argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Culture, Media and Sport committee — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Technology
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his extremely kind remarks. I have to say that I am blushing throughout most of this session The hon. Gentleman’s point goes to the heart of the debate. I think the argument about providing something for everyone becomes weaker, given the huge increase in choice available elsewhere through the market. When we now have such a large number of channels for specific genres, the BBC should at least say to itself, "Is there really any need for us still to be in this area when there is already so much provision?" That does not necessarily mean that it should retreat into a ghetto—some have expressed that fear—but that it should take account of the huge proliferation of choice and concentrate its resources on the areas that have been poorly served by the market.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): The clear issue is that when the assessment was made of the amount of compensation due to policyholders—this point is crucial—it was decided that £4.3 billion should be paid in compensation. Clearly, £1.5 billion has been allocated, although it has not all been spent, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) mentioned, meaning that a compensation bill of £2.8 billion is still outstanding The Prime Minister quite rightly said at the Conservative party conference that as the economy recovers and we fix this country’s problems, tax rates will come down, but I would say that there is a still a bill to be paid to the people who saved for their retirement. Therefore, as the economy recovers and the public purse allows, we should compensate policyholders who have suffered a relative loss, as we committed to do at the last general election.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Labor
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely concur with my hon. and learned Friend I should say that the Chancellor made a key and very brave move to compensate the pre-1992 trapped annuitants with a one-off payment of £5,000, which was doubled to £10,000 for those on pension credit. That was very welcome, but we are talking about the most vulnerable people trapped by the scheme, and my view is that they should receive total compensation. The estimate for total compensation for that element alone is £115 million, which I consider a drop in the ocean compared with the total pension bill due.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): May I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing the motion before the House? As we are rapidly approaching that time in the political cycle called the Budget, I suggest that this is a golden opportunity for our Treasury team and the coalition Government to show that they have a big heart and meet the demands we are all making on behalf of our oldest and most vulnerable constituents?
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary is listening, but she will clearly not announce the Budget measures today. After this debate, however, I will seek a clear commitment from the political parties about what they will do if elected to government on 7 May. Although it would be welcome if the Chancellor stood up at the Dispatch Box and agreed a full compensation package, the key issue is that if he cannot do so in this Budget, Members and people outside the House will want to know what the political parties would do to compensate those who have suffered.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I will call the hon. Gentleman my honourable Friend because he has been stalwart in defending the rights of the people of Northern Ireland who have suffered in this scheme The key point is that, according to the published figures, the Treasury had a surplus of £8.8 billion in January, which was remarkable given that we were expecting £6.5 billion. Some proportion of the additional £2 billion surplus could be put towards compensation for policyholders who have suffered.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Iain Aitken Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend rightly mentions the surplus in January. We are coming to the end of the financial year, and many Departments may have an underspend in their allocated budgets. Would it not be a good idea to divert some of that underspend to the victims of Equitable Life?
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his suggestion. The Chancellor will be listening to such rumours, and will no doubt want to hoover up that money to dispense for appropriate good causes, of which this is clearly one.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Labor
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make a couple of points and then give way for the final time We are clear about what we want the Government to do. Irrespective of which political party wins the general election, we want full compensation for the pre-1992 trapped annuitants. As I have said, it would cost £115 million to compensate those individuals. Those are the most vulnerable individuals because they retired a long time ago and many of them are very frail. It would cost a relatively small amount of public money to give them proper compensation. I am afraid that the longer we delay, the fewer of them will be around, because they are dying off almost daily Secondly, as the hon. Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson) said, we should commit to a graduated full compensation package so that the policy holders are compensated as the public finances continue to recover. Individuals who took out pension policies some time ago are not necessarily reaching retirement age. Topping up their pensions over four or five years would therefore enable them to retire in the way that they expected.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Labor
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): I note the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. The key point is that the Equitable Life policy holders have been through the courts and through the parliamentary ombudsman, and the matter has been found in their favour. Maladministration clearly took place and a key decision was taken to put those policy holders back into the position that they would have been in had that maladministration not taken place. Clearly, other pension schemes are in trouble. There are a lot of pension schemes in trouble because the previous Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, raided private pension funds and thought that that was a golden opportunity. We must take that into account. That is not the case with Equitable Life policy holders, which makes this a different matter. We have to be careful about broadening out this subject to other pension schemes.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree with my constituent who e-mailed me and stated: "If we were to receive this money it would not be lost. I am sure it would soon find its way into the economy at large and would not languish in savings accounts because we’ve done the saving already!"?
