argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Civil Service Jobs Outside London — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am tempted to say that it is rather like the judgment of Paris. In choosing between Stourbridge or Wolverhampton or Walsall, it is almost as though one is choosing between three beautiful divines or deities. All I would say is that Stourbridge is a fantastic location not just for future Government jobs, but for the private sector. It is part of a west midlands undergoing a revival, with new, energetic Members of Parliament like her and of course a re-elected metro Mayor in Andy Street.
Voter ID: Enfranchisement — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a very important point. It is integral to our democracy that everyone has the chance to vote and to have their voice heard, and research commissioned by the Cabinet Office shows that 98% of the electorate already hold an accepted form of photographic identification, and for those who do not currently a free local voter card will be available from their local authority.
Voter ID: Enfranchisement — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is incumbent on local authorities like her excellent local authority in Lewisham to work to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to vote. I should say, because her question gives me an opportunity to do so, that in recent local elections, not just for the London Assembly and the London Mayor but across the country, those who work in local government—returning officers and others—did a sterling job in challenging circumstances, and I know that as we introduce reforms to ensure the integrity of the ballot, local authorities such as hers will be at the forefront of delivering those changes.
Voter ID: Enfranchisement — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): We are not seeking to emulate America; we are seeking to emulate the Labour Government who introduced a form of photographic identification for voters in Northern Ireland when they were in power. I should say that the hon. Lady made reference to working-class people, and overwhelmingly, working-class people now are much more likely to vote Conservative than Labour.
Government Contracts: Bids from Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative, Centre-right): Hastings and Rother Federation of Small Businesses has highlighted the need for small business-led levelling up. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that small businesses in places such as beautiful Hastings and Rye have opportunities in public procurement processes, in line with a rebalancing of local economies?
Government Contracts: Bids from Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Amanda Anne Milling (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree that SMEs play a vital role in our levelling-up agenda. We want to see a greater variety of companies delivering Government contracts from every corner of our country. I am sure that our new social value approach will mean more opportunities for SMEs and social enterprises to win Government contracts by demonstrating the full extent of the value that they will generate, not just economically but taking into account the additional social benefits that can be achieved from the delivery of contracts.
Government Contracts: Bids from Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Craig Paul Tracey (Conservative, Centre-right): In its last report, the women and enterprise all-party parliamentary group found that women-owned businesses added £115 billion to the UK economy, despite securing only about 5% of Government and public sector contracts. What more can the Government do to encourage more female-owned small businesses to come forward to apply for contracts and have the confidence that they will have an equal chance in the procurement process?
Government Contracts: Bids from Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Amanda Anne Milling (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for everything that he does as chair of the APPG on women and enterprise. I share his concern that SME owners of all backgrounds should be benefiting from the investment that Government contracts bring. We are doing more than ever to encourage all SMEs, including those owned by women, into public procurement. Government spending with SMEs continues to rise, with 26.7% of the £58 billion spent by the Government in 2019-20 going to SMEs.
Levelling-up Agenda — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Housing
Darren George Henry (Conservative, Centre-right): The levelling-up agenda set out by this Government will ensure that long-forgotten communities across the midlands finally get the investment they deserve. Levelling up in order to regenerate our town centres and high streets, support individuals into employment, improve local transport links and invest in local culture will have a hugely positive impact across our country and in my constituency of Broxtowe. Does my right hon. Friend agree that having the HS2 east midlands hub in Toton is the only choice in line with the Government’s agenda to level up the east midlands?
Levelling-up Agenda — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
David Anthony Evennett (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the Government’s action so far on the levelling-up agenda to spread opportunity across the UK in order to support jobs, businesses and economic growth. However, I urge my right hon. Friend to pay special attention to the under- achievement of working-class boys, many of whom are not reaching their full potential. In particular, it is essential to ensure that people who work in the civil service come from all walks of life.
