argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): The last thing we need is 10% tariffs imposed on autonomous vehicles. The Secretary of State is right to make the point that we have been the leading destination in Europe for overseas investment, but much of that was from companies outside Europe wanting to gain access to the single market, which the Prime Minister has now told us we are going to leave. Does he believe that the UK can remain Europe’s leading destination for inward investment outside the single market?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Transportation
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): The Green Paper rightly identifies the crucial role that better connectivity to regional airports could play in growing economies and highlights the vital importance of the Emirates route from Newcastle airport, which has significantly increased exports from the north-east. What discussions is the Secretary of State having with Treasury colleagues about the impact on airports such as Newcastle of devolving air passenger duty to the Scottish Government?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Fiona Margaret Mactaggart (Labour, Centre-left): The Green Paper rightly focuses on productivity, but there is one area of infrastructure where Britain lags enormously behind all our competitors: the cost of childcare. Childcare costs more in Britain than it does in every other OECD country apart from Switzerland—it takes up over 40% of the average wage—yet it is hardly mentioned in the Green Paper. That is the way to liberate the talent of women. What is he going to do about it?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Julie Elliott (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome some of the things in the Green Paper on the future of industry and our strategy moving forward, but to tackle those things, we have to secure what industry we have now. On Friday, Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive officer of Nissan, said he was going to revisit the competitiveness of the plant in Sunderland. What is the Minister’s view on that and on securing the jobs that already exist in Sunderland?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Energy
Albert Owen (Labour, Centre-left): I very much welcome the statement by the Secretary of State and his indication that he will work across the country, including with the devolved Administrations. On skills and low carbon, he and I both want to see a successful lower-carbon energy sector; in particular, he mentions nuclear. One of the concerns that nuclear workers have is that their conditions are being undermined by this Government. Will he agree to work with me and meet me to discuss this issue, because we need those skills bases to build on for the future?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Education
Gisela Stuart (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the desire to transform technical education—something of a recurring theme ever since the days of Prince Albert. In trying to help the Secretary of State to make it a success this time, may I ask him to pay greater attention to the 14 to 19-year-olds at university technical colleges like the one at Aston University? Could I persuade him to give the training levy to the newly elected regional mayors, who can then make strategic training decisions that are appropriate to the regions they represent?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Labor
Gloria De Piero (Labour, Centre-left): We heard no mention of former coalfield communities such as Ashfield that still mourn the loss of well-paid jobs in the pits. I understand that this is a Green Paper, but what new jobs or tangible differences does the Business Secretary hope to see in communities such as mine, and by when?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Technology
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Mobile technology is a very important part of modern infrastructure, but may I urge the Secretary of State to be cautious when he looks at Ofcom’s figures? I suspect that many of us in the Chamber have looked at its maps that say, "Yes! Universal coverage with 3G and 4G—no problems at all," only to find that the situation on the ground is phenomenally difficult. According to Ofcom, Porth—and this building, for that matter—have perfect access to all four mobile signals, but that is not true, is it?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Energy
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): Steel is a key product for all the infrastructure projects that the Secretary of State mentioned, including Hinkley C, Heathrow and High Speed 2, so I welcome his statement that there is likely to be a sector deal for steel. What does the steel industry need to do to make sure that it achieves that deal?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Tom Blenkinsop (Labour, Centre-left): I warmly welcome the Government’s new industrial strategy Green Paper, although it implicitly admits that the past six and a half years without an industrial strategy have been wasted. Having said that, the Materials Processing Institute has made a bid to be a metals catapult, and there is no mention of carbon capture and storage. Those issues are critical to the ability of any energy-intensive industries to go forward. Of real concern is certain BEIS civil servants’ views of virgin steelmaking capacity, and certain advice going to Ministers in relation to importing steel, rather than relying primarily on British-made steel, whether that is from Scunthorpe or Port Talbot. Will the Secretary of State please get up at the Dispatch Box and rule that out?
Industrial Strategy Consultation — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kelvin Peter Hopkins (Labour, Centre-left): UK manufacturing and exports are benefiting greatly from the more sensible and appropriate parity of sterling, but much more needs to be done to rebuild Britain’s industrial strength. Will the Secretary of State therefore give serious consideration to re-establishing the National Economic Development Council to provide a forum for employers, trade unions and Government to consult and advise on how British industry may be promoted for the future?
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman, whom I have a lot of respect for, must know that it is not really fiscally neutral, because central Government are saving money as a result of shifting the resources on to local government through the abolition of grants and so forth. Equally, he is asking local government to raise certain sums of money themselves, and we will surely reach a point where local government cannot sustain that. The important point is that central Government must be saving money—not necessarily his Department, but somewhere in the Treasury.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Technology
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): I wonder whether the Minister could clarify something for me. On the question of telecommunications infrastructure, the Bill states that the provisions will apply where "the hereditament is wholly or mainly used for the purposes of facilitating the transmission of communications by any means involving the use of electrical or electromagnetic energy" My reading of that is that it confirms that the rate relief would be for the actual infrastructure used in telecommunications and that, for example, Virgin Media, which has a property in Kirkby in my constituency, would not be eligible for the rate relief under that provision. I hope I am wrong about that. Can the Minister advise me?
