argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools — House of Commons, 2017-11-02
Topic: Education
Jessica Rose Phillips (Labour, Centre-left): I have been told that, because so many Members wish to speak, I should not take interventions. I am very sorry about that I say to the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, who I know cares deeply both about the culture here and the culture in our schools, that getting SRE right does not need to take the length of time proposed. This is not something new; it exists in schools, but is patchy. I also say that, just like here, the advisory group on sexual violence and sexual harassment, which the Government have got on board to help with this, does not have any sexual violence academics, frontline specialists, or sexual violence organisations working on it. I fear that that means we are missing some of the very vital information that is needed to get this right in the future to make sure that we are not prejudiced and do not treat any of this like banter—like something that is just part of a culture that we must accept The length of time spent on the issue was, unfortunately, interrupted by the election. We will have to chalk that up to experience. I cannot bear to think that, in a year’s time, we will be having the same debate because the process will not have changed in schools, SRE will not be being delivered compulsorily, and specialist agencies will not have been lined up to swoop in when schools rightly need help—schools are not specialists just as not all of us are specialists in this building. I leave that with the Minister and say that we must act.
Early years provision — House of Commons, 2017-11-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity to present this important petition concerning early years provision in Warwickshire. The residents of Warwick and Leamington, the constituency I represent, have asked that I put forward this petition, which is the latest of six that have together collected more than 7,000 signatures from people across Warwickshire who oppose the closure of 25 children’s centres. The petition asks Warwickshire County Council to reconsider its decision to reduce the number of centres following a budget cut of £1.2 million. It urges the council to postpone its decision at the very least and asks that there is full consultation on these proposals with the residents of Warwickshire Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of Warwick and Leamington Declares that Warwickshire County Council have put forward proposals for children’s centres which could see Warwickshire’s 39 centres reduced to 12 community hubs, due to budget cuts of £1.18million; further that the Council’s final decision is expected on 9th November 2017; further that the Council’s consultation did not allow for meaningful views of the local community to be collected; and further that, if these proposals go ahead, then early years provision in Warwickshire will be badly affected. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage Warwickshire County Council to reconsider its proposals for reducing Warwickshire’s children’s centres from 39 centres to 12 community hubs, and at the very least should pause these proposals and consult further with residents in Warwickshire. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P002073]
Leaving the EU: New Trade Agreements — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): When I was a little boy, my grandmother used to say, "Shame the devil and tell the truth." When will this Secretary of State tell the truth? He has been, with his colleagues, going around the world begging for a trade deal and everyone is telling him, "We want to trade with the European Union, a much bigger trading group."
Leaving the EU: New Trade Agreements — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State is indeed an optimist, and it is good to hear him so upbeat about all the trade opportunities that he thinks await us in the post-Brexit world. Perhaps he can explain why, when the Red Book shows trade in the world economy increasing year-on-year by 4% over the next five years, it shows the UK’s export growth decline from 3.4% next year to 1.2% in 2019, and then plummet to just 0.1% in each of the following three years. Is the Secretary of State perhaps an optimist who can find no rational grounds for his optimism?
Economic Partnership Agreements — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What assessment he has made of the potential merits of revising the basis of economic partnership agreements better to incorporate the aims of the UN sustainable development goals.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): Given that countries such as Nigeria and Uganda have refused to sign the economic partnership agreements because they do not believe that they are beneficial and in their long-term interest, how does the Secretary of State intend to address those issues, and is he considering GSP—the generalised scheme of preferences—or GSP plus?
Ministerial Discussions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Ian Colin Lucas (Labour, Centre-left): Exporting manufacturing businesses in north Wales such as Magellan Aerospace and Airbus are world-beating organisations, but they desperately need infrastructure, investment and support from the Government to face the challenges ahead. Why are this Government so reluctant to invest in and support north Wales?
Trade Remedies Authority — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What the remit of the trade remedies authority will be; and how it will undertake to balance consumer and producer interests within that remit.
