argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): This is frankly shocking. Defence Ministers have failed in their first duty to our armed forces, which is to ensure that they are properly trained, equipped and protected when they are deployed overseas, especially in conflict zones such as Mali. Six months ago, when Labour called in this House for Ministers to ramp up testing and to set out a clear plan to vaccinate our troops, the Defence Secretary said: "We are working on a list right now of who we can prioritise".—[Official Report, 12 January 2021; Vol. 687, c. 189.] Why was it not done? Why was top priority not given to troops sent overseas? The Minister has just said it is only being done in line with the national programme. The MOD has been clearer, saying recently: "UK personnel have been vaccinated in line with national priority guidelines…which saw vaccines rolled out to priority groups in order of age and risk." These are guidelines for civilians in Britain, not for troops fighting terrorists, 3,000 miles from home, in countries with jab rates among the lowest in the world— it is still at only 0.2% in Mali. I say to the Minister that that is wrong. How on earth did the Defence Secretary not stand up for the forces he deployed to Mali, Kenya, Oman, Afghanistan and elsewhere? These troops train together and fight together; they should be jabbed together How many and what proportion of UK military personnel deployed abroad, country by country, have contracted covid? How many have now been double jabbed, and when will all of them be done? Have all those deployed on core defence tasks, such as the continuous at-sea deterrent, now been double jabbed Will the Minister comment on the circumstances of HMS Defender in the Black sea today Finally, will the Minister now make full vaccination mandatory before overseas deployment? The Australians made that commitment in February, and it is high time British Ministers now did the same.
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Christopher Philip James Elmore (Labour, Centre-left): It is obviously deeply troubling, no matter how many service personnel who have been deployed have now got covid—whether the number is 80 or 28 or whatever the clarification the Minister has given—that there are also media reports that those personnel did not have enough test kits or enough space in order to self-isolate. Can the Minister clarify that he is doing all he can to get test kits out to those service personnel who are defending us, as it should be the first duty of Ministers to protect service personnel who are protecting us, and can he ensure that any troops deployed in the coming months on operations will have everything they need in terms of testing and space to self-isolate if, unfortunately, they contract covid-19?
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): We are all aware of the rigid, dogmatic vaccination policies of the Health Department bureaucrats and the utter failure of the Health Ministers to inject some common sense—they really are hopeless—but the Minister’s pitiful response today shows that Defence Ministers have meekly gone along with this. So the real question is why did our Defence Ministers not show some backbone by standing up for our troops and insisting on vaccines before deployment, if necessary forcing a decision for the Prime Minister? Can the Minister explain that failure?
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Can I say to the Minister that there is a clue in his title: Minister of State for the Armed Forces? It is about standing up for our armed forces. Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (John Spellar), I find it astounding that the Minister has just followed Department of Health guidance, rather than saying that there is a priority need, as the right hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) said, for people to have been vaccinated before overseas operations Let me ask the Minister directly about the 28 personnel —or whatever the number is, because he gave me a different one in a written answer about Mali the other day. What operational effect did that actually have on our contribution to the multinational force that is out there, because that is the key test? I just find it unacceptable that we did not vaccinate people against covid before they went.
UK Military Personnel Serving Overseas: Vaccination — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): Look, this is just wrong and the Minister should admit it. Our service personnel deserve full vaccination before deployment on overseas missions. When the US, France, Germany and others have fully vaccinated their forces, it does not seem right that we are behind the curve on this. He says that all personnel are now single-jabbed but there is no point in providing second jabs unless the required time has elapsed for them to be effective. I get that, but can he make it clear to the House whether that is the 12-week extended gap that the public have to wait for, or the three-week gap that the vaccine manufacturers recommend?
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): When the Command Paper was launched in 2005 by Bob Ainsworth, we had cross-Government work and armed forces champions in Departments because it was about central Government standing up to help veterans as well. Why, therefore, does the scope of the Bill exclude central Government Departments?
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister says that, but in effect it is not in place, because there is no redress. I must say that I am disappointed with the powers of redress in the Bill even in the areas where they are included. What are the powers of redress against Departments in respect of the covenant—not in respect of any other type of complaint there might be? How would a veteran ensure that the covenant was implemented by the Department of Health and Social Care at a national level, and what redress is there?
