argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Digital Infrastructure, Connectivity and Accessibility — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Technology
Joy Inboden Morrissey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) for securing this debate and my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) for her work on the all-party group on broadband and digital communication In Beaconsfield, connectivity varies from less than 2 megabits per second to 50 megs. For those who are not savvy in that talk, that is slow—very slow. I have various cases in Beaconsfield where an area was on a programme to be upgraded to super-fast, which is still in the 70 meg range, then a cabinet was not upgraded so the house can achieve only 30 to 50 megs while the next-door neighbour, being served by another cabinet, has less than 2 megs. Forget about Netflix, online learning, a Zoom call or working from home effectively with internet speeds that slow. Not only in Beaconsfield but nationwide, this is an issue that many Members across the House are facing. Covid and the working from home scenario has brought to light a lot of the disparities in digital connectivity. I thank all Members for participating in this debate today Effectively, the term "the last mile"—the last leg of the connection to the customer—is what needs to be addressed. This needs to be done to offer as much technology equality as possible and aid in the levelling-up agenda across the country. Technology equality would help not only in the north or in Beaconsfield but in every part of the country where we are struggling to find the technology to work from home effectively. In some areas, this technology is non-existent. Constituents are unable to be competitive in today’s workforce. Not having fast broadband will impede those looking for work in the covid era. Applying for jobs online is more difficult and challenging with a lack of speed. A speed as low as 2 megs means that people cannot take part in a Zoom call, so they cannot interview for a job. This is not equal opportunities or equal access. Even in entertainment, they can forget about watching the current season of "The Crown" or anything else during covid, and cannot speak to their family and friends on Zoom. In education, as the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) said, digital connectivity and speed affect the ability to access educational materials, and this has really been demonstrated during the covid pandemic We need to be faster and better, and let us open up the market so that we can have more than one provider competing for each area’s interests. Let us get the boxes up and running, and then we can pay to plug in as and when. Post Brexit, we need to be competitive on both a personal level and a business level. We require connectivity for everyone. Estonia, for example, has this collectively everywhere across the entire country, even in its woodland areas. Everyone, from the oldest lady—the grandmother—to the youngest child, has access to digital connectivity. I hope that we will be doing the same post Brexit.
Digital Infrastructure, Connectivity and Accessibility — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Technology
Selaine Rachel Saxby (Conservative, Centre-right): If we have learnt anything from the pandemic, it is surely that broadband is an essential component of modern life, yet just over 10% of households in the UK have access to next-generation full-fibre broadband, compared with 80% in other developed countries. The UK’s average broadband speed places us 22nd out of 29 western European nations. My rural constituency languishes at 634th out of the 650 UK constituencies for its connectivity, and getting better broadband is a top priority for a huge number of my constituents and businesses Levelling up the UK is not just a north-south issue. It is also a rural-urban issue. Workers in the rural economy are at least 16% less productive than the national average. Only yesterday, I spoke in a debate on the issues in Devon and Somerset, where we do not have superfast broadband yet, let alone gigabit-capable broadband. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on broadband and digital communication, I hear concerns from across the country and across the House about the plight of hard-to-reach rural communities in accessing a usable broadband connection While recognising that achieving 100% coverage by 2025 was ambitious, I think we can see through the pandemic how ambitious targets can drive great achievements, such as building testing capacity and securing a vaccine. I am disappointed that, while the industry continually advises that it could get very close to 100% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025 if some barrier-busting were to take place, the decision has been taken to reduce that target, which unfortunately will inevitably condemn many rural communities to being stuck with inadequate broadband and increase the urban-rural divide While I acknowledge that the full £5 billion we committed to has not been withdrawn, the significant reduction in that amount announced in last week’s spending review to just £1.2 billion has understandably rung alarm bells for the industry and my constituents about our commitment to ensuring that hard-to-reach rural communities are not left detached from the digital infrastructure that they desperately need to enable their children to access education, their businesses to thrive and them to work from home as far as possible. When we look to levelling up and building back better, are we not hoping to do it greener as well? In rural areas with limited public transport, surely improving broadband coverage will not just reduce the productivity gap of our beautiful rural communities, but enable them to reduce their carbon footprint I realise that the magic money tree cannot keep on giving indefinitely, but North Devon’s infrastructure asks do not include motorways or railways. We would like access to the same speed of broadband connectivity as other parts of the country. There are businesses ready to help deliver that if we can remove some of the obstacles in their path and let them begin to connect up our countryside and ensure that no community is left behind.
