argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Coastal Communities — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Caroline Ansell (Conservative, Centre-right): Who knew we had seahorses off the coast of Eastbourne? This is my perfect moment. I thank my hon. Friend for her answer on the excellent work that is being done on water quality—that is clearly of massive significance to me—and on the coastal defence scheme; Eastbourne is set to potentially receive £100 million to protect the town for 100 years. But my question is about sewage and waste treatment. The sea, and all it affords, is our greatest visitor asset in Eastbourne and highly valued by local people. I recently met my local swimmers—a very hardy crew that includes one cross-channel swimmer. They are concerned about waste treatment because they so enjoy their swimming. What reassurance can my hon. Friend give them about the new powers in the Environment Act 2021 that will address this, but equally about Government-sponsored local action that will improve storm overflows and surface water, and help to take us from "good" to "excellent" status for our bathing water?
Coastal Communities — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am tempted to ask whether my hon. Friend joined the swimmers with her bathing costume on. I thank her for her work in campaigning on this matter, which she constantly talks about with me. I am delighted that we recently confirmed funding for East Sussex County Council’s Blue Heart project, which she was very proactive about, to help to reach "excellent" bathing water status. That very much focuses on what to do about the surface water and how to separate it from the sewage. That fits fully with all the work we are doing, as a Government, to make a game-changing difference on improving our water quality.
Water Quality — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): We are the first Government to set out our expectation that water companies must reduce storm sewage overflows, and our Environment Act includes a raft of powers to support that expectation. We have almost doubled the funding available for our catchment farming advisers and have taken action to ban microbeads and microplastics in personal care products. We are currently seeking views on further actions we could take in relation to wet wipes, and will shortly be setting targets under the Environment Act to further improve water quality and drive action in the coming years.
Water Quality — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Action is happening on this side of the House, and if the hon. Gentleman followed it, he would know exactly how much we are doing. Through our Environment Act, we have taken a game-changing move to cut down on the harm caused by storm sewage overflows. Your party, in fairness, never did any of these things. I have inherited—.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a convention in the sheep meat sector that these international agreements are based on something called the carcass-weight equivalent. That does not always apply to beef. However, the special agricultural safeguard that operates from years 10 to 15 will be based on a carcass-weight equivalent mechanism.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in June and completed Committee stage in November. We continue to work on the Bill, and have added a new pet abduction offence and extended the primates measures to Wales. We have also consulted on puppy smuggling. Work continues and I will keep my hon. Friend posted.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are working on a food strategy that will address all these issues across the food supply chain and some of the other challenges around the food industry, too. On his specific question, as I have said, we are largely self-sufficient in wheat production. We import some wheat from Canada. Most of our bread manufacturers therefore have British or Canadian wheat in their bread. We have modelled the impact of the increase in commodity prices on the price of a loaf of bread, and because wheat only represents about 10% of the cost of a loaf of bread, the impact is actually quite modest. A much bigger impact is likely to be the increase in fuel costs, since the cost of delivering bread is the biggest cost they face.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): The big drivers of household financial insecurity are energy costs, housing costs and so on, and that is why the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have already announced schemes to try to help households with the cost of energy. When it comes specifically to food, we have a household support fund worth around £500 million, and at a DEFRA level we support projects such as FareShare.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. It is a basic right to have clean air. That is why yesterday we announced more than £11 million in grants across local authority projects to improve air quality. We have made £880 million in funding available to support local authorities to tackle their nitrogen oxide exceedances and to get compliance. That is on top of the £2 billion investment in cycling and walking and a further £4 billion for making the switch to cleaner vehicles, showing a cross-Government approach. The Environment Act 2021 ensured that local authorities have the powers necessary to tackle this issue.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?; I know that as an animal lover, Mr Speaker, you are one of the seven in 10 who think that breeding mammals just for the fur on their backs to end up on a coat is immoral, and the figure is even higher for those against force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, so why are the Government even entertaining the idea of lifting the proposed ban on these completely unnecessary so-called luxuries? Can they be true to their Brexit opportunities and put that rumour to bed?
