argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Plastic Waste — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Health
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): There are certain medical devices, where sterility and so on are important, where single-use plastic is the best product available, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that the team at the Department of Health and Social Care is working on making sure that products are not only more recyclable, but more reusable, because often it is about that repeatability.
Support for Arts and Culture — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Culture
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): The Church Commissioners, alongside the Cathedral Music Trust, supported cathedral choirs in 2020. Funding was also provided to support the heritage skills of stonemasons, glaziers and others. The culture recovery fund provided more than £60 million for 580 churches and cathedrals, and a partnership with the Wolfson Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust and the National Churches Trust has provided grants to pay for the care of historic interiors and collections.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Defense
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): After what happened in Salisbury, I urge my hon. Friend not to take the rather reckless advice of the SNP. Due to the fog of war, there undoubtedly—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald) is trying to intervene on me, but he is reckless in his suggestion, and after Salisbury—[Interruption.].
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Culture
Peter James Bottomley (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am happy to come first and last, because I have a second one on column 799 from yesterday about the Electoral Commission My first one is about Prorogation and a written statement that the Government said that they will make about the future of broadcasting. I checked three minutes ago and it has not been received in the Table Office. Can written statements still be made during Prorogation or is there some way to ensure that the Government get the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to put that statement into the hands of Members of Parliament before Prorogation? My subsidiary question is that the Member Hub website goes down at Prorogation, which is where most MPs would expect to find the statement, so how will we get it At present, the Department has issued a press notice to give its take on what is in the statement. In column 798 yesterday, I asked whether we could have an oral statement. The Government have not complied with that and they have not complied with their intention to publish a written statement. Mr Speaker, I would be grateful if you could guide the House and the Department on how we can now proceed.
Cost of Living: Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on armed forces personnel living in Newport West constituency.
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): Armed forces personnel, like everyone else, are not immune to the international inflationary pressures and cost of living pressures, and I am therefore very pleased to announce that the Defence Secretary has chosen to freeze the daily food charge for our armed forces personnel. We are also limiting the increase in accommodation charges to 1%, ensuring that the council tax rebate reaches those in military accommodation, and increasing the availability of free wraparound childcare at the start of the new academic year.
Cost of Living: Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on armed forces personnel living in Newport West constituency.
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): In terms of measuring the contentment of those serving, the reality that I see day in, day out is that armed forces personnel are content with their pay and conditions. They are also content because of the remarkable job security they have in the armed forces, the subsidised accommodation, and the remarkable and unique non-contributory pension. That is all thanks to the £24 billion uplift made available by the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary.
Cost of Living: Armed Forces Personnel — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on armed forces personnel living in Newport West constituency.
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not recognise that characterisation, but of course I join the hon. Lady in solemn and compassionate commendation of the veterans of the Falklands liberation. The Defence Secretary will speak more about that. On her question, I ask her to recognise the work we have done specifically in Wales. I hope that she, like me, is very pleased to see the independent Wales Veterans Commissioner in place, and that she will work with him to improve the lives of veterans in Wales.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I am going to follow up that question, I am afraid. NATO does outnumber Russia, it is true, but we have to have the weight, muscle and mass, to a certain extent, to react in the event, God forbid, of some form of confrontation with Russia. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to reverse the very bad decision to reduce the Army by 10,000.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State has been clear throughout the integrated review process that we are a threat-led Department. As things stand, and as I have said at the Dispatch Box a number of times—I know that my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary has said likewise—a lot of what is in the IR is proving to be vindicated by the realities of the conflict in Ukraine. As we move towards Madrid, and NATO is increasingly clear about what it wants as an alliance as capabilities across all five domains, the UK continues to lead thinking, rather than being behind it.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Defence Secretary is a passionate advocate for our nation’s armed forces and for defence within the Government, but his correspondence with other Ministers in the Cabinet necessarily should remain private. The reality is, as I said in answer to the question earlier from the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman), that the UK exceeds its NATO minimum requirement, and as NATO moves into its new strategic concept and looks at how it will operate across all five domains, it is the UK’s decisions from the IR that are informing what others will now contribute to NATO, rather than vice versa. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) finished with a question about the Secretary of State setting out a vision for NATO. I cannot think of anybody within NATO who has set out a more compelling vision for the alliance and the UK’s role within it.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): The concept has not been signed off yet. At Defence Minister meetings this week, the Secretary of State will be looking at it further before it goes to the NATO summit in Madrid. As the hon. Lady would expect, Ministers from the MOD and the Secretary of State most obviously are travelling around the Euro-Atlantic all the time in order to have these discussions, and people from other NATO capitals are visiting the MOD, so that we can build a shared consensus before we reach the moment of decision, and the UK has been instrumental in shaping those thoughts.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
Robert Butler (Conservative, Centre-right): A couple of weeks ago, Members from all parts of the House went to Romania with the armed forces parliamentary scheme, where we saw the work being done by the RAF as part of NATO’s air policing role. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking 140 Expeditionary Air Wing for all it is doing to keep our skies safe? Does he agree that that work is an excellent example of the role of NATO in safeguarding our freedom and security?