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his letter, but let us be honest, we are in this mess because of his predecessor, the hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny Mercer), who promised that the issues around time limits and investigations would be in this Bill. When I address my amendments, I shall read them out at length. I welcome the fact that they have been referred to Judge Henriques, but the question is: when will they then be implemented? Are we going to have to wait another five years for a new armed forces Bill before that happens? Otherwise, the Minister is going to have to find legislative time to implement them. There is an opportunity to do it now and, frankly, we should do it now.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I accept what the Minister is saying, but his predecessor promised, when he got into a real mess on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, that this issue would be addressed in this Bill. It is clearly not going to be, and has now been kicked into the review. My concern is the real issues that will leave members of the armed forces open to vexatious accusations for another five years. The only way to deal with that would be to find legislative time to bring in a new Bill, but I urge the Minister to just do it now.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that that provision is vital? In the evidence sessions for the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act we heard moving testimony from Major Bob Campbell, who was reinvestigated over many years. One stark thing that he said was that he felt abandoned by the MOD. Supporting individuals who are going through these investigations is vital, and without what is being proposed, individuals such as Major Campbell will continue not to get the support that they deserve.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Daniel Joseph Carden (Labour, Centre-left): I am delighted to hear that and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making the effort to let us know that in the Chamber Armed forces charities provide life-changing services, particularly for those with substance abuse problems, but access remains a postcode lottery. I think it is wrong that the state takes so little responsibility for ensuring that veterans receive the treatment they need. Requiring public bodies to give due regard to the principles of the covenant is not enough. The Bill was an opportunity to set measurable national standards that would end the current postcode lottery through the armed forces covenant. Once personnel have left service, they rely on the NHS and local authorities, and of course on the UK’s third sector organisations which provide excellent help and support. Their work is fantastic, but the MOD has a responsibility to those men and women that it has shirked for too long For too many veterans, their service to this country has come at a devastating cost. Drink and drugs are often an escape; a way to cope, a way to manage or medicate mental health conditions and past trauma. One of the worst failings of the system is that many drug and alcohol services simply do not have the competencies to deal with mental health issues in-house and many mental health services are not able to offer support if a patient presents with substance use disorders. Being bounced between services effectively prolongs people’s suffering for longer and longer.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Daniel Joseph Carden (Labour, Centre-left): I take the hon. Member’s second point and I would not want to be painting a negative picture. I am speaking on behalf of the people I have met in my constituency who have come through Tom Harrison House and elsewhere, who have suffered a great deal in their lives I will finish on some points made by Dame Carol Black in her independent "Review of drugs: phase one report". She says: "The number of residential rehabilitation services have reduced significantly, removing a core treatment component for those that need it to support their recovery", and: "Some areas are starting to ‘ration’ treatment, setting higher thresholds for those who can access it and/or just offering a minimum service due to workers having such large caseloads." The question for the Government is: if mental health services are failing the general population, what use is a law that gives due regard to service personnel and veterans? Regardless of people’s training or dedication to their duty, mental health disorders, including addiction, do not discriminate, and I simply want the MOD to take greater responsibility for and interest in these issues.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Fleur Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bury South (Christian Wakeford) and an honour to speak in this debate in Armed Forces Week and on Reserves Day, especially because I am proud to have the Royal Marine Reserve headquarters in my constituency. Ahead of Reserves Day, I visited them last week and was able to thank them personally for their service. They put in a hard day’s work all over the country, then travel to their reservist centre to train for the Royal Marines, no less. They offer amazing service to our country, and I am very proud of them and grateful to them There is much to welcome in the Bill, which will support our armed forces personnel and their families. I echo the words of colleagues on both sides of the House in recognising and celebrating the work of our armed forces and their ongoing efforts to make our country and the world safer. We cannot put a price on safety. Only when our own safety is compromised, or when we do not have it, do we realise how important it is to us every day. I worked with aid workers in Bosnia during the war, and I have seen the difference it can make to a whole community not to have that safety, so I value it very much Our armed forces have had to adapt all their work and all their training at speed during the pandemic, and I commend them for that. I am also thankful for the work they have done to support frontline efforts to tackle the pandemic. They really have stepped up when we have asked them to. It is for this reason that, while I support the aims of the Bill, I think it is a huge missed opportunity and could have gone further. It needs to go further if it is to deliver real improvements to the day-to-day lives of our service personnel and veterans and their families.
