argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Health
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): The Health Secretary will know the pressure that Pinderfields Hospital, especially, has been under. The staff there have been doing an incredible job. It is welcome that the number of covid patients in hospital is starting to fall and that the number of infections locally has fallen by around 30% in the last week, but he will also know that our NHS, social care and public health staff have had a really difficult year and that the winter is going to carry on being tough, with many operations to catch up on. Will he now look swiftly at the case for added support and pay for NHS, public health and social care staff this winter, in recognition of the incredible job they have been doing to care for all of us?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Health
Rachel Louise Hopkins (Labour, Centre-left): The good people of Luton will want to get out of tier 2 as soon as possible, but the current resources provided to Luton Borough Council for the lateral flow rapid testing pilot are insufficient to enable it to provide the level of mass testing that is being described nationally. The contained funding—£8 per person—just will not cover tests for 10% of Luton’s population, as the funding also needs to be used for the wider covid response, including wellbeing support for vulnerable residents. Can the Secretary of State confirm that there are national plans to provide additional support and resources to expand testing if the intention to test close contacts daily is pursued?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Health
Mary Elizabeth Twist (Labour, Centre-left): May I start by assuring the Secretary of State that directors of public health and local authorities in the LA7 area and the wider north-east are certainly very focused on getting that figure down and have had some success? I would like to make that absolutely clear. The second point I would like to make is that my constituents and others across the north-east will be hugely disappointed to find they are in tier 3, particularly those businesses in hospitality and leisure which are going to be so desperately hit by this. The real point I want to make, however, is about public health. Nothing has shown more than this pandemic that public health should be at the heart of what we do. We know it affects outcomes in covid-19, and we know it affects health inequalities and the rate of transmission. Will the Secretary of State ensure that he impresses that on the Chancellor, and ask him for more funding for public health services, both now and in the future?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Health
Charlotte Louise Nichols (Labour, Centre-left): Warrington will be breathing a sigh of relief that we are emerging from national lockdown into tier 2, but while I welcome the return of fans to stadiums, I cannot support the extension of the substantial meal requirement to tier 2, which will leave many pubs across my constituency closed. The pub sector faces an existential threat and it flies in the face of logic and fairness that thousands can congregate at the rugby but wet pubs that are at the heart of our community must stay closed. Will the Secretary of State commit to publishing the specific evidence that underpinned the substantial meal requirement extension and, if he cannot, to removing this requirement?
Official Development Assistance — House of Commons, 2020-11-26
Topic: Health
Charalambos Charalambous (Labour, Centre-left): The pandemic has reminded us that the virus does not respect borders. Countries with weaker health systems and poor water and sanitation facilities are less likely to defeat covid-19, maintaining the virus’s threat to the UK and the world. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether that was taken into account when making the decision to cut vital aid? Can he explain what he means by returning to the 0.7% commitment when the fiscal situation allows? What metrics will be used to determine that point in time?
Leaving the EU: Defence Relationship — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Helen Catherine Goodman (Labour, Centre-left): Mr Speaker, on my behalf and, I am sure, that of other hon. Members on the Opposition side, I would like to echo your words about Paul Flynn, whom I will always remember for his great independence of spirit and fantastic sense of humour I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his answer. On 7 January his junior Minister said, in response to a written parliamentary question, that in the event of no deal, "the UK would have to withdraw from Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations" What would happen to Operation Atalanta, which is against pirates, and Operation Sophia, which picks up refugees in the Mediterranean?
Leaving the EU: Defence Relationship — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Adrian Edward Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): What contingency measures will the Government put in place to protect the UK defence industry from losing the automatic right to bid for contracts within the European economic area in the event of a no-deal Brexit?
Armed Forces Covenant — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Health
Michael Joseph Patrick Kane (Labour, Centre-left): May I too associate myself with your comments, Mr Speaker? Any budding politicians out there should read the part of Paul Flynn’s book where he describes setting on fire his oven’s cooking instructions five years after moving into his flat On a more serious note, with an estimated 58 veterans’ suicides last year and the charitable sector saying that it is struggling to cope with demand, does the Minister agree that there is too much reliance on the sector to support personnel leaving the service with mental health disorders?
Armed Forces Covenant — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Fabian Hamilton (Labour, Centre-left): A recent investigation has revealed that black African soldiers in the East Africa Force, formed in 1940, which encompassed thousands of troops drawn from the British colonies and current Commonwealth countries, were paid only a third of the wage received by their white counterparts. Will the Minister tell the House whether there will now be a full and comprehensive Ministry of Defence investigation of this issue, and whether such an investigation would consider granting appropriate compensation to all surviving veterans?
Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): Many people may see it as an incompetent accident that the Government continually fail to hit their supposed targets on Army recruitment, but is it not the truth that this is a Government without any sort of strategic vision for what they want our Army to do in 2019, and that their failure to get Army numbers up saves budget for the parts of the MOD that they do have a plan for?
Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): The Public Accounts Committee has been looking closely at what skills we have in our armed forces. We know there are real shortages, particularly in cyber, with people leaving early. Will the Minister explain to the House how he is working with others across Government to ensure that we have the cyber skills we need in our armed forces?
Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): Following on from what was said by the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mark Francois), the reality is that the size of the Army has fallen in every year since the Conservatives came to power. For all the talk, the fact is that the initial applications are not turning into enlistments. Will the Minister tell the House what the trained strength of the Army will be at the end of this Parliament if the current trend and record we have seen so far continues?
Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): I do not think that gives us very much reassurance. Let me tell the Minister now that, if the decline continues at the same rate it has been over the time the Conservative party has been in government, by May 2022 the Army will be down to just 68,000. Given that the promise to reach 82,000 soldiers was unceremoniously dumped from the Conservative manifesto at the last election, will the Minister tell the House whether the Government are still committed to reaching that number? If so, what is his plan for how to do so?
Veterans: Mental Health Support — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Health
Nicholas Desmond John Smith (Labour, Centre-left): There is still confusion among clinicians and veterans over how the armed forces covenant guarantee of priority treatment for conditions related to the veterans service is applied, so what discussions has the Minister had with the Health Minister in Wales to support our veterans there?
Leaving the EU: MOD Preparedness — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): May I just echo your words about Paul Flynn, Mr Speaker? He was a brilliant, radical and reformist politician and will be greatly missed A "No-deal Brexit will make tracking terrorists harder and British public less safe". Those words are from the Minister for Security and Economic Crime, and this weekend we have heard another Defence Minister threaten to vote against the Government if they fail to rule out no deal. Will the Secretary of State put this country’s security first, and before his own leadership ambition, and rule out no deal here and now, today?
RAF Scampton — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Karen Elizabeth Lee (Labour, Centre-left): As the Minister knows, RAF Scampton is very close to my constituency. It employs more than 600 people, many of whom live in Lincoln and contribute to the local economy as well as to our communities. What specific assurances can the Minister give MOD workers in Lincoln, and throughout Lincolnshire, who fear that they will be made redundant or forced to relocate should the closure go ahead?
Defence Procurement: UK Prosperity — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): In the light of the Ministry of Defence decision to open up the procurement process for the fleet solid support ships to international competition, will the Minister explain what weighting will be placed on national prosperity in awarding those contracts?
Defence Procurement: UK Prosperity — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Questions: Does my right hon. Friend the Minister agree that MBDA, located in Bolton and manufacturing in Bolton, makes a huge contribution to our defence, especially by keeping one step ahead of the competition in terms of technology?
Stephen Hepburn (Labour, Centre-left): First, may I thank you, Mr Speaker, for your kind words about our former colleague Paul Flynn, who was a great comrade over the years Following on from the question asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), why does the Minister not defer any action until after 29 March, when we will not be under EU procurement rules and we can award this ship—a £1 billion British taxpayers’ order—to a British shipyard?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): The Public Accounts Committee’s damning report has found that Ministers have made "little progress" in solving the affordability crisis at the heart of the Ministry of Defence’s budget. Despite a year of bolshie headlines, the Secretary of State has completely failed to get a grip of the equipment plan in the modernising defence programme. Instead of spending his time causing diplomatic rows, when will he come forward with a costed plan to give confidence to the armed forces and our allies that we will be able to afford the equipment that his Government have committed to?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): The Government’s own analysis shows that a no-deal Brexit would cause serious and lasting damage to our GDP. On the basis of sticking to our NATO 2% commitment, that would mean a massive cut of some 9.3% just because of the hit to our economy. With the Government failing so abysmally to manage the defence budget at present, will the Defence Secretary now drop the bravado and finally admit that leaving the EU without a deal would be so harmful to the UK that we must absolutely rule it out?
Defence — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I entirely support what the Minister says about our recognition of those who support members of our armed forces; the armed forces community is very important. I know the Minister has that community very much in his heart and has their best interests in his mind, and he will be as concerned as I am that satisfaction with pay and pension benefits is the lowest ever recorded. What is being done in armed forces legislation and in the policies of the Government to try to increase morale and satisfaction among the people the Minister paid such warm tribute to?
Defence — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): It is the first time I have ever been positively encouraged to intervene—it could catch on I share the Minister’s views about the wider issues alongside pay. One of the other issues raised with me by members of the armed forces community is the sense of strategic vision on what the Army is for now. I challenged the Minister on this in Defence questions an hour or two ago and he said that there was a strong strategic vision for the Army in 2019. Can he tell us a bit more about what that is, because it is not entirely understood by some people who serve?
Defence — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I am very grateful to the Minister for allowing me to intervene again. I just want to take him back to the comments he was making a moment ago about cyber-warfare and hybrid warfare. Does he consider cyber-warfare to be warfare? If so, who are we at war with?
Defence — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I rise to support the motion, as my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) did. While this is a motion that many might have expected was limited in scope and was likely to be passed without much comment, the Minister, of whom I am a big admirer in the job he does, has broadened its scope and other Members have taken him up on the challenge he posed. He made a remarkable speech; I cannot think of many times where a Minister has stood at the Dispatch Box and been so implicitly critical of the Government they speak on behalf of. I entirely support his call for greater investment in our armed forces and will expand on some of the arguments he made about our investment in equipment.
