argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Sustainable Development Goals — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: International Affairs
Anas Sarwar (Labour, Centre-left): As we have heard from a number of speakers, 2015 has the potential to be an historic year for international development. The international community will come together in September to agree the sustainable development goals and at the end of the year to agree a framework to tackle climate change. That will happen just in year one of the next Parliament. The next five years must be about not just making the right agreements but, crucially, delivering on them. That will require commitment, energy and, crucially, leadership on the international stage. We will need the ability to set the agenda, to advocate and persuade, to build alliances, and to use our influence to make a difference for some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people I echo the comments of my right hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Dame Tessa Jowell), who rightly mentioned how we strove for consensus. Let us remember that the consensus was built by the last Government; it was not there from the beginning. It is also important to recognise that our criticism of the Government is not that they do not act on the international stage on international development—of course they do and we welcome that—but it is the force of their advocacy and leadership. Compare that with the last Labour Government. We created the Department for International Development. We trebled the aid budget. We founded the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We led on cancelling debt. We created the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and we drove the efforts on the millennium development goals In contrast, the Government have failed to show leadership at home, never mind abroad. They had a clear manifesto commitment to legislate on 0.7% gross national income in international aid—[Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) listens, he will find that we are much more in agreement and perhaps he too will be open to transparency, accountability and debate—things that both sides of the House welcome. The 0.7% aim was in the Conservatives’ manifesto and the coalition agreement. Thankfully, the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore) delivered a Bill on 0.7% and I pay tribute to him and all the Members who got behind the Bill to make sure that we delivered on our international obligations. I just wish that it had been done in Government time, which would have shown more leadership—
Local Authority Spending — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect of real-terms cumulative changes in local authority spending power on services in communities with the greatest needs since 2010-11.; What assessment he has made of the effect of real-terms cumulative changes in local authority spending power on services in communities with the greatest needs since 2010-11.
Michael Joseph Patrick Kane (Labour, Centre-left): According to the BBC, Greater Manchester councils are preparing for another cut of £250 million this year, which is in addition to the £1.2 billion taken out of their budgets since 2010. Given the Public Accounts Committee’s conclusion that the Department for Communities and Local Government had limited understanding of the impact of the cuts on services, are Ministers not out of touch?
Local Authority Spending — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect of real-terms cumulative changes in local authority spending power on services in communities with the greatest needs since 2010-11.; What assessment he has made of the effect of real-terms cumulative changes in local authority spending power on services in communities with the greatest needs since 2010-11.
Andrew Sawford (Labour, Centre-left): The National Audit Office says that local government has faced 37% cuts on average, and hon. Members have highlighted just how unfair those cuts are. Why is the Department refusing to publish figures that show the real-terms, year-on-year changes by local authority, as the NAO and now the Public Accounts Committee have urged? Are the Government frightened to lay bare just how grotesquely unfair their policies are to the poorest communities?
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Gisela Stuart (Labour, Centre-left): Birmingham is one of the fastest growing younger cities in Europe—40% of its population is under 25, and 30% under 15. Combined with local authority cuts of £281 per head in the next financial year, and a totally dysfunctional commissioning system, does the Minister seriously think that even the good intentions of the children and young person’s taskforce will address the problems we already have, as well as those that we can see coming but have no means of remedying?
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Education
Pat Glass (Labour, Centre-left): In 2012, the Education Select Committee called CAMHS in this country a "national disgrace" and urged that the Department for Education and the Department of Health urgently get together to avoid the crisis we are seeing today. In the meantime, we have seen cuts in services, provision and funding, leading to the chaos today. I am incredibly unhappy with the complacency of the Minister’s answers. It is almost as if he is a spectator. He is the Minister with responsibility, and the answer is not a taskforce two years down the line or a prevalence survey five years down the line; it is to take action now.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In written parliamentary question 221790, I sought information from the Home Office about funding allocated to the child abuse inquiry for the 2014-15 financial year and for future years. I received the answer: "We will ensure appropriate funding" Given that we are nearly three quarters of the way through this financial year, I would expect the Home Office to have that information readily available. I also feel it is disrespectful to Parliament not to provide the detailed information requested in a parliamentary question. Can you offer me any guidance, Mr Speaker, on how to take the matter further?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Government Operations
Lisa Eva Nandy (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would be grateful for your advice. As a result of delays and confusion among Government Departments, my question, which would have addressed Government proposals to deny the people of Greater Manchester a vote on their mayor until 2019, was denied entry to the correct Department—the Department for Communities and Local Government—whose Question Time took place earlier today. Given that the people of Greater Manchester have not been given any opportunity to challenge these proposals, is there anything within your powers that you can do, Mr Speaker, to ensure that the Government cannot show the same sort of contempt that they have shown to the people to those who sit in this Parliament?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Government Operations
Lisa Eva Nandy (Labour, Centre-left): My understanding from the Table Office is that there has been considerable confusion within Government about which Government Department is going to take responsibility for the proposals that are currently being rushed through the parliamentary process. Today’s Question Time was one of the very few opportunities before the general election for anybody to be able to shine a spotlight on what is happening. I understand that because of the delays and confusion, the question was incorrectly taken out of the shuffle by the Table Office.
Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I am glad that the Minister has so much confidence in the coroners system. I accept that where it works well, it works well, but she also knows that there are some absolutely appalling coroners in this country. May I suggest that she looks at Mr Justice Blake’s report on Deepcut? It shows what happened to the families and how the MOD acted, and we hope that things have changed, but I would certainly argue against the idea that there is somehow a universal standard for the coroners service across the country.
Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I agree with my hon. Friend. We are making progress by changing the attitudes of some of the old and the bold in the Conservative party and changing the culture among the senior management of all three services, who accept as a fact of life that bullying, harassment and sexual discrimination are not acceptable in our armed forces and will not be tolerated. The Minister is right that the present chiefs, as I know them, take a zero-tolerance view of such behaviour, and this will support them in ensuring that it does not happen.
Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): I do not often feel compassion for the Lord Chancellor, but even he must have approached the Chamber this afternoon with how sad steps. Today, on the heels of the dismissal of the chief inspector of prisons comes the resignation of the conflicted chief inspector of probation, and so, on the first full day of probation privatisation, we have no one in charge of standards in the service The Lord Chancellor is scattering confidential data around like confetti, he appears to have changed at whim the burden of proof in criminal cases, and this afternoon, one of his favourite private contractors, Capita, was fined £16,000 by the president of the—
Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): Indeed, that is what I intend to do, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was simply making the point that, with all of that going on just in the past few days, here we are talking about the Lord Chancellor’s heroes Bill. He is fiddling while Rome burns: more Nero than hero We are all sick of the Bill. I suspect the Lord Chancellor is sick of the Bill. Like many of his projects, it began as an exercise in public relations and a nod towards the tabloids, and a coded attack on the rights of the individual to find redress through the law. Both the ridicule and the incredulity with which it has been met on both sides of both Houses, and from almost every expert commentator, has exposed its pointlessness and fragility The Bill will be locked away from public gaze, elided by the courts and ignored by everyone else until some future Government finds a space in the legislative timetable to repeal it. The noble Lord Pannick said that he could not "remember a legislative proposal that has been the subject of more sustained ridicule and derision."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 15 December 2014; Vol. 758, c. 16.] The chair of the Law Society policy board today wrote that there were two views of the Bill: that is was "vague, meaningless and otiose" or "so ill-defined that it is dangerous to the point of mischievousness". Given that history, do the two minor amendments do anything to improve the Bill? They certainly do not make it any worse, if that is any comfort to the Lord Chancellor, so we have no reason to vote against them Amendment 2 has been urged on the Government since Second Reading on 21 July 2014, when the hon. Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall) pointed out the unhelpful nature of the final words of clause 4. I moved to delete the offending words— "and without regard to the person’s own safety or other interests"— in Committee, supported by a very strong argument from St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross. However, it was not until Report in the other place that the Government finally gave in, stating: "This will put beyond doubt that the clause applies to anybody who intervenes in an emergency to help somebody in danger, regardless of whether they acted entirely spontaneously or weighed up the risks before intervening."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 15 December 2014; Vol. 758, c. 44.] I am not sure that that was the point of the objections; rather, it was concern that the Government were encouraging bystanders to intervene, even when it was not safe to do so, and when more lives might be placed at risk, including those of professional rescuers. The Government have at least removed one howler, whatever their motive or excuse for doing so, so we welcome amendment 2. It is just rather late in the day in coming.
Constitutional Law — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: Education
Iain McKenzie (Labour, Centre-left): Many hon. Members, regardless of political party, have made much of continuing that engagement with young people and getting access to our schools in order to discuss with our young people who are about to be 16 the relevance of politics to their lives. We have seen an awakening among young people, so I encourage each and every Member to carry on with that. I am about to meet 100 young people from Inverclyde schools to discuss such matters on Friday.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-02-02
Topic: International Affairs
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 10, 11 and 12 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Social Security That the draft Social Security (Penalty as Alternative to Prosecution) (Maximum Amount) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 8 December 2014, be approved Criminal Law That the draft Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Fines on Summary Conviction) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 17 December 2014, be approved. Sea Fisheries That the Fishing Boats (Satellite-Tracking Devices and Electronic Reporting) (England) (Amendment) Scheme 2014 (S.I., 2014, No. 3363), dated 18 December 2014, a copy of which was laid before this House on 6 January, be approved.—(Damian Hinds.) Question agreed to. European Union Documents Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 119(11)), The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and EU Restrictive Measures in Response to the Illegal Annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 13519/14, a Council Decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, and provisional application of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part, as regards Title III (with the exception of the provisions relating to the treatment of third-country nationals legally employed as workers in the territory of the other party) and Titles IV, V, VI and VII thereof, as well as the related Annexes and Protocols, No. 1351/2014, Council Regulation (EU) of 18 December 2014 amending Regulation (EU) No. 692/2014 concerning restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, and No. 2014/933/CFSP, Council Decision of 18 December 2014 amending Decision 2014/386/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol; supports the Government’s aim of demonstrating flexibility on timing of the provisional application of parts of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, as part of an intense wider effort to deescalate tensions on the ground in Ukraine; encourages the use of the Association Agreement between the EU, its Member States and Ukraine to embed sustainable reform, security and prosperity in Ukraine and the eastern neighbourhood; and supports the Government’s aim of fully implementing its policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol.—(Damian Hinds.) Question agreed to.
