argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Industrial Strategy — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): I am disappointed by the comments of the hon. Gentleman, who was at the meeting with me yesterday with the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones). More importantly, he should highlight, for example, the huge investment in the new Berwyn prison in Wrexham, which is creating jobs and has been seen as an example of how to do public sector investment in Wales and the UK.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Housing
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): First of all, let us look and see what happened under a Labour Government on housing. Under the last Labour Government, house building starts fell by 45%. Under the last Labour Government, house purchases in England fell by 40%. The number of social rented homes under a Labour Government fell by 420,000. Under the Conservatives, we have seen more than twice as much council housing being built than under the last Labour Government. That is the record of a Conservative Government delivering on housing and delivering for ordinary working families.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): If the right hon. Gentleman wants to talk about the NHS, perhaps he should talk about Labour’s custodianship of the NHS in Wales. There is somewhere that the NHS has been cut, and that is in Wales under the Labour party The right hon. Gentleman is right: in something over six weeks we will be back at these Dispatch Boxes. The only question is: where will we be standing? Who will be Prime Minister of this great country? He says that the choice is clear, and it is. Every vote for him is a vote for a chaotic Brexit; every vote for me is a vote to strengthen our hand in negotiating the best deal for Britain. Every vote for him is a vote to weaken our economy; every vote for me is a vote for a strong economy with the benefits felt by everyone across the country. Every vote for him is a vote for a coalition of chaos, a weak leader propped up by the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish nationalists; every vote for me is a vote for strong and stable leadership in the national interest, building a stronger and more secure future for this country.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Thanks to this Conservative Government, the west of England has received billions of pounds of investment in transport infrastructure. On frequent visits to Bath by the Transport Secretary and the Prime Minister, I have raised with them the issues of congestion and air pollution, as well as the need for a feasibility study on the long overdue A36-46 link road to the east of Bath. Does the Prime Minister agree that the only way to secure that vital infrastructure project is for Bath residents to give me a renewed mandate on 8 June?; My local clinical commissioning group is planning to downgrade the A&E at Huddersfield Royal infirmary and move it to Halifax. That has been dictated by a disastrous private finance initiative deal. I have been fighting these appalling plans alongside the community campaign group Hands Off HRI, which is led by Karl Deitch. Will the Prime Minister join me in praising the community campaigners, led by Karl? Does she agree that patients should not be suffering as a result of the catastrophic PFI deals signed by the last Labour Government, and will she ensure that communities such as mine have their voices listened to properly?; My hon. Friends the Members for Redcar (Anna Turley), for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin), for Newport East (Jessica Morden), for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami), for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith), for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) and for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) are all proven champions for their local steel communities. Does the Prime Minister agree that their ongoing presence in this place is vital for the future of our British steel industry?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): What is important for the steel industry in this country is that this Government have taken action to support it. I was very pleased, when I visited Wales yesterday, to be able to visit a company that works with the steel industry galvanising steel products. The company talked about the greater amount of work that it is seeing and the improvements in the steel industry. This Conservative Government have taken steps to support the steel industry and will continue to do so.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I am not sure it is a matter for the Chair. I can only say, I think without fear of contradiction, that in my time in this place I have never been pre-programmed, or otherwise, by anyone.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, of which I had no advance notice—I make no complaint whatsoever about that. It is right that these matters should be considered by a number of people, and it would be wrong and disrespectful to other individuals who should be consulted for me simply to say, "Yes, it’s going to happen." Am I, however, entirely open to the hon. Gentleman’s proposition? I most certainly am. Not all precedents in every matter have to be observed. There is scope for innovation; otherwise nothing would ever change. Keith Palmer will always have a very special and perhaps unique hold on the affections and respect of Members of this House, so I think that that discussion can continue. Perhaps I can most appropriately say, having heard the hon. Gentleman’s view and having expressed a response not unsympathetic, that I would be interested to hear the views of my parliamentary colleagues. I am absolutely up for doing just that.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): That is correct. I do not want to have a long debate about this. I do not know whether the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick) was standing. I did not seek to call a supplementary on the closed question. The Chair makes a judgment about the best means by which to progress the business of the House and to maximise the opportunities for participation at Question Times in general and at the heavily subscribed Prime Minister’s Question Time in particular. I had, of course, given thought to that matter in advance, and I decided that I would move from the closed question to the engagements question from Mr Richard Drax. Believe me, I had made the mental calculations about numbers, and I think it was the right judgment There was not an opportunity on the closed question. More widely, I would simply say that colleagues might have noticed that, on this occasion and conscious of the very large number of people wanting to contribute, I ran proceedings on somewhat longer than normal. There is no debate offering the opportunity for valedictory speeches at the end of this Parliament, as there was at the end of the last Parliament. I make no complaint about that; I am simply saying that there is to be, as I understand it, no such opportunity. I thought that the mood of today was that as many Members as could reasonably be called should be called, perhaps particularly, although not exclusively, with regard to those who have announced their intention to leave the House. We ran on a bit, to which I reply, "So what?"
