argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Contaminated Blood — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. I am mindful that I have just two minutes to deal with 30 years of injustice in this case. Members will know that this is the worst treatment scandal in the history of the NHS On 14 January, the all-party parliamentary group on haemophilia and contaminated blood published a report about how the current support is wholly inadequate. After the publication of the Penrose report on 25 March, the Prime Minister told the House that "it is vital that we move as soon as possible to improve the way that payments are made to those infected" He added: "if I am Prime Minister in May, we will respond to the findings of this report as a matter of priority."—[Official Report, 25 March 2015; Vol. 594, c. 1423.] On 3 June, the Prime Minister promised "a full statement…before the summer recess".—[Official Report, 3 June 2015; Vol. 596, c. 584.] At 2 pm last Friday, a written statement was laid in the other place. In short, it means no extra help for victims for at least two more years. Tabling it in the other place when the Commons was not sitting was very shabby indeed I have four specific questions. First, when will we see a timetable for consultation on a reformed scheme of compensation? Will any of the £25 million be spent in 2015-16, as was promised by the Prime Minister Secondly, two years ago the Government sold an 80% stake in Plasma Resources UK, the company that creates plasma products for the NHS, to Bain Capital for £200 million. Was that capital receipt ring-fenced to compensate those affected by contaminated blood? If not, why not Thirdly, on 2 June the Secretary of State for Health wrote to one of his own constituents: "Any additional resources found for a settlement will be taken away from money spent on direct patient care for patients in the NHS." Is that really the Government’s intention? Will the Minister comment on the starkly different approach the Government took in compensating Equitable Life victims Fourthly, there are now drugs available that would allow people like my constituent Glen Wilkinson to clear hepatitis C, but they are not available automatically on the NHS. The NHS gave him the infection and the NHS could now treat him. Where is the justice in withholding those drugs I cannot overstate the feelings of anguish that have been caused by the Government’s conduct in recent days. Many victims feel that they are being left to die in misery so that the costs of any eventual settlement scheme become more affordable. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised urgent action. Now is the time to deliver.
Contaminated Blood — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Stephen Nathan Kinnock (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to speak on behalf of my constituent Tony Farrugia. Mr Farrugia lost his father and two uncles when they contracted AIDS and hepatitis C from contaminated blood. Days after the death of his father, Tony and his twin brother were separated and sent to care homes more than 100 miles apart. They were not reunited until a decade later. Will the Minister confirm that the emotional and psychological impact of such awful decisions will be included in the scope of the consultation?
Contaminated Blood — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): May I add my thanks to those already given to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) and add to her comments about the pressing need for a settlement? I recently learned of a constituent who contracted hepatitis C in the 1980s. The reality of his life is that the drug treatment he needs is not funded, although it is available in Scotland. He is looking at paying out £35,000 for a 12-week course of treatment and cannot get life insurance for mortgage purposes. He also talks about the stress and discomfort of the treatment he has tried. His life is on hold. This is a pressing matter. What can we offer him?
Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Defense
John Robert Cryer (Labour, Centre-left): Let us be clear: the Secretary of State is here today not because he is a big fan of parliamentary accountability, but because he knew that there would be an urgent question and he did not want to look as though he had been dragged kicking and screaming to the House of Commons—he is doing a pretty good imitation of that anyway. Will he answer a question that was asked previously: how long has he known about British involvement in military strikes in Syria?
Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Defense
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): In the last Parliament, the Defence Committee undertook an inquiry into strategic defence planning, and we found it woefully inadequate. The former Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee told us that the Prime Minister’s idea of strategy was "What’s next?" What is next seems to be a plan that is coming forward in September for us to take action in Syria. Will the Secretary of State undertake to bring a fully worked out strategy that includes what nations and organisations will hold any ground cleared by our planes, rather than policy on the hoof, which is what we have on a day-by-day basis at the moment?
Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Defense
Paula Michelle Sherriff (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State explain how the cause of building consensus on tackling ISIL has been advanced by the Government’s failure to be clear with the House about the involvement of UK armed forces in Syria?
Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Defense
Conor Patrick McGinn (Labour, Centre-left): As my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) said, the serious issue here is the fact that the Government have given permission for UK armed forces personnel to be involved in air strikes in Syria, despite giving first the impression and then the assurance that they would come to the House before they did any such thing. The Secretary of State has not recognised that. How can the Government expect to build the confidence of hon. Members, never mind the British public, to embark on further military action in Syria when they behave in that manner?
Welfare Reform and Work Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): Given what the right hon. Gentleman was just saying about ESA, what is his response to Parkinson's UK and Macmillan Cancer Support? They point out that, in the case of Parkinson’s, there are some 8,000 people in the work-related activity group with Parkinson’s and other progressive diseases who are not going to get better but who, under his proposals, will lose £30 a week. How can he defend that?
Welfare Reform and Work Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will readily acknowledge that people with Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis who are in the work-related activity group are not going to get better. Surely he should not be taking £30 a week away from them.
Welfare Reform and Work Bill — House of Commons, 2015-07-20
Topic: Health
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend raises an important point, which I wanted to return to. The implication of what the Secretary of State said is that, for example, people with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis should be in the support group, not in the work-related activity group. The Secretary of State needs to follow that through Because we support some measures in the Bill, oppose others and want to change yet others to make them workable, we ask the House to support the reasoned amendment in my name and those of my right hon. and hon. Friends.
DWP Data — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Health
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister has said that the data will be robust, but I simply do not accept the Government’s narrative that some people in receipt of employment and support allowance or incapacity benefit are not ill, because those are good epidemiological considerations when it comes to public health indicators. Why will the Minister not do the decent thing and publish the data in full today?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Defense
Gisela Stuart (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the House completed the process of setting up departmental Select Committees and their equivalents. However, one Committee remains as yet unformed, and even its Chairman has not yet been appointed. That is the Intelligence and Security Committee. How can we ensure that the Government will proceed with some speed to set up a Committee whose members are appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister?
Chemotherapy Drug Abraxane — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Health
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): The petition states: The Petition of residents of the UK, Declares that the chemotherapy drug Abraxane, used for treating people with pancreatic cancer, is being reviewed by the Cancer Drugs Fund panel at the end of July 2015; further that the drug should be retained on the Cancer Drugs Fund list of approved drugs; further that pancreatic cancer has the worst survival outcome of any of the 21 most common cancers with less than 4% of patients surviving 5 years or longer and that these low survival rates have remained virtually unchanged for the past 40 years; further that there are currently very few treatment options available for patients and that Abraxane offers a treatment option that some patients may be able to tolerate better than the most effective treatment currently available; further that ultimately Abraxane will give more patients access to life-extending treatment; further that removing Abraxane from the Cancer Drugs Fund will see pancreatic cancer patients in England disadvantaged; further that there is clinical support and demand for Abraxane and it is the only pancreatic cancer drug on the Cancer Drugs Fund; and further that an e-petition on this matter was signed by 2700 individuals The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to retain the chemotherapy drug Abraxane on the Cancer Drugs Fund list of approved drugs And the Petitioners remain, etc [P001539]
Lambeth and Southwark Milkspots — House of Commons, 2015-07-21
Topic: Health