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): The people of England should have more power to shape their own destiny without having to wait for the say-so of Ministers. However, the Bill is just one part of a mix of new law, funding reviews and detailed regulations, and only when all are publicly available will we know whether Ministers have merely devolved responsibility for more badly funded local services, or if serious opportunities for local initiatives are genuinely being created The Conservative party has too often had a hostile attitude in practice to the idea of local people being given the power to govern themselves properly. Opposition Members well remember the attacks of the late Margaret Thatcher on local councils, the introduction of the poll tax, the abolition of London local government and the nationalisation of business rates. Notwithstanding recent deals on extending local powers in some areas, local council services have been one of the hardest hit areas of Government funding in every Budget since 2010.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I do not remember that. Under the previous Labour Government, I remember rural local councils being well funded and able to invest in local services, unlike the position that they face at the moment Devolving more financial power to local areas so that public services can be properly funded, with new business activity encouraged and vital infrastructure investment given the go-ahead, is an ambition that we would support, but the detailed implementation of the measures that the Bill paves the way for could make the difficult funding situation facing local government even worse, exacerbate the social care crisis and leave council tax payers having to foot even more of the bill for local services. If the measures are badly introduced, regional inequality could deepen and divisions between areas with a large business community and those with more entrenched barriers to growth might increase. We support the principle of 100% business rate retention, but such a policy needs to be accompanied by a redistribution formula that addresses the divide between those councils that have sizable business rates income and those that do not. It must ensure that no area of England is left behind or worse off than it is now.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I have given that some thought. If the right hon. Gentleman is successful in getting on to the Bill Committee, I hope that we can debate such questions a bit more The Bill does not answer the many questions that local councils have about how business rate retention will work in practice. In particular, there is no clarity about what additional responsibilities councils will be allocated in return for 100% business rates retention The Government’s record on local government will give few people confidence that they are capable of addressing such concerns. Over the past seven years, this Government and their predecessor have taken an axe to local government spending. The people of England have been left paying more council tax for worse local public services. Last month’s local government settlement only brought more of the same: Ministers forcing councils to put up council tax and make more cuts to local services.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I admire the Minister’s wishful thinking in coming up with that fact. I gently suggest that he looks at his Department’s spending record on local council services. This year, councils will spend some £10 billion less than they spent in 2010-11. By 2020, according to the Local Government Association, councils will face a £5.8 billion gap just to fund statutory services. Since 2010, powers have been passed to councils without the necessary funding to go with them, so it is hardly surprising that sceptics wonder whether the Government are really interested in meaningful devolution, or just in devolving responsibility for cuts Every local authority has a list of lost services. The doors have shut on libraries, day centres and museums. Leisure centres, swimming pools and playing grounds have closed. Rural bus services, fire safety checks and youth services have been reduced, abandoned or shut. Legal advice services have been axed and women’s refuges have been lost. Investment in parks and street cleaning has been limited. All those services are treasured by local communities and represent vital lifelines for vulnerable residents.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): If the hon. Gentleman looks at our manifesto, he will see that we committed to devolving £30 billion of additional spending from Whitehall to local government The Government like to pretend that it is simply ineffective management that stops councils providing key basic services, and that those local councils that are not making cuts to such services are managing their resources effectively. The former Prime Minister David Cameron, perhaps inadvertently, exposed the delusion best when he wrote to the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire County Council in 2015: "I was disappointed at the long list of suggestions…to make significant cuts to frontline services—from elderly day centres, to libraries, to museums. This is in addition to the unwelcome and counter-productive proposals to close children’s centres across the county. I would have hoped that Oxfordshire would instead be…making back-office savings and protecting the frontline." That lack of understanding of the consequences of his own Government’s actions received the response it rightly deserved from the council leader, who wrote back to explain that some 2,800 council employees had already lost their jobs, that the remainder had experienced pay freezes or below-inflation pay increases for a number of years, and that assets had been sold off to fund revenue costs.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I will address the hon. Gentleman’s interesting question in the context of Surrey County Council’s announcement last week that it will hold a referendum on a 15% increase in council tax. I wonder how he or Ministers in the Chamber will be advising people who live in Surrey, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to vote in that referendum Perhaps one can sympathise with Surrey county councillors after not a single penny of new money was put into local government to help to tackle the social care crisis. Few people in local government think that the Secretary of State’s statement last month on local government finance will stabilise the care market, enable the recruitment of extra frontline care workers, ease the pressure on NHS hospitals, or ensure that all families with loved ones who need help will see them getting the level of care they actually need One reason why Surrey’s decision is so striking is because it has been able to increase spending on adult social care by more than 34% since 2010-11. Some councils have had to decrease spending on adult social care by almost the same proportion over the same period. In fact, only two out of the 152 social care-providing local authorities have been able to increase their spending on social care by more than Surrey, so if Surrey says that it cannot cope with the demand for social care, where can Although even Oxfordshire and Surrey have been unable to protect frontline services, the impact of local government cuts has been disproportionately felt across the country. The Bill offers no guarantee that the situation will get any better. The poorer an area, the greater its needs and the more it relies on public services, which are often funded by the revenue support grant, yet this Government’s cuts have hit the poorest areas the hardest The Institute for Fiscal Studies has stated that those councils "among the tenth which are most grant-reliant have had to cut their spending on services by 33% on average, compared to 9% for those…councils among the tenth which are least grant-reliant." We cannot even call that a postcode lottery. It is true that postcodes matter, but it is not luck or chance that determines the quality or quantity of local services; it is the actions of this Government and their decisions taken in Whitehall. That is the context in which we must consider this paving Bill today Before any Government Member again tries to advance the idea that local councils are set to get a significant stream of new funds from keeping 100% of business rates, Ministers have always made it clear that what they give, with great fanfare, with the one hand today, they will take away on another day—probably when fewer people are looking—with the other. The Bill will apparently be fiscally neutral.