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
Desmond Angus Swayne (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I confess that I was not looking at the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick) at the time. I accept entirely that he was standing, so I withdraw my earlier comment.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very reassuring to have a bit of additional information. Head inspection, so far as the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) is concerned, may be available to Members, but it is not available to those who observe our proceedings from elsewhere. I do not want them to feel excluded.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sure I speak for my colleagues who are standing down when I thank you very much for allowing us the opportunity to express our appreciation for the honour our constituents have done us and to the Prime Minister for staying as long as she did. As you know, I have always been a staunch supporter of maintaining conventions, but on this occasion your stretching of the convention was rather a good idea. Thank you very much.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With this it will be convenient to consider the following: Government amendments (a) to (c) in lieu of Lords amendment 1 Lords amendment 2, Government motion to disagree, and Government amendment (a) in lieu Lords amendments 3 to 39 Lords amendment 40, Government motion to disagree, and Government amendments (a) and (b) in lieu Lords amendments 41 to 236 Lords amendment 237, and Government motion to disagree Lords amendment 238, and Government motion to disagree Lords amendment 239, and Government motion to disagree Lords amendments 240 and 241 Lords amendment 242, Government motion to disagree, and Government amendment (a) in lieu Lords amendments 243 to 245 Lords amendment 246, and Government amendment (a) thereto Lords amendments 247 to 289.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is usually reasonable and constructive, so a sense of electioneering must have got into her. I am afraid that I do not recognise that description. We have made considerable progress in the Bill on data sharing, but of course the rules around data will have to evolve, not least because European rules will come into force before we leave the EU. Yes, there is more work to do, but I think that she must have had the rosette on a little bit too often recently, given that she is so churlish about the progress in the Bill.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, of course citizens elect the Government, and in many cases the Government are responsible for data. Having democratic legitimacy behind the control of data is critical to a functioning democracy. No doubt we can return to this issue in the future. There are no Lords amendments on that subject, and I consider that the Bill represents significant progress I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh). She has worked hard on the Bill and made a number of suggestions that we have taken on board. She has been a pleasure to negotiate with and very effective. When I am complimentary about her, she always tells me that I am damaging her career no end, so I hope that she will take my compliments in the spirit in which they are intended.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Claire Louise Perry (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the hon. Lady agree, however, that in setting out these definitions on a spectrum ranging from prohibited material to extreme pornography—I will speak to this later—we have left ourselves in something of a quandary, as material that she and I would probably agree is completely unacceptable can in theory be viewed behind age filters? I heard that the Minister was prepared to consider this unfinished business. Will the hon. Lady, on behalf of her party, commit to trying to work out these definitions in the next Parliament to ensure that we arrive at a better place?
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Nigel Adams (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not agree more. It is despicable that Viagogo has dodged and been slippery around attending the Select Committee. There have been so many victims of Viagogo that it should have taken the opportunity to come and explain how it markets itself and presents its website. I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): In response to a point raised by the hon. Lady and my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams), we are clear that section 93 of the Consumer Rights Act requires secondary sellers to provide information on ticket restrictions on resale.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Housing
Gregory Knight (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the hon. Gentleman accept from me that there are rural areas in England, too? Although the Government are to be congratulated on what they are doing, does he agree that we must do more to ensure that geographically isolated areas do not remain digitally isolated?