Digital Infrastructure, Connectivity and Accessibility — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Technology
Jane Marion Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I wonder whether the hon. Member agrees with me that, actually, it was the Labour Government who made telecommunications companies spend billions of pounds buying bandwidth that previously had been only a matter of hundreds of pounds. If they did not have that bandwidth, they did not have that network and they were not in the market.
Digital Infrastructure, Connectivity and Accessibility — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady shakes her head. As one of the members of the ministerial group, I know that we strained every sinew to get all of that connectivity there and we will continue to do that to make sure that children are educated as best they can be. I pay tribute to the teachers who have converted their lessons to online, because it is a huge change in working patterns.
Digital Infrastructure, Connectivity and Accessibility — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Technology
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): In the time I have left to me, I thank once again the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us to have the debate and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott) for working so closely with me to ensure that the debate happened. We can see from the number of Members who attended how important this issue is to everybody, for a whole host of reasons. We had excellent speeches about the differences between city and rural, about inclusion and about levelling up. It really was important that everybody was here today I mention in particular the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull (Julian Knight) and I hope that his being here and speaking will mean that this is a recurrent theme in that Committee until we get what we want. I thank the Minister, too, who I know is a champion for digital infrastructure and inclusion and an expert in this area. I am delighted that he said that digital infrastructure was high on the priorities—higher, much higher, than High Speed 2—so my only concern is that while the money tumbles for digital infrastructure, the money for High Speed 2 goes through the roof, and that must be changed I am delighted that he said that digital infrastructure was high on the priorities—higher, much higher, than High Speed 2—so my only concern is that while the money tumbles for digital infrastructure, the money for High Speed 2 goes through the roof, and that must be changed I do hope that the Minister is strengthened—maybe even fortified—by the debate that we have had today, so that he will go back to the Chancellor with us all behind him and get that £5 billion back into this pot, where it deserves to be and to have it delivered by 2025—
Fishing Industry: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We have been working with the fishing industry and local authorities to ensure that they have the capacity in place to employ the environmental health officers necessary to issue both the catch certificates and the environmental health certificates. We have about 1,000 officers now who can issue export health certificates for fish. It is the case that there are some concerns in Scotland, where the Scottish Government potentially have a gap in capacity of 100. We are working with them to try to offer our help to ensure that that gap can be filled.
Fishing Industry: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I always advise people to look at what I actually said, rather than at the Twitter attacks on what I might have said. I never said that specialist sheep farmers and crofters should diversify into beef; I explicitly said that some of the 7,000 mixed beef and sheep enterprises might choose to produce more beef and less lamb if the price signal suggested that they should.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Foreign Trade
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We have worked with industry to ensure that the capacity is in place to issue export health certificates, and we have been contacting meat processors, fish processors and others in the sector to ensure that they are prepared for the new administration that will be required, and of course we continue to work on plans to ensure that goods flow at the border.
Plastic Pollution — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have banned the use of microbeads in cosmetics and banned the use of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds, and the 5p charge for single-use plastic bags has reduced their use by 95% in the main supermarkets. We are increasing the charge to 10p and extending it to all retailers. In addition, we are seeking powers in the Environment Bill to require similar charges for single-use plastic items, to make recycling collections more consistent and to reform packaging producer waste responsibility schemes.
