argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
New Mothers (Redundancy Protection) — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Civil Rights
James Richard Frith (Labour, Centre-left): I see little evidence of the ton of bricks. As a former employer, I know first hand the value of protecting maternity rights, not just for the expectant mum or returning mother but for the employer as well. Does the Minister agree that it is vital that we encourage employers to meet their legal responsibilities to prevent the discrimination happening in the first place and that those who do not should be held to account?
New Mothers (Redundancy Protection) — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Given the Minister’s view about this, will she take up the issue of tribunal fees, which a previous Government, of which she was a one-time member, increased significantly? Does she not accept that charging a huge fee to take a case to tribunal is one of the biggest reasons why women who have been discriminated against cannot enforce their rights?
Ex-prisoners (Support) — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): Many of the women who are imprisoned have mental health problems. Imprisonment and losing their home and possessions set back their chance of recovery. Will the Minister in his reports pay particular attention to the impact of women with mental health problems when they become homeless and lose all that they have managed to pull together?
Ex-prisoners (Support) — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Carolyn Harris (Labour, Centre-left): Vulnerable women on release are not given adequate support, either with housing or with community reintegration. Many return to abusive relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, and, at worst, crime. Does the Minister honestly believe that we are giving women’s life chances parity of esteem in their current treatment?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Sarah Deborah Champion (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will be aware of the levels of persecution, intolerance and hate crime towards transgender people. Can she therefore confirm whether she has plans to develop a new transgender action plan, in line with the previous response to the Women and Equalities Committee? Also, do the Government plan to conduct a review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): One among many, Mr Speaker This Government have pushed a national crisis on to hard-pressed local councils and hard-up local residents, forcing council tax rises that will barely cover the minimum-wage salaries paid to carers. The Minister says that the precept has been welcomed, but I would ask: by whom?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): We have an appalling case of abuse in a small private care home in my constituency that resulted in prison sentences for the two people involved. What is the Minister going to do to raise standards in small private care homes?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Immigration
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): More care homes may face closure if they cannot access migrant workforces. What steps will the Government take to ensure that migrant workers, who are happy to work in our care homes and who provide excellent standards of care, will still be able to come to the UK after Brexit?
Jobcentre Plus: Closures — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Gloria De Piero (Labour, Centre-left): Annesley DWP office has 130 workers, three quarters of whom are women. The close proximity of the office to their home enables many of those women to have a career and be a parent. There are no nearby offices to relocate them to, so I ask the Minister to pause the closure and conduct and publish an equality impact assessment in this special case.
Jobcentre Plus: Closures — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): Norris Green jobcentre serves some of the most deprived neighbourhoods of Liverpool. Will the Secretary of State meet my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden) and me to discuss the plans to close the jobcentre and explore alternatives, including co-location with local authority services?
Jobcentre Plus: Closures — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gerald Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The closure of local services will have a hugely negative impact on the local economy in towns such as Merthyr Tydfil. It will also have an impact on the quality of life of employees with caring responsibilities, who will have to travel longer distances. What consultations and impact assessments have been carried out with staff, customers and trade unions? Will the Department change direction if the consultation does not support the planned closures?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As the House will know, responses to Public Accounts Committee reports are published in the Treasury minute. I am concerned that the publication date for the most recent Treasury minute was first delayed from late July to mid-September and that its current publication date is now 19 October. A number of reports—three in particular, namely the Committee’s forty-ninth report, "Financial sustainability in schools", fifty-seventh report, "Capital funding for schools", and sixty-third report, "Housing: State of the Nation"—will not have a response until the next publication date in December. It is extraordinary that the Government can delay responses to important reports by Committees of this House. That shows disrespect for the work of Select Committees. Could you look into this on behalf of the House, Mr Speaker, and urge the Government to get their skates on?
Exiting the European Union and Global Trade — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): I want us to get a deal. Of course we want the best deal for this country, but the hon. Gentleman has to take on board the fact that since the referendum decision our country’s currency has depreciated by 12%. I trust that that is not something that he feels sanguine about.
Exiting the European Union and Global Trade — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Other
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman really must allow me to respond to his first intervention before seeking to follow it up with a second. The trouble with the right hon. Gentleman is that he does not want to listen to the answer. [Interruption.] Is he quite calm?
Rough Sleeping — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Gavin Shuker (Labour, Centre-left): Since joining the House in 2010, I have seen with my own eyes the incredible increase in the number of people sleeping rough on our streets. I have seen it in my constituency and in places that I have visited around the country, and, indeed, I see it on the doorsteps of Westminster itself when we arrive and leave for votes. Can the Secretary of State tell me what changed in 2010?
Rough Sleeping — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Karen Patricia Buck (Labour, Centre-left): In my home borough of Westminster—which includes Westminster station, where, as has been mentioned, we see rough sleepers—the level of rough sleeping has soared. The Westminster council area alone contains a third of all the rough sleepers in London. The council has just cut—indeed slashed—its rough sleeping budget. Does the Secretary of State believe that that will help or hinder efforts to reduce rough sleeping?