Levelling-up Agenda — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am looking forward to visiting north Wales and, I hope, my hon. Friend’s constituency, later this summer. One of the things I want to do is make sure that every aspect of levelling up—not just macro infrastructure projects but the micro projects that contribute so much to making communities cherished and attractive—are part of the levelling-up fund. I look forward in particular to working with local government in north Wales to make sure that our funds are spent as effectively as possible.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in order to advance plans for a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the vital importance of covid recovery. I was grateful for the constructive work across the United Kingdom Mentioning that conversation gives me the opportunity, which I am sure the whole House will want to share, to thank Arlene Foster for her leadership as First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive. Arlene will be stepping down shortly. She is a lovely, wonderful person who has done an amazing job. She is a brilliant advocate for the people of Northern Ireland. I know that we will all wish her very well for the future.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Other
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a great fan of Wagner, but I also recognise that the young tenor voice of my hon. Friend as Chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is one that deserves to be heard in the debate about how the inquiry should go forward. How exactly that voice is heard and amplified, and as part of which chorus, will be a matter for the whole House, I think.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Other
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not had the opportunity to read all the evidence that was given yesterday, and indeed the Speaker has enjoined brevity on me, but I think that the public inquiry that we have been discussing is the right place to review all the evidence from every individual.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Christopher James Green (Conservative, Centre-right): Following Lord Pickles’ report "Securing the ballot: review into electoral fraud", I introduced a ten-minute rule Bill to support the introduction of voter ID. Will my right hon. Friend do all he can to ensure that this will be delivered by the local elections next year? Furthermore, he can be reassured of the support of Bolton West’s vibrant LGB, trans, BAME and working-class communities for this effort, because it might surprise Labour that they actually participate in the modern world.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The Singh report—of which I have not read every word—is clear about the steps that we need to take to root out anti-Muslim prejudice, and it is absolutely critical that we do so.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We heard earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) about the particular challenges in Cornwall. Challenges exist across the United Kingdom, and as part of our levelling-up drive we are committed to meeting them.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will know that the UK steel sector is interconnected and that removing steel safeguards on certain products could affect UK steel businesses and jobs. At this crucial time for the UK steel industry, will he outline what steps his Department is taking to promote the use of our world-class UK steel in Government projects and down the supply chain?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Alexander Paul Thomas Stafford (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend knows, I am a strong proponent of the enormous new benefits that Brexit brings all of Yorkshire in international trade and funding, which we see more and more every day. Will he give his thoughts on what Brexit means for Yorkshire in the long term, particularly what it means for Rother Valley?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Other
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): Yesterday, Mr Cummings said the Prime Minister was not fit for office and had been lying. I believe and support the Prime Minister. Does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster agree that the Prime Minister is right, or Mr Cummings?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Michael Andrew Gove (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is a great champion of widening opportunity and has done a fantastic job in ensuring that equality is taken more seriously across Government. The campaign that she mentions is absolutely right, and something that I will ensure we embrace in Government publications.
Covid-19: Government Handling and Preparedness — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Other
William Peter Wragg (Conservative, Centre-right): Has my right hon. Friend noted the various ironies of yesterday’s Committee? It must be personally difficult for him and others who needlessly defended someone so willing to throw them into the road—presumably a road full of those behind the wheel testing their eyesight. But is not the greater irony the strange epiphany in many who have gone from regarding the Prime Minister’s former adviser as a latter-day King Herod whose words and deeds could not be trusted, to regarding him as a prophet who, fresh from the wilderness, brings with him supposed truths written on tablets of stone? Irony of ironies, all is irony.
Covid-19: Government Handling and Preparedness — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I think what the constituents we serve are looking for is a Government who are focused four-square on delivering for them, getting us out of this pandemic and building back better. Observations on ironies I will leave to my hon. Friend.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robin John Millar (Conservative, Centre-right): We have all heard much in recent days about the threat posed by large-scale, low-cost Australian meat production, but we all know that consumers care about quality. What opportunities does the Minister see in a free trade agreement with Australia for the hill farmers of Aberconwy, whose grass- fed stock can run freely across the rain-soaked hills of north Wales, breathing in the clean mountain air?
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): We are the COP26 chairs this year, and we look forward to full Australian participation. The Australian Government are absolutely committed to combating climate change. There may even be something on that in this agreement, which we are negotiating at the moment. In terms of where Australia is overall on our standards, it is worth bearing in mind that it does have high animal welfare standards. It is ranked five out of five by the World Organisation for Animal Health on its evaluation of the performance of veterinary services, and it is worth pointing out that Australian standards are high, but I repeat that there will be no compromise and no change as a result of this free trade agreement to our own food standards.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, we have done extensive outreach in Wales in recent times. I have met twice with both NFU Cymru and the Farmers’ Union of Wales. I also met with the Welsh Minister Vaughan Gething just yesterday. There are already British exports of beef and lamb to China, and of beef to the United States. I mentioned the first consignment of beef arriving last year. Getting our lamb into the United States is one of the key priorities of our trade agenda moving forward, but the China example shows that we do not always have to have a free trade agreement to be able to open doors for our high-quality agricultural produce. We have opened doors for British beef into Japan and British pork into Taiwan in recent years as well.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Angela Joy Richardson (Conservative, Centre-right): Compromising on the high food standards we enjoy here in the UK must never be allowed; that is something on which we must never compromise. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that a free trade agreement with Australia will not allow hormone-fed beef into the UK, and that it will never be allowed to enter the UK under any free trade agreement?
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Largan (Conservative, Centre-right): Businesses across the High Peak would welcome a trade deal with Australia, and the opportunities and jobs that that would bring. Will my right hon. Friend reassure the hill farmers of the Peak District, who, as we all know, produce the world’s best quality lamb, that their interests will be safeguarded and that the Government remain committed to the UK’s world-leading animal welfare standards, food standards and environmental protections?
