argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
BTEC Qualifications — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Kim Marie Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Minister’s response to the question, but the Department’s own equalities impact assessment concluded that those from SEND black and disadvantaged backgrounds, and males were "disproportionately likely to be affected" by the plan to scrap the majority of BTECs. The City of Liverpool College offers 21 BTEC and 51 level 3 qualifications, and 1,400 learners would be impacted by the proposed changes. Is it not time that he listened to the calls from the Protect Student Choice campaign to rethink this damaging proposal?
BTEC Qualifications — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Paula Barker (Labour, Centre-left): Given that 4,500 young people in Liverpool alone studied BTECs in 2020—the figure is an underestimate, as it does not include older BTECs—the Government’s plan to scrap the majority of these qualifications will leave thousands of students in cities such as Liverpool without a viable pathway at the age of 16. Will the Secretary of State and his Ministers listen to the 24 education bodies in the Protect Student Choice campaign and the 118 parliamentarians who wrote to him about this issue, or perhaps to former Conservative Secretary of State Lord Baker, who has described the plan as an "act of educational vandalism"? Despite what the Secretary of State and the Minister have said, will they rethink the proposal to defund most BTECs?
BTEC Qualifications — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): Clearly, it would have been sensible for the Government to have finished their evidence and understood the outcome of the policy before starting to undermine BTECs by announcing that they would defund many of them. There is a widespread body of opinion that many of the 230,000 students studying level 3 BTEC qualifications might not be able to get on to that qualification in future. Will the new Minister—I should have welcomed him to his place; I do so late in my question—tell us in which year the Government are likely to meet their target of having 100,000 students studying T-levels? Will he guarantee that those changes will not lead to a reduction in the number of students studying level 3 qualifications in the future?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Education
Questions: My teenage constituents Amy and Ella Meek created the charity Kids Against Plastic to campaign against the use of plastic, and they are currently running the very successful Plastic Clever Schools initiative to encourage schools to reduce plastic usage. Their work was recognised at the weekend, when they were crowned green champions at this year’s Pride of Britain awards. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State join me in congratulating Amy and Ella on their success and in meeting them to discuss their ongoing work and to see what more can be done to rid schools of single-use plastics?;   Schools in my constituency of Wansbeck and right across Northumberland already face a backlog of repairs of up to £80 million, and now face a huge hike on energy costs—48% on gas and 26% on electricity. The dilemma for headteachers in constituencies such as mine might be heating or learning. Where is the support and how does this fit in with the Government’s levelling-up agenda?; After a long-fought campaign, I am delighted that Orchards Academy has been given the funding to be rebuilt. Will the Minister join me on a visit to Orchards so that he can see the difference that this funding will make to the local community in Swanley?; Last week, the Chancellor set out in his Budget that per pupil funding in schools in England will return to the same level as in 2010. However, with teachers overstretched, class sizes growing, the attainment gap widening, school budgets squeezed for a decade and the devastating impact of the pandemic, this commitment will mean little for schools in my constituency. Can the Secretary of State honestly say to parents and teachers in Coventry that winding the clock back to 2010 is a sustainable way to fund our schools?
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Four hundred and thirty-nine pupils were absent from school with covid-19. Of course, that is impacting on their education, but the real crime is the fact that they want their vaccines and are not getting them. What is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that pupils do get their vaccine and we stop this delay?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman talks about success. In part of my constituency, child poverty is something of the order of 60%. That compares with a national average of just under 20%. Is that a success because, if not, what does levelling up mean for the children in my constituency?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State tell us whether the number of family hubs will match the number of Sure Starts that have been cut since 2010? Does he regret the loss of so many Sure Starts and recognise the serious damage that has been done to a generation?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): May I return the Secretary of State to the 3% increase in spending power for local councils? Has he seen the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies? It states that the 3% includes the £5.4 billion that the Government have used from the levy, but as the way in which councils must spend it is specified, it amounts to only a 1.8% increase in money that they can choose, and the 1.8% is there only if they put their council tax up by 3% a year.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Knowsley, which is one of the boroughs that my constituency covers, has gone from being the fifth most deprived local authority in 2010 to being the second most deprived now. One would have expected a Budget such as this, about levelling up, to focus particularly on giving necessary resources to Knowsley, but despite being a priority 1 area it has been overlooked for the levelling-up fund, having previously been overlooked for the future high streets fund and the towns fund. What does Knowsley have to do, now that it is the second most deprived area, to get some money from the Government so it can try to level up? [Interruption.]
