argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Migrant Crossings — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Macroeconomics
Mathew Richard Allen Rodda (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) made an important point that the Home Secretary has so far ignored. When will he admit the telling impact of the Government’s austerity policies on this serious problem, and when will he report to the House on what further resources are being allocated to help?
Drones: Consultation Response — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Law and Crime
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, but I wonder whether it closes the gate after the horse has bolted. BALPA has been warning about the rise in irresponsible use of drones close to aircraft and airports for years. An incident of this sort was surely foreseeable, and I am unsure whether the Secretary of State was saying that he was satisfied that the airport had proper and adequate plans to respond to such a risk. However, changes to regulations will mean nothing if we are unable to stop, catch and prosecute offenders. If such a crime is perpetrated in the future, what assurances can he give the House that it could not lead to further such disruption to services?
Drones: Consultation Response — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Transportation
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): There was some speculation in the press at the time that there may not have been any drones involved in this incident. Will the Secretary of State confirm how many malicious drones brought all this destruction to Gatwick, and can he tell us, in the light of this experience, what he is doing to make sure that his Department supports airports around the country in getting their contingency plans updated?
Committee on Standards: Cox Report — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Law and Crime
Jessica Rose Phillips (Labour, Centre-left): I want to put it on the record that, as one who has spoken to people who have been raped, groped and abused in this building, I want the motion to be passed. I wonder whether the right hon. Lady realises, as I do, that we will struggle to get it through because of the lack of time, and will join me in saying that we can see the people who are trying to stop it. Does she agree that that would be a disaster and a shame on this House?
Committee on Standards: Cox Report — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Government Operations
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): This is a matter of the utmost importance for the reputation and standing of this House. We cannot afford to be inward-looking tonight; we have to be outward-looking. The Cox report was an absolute wake-up call to this Parliament to act. I very much welcome the steps that the Leader of the House took leading up to the introduction of the independent complaints and grievance process this summer, but Cox requires us to go further and to have a system that not only is independent, fair and transparent, but that is seen to be so. The proposals in the Committee on Standards report that we are debating are a step on that journey. The Committee and I do not pretend that they are a full response to Cox, but they are a first step, and they are an indication of earnest intent that this House understands that we can no longer allow the public to believe and perceive that we are marking our own homework and that our decisions and adjudications on our colleagues cannot be trusted.
Committee on Standards: Cox Report — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Government Operations
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): I very much agree, and I also very much endorse the comments of my friend the hon. Member for Carlisle (John Stevenson), who rightly pointed to the standing of the lay members who currently belong to the Committee and, indeed, to the full Nolan process we put people through to recruit them to membership of the Committee. I remind the House that the Committee reports to this House. Ultimately, decisions will be taken by this House. We may vote in the Committee on a matter that comes before us—although it is very rare for us to do so—but ultimately the output of our deliberations will be a report to this House, so the elected membership of this House will have a final say It is important that the Committee take action now to ensure that the public see we are serious about independence and fairness in the system. That is particularly imperative because under the independent complaints and grievance system that now pertains, the Committee may very well find itself dealing with appeals very shortly. We need to be able to show the public that those appeals will be dealt with appropriately and in a way in which they can have confidence Madam Deputy Speaker, I do hope that the House will support the report tonight and give the motion of the Leader of the House the support that it deserves.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the House for allowing me to hold this debate this evening on the statement by the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston, following his visit late last year to the United Kingdom, which, along with a plethora of other reports, has ensured that the grinding and increasing poverty of daily life for so many in the UK has been brought into the spotlight Unlike the Government, who have treated Professor Alston’s well-evidenced and thorough statement with complete and utter disdain, I want to personally thank him for his conviction in passionately highlighting the absolute shame, degradation and harm that this Government are inflicting on those they govern, which has led to 14 million people living in poverty.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: International Affairs
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): In addition to the disdain that this Government showed for the UN rapporteur’s report, the United States Government showed the same disdain when he produced a report on poverty in the United States. I know that we have a special relationship with the United States, but I think it shames us all that we share that disdain. Does my hon. Friend agree?
