argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Prime Minister (Temporary Replacement) Bill — House of Commons, 2022-01-14
Topic: Technology
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): That is exactly my point. If we take the BBC Licence Fee (Abolition) Bill, for instance, I do not want the new Prime Minister to change the decision on what the Prime Minister thought about the Bill. I understand my right hon. Friend is absolutely in favour of getting rid of the licence fee and I do not want someone else to come along saying that that is not the case when he is only there temporarily until the Prime Minister comes back. So it is not about a change of policy, it is not about establishing a new Prime Minister who is going to be there all the time; it is only about the period of incapacity. Actually, Madam Deputy Speaker, I have just remembered the blinking point that the only people not covering my BBC Licence Fee (Abolition) Bill are, of course, the BBC. That has little to do with this debate, but I wanted to get it in anyway In the past, the argument was always, "It would never happen." Unfortunately, it did happen. I was so relieved that the Prime Minister recovered, but there was a problem. We did not know the powers that the First Secretary of State had. I know the Government now have a priority list and I am not sure but I think it is published, but I just want to turn it into statute law so we can be certain about what happens. I urge my colleagues on the Government Benches who are opposing the Bill to support Government policy, effectively, and put it into law I hope in the few minutes—oh, we do not have a few minutes left. I tell you what, Madam Deputy Speaker, why don’t we come back to this debate at a later stage? By that time, I hope the Prime Minister will be out of isolation and he can come to the House to give his views on the abolition of the BBC licence fee.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2022-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): There is indeed a way. We have run out of time for the Bill today. The right hon. Gentleman and anybody observing our proceedings will note that there were a great many Bills, and obviously there was just not time for all of them. However, the right hon. Gentleman has named Friday 18 March as the day on which the matter will come before the House again, and I hope that anyone watching our proceedings who is interested in this matter will tune in then and hear what he has to say. Armenian Genocide (Recognition) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Michael Alex Burghart (Conservative, Centre-right): Between 2010 and 2020, under this Conservative Government, the number of women accepted on to full-time STEM undergraduate courses in the UK has increased by 49%.[Official Report, 25 January 2022, Vol. 707, c. 9MC.] We are utterly committed to ensuring that more women and girls study STEM through funding programmes that boost uptake, such as the Inclusion in Schools physics programme.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Suzanne Webb (Conservative, Centre-right): Would my hon. Friend be able to let me know exactly how many women are taking up STEM apprenticeships? I ask this question specifically because the electric vehicle revolution in the west midlands is leading the way, and I am keen to see women taking up such opportunities so that they can have a long-term career in high-quality, high-paid jobs.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Michael Alex Burghart (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her question and I look forward to visiting the west midlands to see that with my own eyes, because apprenticeships are exactly the sort of first step on the career path we are looking to provide for our young people. Women now account for more than half of all apprenticeship starts across the country and our apprenticeships diversity champions network is working with employers across the country to make sure we see the improvement we need.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Michael Alex Burghart (Conservative, Centre-right): We are always doing whatever we can to encourage more women and girls to study STEM. I am delighted to say that the number of women on full-time STEM undergraduate courses has gone up by 49% since 2010. The percentage of women on full-time STEM undergraduate courses has gone up from 34% to 42% since 2010, and A-level science entries are up 36% among girls. Girls now account for more than 50% of all science A-level entries, and women now account for over half of all STEM undergraduates. Those are significant increases since the Conservatives came to power in 2020, and I look forward to taking that from strength to strength.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Sarah Elizabeth Atherton (Conservative, Centre-right): Wockhardt in Wrexham made the AstraZeneca vaccine ready, setting the scene for Wrexham to be at the forefront of opportunities. Does the Minister agree that now is the time to encourage young people, including women, into STEM opportunities, and that Wrexham, with Glyndŵr University and Coleg Cambria, is just the place to do that?