Plastic Pollution — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Laura Trott (Conservative, Centre-right): Earlier this year, I was written to by year 6 pupils in the Chevening and St Lawrence primary schools. They were asking me to protect the environment, and reducing plastic pollution was top of their list. I am sure they will have been reassured by the Secretary of State’s answer, but can he reassure them further that we will act to stop this attack on our environment and that they will see change in their lifetime?
Plastic Pollution — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Education
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I congratulate the Chevening and St Lawrence primary schools on their interest in this. All hon. Members cannot help but have noticed the rising awareness within all our schools of the scourge of plastics in particular and the action that must be taken. In my own constituency, I have been contacted by schools such as Lanner, Troon, Treleigh, Rosemellin and Roskear on this very matter just in the past year. We are working very hard to address the concerns raised by pupils in my hon. Friend’s primary schools.
Pollinators — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): The national pollinator strategy sets out the actions we are taking with partners to protect pollinators. It includes dealing with habitat loss and the potential harm from pesticide use, invasive species and climate change. Our future agriculture policies will help to improve biodiversity and support habitats for pollinators, building on existing agri-environment measures to enable many more farmers and land managers to take positive action.
Pollinators — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Roger James Gale (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Speaker, from the garden of England. My right hon. Friend will know that the value to the economy of pollinators is estimated at about £691 million. Some 60% of our native pollinators are in decline, and we have lost 75% of them over the past 25 years. Will he support me in backing Kent’s Plan Bee, which is seeking to establish 5,000 miles of B-lines across the United Kingdom?
Pollinators — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): That sounds like a very interesting project, and I would certainly be willing to meet my right hon. Friend and representatives in Kent to discuss it. Our future environmental land management scheme will encourage the creation of habitats for pollinators, and our local nature recovery plans, to be advanced by local authorities, will also have a role to play.
Covid-19: Zoos — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Mark Ian Jenkinson (Conservative, Centre-right): As we have just heard, zoos have an important conservation role to play. The white-tailed eagle is listed in our 25-year environment plan as a species whose reintroduction we could support as we develop our nature recovery network. Cumbria is at the forefront of nature recovery, as we have a local nature recovery strategy pilot and, separately, we are in a group that has submitted a bid for feasibility work on the white-tailed eagle’s reintroduction. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss how her Department might assist with that proposal?
Covid-19: Zoos — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): The 25-year environment plan encourages the reintroduction of species such as the white-tailed eagle. I know that my hon. Friend is aware of the funding pots on offer, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials would be very pleased to meet him and the project scheme to discuss what further action could be taken.
Sheep Farmers — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Lamb producers have enjoyed a very good year in 2020. A significant increase in lamb imports by China, combined with tighter supply globally, has contributed to high prices and confidence in the sector, with prevailing market prices typically 10% to 15% higher than last year. However, we recognise that historically the lamb sector has been more reliant on the EU market than most other farming sectors, so we stand ready to help it identify new markets in future.
Sheep Farmers — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
David Gordon Mundell (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope you did not find me very strange, Mr Speaker. Upland sheep farming is hugely important to my constituency, which is why, I, like those farmers, very much welcomed the Secretary of State’s comments yesterday at the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee that he does have well-developed plans in place to support upland sheep farming in the event that a deal is not possible with the EU. Perhaps he could set out some further reassurance to those farmers today, because many of them have to take decisions right now about their forward planning and what would be in place if there is no deal with the EU.
Sheep Farmers — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I can say that 18 months ago, in preparation for the first potential no-deal, the Government, working with the Rural Payments Agency, had developed detailed plans to be able to support the sector in the short term. Those plans are still there and still ready to be activated, but in the medium term, in the event of there being no further negotiated outcome, we will be helping the sector identify new markets.
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Our clean air strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollution from a wide range of sources. We have also put in place a £3.8 billion plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations, and our Environment Bill, which I am pleased to say is making huge progress in Committee, makes a clear commitment to set a legally binding target to reduce fine particulate matter and enables local authorities to take more effective action to tackle air pollution in these areas.
