argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Fuel Poverty — House of Commons, 2016-01-07
Topic: Energy
Mark Fraser Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Evidence has suggested that rural communities are disproportionately adversely affected by fuel poverty. One way of combating that is through the development of domestic energy syndicates and the collective purchasing of oil. What proactively could and should the Department be doing to support such initiatives?
Small-scale Solar Sector — House of Commons, 2016-01-07
Topic: Energy
Questions: My constituency has a number of thriving solar businesses, some of which I have worked with during the recent changes to feed-in tariffs. As the Government look to the industry to expand, and in response to a query from Solar UK in Battle, will the Minister explain how she will support the development of energy storage solutions for existing and future solar systems?
John David Pugh (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Minister is in danger of sounding complacent on this subject. Many small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency fear the end of solar. Has she had a chance to consider the Solar Trade Association’s £1 rescue scheme, and what is her response to it?
Children in Care — House of Commons, 2016-01-07
Topic: Social Welfare
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I very much agree with the points the hon. Lady is making. Does she agree that this is a false economy? If we cut back on preventive services—the support services to which she is referring—we will end up spending more in supporting children in need, who have reduced educational outcomes and all the other consequences of being in care. From everybody’s point of view, it is a worthwhile investment to stop that happening.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — House of Commons, 2016-03-16
Topic: Education
Timothy James Farron (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, based on real, first-hand experience. We know that the drive to compulsorily move all schools to academies is about centralisation, not localisation; it is about rearranging the deckchairs, making life harder for headteachers and teachers, and listening to special advisers, rather than teachers. It is hugely damaging for our educational system and our children The fundamental problem in schools across the country at the moment is the recruitment and retention crisis, and the Government are today choosing to put teachers under extra pressure. Instead, the Chancellor should pay our teachers more Perhaps the Chancellor knows young people who have the ability to save £4,000 a year, but I do not, so let me enlighten him: the lack of an ISA scheme is not the reason young people are not saving; it is the debt and soaring house prices that he is heaping on them This Chancellor’s ambition is not to devolve power but to devolve debt. His decision on business rates is a good one for business and one that we have been calling for, but he refuses to pay for the devolution of business rates, and that will be disastrous for the communities in which these businesses are located. He is moving his tough decisions on to local government. Social care, local transport and rubbish collections will all be under much greater threat. With his changes to public sector pensions, our schools and hospitals face a further bill of £2 billion. That is a stealth tax on education and health—not a headline for the Chancellor but a massive headache for headteachers, doctors, and nurses This is the Chancellor’s sweet and sour Budget. He makes bold claims that never materialise, masking real pain. There is no serious immediate investment in transport, broadband, housing or green energy, just far-off plans that exist only on a Whitehall spreadsheet—plans written by political advisers no doubt high-fiving each other in the boardroom over grand announcements that will never actually materialise, ignorant of their impact on real people The Chancellor talks about fixing the roof when the sun is shining. There are 0% interest rates. The sun is shining yet he chooses to knock holes in the roof. This would be the moment to be ambitious and to invest in the infrastructure for the long-term economic future of our country. On the one side, we have a Government choosing to attack the very fabric of our communities, and sadly, on the other, an Opposition too focused on themselves to be able to stand up for the real people in this country. We owe our constituents, and we owe Britain, better than this. It is time that we had a Government who showed a little more respect to the people in this country who care for us, who teach our children, and who keep us safe. Britain deserves better.
Local Transport Projects — House of Commons, 2016-01-28
Topic: Transportation
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Is the Minister able to say whether funding will be available for a very important local transport project, which is to extend the overground line from West Croydon through to Sutton? That would enable passengers who currently have to rely on the shambolic services provided by Southern and Thameslink to use that line instead.
Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia — House of Commons, 2016-01-28
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Minister will recall that I wrote to him on 18 November on this matter. In his reply, he said: "We regularly raise our concerns with the Coalition through Ministerial, diplomatic and military channels" He went on: "The Saudi Arabian authorities have given us assurances that they are complying with IHL" On the subject of cluster munitions, the Government apparently "encouraged Saudi Arabia as a non-party to the Convention"— the convention against cluster munitions—to accede to it. Does the Minister understand why some Members are concerned that the Government are not adopting a particularly challenging attitude towards the Saudis, when combined with the Minister’s statement about being "disappointed" at the execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia? Will the Minister do something concrete and ask the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for investigating IHL breaches, to look at this and, if necessary, go over the ground of previous claims about IHL breaches?
NHS and Social Care Commission — House of Commons, 2016-01-28
Topic: Government Operations
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I appreciate the hon. Lady’s kind words. She is talking about all the various initiatives and the need for political will, but the conclusion is that none of those things has happened. There has not been the political will because of the acutely partisan environment in which we all work. Does that not make the case for a process—which the Government could buy into and all the parties could commit to—that will deliver change in a defined period?