Paul John Sweeney (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will be aware that his Conservative colleagues in the European Parliament have frustrated efforts to prevent the dumping of steel by the Chinese on the European market by pushing for the lesser duty rule, which has had a devastating impact on British steel production. Will the trade remedies authority apply a proper public interest test to protect the interest of workers and industry in this country?
Trade Remedies Authority — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What the remit of the trade remedies authority will be; and how it will undertake to balance consumer and producer interests within that remit.
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): I should remind the Minister that it was this Government that argued against trade remedies in Europe and that failed to protect our steel and ceramics industries. That is why it is not surprising that manufacturers are concerned that the new trade remedies authority will focus on consumer interests at the expense of businesses and jobs. What assurances can the Minister give that it will not always seek to apply the lesser duty rule? Will he now commit to include social and environmental criteria in the remit of the trade remedies authority, so that the UK does not become the dumping ground for goods that can no longer be dumped in the EU?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): America’s Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross told the CBI this month that the essential precondition of a trade deal with the USA was to move our regulation standards and environmental protections away from the EU and closer to those of the Americans. Last week, Michel Barnier said that the essential precondition of a good trade deal with the EU was to keep our regulation standards and environmental protections close to the European model. The Government say their top priority is securing barrier-free trade with the EU, so does the Secretary of State accept that he can have American cake or European gateau, but he cannot have both?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: A freedom of information request revealed that the Minister acted as a lobbyist for oil and gas companies in Brazil on taxation and environmental licensing issues. Does he think that is consistent with the Government’s commitment to lead the world in environmental protection, and that it conforms with the ministerial code of conduct?; Yesterday I met a delegation of businessmen from the seafood sector based in north-east Lincolnshire. One of our meetings was to discuss the possible designation of Immingham and Grimsby as free ports, and the businessmen seemed quite enthusiastic about that. Will my right hon. Friend expand on how we might pursue that post-Brexit?
Heidi Alexander (Labour, Centre-left): Clause 2 of the Trade Bill gives powers to Ministers, potentially for the whole of the next decade, to sort out the issue of the 60 or so trade agreements that we currently benefit from with third countries by virtue of our membership with the EU. Far from being resolved in the next 16 months, is it not the case that that issue—dividing up tariff quotas and so on, and defining a new UK-EU trading relationship—rather than the fiction of the Secretary of State’s fantasy trade deals elsewhere, will dominate the work of the Department over the next few years?
Supporting Women back into Work — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Labor
Questions: What steps the Government are taking to support women back into work when they have had time out of the workplace to look after children or other relatives.; What steps the Government are taking to support women back into work when they have had time out of the workplace to look after children or other relatives.
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister explain what steps are being taken to ensure that older workers, including women born in the 1950s, who wish to return to work are given access to adequate training programmes in their local communities?
Caste as a Protected Characteristic — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister recognise that leaving people to rely only on case law would not be sufficient, because they would be uncertain whether their cases would necessarily accord with decisions in previous cases, and does he agree that legislation is necessary for that reason?
