argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Labor
Peter Grant (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I do not know whether my hon. Friend heard the comment that we think we heard from a Conservative Member—I have no doubt that it will be corrected if we misheard it—but I was convinced that they suggested that a major cause of stress for claimants is that, "They are terrified they might get a job." [Hon. Members: "Shameful."] Does my hon. Friend agree that anyone with that kind of attitude is not in any position to judge those who are actively trying to find employment?
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Last week I tabled a written question asking the DWP for an estimate of the number of people in Scotland subject to a benefit sanction who have had to use food banks. The answer I received was: "The Department does not hold this information." Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government cannot possibly continue to deny the link between sanctions and food bank usage if they are not collecting that vital information?
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. As I have said multiple times in this Chamber and outside it, one of the things that saddens and depresses me most about the society we live in just now is the fact that use of the phrase "food banks" has become normal. Although we should support our food banks, they are now considered to be a legitimate add-on to the state and people are told that they should just go to them.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The idea that individuals and citizens in our society are reliant solely on the charity of others to eat and to feed their children shows that we are sliding backwards down a hill to Victorian times.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No, I do not agree. At no point did I say that people in that position do not have access to any funds; what I said is that many people are left with absolutely nothing because they do not know about the fund, and they do not know that they can claim from it. Apart from anything else, they do not know how to. Someone who is depressed and anxious, and who is all over the place worrying about where their children’s next meal is going to come from, does not have time to think and worry about how to go down the paper trail to get a mandatory reconsideration.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Eilidh Whiteford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend has taken us to a point in the debate where we have to talk about the disproportionality of sanctions. Criminals who are fined by a court for crimes that they have committed lose less money than people who have been 10 minutes late for an appointment or gone to another interview.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Is my hon. Friend aware that the NAO report sets out the clear calculation that when the hardship payments and the cost of running the sanction system are added in, the Government are not actually saving any money?
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): That point speaks for itself. This is not a political argument; it is factual. The system is costing money; it is not giving us good value for money. It is causing a lot of distress and hardship for many people.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Is it not the case that aspects of support normally provided by central Government end up being a burden on local government? We do not allow families to live in doorways in cardboard boxes, so they will end up in temporary accommodation, which is funded by local government.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend has just echoed the arguments that have been made on that point I want to move on to the second main part of my Bill. It deals with hardship payments—my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Hannah Bardell) spoke about them earlier—which I view as the second-biggest problem in the system. Currently, when a sanction has been imposed, a person may be able to get a reduced-rate hardship payment, but such payments are not awarded automatically—a person will need to apply for them. Again, we must remember that we are talking about human beings who are often very vulnerable. Whether because of their mental health, their physical health, their financial situation or their caring responsibilities, they are up to their eyeballs in stress already, and when they hear the dreaded word "sanctions", the situation becomes 10 times worse The system is not designed to guarantee that everyone will be listened to. Some people might be lucky enough to be listened to. The system might be fine, as I said at the beginning, in jobcentres that are managing to make this skeleton of a system kind of work, but there is no guarantee that it will be the same for everybody. When an individual hears that they are being referred for—that dreaded word—a sanction, their world often falls apart and they are thrown into utter chaos.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Labor
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I agree with the hon. Gentleman. That is precisely why I am trying to bring in something to formalise what should already be in place to ensure a bit of consistency between different jobcentres and constituencies in the UK To expect someone who is up to their eyeballs and whose life is in chaos because they have heard the word "sanction" to know the system inside out, to know what they are entitled to and to know when and how to apply for it is simply unrealistic. It is not the reality of what genuinely happens. Some might accuse the Government of deliberately creating the system in that way to create a disincentive for people to challenge and claim what they are entitled to receive, as we know that the amount of unclaimed benefits to which people are entitled vastly outweighs the some 0.8% of benefits that are fraudulently claimed. However, I will let people make up their own minds We are realistic, and we know that the UK Government will impose sanctions. The Bill would therefore include in the code of conduct an assessment for hardship payments, so that anyone subject to a sanction would automatically have their situation considered. If someone is sanctioned, jobcentre staff should immediately assess them to see whether they qualify for a hardship payment, rather than it being the individual’s responsibility to initiate an assessment. That makes perfect sense. If jobcentre staff have a stressed person in front of them who is in a difficult position and in an emotional state, they should be the responsible participant. They are the one who is supposed to be doing the job that the Government do, which is ensuring that no one falls through the gaps. That is not a big ask; it is logical to ask, "Is this person qualified for a hardship payment?"
