argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Departmental Spending — House of Commons, 2020-07-07
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): That may well be the case, but I think taking coal off the electricity generating system—the power generation network—is historically one of the most significant things that this country has done. If we look back in our own lifetimes, we see that coal and industrial questions relating to it were a dominant part of industrial and political debate only 20, 30 or 40 years ago, but in 2024 we hope to remove coal entirely from electricity generation. That is a huge success. We typically do not get the credit we would like in this House, but that is a significant achievement. I want to talk briefly about some of the broader questions relating to this debate. It would be invidious of me to single out individual speeches, as there were so many good ones, but there are one or two areas where I want to reconfirm Government policy and give a good account of what we have achieved Many of the speeches I heard as I sat on the Treasury Bench were understandably focused on the Government’s response to the covid-19 outbreak. At the start of the crisis, the Government made it perfectly clear that we would do whatever it took to support our businesses and economy, and we have substantially delivered on that. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun mentioned the £330 billion commitment from the Treasury and said that it is an example of failure because the amount of debt—the loans that we have given—is a fraction of that, but of course the £330 billion also includes the furlough scheme, which was not in the form of a loan. It was the Government intervening and paying wages. It was a huge intervention, and it had nothing to do with loans. I am sure the hon. Gentleman understands that. This has been a cross-Government effort, and we in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have played our part in delivering a range of Government-backed finance schemes Let me re-enumerate those schemes: the coronavirus business interruption loans scheme, the bounce back loans, the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme, and the future fund, which is an equity-to-debt scheme. As of this week, £45 billion-worth of loans have been approved through those schemes, backed largely by Government guarantees.
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Departmental Spending — House of Commons, 2020-07-07
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The accusation from some quarters of the House was that the Government had not done enough, and it was very much necessary to state for the record what we actually had done, and that is what I will proceed to do In the last few minutes of my remarks, I turn my attention to what is at the centre of the Department and at the centre of its strategy: the net zero commitment. I think it was the hon. Member for Bristol North West who said that this cannot just be a stand-alone policy. It is not; it is at the heart and centre of Government strategy. I also reject those voices that say that somehow we are the laggards and the backward students. That is a completely wrong characterisation. I mentioned coal. Germany’s date to remove coal from its electricity power generation is 2038—a whole 14 years after this Government and this country will have left coal behind. We are leaders, not followers, in many of these respects. The Prime Minister outlined in his speech on 30 June that we intend to "build back better, build back greener, build back faster", and that is exactly what we intend to do The Prime Minister has already spoken of our plans to run 4,000 new zero-carbon buses and the new plan for cycleways as part of the upgrades to transport infrastructure. Since the outbreak of covid-19 in this country, we have published the first stage of our transport decarbonisation plan. That plan provides a measure of certainty and a clear pathway to the future. We have announced a £2 billion package for cycling and to encourage people to walk, which is not only more energy efficient, but also tackles issues such as obesity and exercise. We can remobilise and decarbonise at the same time, and that is exactly what we intend to do The hon. Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) made a passionate set of speeches, and I agree with her to some degree—we can always do better and go faster—but I disagree with the idea that somehow we have simply idled our time away and done nothing Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your patience and for the very brisk way in which the debate has been handled. We have heard some excellent speeches. BEIS is now considering how best to support businesses. The green recovery is at the heart of what we want to do post covid, and we are exceptionally focused—more than any other Department—on delivering the strategic goal of net zero. In all this work, we will continue to listen to businesses, large and small. I particularly look forward to engaging in debate with Members of this House, as I have done in the past. We are also listening to business representative organisations. We are determined to get it right for individuals and businesses who need support, for our economy and for the future.
Self-employment Income Support Scheme — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): The self-employment support scheme opened last week ahead of schedule and provides support worth up to £7,500 to millions of individuals. I am pleased to tell the House that, at the end of yesterday, there had been more than 2 million claims, with grants worth £6 billion in total being claimed for. Those people will have the money in their bank accounts within six working days of their claim, and of course, I will keep the scheme under review.
Covid-19: Economic Support — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): Our plan to support businesses and individuals is one of the most comprehensive in the world. We have provided tens of billions of pounds in cash grants, tax cuts and discounted loans for businesses; deferred taxes for those who are self-employed, employed and in business; a world-leading job retention scheme to keep as many people in employment as possible; income protection for the self-employed; and a strengthened safety net to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
Covid-19: Economic Support — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): It is precisely because of the time it takes for businesses to ramp up that last week, I announced an extension to the furlough scheme all the way through to October, to provide that runway for growth—in particular, for those who will open later in tourism and hospitality. As I said, we will introduce flexible furloughing in the extension period of that scheme.
