argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Navendu Prabhat Mishra (Labour, Centre-left): Local modelling has revealed that 21 locations across Stockport will have nitrogen oxide levels above the legal limit in 2021. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), I ask the Government to commit today to including nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter as legally binding targets in the Environment Bill.
Air Quality — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Ruth Lorraine Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her responses to my hon. Friends the Members for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) and for Stockport (Navendu Mishra), but may I press her further? According to Labour research, almost 60% of people in England are living in areas where levels of toxic air pollution exceeded legal limits last year. That shocking statistic should jolt the Government into action. Will the Minister commit to incorporating World Health Organisation air-quality standards into the Environment Bill?
Animal Welfare Offences — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Agriculture
Grahame Mark Morris (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her answer, but I have been really disturbed by recent reports in the local press regarding incidents of animal cruelty in my constituency. I certainly worry that individuals who are capable of deliberately inflicting pain and suffering on animals are capable of far worse. Will the Minster go a little further and give a guarantee that the maximum five-year sentence for the worst animal cruelty offences will be on the statute book by January 2021?
Animal Welfare Offences — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Agriculture
Charalambos Charalambous (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Minister’s confirmation that we will have a five-year maximum sentence for animal cruelty. The RSPCA has estimated that there were more than 100,000 instances of animal cruelty during lockdown. That is a great concern, and we want to ensure that action is taken. Will the Minister confirm that there will be greater enforcement and steps towards prosecution, to ensure that those who commit animal cruelty are brought to justice?
Healthy and Sustainable Food — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Social Welfare
Ian Robert Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. Local welfare provision can be a lifeline for families on the brink of food poverty. That is why I warmly welcome the Department’s funding allocation of £63 million of emergency support back in July. I am growing increasingly concerned, however, that this funding is due to expire in October, at the same time that the furlough scheme is drawing to a close, food bank use is rocketing and we will be in the midst of a recession. What future funding will the Department allocate for local welfare provision?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Luke Pollard (Labour, Centre-left): Seventy-nine per cent. of the climate citizens’ assembly agreed that economic recovery after covid must be designed to help to drive net zero, including through greater reliance on local food production and healthier diets. Will the Secretary of State commit his Department to review those findings and act on them?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State’s response to my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard) was slightly disappointing. The climate assembly was made up of 108 people, from all walks of life and from throughout the country, who considered the evidence and gave their time. The report makes evidence-based recommendations on how we should reach net zero by 2050. May I push the Secretary of State to give assurances that he will consider those recommendations and not give the climate assembly participants a slap in the face? Will he also ensure that recommendations are appropriately incorporated into legislation?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): One of the Government’s biggest successes during this pandemic has been their work with FareShare, which has allowed local food charities in my constituency, such as Evolve and Bestop, to get food out to vulnerable people. The DEFRA funding involved has diverted fresh food away from waste to those who really need it. Clearly, we have a long way to go in this pandemic, so is the Secretary of State considering extending this funding?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister’s earlier answer on deforestation simply was not good enough. Why are the Government only consulting on due diligence measures to cover illegal deforestation, given that we know that many of the activities contributing to deforestation, for example, in the Amazon, are legal and that Bolsonaro for one is relaxing legal protections? We do not need a consultation to tell us that UK companies should not be complicit in destroying the Amazon, so will the Minister look at and support my amendment to the Environment Bill, which would require due diligence across the board?
House of Lords: Relocation — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): What discussions the (a) Prime Minister and (b) Prime Minister's staff have had with the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body on the (i) timeline, (ii) cost and (iii) logistics of relocating the House of Lords to York.
House of Lords: Relocation — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Labor
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the right hon. Member for his candid reply. Stakeholders in York expended time, energy and money on the House of Lords proposals the Prime Minister announced in January, so to learn today that the Prime Minister did not engage in due process is, quite frankly, shocking; it just shows his populist virtue signalling to my city and the north. Will the right hon. Member communicate to No. 10 that, if the Prime Minister is going to put forward proposals, he must go through due process before wasting time in places like my city, where people desperately needed the jobs that he was proposing?
Covid-19: Electoral Arrangements — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The commission is working to ensure that the elections in England, Scotland and Wales next May can be delivered safely and effectively. This includes close collaboration with the UK Government, public health officials, returning officers and political parties, and it is also closely monitoring comparable international elections taking place during the pandemic to see what may be learned from others’ experiences. In collaboration with the UK’s electoral co-ordination and advisory board, it is now working on additional guidance and resources for those administering May’s elections to address the specific challenges of managing the polls in a covid-19 secure way.
Covid-19: Electoral Arrangements — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): It is true that electoral law as it stands predates much of what we now have from the internet, in terms of the way that information can be found. Any changes to those laws will be a matter for the House, but I am sure that the Electoral Commission will use its experience to give us advice on how those changes might be brought forward.
