argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): As the noble Baroness, Lady Watkins, will be aware, our scientific medical advice and the data are constantly reviewed. We are currently conducting thorough tests to review both LFT and PCR efficacy when it comes to the omicron variant. The advice that I have been given is that we must wait for the data and take a cautious, proportionate approach as scientists work urgently to better understand the variant. In terms of the question on more restrictions in terms of where face masks should be worn, the advice at the moment is still on public transport and in shops, and to continue to encourage people to work either from home or in offices, as appropriate.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend for giving me notice of the question; I appreciate it. The answer that I have been given in response is that we have built a thriving private diagnostic market to meet the demand of the international travellers and day 2 PCR testing for travellers is provided by these private providers. Based on forecast modelling, we are confident that the market has sufficient capacity to meet the rise in demand that omicron may pose.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe all noble Lords will agree with the points made by the noble Baroness on making sure that as many people in the world as possible have access to the vaccines. Someone said to me today that we are talking about third and fourth doses in the UK, but there are people in many parts of the world who have not yet had their first dose. I am sure noble Lords are aware of that. There is an analogy with when you are on an aircraft and the oxygen masks fall; do you protect yourself before you protect others? There is clearly a debate on this The UK remains committed to donating 100 million doses by the middle of 2022. We will have donated more than 30 million vaccines by the end of 2021 and have announced plans for 70 million doses in total so far. We will continue to ensure that any vaccines that the UK does not need are reallocated to other nations which require them wherever possible. Having sat in one of those G7 meetings with Health Ministers and joint G7 meetings with Health and Transports Ministers, I can assure noble Lords that one of the issues that comes up constantly is how we can help the rest of the world, particularly those countries which have not had access to even first doses of the vaccine.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): All I can do is thank the noble Baroness for her question. I will have to double-check; as she will imagine, I do not have all the answers at the moment. Throughout the day, as I was preparing for this, the advice was changing constantly, and things were being swapped in. Advisers from the Department of Health and Social Care were saying, "This is the latest advice", but it was changing literally hourly. I will try to get the latest advice and share this with noble Lords.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-11-29
Topic: Health
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend for those points. On the comments made by the South African expert, I raised these issues with officials and experts today; one of the points made was that there are different demographics of who has been affected. We want to make sure that we are being cautious and proportionate. Therefore, we have taken these measures as a precaution. On the efficacy of face masks, the point my noble friend makes shows that there is a debate, but we have decided to err on the side of caution to make sure that we are prepared.
Northern Ireland Executive Formation — House of Lords, 2020-01-16
Topic: Health
Ian Duncan (Conservative, Centre-right): In many respects, the noble Lord echoes the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong: this is at a delicate stage and we have to see how it will grow into a new, fully fledged, functioning Executive addressing each of these matters. I am pleased in one respect, in the light of the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Empey, that the health portfolio is now held by his party. I suspect that the incoming Minister, Robin Swann, will be getting letters from his friend, the noble Lord, which he can look forward to as much as I did.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee — House of Commons, 2017-03-16
Topic: Defense
Kelvin Peter Hopkins (Labour, Centre-left): I am a member of the Select Committee. I supported the publication of the report, but in the spirit of acquiescence rather than enthusiasm. The Chairman will recall that I was uneasy about one or two phrases that were subsequently corrected. In particular, does he agree with our inserting the possibility of a further inquiry—not by our Select Committee but possibly by others—if further evidence comes to light I personally believe that we were misled by the then Prime Minister on weapons of mass destruction and the pretext for war. I was one of 139 Labour MPs who voted against the war, and I stand by that decision. Some of the unease I feel was expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett). Does the Chairman accept that I expressed some unease at the time? I support the publication of the report, particularly the recommendation that it might be worth while for a future inquiry to be carried out, not by our Select Committee but by others.
