argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Adult Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Housing
Gillian Keegan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her question, because this is something that bothers me. It happened to my grandmother. We had to sell her council house, which she had bought under the right to buy that was introduced by a Conservative Government. It is very important that we start to fix this, because under today’s system, everybody out there can go down to their last £14,250. That is all that is protected. It is therefore a very unfair system today. That is why we are making these changes and introducing this cap, to ensure that nobody will ever have to pay more than £86,000. In addition to that, we are putting the means test up to £100,000, so that the cost of care is shared as a person’s assets get below £100,000. That will also slow down the depletion of assets. It will be a much fairer and better system than the one in place today.
Adult Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for all her work on this, as a Back Bencher and as a Minister. As she will know from our many conversations, I am a fan of the German system, not least because of its greater focus on domiciliary care and on personal budgets, which allow people, instead of relying on the professional workforce, to pay a loved one or a neighbour to provide their care. In many cases, that is much more beneficial for that individual. Is that going to be a feature of the White Paper, which I have obviously not yet had a chance to read?
Adult Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Housing
Gillian Keegan (Conservative, Centre-right): I know my hon. Friend’s views on that system, because we have discussed it many times. There are two things that I think he will welcome in the White Paper. The first is the focus on people being supported to stay in their own home or in supported housing for as long as possible. The second is personal budgets, which we will be exploring for people after they have been metered towards the cap. There is some use of personal budgets today, but we will be exploring what greater use of them we can put in place.
Adult Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Housing
Gillian Keegan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his question and, indeed, for all his work in this area. I know this is dear to his heart. I look forward to working with him on a solution The £300 million is specifically to help to solve supported housing and to provide much better supported living and mental health support for young adults with disabilities or learning disabilities. Based on conversations with my right hon. and learned Friend, we have also put something in the White Paper on further help to get these young people into work, as many of them want help and support getting into work, and not enough of them are getting that support today.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for giving me notice of her point of order, and she will recall that I was in the Chair during her exchange with the right hon. Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock). I must ascertain that she has mentioned to him that she intended to raise this matter today.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you for that confirmation. The hon. Lady knows that what is said by one Member to another is not a matter for the Chair. If the facts that have been presented to the Chamber turn out to be wrong, it is incumbent on not only every Minister but every Member to come back to the Chamber at the earliest opportunity to set the record straight. I make no judgment about the facts, because that is not a matter for me. The facts are a matter for debate I understand why the hon. Lady wanted to raise the matter. She has done so, and she will know there are various ways in which she can hold Ministers to account for the veracity or otherwise of the facts she is disputing.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his intention to raise this point of order Mr Speaker has said on many occasions, and I now reiterate what he said, that Ministers have a responsibility to make sure questions are answered within a reasonable time. It would appear that the questions tabled by the hon. Gentleman have not been answered within a reasonable time, and the answers are relevant, ongoing and important to his constituents and indeed all our constituents. The questions ought to have been answered The Procedure Committee is monitoring the record of Departments in answering questions timeously, so the hon. Gentleman might also wish to raise the matter with the Procedure Committee. From the Chair at this point, I sincerely reiterate what Mr Speaker has said on many occasions and I hope the matter will have been noted by the Treasury Bench. The hon. Gentleman’s questions ought to have been answered, and I hope they will be now.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. Once again, it is wrong that questions have been asked and they have not been answered within a reasonable time. Of course, the Chair is not responsible for the content of Ministers’ answers but, again, I suggest two courses of action to him. One is to draw the matter to the attention of the Procedure Committee—I have a bit of a feeling it is going to be busy in this respect because I think this is the sixth point of order of this kind that I have taken in the past few days and I am sure my colleagues have taken more. He also, of course, has the option of consulting the Table Office about ways in which he can bring Ministers to the Chamber to answer the questions. His point is made and I am sure it will have been noted.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, which, as she knows, is a point of debate. She says that the Minister was wrong in her answer and the Minister thinks she was right in the answer. I am so happy to tell the House that it is not for me to decide who was right or who was wrong, although in this case it does seem that the facts speak for themselves.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): This is getting somewhat repetitive, but the hon. Gentleman is quite right to raise his point of order. Once again, what another Member has said here is not a matter for me. Clearly, there are facts in dispute. The hon. Gentleman has taken the opportunity to put his view on the record and I am sure that the hon. Member for North West Durham, to whom I trust he has given notice that he intended to raise this point of order—
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you. I am sure that, if the hon. Member for North West Durham considers that the facts were not as he stated but as the hon. Gentleman has just stated, he will use the first opportunity to put the record straight. If not, that is a matter for him and not for the Chair.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman says, "The facts." It is not for me to make any judgment whatsoever as to the interpretation of the facts. I feel that this matter ought to be at an end and as far as I am concerned it has been dealt with.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his further point of order on exactly that matter. It is a point well made and it needs no further comment from me. However, I am grateful to him for drawing the House’s attention to what he has just said Bill Presented Trade Agreements (Parliamentary Scrutiny and Farming) Bill Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57) Tim Farron presented a Bill to provide for parliamentary approval of trade agreements; to place a duty on the Secretary of State to consider UK agricultural, environmental and animal welfare standards when negotiating trade agreements; to require the Trade and Agriculture Commission to assess the effects of potential trade agreements on farming, the rural environment and animal welfare and to produce associated reports; to require the Secretary of State to lay such reports before Parliament; and for connected purposes Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 14 January 2022, and to be printed (Bill 207).