Helen Elizabeth Hayes (Labour, Centre-left): I wish to present a petition on behalf of my constituents, which has been signed by 4,000 residents. It raises the important issue of milk spots cafés in Lambeth and Southwark, which exist to support new mothers who are breastfeeding their babies. They are staffed by expert midwives from King’s College Hospital, and provide a gold standard for post-natal breastfeeding support in the community, being free, accessible and held daily, and allowing continuity of care from skilled health professionals. King’s College Hospital has recently announced that it intends to recall those specialist midwives to perform general midwifery, with the aim of skills-sharing, and to replace them with midwives who have been given basic training, with no obvious expert support The health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies are proven, but women, particularly in deprived areas, need support to establish it, and to overcome the initial pain and challenges which are common, and which lead many women to give up in the early weeks. It is not clear that the replacement support will be sufficient for babies with complications such as tongue-tie. The petition protests against the proposed end of the current staffing arrangements The petition states: The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons require the Department of Health to urge King's College Hospital to preserve the existing staffing arrangements of the Lambeth and Southwark Milkspots, and to investigate other means of sharing skills amongst its midwives And the Petitioners remain, etc Following is the full text of the petition: [The Petition of residents of Dulwich and West Norwood, Declares that the Lambeth and Southwark Milkspots cafes staffed by expert midwives from King's College Hospital provide a gold standard of postnatal breastfeeding support in the community, being free, accessible, held daily, and allowing continuity of care from skilled health professionals; and further declares that King's College Hospital has announced that it intends to recall these specialist midwives with basic training, without any obvious expert support, and this will leave women with complicated needs without adequate support, advice or referral to hospital services; and that around 4,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to protest against the proposed end of current staffing arrangements. The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons require the Department of Health to urge King's College Hospital to preserve the existing staffing arrangements of the Lambeth and Southwark Milkspots, and to investigate other means of sharing skills amongst its midwives. And the Petitioners remain, etc.] [P001540]
Libyan Personnel: Bassingbourn Barracks — House of Commons, 2015-09-10
Topic: Defense
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): We are grateful for the knowledge, as a consequence of some of the questions that have been tabled, that that series of visits took place. My point is that, even if those visits—extraordinary as some of them might seem—were supervised, the key question is what happened in the case of the unsupervised visits What actually happened was described by councillors, including the one whom I quoted earlier, when they met representatives of the MOD and the Army in February. In the minutes of that meeting, we had, for the first time, an apology from the Army, but none from the Ministry of Defence; and we finally had a recognition from the Army that the consultation with key local stakeholders had been inadequate. However, as the Army representatives admitted, we also learned that there had been a significant change in what is known as the "walk-out" policy in August 2014. Councillors were told that the decision to allow trainees to leave the camp unsupervised had been made by Ministers. I ask the Minister to confirm that that was the case, and to tell me why the safety of Cambridge residents was put at risk at that point I have to say that I find the account of what was happening in late October after the first spate of incidents quite alarming. Councillors were told that following the incidents of October 17, measures taken to "add additional deterrent to leaving the camp included the addition of a platoon of Gurkha, two companies from the UK standby Battalion and Military Working Dogs." The following weekend, however, Cambridge suffered the most serious assaults of all. I also find it concerning that, in a written parliamentary answer on January 15 to the hon. Member for Bridgend, the then defence Minister said that the trainees "were…escorted to shops in the local area, and Cambridge City Centre." In the light of what we now know, that hardly does justice to what was actually happening Of course, there was also a significant financial cost. We have learned from parliamentary answers that the costs of the training programme and reactivating the facilities were some £17 million, of which only £2.48 million has so far been recouped from the Libyan Government Let me end with a series of very clear questions to the Minister. Will the full report be made available? Who exactly authorised the end to the supervised walk-out policy in August 2014? Why was so little revealed about what actually happened, for so long, and why has it had to be dragged out by freedom of information requests and parliamentary questions? Will the Minister hold a genuinely independent inquiry, as requested by the local councils? What will be the financial cost of this entire exercise to the taxpayer? Finally, will there now be a full and unequivocal apology to the people of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire who were put at such risk, particularly the residents who, it may be argued, were as much victims of Ministry of Defence negligence as the Libyan trainees?
