argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Policy Objectives — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): That would certainly be sustainable. I am really pleased to hear that my hon. Friend is indeed a climate activist at heart; it is a revelation for all of us. It is great that he has made a decision to purchase an electric vehicle. I can tell him that he will not be disappointed. Plug-in grants are available and he knows that the Government are also backing the sector with almost £3 billion-worth of support.
Policy Objectives — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Energy
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I actually commissioned that report and I am very pleased that it is so substantive. The hon. Gentleman is right: we need to make sure that we help all countries with a clean energy transition, and that is what we are doing through the work of the COP26 Energy Transition Council.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Energy
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): Two weeks ago, I chaired the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers track with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. At that meeting, the G7 nations agreed overwhelmingly to decarbonise their power systems in the 2030s, consistent with their 2030 nationally determined contributions and net zero commitments. In addition, they committed to take concrete steps to end support for international coal power generation by the end of 2021. This is a critical step in consigning coal power to history and accelerating the international transition to clean energy.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we welcome plans for a cleaner, greener Britain, but can my right hon. Friend reassure my hard-working Harlow residents that the Government’s environmental measures will not mean a more expensive Britain, hitting the low-paid with extra costs and increasing the cost of living for ordinary folk?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Energy
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to getting the transition to net zero right for all consumers. We are committed to driving savings and making our homes better insulated with more energy-efficient measures. My right hon. Friend will know that through the energy company obligation and the expanded warm home discount, we will provide at least £4.7 billion of extra support to low-income and vulnerable households between 2022 and 2026.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the UK is doubling its international climate finance commitment to support developing countries; I can tell him that that has been very much welcomed around the world. With regard to the overall official development assistance spend, this is a temporary measure, as he knows. As the economic situation improves, I hope that it will be possible to restore the 0.7% target at the earliest opportunity.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the $100 billion is a totemic figure. We are doing everything we can to ensure that we are able to deliver it by COP26. I can assure him that I am having very frank discussions with donor countries—with developed countries —to ensure that they deliver on that commitment made in 2009.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the COP presidency share my concern at the reputational hit that the UK will take in the event that it continues to approve old-style carbon-belching waste incinerators such as the one proposed at Westbury in my constituency?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): All energy-from-waste plants in England are regulated by the Environment Agency and must comply with the strict emissions limits set in legislation. I am aware that Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd has applied for an environmental permit from the Environment Agency to operate an incinerator in Westbury, Wiltshire, and the Environment Agency is considering responses to the public consultation.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): May I commend my hon. Friend for all the work that he is doing in Dudley on supporting the local economy and green jobs? As I set out earlier, I co-chaired the G7 climate and environment Ministers meeting, which came forward with some ambitious commitments.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I would recommend that the hon. Gentleman talks to the Leader of the House on the matter of the timetabling of the debates and other events in the House. I would also say to him that we are working very hard and pressing all the big emitters to ensure that they come forward with the ambition that is required to be able to halve emissions by 2030.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) raised this issue with me, and I have set out the position on overseas aid. In terms of our schools, we are engaging, and I hope I will shortly be able to send out a pack that will encourage young people in our schools to get even more involved in COP26.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted that the UK is hosting the leaders of the world’s greatest democracies at the G7 summit in Cornwall this week. This is the first meeting between G7 leaders since the start of the pandemic. This week is Carers Week, and I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in thanking care workers and everyone caring for family, friends and loved ones. Their selflessness and devotion to helping others is an inspiration to us all. This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Labor
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Actually, this Government have been absolutely clear that it is unacceptable to use the threat of firing and rehiring as a negotiating tactic. We welcome the ACAS report, which finds that fire and rehire should be used only in limited circumstances, such as to prevent job losses, when other options have been exhausted. We have therefore asked ACAS to produce clearer guidance to help employers with other options.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The east midlands could have no more fervent or effective a champion, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on his vision for the east midlands freeport and all the benefits that rail integration will bring. I know that he is about to have a meeting with ministerial colleagues to determine how the integrated rail plan can work with HS2 best to achieve his objectives.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, I want to thank Kevan Collins for his work, but above all I want to thank pupils, parents and teachers for everything they have done throughout this pandemic. The struggle has been enormous and, in addition to the extra £14 billion we have committed—taking per pupil funding up to £4,000 in primary schools and up to £5,150 in secondary schools—we are now putting another £3 billion into educational catch-up with the biggest tutoring programme anywhere in the world, and it is based on the best evidence that we could find and that Sir Kevan could supply.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I think the right hon. and learned Gentleman needs to catch up on his mathematics because, in addition to the £14 billion I have already mentioned, there was already another £1.5 billion of catch-up funding. This is a £3 billion catch-up plan, just for starters, and it includes the biggest programme of tuition—one-to-one, one-to-two, one-to-three tutorials—anywhere in the world We all know there are schools and classrooms in this country where children are getting private tuition, thanks to the hard work of their parents. The right hon. and learned Gentleman asks about levelling up. What we want to do is to get on the side of all the kids who do not have access to that tuition and to support them. That is what I mean by levelling up.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, I will tell you the difference between us and the party opposite: we put in the tough measures that are needed to give kids across the country a better education. When we rolled out the academies programme, which has driven up standards, who opposed it? They did. When we put in tough measures to ensure discipline in schools, they opposed it. At the last election, they even campaigned to get rid of Ofsted, which is so vital. [Interruption.] They did. He stood on a manifesto to get rid of Ofsted Will he now say that he supports not only our tuition programme but our radical programme to support teachers with better training? We are now putting in not only a starting salary for teachers of £30,000, which we have introduced, but another £400 million to support better training for teachers. That is what we are backing in our party. These are serious, costed reforms, based on evidence, unlike anything he is producing. [Interruption.]
