argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Maintained Nursery Schools — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Education
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s clarification, but I have to say that, from where some of us are sitting, on this side of the House, that looks exactly like what this Government are intending, in a far wider range of sectors than just the early years sector I shall return to the spending review. It is expected in the autumn but, as we have heard, that will be too late for many people. Businesses, local authorities and families need to plan, and they need costed commitments, not empty promises. It is wholly irresponsible to continue to drag out this uncertainty regarding supplementary funding. The Local Government Association tells us that 61% of local authorities with maintained nursery schools fear that their nursery schools will close if their funding is not protected, and 52% say that the loss of that funding will reduce the support available for children with special educational needs; and let us not even start on the crisis affecting that group. Pretending that the current funding is sustainable is an utter fantasy, which is perhaps no surprise from a Government who seem every day to demonstrate that they live in a fantasy world of unicorns. That is fine for nursery stories, but a hopeless way how not to run a country This week I was handed a petition, as others have been, from thousands of concerned parents across Cambridge who are calling for better funding and stability for our maintained nurseries. Many of them added extra comments, and they make heart-warming reading. Both the Brunswick and the Colleges Nursery Schools in Cambridge were recently rated outstanding across the board by Ofsted, with comments reflecting on the nurseries’ "high quality care", "inspirational leadership" and "strong teaching". Parents commented that their nursery had been a "fundamental fixed point in our lives", and "extremely supportive" to special educational needs and English as an additional language needs, and that it had helped their children to grow in "confidence, understanding and care for others" Are these really the kinds of services that this Government want to destroy? Under the current funding agreement, nurseries will struggle to stay in business, according to the Department for Education’s own figures. When I visited one of the nurseries recently I was told that, without extra help, it will hit the buffers next April. How depressing, when we know that for every £1 spent on early years, £13 are saved down the line. The Chancellor has announced that his spring statement will take place in March, and I and others will be very disappointed if the Minister here today does not use the next few weeks to make serious representations on this matter, ahead of those announcements. I have had angry words for the Government today, and frankly I think they are deserved. Our maintained nurseries deserve better, and I hope that the Minister will prove me wrong and show that the Government have some sense after all.
Maintained Nursery Schools — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Education
Mathew Richard Allen Rodda (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Karen Lee). I want to associate myself with a number of the comments made by Opposition Members and some Government Members. This excellent debate has highlighted the huge social value of nursery education.
Maintained Nursery Schools — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Tracy Lynn Brabin (Labour, Centre-left): I would like to steer the Minister towards some fantastic research—if he has not seen it already—from the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire maintained nurseries. It contains empirical evidence about the value to local authorities of maintained nurseries and the impact of their closure. It provides clear evidence that we need to solve this funding crisis today.
Maintained Nursery Schools — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Education
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): I think that that research will be useful, but can the Minister at least give an assurance today that maintained nursery schools will know by the end of the current financial year what their future funding is going to be?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for the opportunity once again to raise the ongoing issue of state pension inequality for women born in the 1950s. I thank Mr Speaker for granting this debate in the light of the current judicial review, which has put the brakes on complaints brought by these women and given the Government a "get out of jail free" card on taking any further action As with any judicial review, this one will take time, and if the Government appeal the decision, they will be kicking the can further down the road. This back and forth through the legal system will not allow us to hold the Government to account and get any solutions for these women.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): I am struck by my hon. Friend’s comment that the judicial case prevents the Government from taking any action. From my point of view, the Government have deliberately taken no action whatsoever ever since the 1950s women began complaining about state pension inequality.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Government Operations
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution. As parliamentarians, we are all extremely frustrated. I believe that these issues need to be clearly and comprehensively addressed by the Government, which was why I asked the Leader of the House a couple of weeks ago for clarification on the ambiguity. Given the legal challenge in the High Court, I asked how parliamentarians could continue to discuss and make representations in this House on behalf of their constituents and, more importantly, whether the Government would respond on this very important issue.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution. Gower has approximately 5,600 women in this position, so we are talking about a similar number. Before I came into the House, I was always thinking that I had to plan for the future and that I knew what was coming. I was disappointed that I would have to be a classroom teacher until I was 67, because that is a very hard job. I understand the issues associated with pension inequality—we need to be equal—but the nub of this issue is that people did not have the time to prepare.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I do agree, as I have been knocking on doors and met people who are in nursing and teaching, as I was. These people in physical jobs had planned to take retirement at the age of 60, but now are in a position in which they have to continue, and doing so is no mean feat. I feel that the Government have robbed the 1950s women of their pensions and their futures, ripping families apart and forcing more people into poverty as a result Before I say any more, I must pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris). As co-chair of the all-party group on state pension inequality for women, she has worked tirelessly across party, and behind the scenes, with other members of that group to put together a private Member’s Bill. I remind Members that although our proceedings seem very adversarial when we are in the Chamber, we do work together, because we want the best for our constituents. At the same time, however, we do want to hold the Government to account and to have our questions answered.