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Health
Taiwo Owatemi (Labour, Centre-left): As a fellow member of the armed forces parliamentary scheme, does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill could have gone further in addressing mental health provision for veterans, given the fact that they have to wait 37 days to receive a face-to-face appointment for mental health services, compared with the Government’s own target of just 14 days?
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that those individuals have a huge contribution to make post their military career to British society, whether it be the NHS or other public services, and that by not doing what he says, we are missing an opportunity for the experience that they gained in their service to this country to be given back to the country?
Armed Forces Bill — House of Commons, 2021-06-23
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I have been a Minister in the Ministry of Defence, so will the Minister just clarify what he means by "the summer", because there is a big difference between what we all know as the summer and what the MOD knows as the summer? Is he referring to what we recognise or will it be later in the year?
Motor Neurone Disease Research Funding — House of Commons, 2021-09-21
Topic: Health
Karl Turner (Labour, Centre-left): It has been said already, but rugby league fanatics like you and I, Mr Speaker, have long been inspired by the brilliance of Rob Burrow on the field, but I think we have been blown away by his tireless determination off the pitch to campaign to raise awareness of motor neurone disease. Does the Secretary of State agree with Rob and Scotland’s rugby union star Doddie Weir, who are both watching us, as the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) said? We need to act now, Secretary of State—now—to increase research funding into this devastating, debilitating and life- limiting disease.
Data Breach: ARAP Applicants in Afghanistan — House of Commons, 2021-09-21
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker There is rightly cross-party concern about this very grave security breach, with names, email addresses and in some cases photographs of 250 Afghan ARAP applicants, all still in Afghanistan and in danger, shared in a mass mailing. This needlessly puts their lives at risk I welcome the Defence Secretary’s presence here this morning and welcome his apology, inquiry and commitment to a statement when the House returns after its short recess, but it is not the apology but the action which matters most now. These Afghan interpreters worked alongside our British forces and the Government rightly pledged to protect them. Ministers must make good on those promises now, so can the Defence Secretary answer the following questions: when will he complete that assessment of the increased risk these individuals now face as a result of the data breach; what action is he taking urgently to evacuate them and their families; and why on earth is the MOD mass emailing people who face life-or-death situations I know from ARAP evacuees in my constituency who have separated family members still in hiding in Afghanistan that their social media has been blocked. Is there any evidence of email surveillance or interference from the Taliban? How will the MOD remain in contact with these people if they follow the advice to change their email addresses Yesterday, Ministers confirmed that 7,900 applications have been made to the ARAP scheme, with 900 so far approved since the end of August. Have there been any data breaches linked to other ARAP applicants This is the third known serious defence data breach in as many months. Each time, we have the same response: public apology, internal inquiry, then silence—no report on the inquiry results, no confirmation of action taken to tighten up the system. The Secretary of State rightly started by paying tribute to all involved in Operation Pitting. Our forces were totally professional in that extraordinary evacuation from Kabul, but they must be asking now: how can we trust our back-up at the MOD?
Salisbury Incident 2018: Update — House of Commons, 2021-09-21
Topic: Defense
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Today is a sober reminder of the scale of the security threats that we face as a country. I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. While we reflect on the terrible events in Salisbury three years ago, it is right to remind ourselves of the cyber-threats that the country faces. Will the Home Secretary say a little more about the work her Department is doing to deter the investment that countries such as Russia are putting into breaking our cyber-security?
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Margaret Eve Hodge (Labour, Centre-left): Let us set aside for a moment the Prime Minister’s unbridled record on reneging on his promises, because, today, he has chosen what I consider to be the least progressive option to fix both our health and social care system. It is unfair between generations, unfair between individuals and unfair between those who derive their income from assets or from work. He is ignoring a raft of better alternatives: raising income tax; and making dividend tax equivalent to income tax or capital gains tax. Why?
