argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Armed Forces Capability: Future Security Threats — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): May I start by paying tribute to the forces men and women who are working to help the country through the covid crisis? We may soon need to turn to them again, in the face of this renewed pandemic threat. On the integrated review, I recognise that the cycle of defence decisions does not match the cycle of political elections. Britain still benefits from the skills, technologies and capabilities at the heart of Labour’s Drayson review 15 years ago. The Opposition want the Government to get this integrated review right, but when this is the third Conservative review in just 10 years, how will the Defence Secretary avoid making the big mistakes of the last two?
Armed Forces Capability: Future Security Threats — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): Of course, the Labour Government invested in defence at a higher rate each year than that of the previous 10 years, but the Secretary of State is right about the big aims and challenges. He has previously described the 2015 review as over-ambitious and underfunded, and to over-promise and under-deliver has become something of a hallmark of this Government, but that most recent review left Britain with a £7 billion black hole for military equipment; 8,000 fewer soldiers than Ministers pledged as the minimum; and multibillion-pound contracts placed abroad when we could build in Britain. Of course, there is also a pandemic disease, which was confirmed as a tier 1 threat but no Government action was taken to prepare for it. For all the Secretary of State’s talk of the grand picture and grand strategy, does he accept that the British public and the Opposition will judge the Government by these tests?
Veterans Welfare Service — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
Julie Elliott (Labour, Centre-left): I believe that Sunderland recruits more people into the Army than any other city in the country, so consequently has a lot more issues and high demand for services to veterans. Will the Minister join me in thanking the excellent work of Veterans in Crisis in Sunderland, which does incredibly important work in this area? Will the Government pledge to look at providing more financial support from central Government for services to veterans?
Veterans Welfare Service — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): In January this year, the Minister promised to meet Combat Stress and other organisations to assist with their funding that had been cut. What extra assessment has he made since the start of covid on the risks of serious mental health problems among our veterans?
Veterans Welfare Service — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Alexandra Mary Davies-Jones (Labour, Centre-left): In June, the Office for National Statistics reported that almost one in five adults is likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the covid-19 pandemic. Given that service and veterans charities have reported an increase in demand since lockdown, and building on the previous answer, what steps is the Department taking to ensure that every veteran, all serving personnel and every service family member receive the support they need during this very difficult time?
Veterans Welfare Service — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Marie Elizabeth Rimmer (Labour, Centre-left): Wesley McDonnell, a 35-year-old veteran, decided to take his own life in the park opposite my home. This brave man served and defended our nation for almost 20 years and, sadly, there are still many others like him. Can the Minister please commit to further improve the spirit of the armed forces covenant by tasking the MOD to develop a health and wellbeing pathway, including the assessment, diagnosis and commissioning of the mental health needs of our brave men and women prior to discharge so that they have the treatment ready?
Armed Forces: Recruitment and Retention — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
Stephen James Morgan (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State recently said that "the greatest asset we have is not our tanks or our aeroplanes, it’s people." Yet under the last 10 years of Conservative Government, the numbers of personnel in each of the tri-services have declined. With this in mind, will the Minister make it a priority under the integrated review to address the failure to maintain the strength of our armed forces?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): My constituent David is currently serving in the Army. His brother Dan served for 12 years, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but last year Dan killed himself. David wrote to me about the lack of support that Dan had received while he was serving, and said that the Army really does wash its hands of former soldiers once they have left. I have heard the Minister lay out mental health support plans for the future, but David has written twice to the Ministry of Defence about this situation, and only an email from my office has been replied to, nine months after the first correspondence. Is this really the way we should treat our military personnel?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): May I press the Secretary of State further on the Fleet Solid Support ships? Back in July in reply to my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), he said that"such ships are not highly complex, so once the competition happens and it is placed, I do not think it will take long to build them…British shipbuilding and British yards produce some of the best ships in the world and we should support them as best as we can and ensure our navy gets some great British-made kit."—[Official Report, 6 July 2020; Vol. 678, c. 660.]As EU regulations are no longer the excuse—if they ever really were the reason—why will the Secretary of State not commit today not only to build those ships in British yards, but to get a move on?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Defense
