argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Paula Michelle Sherriff (Labour, Centre-left): Schoolgirls in Yorkshire and elsewhere have had to use toilet paper and even socks stuffed into their underwear because families cannot afford sanitary protection due to poverty pay and welfare cuts. Will the Secretary of State consider matching our commitment to set aside funding to tackle period poverty and ensure that girls never miss out on their education just because they are having periods?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his remarks. It is unfortunate that the Secretary of State has more pressing problems than prison disturbances and the axing of Conservative manifesto prisons policy, which I shall come on to shortly Last night’s disturbance at HMP Long Lartin marks another low point in the prisons policy of this Government. The House will no doubt recall the frightening scenes on our televisions from HMP Birmingham last year. That was no one-off, with many other disturbances in recent months, but when it involves a high-security prison housing some of our most dangerous prisoners, it is especially concerning. Does the Minister believe that forcing through hundreds of millions of pounds of budget cuts to our prisons in recent years has left our prisons more safe or less safe Seven in 10 of our prisons are now overcrowded, and the situation is getting worse. The former director general of the Prison Service has warned that the recent surge in numbers is adding to the pressures on a prison system that he says is "already woefully short of space" Does the Minister believe that prisoners spending more and more time locked in their cells is making our prisons more safe or less safe? Government cuts have seen over 6,000 frontline prison officers cut. Despite recent Government boasting about new recruits, one in three of our prisons has lost frontline staff this year alone. Does the Minister believe that fewer and fewer staff dealing with more and more dangerous prisoners leaves prisons more safe or less safe Yesterday, the head of the Prison Service ruled out shutting down and selling off dilapidated Victorian jails across England and Wales. This amounts to shelving a 2017 Conservative general election manifesto promise. Does the Minister believe that housing more and more people in Victorian conditions will leave our prisons more safe or less safe? Finally, will the Government apologise to the country for yet another broken manifesto promise?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): Two of the three murders in the prison system last year were at Long Lartin. Last week, two individuals were convicted of the murder of a prisoner committed in June in Long Lartin. In the last four years, there have been four murders in Long Lartin. Why does Long Lartin seem to have more murders than any other prison in the country?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Labor
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): While it is reassuring to hear the Minister say that no staff were physically hurt during the disturbance, these events are not supposed to happen and can be terrifying for the staff present. Will he make sure that staff receive the support they might need in the coming weeks to deal with what happened and that no staff member is forced to come back to work before they are ready?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): That was a really interesting answer, because the heroin dealer Ian Paul Manuel beat up prison officer Adam Jackson at Kirklevington prison in Stockton, and the courts gave him a conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £20 compensation to the officer. Does the Minister agree that such a slap on the wrist is totally inadequate, that it offers no deterrent at all to the thugs who turn on prison officers and that it is time the courts were given clear advice that they, too, have a responsibility to protect prison officers?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister visit Amsterdam for a relaxing weekend, to study the special prison crisis they have in Holland, which is a lack of prisoners to fill their prisons? They have had to close 19 of them down. Will he examine the contrast between the intelligent, pragmatic policies on drugs of the Dutch over the last 50 years and the harsh, unintelligent policies that we have had in this country? The Government there have shown a welcome desire to reflect on the failed drug policies here and introduce new measures that reflect the reality of the situation, in having drug houses that can be used and possibly looking again at imprisoning people for using the medicine of their choice. Is it not time we decided who has got it right over the last five years: the Netherlands or us?
Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister simply cannot pretend that we will not see further outbreaks of this kind of rioting in our prisons, and he cannot pretend that prisons are not in any case regularly very violent places. As long as we have overcrowded prisons and too few staff, these events will continue to take place. The Minister must look seriously at non-custodial options for the courts when it comes to low-level criminals for whom such options would be more effective, as well as being cheaper. Why is that not already being done?
Retail Energy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Caroline Louise Flint (Labour, Centre-left): Much of what I am hearing is music to my ears, and I welcome the fantastic cross-party support. The draft Bill, however, is a vindication of Labour’s warnings since the data became available in 2011 that customers were being ripped off by the big six energy companies The Secretary of State has finally accepted that customers were overcharged by £1.4 billion between 2012 and 2015, but will he admit that what he is proposing today will not help the many millions of customers who will need help this winter? Why does he not stop wasting time? Why does he not use the extensive powers that the Labour Government gave him in the Energy Act 2010, under which he could bring an order to the House to cap prices right now? The dithering must stop. We have had the debate. Price caps already exist for those with prepayment meters and those receiving the warm home discount, and the Secretary of State should do this for everyone else now.
Retail Energy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Albert Owen (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Government’s intervention on the road to Marxism. I think that—apart from one—we are all Marxists now. I want to make a serious point, but I have been banging on about this for a long time, and I have been accused of lots of things, which is why I make that statement. Speaking as a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, I think it is realistic to assume that the pre-legislative scrutiny will take some time. When does the Secretary of State expect the Bill to receive Royal Assent? Will that happen at the earliest opportunity, so that we can help the vulnerable people who are being ripped off? On the issue of competition, the Secretary of State mentioned a review. The energy companies said recently that the price hikes were due to transmission costs. Can we look into the uncompetitive nature of this broken energy market?