Nicolas John Gibb (Conservative, Centre-right): According to Southern Water’s own figures, between 27 December 2021 and 6 January 2022, for 236 hours untreated wastewater was discharged from the Lidsey sewage treatment plant into the Lidsey Rife en route to the sea. That is 24 hours a day for 10 consecutive days. The final draft of "The government’s strategic priorities for Ofwat" states that the Government expect water companies to "significantly reduce the frequency and volume of sewage discharges from storm overflows." Can the Minister confirm—
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?; I know that as an animal lover, Mr Speaker, you are one of the seven in 10 who think that breeding mammals just for the fur on their backs to end up on a coat is immoral, and the figure is even higher for those against force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, so why are the Government even entertaining the idea of lifting the proposed ban on these completely unnecessary so-called luxuries? Can they be true to their Brexit opportunities and put that rumour to bed?
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Ofwat is legally required to act in accordance with the policy statement that my right hon. Friend referred to, and the Government expect Ofwat to take serious action against water companies. He might be aware that Ofwat called in five water companies just yesterday to look at what they are doing and their data, and our new system will tackle the issue.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?; I know that as an animal lover, Mr Speaker, you are one of the seven in 10 who think that breeding mammals just for the fur on their backs to end up on a coat is immoral, and the figure is even higher for those against force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, so why are the Government even entertaining the idea of lifting the proposed ban on these completely unnecessary so-called luxuries? Can they be true to their Brexit opportunities and put that rumour to bed?; Residents of Newcastle’s west end are sick and tired of wading through litter. Despite swingeing cuts to Newcastle City Council’s budget, it found extra money for street cleaning, but council tax payers should not bear the whole burden. The producers of litter should also pay, so why has the extended producer responsibility scheme been delayed? Has the Minister looked at the impact on Newcastle streets and will she compensate the council?
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): We will be hearing the response to the extended producer responsibility consultation very shortly. I also highlight that, within a week, we have the Keep Britain Tidy and Clean for the Queen campaigns. That is about everyone taking on part of the responsibility and the extended producer responsibility scheme will help everyone to do that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?; I know that as an animal lover, Mr Speaker, you are one of the seven in 10 who think that breeding mammals just for the fur on their backs to end up on a coat is immoral, and the figure is even higher for those against force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, so why are the Government even entertaining the idea of lifting the proposed ban on these completely unnecessary so-called luxuries? Can they be true to their Brexit opportunities and put that rumour to bed?; Residents of Newcastle’s west end are sick and tired of wading through litter. Despite swingeing cuts to Newcastle City Council’s budget, it found extra money for street cleaning, but council tax payers should not bear the whole burden. The producers of litter should also pay, so why has the extended producer responsibility scheme been delayed? Has the Minister looked at the impact on Newcastle streets and will she compensate the council?
Aaron Stuart Bell (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that the Minister gets regular updates on the situation at Walleys Quarry in Newcastle-under-Lyme. She knows that the problem is not yet solved and people are still having to live with it. What update can she give me? What hope can she give to my constituents? Can she update me on the work of the chief scientific adviser’s team?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Questions: My hon. Friend the Minister knows how important the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is for animal sanctuaries. Could she update the House on the progress of that Bill and its timeline in this Session?; Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?; I know that as an animal lover, Mr Speaker, you are one of the seven in 10 who think that breeding mammals just for the fur on their backs to end up on a coat is immoral, and the figure is even higher for those against force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras, so why are the Government even entertaining the idea of lifting the proposed ban on these completely unnecessary so-called luxuries? Can they be true to their Brexit opportunities and put that rumour to bed?; Residents of Newcastle’s west end are sick and tired of wading through litter. Despite swingeing cuts to Newcastle City Council’s budget, it found extra money for street cleaning, but council tax payers should not bear the whole burden. The producers of litter should also pay, so why has the extended producer responsibility scheme been delayed? Has the Minister looked at the impact on Newcastle streets and will she compensate the council?
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): DEFRA’s chief scientific adviser has been talking to independent external scientific experts about Walleys Quarry and site capping, gas management, air dispersal and leachate. My officials keep me regularly updated and my hon. Friend knows that I take it very seriously. I get weekly updates and I will keep on applying the pressure to ensure that we get the result.
Global Summit: Freedom of Religion or Belief — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What role the Church of England has in supporting the global summit to promote freedom of religion or belief, to be hosted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in July 2022.
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I have seen the report and I share my hon. Friend’s concerns about its findings, which show the political and economic instability and the social intimidation that people are facing. The international ministerial meeting in July will provide an opportunity for that research to be widely shared and for the report’s concerns to be addressed.