Prisoner Rehabilitation Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Lord Laming is inquiring into looked-after children and the criminal justice system. As well as rehabilitation, what is the Justice Secretary doing to help youngsters who have been in care to avoid a life in crime?
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State agree that central to reducing crime rates overall is reducing the rate of reoffending? Does he therefore also agree that to cut rehabilitative services, and funding for them, ultimately would be counter- productive in the long term?
Prisons: Work — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Helen Mary Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will be well aware that one of the biggest safeguards against reoffending is getting people into a job. In a number of prisons, including HMP Risley in my constituency, however, prisoners are often denied access to work experience because the prison wings are locked owing to a shortage of staff. What is the hon. Gentleman doing to tackle this problem?
Departmental Absence Management — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: How many days of sickness absence there were in his Department in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Fiona Margaret Mactaggart (Labour, Centre-left): But that suggests that it is prison officers who have been the victim of assaults by prisoners, for example, who are taking sickness absence. What is this year’s rate of assaults on prison officers, and what is the Department doing to reduce it?
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Kate Ofunne Osamor (Labour, Centre-left): Half of the prisons inspected by Ofsted in 2013 and 2014 were judged either to require improvement or as inadequate for learning and skills. Purposeful activity for adult male prisoners has plummeted in the past few years. Does the Minister agree that budget cuts are reducing opportunities for rehabilitation?
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): Reconviction rates double for prisoners who report using drugs in the four weeks before custody. If the Minister and his many colleagues do just one thing, will they please ensure that they reduce access to drugs in prison?
Reoffending — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): I am glad to hear that the Minister is taking the matter seriously—and so he should—but he might want to look at what is actually happening on the ground. Just this morning, the chief inspector of prisons published a report on Pentonville prison in which, among his many criticisms, he observed that there was no detailed drug supply strategy. How many other prisons do not have a detailed drug supply strategy?
Youth Justice — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Christina Elizabeth Rees (Labour, Centre-left): The number of young people behind bars is indeed falling, but the latest figures show that the number of white children in custody has fallen at twice the rate of that for those from ethnic minorities. What is the Justice Secretary doing to ensure that we help all young people to turn their lives around, regardless of race or background?
Youth Justice — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): Consistently, Labour Members, along with charities such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, have argued that the idea of a secure college for young offenders is fundamentally wrong. Will the Justice Secretary indicate whether he has yet decided to drop his plans?
Youth Justice — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): An interesting and pithy response, but it does not take us forward, does it? We all agree that education should play a central role in rehabilitation, but spending £85 million on a new prison of this kind is not the best way to help young offenders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has expressed misgivings about these plans, so will the Justice Secretary tell us, here and now, whether the project will be cancelled?
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): Cuts to legal aid have meant that lots of our constituents are finding it even more difficult to access justice, and often they are the most vulnerable constituents who come to see us at our surgeries as a result. What is the new Justice Secretary going to do to make sure that those individuals get access to justice?
Court Reform — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): The Lord Chancellor has indeed had something to say about the reform of the court system this morning. May I say "Well done" for spotting the gaping inequality in the justice system that his predecessor has created? Did he have in mind the 89% fall in social welfare legal aid cases under the previous Government—legal aid for the very poorest—or his own further cut in criminal legal aid announced last week? The president of the Law Society said that that cut could "undermine the criminal justice system to the point that it may no longer deliver fair outcomes."
Mental Health — House of Commons, 2015-06-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher James Evans (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome both the Minister and the Lord Chancellor to their places. In November 2014, Argoed, a close-knit community in my constituency, was rocked by the horrific murder of Cerys Yemm. She was killed by a prisoner who had just been released and sent to stay in a bed and breakfast. Neither the council nor the landlady was told of his mental health issues. He could not get hold of the mental health medication he needed, the result of which was this unfortunate incident. His mother says that he was in and out of the criminal justice system all his life. He would go into a hostel, and then back to prison when he committed another crime. I thank the Lord Chancellor for agreeing to meet me to discuss this case. Will the Department now launch an urgent investigation into how we monitor the mental health of former prisoners?