EU Referendum: Electoral Law — House of Commons, 2018-03-27
Topic: Culture
Thomas Sheppard (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I congratulate the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) on securing this debate. I find myself in agreement with him and with most of the speakers from the Opposition Benches I have a direct, personal interest in this matter: it is not one I need to declare under the code of conduct, but I have direct experience of operating in a campaign under the very regulations we are talking about today. In the summer of 2014, I was an activist and campaigner in the Scottish independence referendum. Because of my history and background in the entertainment industry, I was part of a group that was trying to co-ordinate that campaign among the arts and culture industry in Scotland. We wanted to organise a major, high-profile concert in the run-up to the event to demonstrate support and to provide a fillip for the campaign in the final days We went to the Yes Scotland campaign, the designated organisation, with the proposal. It said that it did not want to include it in its campaign plan and spend money on it. The advice was to go away and do it ourselves, so that is what we did. I registered my own events company with the Electoral Commission as a permitted participant in the organisation. We hired the Usher Hall, the grandest concert hall in Edinburgh, and we booked the bands. We arranged the production and the publicity, and we had a very successful event. Afterwards, we provided the Electoral Commission with a report and a detailed budget of what we had spent and the money we had received. At no stage did we either report to, or seek the involvement of, the official designated organisation.
Health Committee — House of Commons, 2017-03-16
Topic: Health
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): Labour welcomes the recommendations in the report, and I join the hon. Lady in thanking Select Committee members and staff for their work The Committee visited the award-winning Salford mental health liaison team, which offers 24/7 mental health support at Salford Royal hospital and has been able to halve the admission rates for people with mental health problems. The Royal College of Psychiatrists reminds us that only 7% of emergency departments provide 24/7 liaison psychiatry services, and said it would be difficult to recruit enough psychiatrists and other staff to provide such a service in every hospital—the hon. Lady touched on that in her statement. What does she think the Government must do to ensure that there are enough trained staff to establish and sustain liaison psychiatry services in every acute hospital to help to deliver the suicide prevention strategy?
EU Referendum: Electoral Law — House of Commons, 2018-03-27
Topic: Defense
Martin John Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman mentioned Veterans for Britain. Is he aware that that organisation consistently gives evidence to the Defence Committee and that—this is relevant to my earlier comments—there is now grave concern about the links between national security and this very debate?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): Drug and alcohol abuse is a difficult issue to address. What consultations has the Minister had with the various groups and communities that are rightly concerned about the mental health problems related to such abuse? Has she had any discussions?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The rate of drug mortality started to rise in 2013, when the ring fence was removed and local authorities became responsible for drug and alcohol treatment. Does the Minister regret her Government’s decision to remove that ring fence?
Department of Health and Social Care and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government — House of Commons, 2018-07-02
Topic: Health
Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the increase in life expectancy is actually stalling and not continuing to soar? Unfortunately, it is another inequality between richer areas and poorer areas, and the danger is that people in deprived areas will get no retirement at all.
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): Will my right hon. Friend join me in condemning the vast number of Labour local authorities that, in 2013, took their drug service out of the NHS and gave it to private providers? That includes mine in Nottinghamshire. Should we not have a Labour party position that would stop them doing this?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): It is unfortunate that many authorities, including many Labour authorities, privatised these services. Privatising them necessarily makes it harder to achieve the co-ordination and co-operation that was the whole point of having these services sit in the local authorities Local councils face unprecedented cuts to their funding—anything from 25% to 40% of their entire budget. Is it any wonder that drug-related deaths are increasing when local authorities do not have the funds necessary for comprehensive treatment programmes?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): I think that the public health cuts were disastrous. The Treasury, in an extraordinary example of short-term thinking, clawed back the funds that had been promised. The King’s Fund has shown that local authorities in England are being forced to spend more than 5% less on public health initiatives this year than in 2014, and tackling drug misuse in adults will face a 5.5% cut of more than £22 million. Until the Government put their money where their mouth is on the drugs strategy, they will have to accept that some stakeholders remain sceptical There was an interesting discussion about alcohol earlier in the debate. Ministers seem to struggle with the notion that alcohol is actually a drug, but the truth is that in absolute terms alcohol causes more harm than any illegal drug. It is shocking that the strategy managed only two paragraphs on alcohol, which is a major killer in Britain today. Professor Ian Gilmore, chair of Alcohol Health Alliance UK, has said that "we also need a dedicated strategy on alcohol which recognises the breadth of harm done by alcohol. In the UK alcohol is responsible for over 26,000 deaths per year, over 1 million hospital admissions per year, and…alcohol cost the UK economy between £27—£52 billion in 2016." In 2015, there were 8,000 casualties caused by drink-driving alone. Professor Ian Gilmore continued: "The time has come for the Government to take an evidence-based approach to controlling the supply of and reducing the demand for a legal drug which is sold on virtually every street corner, sometimes at pocket money prices."