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Steven Mark Ward Reed (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important point. One of the things that the Government have done over the last 11 years is dramatically increase levels of poverty across the country. They have not been levelling the country up at all, and now they are trying to cover up their track record since they came into Government back in 2010 To make the situation worse, the Government’s plans to change the local government funding formula—what they call, in an Orwellian way, "the fair funding formula"—will divide communities even further. Analysis by the Local Government Association found that millions of pounds would be redirected away from poorer towns in the north of England to wealthier southern shires, and that 37 of the Conservative MPs newly elected in 2019 would see millions of pounds cut from their towns, including Workington, Sedgefield, Stoke-on-Trent, Redcar, West Bromwich, Bishop Auckland, Grimsby and Leigh. That is not levelling up Britain; it is pulling Britain apart Whether it is work, families or communities, this Conservative Government have made our country more unequal. They have ushered in an age of insecurity, where public services have been decimated, wages have fallen in real terms, jobs are more precarious than ever before, our high streets are struggling to survive, and British people are forced to pay the highest housing costs in Europe for some of the worst quality housing. These levels of inequality are not just morally wrong; they make our country weaker. We all pay the price of inequality, with higher levels of crime, family breakdown and mental ill health, and we pay the price a second time by denying people the opportunity to reach their full potential for themselves, their families and their communities. Levelling up must mean opening up opportunity, not closing it down in the way that this Government have done for the last 11 years The Secretary of State will find that he cannot fix regional inequalities because the biggest obstacle in his way is his own party’s marriage to an economic model that is based on crony contracts and waste, and that starves whole regions of capital investment. We need new institutions in our regions—such as regional banks to direct investment where it is needed most—if we want the economy to work in the interests of working people in every part of the country.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Steven Mark Ward Reed (Labour, Centre-left): What the shadow Chancellor, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West, said—and I agree—was, wouldn’t it be nice if the Government asked everyone to bear their fair share of the tax burden, rather than, as this Government do, always going first and foremost to working families and clobbering them, but letting people who own assets, such as bankers and landlords, off the hook, absolutely scot-free? That is not fair. We want to see fair models of taxation What we need to do now is to remake our politics by tackling the power inequalities that allowed all this to happen in the first place. Labour would open up power across the country with a radical model of devolution that gets power out of Whitehall. We would give people a voice and the power to use it in the workplace, in their community and over the public services that they use. Instead of undermining work, we will respect the hard work and sacrifice that people make for their families, re-establish the link between hard work and fair pay, and invest fairly across the whole country. We will establish clear measures for levelling up to hold the Government to account for what they do or do not deliver This Budget is not about levelling up; it is about covering up the damage that the Government have done in the past 11 years. By deepening the divides across this country, the Government have closed down opportunity and made Britain weaker. Only Labour will bring Britain together, so that every British person, wherever they live, can reach their true potential—for themselves, their family, their community, and this country that we love.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I want to clarify that point, because it is potentially quite significant. The characteristic of a Lawson-esque tax system is, of course, that capital is taxed at the same rate as income. Is that what the hon. Gentleman is advocating?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Virendra Kumar Sharma (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this vital Budget debate After nearly two years of boosterism and bluster, last week’s Budget was yet another opportunity missed by the Government to finally spell out how they are going to level up left-behind communities throughout the country. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor boast of bringing about a low-tax, high-wage economy, yet the Conservatives are increasing the tax take to its highest level in 70 years. In fact, according to the Resolution Foundation, the Government’s tax rises will cost British households an extra £3,000 by 2026-27. The Government could choose to use that money to help Britain’s poorest families during the worst energy price crisis in a generation, or to reverse the universal credit cut that is needlessly forcing millions into poverty; on the contrary, the Conservatives have handed tax cuts to the likes of Amazon and the banks, to the tune of £12 billion and £4 billion respectively. They are levelling up some of the pandemic’s most profitable companies at the people’s expense, yet they have no plan to remove the enormous tax burden they have placed on working people and small and medium-sized businesses Although the Government have provided some welcome relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, which are so critical