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Lady is very committed and has done a lot of work in this area, but I would point out that the Government have introduced a number of measures to tackle fraud. Since 2010, the Government have introduced more than 150 new measures and invested more than £2 billion extra in HMRC to tackle fraud, and that action has so far secured and protected more than £288 billion-worth of revenue. This is money that would otherwise have gone unpaid We recognise there is more to do. Although most promoters of tax avoidance schemes have been driven out of the market, we know a determined group remains. The Bill addresses that group by disrupting their business models, by providing taxpayers with more information on schemes and by targeting offshore promoters. The Bill also takes steps to combat electronic sales suppression and tobacco duty evasion, ensuring everybody pays their fair share. This Government have a strong record of tackling both economic crime and non-compliance in the tax system, and the Bill builds on the steps we have already taken to protect UK security and prosperity.
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to give way because I want to make a number of points and the hon. Member has had an opportunity to put forward his points The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the loan charge and asked for a review. He will have heard in my speech and will know that we had a review less than two years ago. I know that this is an issue that concerns many Members. We did legislate as a result of that. We legislated on 3 December 2020. As a result of the review, 30,000 individuals benefited. In fact, 11,000 were removed from the loan charge.[Official Report, 6 December 2021, Vol. 705, c. 2MC.]
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to turn to the points made by the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) on transparency and the tax gap. I pointed out, and I hope she is aware, that each year we publish measures in relation to the tax gap. She talked about reforming Companies House. I know she will be aware that the Treasury has provided £63 million in funding for reforms to Companies House. She is interested in Scottish limited partnerships and we had a brief discussion about that. I hope she is aware that since October 2020, Companies House has brought forward 28 prosecutions in relation to Scottish limited partnerships and persons of significant control offences. I want to turn to some of the comments made by the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge). I would like to start by commending her for the work she has done. This is an area in which she is significantly interested and she has done a great deal of work through the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax. However, I strongly object to her suggestion that the Government are not committed to tackling economic crime. They absolutely are. It is for that reason that they set out 52 measures in the economic crime plan in 2019. I also take issue with her implicit suggestion, which was highly inappropriate, that there was a link between the Government’s actions on economic crime and donations made to a number of Members. I did not think that that was a wholly appropriate link to make in this House. In my six years in Parliament, I have found that colleagues across the House are committed to their work in public service.
Walsall Arboretum — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Other
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have given notice to the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) ahead of this point of order. What I understood yesterday in my point of order was in fact incorrect. I am happy to set the record straight now.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jason McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK and Ireland’s "sourced and grown" standard preserves the biosecurity of our woodland, as it ensures that trees are sourced and grown solely within the UK and Ireland for their entire lifespan. Following the Government’s biosecurity consultation, can the Minister please reassure the House that the tree sourcing standard will allow these future projects to be eligible for Government funding?
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Harrow Council on being one of the first councils in the country to join the Trees for Streets project, which is funded by the green recovery challenge fund. It aims to support the planting of 250,000 street trees over the next 10 years, transforming our urban environment. The national planning policy framework supports that; it promotes street planting and makes clear the expectation that trees should be incorporated into new developments, making our environment better for us all.
Floor Risk Management: Inner Cities — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Public Lands
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I regularly meet the chair of the Environment Agency to discuss flood risk management, and indeed I spoke to its board yesterday. We have doubled our investment in flood and coastal erosion defence to £5.2 billion, to better protect 336,000 properties across the country by 2027. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will welcome investment, for instance, in the new flood storage areas on the River Mersey, which were vital to reducing the risk to vulnerable communities during Storm Christoph earlier this year.
Floor Risk Management: Inner Cities — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Public Lands
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I discussed this issue with the Environment Agency board yesterday. It is that time of year when being alert to flood risk is absolutely at the top of our priorities, and I visited the flood response centre at Horizon House in Bristol earlier in the autumn. So we stand ready; sadly, we have got quite used to flood response, but we have a good team responding to this now and they are ready for anything the winter might throw at them.