Gatwick Airport — House of Lords, 2018-12-20
Topic: Defense
Elizabeth Sugg (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as I said, all relevant parts of the Government, including the Ministry of Defence, are working on this issue today to try to resolve it as quickly as possible. We are working on the new technology that is available to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. It is not acceptable that passengers have faced such disruption ahead of Christmas and we are doing all we can to resolve it as quickly as possible.
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): People living with dementia and their families have been particularly affected by the social care crisis. They represent 40% of care home residents and they pay a dementia premium of 15%. On average, they spend £30,000 a year on their care. Dementia is an outcome of different diseases, which are increasing; we are going to see more and more people living with dementia. Therefore, can I ask the Prime Minister whether he will also fulfil his commitment in the general election manifesto for a dementia research moonshot? We know that we can, in the same way that we have developed a vaccination programme, develop cures and treatments for dementia.
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): The Prime Minister is behaving like Father Christmas; he does not know what he has not delivered in government for the last 11 years. In this House last night, we had cross-party consensus on covering the costs of medicinal cannabis. So while Father Christmas is at the Dispatch Box, can he deliver on a Government promise to immediately set up a fund to pay for prescriptions for medical cannabis for children with intractable epilepsy?
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Karin Marguerite Smyth (Labour, Centre-left): As well as the 30,000 beds that the Prime Minister talked about, we know there has been a 36% increase in people dying at home through the pandemic in circumstances that we know not much about. The mental, physical and financial torture and cost born by families is unknown and will shock many of us when we hear from our constituents. He may be flying a kite today, but I do think he is breaching a dam, and that is something that we all need to grasp. Targeted help is not a long-term solution. My right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) highlights what that solution could be, but there is some certainty offered today. Can the Prime Minister clarify whether he is going to bring forward a White Paper? Will he bring forward different forms of legislation? How are we going to understand the impact?
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Prime Minister agree that any new money must go alongside reform of our NHS? Does he agree that, as we have a system where most people’s entry into the health system is through a GP, it surely cannot be right that in many of the most deprived communities in our country, people cannot get a GP for love nor money? There must be something wrong in many parts of our country that in this day and age, people cannot get a GP and cannot even get a dentist. When can we do something to change that?
Health and Social Care — House of Commons, 2021-09-07
Topic: Health
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): Health and social care do need massive investment, especially after Tory austerity has so undermined our national health service over the past 11 years. A 10% tax on the wealth of those with over £100 million would raise £69 billion. Surely a wealth tax is how we should be funding these vital services. Is the truth not that despite the rhetoric and the promises, the Tories do not have the guts to take on the super-rich who fund their party, and that is why they will not back a wealth tax?
Health and Social Care Levy Bill — House of Commons, 2021-09-14
Topic: Health
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): It seems to me that we are spending this money twice, so can the Minister tell the House specifically how much will go into the NHS from this increase and how much will go into social care? What I am hearing from him is that we are going to deal with the backlog, which will take us back to pre-pandemic levels. That will leave us with a 2 million waiting list, so can he tell us specifically how much is going into the NHS and how much is going into social care?
Health and Social Care Levy Bill — House of Commons, 2021-09-14
Topic: Health
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that these problems began in 2010? The NHS’s satisfaction rate in 2009 was 80%, and now it is way lower. In fact, they might have got rid of all the satisfaction surveys so that we do not know what people really think.
Health and Social Care Levy Bill — House of Commons, 2021-09-14
Topic: Health
James Stewart Murray (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important point about the Conservative Government’s impact on the national health service over the last decade, running it into the ground and leaving it in such a state when the covid pandemic hit As my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), the shadow Chancellor, said last week: "There are two tests for the package announced yesterday. First, does it fix social care? Secondly, is it funded fairly?"—[Official Report, 8 September 2021; Vol. 700, c. 327.] Looking at the Bill, it is clearer than ever that the answer to both those questions remains a resounding no.