Uber: Personal Data Theft — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Technology
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): (Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to make a statement on Government responsibilities and policies for protecting British citizens, following the theft of the personal data of 57 million Uber customers and drivers.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State’s characterisation of the tax credits system is wrong, but I welcome the helpful steps he announced today to start clearing up the problems he inherited. Will he make available large-print versions of the documentation about these changes? Does he accept that, if someone who is paid weekly and has no savings loses their job, denying them any income at all for five weeks will cause a serious problem that offering a loan does not resolve?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): The most significant part of the statement is that we must remember universal credit is aimed at supporting people who are out of work to move into work. That makes perfect sense if universal credit was just replacing JSA, but, of course, many people going on to universal credit are nowhere near work and are very seriously disabled. Those people seem to be entirely missing from the statement and from the steps the Chancellor announced yesterday. Will the Secretary of State at least acknowledge that universal credit is failing the most disabled and tell us what he plans to do to address the concerns raised by the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith) about the most seriously disabled people, who are being failed by universal credit?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Labor
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): Weekly paid workers in receipt of UC are set to lose their UC next month simply because there are five paydays in December. What urgent action is his Department going to take to address this ridiculous anomaly?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Government Operations
Martin David Whitfield (Labour, Centre-left): I acknowledge much in this statement. On citizens advice bureaux and local authorities and the indication of greater collaboration, I wonder whether the Secretary of State will confirm two things. The first is that additional funds will be available to the third party sector to help with this collaboration and advice. Secondly, has he looked at having implied consent, which would cut a huge amount of waiting time in respect of advice given?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Paul John Sweeney (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State might be interested to know that Citizens Advice Scotland recently carried out a survey in my constituency and determined that 32% of my constituents do not have any access to the internet and a further 32% would have difficulty accessing the online full service universal credit system. In the context of half the jobcentres in Glasgow being closed, will he consider additional measures to ensure that the interface for the full service universal credit system is improved, so that those claiming universal credit can have increased confidence that they can access the system efficiently?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): After a disastrous election campaign and a party conference that literally fell apart, yesterday’s Budget’s sole purpose was to revive the fortunes of the Conservative party—and maybe to fend off for a time the Tory pack that has been hounding the Chancellor, week after week. But the Budget showed just how out of touch and cut-off from the real world of the economy and from people’s real lives the Chancellor and his Government really are Only this morning, the Chancellor said on "Sky News" that the UK economy is "fundamentally strong". What is strong about an economy in which economic growth has been downgraded to the lowest in the G7 countries? What is strong about an economy in which productivity growth has been revised down to the lowest since modern records began; in which business investment is, to quote the Office for Budget Responsibility, "significantly lower than…expected in March"; and in which real pay and living standards continue to deteriorate The official growth forecasts from the Government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility were the worst in its history. No Government in modern times has ever presented a set of growth forecasts in which growth in every year is less than 2%. Productivity growth is forecast to have ground to a halt this year, and barely increase next year. That, too, is the worst downgrade in the OBR’s history The squeeze on living standards is now so great that the Resolution Foundation estimates that real pay will not return to its pre-crash levels until 2023.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Labor
John Eugene Joseph Dromey (Labour, Centre-left): The shadow Chancellor is making a powerful case. The Governor of the Bank of England has said that the last time workers suffered such wage stagnation was 150 years ago, when Victoria wore the crown, Gladstone and Disraeli were in No. 10 Downing Street, Darwin was evolving the theory of evolution and trade unions were illegal. Does the shadow Chancellor agree that under a Labour Government wages go up, but under a Conservative Government—