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): With great respect, Mr Speaker, I do think I am entitled to draw attention to what the Labour party stood on at the last election. They have not yet repudiated it; they did want to get rid of Ofsted. But I will tell the right hon. and learned Gentleman that if he is now saying that he supports our tutoring programme—that is what I understood from him just now—that is a good thing, because hitherto what has happened is that the kids of well-off parents, thanks to their hard work, have been able to rely on private tutoring. What the Government are now doing is coming in on the side of all the other kids who do not get access to that tutoring—6 million children will have access to tuition thanks to this programme. It is a fantastic thing; it is a revolution in education for this country. If he is now saying that he supports it, that is a good thing, although I have learnt in the course of the last year that his support can sometimes be evanescent.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): It has been a long-standing objective of this Government, and I think it is common ground across the House, that the solution for the middle east peace process is a two-state solution. We continue to press for that, and I have made that position plain in my conversations with both the Palestinian Authority and of course with Israel The right hon. and learned Gentleman attacked the Government for failing to be sufficiently ambitious in our overseas aid spending—I think I heard him say that in that compendious question. [Interruption.] He is gesturing at the Government Benches. Under this Government we have spent more and continue to spend more than Labour ever did under Blair and under Brown, and even when they were spending money on Brazilian dancers in Hackney—which is what they did—to raise consciousness of global poverty. We are spending £10 billion a year at a time of acute financial difficulty for this country, and I think the British people know that that is the right priority for this country. If Labour Members want a vote on that matter, I remind them that the people of this country had an opportunity last month to vote on the way the Government were handling things and the balance that we were striking, and they adjudicated firmly in favour of the Government. The Opposition pontificate and prevaricate and procrastinate—
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Environment
Felicity Christiana Buchan (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Speaker. You have made me slightly older. I am proud of my Government’s record on the environment and the fact that we have cut emissions at the fastest rate of any G7 country. I welcome the fact that the Lancaster West estate in my constituency has benefited from a green grant of almost £20 million to decarbonise. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need to build back better in a green way and in a way that levels up all parts of the United Kingdom?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Scott Lloyd Benton (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome plans outlined by the Education Secretary last week that will oversee a tutoring revolution in this country—a proven way to help the most disadvantaged children to catch up. Will the Prime Minister confirm that this is just one part of our wider plan to ensure that no child misses out as a consequence of the disruption caused by this pandemic?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. I thank my hon. Friend, because the whole point of the tutoring programme is that it is evidence-based. Every tutoring programme—there are 6 million children who can benefit—is equivalent to three to five months of educational catch-up. We will also be looking at increasing time in schools. I hope that the loyal Opposition will use their influence with their paymasters in the teaching unions to encourage them in that objective.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): No, what we are prioritising is the right and the ability of the people of Northern Ireland to have access—as they should, freely and uninterruptedly —to goods and services from the whole of the UK, and we are working to ensure that we protect the territorial and economic integrity of our country. That is what matters.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): What we are seeing across the country is people responding to massive investment— a £640 billion programme of investment in roads, in schools, in hospitals, in policing—that, bit by bit, is transforming people’s lives, hopes and opportunities. That is fundamentally the difference between the hon. Gentleman’s side of the argument and ours. We believe that there is talent, genius and flair around the whole country but opportunity is not evenly distributed. That is our ambition and that is what we are doing with our campaign for levelling up. If he is now saying, by the way, that he supports what we are doing on the tutoring revolution—because I know he is a great educational expert—then I am glad to hear it.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, my hon. Friend will be pleased to know, introduces a new criminal offence where a person who resides or intends to reside on land in a vehicle without permission and has caused or is likely to cause significant damage or distress can face new penalties. Guess who voted against that Bill on a three-line Whip? Does anybody know? It was the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras and his entire party.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the concern that he has and the injustice that he mentions. I will make sure that he gets a meeting as soon as possible with the relevant Minister in the Justice Department.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: International Affairs