Trade Union Bill — House of Commons, 2015-09-14
Topic: Health
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend. I was hoping to be able to make that very point myself. He has given me another minute Facility time is not a drain on the public purse; in fact, it is linked to increased productivity, which, as we all know, is crucial to the delivery of high-quality and cost-effective care in the NHS. There is a huge economic case for retaining the current arrangements. Capping facility time is an attempt to solve a problem that simply does not exist The Royal College of Nursing, which opposes the Bill, commissioned independent research. The resulting report shows that only 1.5% of public sector health care workplaces have a full-time union representative, and that those representatives are representing huge workforces consisting of some 2,500 people. They are dealing with employment issues every day, resolving conflicts before they escalate. The report also gives substantial evidence of close working between union reps and management, with managers reporting a high level of trust in their union colleagues The facility time proposals appear to have been drawn up by people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I call for the provisions in this Bill to be rejected.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): I hope the Secretary of State will not regret giving way, because I am going to intrude on the somewhat rosy view he is developing about Greater Manchester. There was a sense of shock there about the health devolution and the imposition of an elected mayor. Manchester is not a city; the unit we are talking about is 10 separate places. I represent Salford and I have been a councillor in Trafford, and I know that feelings run high about that imposition. The real concern is about health and the role of MPs once this health devolution goes ahead. The British Medical Association is very concerned that doctors were not consulted before that decision, and neither were MPs in Greater Manchester. We find ourselves too far outside the loop, and there are real concerns about the role of an MP in expressing their constituents’ concerns on health matters in the future. This is not at all clear.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Joan Marie Ryan (Labour, Centre-left): The point is that we need good devolution and devolution that works. Let me take the Secretary of State back to the health issue because there are real concerns, expressed by the Royal College of Nursing and the NHS Confederation, about fragmenting services and the fact that devolution will not solve the significant financial crisis that our health service and social care service face. Therefore, real safeguards are needed to avoid unintended consequences and to protect the patient.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making an important point about local government finance. Certainly, the two councils in my constituency are suffering very badly from the reductions in funding. Does he also recognise that, with the devolution of powers such as health, there is a complex situation starting to develop in which health budgets are ring-fenced, except public health, which has been top sliced, and adult social care, which has been decimated? There is still an overall budget deficit in the health and care system.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): It is noteworthy that national organisations, such as the British Medical Association and the Nuffield Trust, are very concerned about the health proposals, and the Minister should take that on board. They have expressed concerns about how health powers and resources will be devolved. The matter is not clear. This is an area where there are already variations in funding, in standards of care and in the way NHS funding is used. This is a question for the Minister. What will national pledges and targets mean in future when there are shared budgets? It was forced on Greater Manchester, which is why none of it is clear.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): It is good that a consensus is being built across Greater Manchester. The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that issue, and I know that Wythenshawe hospital is very concerned about being left out of the equation in that regard, so how these decisions will be made and consulted on in future is very worrying. But there are other concerns as well. Salford was a leader in the integration of health and social care, and my fear is that that will now be set back by having to work across Greater Manchester.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend will know that there are now advanced plans for an integrated care organisation in Tameside. Is she as concerned as I am that that is not in itself a silver bullet? There is a massive deficit in the social care budget and a massive deficit in the NHS budget, and integrating the two will still leave a deficit. Is it not time that we told it as it is—social care cuts are NHS cuts?
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-10-14
Topic: Health
Angela Rayner (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend has a considerable expertise and intelligence in that area, and I absolutely concur with him. The concept about which Lincoln spoke a time long ago—Government of the people, by the people, for the people—could pave the way for a first-class health and social care service in our localities, but as the local and regional press in Greater Manchester have pointed out, first-class services shaped by our people in Greater Manchester need a fair deal—a fair devo deal When the Government devolve the health and social care budget of £6 billion, please will they be clear and transparent about the £2 billion deficit that the combined authority will inherit? When they devolve further education budgets, why slice 25% off them before transferring them to Greater Manchester councillors? When they talk about electrifying the Northern Rail network, will they stop centrally turning the electric light on, off and on again—we want a powerhouse, not a disco? That is at the heart of our concerns today. The Secretary of State has yet to assure us that he is not just looking to pass the buck and hold on to the bucks.
Junior Doctors Contract — House of Commons, 2015-11-30
Topic: Health
Gisela Stuart (Labour, Centre-left): When the Secretary of State chaired his three contingency meetings, did he take account of the fact that last year we had about 43,900 excess winter deaths, which were avoidable and largely caused by almost toxic overcrowding of emergency departments? What provisions has he made to avoid the excess deaths that we had last year and to make sure that that is not made even worse by the present situation?
Junior Doctors Contract — House of Commons, 2015-11-30
Topic: Health
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State has to accept his responsibility in bringing about the cancellation of operations, because if he had been prepared to go to ACAS at the outset, all this would have been avoided. Does he accept that he is going to have to change his attitude towards negotiating with these junior doctors if we are to get the satisfactory outcome that we all want?