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Andrew Raymond Syms (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree. For many of us, it is a start rather than the finish The constituents I see in my surgeries have a quiet dignity about them but still feel aggrieved and think that the Government ought to move some more. My main plea today is for the Treasury to consider the issue. The public finances are still a challenge and will be a challenge for the next Government, but I think that as things improve, the Government should be able to provide further funds.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Labor
Christopher Heaton-Harris (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a former Equitable Life policyholder myself. I had a company pension policy. I distinctly remember questioning the person who sold me the policy about how Equitable Life was regulated, and being told that there was no chance of its failing because it was acting well within the regulations that existed at the time.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is putting his case very articulately. When Mr Ralph Williams, along with a large group of my constituents, came to see me about this whole matter, one of the points that they made most strongly was that they were nearly all elderly. According to a parliamentary answer that I received on 10 February, only £990 million of the £1.5 billion total has been paid out. The Government are profiting from people who are dying at this very moment. Is it not only fair for everyone, including the annuitants, to be paid whatever the Government have agreed, in full, now?
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an entirely fair point. This should all have been sorted out before the Government came on to the scene. The question of who was to blame and why ultimately requires almost a Crichel Down sort of approach—we must all accept responsibility for what happens under regulators who were not politicians. We must accept that it was done and must now resolve it. Had it been resolved sooner, there might have been more money around to deal with the issue. However, given where we are now and that the economy is improving, we can certainly do justice to people through a sensible series of staged payments, starting with those who are in the greatest need and who are most vulnerable. It is reasonable to ensure in the course of the Parliament that proper justice is done Let me give a sense of the impact on individuals. I have one constituent who makes the point that having invested sensibly his income has effectively been cut by some £20,000 a year. To a pensioner, that is an awful lot of money and they have had to downsize from their long-established family home. Another constituent has an acknowledged loss of £61,000 and is some £47,000 adrift with the payments out. That is not fair for somebody who has worked hard and is now in no position to supplement their income for the future Another very elderly gentleman had to wait some 18 months—because, frankly, of ineptitude and lost correspondence—to even receive acknowledgement of his entitlement. He should not have to come to his Member of Parliament to escalate these matters. That is something that any sensible and well-run compensation scheme should deal with as a matter of course. I am sure we all hope eventually to overcome the difficulties for our constituents, but they should not be happening in the first place.
Equitable Life — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry to reiterate the point I made in an earlier intervention, but one member of the group of people who came to see me was elderly and, if he dies, his widow will get only 50% of the 22% he is entitled to, which is already pretty measly. Is it not incumbent on the Government to make payments now, in full, so that at least people can have that small amount of money to pass on to their dependants?
Child Sexual Exploitation (Rotherham) — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate the hon. Lady on making this case and on all the work that she has done in Rotherham, although I am afraid that the problem of the lack of support for survivors who might come forward is not limited to Rotherham. What does she think about the negotiations which, I gather, are currently taking place between Rotherham council and Ofsted? In its "improvement offer", Ofsted suggests that it should provide advice and support, although it failed to recognise the problem earlier, and something might have been done about it sooner if Ofsted had been rather better at its job.
Child Sexual Exploitation (Rotherham) — House of Commons, 2015-02-26
Topic: Education
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): When I was a Minister in the Department for Education—and when I occupied the ministerial role that you have also occupied, Madam Deputy Speaker —we would send in officials to make an intervention, and it was crucial that there were civil servants and Ministers in the Department who understood the nature of the problem and could oversee the data that were being brought back to them. Given that this responsibility now rests with the Home Office and that the chief social worker is accountable to the Department for Education, is the Minister confident that she has the necessary officials and time to ensure that the people overseeing what is going on in Rotherham know what they are looking for and can see the job through properly?
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): The Airports Commission recently completed a consultation on 3 February on its assessment of proposals for additional runway capacity. The commission is continuing to undertake further analyses on the shortlist of runway options before publishing its final report in the summer of 2015.
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Mary MacLeod (Conservative, Centre-right): May I congratulate the Government on their policy on no third runway at Heathrow? Does the Secretary of State agree that the aviation industry would be best served by a solution that encourages competition; can be delivered sooner, cheaper and easier; takes into account the impact on local residents; and does not require billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money?
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has been very consistent in her opposition to any third or fourth runway at Heathrow, and I know she supports the expansion of other airports. I look forward to receiving the commission’s recommendations and report this summer and to my hon. Friend’s comments on it.
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): Has the Secretary of State asked the Airports Commission to examine the cumulative impact of any runway extension at Heathrow and how it would affect the local area if it coincided with other projects, such as the construction of HS2, the Amersham waste transfer station and the development of Newland park? What assessment has been made of the impact on the local area?
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): The commission is doing a comprehensive piece of work looking at all the options relating to aviation capacity in the south-east and the associated infrastructure projects that any project it suggests will affect, so I am sure it will have considered the points made by my right hon. Friend.
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Randall (Conservative, Centre-right): Notwithstanding whichever decision the Davies commission comes to, does my right hon. Friend agree that connectivity to Heathrow is now being sorted pretty efficiently through Old Oak Common and that there is no further need for the Heathrow spur should HS2 go ahead?
Airports Commission — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): This may be the last time I am able to address my right hon. Friend in this Chamber. It has been a great pleasure to work with him over many years. He has made a huge contribution, not only to the House of Commons and the Conservative party, but in standing up for his constituents in Uxbridge I agree with my right hon. Friend that these matters need to be addressed very carefully. Of course, at the moment the whole question of HS2 is being studied by a Committee. I am not going to trespass on the valuable and important work it is doing, but my right hon. Friend makes some valid points. The importance that Old Oak Common will have to the infrastructure of this country is vast indeed, and I hope to be able to say a bit more about that shortly.
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): Officials regularly meet train operating companies where usage is a key discussion point. We are working hard with the industry to increase rural station usage. We recognise the important social role of stations in building communities, and have therefore introduced a new policy requirement to develop social and community development plans in new franchises.
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Laurence Anthony Robertson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Secretary of State for that response. Does he agree that one way we can get cars off the road and reduce congestion on our motorways and, indeed, on smaller roads is to develop rural train stations? We have one at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury, which is a very good station, but it is underused at the moment. Can we try to make such stations better used by train operating companies?
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): The answer to my hon. Friend’s question is yes. Ashchurch for Tewkesbury station has the potential for more use. I would welcome that, as I am sure my hon. Friend would too. For new franchises we ask operators to look at such questions in great detail. I acknowledge his comments, and no doubt Gloucestershire county council will make such points in due course.
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): As a result of the landslip on the Chiltern line, kiosks and shops at rural railway stations have suffered a drop of at least 50% in their revenue. Will the Secretary of State urge Network Rail to look at mitigation, such as reducing rents, during the period of disruption?
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend makes a very good point. I hope that there will be an announcement soon about the full reopening of the line. If that has not already been announced, I think it will be announced shortly. I will discuss her very good point directly with the chief executive of Network Rail. People with businesses who are renting from Network Rail have been directly affected by that landslip.
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): One issue with encouraging the use of Ambergate station in my constituency is the strange fare system. Even though a fare to the next station is relatively cheap, the cost of a fare to Birmingham from both stations can be very different. Is there any way that the Secretary of State can fix the fare system to get rid of its anomalies?
Rural Railway Stations — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with train operating companies on increasing the use of rural railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): I know Ambergate station very well, as the line goes up to Matlock and down to Derby. There are indeed anomalies in ticket purchasing on that line, and I am only too well aware of such frustrations. My hon. Friend makes a valid point, which I certainly want to look at. There are huge opportunities in ticketing, including with the development of smart technology.
Bus Lanes — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have a very good record on buses. Bus companies, including the one in my constituency, have very full order books, because they are investing as never before in new buses on routes such the one north of Whitby in my constituency. We have a very good record to protect.
Greater Anglia Franchise — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): The procurement competition has been live since the issue of the procurement documentation on 19 February, and applications are due on 15 April. An invitation to tender will be issued in August, with tender returns due in December 2015. Any delays in the process will result in a delay to the provision of any new rolling stock or services on the line.
Greater Anglia Franchise — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Alan Haselhurst (Conservative, Centre-right): Is my right hon. Friend aware that a great many of my constituents expect that the successful bidder will be required, or at least incentivised, to bring in new rolling stock on the Great Eastern and West Anglia lines to replace the type 317 and 321 trains, which by now are old, uncomfortable, unreliable and inefficient?
Greater Anglia Franchise — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): We expect to ask bidders to provide a rolling stock strategy that meets the needs of all passengers in East Anglia, while providing a cost-effective solution. They will be in no doubt of the desire of all passengers using that route for substantially new rolling stock, and the rolling stock that my right hon. Friend rightly describes should be taken out of service in due course.
Greater Anglia Franchise — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns (Conservative, Centre-right): May I stress to my right hon. Friend that if there is no new rolling stock with the award of the franchise, there will be considerable disappointment among commuters and other users, and it will totally undermine all Network Rail’s improvements to the infrastructure? Current rolling stock on the commuter lines is so outdated that it has problems with acceleration and braking.
Greater Anglia Franchise — House of Commons, 2015-03-05
Topic: Transportation
Patrick McLoughlin (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely understand the desire of my right hon. Friend for new rolling stock on that route and for improvements on the route overall. Norwich in 90, a very effective campaign, has been launched, and services to other towns are also quicker.