argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Housing
Maria Colette Caulfield (Conservative, Centre-right): I assume that Opposition Members will support the wage increase for the lowest earners. I am pleased to see the hon. Lady nod in agreement However, we are doing more than just increasing the national living wage. We are also reducing the tax that people pay, not only by raising tax thresholds but by freezing national insurance, VAT and fuel duty levels for this year, to ensure that they have more money in their pockets Let me now say something about housing. It is, again, the Conservatives who are helping those on low incomes to reduce their outgoings by lowering social housing rents by 1% a year for the next four years. Opposition Members feel that they cannot support that move, and will either oppose it or abstain. That, I think, shows their true measure. However, the Bill goes a step further by ensuring that social housing occupied by people who have done well, and are earning more than £30,000 a year outside London or £40,000 inside London, will no longer be subsidised by hard-working taxpayers who may be earning less than that themselves. Instead, those people will pay market rents—the same market rents that others in the same position pay in the private housing sector In addition, to increase the supply of affordable housing, the Chancellor has announced an increase in the rent-a-room relief, which will enable people to rent rooms without having to pay tax that acts as a penalty. The tax relief for buy-to-let landlords will be reduced, too. That will level the playing field for ordinary families trying to get on the housing ladder, who have been in competition with buy-to-let landlords who have previously been at a significant advantage.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the question is how we get there. But when we are in a time of economic improvement, that is the very time in which we need to make changes. The changes to inheritance tax go back to a key principle and a key policy that we hold as Conservatives, which is that when you work hard and you spend money to buy a home to look after your family, and when you are taxed on the income with which you buy your home and pay tax, in the form of stamp duty, when you pay for your home, it is right not to have a third taxation when you leave your home. We all instinctively want to leave what we have earned to our children.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): No; I have not finished. There is one further point. We are not taking from the very poorest; we are giving to the very poorest. [Hon. Members: "You are not."] In some ways we are giving to the poorest. The introduction of the national living wage will mean that about 2.5 million people will immediately get a pay rise.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Maria Colette Caulfield (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady cannot have it both ways: she is either anti-austerity or she is not. The measures on VED that the Chancellor introduced in this Budget were to help low-income families who cannot afford a new car. Under the previous system, people who could afford to change their car were paying less VED than those who could not afford to do that. What does she say to the hard-working families in her constituency who will benefit from this measure?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I will make some progress, if I may I was bemused by the Opposition’s attempts to lay claim to the policy of tax locks. Perhaps by losing the election and allowing this Government to gain a majority and introduce these clauses, they have brought the policy about This is a one nation Government that seek to help people into work and, in so doing, give them hope, aspiration and pride. By taking those who work 30 hours a week on the minimum wage out of the tax system, the Government are committing to the principle that work pays. Furthermore, by committing to review that principle and assess the tax position of an individual working 30 hours on the national minimum wage when reviewing the tax allowance over and above £12,500 in the future, the Government are demonstrating that they really mean for that proposal to be here to stay.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) puts me in something of a dilemma, because he appears to be indicating that he wishes to take part in the debate, but I do not recall that he was here for the opening speeches. I do not think he was, was he? If he wishes to contradict me with evidence, I will of course accept his point. I will allow him to explain.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. It is not for anyone else to judge who will speak and not speak in the Chamber. The right hon. Gentleman is, indeed, well aware of the rules of the House, as a seasoned performer in this Chamber. I know that he will appreciate that I also am aware that he was here for much of the debate, but not for the opening speeches. There are other people whom I have prevented from speaking earlier this afternoon because they were not here for the opening speeches. It is, however, obviously open to the right hon. Gentleman to intervene during the winding-up speeches that are about to begin from the Front Benches.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am very interested in your ruling. In future, will it not be open to members of the Whips Office, either Government or Opposition, to drag people in late in a debate to speak? Will that not be open to the Whips Office?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): That has never been the case. If a Member is not here for the Minister’s opening speech and the opening speech of the Opposition, whichever Opposition that might be, they do not have a right to be called in the debate. But I have just ruled that there is nothing to stop a Member making an intervention in the speech of another Member, should there be some very pressing and important point that that Member wishes to make.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Simon James Hoare (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I understand the ruling entirely, but will you clarify one thing? Is the speech of the principal spokesman from the Scottish National party to be deemed as an opening speech to which Members should be listening, or do the opening speeches principally come from the Treasury team and the Official Opposition?
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Normally, speeches from the Treasury Front Bench and the Official Opposition Front Bench count as the opening speeches. But I have to say that that is a very narrow way of looking at the issue. If a Member wishes to take part in a debate—[Interruption.] Order. If a Member wishes to take part in a debate, it would be courteous and proper to be here for the whole of the debate. I am making no criticism of the right hon. Member for Gordon, who was here for much of yesterday’s debate and for much of today’s debate. I am just not allowing him to make a speech; it is not that I am not allowing him to say anything.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I cannot hear the hon. Lady. The Members who have been in the Chamber for the whole debate will wish to hear her and the Minister’s answer. If other people, who have not been here for the debate, wish to have conversations, they can have them outside the Chamber.
Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Mixed Topics
Damian Patrick George Hinds (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that we still intend to bring forward the cap. It has had to be delayed, but we intend to do it during this Parliament. The Budget delivers for all the people of this country, including those who work hard, save hard and want to be able to pass on an asset to their children. In the Bill, we introduce a new £175,000 per person transferable allowance when a person’s home is passed on at death to their children or grandchildren. With the allowance, married couples and civil partners can now pass on an estate worth up to £1 million before having to pay any inheritance tax.
Delegated Legislation — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, in common with most attempted points of order, this is a not a matter for the Chair. That said, I can confirm that the House of Lords has communicated by message that it has resolved that a Joint Committee should be appointed to consider the Government’s proposals on English votes for English laws, a resolution to which it desires the agreement of the Commons. This message will be printed in the Votes and Proceedings in the usual way. There is nothing for me to add at this stage, except to say that the hon. Gentleman looks duly satisfied that he has made his point and it is on the record On a point of order, I call the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
Hedgehogs — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The hon. Gentleman is an experienced parliamentarian and he will know from the exchanges so far that the range of four-footed animals to which reference can legitimately be made in this question has now been expanded, albeit only by one.
Broadband (Rural Areas) — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Housing
Questions: Residents in the rural parts of my constituency, such as Affetside and Holcolme, which after all are just a few miles from Manchester city centre, are 100% unconnected to superfast broadband. Some of them are trying to run small businesses, and for them it is cold comfort to know that nearly everyone else has a good internet connection. I urge my right hon. Friend to ask her colleagues across Government to ensure that superfast broadband is rolled out to rural areas, especially those near big cities.
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): Frankly, I think Conservative Members will treat that statement with some derision, given the previous Labour Government’s failure to deliver for rural areas over many years. This summer we launched a rural productivity plan, which is all about ensuring that rural areas get good connectivity, good transport links and affordable housing. Under this Government we have seen the gap in productivity between rural and urban areas closing for the first time in years.
Dairy Farming — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is absolutely right about better labelling. I want better labelling in our supermarkets so that consumers know what they are buying. We are working with supermarkets on that at the moment. I am pleased to say that some supermarkets are now moving to cost-price contracts not only for milk but for products such as cheese, yogurt and butter.
Flood Defence Programme — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Public Lands
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely give that assurance. In addition to the Boston barrier, which is a £97 million programme, Lincshore is protecting 30 km of the Lincolnshire coast, with £7 million a year over 20 years providing additional protection to 16,000 homes, as well as to the farmland my hon. Friend has mentioned.
Flood Defence Programme — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Public Lands
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): The future of flood management on the Somerset levels—Taunton Deane covers quite a lot of the Somerset levels—depends largely on the establishment of the new Somerset Rivers Authority. Will the Minister provide an update on progress and give assurances that there will be adequate funding to ensure flood protection and management in the future?
Flood Defence Programme — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): Somerset has been a serious priority for the Government. More than £1 million has been invested in setting up the Somerset Rivers Authority. We have committed more than £15 million over the next six years to Somerset exactly to achieve the objectives laid out by my hon. Friend.
Flood Defence Programme — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Public Lands
Richard Benyon (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my hon. Friend reassure me that, as well as the hard engineered projects that will be funded by the large sum of money he has mentioned, there will be soft engineered projects that build on the experience in Pickering, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), which uses natural features such as woodland and coastland wetland areas, which protect coastal communities from flooding? Such schemes can be cheaper and more effective in certain circumstances.
Flood Defence Programme — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Public Lands
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has an enormous amount of experience in this area. We can do much more to help on flooding, including restoration of peatland, woodland and wetland areas, which not only benefits flood alleviation, but considerably benefits habitats and the biodiversity that depends on them.
Food Waste — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to sit down with the hon. Lady and look closely at the details of the Bill. Certain retailers, such as Tesco, are beginning to make huge progress, as she knows. Recently, there have been studies on, for example, bananas in the supply chain, and an app has been launched with FareShare to enable charities to get food from supermarkets. That is a good example of progress, but I am happy to learn more.
Badger Cull — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We decided this year to have a cautious roll-out by adding one cull area in Dorset. In the light of that cull, we will review things again. There were applications and expressions of interest from north Devon and Herefordshire this year, and there are many other interested parties that I am sure will be considered in future years.