Electoral Commission: Independence — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The Electoral Commission’s independence is established in statute. It is a public body independent of Government and accountable to Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which I represent here today. Its independence is a vital part of ensuring that it is able to deliver the vital functions allocated to it by Parliament. The Speaker’s Committee seeks to uphold that independence when it fulfils its statutory functions in reviewing the Commission’s estimates and plans and overseeing the appointment of electoral commissioners.
Electoral Commission: Independence — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman has always made his views in the House very clear on this matter, for which I am always grateful. I have seen the reports of Mr Straker’s comments, which have been made to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, and we await its report on the evidence from Mr Straker and others coming to it. The commission’s record of having had about 500 adjudications, only five of which have been challenged, and only one of which has been upheld in the courts, is a record that I think the commission can be proud of.
Electoral Commission: Independence — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): Again, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the clarity of his position. The commission will continue to undertake its role independently, as decided in statute by this House. I would say respectfully to those hon. Members who seek to replace or abolish the commission that it might be helpful to bring forward proposals as to what they would replace it with so that we have some clarity about possible alternatives.
Electoral Commission — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The committee has received no representations regarding the media reports to which the right hon. Gentleman refers, which relate to a submission to the Committee on Standards in Public Life. That committee is undertaking an important review of electoral finance regulation, and the commission looks forward to engaging with the conclusions of its work in due course. The Electoral Commission is established by statute, and any changes to its constitution would be a matter for Parliament, not the Speaker’s Committee.
Electoral Commission — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the figures I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone). The track record of the Electoral Commission is one in which over 500 adjudications have been made, five have been challenged in court and only one of those challenges has been upheld. So far as that works out, I think that record stands on its own two feet.
Palace of Westminster: Restoration and Renewal — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Oh dear! It is eight years since one report said that we had "a looming crisis" in this building, and four years since a Joint Committee of both Houses produced a report, on 8 September 2016, which stated that we were facing "an impending crisis." Since then we have had years and years of more new problems in the building than we are able to cope with. There is no sense of urgency about this crisis. Get on with it, for heaven’s sake.
Overseas Aid and Development — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: International Affairs
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): I very much welcome the Church’s work in this area. Does the Church share my view that the merger of the Foreign Office with the Department for International Development must not lead to the UK abandoning its commitment to the 0.7% target, and that every penny counted against that target should genuinely be spent on aid and development purposes?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Education
Mohammed Afzal Khan (Labour, Centre-left): Many of my constituents are incredibly anxious about schools reopening and want to send their children off to school in the knowledge that they are safe. I am sure that the Health Secretary agrees that keeping schools open safely requires a testing infrastructure that is fit for purpose, so can he explain to the House why each school has been provided with only 10 testing kits?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Transportation
James Stewart Murray (Labour, Centre-left): This morning, the Transport Secretary was unable to say what enforcement powers the Prime Minister’s new covid marshals will have and what their responsibilities will be. Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous), does the Secretary of State know what powers these marshals will have and what training they will have to undergo?
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. I think the point he makes is really important because, for some in this debate, calls for action on climate change are demeaned as being from activists or not being supported by the British people. The citizens assembly report shows that these are pragmatic, considered and evidence-based decisions with support from the whole cross-section of the United Kingdom. That should give Ministers the confidence to take action in line with the recommendations in the report, and I know that it gives the right hon. Gentleman and his Committee, as well as the rest of us, the confidence to hold the Government to account very strongly in bringing forward those policies.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Energy
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for his continued work on consumer protection, which I know he advocates for on the Committee that I chair, of which I am grateful he is a member. He will know, and Ministers will know, that we have written to the Secretary of State on the energy efficiency programme brought forward by the Government. The consensus in the citizens assembly report is that we need to take these actions, but that that should be done with clear, strong leadership from the top that puts fairness and equity at the heart while providing the choice that consumers need from providers and different technologies in the home. We also need to ensure that there is protection and enforcement on the end of that, should things go wrong. I know that Ministers are considering those issues. They have brought forward the TrustMark for the energy efficiency programme, and I know that we will continue to ensure that consumer protection and fairness to consumers is at the heart of the Government’s response.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Macroeconomics
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Lady for my elevation to the Privy Council, for which one can only hope. I agree absolutely that the consensus in the report and in our conversations on the Committee is that our economic recovery from the pandemic and our transition to net zero are no longer distinct issues but one and the same. They have to be embedded, and that requires Government to work in partnership with business. Some sectors will be affected more than others, and it will be difficult for some important parts of the British economy to make these changes, but I am confident that we can make them together. I know we will do that work on the Committee and bring forward proposals for the Government to do so.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Energy
Charlotte Louise Nichols (Labour, Centre-left): If we are to meet net zero, including targets on the electrification of transport and the decarbonisation of heating, either by electricity or by hydrogen produced by electricity, as the citizens assembly highlighted, we will need a lot of power, but not all of this can come from intermittent renewables. Does my hon. Friend agree it is time for the Government to get serious and set out plans for all the low-carbon generation we will need, including nuclear, which provides high-skilled jobs for his constituents and mine?