Covid-19: Economic Support — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to look at the specific example mentioned. It is important for us—and to protect the taxpayer—that we are paying furlough payments to those who are genuinely in employment and have a formal employment contract, but I am happy to look at that example.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): When I announced the scheme, we said that those who were on real time information and had notified HMRC on 28 February would be eligible. That covers 29.5 million workers in this country. We found a way to extend that to 19 March—the day before the announcement was made. That protects the taxpayer against fraud and enables as many of those people to be included as possible. It brought another 230,000 people into the scheme. It is important to remember that this scheme now covers close to 30 million workers. As of the end of last week, 8 million people from about 1 million businesses are covered by the scheme and having their wages paid by the Government to protect their jobs and their future security.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): As I think the shadow Chancellor has acknowledged previously, we are in deep consultation with both unions and business groups to ensure that we get the design right for the second part of this scheme. It is right both for the economy and, indeed, for the taxpayer to ask employers to make a contribution to paying the wages of their employees. They will have the benefit of flexibility in furloughing to help offset that. I cannot comment now on this, but I did say that details will be provided by the end of the month.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: International Affairs
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, there will be details at the end of the month, but the hon. Lady can rest assured that I speak regularly with my counterparts in countries across the world to learn from their experience and will make sure that our scheme continues to be one of the most generous, comprehensive and effective anywhere in the world.
Covid-19: Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Government Operations
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (Conservative, Centre-right): District councils are the level of local government closest to residents, and I know that they very much appreciated the support that the Government have provided, but responding to the virus has incurred both additional expenditure and a loss of revenue—they have had less income from things such as car parking and leisure services. How can the Minister ensure that district councils are able not only to meet their short-term demands, but to ensure a long-term, sustainable future?
Covid-19: Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to point to the particular pressures on lower-tier councils, which is why councils such as Rugby have benefited from more than £1 million of additional funding. Seventy per cent of district councils have received more than £1 million, which is why the profile for the second allocation of £1.6 billion was changed to recognise the points that he highlights.
Covid-19: Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why £7 billion has been allocated through the Barnett consequentials, including £2.1 billion of additional funding to the Welsh Government. That, of course, sits alongside the UK-wide measures, such as the furlough scheme or the self-employed income support scheme that the Chancellor has announced.
Covid-19: Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): What we have seen through this crisis is an unprecedented level of support, including the £3.2 billion that has been announced and the further £600 million of support specifically targeted at the care home sector. That sits alongside earlier funding, including the estimated 4.3% real-terms increase that councils received this year.
Covid-19: Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the importance of that sector. It is why the initial £1.6 billion funding announced in March was not ring-fenced. It sits alongside the £600 million announced last week. In addition, there is money to help with cash flow, including the £850 million targeted at adult social care, which was paid in one go in April.
Local Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore) has, I know, been working hard to highlight the important pedestrian crossing issues in his constituency, and I am committed to working with him on that. He can benefit from the significant funding for cycling and walking included in the £2 billion announced recently.
Local Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Robert Peter Moore (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for that response, and I am pleased to hear that he will work with me in delivering a pedestrian bridge. May I seek further reassurance that he will meet me and the transport team, so that we can deliver this vital piece of local infrastructure, which will connect Silsden and Steeton in my constituency?
Local Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to continue to liaise with my hon. Friend on this important issue. He will know that, in addition to the £2 billion for walking and cycling, we also announced at the Budget £4.2 billion for long-term local transport. His authority, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, will be able to benefit from that.
Local Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Gareth Mark Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Treasury team for their leadership throughout this crisis. As they look at ways to stimulate our economy, will they consider issuing a UK green gilt as a specific way to fund local transport infrastructure and to affirm this Government’s commitment to climate change?
Local Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises an important point. Although at present we have no plans to do as he suggests, he will be well aware, from the green finance strategy, that the Government remain open to the introduction of new debt instruments, and I am happy to continue to discuss the issue with him.
Business Rates Relief — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have committed to undertake a fundamental review of business rates and published the terms of reference at the Budget. The review will be comprehensive and look at the effectiveness and operation of different reliefs and compliance with the tax. The call for evidence will be published in the coming months; stakeholders will be invited to contribute their views throughout the review, and I will welcome any thoughts or ideas my hon. Friend may wish to add.
Business Rates Relief — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): If there are people who are illegitimately taking advantage of loopholes in the rates, I am of course happy to discuss that. I remind my hon. Friend that there may well be circumstances in which people are in fact complying with the rules. It is a fiddly area, and I want to be certain that we are going after the people we should be going after.
Covid-19: 2019 Loan Charge — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will know that taxpayers with loan charge liabilities can already defer submission of their tax return until 30 September this year. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has always worked very hard to support taxpayers who may need to help to managed their disguised remuneration liabilities, and this is no exception. HMRC will continue to offer people the time they need to settle, and of course that also applies to those who are affected by issues related to coronavirus.