Clean Growth Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): This long-awaited strategy sets out a good story, and I welcome the sentiment that it contains. In reality, however, it makes a mockery of clean growth and does not give any certainty for business. The ability to compete in global low-carbon markets and meet our needs from clean energy is the foundation of a prosperous low-carbon economy At the moment, the Government are failing to give a clear steer on emissions targets, have given no answers on the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon and are not investing in any meaningful way in renewable energy or energy efficiency. Will the Minister seek to introduce legally binding targets for renewable energy, as the Welsh Labour Government announced they would earlier this month? Successful markets need a clear strategic vision and leadership, and an effective regulatory regime. This Conservative Government have neither.
Clean Growth Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Matthew Thomas Pennycook (Labour, Centre-left): The strategy rightly supports the continuing roll-out of district heating across the country. May I impress on the Minister the real risk that the environmental benefits of the technology will be overshadowed by systemic problems in the industry? There are scores of such schemes in my constituency and many more in the pipeline. In each and every case, constituents are convinced that they are not getting a fair deal on tariff pricing, standing charges, transparency on consumption and billing, and system performance. The situation cries out for effective statutory regulation. As the Minister takes the strategy forward, will she bear that issue in mind, so that we can win the confidence of consumers as the industry expands?
Clean Growth Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Alexander David Sobel (Labour, Centre-left): I have spent the morning reading the clean growth strategy. On first reading, it appears mainly to be a repackaging of old announcements, with only small packets of new funding and increased existing funding being spent over longer periods. I am glad that the Minister touched on electric vehicles. The gap with respect to the old plans that we already have is 12 megatonnes of CO2. Today’s announcement does not bridge that gap, as can be seen in the chart on page 85 of the strategy. The gap remains. The funding for electric charge points is woefully inadequate, and I call on the Minister to look again at supporting large-scale electric vehicle charging funding, working closely with local authorities to ensure that EV charging points are in commercial and residential areas, not just on major roads. I ask her to commit to a minimum level of public EV charge points per head of population or per electric vehicle. I am glad she mentioned the Netherlands, because it has one public EV charge point—
Clean Growth Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Energy
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): My constituency already has onshore wind, solar generation and new battery storage technologies, but we have to seize the opportunities of tidal power, district heating from my local industrial estate of Avonmouth and the power of co-operatively owned generation, storage and distribution. Does the Minister agree that the investment that Governments make to create new markets is an important part of this policy approach? Will she confirm that her second test of affordability will not prevent this important public policy position from growing new markets and new technologies?
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: International Affairs
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): No one would dispute the worthiness of the Minister’s intentions, but the UK will none the less cease to be a member of the EU’s safe data zone following Brexit, which will make it more difficult for banks and other businesses to transfer data between the two jurisdictions. Will the Minister give some reassurance to businesses that are having to make decisions between now and Christmas and into the first quarter of the new year that we will secure the transitional arrangements that businesses need and thereby give them certainty that they will be able to continue to operate as they do now, not only when a deal on our future relationship is signed, but in the crucial transitional period?
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: International Affairs
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): First, let me apologise for my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) who has recently joined our team and would normally be speaking on these matters. He is currently fulfilling a prior obligation to speak at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. It is nice to have him on our team as we served together in the Cabinet Office in government, along with my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Tom Watson), and we all look forward to serving in government again very soon in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport If I may, I will just correct the Minister, who inadvertently misinformed the House. Of course, Gibraltar is not part of the United Kingdom. It is an overseas territory. It is technically part of the European Union, although it is obviously excluded from the customs union and the common agricultural policy.
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I stress my agreement with the hon. Gentleman’s remarks about these sharing systems. An example given to me by the Avon and Somerset constabulary involved the awful case of a member of the public viewing child pornography live in this country. Through data-sharing with the continent, the police services in Spain were able to raid the person delivering the data and bring to an end the crimes being committed here and in Europe. Such data sharing must continue, to protect our constituents and our friends on the continent.
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: Foreign Trade
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): Perhaps we can draw an analogy with my right hon. Friend’s earlier remarks about the customs union and single market and say that the Government are seeking an adequacy agreement, but not in name on this occasion.
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): The problem is that if it is not an adequacy agreement in name, it is not clear what it is. [Interruption.] Yes, an inadequacy agreement, perhaps We also need this to be clarified soon, because otherwise businesses will have no alternative but to make arrangements to shift the activities into the other EU countries to avoid the risk of them no longer being lawful—and if this is left to the last minute, with some late-night deal at some distant point, these companies will have gone.
Leaving the EU: Data Protection — House of Commons, 2017-10-12
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister recognise that the absence of article 8 will make his goal harder to achieve? He said that we can look elsewhere in the body of European law, and it is all terribly vague and badly defined. The problem is that that will not convince the Commission—and it is the Commission that he has to convince about adequacy.
Swansea Main Line: Electrification — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.