Hate Crimes — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): The Law Commission published its comprehensive review of hate crime laws on 7 December. Recognising the complex issues that the Law Commission has identified, the Government will carefully consider those recommendations and provide a further response as quickly as possible.
Hate Crimes — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure the hon. Lady and the whole House that the Prime Minister takes all forms of sexual harassment against women and girls extremely seriously. That is why we are focusing on the Law Commission’s recommendations, which involve a number of complex issues, as she will understand. If there are gaps in the specific laws that tackle this appalling crime, the Government will act.
Hate Crimes — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for raising this issue again and for representing the views of many across the country. She should be in no doubt that we take these horrific crimes seriously, and that is why we published the violence against women and girls strategy, which sets out a number of measures to keep women and girls safe. We are working at pace to work through the complex issues identified by our legal friends so that we are in a position to bring forward a response swiftly.
Transgender Prisoners — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the protection of women is of paramount consideration when dealing with the placement of transgender offenders in the prison system? On what basis would a male-born prisoner with a record of sex offences against women who now identifies as a transgender woman be placed in a women-only prison?
Transgender Prisoners — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Just to be clear, the safety of all prisoners is of fundamental importance to the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, and we are particularly aware of the vulnerabilities of many female prisoners. Transgender women who want to move to a women’s prison will be risk-assessed by an expert multidisciplinary panel chaired by a senior prison manager. The panel will consider an individual’s offending history, their anatomy, their behaviour in custody and their use of medication related to gender reassignment, as well as the risk posed to individuals.
Support for Disabled People — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): Under the 2021 spending review there will be delivery of targeted support for disabled people, including £1.1 billion of investment in helping them to get into work, £2.6 billion of funding for new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and much more on health and other matters.
Support for Disabled People — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, the Minister for Disabled People will write to the hon. Gentleman, but I can confirm that we will spend the record sum of £58 billion this year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the health and disability Green Paper and the strategy published in the summer of last year, which will be responded to in this House in the summer of this year.
Support for Disabled People — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I will get the Minister for Disabled People to provide the precise stats for the hon. Lady, but I repeat the point that funding for disabled people and people with health conditions is at the record level of £58 billion.
Support for Disabled People — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Macroeconomics
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will understand that only the Minister who is asked the particular question can answer. The practical reality is that the spending review has shown that £58 billion is a record sum. It is an increase of nearly £5 billion in real terms since 2010.
Support for Disabled People — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Energy
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that there is the household support fund, the winter fuel payments, the cold weather payments and the increase in the state pension by 2.5% for this year and by 3.1% next year, and that there is everything from the energy price cap to the freeze in fuel duty, which all go to assist anybody affected.
Women in Enterprise — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Environment
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): Kerry Mackay is inspirational and I congratulate her and all her colleagues at ScrubbiesUK. She is an exemplar for small businesses, leading the way to help the UK tackle plastic pollution and reach our climate goals. I am glad to hear that she benefited from Government mentoring support, and I will ask the relevant Business Minister to write to my hon. Friend with more details. In the meantime, I hope that people like Kerry Mackay will raise awareness of this opportunity through their own networks, which is often the most effective way to spread the word.
Spiking in Nightclubs — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): The abhorrent crimes of spiking also speak to broader issues of violence against women and girls, which is taken extremely seriously by this Government. The Home Secretary has already asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council to urgently review the extent and scale of the issue, and she is receiving regular updates from the police. The hon. Lady will know that we are delivering a pilot £5 million safety of women at night fund, which focuses on preventing violence against women and girls in the night-time economy, keeping them safe in public spaces at night.
