argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Does the Minister agree that making upskirting a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and closing this legal loophole will better protect victims and increase convictions?; Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?; What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?; I have had a number of pieces of correspondence from constituents who are concerned that the Government need to move their plans forward on upskirting. Can the Minister confirm that we will bring upskirting offences into line with other sexual offences?; Will the Minister confirm whether the Government will commit further funding to the revenge porn helpline, which received over 6,000 calls between 2015 and 2017?
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the question from the right hon. Lady, who I know has long taken a close interest in these matters. The revenge porn helpline does great work, and within the context of the broader debate we are having at the moment, we will continue to look at it very carefully.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: Does the Minister agree that making upskirting a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and closing this legal loophole will better protect victims and increase convictions?; Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?; What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?; I have had a number of pieces of correspondence from constituents who are concerned that the Government need to move their plans forward on upskirting. Can the Minister confirm that we will bring upskirting offences into line with other sexual offences?; Will the Minister confirm whether the Government will commit further funding to the revenge porn helpline, which received over 6,000 calls between 2015 and 2017?
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (Conservative, Centre-right): We will certainly do that. We will publish the action plan, the survey results—the results of the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in the world—and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 consultation. The survey results are important and they give us a good base to work from, but they are also sad reading and absolute evidence that we need to redouble our efforts to ensure that the LGBT+ community can thrive in the UK.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: Does the Minister agree that making upskirting a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and closing this legal loophole will better protect victims and increase convictions?; Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?; What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?; I have had a number of pieces of correspondence from constituents who are concerned that the Government need to move their plans forward on upskirting. Can the Minister confirm that we will bring upskirting offences into line with other sexual offences?; Will the Minister confirm whether the Government will commit further funding to the revenge porn helpline, which received over 6,000 calls between 2015 and 2017?
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on his persistence. I will do that shortly; I know that many Members of this House want that to be done. Since the last Women and Equalities questions, I have met the Dalit community—the meeting was organised by the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green)—and I am considering their particular concerns. I hope to make an announcement on this in the coming weeks.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: Does the Minister agree that making upskirting a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and closing this legal loophole will better protect victims and increase convictions?; Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?; What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?; I have had a number of pieces of correspondence from constituents who are concerned that the Government need to move their plans forward on upskirting. Can the Minister confirm that we will bring upskirting offences into line with other sexual offences?; Will the Minister confirm whether the Government will commit further funding to the revenge porn helpline, which received over 6,000 calls between 2015 and 2017?
Maria Frances Lewis Miller (Conservative, Centre-right): Just a few days ago, the Government helped to lead the way by supporting proposals from the International Labour Organisation to agree a convention outlawing sexual harassment at work around the world. Will my hon. Friend urge colleagues to include support for this convention in their trade talks, which I know are top of the Government’s agenda?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: Does the Minister agree that making upskirting a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and closing this legal loophole will better protect victims and increase convictions?; Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?; What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?; I have had a number of pieces of correspondence from constituents who are concerned that the Government need to move their plans forward on upskirting. Can the Minister confirm that we will bring upskirting offences into line with other sexual offences?; Will the Minister confirm whether the Government will commit further funding to the revenge porn helpline, which received over 6,000 calls between 2015 and 2017?
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend knows, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Women and Equalities and I take a great interest in this subject, and we will be encouraging all Departments to have that principle in mind, not just in international trade agreements, but in every policy that can be so affected.
Nuclear Sector Deal — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, who has campaigned assiduously on this issue since she joined the House, makes a very good point around the commitment to increase the number of women working in the sector. That is a significant commitment, and one that we are determined to deliver on More generally, for Cumbria, a major component of the deal is support for lower-cost decommissioning using advanced manufacturing techniques, so Cumbria is set to benefit, as it is from Sellafield which, as my hon. Friend said, employs several thousand people and leads on some of the most complex decommissioning challenges.
Nuclear Sector Deal — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister has made it clear that, as part of our negotiations with the EU, we want to associate with Euratom research and training, as well as the new science and research programme, Horizon Europe. We are working on that and look to be a full partner with the EU, paying our share of the costs. Obviously, as part of the implementation period we will continue to be a part of it. The rest is subject to negotiations, but we have made it very clear to the European Union that we want to continue to associate.