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for incorporating part of a private Member’s Bill that I tabled last year on the automaticity of hardship payments. That speaks to the whole point of her Bill, which is about the inconsistent application by jobcentres of what should be available to people in such situations. She is trying to make a minor change to ensure that everyone across the country has access to the same level of service from people working in jobcentres to make sure that nobody is left behind.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Again, I make the plea that the fundamental logic behind the Bill is that citizens should not be made homeless or destitute by their Government. They should not be left with absolutely nothing in their pockets because of the Government. It is our responsibility to look after our citizens. It is therefore perfectly logical to assess an individual at the point of sanction to see whether they qualify for a hardship payment.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): We have all experienced that and can see it in our own constituencies. Again, I have not introduced the Bill to be controversial. The Bill seeks to tighten what is already in place, to tidy it up and to offer a wee bit of security and consistency for all people throughout the UK.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No, I will make some progress This Bill is a genuine attempt to change a system that is already causing so much pain and heartache to individuals. I consulted on the Bill, and I received more than 9,000 responses. Some 98% of those responses were from people who agree with the Bill. I give credit to the film, "I, Daniel Blake". I went to see it again earlier this week, and it was even more hard-hitting the second time. I genuinely urge everyone in this room to go and see that film, because sanctions hit real people. They are not statistics. They are human beings who are struggling and suffering due to the actions of the state.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Macroeconomics
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I can hear the hon. Lady heckling me. Well, I will show her that the facts are that sanctions are hurting people and leaving them with no food in their cupboards and no money in their electricity meter. Sanctions are leaving people with nothing. To sit there and simply say, "Stick to the facts" just shows how ignorant and out of touch from reality she is.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Christopher Murray Alexander Law (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) is right that sticking to the facts is important. My city of Dundee was dubbed sanctions city 2014, and I am frankly ashamed that it still has that title today. Let there be no doubt that we also have the busiest food bank in Scotland. For anyone here who thinks that is a work of fiction or that these are not the facts, I make it clear that the sanctions city of Dundee also has the highest use of food banks in Scotland.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Just to give some facts, my constituent Bryan suffers from severe disability as a result of childhood polio. His personal independence payment was withdrawn because he failed to attend an appointment as a result of an undelivered letter. Bryan phoned the office to say what had happened to the letter, but, despite that, his PIP has been withdrawn and as a result, he has lost his disability living allowance. He is no longer in receipt of any disability benefit. He lost his entitlement to disability tax credits, and he has lost his Motability car. His appeal, which I am supporting, will not be heard until next year. Are those not the facts and the reality of the situation?
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank my hon. and learned Friend for her intervention, because we all have constituents who have suffered under the system as it stands. We can see at first hand just how cruel and heartless the system can be to people who are left behind.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Labor
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend very much. To go back to my point, "I, Daniel Blake" shows the kind of situation raised by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry). Daniel Blake is forced to move on to jobseeker’s allowance because the DWP says that he is fit for work, and he is left in limbo, while he waits on a mysterious decision maker to decide whether he is actually fit for work, despite the doctor having already made it clear that he is not. Blake is then told by his DWP work coach that he is not making enough effort to get a job, and he is subsequently referred for a sanction.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I entirely and completely agree. That is the perfect example of someone who, under the Bill, would be exempt from a sanction because of their caring responsibilities. Those in charge would see that someone whose child is ill or has an emergency of course needs, as a parent, to be with them.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): May I add another example? A constituent of mine with three young children approached me to tell me about her issue with Concentrix in November last year, when she was sanctioned for six weeks over Christmas. Her children went without at Christmas as a result of this Government’s policy, only to discover that that was later overturned. This is a Government who allow families to go without for six weeks over Christmas.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Labor
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No. I am going to make a wee bit of progress There is a cracking and very powerful bit in the film. As I was saying, Daniel Blake has to go around giving out his CV and all that to prove that he is trying to find work to get any money at all. At one point, a guy phones him up and says, "Listen, I want to offer you a job." Blake says, "I can’t come into work," and he asks, "Why not?" Blake replies, "Because my doctor says I’m not fit." He says—
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Hold on, and listen He says, "You’re a scrounger. You’re just lazy. You’re going around applying for jobs, but then you tell us that you’re not fit. You’re just wasting everyone’s time." We can see the logic behind the fact that there are those in the general public who think—they are led to believe this by the rhetoric of this Government and the mainstream media—that people on benefits are scroungers and that they are lazy. It is the perfect example in the film of when we see that this guy is struggling and is hurting"—