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State recently stated that the Ministry of Defence’s greatest asset was not tanks or aeroplanes, but its people. However, over the last decade, the Conservative Government have proceeded to make huge cuts to the level of armed forces personnel, and there has been a corresponding decrease in morale within the armed forces, going down from 60% in 2010 to 45% in 2020, so will the Secretary of State commit to finally putting a stop to these cuts to our brave armed forces?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
John Robert Cryer (Labour, Centre-left): Despite what the Secretary of State has said today, we are still hearing myriad stories of people—our constituents—being unable to get tested. The worst story I have heard is a constituent who was told to travel 600 miles to Aberdeen to get a test. Why is that the case, when we are constantly told by Ministers that there is no problem?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Kim Marie Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Liverpool incidence rates have increased quickly and we are now on the precipice of local lockdown. There has been an increase of 247 cases on the previous week’s figures and the latest weekly rate in Liverpool is now 120 per 100,000, as the Secretary of State mentioned. What additional resources does the Secretary of State plan to provide to Liverpool and other local authorities to assist them in dealing with further localised outbreaks?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Rupa Asha Huq (Labour, Centre-left): Top-rated medical research has continuously linked vitamin D levels with covid incidence. In Norway, where people have high amounts, cases are rare, whereas here, most Brits are deficient. It is rarely found in food, and the main source—sunlight—is about to disappear, with a possible winter NHS crisis on the way. Will the Secretary of State follow the science, as there is no vaccine in sight, and seek to prescribe supplements on the NHS, or at least run a public information campaign? People need something positive now that the nights are drawing in.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Stella Judith Creasy (Labour, Centre-left): I am delighted to have just heard the Secretary of State’s previous answer, because, in a former life, he and I both served on the Public Accounts Committee, so I know that he will understand that every taxpayer living in a community facing a lockdown or unable to get a test deserves a straight answer on whether his Department has imposed a financial penalty or withheld payments for the many voided tests undertaken by Randox. Will he give an answer to that question today?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): Those of us who represent areas that face additional restrictions as of tomorrow are happy to reinforce the messages, but we need the Secretary of State’s help, don’t we, Mr Speaker? The difference between the instruction of households that they "must not go and visit each other" as opposed to saying they "should not go to the pub together" is one of the ambiguities that my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) has highlighted right from the start of this crisis. It is an ambiguity that is exploited by the virus, but it is also exploited, sadly, by a small but important minority of people in this country. Will he clear up these ambiguities and improve the chances that everybody will comply with these necessary new restrictions?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Centre-left): Last year, I was faced with every parent’s nightmare as I rushed my small baby to the children’s A&E at the Royal Free Hospital in my constituency because he was not breathing. The doctors and nurses saved his life. The same children’s A&E will now be closed temporarily from next month because of the pressure that covid-19 will put on the NHS over winter. Will the Secretary of State give me a cast-iron guarantee that our local NHS will be given all the resources it needs so that this closure is strictly temporary and the children’s A&E service can be restored as soon as possible?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-21
Topic: Health
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will accept that a near-one-week turnaround for tests for people working in our care homes is not looking after our elderly. Can he be precise: when will we get the 24-hour turnaround that we must have if we are to keep the elderly safe in those homes?
Terminally Ill People: Welfare Support — House of Commons, 2020-09-14
Topic: Health
Catherine Jane Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Having supported a number of constituents with motor neurone disease, including a close friend, I have seen some of the challenges when faced with a terminal diagnosis. Can the Minister reassure me that the Government will not just replace the six-month rule with another arbitrary time limit of, say, 12 months? That would not solve the problem and would create barriers for patients and clinicians when it comes to navigating the special rules for terminal illness.
Support for Shielding People: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-09-14
Topic: Health
Virendra Kumar Sharma (Labour, Centre-left): Last week, the TUC made it clear that two fifths of workers will be unable to pay bills if they have to self-isolate for two weeks. Statutory sick pay will have to go up for test and trace to work. Will the Secretary of State increase statutory sick pay to ensure that no one is left behind and keep the country covid-secure?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-14
Topic: Health
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): It is a tragic consequence of the pandemic that some families of NHS key workers have lost their loved ones to covid-19 after they contracted the virus while serving on the frontline. It is absolutely right that they receive compensation for that. May I ask the Secretary of State to justify the news that low-paid relatives who receive the compensation payment are to be stripped of their benefits? That is not the case with comparable payments such as the Grenfell and Windrush compensation schemes, so why are NHS families being treated in that way?