Global Summit: Freedom of Religion or Belief — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What role the Church of England has in supporting the global summit to promote freedom of religion or belief, to be hosted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in July 2022.
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who takes a very serious interest in these matters. He is absolutely right. The Archbishop of Canterbury has just been in Pakistan, including Peshawar, where Pastor William Siraj was horrendously murdered on 30 January this year. Those stories must be heard, and he is absolutely right.
Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The Church is responding through prayer, giving and action. Parishes across the country prayed for peace on 27 February and are supporting humanitarian appeals. Chaplaincies across Europe are providing support to refugees now. The Church has sold its investments in Russian firms and there were no investments, I am pleased to say, in Russian sovereign debt.
Family Hubs — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The Bishop of Durham chairs the multi-denominational Church works commission, which is engaging with the Government on how churches can best participate in family hubs, as we believe that churches, other faiths and the voluntary sector all have a very important role to play in the successful delivery of family hubs.
Warroch Hill — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The Warroch Hill tree planting scheme will sequester carbon, protect water courses and reduce incidents of flash flooding. Local jobs have been created, and the biodiversity of the site is being significantly increased in comparison with its former use as an upland hill farm.
Warroch Hill — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
John Robert Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome that response, and I also welcome the investment that the Church of England is making in Scotland, but what progress is the Church making to ensure that all of its investments—not only in Scotland, but across the UK—are contributing positively to the environment?
Warroch Hill — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Environment
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a very good and welcome challenge from my hon. Friend, and I can reassure him that the Church Commissioners are committed to the long-term stewardship of our land and seek to adopt best practice in meeting the global challenges of combating climate change and reducing biodiversity loss. Our forests are managed in accordance with the UK forestry standard and the UK woodland assurance standard, which also protect water resources and enhance soils. The Church, along with other major landowners, has also signed the National Trust’s nature-based solutions compact.
Impartiality — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: To ask the hon. Member for City of Chester, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Committee will make an assessment of the impartiality of the Electoral Commission.
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s response. This week the former Speaker of the House of Commons got his comeuppance for being mean and unfair to a number of people, by bullying them and by using his power. The Electoral Commission was also mean and unfair to a number of people, by using its power to bully them. Mr Speaker, you have changed the position of the Speaker, and it is widely regarded across the House that you are fair and impartial. Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the new chair of the Electoral Commission can get the same widespread support for the impartiality and fairness of that Commission?
Restoration and Renewal: Impact on Roads and Air Quality — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent assessment the sponsor body has made of the impact of the restoration and renewal project on (a) roads and (b) air quality in London.
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman rightly told us in detail about what has been done, and the environment and roads point is really important. Could the work that has been done be published as soon as possible?
Refugees from Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew John Bower Mitchell (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course my right hon. Friend is absolutely right that many of the people who are fleeing from this appalling murder and mayhem, from war crimes and from breaches of the international rules of war want to remain as close as possible to the areas from which they have been driven, so that when this appalling catastrophe is over, they can return. Will she keep in touch with our European partners on both their practices and procedures so that we help these desperate people whom our constituents are rightly intent on us assisting, and so we are part of a co-ordinated and effective European response to this horrendous humanitarian crisis?
Refugees from Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: International Affairs
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right to refer to the need for a co-ordinated approach, and also to the response within the region. It is very clear that families want to stay there. I receive calls every day from my counterparts in the region—Ministers of the Interior—who are asking for aid to support those families who want to stay in the region because they want to go back home; and the ambassadors in the region are saying the same. My right hon. Friend asked about the EU in particular. I am in constant contact with Commissioner Johansson to discuss how we can support the region and, specifically, countries and Ukrainian nationals in the region. The need for that co-ordinated response is so important, and the British Government, through a whole-Government effort, are supplying not only financial aid and support but practical aid and equipment to many countries in the region on the Ukrainian border that are asking us for direct help and support.
Refugees from Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-03-10
Topic: Transportation
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): As ever, my hon. Friend is making practical suggestions, but I am afraid that those checks cannot be suspended. There has already been work across Government to look at the carrier liability aspect. It is the electronic authorisation to travel that we are speeding up through this digital system, so that once the individual receives the authorisation, they can go straight to a port, show they have authorisation to travel and then board a train or plane to get the United Kingdom. We cannot make any other travel changes on that basis because of the wider implications that that has for other carriers.