NHS and Social Care Commission — House of Commons, 2016-01-28
Topic: Government Operations
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Is there not a danger with the approach that the hon. Lady advocates? We can continue to have a go at the Government and say how awful the pressure on staff and the deterioration of services are—I accept that a lot of that is happening—but is it not better to try to achieve a solution rather than wait in the hope that at some point in the future, a Government might take a decision to provide the necessary funding and other necessary changes?
NHS and Social Care Commission — House of Commons, 2016-01-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The hon. Lady is talking a lot of sense, as she always does. The "Five Year Forward View" set out three scenarios, but it did not ask for £8 billion; that is just the narrative that has developed. The efficiency assumptions on which the £8 billion—or £10 billion, or whatever we want to call it—is based are unimaginable. They are at least 2% to 3% throughout the period between now and 2020, and everyone knows that that is not going to be delivered.
Prisons and Secure Training Centres: Safety — House of Commons, 2016-01-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Morrison Carmichael (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am sure that we will all watch "Panorama" with great interest, but, whatever we see, we have all known for years that there were problems with these institutions. That is why we have the recidivism rates to which the Justice Secretary referred. We must not be allowed to scapegoat the staff. They do an exceptionally difficult job, very often picking up the failures of other parts of the public services—the education system, the care system and the social work system. When he comes to give the remit to the inquiry that he has announced today, will he make sure that the work of all those different parts of the public services and others interacts with these young people before they end up in detention and is given proper scrutiny as well?
Syria: Madaya — House of Commons, 2016-01-11
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Have the UK Government had discussions with Russia about stopping Assad dropping bombs on people in Madaya as soon as aid has been delivered, and about whether it would allow the RAF to drop food supplies in Madaya, the other two places the Secretary of State mentioned and elsewhere, if the aid trucks fail to get through?
Local Government Funding: Rural Areas — House of Commons, 2016-01-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s efforts in pursuing this matter and securing the debate. Does he share my view that the impact on social care in rural areas is particularly acute? Large travelling distances, combined with the increase in the minimum wage, increase costs further. Does he share my concern that many social care providers are thinking of withdrawing from the market because they cannot make ends meet?
S4C: Funding — House of Commons, 2016-01-13
Topic: Government Operations
Mark Fraser Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Prime Minister said last week at the Dispatch Box that he wanted to "meet…the wording and the spirit of our manifesto promise", on S4C, which stated: "We would safeguard the funding and editorial independence of S4C." In the light of last week’s commitment, may I invite the Minister to make it clear that the Government will abandon the proposed cuts to the DCMS part of S4C’s budget and undertake a review of the future funding needs of S4C?
Short Money — House of Commons, 2016-02-23
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I have no problem at all with the transparency that has just been asked for. The Minister is a decent man, but I think he has been tasked with doing someone else’s dirty business. What he is proposing is not actually about the cost of politics; if it were, he would also propose a cut in the budget for special advisers. This is actually about gagging the Opposition. Will he scrap this rushed consultation, abandon the attack on the scrutiny of the Government, and look again at how the cost of politics can be reduced by, for instance, chopping the budget for special advisers?
Energy Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-01-18
Topic: Energy
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): If the Secretary of State still intends to scrap the onshore wind subsidy, will she tell us whether she intends to promote a more expensive form of renewable energy or simply to miss our renewable energy targets? Will she confirm that according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s estimate of the annual savings as a result of her proposals on onshore wind subsidy, the savings in the lowest range will be just 30p a year?
Social Mobility and Child Poverty — House of Commons, 2016-01-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s report, “State of the Nation 2015: Social Mobility and Child Poverty in Great Britain”, published in December 2015.
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am sure that the strategy that the Minister mentions will recognise that early intervention is key to improving social mobility. Has he looked at the impact of the removal of the ring-fencing of the early intervention grant, which has led to a 40% drop in the money available for early intervention? What will the impact of that be on social mobility?
HMRC and Google (Settlement) — House of Commons, 2016-01-25
Topic: Macroeconomics
Gregory Thomas Mulholland (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): If any of the thousands of wonderful small businesses in this country failed to pay their taxes for 11 years, they would not be sitting negotiating with HMRC; they would be sitting down with the police. Can the Minister therefore understand the anger of small businesses and taxpayers when a quarter of calls to HMRC are not even answered? Will some of this money go into sorting that out?
Child Refugees in Europe — House of Commons, 2016-01-25
Topic: Social Welfare
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank the seven colleagues from seven different political parties, including the Conservative party, who signed a joint letter to the Prime Minister on this subject. The right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) also signed it. We obviously welcome the fact that the Government are still considering this issue, although we would like them to do so with a greater degree of urgency. If the Government are considering taking the 3,000 children, I hope that they will not suggest that that should happen over five years, because then some of those children would be at risk of freezing to death for the next four years or falling into the hands of traffickers Childcare Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 2) Ordered, That the Order of 25 November 2015 (Childcare Bill [Lords] (Programme)) be varied as follows: (1) Paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Order shall be omitted (2) Proceedings on Consideration shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion, at today’s sitting, one and a half hours after the commencement of proceedings on the motion for this order (3) Proceedings in Legislative Grand Committee and proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion, at today’s sitting, three hours after the commencement of proceedings on the motion for this order.—(Mr Gyimah.)