Floor Risk Management: Inner Cities — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Public Lands
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): First, may I apologise for my oversight in not welcoming the hon. Gentleman to his place at the beginning of this session We have made available £5.2 billion, and this is a significant increase in the capital programme over the next few years. Included in that is some dedicated work on property resilience, where we are working with communities and flood forums locally to identify how we can improve the resilience of individual properties and, when there is a flood incident, to make grants available to them so that they can replace some of their doors in order to be more flood-ready in future.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: It is so important that we uphold our high animal welfare and food production standards not only in international trade deals but in our domestic public sector food procurement. The Government buying standards for food and catering services currently still provide an exemption from meeting the standards if that would increase costs. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on when the Government will close this glaring loophole, as we on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee have recommended?; On behalf of the small cider producers in West Worcestershire, may I thank the Secretary of State for the representations that he has made to the Chancellor about the taxation regime? Is he also making representations on behalf of the larger, more traditional cider makers with the stronger ciders who may be adversely affected by the tax changes?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I am aware that my hon. Friend lives in a part of the country, and represents a constituency, famous for its ciders. I would be more than happy to meet with her and any of those businesses to discuss any particular concerns that they have, although she will understand that alcohol duties are very much a matter for the Treasury.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Public Lands
Questions: It is so important that we uphold our high animal welfare and food production standards not only in international trade deals but in our domestic public sector food procurement. The Government buying standards for food and catering services currently still provide an exemption from meeting the standards if that would increase costs. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on when the Government will close this glaring loophole, as we on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee have recommended?; On behalf of the small cider producers in West Worcestershire, may I thank the Secretary of State for the representations that he has made to the Chancellor about the taxation regime? Is he also making representations on behalf of the larger, more traditional cider makers with the stronger ciders who may be adversely affected by the tax changes?; In Blackpool’s Stanley Park, 15 swans died last month following an outbreak of a deadly bird flu virus. Sadly, over the past month, avian flu has been found in several areas across the UK, and further cases have been confirmed this week. I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his update on this issue a few moments ago. Will he arrange for me to meet with officials in his Department so that I can discuss this particular issue in Blackpool?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. A storm of this scale, which brings down this number of trees, can cause significant damage to infrastructure. We should pay tribute to the work that many engineers would have been doing around the clock to try to restore power.
Church Maintenance: Sustainability — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Neil Peter Hammerton Hudson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Churches in rural communities face challenges of small and sometimes decreasing congregations, significant upkeep of old buildings, and, often, being in a group of churches under a common minister. These churches are at the heart of our rural communities and play such an important role for the people in those communities. What is the Church doing to support the long-term survival of small rural churches?
Church Maintenance: Sustainability — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue; he is absolutely right to do so. Our rural churches are a precious part of the Church of England, and we are looking at various options for small rural churches that could include, for example, new insurance and maintenance partnerships to remove some of the bureaucracy from priests and churchwardens while, very importantly, retaining local ownership. We are committed to a thriving rural ministry to attract the congregations to be able to sustain these churches into the future.
Church Maintenance: Sustainability — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Sometimes the church is described as 22 people in need of a rest and a crowd in need of exercise. The hon. Gentleman has absolutely put his finger on something important, and I am grateful to him for raising it.
Family Relationships, Parenting and Marriage — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The Church of England places a high value on the covenant of marriage and does all it can to support families and parents. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York want to strengthen family life further and have set up a commission to examine what more the Church can do to achieve that.
Family Relationships, Parenting and Marriage — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Other
Sheryll Murray (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. I also thank my local vicar, Michael Brown, who came to Westminster to play an active role in my own wedding, for all he does in the parish. What more can we do, as politicians, to recognise these often unsung heroes of our communities?
Family Relationships, Parenting and Marriage — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Other
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure we would all like to congratulate my hon. Friend on her wedding. I am delighted to learn about the support that Rev. Michael Brown gave to her for her wedding and about all the good work that he does in his parish. It gives me, and probably all of us, enormous pleasure to pay tribute to Rev. Brown and indeed to all our parish priests who work tirelessly to show the love of Christ to their parishioners.
Family Relationships, Parenting and Marriage — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I think we can do something even before that, because I am very keen on marriage enrichment as well, and I think that the Church can do more to prevent marriages from coming into difficulty in the first place. My hon. Friend is absolutely right, it is a very important role for the Church to play when marriages do run into trouble, and that is what the Archbishop’s joint family and household commission is also looking at.
Parish Ministry — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): At last month’s General Synod, the Archbishop of York spoke about the revitalisation of the parish in order that parish churches can reach and serve everyone in their community. I can tell my hon. Friend that since 2017, the Church Commissioners have given £130 million to support ministry in deprived parishes.
Parish Ministry — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Daniel Rayne Kruger (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. I quickly pay tribute to the Bishop of Ramsbury in my constituency, Andrew Rumsey, who has been appointed by the Church to review the use of church buildings across our country. The bishop is England’s foremost expert on the parish, and I know that my hon. Friend will want to save the parish as much as the rest of us. The Church of England’s vision for future ministry includes the line: "a Christian presence in every community" What is the Church of England doing to ensure that every community has a locally based, theologically trained and well-resourced cleric?