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend points to a worrying analogy, and I do of course agree Professor Alston’s statement confirms what many Labour Members have known for a very long time—that when it comes to welfare reform and this Government’s policy agenda overall, "the evidence points to the conclusion that the driving force has not been economic but rather a commitment to achieving radical social re-engineering." It has long been embedded in Tory DNA that "there is no such thing as society", and social experiments in rolling back the state always begin with those who need the state the most. That is why the legacy of every Tory Government is one of deep inequality Professor Alston rightly notes that nowhere can this social re-engineering be seen more clearly than in the roll-out of "universal discredit", as he calls it.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will come to those points later in my speech, but he is right; this cannot be ignored any longer. In principle, universal credit seemed to make some sense. Consolidation of six benefits into one should have achieved the key tenets of simplifying payments and incentivising people into work. Crucially, however, it was never designed to get support to those who needed it in a timely and efficient manner. In reality, like all welfare reform measures from this Government, it was about creating a hostile environment and demonising and dehumanising benefit claimants. As Professor Alston notes, the Department "is more concerned with making economic savings and sending messages about lifestyles" than with responding to genuine needs The result has been an unrelenting onslaught of abject harm inflicted on more than 3 million people. The late-in-the-day news that the next phase of roll-out is being scaled back gives no comfort to the millions already suffering. Trussell Trust food bank figures show that in areas where universal credit has been implemented, food bank usage has increased by 52%. The fact that the Work and Pensions Secretary states that she "regrets" the growth in food banks will offer no comfort to the estimated 8.4 million people in the UK suffering from food insecurity, or to the volunteers and faith groups filling the gap left by the state and manning the nearly 2,000 food banks that we shamefully now have operating as a permanent part of the welfare state Nor will the Secretary of State’s regret give comfort to my constituents, such as one 18-year-old girl starting out in life who unexpectedly lost her job and who, despite statements made by the Government to the contrary, has not been eligible for housing cost assistance through universal credit. She narrowly escaped homelessness thanks to the intervention of our irreplaceable South Tyneside citizens advice bureau. The Secretary of State’s regret will also not help my constituent who suffers from mental health difficulties and was left with only £1.25 per day to live on after the Department made an error with her payments The five-week delay embedded in the system, which often turns out to be longer, was never going to achieve anything other than hardship, because one day going hungry and not being able to pay the bills is one day too many.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Thelma Doris Walker (Labour, Centre-left): In my constituency, there are nearly 6,000 children living in poverty, and in one ward 40% of children are living in poverty. Does my hon. Friend agree that in one of the richest countries in the world, unnecessary suffering brought about by Government policies is unacceptable?
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and I agree The 35-day delay leads to destitution and despair. There is no acceptable rationale for making people wait that long other than, to use Professor Alston’s words, "to make clear that being on benefits should involve hardship." That hardship is exemplified clearly in the draconian application of sanctions. It is estimated that across the benefits system, more than 350,000 people were denied access to benefit payments between 2017 and 2018 for the most trivial and minor of reasons—for example, missing appointments because a relative has died unexpectedly or because claimants themselves have been admitted to hospital, or attending interviews instead of jobcentre appointments. The list is endless Professor Alston’s statement pays attention to the 2017 Government transformation strategy, under which all Government services will be "digital by default". Universal credit claimants have been used as guinea pigs, as this is the first major service to be digital by default. It was either a deliberate act or total incompetence that led the Government to the conclusion that the most vulnerable and those with limited digital literacy and limited access to computers should be the first to test that. Even worse, it has been done against a backdrop of closures of libraries and jobcentres—the very places that those struggling would have gone to for assistance This Government have created a disability culture void of medical evidence and based on ignorance, fabrications and downright cruelty. The work capability and personal independence payment assessments—the most damning policies of our time—have seen companies such as Maximus, Atos and Capita being handed multimillion-pound contracts to hit targets based on how many people with disabilities they can push into destitution, and people with Down’s syndrome being asked by assessors how they "caught" it.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Hugh Lawrence Gaffney (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making a very good speech. Does she agree that it is shameful that in 2017 the UN, which we associate with development work in third-world countries, found that 14 million people in Great Britain were living in poverty as a result of the Government’s failed welfare reforms? Does she agree that the Government should be ashamed of the findings of the UN report, which demonstrates that the only increases we have seen in this country are in child poverty, food bank usage and homelessness, as a direct result of Government policies? Does she agree that it is unacceptable for the Government to ignore the UN’s findings on poverty and the treatment of disabled people in this country?
