argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): I will come on to that shortly One of the major challenges facing Parliament when we—or perhaps our successors—return in May is the need in the next Parliament to make a decision on restoration and renewal. I pay tribute to the right hon. Members for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) and for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst) for their work on tackling the early stages of thinking on restoration and renewal. Restoration and renewal is not optional. We will have to spend money—taxpayers’ money—and Parliament must take huge decisions on the appropriate timetable for carrying out those works and how to ensure best value for taxpayers. The Commission will have a crucial role in providing leadership, so it is absolutely right that we ensure that it accurately reflects the views of the House. It is also important that the Commission has external members who will be able to provide strategic advice. It is no criticism of Members of this House, but not all of us have business experience or are used to grappling with some of the issues that the Commission will have to deal with The hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) will understand that it is not for me to speak for other parties and their internal processes. He is probably slightly more familiar than I with how the Conservative parliamentary party operates. It is clear that two of the members will be the Chairs of the Administration and Finance Committees, so that is a matter for post-election arrangements. The question was asked during the debate on the Governance Committee’s report, so let me say clearly that the Opposition do not believe that the commissioners who are not Select Committee Chairs should be paid an additional sum to carry out this work, in part because we do not believe it is appropriate in the current climate and our constituents would not regard it as sensible, and in part because serving on the Commission should not be more onerous than being a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee or, indeed, the Finance and Administration Committees. What is important is getting people who come forward and are selected by their party because they have a particular interest or knowledge We welcome the progress made on the appointment of a Director General. The Leader of the House is right to say that it is necessary to complete that process after the election, but we do not see that as a significant obstacle to the Bill’s progress.
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will respond briefly to two points made by the right hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso). I may have picked him up incorrectly. The Opposition do not think that the Commission members who are not Chairs of Select Committees should be elected by the whole House. It is a matter for the parties to elect them. If I can extend the principle of Select Committees, members of Select Committees are not elected by the whole House; they are elected by their parties. Their role on the Commission will be to represent, as the Leader of the House has already said, the views of those parties. As Members of Parliament, it would not be democratic for Labour Members to have a say on who represents the Conservative party, the Liberal Democrats or the minority parties. Therefore, for the avoidance of doubt, the parliamentary Labour party position is that it would be for those individual parties.
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): That is something that we will look at. My position is that the current arrangements for the Select Committee Chairs have worked well in this Parliament and they should continue in the next Parliament It is critical that there is no ambiguity about the position of the parliamentary Labour party. We do not believe that the other commissioners should be paid, because the work is no more onerous than being a member of the Finance and Services Committee or the Administration Committee or the Foreign Affairs Committee, and they do not receive payment. My understanding is that the Commission meets once a month and it would be slightly strange if the only member of the Commission who was not receiving an additional payment ended up being the shadow Leader of the House, because the shadow Cabinet are not paid. The Commission itself does not have an onerous meeting schedule—
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): Perhaps that is a sign of our democracy at work As I say, that is the position of the parliamentary Labour party. We are absolutely clear. We want to see more cost-saving measures. We welcome the steps that the Commission is taking in looking at the shared services. That was something that came out of the Governance Committee’s report. We are clear: my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) and I have said on more than one occasion that it is absurd that we continue to have two catering operations and two research operations. We already have shared services. I know that the right hon. Gentleman has done a lot of work on this. In the next Parliament the goal should be to reduce the costs of our democracy, not to drive them up further.
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): Again, I will be as brief as possible. As I said on Second Reading—all that time ago—I am frankly astonished that we have gone 30-odd years without having a Commission set out that one of its core functions is from time to time to set out strategic priorities. I think that is a very obvious point that should be addressed. When external members are selected and the parliamentary parties choose their representatives, I hope that the parliamentary parties and the Commission will bear in mind the qualities that are needed. The Commission’s job is not to micro-manage the House service; it is to set strategic priorities. That is therefore a key requirement in external member appointments and the choice of members to serve for the parliamentary parties Question put and agreed to. Clause 2 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.