Adult Social Care: Long-term Funding — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): We now come to the first Select Committee statement. Mr Clive Betts will speak on the joint report of the Health and Social Care Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee for up to 10 minutes, during which, I remind the House, no interventions may be taken. At the conclusion of his statement, the Chair will call Members to put questions on the subject of the statement and call Mr Clive Betts to respond to these in turn.
Leaving the EU: Parliamentary Scrutiny — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sarah James (Wollaston) (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Chair and members of the Exiting the EU Committee for today’s statement and their excellent report. The Committee I chair, the Health and Social Care Committee, has been very concerned about what could happen, in the event of no deal, to the future supply of medicines and devices because of the challenges to the supply chain. Will the Chair of the Committee set out in what other areas he is seeing concerns about the lack of contingency planning being published so that we can scrutinise what is happening and prepare for the future?
Improving Air Quality — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Iain Aitken Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful for that information. I was not aware that there were two classes of electric bikes, and I will certainly look into it. I imagine there is a great deal of confusion among people who own or might want to purchase an electric bike, and a bit more clarity might be helpful My fourth point concerns the use of new technology. We must always be looking into how new technology might be deployed to reduce transport emissions. I certainly do not want to reopen the debate about Heathrow, but time constraints prevented me from expanding on this subject in my speech on Monday. New technologies are available that will reduce emissions from the existing airport. One example is the TaxiBot, an autonomous electric vehicle which will take planes from the stand to the runway without the need to switch on the aircraft engines.
Improving Air Quality — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Housing
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I had hoped to be present earlier to contribute to the debate, but may I, in agreeing with the hon. Gentleman, ask if he will acknowledge that many of us face planning applications for large-scale housing and other developments in our constituencies—in my case, there is an application involving 600 houses and a new branch of Ikea which would lead to 2 million customer journeys a year on the busiest road in Sussex—yet air quality factors seem to feature very low in consideration of such planning applications? Does he agree that, for all the reasons he mentioned, these factors should receive a much higher priority in our assessment of whether applications are sustainable for the local population?
Improving Air Quality — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): We are listening. We have seriously considered the points that have been made, and this is an ambitious target. It is very much ahead of what is going on in other parts of the world. There are only six other countries that are ahead of us in proposing those targets.
Improving Air Quality — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend knows, through his service on his Committee, that this is quite a complex issue. There are complex legal and jurisdictional matters that need to be addressed, particularly when it comes to the response to VW’s wrongdoing.
Advisory Committee on Business Appointments — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Other
Bernard Christison Jenkin (Conservative, Centre-right): I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his tribute, but may I echo the comments of the hon. Member for Inverclyde (Ronnie Cowan)? We really do owe much of our work to the persistence of our absent friend, the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn), who has always contributed and motivated the Committee on this matter.
Advisory Committee on Business Appointments — House of Commons, 2018-06-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Chairman of the Committee for that intervention. He gives me the opportunity to note that these arguments have been put back and forth a number of times over the years. It is my great pleasure to come to the House today and take up those arguments. However, it is still the Government’s case that a statutory system is not the right way forward. That is a matter of principle as much as of practicality, for the reasons I have set out. We do not therefore think it is right to go ahead and do a cost-benefit analysis, which, in itself, would take time and money, for something that, in principle, we are not convinced of the case for. It is question of principle and practicality We need to be able to attract capable people from a range of backgrounds, and I reiterate the commitment to being able to recruit fully externally to do that. It is therefore important to have an interchange of skills and experience between the public sector and elsewhere. That is good for our national life. It is also a matter of fairness to individuals who will wish to continue their careers in various ways. We need to strike that balance As I said, we remain of the view that a statutory system with enforcement powers but without the flexibility of the current arrangements to take account of the particular circumstances of individual cases would not be beneficial. As I have just said to my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich and North Essex, we do not consider carrying out that cost-benefit analysis on the introduction of such a system to be a good use of public money at this time.
British Citizenship Fees: Children — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): The Home Office sets fees for border, immigration and nationality services at a level that ensures that they make a substantial contribution to the cost of running the immigration system, thereby reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. Although the economic impact assessments that are published alongside immigration fees legislation do not separately consider child-registration fees, they show the impact of fee increases on the volume of applications to be minimal.
UK Visas and Immigration — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to note that service standards are met in the vast majority of cases. If applications are not straightforward, we do not set a service standard, because we think it is right that applications should be considered thoroughly and in detail.