to my community in Ealing, Southall, they must go much further to fix the broken business rates system and truly level the playing field between the high street and tax-avoiding tech companies At a time when families are suffering from a cost-of-living crisis brought on by the Government’s incompetence, they should not be punishing poorer families for their lack of luck. The cost of heating bills, food shops and fuel are all rising at a staggering speed. This winter, millions of families on universal credit will be forced to choose between eating and heating. If the Government were serious about levelling up, they would reverse the sickening cut to universal credit that is hurting millions of working families. The Government cannot claim to be levelling up while they chip away at the lifeline of some of our most disadvantaged As a result of the Government’s failure to properly pay and recognise professionals in nursing and midwifery, the NHS is now short of almost 40,000 nurses. The Chancellor offered no detail on how the Government plan to recruit or train more doctors and nurses, and there was no workforce plan for the NHS, only vague commitments yet again I urge the Government, instead of papering over the cracks as the Budget does, to actually help desperate families during their time of need, to protect and empower small and medium-sized businesses and to give NHS staff the pay rise that they truly deserve. Only then will the Government be able to say that they are truly committed to levelling up our society and economy and ensuring that no one, regardless of their wealth and background, is left behind.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Transportation
Judith Mary Cummins (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to speak in today’s Budget debate in disappointment, because I have campaigned to bring Northern Powerhouse Rail to Bradford city centre for six years. I have raised the issue of Northern Powerhouse Rail many times in this place, in many Budget debates—perhaps even as many times as the Government have made their many announcements on it. Among the avalanche of leaks from the Treasury, I was really hoping to hear some positive messages about Northern Powerhouse Rail, but there was nothing. Then I hoped that the Chancellor would pull something out of the hat on Budget day, but again—nothing. I trust that if the Government had positive news for Bradford, they would not keep it secret—they would not be quite so shy or blushing about it—so I can only conclude that the rumours are correct, and that there is to be a drastic scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail, with no city centre stop in Bradford My constituents got little from the Budget, or the spending review. We still have no firm date for when the integrated rail plan will be published. Despite the Government’s promises, they seem happy that transport spending is set to continue to be disproportionately centred on London and south-east England. I have no doubt that more promises will come forward, but I fear that we will be asked to settle for just an upgrade of the existing train line, which will be rebadged as Northern Powerhouse Rail—more smoke, and more mirrors. Bradford needs and deserves more than that I am asking for fairness in funding, and a rebalancing to ensure that the economies of the north are no longer held back by under-investment. Specifically, we need a trans-Pennine route upgrade; we need High Speed 2’s eastern leg in the north; and we need a new Northern Powerhouse Rail line, with a city centre stop in Bradford. Those are not either/or options, because Bradford matters. The north matters. It is time for the Government to stop the endless rhetoric of levelling up, and to deliver some real infrastructure investment in the north What is more, Northern Powerhouse Rail would support carbon-free, sustainable travel, and would contribute to the next era of carbon goals, not just for northern cities, but for the whole UK. One of the biggest city-to-city journeys to work in the country is between Bradford and Leeds, and it is done mostly by car. At scale, Northern Powerhouse Rail would support a 400% increase in rail travel, and it would take 64,000 car trips per day off the road Time and again in this House, I have raised the north-south economic imbalance, and time and again Ministers have responded with warm words, but nothing concrete. Let us have no more shallow promises. It is time to deliver.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephanie Louise Peacock (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow my Select Committee colleague, the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Scott Benton), even if we might disagree on our interpretation of the Budget Living standards are below where they were before the global financial crisis, spending on education is back to 2010 levels when Labour left office, and today a quarter of children in Barnsley are growing up in poverty. As we head into a difficult winter, with energy bills rising and inflation soaring, this Government have refused to take important steps to support working families, such as removing VAT from home energy bills. Instead, the measures in this Budget leave the vast majority of my constituents worse off, with taxes up, inflation up and universal credit cut. Yet this Government have found money to cut taxes for bankers, champagne and domestic flights. Those might be the Government’s priorities but they are not the priorities of people in Barnsley. We have had some of the worst cuts in the country. Barnsley Council alone has lost £150 million from its annual budget. Our local services have been devastated by austerity. The Government’s money for so-called levelling up will go nowhere near to compensating for these devastating cuts. No levelling up money will