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): I will take some interventions, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I am cognizant of what you have said about the need to ensure that everyone can speak On the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), we all knew that the election of a Tory Government would set us back; what we did not appreciate was that it would set us back a century Average annual pay is now projected to be £1,030 lower in 2022 than was forecast in the March 2017 Budget. It is those delivering our key services—the nurses, midwives, firefighters and teachers—who are worse off than they were a decade ago. There is nothing here that could remotely be considered strong. This is a weak economy. In terms of growth, it is now the weakest in the G7 Let us remember that we are in this mess because for the past seven years the Government have implemented policies that have undermined and weakened our economy. The Chancellor was a key figure in all those policies. He and his colleagues were warned that austerity spending cuts would fail to bring the debt or the deficit under control, and that instead they would undermine the real economy. We were promised in 2010 by the Chancellor’s predecessor that the deficit would be cleared by 2015, yet today the debt burden is still rising. The Chancellor borrowed more in his first year in the job than any Chancellor in history.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): There are now waiting lists of 4 million in the NHS, predicted to rise to 5 million because of the lack of investment. We welcome the increase in those in employment, but 800,000 are zero-hour contracts, and we now have more than 2 million people in insecure work. It is no wonder that people are anxious about their futures As I have said, the Chancellor has borrowed £145 billion —more than £5,000 per household—which is more in his first year in the job than any other Chancellor in history. The OBR now expects the deficit in 2021 to be almost three times higher than it forecast in March. It blames this deterioration on the collapse in productivity growth, but productivity growth has collapsed because investment has fallen. Government investment is £20 billion less in real terms today than it was in the last year of the previous Labour Government.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the opportunity to respond to the hon. Gentleman. What we have said very clearly is that under our fiscal rule, unlike that of this Government, we will borrow not for day-to-day expenditure but to invest. That investment will grow the economy, and, as a result of that growth, we will cover any need to borrow. That is what any sensible Government is doing right the way across the globe, right the way across Europe. It is that attitude displayed by the hon. Gentleman that has caused our economic problems. The lack of investment over seven years has affected our productivity.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): Many of the things that have been welcomed in this Budget—and some things have been welcomed—by people outside this House are measures that we have been calling for since the downturn in 2008. If those measures are right now, they were right back then, which means that it is a consequence of austerity and the economic policies followed by the Tories that has made our economy flatline for virtually seven years.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): The issue is that whatever was put forward in the Budget yesterday was so trivial that it will not have the effect that is required Investment by businesses is the lowest in the G7 countries. The few measures announced yesterday just will not address that. They will not close the gap between the south and the rest of the country by investing in a rail project in the north-east that will receive just 2% of the total cost of Crossrail in London. Our economy and our people will only reach their potential when there is real new investment brought forward by Government on a scale that is needed to meet the opportunity. The right approach from 2010 would have been to target the real economy and real investments to produce growth and so bring the deficit into line. Because the investment that was needed then did not materialise, productivity growth has stagnated, and because productivity growth has fallen away, the forecast deficit has been widened by the OBR to some £30 billion by 2021. The Government know that austerity is not working. They have now been reduced to fiddling the figures to meet their own targets.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): Debt under the hon. Gentleman’s Government has gone up by nearly £800 billion, and it is debt to pay for failure rather than to pay for investment. If we borrow to invest, we grow the economy, which means that we can put more people to work with more skills and higher wages. They pay more taxes and it pays for itself. That is the lesson that the Government still have not learned The Government appear, as is demonstrated today, to be completely out of touch with the mess that our economy is in. They have no understanding of the consequences of their choices for the lives of our people. They do not seem to grasp the scale of what is happening to our people out there. The Chancellor has tried to claim that income inequality has fallen, but he does not seem to be aware that more than a million food parcels have been handed out in this, the sixth richest economy on the planet. Inequality is not falling. He may well be aware that London is home to more billionaires than ever before, but does he know that there are more people homeless than ever? How can he claim that inequality is falling when that stark comparison is made? This Government’s decisions will make the poorest poorer still. Buried away in an annex, at the very back of the Treasury’s own distributional analysis, is the truth on this. The poorest fifth are being made poorer by the changes this Government is implementing. Those in the poorest fifth will lose almost £250 a year The House of Commons Library has confirmed that the burden of cuts—86%—made in tax and benefits measures since 2010 have fallen on women. Is that what equality is under this Government—86% of cuts on the shoulders of women?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2017-11-23
Topic: Social Welfare
John Martin McDonnell (Labour, Centre-left): I know that the hon. Lady is well intentioned, but she has displayed ignorance of what large numbers of people are experiencing. May I suggest this to her—[Interruption.] I do not wish to be patronising. [Interruption.] If that is the way it is interpreted, it is not how it is meant to be. I just say that all of us, who are on relatively high wages, need to be very careful when talking about levels of income and levels of wealth because many people, including 4 million of our children, are actually living in poverty. Two thirds of those children are living in households where someone is in work, which says something about low pay to me, as it should do to all of us.