House of Commons Commission Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): I am most grateful for that very helpful intervention As regards making good progress, it is absolutely crucial that the Finance and Services Committee and the Administration Committee move very quickly after the general election to fill the two posts on the Commission. I hope that the Committee of Selection will therefore make one of its early priorities finding time to establish at least initial versions of the Administration Committee and the Finance and Services Committee so that we can fulfil this process This has been a good and very consensual debate. We wish the Bill all the best in the other place Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.
Queen’s and Prince of Wales’s Consent — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Docherty (Labour, Centre-left): I will be even briefer than I have been by my standard today; we have important business to discuss I thank the Procedure Committee for its work. It is right that the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee offered no substantive evidence that requiring signification by a Privy Counsellor in person had delayed Bills—Governments have found enough ways to hold up Bills that they do not particularly like—and we therefore think this is a sensible way forward.
Petitions and e-petitions — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Government Operations
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): I rise briefly to commend the comments of the Chair of the Procedure Committee—while he is thanking everybody else perhaps we might thank him for his stewardship of that Committee. I also apologise for joining the debate slightly late as I was in a Statutory Instrument Committee In this work the modern world intercepts with our traditions, and the Chair of the Procedure Committee has spelt out clearly why the proposals in the report are the right way to take the issue forward in a way that recognises public interest. There has been a lot of public enthusiasm for e-petitions, as I saw during my involvement with a petition that was created by a constituent and aimed to push the issue of pancreatic cancer up the agenda. E-petitions are a good tool for interacting with the public in an engaging way, but they must be managed properly in how they intercept with this place. The Chair of the Procedure Committee is to be congratulated on setting out a sensible way forward that I hope the House will take advantage of.
Mental Health and Unemployment — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Labor
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need to tailor-make back-to-work programmes and recognise that on some occasions it might take longer to get people capable of working? We also need a system that allows people with long-term mental health issues who are not going to work at least to make some positive contribution to society.
Mental Health and Unemployment — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Labor
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): That is exactly what is happening to the charity I mentioned in my contribution. It is doing all the work and the Work programme provider is doing nothing for individuals, apart from making a phone call at the end to ascertain whether that person has actually got a job and then claiming the money from the Government.
Mental Health and Unemployment — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Labor
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I agree with the Minister, but will he also address the point I made about companies being paid by the Government to support individuals into work, even though that work is actually being done by the voluntary and community sector? If those companies are claiming to have helped those people and are getting paid for it, even though the work was actually done by the voluntary and community sector, that is a very serious issue.
Mental Health and Unemployment — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Social Welfare
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister also comment on, or ask his officials to look into, the report I received from the individual placements and support service in south Manchester that Work programme providers were being rewarded for work that was being carried out and funded by the NHS? It sounded as though the public purse was paying twice and the Work programme provider was getting a reward for very little, if any, activity.