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Having been in the House at the time of David Blunkett’s change in the category of cannabis, and very much involved with it, I remember that everyone predicted an increase in cannabis use when the classification was changed. That did not happen. In fact, there was a reduction in the use of cannabis when the penalties were less. Contrary to all the expectations, and the great argument we hear in this place, it is not the drugs that are killing people—it is prohibition that is killing people.
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): The Scottish Government have followed entirely the Tory Government’s approach on recovery-based treatment, as opposed to NHS treatment. Why would devolving power make a ha’pence of difference, when all the SNP has done is to adopt Tory policies and their consequential failures?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): There is a black market in tobacco and there is a black market in alcohol, but most people do not obtain their tobacco and their alcohol from the black market. Is it not the case that there would be less temptation, and that over time there would be a reduction in the number of people using dealers?
Combat Air Strategy — House of Commons, 2018-07-17
Topic: Defense
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I, too, thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement and pay tribute to the resigning hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb). The Scottish National party broadly welcomes the new strategy, but one overarching question is, where on earth is the money coming from? Surely the £20 billion funding gap in the procurement budget will drag many of the aspirations in the strategy to the ground. May I ask the Secretary of State about spreading the economic benefit around the UK? What will the benefit be to Scotland? Admittedly, it has a small industrial sector in this area—shipbuilding is much bigger—but I certainly hope this is better than the national shipbuilding strategy Will the Secretary of State ensure that the currency projections are much better? As the National Audit Office pointed out, his Department has been getting them wrong by as much as 25% in some cases How will this strategy complement the modernising defence programme? Where on earth is that programme? The House may rise on Thursday, and I would not dream of robbing the Secretary of State of his moment in the sun at the Dispatch Box. Will he ensure it is not sneaked out in a written statement, so he does not avoid scrutiny?
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review — House of Lords, 2018-05-09
Topic: Health
Dorothea Glenys Thornton (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for repeating that briefing. He may find that the decision about the date of the publication was actually that of NHS England and, frankly, publishing it on the Friday before a bank holiday is either incompetent or shameful. However, seven years after the Winterbourne View scandal and five years since the avoidable death of Connor Sparrowhawk, the findings of this review show a much worse picture than previous reports about the early deaths of people with learning difficulties. One in eight of the deaths reviewed so far show there have been abuse, neglect and delay in treatment and gaps in care. Women with a learning disability are dying 29 years younger, and men 23 years younger, than the general population; 28% of the deaths reviewed had occurred before the age of 50, compared with just 5% in the general population. This is a terrible situation I would like to ask the Minister two questions. First, almost one in 10 of the people who have died have been in out-of-area placements, without the support of family, friends, or any local, familiar community support. The Government have repeatedly said that such placements must be avoided, so will the Minister tell the House what action is being taken to ensure that government statements and guidance on this matter are being followed? Secondly, will the Minister expand on the last part of the Statement, and tell us what action the Government are taking to address the alarming gap in life expectancy of people with learning difficulties?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Jeffrey Smith (Labour, Centre-left): That is absolutely right. We talked earlier about the use of skunk, which has very high THC content. If one were to regulate the cannabis market, one could balance the THC and CBD elements of the product and make it safer for people.
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
Paul Phillip Flynn (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend recall the passage of the Psychoactive Substances Bill last year? It was said to be modelled on similar Bills that had been passed in Ireland and in Poland? In both countries, prohibition of psychoactive substances increased use— in Ireland from 16% to 22%—and increased harm. Is it not true that, in this country, it is very easy to close the headshops, but that we increase the problem, increase the number of users and increase the number of deaths?
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): Is not the right hon. Gentleman overstating his case? I have visited quite a number of safe rooms across the world and studied the academic research into them. Is it not an overstatement to suggest that nobody dies there? The question of safe injecting is one of the aspects of death, but, as all the Dutch surveys demonstrate, the fundamental determinant of how long someone with an opiate addiction will live is whether they come off heroin and stop injecting.