Spiking in Nightclubs — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises a really good point. Those in the night-time economy play a key role and are taking their responsibilities seriously. The Government work very closely with them, and we are providing funding and helping them provide training to their staff so that women can feel safe at night. It is vital that the funding we are providing is being used by local authorities to provide, for example, testing kits and taxi marshals to get women home safely at night. Police are also ramping up their forensic capabilities. There is a lot of work going on.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Labor
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): We have put, on average, £1,000 a year more into the pockets of the lowest earners through changes to universal credit, increasing the minimum wage next April to £9.50 an hour, and helping with the cost of fuel bills. Our multibillion plan for jobs, which was recently expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects, and this will disproportionately benefit people in minority ethnic groups.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Does the Minister share my concern that many older workers who lose their job find it difficult to get back into work, either because of employer prejudice or because of an artificial requirement for paper qualifications, with no allowance made for capability or experience; and what is she going to do about it?
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Where one lives often has a bigger impact on outcomes than anything else. For example, the wage gap between London and the north-west is, on average, £5.22 an hour. We are examining the drivers of those disparities, and we have appointed Katharine Birbalsingh to lead the Social Mobility Commission and help to propose the policies that will sort this out.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Technology
Questions: Does the Minister share my concern that many older workers who lose their job find it difficult to get back into work, either because of employer prejudice or because of an artificial requirement for paper qualifications, with no allowance made for capability or experience; and what is she going to do about it?; As co- chair of the all-party parliamentary group for black, Asian and minority ethnic business owners, I have been working closely with special adviser Diana Chrouch to identify and address the barriers to accessing finance that BAME entrepreneurs experience. A significant issue is the lack of data collected by banks and other financial institutions on the ethnicity of business owners. Will the Secretary of State meet me and the APPG to discuss how better collection of business owners’ ethnicity data can be driven forward across Government?
Stephen James Metcalfe (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that increasing diversity in the STEM sector is not only good for the individuals who will benefit from well paid, creative and rewarding jobs, but brings a wealth of talent and creativity to an ever more important sector?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Questions: Education is one of the biggest factors when it comes to levelling up. It is what ensures that people throughout the country have access to the same opportunities, and it is a key part of my mission to transform lives in Burnley and Padiham. With that in mind, will the Prime Minister work with me to ensure that Burnley becomes the best place for people to study, whether they are in primary or secondary school, looking for an apprenticeship in advanced engineering, or undertaking a degree in cyber-security?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We are investing in education up and down the country. I am delighted that Burnley College was successful in its proposal to become an institute of technology, and that Burnley is home to the growing University of Central Lancashire campus, which makes it a fantastic place to study in Lancashire.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Labor
Questions: Education is one of the biggest factors when it comes to levelling up. It is what ensures that people throughout the country have access to the same opportunities, and it is a key part of my mission to transform lives in Burnley and Padiham. With that in mind, will the Prime Minister work with me to ensure that Burnley becomes the best place for people to study, whether they are in primary or secondary school, looking for an apprenticeship in advanced engineering, or undertaking a degree in cyber-security?; On Friday I met the chief executive of my local hospital trust, the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, to discuss how the trust was managing covid and the impact that it was having. That impact is stark. Between 12% and 15% of the workforce are away isolating, and 140 beds—about 20% of the total—are blocked because the hospital cannot get people back out into social care in the community. With that in mind, will my right hon. Friend consider reducing the isolation period to five days if it is seen to be safe to do so, and also accepting any MACA—military aid to the civil authorities—requests that are received, to help get people back into the community and into social care?; I recently visited my local jobcentre, and I am pleased to announce that the adult claimant count is down 28%, and the young adult claimant count is down 40%. Will the Prime Minister join me in thanking Stourbridge jobcentre for all its hard work, and for its dedication in achieving those results and contributing to the jobs revival that is happening across the west midlands, with 61,000 new jobs since March 2021?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes indeed, and I thank my hon. Friend for that. It is notable that the Opposition do not like to dwell on these points, but it is an astonishing fact that we have 420,000 more people in work now than before the pandemic began, and youth unemployment is at a record low.