Covid-19: 2019 Loan Charge — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): In September this year, we will be in the middle of the recession that we are about to face. Given the hundreds of billions of pounds that the Treasury has already committed to supporting business to get us out of this recession, it would take a relatively trivial amount to write off the damaging loan charge policy. Originally, the Treasury forecast that it would raise £3.2 billion from the policy, and less than £2.5 billion from employees. What does the Minister estimate he will now raise?
Covid-19: 2019 Loan Charge — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): The Treasury will have published its estimate at the time the original tax information was published. I understand the passion that my right hon. Friend brings to the issue, but I would remind him that 99.8% of taxpayers do not engage in disguised remuneration schemes, and the fact that we are supporting people across the country in their jobs and their livelihoods is not, in and of itself, a reason to let people who owe tax off the tax that is due.
Business Rates: Small Companies — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Government Operations
John Philip Glen (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a reasonable point. We are monitoring the effectiveness of all these schemes, and the way that local authorities are using their discretion in giving out those grants, but this is a matter that we will continue to examine carefully.
Covid-19: Regional Economies — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Government Operations
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are closely monitoring the impact of covid-19 on local communities across the UK. We are engaging with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and mayoral combined authorities, and remain committed to levelling up opportunity all over the UK.
Hydrogen Technology — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Energy
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right that hydrogen could play an important role in our transition to net zero, which is why we are investing up to £121 million to support a range of projects to explore and develop the potential of low-carbon hydrogen technology.
Hydrogen Technology — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Energy
Jacob Young (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that incentivising low-carbon technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage will aid us in our recovery, help the Government to reach their net zero targets, and level up across all regions of the UK?
Hydrogen Technology — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Environment
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Budget 2020 announced at least £800 million to develop carbon capture and storage infrastructure, and my hon. Friend will of course know that Teesside is one of four sites under consideration for support through that funding.
Covid-19: Repatriation of British Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen James Metcalfe (Conservative, Centre-right): It is hugely welcome that 1.3 million people have been brought home by commercial airlines. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that he continues to work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ensure that support and guidance is available for those people who are struggling—there are many of them—to find commercial routes home?
Covid-19: Repatriation of British Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: International Affairs
John Michael Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for helping, with other Departments, to bring so many of my constituents home safely. Can he tell me, in my role as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Nigeria, what the situation is there with regard to the availability of aircraft? How many more repatriation trips are we looking to make?
Covid-19: Repatriation of British Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: International Affairs
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend’s great work as a trade envoy is known throughout the House. Some commercial routes are still available, we are keeping the international travel advice under constant review, and we are still, on a daily basis, organising charter flights to bring the remaining overseas British nationals home. I think there are around 20,000 still to repatriate.
Covid-19: Aviation Sector Workers — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (Conservative, Centre-right): With Gatwick on my doorstep, a lot of my constituents work in the aviation sector. Will the Secretary of State outline what support he is giving to airlines to make sure that they are employing people and continuing employment where they can? What support will he give to aviation workers who will need to transition into other forms of employment?
Covid-19: Aviation Sector Workers — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Labor
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we are making available a huge amount of support, including things such as the coronavirus large-business scheme—in other words, the coronavirus job-retention furloughing scheme—and various other business-interruption schemes, but it is true to say that airlines and the aviation sector in general are facing a particularly hard time. They were first into this crisis and we think there will be quite a long tail to their coming out of it. I am therefore working closely with my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Department for Work and Pensions to support workers who lose their jobs as well.
Covid-19: Aviation Sector Workers — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a very welcome change, actually, because ordinarily I stand at this Dispatch Box and from my opposite numbers hear a lot of attacks on the aviation sector. I absolutely will bring forward enormous amounts of support to aviation businesses, including all those schemes I just mentioned. There are 43,500 furloughed staff right now from the airlines alone and another 2,600 from airports. I am acutely aware of the job losses and proposed job losses, about which we are very concerned, which is why we have the additional scheme, the Birch process, with the Treasury. Although I cannot go into details of individual cases, for reasons of confidentiality, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that that work is very much ongoing.
Covid-19: Transport Sector — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Grant Shapps (Conservative, Centre-right): The answer is a multi-billion pound programme that rescued our railways; £400 million used to keep our bus services going; and a multi-million pound plan for critical freight routes, which enabled us to keep 16 routes available, with 17 different contracts in place, ensuring vital food and supplies to this country.
English Regional Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a great joy to join you from sunny Pendle, Mr Speaker We are investing in transport infrastructure to level up the United Kingdom, with £500 million to reverse the Beeching cuts and £5 billion extra support for buses and cycling.
English Regional Transport Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2020-05-18
Topic: Transportation
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): Some of us do not have those hair problems, Mr Speaker Will the Minister confirm his commitment to investment right across the north—not just the big projects, such as northern powerhouse rail, from the east coast through the west coast, but the smaller but no less important projects, such as the dualling of the A64 in my constituency?