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution, as it reinforces my point that we are here to get the best for our constituents The private Member’s Bill would go some way to supporting the women who have been hit the hardest. It asks for a review to establish the costings for a compensation scheme. I know that that is not exactly what everybody wants, but my question to the Minister is this: what will happen when my hon. Friend’s private Member’s Bill has its Second Reading, which is scheduled for 8 March? Will the Government commit to fully responding to the Bill, or will it also fall victim to their can-kicking?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. Loneliness and mobility are big issues for all people. I feel very strongly about loneliness in particular. Women need to be mobile, whether to continue work or to achieve further training. As my hon. Friend points out, if that is the case in Manchester, it should also be the case in the west midlands As I have said, the campaign is not about scrapping the equalisation of the state pension age, but about the way in which changes were implemented. It was unfair, and women are now suffering. Letters about pension age changes were only sent out 14 years after the Pensions Act 1995. Those 14 years would have allowed women to make alternative plans. Having a year’s notice or five years’ notice—
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes a good and compelling point that I shall talk about in a moment. The UN special rapporteur on poverty said that the 1950s women were just "ill-prepared" to adjust. That is the injustice When I think about funding a compensation scheme, I think about the money paid into national insurance. Just as an indicator for the House, the national insurance fund accounts show an increase of nearly £2.3 billion in 2017-18, taking the fund to a total of £24 billion paid into the national investment account.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Alexander Gordon Martin (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree with the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said of another group who lost their expected pensions to which they were entitled—the Equitable Life victims—that we should act because "it is the right thing to do"?—[Official Report, 20 March 2013; Vol. 500, c. 941.] Is not that at least as true of the WASPI women?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Social Welfare
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because that is exactly the point. This is so wrong and we have to make sure that we do something about it. It is just unexplainable that we have women experiencing such hardship. What explanation can the Government give for not restoring to these women what is rightfully theirs, having paid their stamp, and for creating a huge problem for many by forcing them into poverty? What could the Government do to fund or reimburse these women? The Government evidently have access to their money and could do something I remember listening to the Minister in a Westminster Hall debate proposing a way forward for women who found themselves in dire straits without a job. He suggested that women take up an apprenticeship and retrain, find new skills and get a job. If only it was that easy! The challenges of finding employment are not made any easier by the fact that being an older person has its own challenges.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): It is worth putting on record that that suggestion was so offensive to many of the women who have worked their entire lives and have already trained and gained qualifications. To suggest that these women go back to being apprentices was such a slap in the face after the way they have been treated time and again by this Government.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman makes a very valid point. When the Women and Equalities Committee took evidence from people about the difficulties they face in finding work, we found that employers need to make sensible adjustments in order to keep older workers. Can the Government guarantee that that is being done? It is recognised that ageism remains—
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Government Operations
Charalambos Charalambous (Labour, Centre-left): I have a number of constituents who have tried to contact the Department, but have not successfully received a response. This just adds insult to injury. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to ensure that people get full responses to their inquiries?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): We all know that not all aspects of state pension inequality are the same, which is why I was shocked by a letter from the Minister published yesterday by the Work and Pensions Committee. The letter states that the Department has concluded that the issue in the judicial review does have an impact on the ongoing complaints. But when so many of these complaints are different, will the Government tell us what aspect of the complaints make them incompatible with the judicial review? Do the Government intend to clarify what part of the grievances can be taken forward or is this just another classic exercise of kicking the issue into the long grass, hoping that the women will go away once they have their state pension, and vanish into thin air?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for that comment. I completely agree with him Can the Minister provide a rationale as to why the independent case examiner has closed these 2,505 cases, and say precisely why they were closed? Knowing this, the women would be able to work out which aspect of their case they could proceed with. Otherwise, how are they going to know what to do next? How many of these complaints could have been answered before 30 November, and why does it take so long to deal with them? Now they have just been filed somewhere, and that is simply not good enough I would like to raise my concerns about the recent written statement on the pension credit update of 14 January. Written statements are often seen in this House as a way to bury bad news, and these further changes to the pension credit rules appear to put strain on lower-paid women. Can the Minister confirm that the effect of this change will be to debar a pensioner of either gender from claiming pension credit until their partner also attains state pension age? This measure, if brought in on 15 May, will slash the income of couples affected who can claim pension credit in future by up to £7,000 a year, in the worst cases, compared with the current rules. It is also worth noting that many of those caught by this policy change are likely to be women born in the 1950s, who will have been hit by this double whammy and rightly feel especially aggrieved. I hope that the Minister can give further clarification on this point I want to give a personal angle. I am very proud of my constituents. A year ago, I held a meeting on this issue in Mumbles, with over 300 women attending. As I have mentioned, approximately 5,500 women in Gower have been impacted by the pension age changes. Since then, they have held a few meetings and set up the Pension Justice for Swansea Women group, which includes all the other local constituencies. I could talk all day about the cases of women across Swansea who have had their lives turned upside down. I know women whose projected state age pension had been part of their divorce settlement. Then, when the goalposts changed, they had to go and find work and be financially worse off. These are women who have had to find low-paid and unskilled work to make ends meet—and, as I have said, they were lucky to even find that job. I know many women who have caring responsibilities, including one who looks after her grandchildren so that they do not go into care and cannot find a job to fit in with school hours.