be invested in Barnsley despite two applications, both rejected. This Government cannot claim to be serious about levelling up for as long as they continue to ignore areas like mine Most of all, the Government cannot claim to be serious about levelling up while they continue to betray the "categorical" promise that the Prime Minister made to my constituents. During the general election, the Prime Minister pledged to end the theft of miners’ pensions, saying that "we will make sure that all their cash is fully protected and returned, I have looked into it and we will ensure that’s done." The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which has a Conservative majority, backed our campaign to end the miners’ pension rip-off. The Government should now implement the Committee’s recommendations, and the Budget was an opportunity to do just that. The average miner receives a pension of just £84 a week, with many on a lot less. Ending the theft of their pensions would not only be the morally right thing to do, but it would provide an immediate boost to miners’ pockets to deal with spiralling living costs and to spend in coalfield economies, but the Government are refusing to act, just as they have refused to act in this Budget As the cost of living spirals, all our communities needed a Budget with the right priorities, but, much like with the miners’ pension scheme, when our communities most needed a helping hand, they have instead found the Chancellor’s hand in their pocket.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Siobhain Ann McDonagh (Labour, Centre-left): The message from the Budget was clear: the Conservatives are now the party of low growth and the architects of the highest sustained tax burden in peacetime. The aspiration of Margaret Thatcher; the delivery of Ted Heath We are told that this change of philosophy is temporary —that the virus has infected our economic growth and the growth of developed nations around the world—but the simple fact is that Britain has suffered the worst economic hit of any major economy, coupled with the highest death toll in Europe. The national insurance hike alone will cost a care worker £140 a year, a nurse £310 and a paramedic £420. Meanwhile, banks, which have recorded record profits, are set to save £4 billion in taxes by 2027. In the words of my late mum, is this not just another example of "much gets more"? The cost of living is rising at its fastest rate for 30 years and the tax bill is £3,000 per household higher than when the Prime Minister came into post. There is no hiding place. This is Conservative economic mismanagement, and it is working people who are paying for it The Chancellor delivered most of the Budget in advance through co-ordinated announcements to the press, but after hearing it in full, I am amazed that he had so many announcements to leak. This Budget offered so little to so many. Universal credit was slashed, pushing thousands of the poorest people in our society even further into poverty at a time when their energy bills are about to soar. There was barely a word on connectivity and closing the digital divide, which is vital for levelling up and pivotal for the technology-reliant society we now live in With 200,000 children transferring from primary school to secondary school this year, we were asked to celebrate a boost to the schools catch-up fund despite that support providing just £310 per pupil, a third of the amount the Government’s own education tsar stated was required before he resigned and only one tenth of what the Dutch Government believe their children deserve. However, Budget announcements cannot be considered in isolation; to understand the impact of spending increases, it is important to consider what has been cut in turn. The final totals are revealing and clear. This is a Government who ask the poorest people in our country to celebrate £2 billion from one hand while taking £6 billion with the other, to be thankful for small wage increases that are negated by higher taxes and inflation, and to watch their taxes rise while banks have theirs cut. That is not what I understand by "levelling up".
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen James McCabe (Labour, Centre-left): I love the enthusiasm among Government Members, but it reminds me of that story about the emperor’s new clothes, with them all simpering over the Chancellor while ignoring what is before their eyes. I understand why they want to believe in levelling up, but after 11 wasted Tory years, they are not levelling up. Our economy and public services are facing terminal decline. After 11 years, households across the country are facing a collapse in living standards. High inflation, rising taxes, low growth, falling living standards and crumbling public services are not indicators of levelling up; they are evidence that the Government have lost the plot This Budget does not address the childcare crisis. It disproportionately penalises women. It continues to ignore those self-employed who have been excluded and cast adrift. It punishes those working hard by crippling them with national insurance increases, council tax rises, unaffordable mortgages and a combination of shortages and higher food bills We need to grow our economy if we are ever to pay properly for decent public services without taxing people out of existence, but the Chancellor’s ambition is to return education spending to the level that he inherited in 2010. He is taking us back, not forward, wasting time when we should be taking the necessary steps towards a high-value, highly skilled, productive and green economy. As those missed opportunities mount, so the façade becomes harder to maintain. The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have hit on a good slogan, but they are completely naked when it comes to taking the necessary action.