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): I was in Bucharest on Thursday evening and Friday morning, having the exact conversations that the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier) was checking we were having. I had the honour when I was there of meeting members of the RAF who are involved in Operation Biloxi and air policing. I indeed pay tribute to 140 Expeditionary Air Wing and all other members of the RAF who have been involved in air policing in Romania, Lithuania and elsewhere.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): Opposition spokespeople are in the habit of starting the clock on pledges for defence spending increases the day after the UK makes an enormous increase in defence spending. The UK led the alliance in deciding to increase spending in the face of increased insecurity in the Euro-Atlantic. NATO’s strategic concept does not specify exactly what each nation must have; the strategic concept is what NATO as an alliance wants to do. The key to that, as the hon. Gentleman rightly said at the start, is having interoperable levers of hard power that are shared across the alliance with the countries that do them best; having real homeland resilience so that, across all domains, on the eastern front and in-depth, there is real resilience within NATO members; and having a set of values that NATO unites around, stands up for and sells around the world.
LGBT Armed Forces Personnel: Courts Martial — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Questions: How many LGBT armed forces personnel were court-martialled on account of their sexuality in the most recent period for which data is available prior to 2001.
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman mentioned Fighting With Pride; I commend its activity and rightful advocacy in this area. I entirely agree with him and I am pleased to say that there is a highly credible and eminent individual who will chair the review. My hopeful expectation is that we will make the formal announcement next week to coincide with Armed Forces Week.
UK Nuclear Deterrent — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): Four new Dreadnought class submarines will enter service from the early 2030s, and we will replace the current nuclear warhead. We keep our nuclear posture under constant review in the light of the global security environment. About 30,000 jobs across the nuclear enterprise are dedicated to maintaining and delivering the deterrent, now and tomorrow.
UK Nuclear Deterrent — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
John Robert Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government will be aware of a recent opinion poll that shows that Trident enjoys 58% support among Scots, yet the SNP and Green Ministers in the Scottish Government wish to see us remove Trident and even leave NATO altogether. Given the current international crisis, does the Defence Secretary think their position is wise?
UK Nuclear Deterrent — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): It is certainly the case that the SNP cannot have it both ways. It wants to have an independent Scotland and join NATO, while also removing part of its nuclear defence. I notice that the First Minister alone said in 2021 that an independent Scotland would be a "keen signatory" to the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. That would make it the only NATO country to be a signatory to that treaty, and it is a clue to how the SNP says one thing and does another.
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK has committed £1.3 billion for military operations and aid to Ukraine. As part of the delivery of lethal and non-lethal aid in support of Ukraine’s military, we are liaising with Ukraine’s armed forces to meet their operational requirements. Most recently, we have announced that we will be providing highly capable multiple launch rocket systems, which will provide Ukraine with a significant boost in capability.
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right: it is not just about weapons; it is often about non-lethal aid, such as medicines and body armour. The UK has sent over 200,000 pieces of non-lethal aid, including body armour, range finders and medical equipment, and we will continue to do so. This is also about making sure that we look at the training being given to those young people, because if they are to have the best chance of survival on the frontline, we need to make sure that they are not only properly equipped, but properly trained.
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right that that is often the request we receive from the Ukrainians and the international community, and he will remember the discussion about MiG-29s from Poland a few months ago. Air is a requirement of the Ukrainians, and we have had a number of discussions at the donor conferences, which I first convened a few months ago. One or two nations have looked at providing helicopters to Ukraine, and I think they may do so at some stage. Of course, the difference between that type of weapons system and another is the amount of training. That restricts countries such as the United Kingdom, because our planes are obviously very different. Therefore, wherever we can support the provision of air from countries holding Soviet stock, we will do our best to do so.
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Jason McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): On behalf of Huddersfield and Colne Valley’s Ukrainian community, can I thank the Secretary of State for Defence for the magnificent support the UK has been giving to the Ukrainian military forces fighting such a valiant fight against the oppressive Russian forces? He mentioned support with the multiple launch rocket systems and the importance of training, but how is he balancing the timescales of that with supplying the existing Soviet-era weaponry with the ammunition it needs for the fight today and this week?
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to point out the importance of the next step and, indeed, the requirement for more artillery. The key here is to make sure that the new artillery, which is obviously designed for NATO use using NATO ammunition, is applied and used in a NATO way, rather than just repeating the way Soviets would have used artillery because that way we would run out of ammunition pretty quickly. That is why we will be sending MLRS, and we are also sending self-propelled 155s from a donor—not UK AS 90s, but others—to Ukraine to assist in giving it such deep fires capability. In tandem, we are helping alongside other countries, especially in the Baltic, in training those people to put that type of deep fires into effect.