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Lady said she wanted facts, so if she does not want fiction, here are some individual examples In response to the survey, Connie Dobson said: "Nearly all people I have supported, had no idea they were about to be sanctioned until the meagre payment they so desperately anticipate, which barely covers their living/caring costs, as it is, isn’t available at the bank on the date it was due. Some don’t receive letters at all re their sanction, and those who do, receive them after the payment was expected, leaving them in undue hardship, without any means to buy food and other essentials", such as nappies and sanitary ware, and they "are unable to top up their…gas/electricity" to keep themselves warm Another respondent said: "In my experience of being on JSA a few years ago one of the problems was that it was very difficult to contact my (or any) adviser by phone. The advice given was that if you failed to turn up to sign on (or meet any other of the claimant commitments) without good reason you could face a sanction. It also said that you should contact your adviser ASAP to let them know that you would be late/missing an appointment etc. The problem was they almost never answered the phone! They should not be allowed to sanction someone if it is impossible for them to contact the Jobcentre and give an explanation! One of the biggest problems with the sanction regime is that they do not take in to consideration peoples personal circumstances." A female respondent, who is only 23, from sanctions city—Dundee—highlights the real cost of the regime on our constituents: "I wholeheartedly agree with all of the above! I am a 23 year old female student in Dundee and the majority of my life was ruined by these sanctions. I found myself in a position with very little support and due to benefit sanctions along with very little advice, information and resources was left unable to feed, clothe and look after myself. These sanctions also affect any housing benefit which low income families depend on which resulted in me being homeless with my small son, twice. I am now in a much better position no thanks to any help from the government, in employment, have my own flat and am studying with hopes to pursue a career that helps people facing such hardships as it’s clear that something is seriously wrong." Such comments are made not just by individuals but by organisations such as those that I thanked at the beginning. Those organisations exist purely because they want to help people. Because they deal with these things day in, day out, they are the real experts.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I do not have the exact figures, but from the experience of my constituency office, most of the sanctions cases I have dealt with that have been overturned would have been prevented altogether had the provisions been in place.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I sincerely thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. The problem is an overarching one, not just for this issue, but for all the different aspects of Government, in that their records are very poor. In the Work and Pensions Committee we have seen the complete lack of data collated by the Government As I was saying, the organisations that do this work day in, day out and deal with these people every day know what is happening. In fact, in many ways they know better than we sometimes do, because we are always stuck in this place and they are on the front line, dealing with individuals and listening to cases The Scottish Association for Mental Health has said: "SAMH calls for all MPs to support this Bill. People with mental health problems are among the most vulnerable of benefit recipients, have been disproportionately targeted to be sanctioned and are among the least likely to understand or be able to comply with the conditions attached to their benefit. Sanctioning this group of people serves no purpose other than to make their illness worse and their personal circumstances even harder to cope with—making employment a less, not more, likely outcome. Ensuring that a pre-sanctions assessment of benefits claimants’ circumstances is carried out should lead to a reduction in the numbers of people inappropriately sanctioned; as well as not pushing vulnerable people into financial hardship and making them more unwell, the reduction in cancelled or appealed sanctions should also benefit the public purse through reduced administration costs. SAMH notes the NAO’s report on sanctions…and calls on the UK Government to rethink this punitive approach."
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My hon. Friend gives a perfect example of the individuals we are talking about for whom the Bill is logical and sensible Citizens Advice Scotland has said: "Our evidence shows that too often the current system of benefit sanctions is leaving many of our clients facing destitution and crisis. While Citizens Advice Scotland does not in principle object to the use of sanctions in appropriate cases as a last resort, we strongly believe that no one should ever be left without any income at all." People should be able to meet essential living costs, and at the very least be able to heat their homes and eat. Under the current sanctions regime, too little account is taken of an individual’s circumstances before they are referred for a sanction. The Bill proposes that a person’s mental and physical health, caring responsibilities and housing situation are taken into account ahead of the imposition of sanctions. It would also improve access to the hardship payments for some of the most vulnerable by ensuring that they receive written advice about the possibility of claiming hardship payments before a sanction is imposed, and by introducing a duty on the Secretary of State to ensure that any person subject to a sanction is assessed for their eligibility for hardship payments.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. It is worth pointing out that the logic driving the reforms is inconsistent throughout the system. The Bill should be passed exactly because we want to bring a bit of sense and reality back into the system There is a huge disparity between the sanctions system and the mainstream judicial system. The scale of fines is higher for sanctions than it is for courts. In our legal system in the magistrates or sheriffs courts, there is always an assessment of the offender’s circumstances before a fine is decided. In the sanctions system, there is nothing.
Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-12-02
Topic: Labor
Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No, I will not give way The point we must remember is this: why are we prepared to take the personal circumstances of potential criminals into account, but not take into account the circumstances of people whose only crime is that they cannot find work? [Interruption.] Will hon. Members stop heckling me?