Cross-Government Communications: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Christopher Philip James Elmore (Labour, Centre-left): Genuine concern has been expressed by the First Minister of Wales about the lack of engagement from the Prime Minister in terms of cross-Government discussions. May I raise a specific point with the Paymaster General? In England, people in restricted areas are able to travel into Wales to go on holiday. In Wales, people in a restricted area, such as in my constituency, are not allowed to travel to go on holiday. This has been asked of the Health Secretary and the Prime Minister this week. Could the Paymaster General, or indeed the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, urge the Prime Minister to say to people living in England, "If you are in a restricted area, please don’t go on holiday, please don’t travel into Wales, please don’t spread the virus"?
Cross-Government Communications: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Fleur Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): Government communications this week have been quite shambolic. My constituents have been writing to me to ask for more clear messaging. The Cabinet Office has spent more than £50 million on untendered contracts for media and consultancies, yet Ministers have found it hard to explain local measures this week. It has been reported that mask wearing in shops is going down instead of up, in contradiction to communications, and more people have been told to get the flu jab yet cannot get one. How are members of the public expected to understand and keep up with the changes if Ministers cannot?
Government Contracts: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister’s response says more about the Government’s failure to implement the recommendations of Operation Cygnus than it does about their ability to implement an effective response to the pandemic. The Government have bypassed the NHS, outsourcing billions of pounds-worth of contracts in back-room deals with their mates that then failed to deliver—failed to deliver PPE that fits on time, failed to deliver the testing capacity that is needed and failed to deliver a national tracing programme that contacts everyone affected. The Government’s actions are not just incompetent; their failure to comply with transparency obligations is potentially unlawful. Therefore, will they stop wasting more taxpayers’ money defending the indefensible and provide my lawyers with the information on these contracts that my co-complainants and I have requested?
Government Contracts: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Ruth Margaret Cadbury (Labour, Centre-left): Track and trace services, when led by experienced public health teams, have been more effective, and at lower cost, than the outsourced system in NHS England. In Wales, the contact rate for track and trace is over 90%, whereas in England, it hovers at a little over 70%. When will the Government recognise the importance of value for money and redirect their multimillion-pound procurement towards long-established local health networks?
Government Contracts: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): I understand that the Government’s contract with Sitel for test and trace is renewed on an eight-week basis, with a two-week notice period. The next deadline for renewal is this Sunday, 4 October. Will the Minister publish all the renewal dates for Sitel and Serco’s contracts, and will she explain what justification the Government could possibly have for continuing with the failed privatised, centralised model of test and trace, by contrast to the effectiveness of local councils and public health teams, who are denied the full funding that they require?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Victoria Jane Foxcroft (Labour, Centre-left): The Government have confirmed that they are adopting a public health approach to tackling youth violence. This involves a cross-departmental, multi-agency approach, and a long-term strategy over a minimum of 10 years. Can the Minister therefore offer any explanation as to why the serious violence taskforce has not met for over a year?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Catherine Malloy Hollern (Labour, Centre-left): Given that today we have heard a number of very positive comments from Ministers about the effectiveness and the quality—sorry, I am trying not to laugh here—of the delivery of test and trace by the private sector, is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster aware of the recent survey that showed that 74% of the public want those services delivered by local public health teams, which have proven to be far more effective in stopping the spread of the virus?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State knows that I can get passionate and even angry with some of my questions to him, but not today. He will know that as a West Yorkshire MP I will support anything—any measure—that stops this virus spreading at this perilous time when tens of thousands of students are moving around our county and our country. I will support any measure that is effective. The old social scientist in me suggests that the Secretary of State was right when he said that all these measures should be closely monitored. There is no doubt that experts, whether it is Professor John Edmunds or others, worry that the 10 o’clock curfew has quite serious unintended consequences. Will the Secretary of State give me his word that he will keep it under review, because there seem to be some problems with it?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): The imposition of a 10 pm curfew on the hospitality industry was entirely avoidable, but became an inevitability because of the Government’s shambolic handling of their privatised test and trace system. Last month, I highlighted to the Health Secretary that locals in Slough were being forced to drive hundreds of miles, including catching a ferry to the Isle of Wight, just to access a test, but he retorted: "On the contrary, the fact is that we are working hard with the local authority in Slough".—[Official Report, 17 September 2020; Vol. 680, c. 520.] Well, Mr Speaker, the council has informed me that it has not heard a dickie bird from either the Health Secretary or his team, so perhaps he can advise us this time when the test centre in Slough will go back to being a drive-through and walk-in test centre, so that locals can actually access a test when they desperately need one.