Support for Ukraine’s Military — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): First and foremost, it is incredibly important that we get the right training to those serving in the Ukrainian armed forces. One of the tragic characteristics of the Russian armed forces is that they simply shove into one end of a meat grinder their own forces, who then—mainly men—come out and are killed en masse. It is hard to have sympathy for that, but nevertheless we are not going to be like that; we must make sure the Ukrainians are trained in using the equipment we give them and we do not just hand it over and let them face the consequences. We will continue to work on that; I will brief the hon. Gentleman’s Front-Bench spokesman soon on these topics and any further steps. The United Kingdom and a number of our European colleagues are keen to do more on training; when I have more news, I will announce that to the House.
Ajax Programme — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I think that Question 13 was not grouped with this one to give the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) a whole theatre of his own to ask his question. I will be first to support that when we come to it. We have been clear that this is a troubled programme, and we have not paid a penny to General Dynamics under the Ajax contract since December 2020. Ajax will be a formidable capability. We want it to work and for General Dynamics to deliver it, but we will not take a vehicle into service that is not fit for purpose. We benefit from a robust contract and will make use of it.
Ajax Programme — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand the hon. Member’s frustration and that of the workforce in Wales, who had hoped and wanted to produce a vehicle that was fit for purpose and would add to the British Army’s important capability. We have to proceed based on science and evidence. Like General Dynamics, we are bound to a contract, and I do not want to say anything that would jeopardise those positions. We have done independent trials and, when those results are forthcoming, we can have a further discussion. I recently met the head of General Dynamics and made my position on the next steps very clear. As I have said from the beginning, we will not accept into service a vehicle that is not fit for purpose.
Support for Veterans — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): We continue to work tirelessly to ensure that veterans are supported right across the UK. The "Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan", published earlier this year, set out 60 commitments and £70 million of investment, particularly on the themes of healthcare and employment. There is a big demand for veterans in the employment market because, Mr Speaker, military service gives you skills for life.
Support for Veterans — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Damien Moore (Conservative, Centre-right): I recently attended the opening of Southport veterans’ hub, which does an excellent job in providing support for ex-service personnel in my constituency. Will my hon. Friend join veterans at the hub to further understand what more support his Department can give?
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is a phenomenal campaigner for those who served alongside the UK armed forces; in fact, I think I probably sign dozens of letters a week responding to his various inquiries. I am surprised that I have not already corresponded with him on this particular case if he has raised it with me, but perhaps we can talk afterwards to ensure nothing has fallen through the cracks.
Support for NATO Allies: Ukraine — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): We have doubled our presence in Estonia, reinforced the enhanced forward presence battlegroup, and deployed an aviation taskforce to Lithuania. We are contributing to enhanced air policing over Romania and Bulgaria, and enhanced vigilance activity in Cyprus, Poland and the Baltic states. We have deployed additional troops and capabilities to Poland, and led the development of joint expeditionary force activity options.
Dreadnought Programme — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): On 9 May, I visited my hon. Friend’s constituency and we went to see the Dreadnought programme. He was with me when I signed the delivery of phase 3, the most important phase of rolling out the first of class HMS Dreadnought, in Barrow-in-Furness. It is set for sea trials so that it will be ready for patrol, hopefully in the early 2030s.
Dreadnought Programme — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Simon Richard James Fell (Conservative, Centre-right): It was a pleasure to host my right hon. Friend in Barrow for that announcement. The submarine programme based in my constituency supports more than 11,000 jobs locally, but the Astute programme, the Dreadnought programme and the boats being developed under SSN(R) will keep us and our allies safe for generations to come. With that in mind, will my right hon. Friend thank those people, from pipefitters to programme directors, for the work they are doing on that critical national programme?
Dreadnought Programme — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. In Barrow, they are doing some of the most complex engineering on earth, and it is breath-taking and a huge achievement. Not only are we rolling out the Dreadnought class, but we have committed funding for the next stage of the attack submarine, the next generation of Astutes. It is a vital part of our subsea defence and I am delighted that the Australians, when they chose to switch from the French submarine, came to the United States and the United Kingdom as future partners in that programme, because very few places in the world can do it. One of those places is Barrow.
Armed Forces Housing Accommodation — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Defense
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): We take these issues seriously, because we recruit the soldier but we retain the family. That is why we are putting record sums of investment into SFA. In the last seven years, we have invested more than £936 million in SFA improvements, and in the coming year we will invest £176 million in SFA. We are putting our money where our mouth is.
Patient Safety — House of Commons, 2018-03-28
Topic: Health
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): This issue is not just the preserve of doctors; it, of course, cuts across all health professionals. One of the biggest triggers is the pressure that NHS staff are put under, particularly in respect of their not being able to fulfil their duty of care. Does the hon. Lady recognise that when we have a staff crisis it creates the biggest risk to patients?