Drugs Policy — House of Commons, 2017-07-18
Topic: Health
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): If it has, that is brilliant, but we should never have gone back to that nonsense in the first place; I am sure the Minister will blame the Liberals. That is what we had in 2002: the revolving door. "Oh, you’re out—you’re clean." "Who says I’m clean?" "Well it’s six months. You have to be." It was a bit like how it is in the prisons: strangely, someone has some Naltrexone and "Oops! You’re clean!" That is the stats fiddled. Frankly, I could fiddle those stats. It is the system that does it. Totally meaningless. Let us have a bit of honesty. We would still have a problem. We would not get rid of it all. Dealing with Spice is not as straightforward as dealing with heroin, and the GPs do not have all the answers. But if someone with an addiction goes to a GP, the GP pulls in mental health services, and that does work. Across the world, people have found that. So let us not misquote what happened in Portugal, where I have been, because what I am talking about is the key to that system. Let us not misquote what happens in the Netherlands, where they have kicked out most of the coffee houses and they specifically demonise heroin—very sensibly at the time, in my view. The position for quite a while was, "Our problem is heroin. Do what you want, but you’re not doing heroin", and they got on top of it. We are not in that situation, so we do not need that kind of overly crude approach. We can look at what the Swedes do and what the French do. In France, the GPs will not do it. With single-practice GPs working from their own home, it is easy—go to the local chemist and get the prescription, and do not even bother supervising it. Do not complicate it, that is my advice, and then we will get better results I can only give it as I see it. I have got the documents—the research is there. To new colleagues in all parts of the House, I say, "Read the assessments of what has happened, because there is a plethora of materials that demonstrate this." We will not get rid of the problem, but we can significantly be on top of the problem. There are some improvements, but frankly not enough. Yet again, the Home Office is the wrong Department. Of course the police advisers all want to decriminalise drugs, because it gets crime down. I have heard this for 15 years: "If we decriminalised and didn’t arrest, crime would come down and the problem would be solved." No, that is not the answer. Lots of good stuff could be done in terms of how we police and do not police. There are lessons we could learn from abroad The starting point is to shift the portfolio to health. We should be bold enough to say, "It doesn’t fit in with how this place works, but we’re doing it anyway. When we’re in power the portfolio will be in health." That in itself would transform the situation in this country because then we would have to make sure that primary care is funded and would be able to stop wasting money elsewhere. Local councils: love them or loathe them, they haven’t got a clue—big error. We should tell our Labour councils, "Stop privatising and give it back to the NHS."
Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill Committee — House of Lords, 2018-05-15
Topic: Health
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): That the Commons message of 17 April be considered and that a Committee of six Lords be appointed to join with the Committee appointed by the Commons to consider and report on the draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill presented to both Houses on 14 September 2017 (Cm 9497) and that the Committee should report on the draft Bill by 24 July; That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following members be appointed to the Committee: Billingham, B, Chisholm of Owlpen, B, Eaton, B, Elder, L, Kirkwood of Kirkhope, L, Watkins of Tavistock, B That the Committee have power to agree with the Committee appointed by the Commons in the appointment of a Chairman; That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers and records; That the Committee have power to appoint specialist advisers; That the Committee have leave to report from time to time; That the Committee have power to adjourn from place to place within the United Kingdom; That the reports of the Committee from time to time shall be printed, regardless of any adjournment of the House; That the evidence taken by the Committee shall, if the Committee so wishes, be published; and That the quorum of the Committee shall be two.
Access to Orkambi — House of Commons, 2018-07-17
Topic: Health
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman mentioned many organisations. I wish to pay tribute to Scotland Parents CF Support Group, which has been very generous in helping me to understand and bring this matter to people’s notice. This is a UK-wide issue. I know that we are discussing NHS England, but this is also an issue in Scotland. Hopefully, if we can get those in England to get this drug, it will have a domino effect in Scotland, thereby saving and improving the lives of people with CF.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Ronald Jack Cowan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Subject to a legal challenge, Capita was awarded the MOD fire and rescue contract despite an MOD financial assessment that gave the company the highest category of distress and vulnerability. With shoddy finances and an abysmal record of delivery, does the Minister agree with the MOD fire and rescue staff from my constituency that private corporations should have no place in managing MOD services?