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen James McCabe (Labour, Centre-left): Birmingham City Council is a perfect example of giving with the one hand and taking with the other. It has been pretty brutally treated by this Government. Birmingham gets £5.6 million from the new adult social care fund, but it is losing £5.6 million as a direct result of the changes to the new homes bonus.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): I do not agree that it is just about the system following what has always been. I think there needs to be a reassessment of need. It is not just about following the previous system: the £79 million of cuts has nothing to do with what happened before; it is a result of decisions made over the past seven years. As my Labour colleagues have said, we are broadly supportive of the principles in the Bill, but none the less my constituents would want me to ask the Government to make sure that my local authority is no worse off in the future than it is now.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Gareth Thomas (Labour, Centre-left): I have a copy of our 2015 election manifesto. It makes clear that we would have transferred £30 billion of funding to the city and county regions, so I hope that the hon. Gentleman will withdraw his remark.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
James McMahon (Labour, Centre-left): We have heard from Members on both sides of the House the deep concern that any review will mean that some areas are worse off than others. As I said, that is inevitable with such narrow tax bases, when we are looking at council tax income and business rate income and saying, "That’s it." Given that the additional grants to local authorities are now in question, we are always going to be fighting for a scarce resource Devolution deals have included requests for retention of air passenger duty and the tourism tax. Okay, not every area might want that, but if we believe in devolution, local areas should be able to have some of these options. The retention of fuel duty or VAT at a local level has not even been discussed. If we want genuine fiscal devolution, we need to be more open to more taxes being raised locally and spent locally, with local people holding to account the people who make those decisions It is not local government that needs to change, or even the DCLG team, but the Treasury—it needs to let go. The reason air passenger duty cannot be devolved at the moment is that the Treasury has no idea how much fuel duty is generated at any of our airports, because it is paid by the airline at its head office. The Treasury has no idea how much is generated from fuel duty, because it is not attributed to every petrol station but paid at the refinery, and that does not account for how much is spent at a local level.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making a powerful point that many of us tried to make earlier. Does he agree that on top of the fact that no redistributive mechanism is involved in this measure, there has not been sufficient testing of what the outcomes will be for us to be satisfied that it will work to the benefit of all local authorities?
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
James McMahon (Labour, Centre-left): That is an absolutely fair point that has been raised by not just me but very credible think-tanks and by the LGA, whose financial review stated that we need a broad review of the tax base to make sure that local authorities have a broad range of taxes and that they are resilient to future change and future shocks It is not good enough just to say that councils need to reform.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): For very many years now, on and off, we have debated local government. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should have some sort of independent inquiry to have a good look at the needs of local government and how it should properly be funded?
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Melanie Onn (Labour, Centre-left): I appreciate what my hon. Friend is saying about learning to let go and give power back to local authorities, but what about those that, because of the cuts, are finding it so difficult to operate that they are considering merging? Does he think that that will impact on the future operations of local authorities?
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
James McMahon (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes a very important point about the burning platform coming down the line towards many local authorities. Local authorities that we support have had to make very short-term decisions and they have a horrible task of trying to meet growing demand, particularly for safeguarding young and vulnerable adults and children and for social care. The principle of devolution has to mean having a national framework with an answer for devolution for every part of England. It should not be about picking areas off one by one and against each other.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
James McMahon (Labour, Centre-left): I will give way in a moment. Devolution also has to have fair funding at its heart. There is a fundamental difference between the Opposition and the Government on fair funding. One view says that fair funding means that everybody gets the same amount, regardless of the local community’s need, but we believe that fair funding—[Interruption.] I do not judge Government Members on their heckling; I judge them on their actions, the coalition years and the financial settlements, which are still coming through, that show that councils are having their budgets stripped away while demand goes through the roof.
Local Government Finance Bill — House of Commons, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and I am sorry that there are so many disappointed faces on the Government Benches. Oppositions are always better than Governments at arguing in favour of giving more powers and control to local authorities. That has happened over the years. Looking to the future, does he accept that we need to develop a local government system whereby local authorities have greater ability to raise money themselves and make their own decisions in doing so? We also have to address the issue of equalisation and recognising needs. There has to be an element of central funding, but it would be helpful if local government as a whole had the right to be given control of a specified amount of income tax, rather than have to be reliant on Governments, who can change the system and take away powers and money on a whim.