Exploration and Appraisal Drilling — House of Commons, 2015-02-24
Topic: Energy
Mary Theresa Glindon (Labour, Centre-left): I am really pleased that the Minister who will respond to this evening’s debate is my former colleague on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, the Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Amber Rudd). I hope it will be a good debate This debate could not be more timely, as only today Oil & Gas UK published its 2015 activity survey, which has, quite rightly, attracted much news coverage throughout the day, not only because of the ongoing crisis with the price of oil, but because, as the chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, Malcolm Webb, has said: "This offshore oil and gas industry is a major national asset." Although the report contains some bad news about the fortunes of the oil and gas industry, it also identifies the potential of the UK continental shelf, which, according to the recent Wood report, has produced 41 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and it is estimated that a further 12 billion to 24 billion could be produced The report highlights a number of important statistics, notably that 1.42 million barrels of oil equivalent per day were produced in 2014, which represents the best year-on-year performance in 15 years. However, production revenues fell to just over £24 billion for the year—the lowest since 1998—and there was a negative cash flow of £5.3 billion, which was the worst position since the 1970s It is expected that production could be about 1.43 million barrels of oil equivalent per day this year, and up to 15 new fields could come into production. By 2019, more than half of the UK continental shelf production is likely to come from fields that have started production since 2012 The survey states that the long-term outlook for the UKCS is bleak, with drilling activity collapsing and prospects for significant new developments fading. Exploration activity was significantly worse than expected in 2014, with only 14 of the expected 25 wells drilled, which reflects the downward trend since 2009. An inability to access capital was cited as the main reason for low exploration activity, leading to the discovery of just 50 million barrels of oil equivalent with the potential to be commercially developed As few as between eight and 13 exploration wells are forecast to be drilled in 2015, as the lower oil price adds to existing barriers. Eighteen appraisal wells were drilled, which is more than were forecast, but that is a significant fall from the 29 wells drilled in 2013. No more than five appraisal wells are forecast for this year, a fall driven by poor exploration results over the past four years.
Disabled People’s Access (Public Transport) — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): In Newcastle, we are proud that our Metro was the first in the country to be fully wheelchair accessible, and I hope that the Minister will support renewed investment in it. That vision of inclusive transport should by now include talking buses, given that the technology is so widely available, but the Minister has done nothing to ensure that is implemented and has cut by half the budget for accessibility, so when will we have inclusive public transport?
Disabled People’s Access (Public Transport) — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Gordon Marsden (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister’s colleague, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones)—I congratulate him on his appointment—said at a transport event last night that his door would always be open. I invite the Minister and her new colleague to start with disabled people’s access to buses, because the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and the Transport Committee have all said that the Government’s exemption of bus companies from mandatory driver training is not working. The Government have ducked and dived on this: a review was first promised for 2014, then more evidence this January confirmed the disquiet, and this week I received a written answer telling me that there will be a research project—a review of the review of the review. Will she use the open door that her colleague spoke about to stop the buck being passed for disabled people on buses?
Road Investment Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): A road investment strategy is only as effective as the bodies that are tasked with delivering it. Will the Minister therefore have conversations with Highways England about its catastrophic mismanagement of the Posthouse roundabout A483-A55 junction in my constituency, where delays to commuters and huge costs to businesses continue months after the work should have been concluded?
Road Investment Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (Labour, Centre-left): One of the most important decisions made in the previous Parliament was the decision to proceed with the Mottram bypass in my constituency, giving us the much-needed improved connectivity between Manchester and South Yorkshire. There are now a number of issues to resolve to take the scheme forward, particularly whether Hollingworth will benefit and whether we can build a new tunnel under the Pennines, which, if feasible, will be very exciting. May I trouble the ministerial team for a short meeting in this Session to advance these matters further?
Road Investment Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Robert Charles Douglas Flello (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will be very familiar with the A50. May I draw the Minister’s attention specifically to the A50 where it runs through my constituency, where the slip roads are frankly dangerous? The weekly number of blue light incidents is alarming, and the number of near misses is deeply troubling. The Secretary of State will also be aware of the situation just down the road at the Blythe Bridge roundabout. Will the Minister look urgently at what is going on with that section of road?
High Speed 2 — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Government’s renewed commitment to HS2 and look forward to the announcement later this year of the precise route for phase 2. Will the Secretary of State indicate whether any serious consideration is being given to advancing the date for construction of the Sheffield to Leeds section of phase 2? If it is, and if that goes ahead, what will that mean for the parliamentary timetable?
Local Roads — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): I am very pleased to hear that funding will be made available to councils to enable them to repair potholes. I receive regular complaints about the condition of my local roads, with potholes a major issue. I am not going to name each road individually because they are far too numerous to mention, but when will the funding be made available to Rochdale Council so that it can maintain the roads to the standard my constituents expect and deserve?
