argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I disagree with my hon. Friend. The Government are required, under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, to take a position. They are also required—or commitments were given during the passage of that Act—to set out certain matters, including the process of leaving the European Union under article 50, which is in a document that we published this morning. During the passage of the referendum Act, there was a debate on how this could best be done, and we are acting on the conclusions that were reached.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is precisely because we did not want that to happen that we proposed these arrangements. I think that the hon. Gentleman is wholly wrong, and misjudging the position, if he thinks that supporting the Government’s position is anything other than an impartial and proper course for civil servants to take. The alternative is to argue that civil servants should not support the Government’s position, and I think that that would be ridiculous.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend has made an important point. On European Union issues that do not relate to the single question of in or out, there will be full access to all papers, as normal. That is what is said in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary, and that is how the Government are operating.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): It is all right, Mr Speaker. I was not sure whether it was the other David Davies whom you were calling We are fortunate to live in a democracy. We are not guided by Cabinet Secretary guidelines. As far as I know there is no manifesto basis for this, and as far as I know there has been no House of Commons vote for it, so what is the constitutional basis of the Prime Minister’s decision? Is it the royal prerogative?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): No, the constitutional basis is that, under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, the Government are required to take a position. The Government have taken a position, as I have set out, and it is for civil servants to support that position. It is therefore necessary to set out how civil servants should act with a Minister who does not support the Government position. The guidance is precisely limited to the in/out question, and the reason for publishing it is to ensure that everyone knows what the position is.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Civil servants support the position of the Government of the day, and this Government have a position. I do not know how many times I am going to have to repeat that. That is the case. Civil servants are impartial, but they support the Government of the day. That is the law and it is the situation in this case too.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Neil Carmichael (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Paymaster General agree that it would be supremely ironic if this referendum had an impact on the way in which our civil service operated in the future? It is absolutely right that the civil service should support the Government, and the Government have made the decision—the right decision, in my view—that we are safer, stronger and better in the European Union.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is disappointing that the leave campaign seems to want to focus on process issues such as this rather than discussing whether we would be better off inside a reformed European Union, as I believe we would. My hon. Friend raises an important point. If any Members do not think that the rules should operate in the way we published last week, the only other position would be for the civil service to support a position that was not the Government’s position, which would go against everything that it was set up to do.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Nick Herbert (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that the misunderstanding of the Government’s position has been evidenced by the last question, which suggested that the Prime Minister required Ministers to agree with him? That is not the case. The public will surely agree that fairness is ensured by the fact that Ministers are free to speak out. That is what the Prime Minister is allowing, and that is a generous position. There is no reason why those Ministers should be supported by the civil service or the taxpayer in expressing their view, to which they are entitled in conscience. If they feel that this is unfair, they have the option of not remaining in the Government.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Law and Crime
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course the Lord Chancellor can continue to do the work that he is doing in reforming the courts system and in all sorts of areas. Indeed, I visited a prison with him on Friday, as I have mentioned. That shows that the Government are getting on with their work. On top of that, we are having a debate in the country and between Ministers on both sides on the specific question of an in/out referendum.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): When people in Bedford and Kempston have raised the issue of the European referendum with me over the past week, they have wanted to hear the facts. They hear lots of statistics, but they fear that they are being warped by one side or the other, so they want facts. How will this restriction on access to information enable those people to get the facts?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The challenge of taking a position other than the one the Government have taken is that it would require civil servants to do work that was not in support of the Government’s position. The Government have a position, and it is part of the civil service code, and it is put into law in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, that civil servants should support the position of the Government. It would put civil servants in a very difficult position if we were to do anything other than that.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much appreciate that the Minister has qualified and caveated some of the guidance that has recently been issued. Does he not agree, however, that there is a danger that without further clarification we could have the ludicrous situation where Freedom of Information Act requests, or requests made by Members of Parliament through parliamentary questions, could get information out of Ministers that those Ministers would have been denied by their own civil servants?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not know whether that was directed at people on the shadow Front Bench, but the situation is as I have set out. The key point is this: if we were to take any other position, we would have civil servants being asked not to support the position of the Government. We are approaching this in the way these things have been approached in referendums in the past—in 1975 and in the Scottish referendum—which seems perfectly reasonable.