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for that question, and there is a cast-iron guarantee that our standards will not be compromised on. She is an SNP Member, so may I say to her that it would be high time for the SNP to start thinking about whether it will ever back any trade deals? It never backed any trade deals promoted by the European Union, let alone by the UK, and the SNP aspires to rejoin the EU. On Australian standards, she might want to have a word with RSPCA Australia. I have already pointed out that Australian animal health standards are rated five out of five. Australia has also banned some practices that are not banned in the EU, such as the castration of chickens or the production of foie gras. So if she sat down with the RSPCA Australia, it might give her a robust view of how good Australian animal welfare standards are.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): I refer the hon. Lady back to the fact that Australia is highly rated by independent bodies for its high quality of animal health, rated five out of five by the World Organisation for Animal Health, and our import standards would not change as a result of this or any other free trade agreement.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Duncan Charles Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): It seems that the animal welfare and food standards scaremongering is out in full force again. Does my right hon. Friend agree that given that Australia’s food standards are better than the European Union’s and that its animal welfare is equivalent to the United Kingdom’s, a free trade agreement with us will have an absolutely negligible impact on our own high UK standards?
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): I am well aware that Australia and New Zealand are different countries. As the parliamentary president of Conservative Friends of Australia, I am pretty familiar with our two great friends and allies on the other side of the world. I think the hon. Lady is exaggerating the threat, as she sees it, from Australian agriculture. Australia is already exporting hugely into Asia, which is where our opportunities lie as well. When it comes to British beef in our supermarkets, there is strong "buy British" branding in the UK, and I do not see that changing overnight. Some 81% of beef sold in the UK has either UK or other home nations branding, and 100% in many of our major supermarkets. I do not see that changing as a result of any trade deal.
Agricultural Exports from Australia: Tariffs — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gregory William Hands (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady used the word "disingenuous", but I notice that, while she talks a good game about supporting British meat farming, her neighbouring SNP council, South Ayrshire Council, put out a tweet just recently encouraging residents to eat 75% less red meat. She cannot have it both ways: she cannot be encouraging less red meat consumption and then complaining about a trade deal that she thinks will import a lot more of it. I remind her that Scotland will benefit very strongly from this deal. I notice, again, that we do not hear anything from the SNP about Scotch whisky and the huge amount of other Scottish goods that we are selling in Australia through this deal.
Obesity Strategy 2020 — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for outlining some of the measures she is asking businesses to undertake. She will appreciate that the last year has been very difficult for all businesses. As a Health Minister, she perhaps has not been able to have as much engagement with business, so would she take up the opportunity, ahead of the implementation in June, to come and visit Jordans & Ryvita, a cereal manufacturer in my constituency—she may have some familiarity with it—so that she can listen to its points of concern about the proposals she is making?
Obesity Strategy 2020 — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend and I have spoken about Jordans. Indeed, my first job was selling Jordans Crunchy bars at county shows when I was—oh—several decades younger. I will of course be happy to talk to him after this, but I would also gently point out that I have British Sugar, which is also in this food group, in my constituency. I not only meet its representatives on a regular basis, but I also met as lately as yesterday representatives from the British Retail Consortium and the Food and Drink Federation.
Obesity Strategy 2020 — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Peter Moore (Conservative, Centre-right): The challenge of obesity has of course been magnified by the last year’s events, and the evidence is clear, as ever, about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and eating well. I welcome the national food strategy’s putting a better food system at the heart of the covid-19 recovery. It is worrying that one in three children who leave primary school is overweight and one in five is obese. It is crucial to rethink the food that young people are being given, and the right education is the key to the answer I recently met and had a great discussion with Ruth Hall, a constituent in Addingham and a former home economics teacher, about ensuring that people know how to prepare healthy food. She showed me her old lessons plans, which included guidance on making nutritious meals at an affordable price. The people she taught over her 36 years as a teacher were given the right skills to cook, and I am sure their children are better informed about healthier eating. I worry that home economics as a subject for all at an early age in our schools is now lost, and I fear that a generation have now missed out on acquiring these skills, which I believe is a key reason for the worrying statistics I have mentioned. It is therefore vital for the Government to act to make sure that young people are equipped with the adequate training on and knowledge of nutrition and how to cook a decent meal—a decent, wholesome meal There is a much wider discussion to be had about where people’s food comes from. I regularly speak to farmers and those working in the food production sector, who are frustrated by the lack of knowledge about that nationally in the wider population. It needs to be at the heart of our good food strategy. The Government’s intentions to change how food is advertised, displayed and promoted in shops will undoubtedly create purchase behavioural change, but I am yet to be totally reassured of the absolute benefits that will have As my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (Andy Carter) and the Minister have said, there is no silver bullet. However, of course, in this place we cannot ignore the fact that this issue disproportionately affects those in deprived communities. Currently, children in those communities are twice as likely to be obese than those in less deprived areas. That must be addressed. I am pleased that the Government have pledged to halve childhood obesity and close that gap by 2030, but our approach cannot just be Government-centred; communities must be key, active players, and parents must take more responsibility for what they feed their children and the consequences of that. Of course, that loops back to education I know that the NHS long-term plan has ring-fenced £4.5 billion to help local GPs, pharmacists and others deal with issues such as obesity, but I am sure that home economics, food nutrition, and teaching children and parents how to cook good, wholesome food will be a great start.
Obesity Strategy 2020 — House of Commons, 2021-05-27
Topic: Other
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I ask Members to leave the Chamber in a covid-friendly way. The Minister for the Adjournment will not touch the Dispatch Box cover, because I am going to ask the Serjeant at Arms to sanitise it while we hear the opening speech.