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Claire Louise Perry (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to make three points, and I will not detain the House for too long. First, I want to set out for the benefit of the Front Benchers the concern that I still feel about some definitional points; secondly, I want to talk about how far we have come; and, thirdly, I want to echo what has been said about how cross-party working can deliver in this place. Both Ministers have received a letter from me on the part 3 amendments. I understand how we have reached the current position. We expressed concern during various briefings about the fact that definitional questions about the difference between "prohibited" and "extreme" were not thrashed out in Committee. I commend Ministers for the very productive Committee proceedings. Despite what the Opposition Front-Bench team have said, I think that the Bill was greatly improved by the current ministerial team, who showed a real willingness to engage, listen and improve the Bill. I feel strongly that we are in a much better place after Committee than we were when we started We have had concerns about the definition of "prohibited material", which is now a clear, appropriate and workable definition guided by five different statutes, one of which is the Obscene Publications Act 1959. That Act gave rise to the concern about whether certain acts—I will not trouble Hansard to check whether certain terms are permissible; I will simply not use them—that were once considered to be illegal are no longer considered to be so, and thus should not be captured by the definition of "prohibited". I think that the concern over those very specific items led the Government to narrow the focus too much to a definition of extreme pornography. That definition leaves in the middle a lot of material that is not currently captured by statute, but is considered to be anything from life-threatening, at worst, to damaging at best By my reading, the definition of extreme pornography makes space for two things: all but the most extreme forms of sexual violence—by that I am referring to choking pornography and multiple sexual acts on one woman or man—and non-photographic child sexual images, including animation. The latter particularly concerns us, because we have all worked hard to ensure that this whole area is outlawed, without any discussion of what is permissible. I think we would all support the complete removal of that whole area from the internet.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Claire Louise Perry (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has worked assiduously in this area, and I thank her for our many conversations and the improvements that we have made together to the Bill. She is quite right: in some ways we are conducting an experiment with the unknown, in terms of child-rearing and the way in which young people absorb information about the world. It is not for me to stand here and pontificate about what might or might not be harmful, but according to research that Care and others have shared with me, when people are shown images of activities that will now be permitted behind an age verification screen, between 74% and 81% favour preventing any access to them. That is the joint response from men and women, although unsurprisingly women have a stronger sense that such images should not be visible to any age group.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend, who, like others, has improved the Bill no end through her work. I reiterate that what is illegal offline is illegal online. For online, we have used the Bill to introduce and enforce age verification. Age verification can, of course, take place only online, because it is about stopping people viewing such material online. I therefore think the point that she has just made is taken care of As for definitions, we had to use an existing definition but, as I said in my speech, we regard that as unfinished business. We have accepted an amendment that compels the Secretary of State to report, after consultation, between 12 and 18 months after this Bill is enacted. That report will provide the opportunity to take all the research into account and reach a good settlement that has strong support behind it, rather than doing everything in a rush just before the Dissolution of Parliament.
Digital Economy Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Other
Claire Louise Perry (Conservative, Centre-right): I appreciate the Minister’s comments, and he neatly anticipates what I was going to say: I have no intention of causing trouble at this stage, because he has assured us from the Dispatch Box and in meetings of his firm commitment to making sure that these definitional questions are resolved in such a way as to enable all parties to support them.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Immigration
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure my hon. Friend that this Government welcome international students, who deliver huge value to our institutions, our economy and our learning environment. However, it is also important to recognise that the independent Office for National Statistics classifies students as part of migration. The ONS has an independent status and it applies that definition accordingly. It is appropriate that the matter is treated in the way that it is at present in our immigration system.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed. No one would disagree with that. It is good news that the UK continues to be a highly attractive place in which international students can come to study. Numbers of international students are running at record highs, and we have more than 170,000 non-EU entrants to UK higher education institutions for the sixth year running. The latest Home Office visa data show that, since 2011, university-sponsored visa applications have risen by around 10%.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Immigration
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): Perhaps the hon. Gentleman is being selective. I can easily point to the 8% increase in visas from Chinese nationals in 2016. Overall, if we look at the numbers since 2011, visa applications are up by 10%, but let us not get distracted further. I will take a further intervention and then I shall move on.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Commons, 2017-04-26
Topic: Immigration
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We can certainly say that visa applications have risen by around 10% since 2011, although there might be fluctuations from year to year. That has been the case for many periods in the history of international students coming to study in this country. There has not been a story of continued growth; there have been ups and downs. Since 2010, which is a longer timeframe, we have seen applications up by around 10%. Lords amendment 156 could do real damage. For example, it would prevent international students being treated as long-term migrants. The internationally recognised definition of a long-term migrant is anyone moving countries for a period of more than a year. If we were not able to apply to international students the key features of our work immigration regime, such as the need to obtain a time-limited visa that specifies the terms on which the migrant can come and a requirement to return home upon expiry of the visa, that could undermine our whole student migration system. I cannot advise the House to agree to that amendment Secondly, the Lords amendment would prohibit any change to the future student migration regime that could be interpreted as more restrictive than that in force when the Bill is passed. Any future changes—even minor technical changes—would require fresh primary legislation rather than being made by immigration rules laid before Parliament. I do not believe that that would be sensible or helpful, particularly given how crowded the forthcoming legislative programme is likely to be That said, I recognise the strength of feeling on the issue, so I am pleased to ask the House to support amendments (a) to (c) in lieu of Lords amendment 156. The Bill already creates for the first time a requirement for information on higher education providers to be published. It also puts in place a statutory duty to consider what would be helpful to students on higher education courses here, prospective students and higher education providers. Our amendments expressly extend that important new duty to cover what information would be useful to current or prospective international students in higher education and to the providers that recruit them or are thinking of doing so. They will also specifically require a consideration of the publication of international student numbers. All this is designed to help to ensure that as much information as possible is available about the UK’s offer to international students. We have a good story to tell and the Government are keen to ensure that it is told The Bill is long overdue. It will streamline the higher education system’s regulatory architecture. It will give students more choice and opportunity. It will strengthen our world-class research and innovation capabilities, and it will enhance the competitiveness and productivity of our economy. I thank all Members for their constructive engagement throughout the Bill’s passage.