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-03-10
Topic: Transportation
Questions: On 4 February this year, hundreds of my constituents were gridlocked on the M6 and the M42 for an entire day following an accident. Would the Minister meet me to discuss lessons to be learned from that day of chaos and examine proposals to open the M6 toll for free or for a nominal charge, but only when such crisis situations occur?; With an estimated skills gap of some 50,000 HGV drivers predicted by the end of this Parliament, does the Minister agree that it would make sense for the Government to contribute towards the £3,500 training fee required for licences? Not only would that help to plug the skills gap, but it would mean more people working and paying tax, and it would reduce welfare.; Will the Minister join me in welcoming the report published earlier this week by the Independent Transport Commission, which sets out ways in which the environmental impact of expansion at Heathrow can be mitigated? Given the increased confidence that it can be mitigated, and given the weight of opinion included in the Davies report, when can we look forward to a statement and progress on the matter?; Does the rail Minister agree that capital improvements to the Ely North junction and the nearby crossing are crucial to securing improved services on the line between King’s Cross and King’s Lynn, thus unlocking more economic growth along the route? Will she and her colleagues work with me to help to secure this crucial investment?
John David Pugh (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): What actual progress has been made with the top three projects recommended by the northern electrification taskforce, which was chaired by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones)?
Apprenticeships — House of Commons, 2016-03-10
Topic: Macroeconomics
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I should like to start by paying tribute to my apprentice, Callum Morton. If the Minister is doling out praise for those who have contributed to apprenticeships, I hope that he will add Vince Cable to the list, because he played a fantastic role in government. This Government have decided to include in the definition of payroll the bonuses paid to employee owners, although dividend payments to shareholders are not covered. Will this mean that companies such as John Lewis and other employee-owned companies will end up paying more in the levy? If that is the case, will it not act as a disincentive to that model of enterprise?
Restoration and Renewal — House of Commons, 2016-01-21
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What steps the Commission plans to take to ensure public and parliamentary scrutiny of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster after a decision on the options for that project has been made.; What steps the Commission plans to take to ensure public and parliamentary scrutiny of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster after a decision on the options for that project has been made.
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I anticipate that both Houses will have an opportunity to debate the matter once the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster has reported. The question of future scrutiny will be aired in those debates and the House of Commons Commission will listen carefully to the views expressed before making any decisions.
Restoration and Renewal — House of Commons, 2016-01-21
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What steps the Commission plans to take to ensure public and parliamentary scrutiny of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster after a decision on the options for that project has been made.; What steps the Commission plans to take to ensure public and parliamentary scrutiny of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster after a decision on the options for that project has been made.
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I hope that everyone in this place has learned the lessons of PFI. Again, it is not for me to work out what the financial arrangements are going to be, but clearly PFI may well be one of the more expensive options. I hope that the Treasury will look at something that is perhaps more straightforward in funding these improvements.
Gender Equality — House of Commons, 2016-01-21
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That is a good point, and in terms of the party appointees, it is for the political parties to respond to it. I am pleased, however, that the two lay people on the Commission are women, as the hon. Gentleman indicated.
Litvinenko Inquiry — House of Commons, 2016-01-21
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): A slap on the wrist for Russia won’t do it. President Putin’s heart will not miss a beat if the UK cancels a trade mission here or a cultural visit there, but it will if we expand the scope of the sanctions already in force because of Russia’s illegal activities in Ukraine. Will the UK Government now ban any other Russians implicated in the murder, however senior, from travelling to the UK and freeze their assets? An assault on our sovereignty, which saw a British citizen murdered on British soil in a nuclear attack, requires nothing less.
Childhood Obesity Strategy — House of Commons, 2016-01-21
Topic: Agriculture
Norman Peter Lamb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am delighted that the hon. Lady is pursuing this issue. Has she looked at whether there could be a tax on the ingredient "sugar" in products, so that we create an incentive to reformulate, in order to reduce sugar content not just in fizzy drinks but across foods and drinks generally? Could that be a way to get the industry to start to think about the content of its food?
Women Against State Pension Inequality — House of Commons, 2016-03-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Morrison Carmichael (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for that answer and encourage him to continue the engagement with the WASPI campaign. One of its achievements has been to bring forward an army of women who say that they were not given proper and effective notice of what was coming towards them in terms of their retirement age. Whether that was the right thing or the wrong thing to do is no longer the issue. The fact is that it was done badly, and that now needs proper attention.
EU Referendum (Privy Council) — House of Commons, 2016-03-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Does the Leader of the House agree that when it comes to serial offenders, one of the most effective forms of reparation for the victim is restorative justice, whereby the offender apologises directly to the victim? Does he support the principles of restorative justice?
Energy Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-03-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Morrison Carmichael (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. How likely does he think it will be that any private money will ever be forthcoming, given the somewhat irrational manner in which the funding for the projects has been abandoned in this country?