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Labor
Tracy Lynn Brabin (Labour, Centre-left): Is there any impact assessment or data concerning young women who can no longer go back to work because their mum, auntie or grandma is having to find a job, so they cannot take up the job that they want because their mum, for example, can no longer provide free childcare?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2019-01-31
Topic: Government Operations
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (Labour, Centre-left): I am trying to get my head around this. The subject matter of the judicial review is not an issue of maladministration, so does the Minister not accept that there is no reason for these complaints to be on pause, as he put it?
Leaving the EU: No Deal — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Of the six parties in the House, the Prime Minister met three last night. Labour Front Benchers are not meeting her, so I suppose we can work out who the Secretary of State must be meeting today. He told me last week that he thinks the other European countries will be looking enviously at the Prime Minister’s deal. Is that still the Government’s position, and if so, are they not concerned that that would threaten the entire European project, because everyone would want the glorious new future that Britain is going to have?; Without a deal, Scottish farmers could soon face tariffs of 30% on dairy products and 46% on lamb, which would make them uncompetitive and would damage Scotland’s food and drink industry. I would have liked to ask the perhaps future Prime Minister to rule out a no deal, but will the Minister do so?
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister is a well-intentioned fella. Will he take a strong message from those of us who care about DEFRA, the environment and our farming sector that we do care, that we are willing to help get this right and that we are willing to do so on an all-party basis, as long as we can bury this nonsense of a no-deal Brexit?
Animal Cruelty Crimes: Sentencing — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for that answer, but the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs called for five-year maximum sentences in 2016, Ministers promised that in 2017 and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said last June that it would be in place by the end of March this year, but there is still no sign of it happening. Why has there been such a long delay? Can the Under-Secretary give us a firm, reliable timeframe for when this much-needed change will actually take place?
Animal Cruelty Crimes: Sentencing — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Law and Crime
Angela Christine Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Can the Minister confirm whether any DEFRA Minister, including the Secretary of State, has had any discussions on five-year sentencing with either the Leader of the House or the Chief Whip in order to secure parliamentary time for this measure?
Leaving the EU: Care and Protection of Animals — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Foreign Trade
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): The International Trade Secretary has been touring the world negotiating trade deals in the past few months. Will the Minister say precisely what involvement DEFRA Ministers have in ensuring that animal welfare issues are contained in any agreement that that Secretary of State is concluding?
Leaving the EU: Care and Protection of Animals — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): Inside or outside the EU, Boohoo, the online retailer, has been found to be advertising clothing as "faux fur" when in fact it has contained animal fur, including rabbit. So may I ask what checks are in place and what action the Government are prepared to take to ensure that there is no animal cruelty in the clothing industry?
Serious and Organised Waste Crime — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Law and Crime
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Following on from that question, rural crime is a major issue, particularly in the villages around Warwick and Leamington. Across the whole of Warwickshire it is costing about £650,000 to clear up fly-tipping, but wider crime is also an issue. What does the Minister recommend I should be saying to farmers in my communities?
Leaving the EU: Farming Policy — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will have received the letter sent to every single Member of this House from all of the farming leaders asking the Government to take no deal off the table. That would also unlock meaningful cross-party talks on how we get out of this total mess, so why will the Government not do that?
Leaving the EU: Farming Policy — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
David Drew (Labour, Centre-left): On Tuesday, I met members of the Irish Farmers’ Association—there were other things going on as well as the debate—and they made it very clear to me how vital it is to get a long-term customs arrangement in place as soon as possible. They say that that view is shared by farmers in Northern Ireland. What is the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs doing to make sure that that happens?
Foxhunting — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Agriculture
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The League Against Cruel Sports reports 32 kills last year, which is the bare minimum because it cannot monitor every hunt. May I suggest to Ministers that the reason why they do not collect these figures is that if they did, they would have to do something about enforcing the laws that already exist?
Plastic Pollution — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: Environment
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): I recently visited Canning Street Primary School in my constituency, where the children presented to me their "Keep Benwell Clean" campaign, because they are tired of walking to school through rivers of plastic. Will the Minister accept my invitation to visit the school and explain to the children there why their environment has to be polluted in this way, and what she and local authorities can do to change that?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-01-17
Topic: International Affairs
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): May I just say to the Minister that it is such a shame that his Government are not willing to rule out a no-deal scenario The EU pet travel scheme currently allows pet owners to travel between EU countries with their animals with minimal forward planning. That is especially important for guide dog owners. But the Government are now saying that, under a no-deal Brexit, guide dog owners will have to plan their travel at least four months in advance. This is totally unacceptable, so what are the Government doing to ensure that assistance dog owners do not see inferior travel arrangements in the event of a no-deal Brexit?