Local Roads — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): The issue is not just about resources; it is about making sure that utility companies undertake proper reinstatement when they dig up the highway. Will the Minister look again at whether the regulations in respect of utility companies opening up the highways can be looked at afresh, so we can ensure our roads are reinstated to their proper condition?
Cycling — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): Is it not an act of the deepest cynicism for the Government, a few months before the election, to announce, in a fanfare of self-congratulation, a very modest increase in spending on cycling safety, only for that money to be axed in the first week after the election? Why should any of Britain’s millions of cyclists believe a single word the Government say?
Cycling — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): What steps is the Minister taking to make cycling safer, particularly in our great cities, such as London? There can be no greater deterrent to people getting on their bikes than their fear of cycling on busy roads.
Road Congestion — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Wilmslow Road, which runs through my constituency, is one of the most congested roads in the area, as a result of the large numbers of unregulated buses that pass down it. When does the Secretary of State expect progress to be made to allow the London-style bus franchising powers that Manchester needs?
Road Congestion — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Questions: The Secretary of State will be aware of the congestion at the Dartford crossing. It has been eased by the free-flow system put in place, but the administration of that system under the Dart charge scheme is woefully inadequate and has caused misery for my constituents. Will he, as a matter of priority, please address this issue and end this frustration for my local residents?
Marie Elizabeth Rimmer (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister tell us what progress has been made by the Government to ensure the affordability of bus travel for young people, particularly when, after September 2015, young people must attend work-based training or education until their 18th birthday—and bus travel is simply unaffordable now for many such young people?
Road Congestion — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Questions: The Secretary of State will be aware of the congestion at the Dartford crossing. It has been eased by the free-flow system put in place, but the administration of that system under the Dart charge scheme is woefully inadequate and has caused misery for my constituents. Will he, as a matter of priority, please address this issue and end this frustration for my local residents?
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Would the Secretary of State and his Department support a strategic congestion commission for the city of York, where congestion is having a real impact on the environment, on businesses and on the lives of people living in our city?
Infrastructure Projects — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): May I remind the Minister that many local enterprise partnerships and local authorities feel bypassed by Government policy at the moment when it comes to infrastructure? The northern powerhouse, which many of us have not yet fully assimilated, is one thing, but my constituents want fast improvement in rail and road infrastructure now.
Rail Franchise System — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Anna Catherine Turley (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State join me in urging Network Rail to upgrade the level crossing in Redcar town centre? West Dyke Road, which is a main artery into town, has been closed more than 15 times in the last year. Network Rail has promised upgrades, but they are not forthcoming. The problem is having a huge impact on small businesses, which are having to close, and also on bus routes.
Rail Franchise System — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Questions: As the Secretary of State will know, I was very disappointed that, at the time of its franchise bid, it was not possible to persuade Virgin Trains to provide a service to Grimsby via Market Rasen. It is already running four trains a day to Lincoln. Is there anything to prevent it, under its franchise, from extending at least one service a day to Grimsby via Market Rasen in order to serve that huge rural area?
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): London Overground and Merseyrail have transformed stations and services that were unreliable and unsafe under the previous franchise holders. In stark contrast, the recent performance of franchise-holders such as Southeastern has been woeful on lines that Ministers had considered devolving to Transport for London before rejecting the plan. Notwithstanding the rhetoric on devolution, the reality is that progress has been as slow and inconsistent as commuters’ early morning trains There is a real appetite for taking on more services in the north, the west midlands and elsewhere. Is it not time to get on with that, rather than sticking with franchises that are failing passengers?
Network Rail (Investment) — House of Commons, 2015-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Conor Patrick McGinn (Labour, Centre-left): The latest figures show that the cost of rail season tickets held by commuters from Garswood, Rainford, Earlestown and Newton has risen by up to 25% since 2010. Can the Secretary of State explain to my constituents why the Government are allowing blatant profiteering that is ripping off passengers