UK Visas and Immigration — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): UKVI issues 2.7 million visas every single year and, as I said, the vast majority are done within our service standards. I am happy to look into my right hon. Friend’s point, because in a Britain that is outward-looking, global and open for business, it is important that visas are issued efficiently.
UK Visas and Immigration — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): The quality of decision making is of course important. We work closely with our caseworkers to make sure that they have the right level of training. In many instances, we sit senior caseworkers with those who are more junior, until such time as they can be confident in the decisions that they make.
UK Visas and Immigration — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): There is of course a mixture of resources. As we heard from my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the fees that are levied for the UKVI service make a contribution towards the cost of that service and towards the wider border costs in general. It is important that we have the right number of staff and that they work efficiently, and we are taking steps to ensure that that is the case.
UK Visas and Immigration — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Visas and Immigration against its target times for responses to members of the public.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): Although I cannot comment on individual cases, the right hon. Lady has, of course, pointed to a case that was started in 2005 under a previous Labour Administration. I am sure that she will be pleased to hear—[Interruption.] She can shout at me from a sedentary position, but I am sure that she will be pleased to hear that, at a recent away day for border and immigration staff, I made it very clear that one of my highest priorities is making sure that responses to Members of Parliament and the public are of the highest priority so that we see prompt responses.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to an immigration system that operates in the national interest and ensures that businesses can attract the talented migrants that they need. From 6 July, we removed all doctors’ and nurses’ posts from the yearly cap of 20,700 places, ensuring that the NHS is able to recruit the clinical staff that it needs.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very sympathetic to the issue that my hon. Friend has raised. As we design our future immigration system, I want to ensure that it takes into account the seasonal demand for labour not only in agriculture, but also perhaps in hospitality. That is why we have asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee to look at this issue. We will see what we can do when the committee reports back.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
William Peter Wragg (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to support a better controlled and fairer migration policy. I wonder whether he can tell me when the long-delayed White Paper on the subject will be published, so that the public know that we are taking it seriously.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my hon. Friend will agree that it is fantastic that we will now have an opportunity—for the first time in decades—to design our own immigration system. We should take that seriously, as we are. It will be led by the White Paper, which will come out soon after the summer recess, and an immigration Bill that will make all the changes that are recommended and debated in Parliament.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will know that we get tens of thousands of applications each year. Unfortunately, in many cases not all the information that is asked for is provided in the first instance. Officials will chase that up, and they will do so in a way that is as helpful as possible. If people want their application to be looked at in a timely manner, it is always helpful if all information is provided up front.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Home Office works very closely with DEFRA, as with other Departments, on issues affecting migration. With regard to making sure that we have the talent and skills we need for our agricultural sector, working with DEFRA is exactly what we are doing.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the hon. and learned Lady agrees that we want an immigration system that serves the national interest—that brings immigration down to sustainable levels but also gives the skills that we need for the entire UK, of course including Scotland. My right hon. Friend the Immigration Minister is planning to visit Scotland this summer to meet Ministers.
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that my right hon. Friend is working on a new UK-based migration policy to hit the Government’s targets. Does he accept that we might need this as early as 30 March next year if we leave without an agreement?
Immigration: Skilled Workers — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Other
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): As always, my right hon. Friend makes a very important point. While we are working on the basis that we will not need it as early as 30 March, he is absolutely right to point out that we should be prepared for all eventualities, and that is exactly what we are doing.
Firefighter Training — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the effect of changes to fire services’ staffing levels on the capacity of those services to deliver firefighter training.
Nicholas Richard Hurd (Conservative, Centre-right): The short answer is yes. My hon. Friend and I both understand the historical context to this and some of the difficulties and complexities. I am sure that the council will want to co-operate fully with the new arrangements.
Immigration and Nationality: Fees — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): The Home Office reviews all immigration and nationality fees annually, with any changes normally implemented in April each year. We currently have no agreed plans to change fee levels, but the process for considering whether any changes are necessary commences in the summer and parliamentary approval has to be gained before any changes are made.
Immigration and Nationality: Fees — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: Immigration
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I am of course alive to the points made at recent Home Affairs Committee meetings and in the recent Lords debate on child citizenship fees. In due course, I will also consider the findings of the scheduled review by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration.