argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right that people are entitled to express their religious thoughts or beliefs in what they wear. It becomes an issue only if there is some kind of health and safety aspect. As I have said before, companies are entitled to enforce their own dress code, but it is very clear that that dress code must apply equally to all employees, whatever their faith, religion or gender, and the Government are keen to promote that.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to point out that the CJEU judgement is advice that goes back to the nations that brought forward the cases. Each country has the right to enforce the judgment in the way it sees fit. I am confident that the UK has some of the strongest equalities legislation in the world, including the Equality Act 2010, which enshrines equality in domestic law. Nevertheless, we will always keep that under review to ensure that people continue to be protected in the best possible way.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Matthew James Offord (Conservative, Centre-right): Although the judgment applies to men and women, does the Minister agree that it sends an appalling message, particularly to Muslim women in places such as my constituency? Will she reassure me that she will take tangible action to reassure specific faith communities that the United Kingdom certainly will not go down this route?
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, that is really important, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to point it out. The Government are working so hard to tackle the barriers faced by different black and minority ethnic groups. We are engaging Muslim communities through a number of faith and integration projects; we are developing a new English language offer that will be targeted at Muslim women but available to other groups; and we are trialling new and innovative ways for Jobcentre Plus to engage with and tailor their services to BME communities. I hate to think that all the good work we are doing to build trust and faith in communities would ever be undermined.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have already made clear, we are working closely with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to update guidance for employers on dealing with religion or belief in the workplace. Nevertheless, we will continue to revise the guidance so that it takes account of the judgment. We want to be absolutely clear to all concerned that the Equality Act remains unchanged, as do the rights of women and religious employees, which we will continue to protect.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure I am not alone in seeing a big difference between a headscarf, crucifix or turban, and the burqa or niqab. How will the judgment affect the two police forces of which I am aware that currently state they are willing to consider applications from female police officers who might want to wear a full niqab or burqa?
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government wholeheartedly support the invaluable work being done by people throughout the country who are inspired by that faith. If it is safe for them to continue to wear their religious garments while doing their job, we very much feel they should be encouraged to do so.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is absolutely right to raise that issue. The Government believe that people need to be able to feel strong in their religious identities. We have to continue to ensure that the voices of people of faith are heard in Government. We should recognise that people are completely free to follow their faith. We want a society that treats people equally and with respect, so we will always keep this matter under review and take the necessary action if and when it becomes apparent that we need to.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): It is absolutely clear that a no-headscarves rule or a no-turbans rule would be illegal, as it would constitute direct discrimination. The only form of discrimination that is allowed is a blanket ban on any form of religious clothing or symbols, under the legislation referred to in yesterday’s court case.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): Many of my constituents feel that the ban clearly targets Muslim women who wish to wear the hijab. Given the improving but still below-average employment rate among Muslim women, does the Minister not feel that the ruling sends out completely the wrong message as we try to build a country that works for everyone?
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): It does send out an unhelpful message, particularly as this Government take really seriously discrimination in any form. We will renew our efforts to ensure that no one is held back by any outdated attitudes or practices.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Domestic equality legislation is very clear. Employers do not need to change any legitimate policies on dress code in the workplace, but it is vital that employers and employees understand what the law allows them to do, and that is what this is about. We do not want any employers mistakenly thinking that this ruling gives them any authority to sack public-facing staff who wear headscarves or any other religious symbols. Those protections are already clear in domestic law, and we will always make sure that they are most strongly enforced.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): At a time when many Members of this House—both across parties and in the Government—are working to promote the principles of freedom of religion or belief internationally, does my hon. Friend agree that it is vital that we work hard to protect long-standing religious freedoms here at home?
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We continue to promote that on the world stage, as it is fundamental to everything this country stands for—tolerance and the embracing of other cultures as we make them part of our national identity.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman is right to bring that up, because the judgment applies to religious symbols, whatever the faith of the individual who happens to be wearing them. The ruling will be equally troubling for the Church of England, for people of Muslim faith, for people of whatever faith and indeed for people of none.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me be clear: this is existing EHRC guidance, but we will work with the commission to make sure that in the light of the most recent judgment it is updated and entirely fit for purpose. I am confident that the EHRC has sufficient funds to do its job efficiently. The hon. Lady might be interested to know that even after some recent changes in its workforce, the commission still has four times more staff than we have in the Government Equalities Office.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Caroline Julia Dinenage (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a matter for my colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but we will have that conversation with them. We take discrimination seriously and will continue to ensure that no one is held back by any outdated attitude or practice.
Visible Religious Symbols: European Court Ruling — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady, but I fear she invests me with a power that I do not possess. It is not for me to ask the Government to take a position one way or the other. All I would say is that I have no reason to dissent from her interpretation of the legal and, in a sense, parliamentary position. However, the whole point of that upcoming Bill to be introduced by the Government is that it imports from Europe into our law a body of material with the option then to preserve, to amend or to repeal, case by case, as the Government propose and ultimately the House decides. On the basis of the hon. Lady’s expression of interest in this important matter, I feel certain that, when any such matter comes up for consideration, she will leap from her seat to acquaint the House with her views, and we all look forward to that.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): To echo what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in Question Time, I am rather reluctant to take lessons from the right hon. Gentleman on anything except, perhaps, chaos theory; he certainly knows something about that. He talks about being forced to make a decision. We have listened to our colleagues and the voices of public opinion. In my view, that is how Parliament should work. We listen to what our colleagues say and make our decisions based on that. As I said to the House a few moments ago, we remain clear that the issue needs to be addressed. We have recognised that there is a legitimate view that the commitments that were made need to be interpreted widely; we have said that we will interpret them in that way and not go ahead with any national insurance contributions increases in this Parliament The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the leader of the Labour party, who, apart from in his performance today at Prime Minister’s questions, has scarcely mentioned class 4 national insurance contributions; he scarcely did so in his response to the Budget. I do not know whether the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) is even aware of this, but the Labour party actually has a self-employment commission, which it established last November. At the time it was established, the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams), the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, acknowledged the need to address the discrepancies in access to entitlements and the contributions that pay for them. Despite the understandable tone of the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington, I hope that he agrees that, on the substantive underlying issues, there is a significant degree of agreement across the House that there is a discrepancy and a threat to the tax base that will have to be addressed over time The right hon. Gentleman talks about additional benefits for the self-employed. Of course we will review the issues around parental benefits, as I said in the Budget—we will actually take the review wider than that—but I hope that he agrees that if additional benefits are to be made available, we will have to look at how to pay for them, and it will not be done by borrowing half a trillion pounds that the country cannot afford and our children will be left paying for.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. We cannot have these shouting matches across the Chamber. [Interruption.] It is not for me to tell anybody to do anything. I am asking people not to do things that they should not do: shouting across the Box. I now exhort the Chancellor to continue with his response.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): I declare my interest as a self-employed solicitor. I commend the Chancellor for coming to the House today and putting forward his views about changes in self-employment. Will he join me in commending the literally thousands of people across Rossendale and Darwen who go out, start businesses, make money and are self-employed? When they voted in the last general election, they knew that a Conservative Government would not only protect their tax rates, but create the economic environment in which they could start and grow their business.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right: it is about the environment being conducive to people starting and running small businesses. I congratulate those in Rossendale who do that—who get up every morning and who are prepared to take those risks. They will now benefit from the abolition of class 2 national insurance contributions, making them that little bit better off.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): There are 7,000 self-employed individuals in St Albans, representing 16% of the economically active. I thank the Chancellor for listening to the representations that I made in my letter to him. Those people will welcome the three-year end-of-Parliament commitment that he has made on this matter, which gives certainty. He is absolutely right to look at this issue. He is a very honourable man in coming here and honouring our manifesto today, and he should ignore the criticisms from the Opposition.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Other
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have to say that I generally find it much more fruitful listening to the advice and thoughts of my hon. Friends than to the comments from the Opposition.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I have made a statement today about the Government’s intentions: no national insurance contribution rate increases for the remainder of this Parliament. I am not making a statement about the Conservative party’s manifesto for the next general election; the right hon. Gentleman will have to contain himself for a while on that particular issue. On the question of who first raised the issue of the manifesto, I think, to give credit where credit is due, that it was Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC shortly after my comments in the Budget speech.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. I did not mention this because it is not something that I particularly want to make a big issue of, but it is true that when the National Insurance Contributions (Rate Ceilings) Bill was debated in this House, Ministers made it clear that they were legislating to lock class 1 only. No amendments were tabled and no issue was raised. Indeed, the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey), who was then a shadow Treasury Minister, said at the Dispatch Box that this Bill discharged the Conservative party’s commitment on national insurance contributions in the manifesto. [Interruption.] Well, the hon. Lady might want to check Hansard.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her comments. It is important to separate the two issues involved: the substantive underlying issue about the way in which national insurance contributions and entitlement to contributory benefit work, and the equally important but separate issue of the way in which manifesto commitments work. The review that we will conduct will look specifically at the differences between the self-employed and the employed, and the access of the self-employed to contributory benefits, so her suggestion is beyond the scope of that particular piece of work. However, as she especially will be aware, all these things are routinely reviewed by the Treasury in the run-up to fiscal events.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend the Chancellor for his statement. As somebody who was self-employed for many years, I know that the current system undoubtedly needs reform, in terms of contributions and benefits, so I look forward to Matthew Taylor’s report. Given that so many of the self-employed are sole traders and micro business owners, may I urge the Chancellor to look at the great work that Angela Knight has done on how the whole system could be improved? I am very happy to have a meeting with one of his junior Ministers, if he cannot have any such meeting himself, to discuss that further.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. I can say to the self-employed of St Austell and, indeed, more widely across the UK that this Government will always support enterprise and those who start and grow businesses. As I said in the Budget speech, we believe that people should have choices about the way they work. There are very many good reasons for choosing self-employment, and there are many good reasons for choosing to incorporate. It is incumbent on us to make sure that unfair tax benefits are not one of the things that drive people to make such decisions.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend never misses an opportunity to bring us back to his agenda. I have had suggestions from various parties that the gap between the contributions of the employed and the self-employed could be narrowed by the device of lowering the contributions of the employed. However, 85% of the working population are employed, and any reduction in the contribution of the employed would be a huge fiscal cost and would—in our world—have to be paid for, although the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington may have a different view.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. It is precisely growing small businesses that we must seek to encourage. The subset of the self-employed who employ people—it is actually quite a small subset—are very much to be encouraged, because that is a way of promoting growth and creating job opportunities in our communities.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. It is a relatively small group, but about 90,000 self-employed people, many of them on very high earnings, benefit enormously from the way the system operates, particularly those who use limited liability partnerships. That is an essential part of the review of this issue in the round that we have to do.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): My constituents, almost a quarter of whom are self-employed, will welcome the decision today, but they also find it extraordinary when they read in the papers that the chief executive of their local hospital trust is paid £400,000 a year through a personal service company—a practice, incidentally, that got completely out of control under the last Labour Government. Will my right hon. Friend the Chancellor continue to tackle those issues, particularly in the public sector?
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I empathise enormously with the self-employed of my hon. Friend’s constituency. He will know that I once lived among them. I sympathise with the point he has raised about public sector employees using personal service companies, but he will know that we have legislated so that, from next April, public sector engagers of people who use personal service companies will be responsible for deducting the tax and national insurance contributions that those people would be paying if they were employed directly as employees.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): I declare an interest as someone who was self-employed until a few months ago. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] Thank you. As a member of the Federation of Small Businesses and the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for small and micro businesses, I welcome today’s announcement from the Chancellor and thank him for it, as will the nearly one fifth of my constituents in Witney and west Oxfordshire who are self-employed. Will the Chancellor give a little more detail on the scope of the review he will undertake over the summer?
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Other
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry to disappoint the right hon. Gentleman, but he will have to wait 30 years. I am not about to tell him what happened in the Cabinet, but he will know that all decisions are the unanimous decisions of the Cabinet.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Other
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for reacting so quickly to the representations made to him by colleagues and, indeed, by Laura Kuenssberg. But I ask him in all seriousness to listen on occasion to the Labour party, because there are lessons to be learned. Labour would have leaked this statement out at a weekend, not immediately prior to Prime Minister’s questions. It would not have come to the House and made an oral statement; there would have been a written statement. I say to my right hon. Friend that he is really far too open.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Commons, 2017-03-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Philip Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): As you would expect, Mr Speaker, we try, if it is at all possible, to ensure that the House is always informed first of these matters. After my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I met this morning, I wrote to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee and placed a copy of that letter in the Library of the House, and I have made this statement at the earliest opportunity available to me.