Promotion of British Food and Drink — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend both for his question and for the excellent puddings that we enjoyed at the Matthew Walker factory. We certainly filled our boots that day! I was amazed to hear that that company supplies 96% of the UK’s Christmas puddings, and ships puddings all the way to Australia. I want to champion fantastic businesses such as that through trade missions and the Great British Food Unit, as well as integrating more closely with what UKTI does.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): Over the summer, we have all been depressed by the refugee crisis across north Africa and the middle east. What consideration has my right hon. Friend given, along with her EU counterparts, to using surplus food stocks, or possibly even increasing food production, to feed those who are starving having fled violence?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Questions: I welcome the work done by the Secretary of State and the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) on food exports and dealing with retailers, but there is a huge crisis in farm gate prices for milk, beef, lamb and all other sectors. It will be important this year that we get the single farm payment out early or at least on time. Will the Secretary of State reassure me that the Rural Payments Agency is capable of making those early payments?; We are all aware of the challenges affecting the farming industry. In 2013, the EU gave the UK a convergence dividend of £230 million, largely as a result of Scotland’s low payments per hectare. Despite being required by article 23 of EU regulation 1307/2013 to use objective and non-discriminatory criteria, the UK Government chose to spread the dividend across all four parts of the UK, meaning that Scotland got just 16.3% of the funding. This was funding meant primarily for Scotland but which we are not getting. In the spirit of fairness, will the Minister instigate an immediate review and ensure that Scotland does not get ripped off but gets its fair share?; I welcome DEFRA’s focus on connectivity in the rural productivity plan. This week, Rural Action Yorkshire said it was nigh on impossible for a rural business to be in business without decent broadband and mobile phone coverage. The final 5% and the “not spots” will require innovation and investment. What comfort can the Secretary of State give to businesses trading in those areas?; When on 9 August two cattle visited a supermarket in my constituency, they will have been disappointed to note that the only lactose-free milk was imported from Denmark. There is no such product made in the UK. Does the Secretary of State agree that this is an opportunity for import substitution, to use British milk, and an export opportunity?; May I thank the Secretary of State and her team for the efforts they made to help to eliminate the cryptosporidium virus that affected households across Lancashire for up to five weeks, leaving them without clean drinking water? Will she look into the levels of compensation, which I believe are currently completely inadequate, being offered by United Utilities to the homes and businesses affected?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the fact that the final boil notices were lifted on 6 September and that compensation has been offered, but I understand that for many businesses this really was a difficult period in which they incurred many additional costs. I would be happy to discuss the issue further with my hon. Friend.
Climate Change — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): I would encourage the hon. Lady to come to a reception with the Church Commissioners that I have organised for Members to discuss the ethical investment strategy that now applies to Church investment. She is right that divestment of investment in thermal coal and tar sands has occurred, and there are no direct investments in any company of which more than 10% of its revenues are derived from the extraction of thermal coal or from tar sands.
Number of MPs (Proposed Reduction) — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Other
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed reduction in the number of Members of Parliament on the scrutiny of Government.
Gary Nicholas Streeter (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend speaks powerfully and with a modicum of common sense, as always. He may well have half a point, but this is not a matter for the Electoral Commission and it is not a matter for me.
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): The Church of England’s Cathedral and Church Buildings Division developed the open and sustainable churches initiative five years ago, and now 80% of churches provide a function beyond purely worship, with 54% of Anglican parishes running at least one organised activity to address social need.
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for her answer. What is the Church of England doing in ethnically diverse areas, where large numbers of people are not of the Anglican faith, to open up the buildings so that they are used regularly by the whole community, rather than just by those of that faith?
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure my hon. Friend that we are opening up churches to the social needs of the community and using them for a wide range of purposes. For example, churches are being used as citizens advice bureaux, post offices, shops, night shelters and food banks. Let me give the example of two churches in his area of Harrow: St Paul’s has a job club open to people of all backgrounds; and All Saints’ Harrow Weald provides not only an art exhibition facility but a forest school. These facilities are open to all.
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Richard Benyon (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is precisely the sort of issue where local leadership in the Church can make a difference? She might therefore understand the confusion in the Oxford diocese, where it has been many months since we had a bishop and it could be a year before one begins his or her new role.
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Oliver Newton Colvile (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend made a good point about the use of churches for community activities. Last Friday, I helped launch one such activity that was taking place at St Simon’s, and I would be grateful if she would come to Plymouth to see for herself how very good that is—perhaps she would come to a breakfast meeting.
Use of Church Buildings — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): What a splendid invitation—how could I refuse? The example that my hon. Friend gives might prompt all Members here to look at the Church’s website, where there is a toolkit to help any church wishing to broaden its use in the ways we have described to find out how that can be done and to share best practice.
Individual Electoral Registration — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gary Nicholas Streeter (Conservative, Centre-right): The Electoral Commission recommended in 2003 that individual electoral registration should be introduced in Great Britain. Requiring all electoral registration applications to be verified makes it harder to create false register entries, and helps to prevent electoral and other types of fraud.
Individual Electoral Registration — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Gary Nicholas Streeter (Conservative, Centre-right): As usual, my hon. Friend is right: IER has been a long time coming, but it has been carefully and successfully introduced in the past 12 months. We must pay tribute to all the electoral registration officers all over the country for their hard work. As a champion of youth engagement in democracy in his constituency, he makes an important point about online registration. There is no question but that a lot of young people have exercised their ability to register online, so making sure that our register is as full as possible.
Immigration Detention — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Immigration
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend mentioned that the Home Office has been found guilty on six occasions of inhuman and degrading treatment of people detained in our immigration centres. Is he aware of how often the Home Office has been found guilty of such offences in the rest of the criminal justice system? Would he be interested to hear the Minister give an answer on that?