Rough Sleeping — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): The scale of rough sleeping and homelessness in Britain today shames us all. In a country as decent and well off as ours, it is not inevitable. However, the level has more than doubled since 2010 as a direct result of decisions made by Conservative Ministers There are very few simple rules in politics, but this is one: with a Labour Government homelessness falls, and under the Tories it goes up. On 8 June, people will ask themselves, "Do we really want more of the same?" Let me say to the Secretary of State that, with a new national mission, he need not go to Finland. Will he, before the election, commit his party to matching our Labour commitment and backing our Labour plans to end rough sleeping by the end of the next Parliament?
Rough Sleeping — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): This is precisely about politics: it is precisely about the political decisions made over the last seven years that have made the causes of homelessness so much worse. Rapidly rising homelessness is just the tip of the iceberg on seven years of failure on housing: rough sleeping doubled, home ownership down, house building falling, private renters ignored, housing benefits bills ballooning, and now the lowest level of new affordable homes to rent and buy for 24 years. No wonder Labour is ahead in the polls on housing. After seven years of failure, the Tories have no plan to fix the housing crisis. Is that not why people now desperately need a new deal on housing led by a new Labour Government?
Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): York’s economy is being damaged by sharp business rate increases due to the revaluations. While the exemption from paying the full business rates has risen from £12,000 to £15,000, business rate increases have rocketed far beyond that in York. This is totally unfair, and small businesses in the city, previously exempt, are now desperate. Some are facing a 600% increase in their rateable value, including The Slip Inn, and no one knows how the new relief funds will even be distributed—total chaos! Can the Secretary of State say why the business rate burden is falling harder on smaller businesses and if he will urgently review the exemption level?
Small Businesses — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): Given the great concern expressed by small businesses up and down the country about their ability to pay the business rate rises, I am going to give the Secretary of State another chance. What reassurance can he give small business owners who are concerned about the impact of rate rises that they will not be paying higher rates over the next few years than online and large retailers such as Sports Direct?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will be aware of the Select Committee inquiry into funding proposals for supported housing. Will he give me an assurance that he will reflect carefully on the overwhelming evidence that we have received, which shows that the local housing allowance rates are not an appropriate basis on which to devise a funding scheme for supported housing?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): The Select Committee inquiry has received evidence that the Government’s approach to supported housing is causing many providers to put new schemes on hold and resulting in some pulling out of providing supported housing altogether. When will the Secretary of State accept that his policy is damaging the provision of housing for our most vulnerable residents, and when will he commit to providing the funding and certainty that the sector needs if it is to provide the supported homes that we need?
Assured Shorthold Tenancies — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): If the Minister had visited Cambridge recently, he would have seen the manifestation of the housing crisis in the number of people sleeping on the streets, which so depresses residents and those people. When I recently visited Wintercomfort, one of the leading charities, it told me that landlords are increasingly unwilling to let to people on housing benefit because of insecure employment. Does he agree that cracking down on insecure employment would help us to tackle the housing crisis?
Assured Shorthold Tenancies — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): Labour councils like Newham, Redbridge, Greenwich and my own borough of Hammersmith and Fulham are doing a fantastic job of cracking down on rogue landlords. If the Minister actually cares about private tenants, why is he blocking borough-wide private sector licensing schemes? Is his party still the slum landlord’s friend?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State knows that he has let down elderly people in this country. It is not just supported housing or funding but the fact that, in constituencies such as mine, we have a magic wand whereby suddenly student accommodation rises like daisies in the spring. But when it comes to accommodation for elderly people who desperately need it, because we have an ageing population, he has got nowhere in what he has achieved.
Social Housing Rent Arrears — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Anna Catherine Turley (Labour, Centre-left): That seems a huge number: nearly a quarter of people in social housing in rent arrears. In one ward of my constituency, nearly half of our social housing tenants—46% of them—are in rent arrears. One single mum has seen her rent jump from £8 to £70 a week because of the benefit cap, and the bedroom tax is still wreaking devastation. Is this not a damning indictment of seven years of Tory assault on Britain’s struggling families?
Social Housing Rent Arrears — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Derek Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): Has the Minister had discussions with his colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions about universal credit and the impact it is having on many of my constituents who are not being paid for weeks and sometimes months on end and are therefore going into arrears? That is in addition to being hit by the bedroom tax and other benefit changes. Has he had these discussions, or will he do so, because what is going on in my constituency is a disgrace?
Affordable Homes — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): I am expecting several Members of Parliament and Ministers to visit Delyn constituency in the next few weeks. Will the Minister come with me to Flint, where he will see a Labour council building council houses for rent? This social housing is supported by the Welsh Assembly, with more than 600 in one constituency alone. Why can he not match that in England?
Affordable Homes — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Housing
Questions: The right-to-buy scheme has led to a devastating erosion of social housing stock, with 40% of ex-council houses now in the hands of private landlords. With public money going straight into the pockets of those landlords, will the Secretary of State tell the House how much the right-to-buy scheme has cost the public purse?