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): The Government should be ashamed. They should also be ashamed that a wheelchair user with multiple sclerosis was asked how long it would be before she could walk again, and that a young woman with a cancer-related bone marrow disease was denied personal independence payments because she had a degree, because working to gain a qualification is apparently a sign that someone is "not really disabled". On top of that, people with disabilities are losing their severe disability premiums and enhanced disability premiums under universal credit, leaving them £80 a week worse off.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I agree that that would be a welcome way forward Those stories I have mentioned are not the exception but the norm, so it is little wonder that in 2017 the UN concluded that the UK Government were guilty of "grave or systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities" The UK benefits system now locks people into a Kafkaesque nightmare, and for some the only escape, tragically, has been to take their own lives. This state-inflicted damage cannot and must not continue.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Ruth Stephanie Nicole George (Labour, Centre-left): I too congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate and on her powerful speech. Does she agree that the welfare state system we now have, in which people are left utterly powerless and often without the support they need to appeal decisions, is contributing not only to rising debt but to rising levels of mental health problems, as people suffer from depression and despair because they are unable to get on and be treated fairly?
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Labor
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for giving way. I am a little confused, because the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions have both dismissed the findings and do not agree with the report. Has there been a change of thinking since they made those comments?
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister agree with Professor Alston’s assessment that, because the Government use four different measures of poverty, they can essentially say what they want about the figures? The reality is that there are 14 million people living in poverty in the UK.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights — House of Commons, 2019-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Thelma Doris Walker (Labour, Centre-left): As a former headteacher, I talk to a lot of my former colleagues. Many of them, of a morning, are washing children’s clothes and giving them breakfast. They are having to give children extra lunch because they are starving. Does the Minister agree that that is totally unnecessary and inappropriate? We should be caring for the most vulnerable in our society.
Infrastructure Funding: Devon and Cornwall — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Luke Pollard (Labour, Centre-left): Added rail resilience at Dawlish is really important for the far south-west to keep our train line open, but so is added road resilience. Can the Minister set out what additional funding he can put in place to make sure that the A38 is a safer road? At the moment, there are far too many delays and sadly far too many people die on it?
New Technologies — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Technology
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): The Chancellor knows very well that Huddersfield in the Leeds city region is a hotspot for new technology and innovation and a tech centre, but many people in Huddersfield and Leeds are demoralised by the future and leaving the European Union. What can the Chancellor do to give them some hope that there is a future for their businesses and universities?
New Technologies — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Energy
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): Renewables is a key future technology sector. Can the Chancellor assure the House that the growth of the offshore sector will not be limited by Government airspace protection rules, or, if it will, will the Government look to invest instead in onshore wind?
New Technologies — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Environment
Questions: New technologies enabling us to work from anywhere and at any time are bringing an end to the traditional, rapidly declining nine-to-five. To make the most of this, we need to harness such advantages to work smarter rather than just harder. How is the Treasury investing in enabling people to become more productive and to work more flexibly?
