wind farms are located, world-class knowledge and skills have developed and the UK is now a global leader. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps that are taken in negotiating trade deals to both promote this expertise abroad and attract inward investment into the UK offshore wind sector?
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): COP26 was an important step towards meeting our international climate commitments, but that must be carried through into all aspects of Government policy. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the environmental impact of trade, through both imports and exports, is mitigated as far as possible?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Earlier this year, in partnership with Google, I arranged a digital course to train and upskill service sector businesses across Rother Valley. Will my right hon. Friend set out how our trade deals, including the recently announced New Zealand trade deal, support the service sector, 70% of which is based outside London and some of which is based in Rother Valley?; National Farmers Union Scotland says the Australian trade deal is“a slow journey to the Australians getting unfettered access to UK markets and with no guarantees that the promises of other safeguards will address the fact that very different production systems are permitted in Australia”.When was the last time the Department involved officials from the Scottish Government and Scottish farming representatives in the negotiation of future free trade deals?; I was recently fortunate enough to visit the DP World London Gateway container port in my constituency to hear about its exciting plans—its commitment to the construction of a fourth berth, and its ambition to become the largest container port in the UK and to use the opportunities that freeport status brings. Will the Minister update the House on what the Department is doing to support freeports and promote UK exporters?; Last weekend, we saw the release of the Xinjiang papers, highlighting how human rights atrocities go right to the heart of the Chinese Government. As a result, I want to ask what steps is the Minister taking to review our trading relationship with China, because it cannot be business as usual?; With the exponential growth in offshore wind, including off the East Anglian coast, where 50% of the UK’s wind farms are located, world-class knowledge and skills have developed and the UK is now a global leader. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps that are taken in negotiating trade deals to both promote this expertise abroad and attract inward investment into the UK offshore wind sector?
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I wonder what the Minister makes of the report in the Financial Times that far less than a trade deal, America will lift its steel tariffs if the UK violates article 16. Does she welcome America keeping control?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Labor
Christopher Murray Alexander Law (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am speaking to my own question about my own constituents in the city of Dundee. The Leader of the House made clear his point about DWP staff returning to work. May I ask for your guidance and make it clear to the House that, in fact, throughout the entire pandemic our DWP staff have been working from home, not sitting at home doing nothing? The suggestion made by the Leader of the House may have been seen as implying that my constituents who work for DWP—indeed, for DWP across Scotland—have not been working, when in fact they have been working exceedingly hard, despite the difficulties that they face.
Code of Conduct: Consultation — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Government Operations
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Chair of the Committee on Standards and his colleagues for all the work they have done. I also warmly commend the Chair for the way he has conducted himself over the last month or so, which has possibly been the most difficult period that anyone in his office has had to deal with I welcome the proposals on the declaration of Ministers’ interests, because my constituents cannot understand how it can be that a Minister, who must be a Member of one or other House of Parliament, enjoys all the rights of a Member of Parliament but does not have to comply with all the responsibilities that the rest of us do. Are there opportunities to take that further? For example, are there ways in which the conduct of a Minister can also be deemed to be the conduct of a Member of Parliament, and therefore, possibly as an alternative, subject to independent examination, rather than the picture we have just now, where the ultimate arbiter of a Minister’s conduct is the person who appointed them, who quite clearly has a significant political interest in the fate of any Minister whose conduct has been called into question?
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stability and Peace — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: International Affairs
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) said, Putin is the common factor in destabilising Belarus, Ukraine and Bosnia. Just as we support them, should we not also make it clear to the Serbs that if they continue to destabilise and to help Putin, EU membership will remain a distant dream for them?
Economic Crime — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Government Operations
Deidre Leanne Brock (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend clearly shares my concerns and those of the Electoral Commission about unincorporated associations. Among a number of other troublesome characteristics, those that meet the threshold for registration with the Electoral Commission are not required to conduct permissibility checks on a relevant donation—a donation meant for political activity. Presumably, she would like to see those very much tightened up.
Condition of School Buildings — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): May I again call attention to a physical safety issue in schools in England? Sprinklers are already mandatory in Scotland and Wales. What recent assessment has the Secretary of State made of the benefit of mandatory sprinkler systems in English school buildings?
Higher Education: Learning Lost to Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps he is taking to support (a) universities and (b) students in higher education to make up for learning experiences lost as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Carol Frances Monaghan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I welcome the new Secretary of State and his team, who are also new, with the exception of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, the right hon. Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan), although I of course welcome her as well as she returns to the Front Bench. I welcome the entire team. She has quite rightly commended university staff for the job that they have done over the past 20 months in supporting students as they shifted their entire courses online, but those same individuals are now facing severe cuts to their retirement benefits—essentially a 35% cut to their pensions and lump sums. Given the work that these staff have done over the pandemic, what action is the Minister taking to ensure that this brutal pension reduction will not go ahead?