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Julian Murray Lewis (Conservative, Centre-right): Because this is such a divisive issue and because so many people feel so strongly about it, it has been decided that instead of Government taking the decision, the people should take the decision. What does it do for the sense of fairness among the people if the big battalions of the civil service seem to be lined up on one side of the argument and spin doctors in Downing Street do botched letters to the press from generals who have not even signed up to them saying that one side of the argument is right and the other side of it is wrong?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The debate over how this would operate took place during the passage of the European Union Referendum Bill, which my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe took through Parliament. During the passage of that Bill, there was quite a debate, for example, about how purdah should operate, and many concessions were made by the Government in order to ensure that the process is fair. The result of that was an Act that included the requirement for the Government to take a view and then to be able to set out information on various aspects of the referendum, and that is exactly what we are doing.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): I think I heard the Minister say that dissenting Ministers will not be allowed to see papers making the case for Britain to remain in the EU, which suggests that the Government have very little confidence in their own arguments. May I put it to my right hon. Friend that it is a constitutional outrage to deny access to arguments that "may"—as the briefing paper says—have a bearing on the referendum to some key Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice who are intimately involved in the central issues of this referendum? The Government really need to think again about that, because otherwise the British people will think that the Government intend to rig the referendum.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I would argue the contrary. The constitutional difficulty would arise if civil servants were being asked to support a position that was not the position of the Government. The civil service is there to support the Government. I would argue that this is precisely in order to stick to the constitution, as set out by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 but as carried out in practice for decades and decades before that. The job of the civil service is to support the Government, and that is what it should do.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): The British public could be forgiven for thinking that, if someone such as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is not permitted to see all the relevant documents, he may be unable to advise the Government. The Government may then come to a fixed opinion on a particular view such as benefits without having all the facts. A question and answer document from the Cabinet Office says: "Can dissenting Ministers see Department papers on matters that aren’t directly about the Referendum, but may have a bearing." The answer is: "They can see or commission any papers produced by their Departments in the normal way except those that have a bearing on the referendum question or are intended to be used in support of their position" It is not a simple black and white matter; it is a matter of interpretation. Special advisers are being handcuffed and told that they must keep things from the Secretary of State. That is appalling. Are the Government afraid that the facts might change the minds of the public and some Cabinet members?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend’s question was focused on what the public think. I believe they will think, "Please can we get on to debating the substance of the question rather than the process of how to make sure that Ministers are allowed, unusually, to depart from the Government position while the constitutional position of the civil service remains in place."
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): Is it true, as reported in The Times this morning, that without the consent or knowledge of the Secretary of State, officials of the DWP carried out research on the instructions of No. 10 to help support the case for remaining in the EU? If that is the case, will the Minister please explain how the Secretary of State can be expected to be responsible for the work of his own Department?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): These guidelines are restricted to the issues of the question of in/out. It is perfectly normal —it happens all the time—for there to be communications between Departments and No. 10. That is how the Government operate.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Social Welfare
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): Perhaps the solution is for Ministers to submit freedom of information requests to their own Departments to get the answers. A key part of the Prime Minister’s reform package was very complex changes to benefits and indexing of benefits. If, at the next DWP Question Time, I ask the Secretary of State what progress he is making to determine whether those reforms are deliverable by 23 June, will he be able to give me an honest and full answer?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, of course he will. On issues that are not about the in/out referendum question, Ministers will be fully informed. That is the position. As to the question of whether this will change people’s minds, the Government have made their position clear, which is that, obviously, we are in favour of remain.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Agriculture