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry, but when it comes to funding the new technologies that really matter, this Government, and especially the Treasury, have been abysmal. The climate crisis is upon us now, but this Government’s reaction has been to axe carbon capture and storage funding; to cancel the Swansea lagoon, despite the fact that we were poised to be a world leader in tidal technology; and to slap innovative emerging storage technologies with business rates. At the same time, they are throwing billions into new tax breaks for oil and gas. Does the Chancellor agree that this Government are not facing the climate emergency but creating it?
No Deal EU Exit: Manufacturing Sector — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What steps his Department has taken to mitigate the potential effect on the economic sustainability of the manufacturing sector of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Virendra Kumar Sharma (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that response. Last month, I surveyed businesses in my constituency and they overwhelmingly said that they wanted Brexit cancelled. Will the Chancellor stand up for British businesses, end the uncertainty and use his immense personal prestige in the Cabinet and with the Prime Minister to stop Brexit once and for all?
Single-use Plastic Waste — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Environment
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): My 10-year-old constituent Emily Haines wrote to me about this issue, and she assured me she had not just copied and pasted. Indeed, when I wrote back to her by hand, her father emailed me to say that he had no idea that his daughter had written to me on this subject. So may I ask the Chancellor not to listen to those who say that he should in any way dilute what he is doing on single-use plastics? Indeed, he should do more and do as Emily says: introduce "tough new taxes" to make sure that we deal with this environmental scourge.
Single-use Plastic Waste — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Environment
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): I am pleased that the Chancellor is, apparently, taking the issue of plastic waste seriously. The Government have committed £61.4 million to global research to help to prevent plastic waste from entering the oceans. Given the challenge, is that sufficient?
Single-use Plastic Waste — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): Talking of preventing waste, what with the millions wasted on the ferries fiasco, the drone debacle, the Northern rail mess, the Carillion collapse, the electronic tagging turmoil, the £2 billion East Coast chaos and, finally, £72,000 spent on defending an illegal prisoner book ban, is it not time for the Chancellor, as the custodian of the public finances, to impose a ban on the failing Secretary of State for Transport wasting any more public dosh?
Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Social Welfare
Michael Lee Amesbury (Labour, Centre-left): Eighty-seven people in this country die each day before receiving the care that they need. Does the Minister agree that that figure is shameful and that the Chancellor should use the spring statement to tackle the funding crisis in social care?
Economic Growth and Employment — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Foreign Trade
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I suspect the Minister knows that it will be more difficult to increase jobs in services businesses if we replace single market membership with a free trade agreement. Will he set out for the House what estimate he has made of the scale of the difficulty, particularly that facing financial services businesses that want to increase jobs in the current Brexit situation?
Economic Growth and Employment — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Labor
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): Whenever the Government table self-congratulatory questions like that one, there is a need to put on record what is really happening out there. Six million jobs in the UK pay less than the real living wage, 3.8 million people are in insecure employment and 2.5 million people work less than 15 hours a week. Economic growth, where it exists, is so geographically unequal that it does not reflect the reality of what people see around them. Let me ask, on behalf of those people: what is this Government’s strategy for in-work poverty and insecure employment?
Benefits Freeze — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Social Welfare
Neil Coyle (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his reply. This morning, the Select Committee on Work and Pensions visited Charles Dickens Primary School in my constituency to talk to parents, children and teachers about the impact that the benefits freeze and other welfare cuts have had on local families, many of whom have been pushed into debt, poverty and destitution as a direct result of Government policy. Will the Government listen to the Select Committee and lift the benefits freeze one year early?
Tax Avoidance Enablers: HMRC Resources — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): In 2017, the Government introduced the Criminal Finances Act to great fanfare, claiming that they were clamping down on the facilitators of tax-dodging. Will the Minister please confirm how many prosecutions have been brought for the new offence of failing to prevent tax evasion?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-03-05
Topic: Labor
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): Since the introduction of the minimum wage, only 14 employers have been prosecuted by HMRC for failing to pay the minimum wage. Does the Chancellor agree that that is a completely unacceptable state of affairs? What action is he taking to boost the capacity of HMRC to go after those who are not paying the minimum wage?