Vaccination Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not recognise the data given by the right hon. Gentleman. We have already invested £465 million in a recruitment and retention programme for care home staff. It is important to recognise that caring is a worthwhile career. The carers I have met are really dedicated and get a lot from it. I come back to the fact that it is important to keep the most vulnerable in our society safe, whether they are care home residents or patients who are acutely ill in hospital.
Vaccination Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Education
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a very good point, and it is not the first time the issue has been raised with me. We had that situation in the run-up to Christmas, and we are obviously now in the run-up to half term and Easter as well. I assure her that measures are being considered to see how to resolve the situation.
Vaccination Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): Misinformation costs lives. It is totally inappropriate, and there is no place for it in our society. As the hon. Lady rightly highlights, testing centres have also been attacked, which I am sure is under police investigation. I reassure her that we have a unit that considers such issues all the time, and numerous online presences are taken down on a regular basis. As she will imagine, various police investigations are under way.
Afghanistan: Humanitarian Crisis — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: International Affairs
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): Afghanistan is facing a serious and worsening humanitarian crisis. It is affecting well over half the population, with 23 million people facing acute food insecurity. This is now the world’s most severe food security crisis. The UN has this week requested nearly $4.5 billion for 2022—the largest humanitarian appeal on record, reflecting the magnitude of the humanitarian challenge ahead The UK has been at the forefront of efforts to address the situation, working with the UN Security Council, the G20, the G7 and countries in the region. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers have all been working extensively with world leaders. In August, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would double its assistance for Afghanistan to £286 million this financial year, and we have now disbursed over £145 million. That will support over 3.4 million people in Afghanistan and the region, providing emergency food, healthcare, shelter, water and protection. We are working at pace to allocate the remaining funding in response to the developing crisis and the new UN appeal. Further details were in the ministerial statement on 15 December. I thank the British people for donating £28 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal in December, of which £10 million was doubled by UK aid match funding. That has helped to provide lifesaving support We were particularly concerned about the impact of the situation on women, girls and other marginalised groups. Last month I, alongside the Minister of State with responsibility for south Asia, Lord Ahmad, met organisations representing women, LGBT+ and religious minorities to discuss support for their needs. In allocating UK aid, we want to ensure that women, girls and other marginalised groups have equal, safe and dignified access to assistance and services. We have pressed the Taliban to respect humanitarian principles Our partners report that aid is getting through. We continue to monitor the situation very carefully, especially in the winter months. Aid workers face challenges getting money into Afghanistan due to the banking system. We are working closely with multilateral organisations, banks and non-governmental organisations to address those challenges. We welcome the decision by the World Bank board in November to transfer £280 million to support the humanitarian response, but it is vital—it is vital—that the World Bank produces options to allocate the $1.2 billion remaining in the fund. It is important that donors across the world step up to the challenge, including by responding to the UN’s call for additional funding.
Afghanistan: Humanitarian Crisis — House of Commons, 2022-01-12
Topic: International Affairs
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in my opening remarks, the situation is enormously serious. Indeed, it is now the world’s most severe food security crisis On the issues relating to supporting Afghan resettlement, of course everybody in this Chamber has had huge praise for all those who worked during Operation Pitting. It was incredibly challenging, but those on the ground, including the ambassador and his team from the Foreign Office, did amazing work. Since the evacuation, as the Minister for Afghan Resettlement, my hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) made clear last week, we have helped a further 1,500 to enter the UK, including female judges, human rights defenders and LGBT Afghans. At that stage, of course, she announced the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme On getting more aid into the country, as I said in my opening remarks it is incredibly important that the world steps up to this challenge, especially towards meeting the UN appeal.The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers, including the Minister for the region, are working closely with world leaders, including in the US, the EU and the UN. Indeed, my colleague the responsible Minister is in regular co-ordination with all key international agency leads at the UN, including those for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the International Rescue Committee. We will make more announcements in response to the UN appeal in the coming weeks, but I restate what I said in my statement about the importance of the World Bank giving options to unlock the $1.2 billion that remains in the fund.