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): Say for a moment that I am the fisheries Minister, young, ambitious, good looking and anxious to do the Prime Minister’s bidding, and the Prime Minister tells me that I have to set out my vision of what life outside the EU means for fishing—indeed that is a huge question for our fishing fleets—what do I do? The EU determines everything in my Department. I have no national policy on fishing, but I happen to be in favour of the out campaign. Do I go home for four months? Do I get no advice from Ministers? Is it not so much "Yes, Minister" as just "Go home for four months and we will see you in June"?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point, which is that the rules set out last week make it clear that on all issues, including EU issues other than the in/out question, government continues as normal. I am afraid that he cannot have four months off, even in the circumstances he describes. I am sure that he would not miss the next four months for the world.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): The Paymaster General is a Minister in the Cabinet Office, which is the Department responsible for the civil service, yet my right hon. Friend has form when it comes to civil service advice. In June 2015, he signed a special declaration overriding civil service advice that further money should not be given to Kids Company, which subsequently disappeared. Would it be open to Ministers of the Crown to use that same special declaration to override this present civil service edict?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Macroeconomics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Making what is called a direction, such as that which I made on Kids Company because I thought that it was worth spending the money to look after those kids—it is right that Ministers should be able democratically to override the advice of civil servants when they choose to, so long as that is published—is about the expenditure of money. The EU debate is not specifically about the expenditure of money, although there are debates about growth, jobs and the economy, and so the question would not arise.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is absolutely necessary to ensure that information is available on questions about the referendum. For instance, that is why this morning we published a document on the process for leaving the European Union should that be the decision at the referendum. My hon. Friend is right that it is for the people to decide. The Cabinet Secretary is not neutral; he supports the Government position because he is a civil servant, and the whole civil service supports the Government position. If my hon. Friend is responding to his constituents and they really want information, I can always recommend a website called strongerin.co.uk, which has some great information.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister tell the House how the guidance rules would have affected the advice given to the Prime Minister by Sir Lynton Crosby when he said that the renegotiations were not good enough, that they should be rejected at the European Council and that proper renegotiations should be carried out and the referendum delayed until 2017? Clearly, in that situation, the adviser was not supporting the Government line at all.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): No, on the contrary. This guidance is a precise consequence of the Prime Minister’s decision to allow Ministers to campaign to leave. If the Prime Minister had not decided to allow Ministers to remain in the Government but to campaign to leave the European Union against the recommendation of the Government, such rules would not be necessary and we would not have had to publish them. This is a direct consequence of the Prime Minister’s decision to allow that debate to take place and to allow Ministers to take one or other side of the debate.
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Theakstone Percy (Conservative, Centre-right): Talking of guidance, my association was this morning issued with guidance from our north of England field director stating: "The Party is neutral, which means that as an organisation we are not getting involved in any way on an official basis. In practice this means that Associations must not use any resources available to them, including money, data, premises etc. to promote a particular view." Given that this is a Conservative Government from the Prime Minister all the way down to us lowly Back Benchers, who are all members of a party that has no official view on the matter, why should civil servants who work for Conservative Ministers take a view on it? That is leading people out there to conclude that there is stitch-up to try and keep us in the wasteful EU.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I think I answered that point. The question is how we make sure that the guidance means that civil servants follow the Government position, including on the in/out question, which is the only question on which Ministers can move from the Government position. So it is a question of whether something is an in/out question or is normal EU business. I think I set that out earlier; I might have said the same.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that confirmation. The short answer to the hon. Lady—this is for the benefit of the House—is that answers to Members’ questions should be direct, substantive and candid. I have sympathy with the view, which she has expressed, that it is not helpful if Government Departments simply refer right hon. and hon. Members in written answers to websites on which the information requested may be located but cannot easily be found. The much more straightforward process, which I think the public would expect, would be to provide an answer to the question. It is not really all that complicated That said, I have to emphasise, of course, that the content of written answers, and indeed of ministerial statements in the House, has to be a matter for the judgment of individual Ministers; it is not for the Chair to determine. However, I am offering an overall sentiment, which I think would be shared across the House. As to how the hon. Lady can put the matter straight, I suggest that, by dint of this point of order, she has begun to do so.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. My point of order relates not to the ministerial code but to the conduct of the House of Commons. When Ministers come to the House of Commons, they are required to give full and informed answers to the questions we ask as Members of Parliament. Having given the matter some thought, can you give us some guidance on how we will know whether Ministers have been fully informed, if we know that there is a process of purposely withholding information from those who may be required to give answers to the House of Commons? How can we then carry out our duty of scrutiny properly?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I think I will treat that as what it is: not a point of order, but an inventive rhetorical question. At any rate, the hon. Gentleman seems justly satisfied, so I think we will, for now, leave it there. We are deeply grateful to the Minister for coming into the Chamber and responding to our inquiries If there are no further points of order, and the appetite has been satisfied, at any rate for today, we now come to the motion on the draft European Union Referendum (Date of Referendum etc.) Regulations 2016. Just before I ask the Minister—my illustrious neighbour, the Member for Aylesbury—to move the motion, I should inform the House that I have now considered the instrument, and I have decided not to certify it under Standing Order No. 83P.