Defence — House of Commons, 2019-02-18
Topic: Defense
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): I agree entirely with what the hon. Gentleman is saying about recruitment, but that is only one side of the picture. The other side is the huge number of people who have left the armed forces in the past few years, and people left because they were kind of encouraged to do so by the Government, who made it absolutely clear that they were looking to reduce the size of the British Army. This is not just about recruitment, but about the skills we have lost.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-01-11
Topic: Defense
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): I am not asking the House to believe me. I am simply drawing to the attention of the House what former heads of MI6 and defence chiefs have said. It is for the House to weigh up what value it gives to the opinion of those gentlemen.
European Union (Withdrawal) Act — House of Commons, 2019-01-11
Topic: Defense
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): First, much of that has not been decided; it is part of the future political framework. Furthermore, it is for the House and the public watching this debate to decide what weight they give to the opinions of former heads of MI6 and former defence chiefs. The point I am making is that it seems to me that the Home Secretary has been a little careless in his assurances around security and the safety of the nation, and it is at least debatable whether this deal gives us the assurance we need.
UN Aid to Palestinian Refugees — House of Commons, 2019-01-22
Topic: Health
Marsha Chantol De Cordova (Labour, Centre-left): On 9 January, the Minister said: "Work is going on to ensure that, in the long term, UNRWA is sustainable."—[Official Report, 9 January 2019; Vol. 652, c. 349.] However, UNRWA is already closing health centres, and doubling and trebling shifts at schools to cut costs. If it closes down, what will happen to the 526,000 children in UNRWA schools and the 3.1 million patients of UNRWA health services? Can the Minister set out exactly what is going on?
Community and Voluntary Services: Derbyshire — House of Commons, 2019-02-08
Topic: Health
Ruth Stephanie Nicole George (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister says that the cuts are to services that do not deliver such good statutory support. How does she think that community transport does not deliver for patients struggling to get to, say, follow-up appointments for bowel screening?
Community and Voluntary Services: Derbyshire — House of Commons, 2019-02-08
Topic: Health
Ruth Stephanie Nicole George (Labour, Centre-left): The GPs on the CCG themselves stood up in the meeting and said there was a recognised risk that these service cuts would create cost pressures on other areas of services, so I am sorry, Minister, but it is simply not guaranteed at best, very likely at worst.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2019-02-12
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): I beg to move amendment 1, page 5, line 10, at end insert— "(3A) Before making any regulations under subsection (3)(b), the Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a report on— (a) the likely effects of the provisions of this Act on persons undergoing rehabilitation for brain injuries, and (b) the interaction between the provisions of this Act and the processes for prescribing for brain injury rehabilitation therapy."
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2019-02-12
Topic: Defense
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): Is my hon. Friend aware of the problem that some members of the armed forces face with acquired brain injury? It may be because they were involved in or close to the explosion of an improvised explosive device, or because they had a gunshot wound, when the head covering was hit but not penetrated, and the shock can lead to acquired brain injury.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2019-02-12
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I know the role she has played, in particular in the all-party group on the armed forces, and of course in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She is absolutely right, and there are sometimes coup and contrecoup elements of damage to the brain. There is also some evidence to suggest that some people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder have actually been suffering from a brain injury. Interestingly, the Ministry of Defence has done some of the most innovative work in relation to brain injuries—physical brain injuries, as it were—and it has been able to transfer some of the skills and research involved in that work to the wider population, which is all to the good. However, I think that the way in which the mind sits inside the brain and the brain sits inside the skull is one of the areas of research that is still underdeveloped, and we still need to do a great deal more about it Other causes include brain tumours and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, where somebody may have had a series of relatively minor concussions. There is a complete misunderstanding of what concussion actually involves, particularly in sport. This might be leading to some of the long-term sustained problems of, for example, people in my own constituency who played rugby for many years and had repeated concussions. They may suffer from dementia, depression and anxiety in later life, but have no understanding that that may relate to a brain injury, rather than to anything else.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2019-02-12
Topic: Health
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): I am tempted to make a point of order! No—you are absolutely right, Mr Deputy Speaker The key thing is to have the same protocols for all sports, so that there is the same protection. A child might play rugby league one year and rugby union the next; if there are different protocols, that will undermine the whole system. Incidentally, the point also applies to a whole range of other sports—hockey and ice hockey, as well as American football, in which there is growing interest in the United Kingdom. We should not let the issue be led by litigation, which is what has happened in the United States of America: we should let it be led by the medical science, which is rapidly changing.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2019-02-12
Topic: Health
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is being generous in giving way. One of the things that concern me most is that it is easy to label someone with any form of brain injury—whether dementia, Parkinson’s or anything else—when they also have an infection. What can be seen as difficult behaviour can be misunderstood when it is caused by the infection rather than by any acquired injury or illness.