David Ian Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): According to newspaper reports, the European Union is unhappy with the negotiating style of the right hon. Lord Frost. Does my right hon. Friend agree that in fact Lord Frost is doing a superb job negotiating in the national interest? Does he further agree with Lord Frost’s assessment that the Northern Ireland protocol, as currently applied, is unsustainable and that matters would be considerably easier if the European Union were to adopt a more pragmatic approach rather than the purist approach it is adopting at the moment?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Government Operations
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am indebted to everybody who serves the Government in whatever capacity. We have a lot of very tough decisions to make but we will continue to get on with delivering the people’s priorities—and by the way, we will continue to ensure that we deliver value for money, that we do not waste taxpayers’ money, and that Ministers follow the ministerial code.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): In April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, yet nobody has been successfully prosecuted for their part in those unlawful killings. The most recent trial collapsed, because although it was accepted that police evidence had been altered, as it was evidence to a public inquiry, it did not constitute perversion of the course of justice. Will my right hon. Friend urgently look at the ramifications of that judgment for current and future public inquiries, and ensure that people are given the justice that has been so cruelly denied to the families of the Hillsborough 96?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I can tell the hon. Gentleman that, again, I am afraid what he is saying is completely wrong. The sums that we are already investing in education are huge and we have announced a £3 billion additional package of catch-up, investing not just in teacher training—another £400 million to help teachers improve their qualifications as they go up the ladder—but in the biggest tuition programme in the history of this country: the biggest anywhere in the world. That will make a huge difference to young people in Wansbeck and across the country. Many kids are getting private tuition at the moment, but loads are not. We want to level up.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): No. I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that once again he is completely missing the dynamism and optimism of so many people I meet in the agricultural sector, who see opportunities for Welsh lamb and Welsh beef around the world. Why is he not thinking of this as an opportunity for exports, instead of cowering in this way? Welsh lamb, Welsh beef and Welsh farmers can do brilliantly from the deals that we are opening up around the world. He should be championing Welsh agriculture and Welsh produce.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Transportation
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (Conservative, Centre-right): In East Surrey I have been working with brilliant parish councils in Smallfield, Burstow and Horne to ensure that we can get a better balance on heavy goods vehicle movements, allowing local businesses to thrive but ensuring that residents feel safe. I welcome the Government’s work to clamp down on moving traffic offences, but would the Prime Minister also consider taking another look at the powers of the traffic commissioners to ensure that we can find a balance?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for raising this point. Traffic enforcement outside London can only be undertaken by the police, but I will certainly look at the role of the traffic commissioners in the cases that she describes.
Investing in Children and Young People — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Damian Patrick George Hinds (Conservative, Centre-right): Is the hon. Lady suggesting that that figure she has just given for the US relates solely to catch-up funding and therefore is comparable? Does she need to add up a number of figures from the British Government for English schools? Is she suggesting that that is what that figure refers to?
Investing in Children and Young People — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Jonathan Edward Gullis (Conservative, Centre-right): In the proposals that Sir Kevan Collins made, how much of the £15 billion was related to the half-hour extension of the school day? Does the hon. Lady agree that if we are to do something as radical as extending the school day, which I support, the evidence base should be looked at and it should be done carefully? We will have trade unions to negotiate with, and rightly so, as well as teachers who are not on contracts and may have had their hours extended beyond 4 o’clock already. There are problems with suddenly announcing things without having carefully thought them through.
Investing in Children and Young People — House of Commons, 2021-06-09
Topic: Education
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis), because I think that a longer school day is essential. In the media last week, the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) said that she opposed a longer school day. There is a big difference between a longer school day and enhanced activities, and a longer school day is a core part of Sir Kevan Collins’s programme. I think we need the Labour party to be clear on exactly what it supports.