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Graham Eric Stringer (Labour, Centre-left): Through you, Mr Speaker, may I say to the Secretary of State that I voted against him last night not because I want the virus to rip through the country? Quite the reverse, I want him to get decisions right, and I do not think he is getting them right at present. The 10 o’clock curfew is bad for jobs and bad for the economy, and it is not controlling the spread of the virus. There is no scientific justification that he has been able to give for it. I believe he would make better and more correct decisions if he consulted Parliament, and the House of Commons in particular, particularly on local lockdowns. Today, Merseyside is being locked down and the Merseyside MPs cannot talk about that. Will he agree, before taking further measures, to bring every new restriction back to this House?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Karl Turner (Labour, Centre-left): Over six months into the pandemic, people in my constituency still see no sign of the world-beating test and trace system that they were promised. Does the Secretary of State feel any personal responsibility for the utter chaos that is putting lives and livelihoods at risk in my constituency and across the country?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): Last week, I spoke to a lady whose husband has dementia. He was in a care home, and she was unable to visit him. He deteriorated rapidly, until he was deemed a risk to himself and others, and he was eventually sectioned, at which point she was allowed to visit him. Of course I completely understand the difficult balance the Minister must make between protecting our health and the health of others, but could he please look specifically at what guidance can be given on rights to visit loved ones who have dementia?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): We are in a never-ending cycle of repeated lockdowns that are deferring the problem because they are not matched by robust testing and clear messaging. It is clear from the Health Secretary’s responses this morning that the 10 pm curfew is yet another example of the Prime Minister plucking ideas out of the air to be seen to be doing something. It has already caused significant damage to the hospitality industry, and, as predicted, is doing nothing to stop the spread of the virus. When will this Government start to understand that a balance needs to be struck to protect those most at risk without complete societal shutdown?
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Grahame Mark Morris (Labour, Centre-left): We all agree that suppressing the virus is essential in saving lives, and as a scientific socialist, I think we should apply basic public health principles. It seems absolutely clear to me that it is problematic that we have a 10 o’clock curfew, when large numbers of people are all coming out into the street at the same time. Night-time entertainment businesses such as comedy and live music venues, which are based in covid-secure premises such as pubs and clubs, are seriously impacted, and like—
Covid-19 Update and Hospitality Curfew — House of Commons, 2020-10-01
Topic: Health
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I accept what the Secretary of State has said about the science, but he must realise that there were many publicans who were really struggling to get by before this, and the new things that have been put in have just made their businesses untenable. Does he accept that getting support for the measures that he has put in place has to come with a financial package that supports our publicans to remain open after covid?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-09-15
Topic: Health
Navendu Prabhat Mishra (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, I was contacted by an NHS nurse who had spent the weekend unsuccessfully trying to get a test for her symptomatic seven-year-old. On Friday, I visited the new Brinnington test centre in my constituency. It was very quiet, yet it seems to have been unable to offer a test to a nurse, who, it seems, will now need to take time off work. Is that what world-beating looks like? What is going on?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-11-05
Topic: Health
Joanna Meriel Stevens (Labour, Centre-left): The Government knew on 21 September—nearly seven weeks ago—that a national lockdown was necessary to slow the spread of the virus, so why did the Secretary of State encourage cinemas, theatres, venues and other organisations to spend large sums of money on preparing, resourcing and marketing loss-making, reduced capacity productions, knowing that almost all of them would have to close for an extended period of time?