Laura Smith (Labour, Centre-left): May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s comments? I offer my deepest condolences The Government’s decision not to go ahead with electrifying the main line to Swansea has been a bitter blow to south Wales. My constituency is less than 20 miles from north Wales, and many of my constituents have written to ask me what steps the Government are taking to electrify the north Wales coast line. Can the Secretary of State provide any clarification today?
Swansea Main Line: Electrification — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): On 16 May, the Transport Secretary said that electrification was definitely happening and that he wanted to see an end to "smelly diesel trains", so there was widespread disappointment on 20 July when electrification was cancelled between Cardiff and Swansea, and also for the midland main line, with Ministers citing the fact that new technology made electrification unnecessary. Can the Secretary of State satisfy the House that this is not another cynical broken election promise by outlining what technological breakthrough was made after the ballot boxes closed?
Swansea Main Line: Electrification — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; Rail electrification from London to Cardiff will save 15 minutes of journey time, but the new Swansea metro proposal would save half an hour between Cardiff and Swansea. What is more, the city deal will create 10,000 jobs and more passenger demand. Will the Secretary of State look again at the business case for an electrified metro between Swansea and Cardiff that will provide an environmentally friendly and stronger future, and offset the negative impacts of HS2 on investment in south Wales?
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will be aware that in addition to deep concerns about the failure to electrify beyond Cardiff, there is a worry that Great Western Railway will apparently not offer a bilingual service on main line trains operating into Wales. Has he had a discussion with GWR about that? Other rail companies, such as Arriva, have been offering a bilingual service even on trains that go between Wales and England.
Swansea Main Line: Electrification — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; What recent assessment he has made of the effect on the Welsh economy of the Government’s decision not to electrify the main line to Swansea.; Rail electrification from London to Cardiff will save 15 minutes of journey time, but the new Swansea metro proposal would save half an hour between Cardiff and Swansea. What is more, the city deal will create 10,000 jobs and more passenger demand. Will the Secretary of State look again at the business case for an electrified metro between Swansea and Cardiff that will provide an environmentally friendly and stronger future, and offset the negative impacts of HS2 on investment in south Wales?
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): I associate myself and the Opposition with the condolences paid by the Secretary of State to those affected by the fire—our thoughts are with them Does the Secretary of State for Wales agree with Andrew R. T. Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservative party, who said this week that electrification of the line to Swansea would be beneficial to Wales and should still take place? He said that he had not "given up the ghost of fighting that campaign", and I assure the Secretary of State that neither have Labour Members.
Heathrow Expansion — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (Labour, Centre-left): Hub airports are more important than ever, so will the Minister join me in congratulating the Welsh Government on purchasing Cardiff airport, which has led to a great increase in passenger numbers? Should not the Tory party back that as well?
Heathrow Expansion — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Transportation
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): Trade unions, the CBI and local authorities all support the potential £6.2 billion of investment that Heathrow expansion will bring, but that depends on two things: the extension of HS2 to the Crewe hub; and a final decision on Heathrow. When are they both going to happen?
Infrastructure Investment — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): Lasting economic success will come only from a long-term approach to major economic decisions, which is why it is so great that the Welsh Labour Government are supporting strategic investment in infrastructure. A Labour Government will ensure that they work with rather than against the devolved Governments. Is that the same for the Conservatives and, if so, will the Minister assure the House that Wales will get its full Barnett consequentials funding from HS2?
Infrastructure Investment — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: International Affairs
Gerald Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Like many constituencies across Wales, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney has seen huge benefits from European structural funds, but there is great uncertainty about the future. Will the Minister assure the House that the level of financial benefits that we currently enjoy from structural funds will be replicated when we leave the European Union?
Infrastructure Investment — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: I was pleased that the Minister mentioned the north Wales growth bid. It is now 10 years since the step change in services between Chester and Shrewsbury that was caused by the introduction of an hourly service. Does he agree with everyone else in north Wales that it is high time that that step change was repeated through the reintroduction of the north Wales growth bid and better transport services across the border?
Christopher Shaun Ruane (Labour, Centre-left): I would like to add my condolences, and those of Labour Members, to all those affected by the heartbreaking tragedy at Llangammarch Wales is one of many areas in Europe that have received EU structural funds to help to improve their infrastructure. After 2020, will Wales receive the same funding as those comparator regions of Europe or will there be a reduction in funding to Wales by this Conservative Government?
Infrastructure Investment — House of Commons, 2017-11-01
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: I was pleased that the Minister mentioned the north Wales growth bid. It is now 10 years since the step change in services between Chester and Shrewsbury that was caused by the introduction of an hourly service. Does he agree with everyone else in north Wales that it is high time that that step change was repeated through the reintroduction of the north Wales growth bid and better transport services across the border?
Christopher Shaun Ruane (Labour, Centre-left): I am afraid that the Minister did not answer my question, so I will come back to it. There is a lack of clarity about what will happen in Wales after 2020. I thank the Secretary of State for meeting me to discuss these issues, but will he and the Minister convene a meeting of the Wales team, the shadow Wales team and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to sort these issues out so that there is absolute clarity for the people of Wales?