Kelvin Peter Hopkins (Labour, Centre-left): Luton’s housing waiting list is now three times higher than it was in the 1970s, when I was vice-chair of the council’s housing committee. The housing stock has halved in that time from compulsory sales. Is it not the truth that only a Labour Government led by my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) will save Britain’s housing situation and make sure that people in Luton can have a decent home?
Air Quality Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): May I, in the nicest possible way, put the Secretary of State right on this? She has had to be dragged to the House to make this statement and has been putting off major decisions for the future on important issues right across her Department, but may I put the record straight just on the facts? My constituents will not understand when children are being poisoned now, when pregnant women are being poisoned now and when pedestrians and cyclists are being poisoned that she is making some obscure reference to purdah to stop us doing something about it. I remind her that it is two years since the Volkswagen scandal broke, and she has done nothing in those two years.
Business of the House (24, 25, 26 and 27 April) — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Other
Valerie Carol Marian Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Leader of the House for bringing this motion to the House and for the helpful explanatory note, which runs to three pages and is available in the Vote Office. May I also thank the staff for the expeditious way in which they are dealing with the future business, given the forthcoming general election?
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Civil Rights
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): I am more than happy to leave it to others to pontificate—they have had much more practice of that than me. The point I am making is that there is a difference in the protections in Northern Ireland, and protection is what the nationalist community has asked for. There is not the same legislative basis as in Wales and Scotland, and that is one thing that politicians in Northern Ireland could put right tomorrow. They could have put it right in the last 10 years, and they could have put it right after the talks broke down in January, but they have so far chosen not to.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Civil Rights
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): Perhaps my accent means that the hon. Gentleman is not getting what I am saying. I am talking about the realities on the ground. It is right and proper that this House hears what the obstacles are. The Secretary of State and I have talked about them ad infinitum over the past few months. We have tried to play our part in resolving them and to say to the people over there that although there are issues, they are not huge. This is not about people being let out of jail, as they were 20 years ago, on-the-runs or people being pardoned. They are relatively small issues, but they are genuine. If we cannot resolve the issues of equality and legacy, what are we here for The hon. Gentleman referred to the Northern Ireland Government, but I remind him that the Assembly is not even sitting. I am very clear that we will, without doubt, offer support. I have also had discussions with the head of the civil service and I am determined that it will be allowed to have the powers that it will need to carry on supporting public services in Northern Ireland. I am a huge supporter of that, which is one of the reasons why I am involved in this work.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): If I had not been so generous in accepting interventions—I have been happy to do so—I would have come on to that point. I did point out that I raised that gentleman’s case only because of how long ago it happened. We, as genuine, reasonable human beings—forget our status as politicians and our party affiliations—should be able to resolve matters and say that it is not right that, 48 years after something happened, families have not had the chance to see a report on the reason behind it.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Civil Rights
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): I do, but I am not prepared to detail such cases today, because I prepared that one, and as I said at the beginning—[Interruption.] If the hon. Gentleman will allow me to speak, I will tell him exactly why. I used that case because it was so long ago. He probably was not listening—he usually listens, but perhaps he was not doing so—but I made it very clear that I make no differentiation between victims. Whoever they were, however they died or however they were injured, they all deserve the right to have a system in place that enables a trial to be won. That is what the politicians in Northern Ireland are failing to do: they have failed to have a system that works properly. We have to build genuine openness, as well as confidence and trust, because if we do not, people will never be able to move this country forward Another issue that I want to raise—I am moving on from the legacy issue—is the abuse of the petition of concern, about which discussions with the political parties have taken place during the past few months. That process was put in place in the original agreements to allow a space for remedying issues, including the abuse of power, raised by one community against another. It was to make sure that that such things could not happen in the institutions, but it is now being used as a veto over progress. This was not the intention, and we must try to get back to the original intention.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Other
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): I just say very clearly to the hon. Gentleman—I will call him my hon. Friend—that he has not got what I said right in any way. I said nothing like that. The first thing I did in my speech was to condemn the act, but I did say at the end of it that the failure to get a political resolution will give some people another excuse to go back to the bad old days. That is not at all to say that I condone what went on in any way—not a chance.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Civil Rights
David Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way—I also look on him as a friend. May I make it very clear that I raised that case specifically to make a point about how long it has taken to resolve? I wanted to say to people in Northern Ireland and in this House that we have had 48 years to put the legacy thing right. I fully agree that the other cases that the hon. Gentleman has just spoken about could have been mentioned. It is unreasonable for victims’ families to have to wait for any length of time, but it is particularly unreasonable for them to have to wait for 48 years—that was why I raised that particular case.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): Order. I have a couple of things to say. Interventions are getting extremely long. Members are also referring to each other directly—we do not do that; we speak through the Chair. The whole tone of the debate until now has been very good, and I really do not want that to disappear. I understand the passions and the tensions, and I understand the importance of these matters, but the tone of the debate should be maintained as it has been so far. I call Jim Shannon.
Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-24
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): Order. We are in danger of ranging far outside the Second Reading of the Bill and getting bogged down into specifics about individual parties. I understand why and where that is coming from, but if we could keep more closely to the Bill, that would be fantastic.