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Energy
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I know that she represents many workers in the nuclear sector in her constituency and why that is an important issue to raise. The citizens assembly report made it clear that the energy mix is something that the public have clear views on, and I am sure they have the same anticipation as we do in the House for the arrival of the energy White Paper, which I am promised is due in advance of the Budget in the coming weeks, at which point we will get into these issues. It was clear from the citizens assembly report that there is a preference for onshore and offshore wind and solar, but a recognition that that has to come with investment in our network, our storage and our flexibility capacity and that, until we do that, there is absolutely a preference for low-carbon sources of energy.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): This is really very important. A member of the Committee asked the assembly in a private briefing this week how they defined fairness. The answer is really important because it was defined by the assembly members—they were not given a definition—and because the assembly represented a plethora of different types of people across the country—rich, poor, different locations, different levels of education, maybe activists and campaigners on climate change, maybe people sceptical of climate change. They came to that consensus on what fairness means and see no reason why we cannot deliver that through all our policies.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate my hon. Friend. He was launching the report at the same time as DEFRA questions this morning, so will not have seen the Government Front-Bench response, which I thought was slightly disappointing in treating it as just another report. One of the top issues in terms of pure policy in the report is protecting and restoring the natural world, which is very timely given the Living Planet report. Does he agree that we are only going to tackle that with international co-operation, which is why it is so very important that we abide by international law and rules?
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I did not see the DEFRA Secretary’s answer, but I would be disappointed if that was the case. I wonder whether he has not read the cross-departmental memo, given the comments of the BEIS Secretary this morning at the launch, who welcomed the report as an important and substantive contribution to Government thinking. We should remember, of course, that BEIS has the responsibility to co-ordinate net zero decarbonisation across every Department, including DEFRA, so perhaps the BEIS and DEFRA Secretaries could talk about the importance of this report.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Alexander David Sobel (Labour, Centre-left): As chair of the all-party group on net zero, I thank my hon. Friend and the other Select Committee Chairs for commissioning the citizens assembly and for the holistic and well-rounded nature of the report. Citizens assemblies could form an important part of our pre-legislative scrutiny and policy making in Parliament. Does he agree that we should utilise citizens assemblies much more widely in the House?
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I note my hon. Friend’s long-held action in this area, both before and during his time in Parliament. I congratulate him on his all-party parliamentary group, which is making an important contribution to the debate here in Westminster. This is the first time that we have had a UK-wide citizens assembly and it was on the really complicated topic of climate change, but that has shown that it works. A citizens assembly brings people together in a consensus-building fashion to understand the trade-offs and to come forward with proposals that people are happy with. I endorse my hon. Friend’s suggestion that we look at these models—perhaps not just in Westminster, but in local government. In my city of Bristol, we are hoping to reinstate such activity after the pandemic as a way to bring people with us and to ensure that we really understand the ambitions of the British people. This report is an example of where the British ambition is for very strong action, and that should give the Government confidence in acting.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Lady for her kind words and her pledge of support on behalf of the Liberal Democrats for the call for cross-party consensus on tackling climate change, which the Labour party also supports. On her question about the most immediate action, this autumn and winter is the most important period of time in dealing with this issue; not only do we have to borrow and spend significant amounts of money due to the economic consequences of the pandemic, but we are also waiting for key policies from the Government—from the energy White Paper to the net zero review, through to the Treasury review on green finance, the heating in buildings regulations and so many other things that are all due to come together in the next few months. Now is the opportunity for the Government to bring all that together and to set out a progressive set of policies to meet the scale of the challenge, which I am sure will be in line with the principles of the climate assembly report.
Aviation Sector — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Transportation
Ruth Margaret Cadbury (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Chair of the Transport Committee for helping, along with my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Abena Oppong-Asare), to get this debate. Does he agree that the national picture that he describes of job losses and the impact on the supply chain also has an impact on local areas where airports are a major part of the local economy? Does he agree that it would be worth the Government considering not just sector-specific support but specific short-term area-based support for the aviation communities that have been very badly hit at this time?
Aviation Sector — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Environment
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): I hope that we are also hon. Friends. The hon. Gentleman is speaking about the intervention and support required from the Government. A few moments ago we heard about the report from Climate Assembly UK that was launched today, which includes bold recommendations about the future of aviation and our route to net zero 2050. Does he agree that taxpayer support for the sector should be conditional on action to both protect workers and to cut emissions, as we transition to a more sustainable future for the aviation sector?
Aviation Sector — House of Commons, 2020-09-10
Topic: Labor
Stephen John Doughty (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making a crucial argument. She will know just how many jobs are under threat in south Wales, particularly at British Airways in the Vale of Glamorgan and at other aerospace companies. Does she agree that the Government need not only to take action on jobs now, but to offer support to help young people training at Cardiff and Vale College for future careers in aerospace and green aviation? The Government need to give them some hope, as well as saving jobs now.