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Mark Rory Logan (Conservative, Centre-right): How can Bolton avoid a future of £15 congestion taxes? How can Bolton deal with being in a clean air zone akin to the distance between Westminster, where we are standing, and Watford, of almost 500 square miles?
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has engaged continuously on this issue and is really standing up for his Bolton North East constituency. I assure him that only the most polluting older vehicles are charged in a clean air zone, and it is not a congestion charge; the Greater Manchester plan does not include charging private cars, and the evidence provided by Manchester authorities to date shows that this is not needed. We have provided £41 million in advance of the zone to help drivers and businesses in Greater Manchester that are least able to upgrade their vehicles, with further funding to be allocated. Manchester authorities are consulting on their plan until 3 December, and I encourage people to engage with the consultation.
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Andrew Hanson Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): In Harrogate and Knaresborough there are three air-quality management areas. The one at Bond End in Knaresborough saw junction improvements a couple of years ago that improved the situation, but another, at Woodlands junction in Harrogate, continues to break NOx levels, and that must change. What help is my hon. Friend giving to local authorities to help them to reduce NOx levels?
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for putting the case for those roads. Local authorities have a range of tools that they can use to reduce air pollution, and we are building on them through the Environment Bill to ensure that local authorities have a clear framework and simple-to-use powers to tackle air-pollution issues in their areas. We are also broadening the range of bodies required to take action to improve air quality. As a former Transport Minister, my hon. Friend will understand what I mean by getting other bodies involved—we want them to work closely on the air-quality management plans. We will also continue to provide support through the air-quality grant.
Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Average roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations remain below levels observed in the previous three years, despite some increases as the March lockdown measures were eased. Working closely with Ministers in the Department for Transport, we continue to drive forward our ambitious plans to improve air quality, and we are delivering our clean air strategy and working in partnership with local authorities to deliver measures to tackle nitrogen dioxide pollution. The Environment Bill will enable greater local action to tackle air pollution.
Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady gives some examples, but she is somewhat aggressive in her approach, in that I work so closely with the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care so that we do have a joined-up approach on air quality, and our clean air strategy goes right across all Departments. Some £1.2 billion from the Department for Transport is being devoted to cycling and walking investment, and the bike vouchers literarily went like hot cakes in the summer. We do work closely together. The hon. Lady raises some important points, and we are looking into all the options because we know that times are changing and work patterns are changing.
Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for bringing Wales into the discussion, but of course air quality is a devolved matter—she serves on the Environment Bill Committee, in which we have said so many times that it is a devolved matter. I hope that she and the Welsh Ministers have read our clean air strategy, because it is considered a global leader, but I am always open to ideas. If we can pick up tips from other places, I am all for it.
Poor Air Quality: BAME Communities — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Air pollution can be harmful to everyone; however, some people are more affected than others. My Department has commissioned research into inequalities of exposure to air pollution, and monitors emerging evidence investigating air-quality impacts on BAME communities. That research has shown that those BAME groups are disproportionately affected by poor air quality, partly because larger numbers of BAME people live in urban areas where air pollution tends to be worse.
Poor Air Quality: BAME Communities — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we talk with our colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on all matters relating to air quality in some urban areas. We intend to take action through the Environment Bill by setting new targets on air quality. One of the targets that we are investigating relates to the impact on particular populations in particular areas.
Flood Defences — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Agriculture
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, I know, speaks from experience as he has a farm right by a lot of water, so he raises a very important point. May I just say, Mr Speaker, that we have tremendous support on the Conservative Benches today, which, I think, demonstrates the understanding of these issues. My hon. Friend was right to raise the ELM scheme. Our future farming policy will be centred around support aimed at: incentivising sustainable farming practice; creating habitats for nature recovery; and establishing new woodland ecosystem services to help tackle climate change. We will help farmers to deliver environmental public goods, which, of course, bring in things such as natural flood management, which he has mentioned. They will be an important part of our new future, with things such as leaky dams, slowing the flow and, of course mixed in there, good soil management, which is something that is very dear to my heart.