argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Proceedings during the Pandemic and Hybrid Scrutiny Proceedings — House of Commons, 2020-04-21
Topic: Government Operations
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend, the ranking minority member of the Procedure Committee, for that reassurance There are many other issues that will be familiar to colleagues from all parts of the Chamber. They include nursery education, both in terms of providers and parents, and lorry drivers and their ability to get a hot meal on the motorway. Why is the Department for Transport not insisting that franchisees on the motorway open up for lorry drivers to make sure that they are fed when performing the vital service of keeping this country going? We have already talked about the problems of flights, furlough arrangements and companies’ access to support. Those are all issues that have to be resolved here. We therefore need to make sure that, as far as possible, we can replicate the usual arrangements so that Ministers have to be up there answering. I hope that Ministers will be coming to the Chamber to do that, so that we can make progress and improve things Finally, the Leader of the House says that he hopes and intends for the measures to be temporary, but in the end, of course, it may suit some for them not to be temporary. We have already had a Scottish National party Member of Parliament saying, "Anyway, why do people have to come down here to one point from all four parts of the country in order to participate in the business of the House?" Many in the civil service and Government would be quite happy if Parliament was less effective in holding them to account. Some Members, I would say, perhaps get the balance wrong between working for their constituents, which is a hugely important and essential part of the job, and running the country and actually asking questions here in Parliament.
Proceedings during the Pandemic and Hybrid Scrutiny Proceedings — House of Commons, 2020-04-21
Topic: Government Operations
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Chair of the Procedure Committee, and I genuinely congratulate her on the work she is doing already in that position. She is absolutely right, and she reminds me of what Warren Buffett said about financial crises: "When the tide goes out, you can see who has been bathing without trunks." Reputations get made and lost quickly in crises The right hon. Lady is absolutely right. Ministers who are doing a good job, have a robust defence and can even say, "Well, we tried that. We did it on reasonable grounds, but it did not work out. This is what we are doing", are the ones whose reputations will thrive. For those who try to run away from scrutiny and from decisions, their reputations will sink. However, we also need not necessarily a timetable, but certainly a statement of the necessary conditions for returning to normality I recognise and am pleased to see that there is a date in the motion, but that will presumably—it is understandable, and I am not criticising this—also be subject to renewal. We need a clearer idea of the necessary conditions that will enable us to come out of these measures, because otherwise there will always be a tendency for some of the groups I have described to find reasons for just continuing with the status quo, rather than getting this House back to its position at the heart of the debate and political life of this nation.
Covid-19: Developing Countries — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Preet Kaur Gill (Labour, Centre-left): During the coronavirus pandemic, it is imperative that countries and communities engage co-operatively with one another to avoid a scramble to procure goods, personal protective equipment and medical equipment and ensure that there is not a worldwide shortage that prices out the world’s most vulnerable. In the light of the announcement made by the President of the United States about ending funding to the World Health Organisation, can the Secretary of State outline what representations she and her Government have made to him regarding the need to follow collaborative principles, which will benefit us all?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): The problem with the First Secretary’s response is that it risks the UK falling behind. France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and Wales have all published exit plans of one sort or another. The First Secretary asked for my proposals and what they should cover. When we look at those plans, as he and I have done, it is clear that there are common issues such as schools and business sectors reopening. Those are the issues, and if he wants me to put them on the table, I absolutely will, because they are clearly the issues that need to be addressed There will be other issues, of course, but delay risks not only falling behind other countries but also the successful four-nation approach so far. We want to support the Government on an exit strategy. We want to support the four-nation approach so that we can all exit across the UK at the same time and hopefully in the same way, so I ask the First Secretary if the Government will work constructively and openly with the Opposition on the question of what happens at the next stage.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: Macroeconomics
Zarah Sultana (Labour, Centre-left): While working people are having to make huge sacrifices during this crisis, state support is available to big businesses that dodge taxes and pay millions to super-rich executives and shareholders. We should be bailing out the 99%, not the 1%. Will the Government follow the likes of Denmark and stand up to big businesses by saying, "If you want state support, you have to prohibit dividend payments and share buy-backs, and you cannot be based in a tax haven"?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: Law and Crime
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): May I first offer my deepest thanks to the first responders from the Metropolitan police and the London ambulance service who were greeted with the horrifying scene on Sunday night of an 18-month-old baby girl and three-year-old boy brutally murdered in their own home? There are no words of comfort that we can offer their grieving mother, but what the Government can do is more to support people who are not safe in their own homes. I recognise the £3 million that has gone in to support children who witness domestic abuse and the £2 million that has gone in to support the domestic abuse hotline, but it is not enough and it is not quick enough. In that spirit, may I ask the First Secretary of State to commit to providing the £75 million ring-fenced fund that the shadow Home Secretary has called for, so that in these darkest of times people who are trapped unsafe in their own homes know that support is available?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: Social Welfare
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): There have never been sufficient nursery places to meet the extra demand created by the Childcare Act 2016, and now things are set to get worse. I have received a huge number of emails from local nursery managers and workers angry at the Government for failing to take action to protect early years workers during the coronavirus, because they are not entitled to access the furlough scheme. What will the right hon. Gentleman do to sort this out and ensure that these nurseries still exist once the crisis is over?
Covid-19: Repatriation of UK Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): Like a number of Members, several of my constituents are still trapped in different parts of the world. One couple from Norwich have been trapped in New Zealand for well over a month. They are running out of money and have been refused a refund from their travel company. They face exorbitant flight prices that they cannot afford and are becoming increasingly desperate. Can I ask the Minister what pressure the Foreign Office is putting on travel companies to refund British nationals trapped abroad, and, to reiterate the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy), why it has taken so long to put on sufficient charter flights compared to countries such as Germany, which has already managed to get most of their trapped nationals home?
Covid-19: Repatriation of UK Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Rupa Asha Huq (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister talks a good talk. It was good news for my constituent when, for the first time in eight years, he was able to get over to see his ailing and elderly dad, for probably the last time. The bad news, however, is that it was in blockaded Gaza, where there are no flights in or out of what David Cameron called an "open-air prison". Will the Minister, with whom I raised this issue on a conference call on 15 April, please have a word with his officials, who, to date, have told my constituent that it is his own fault, and get a family of four British citizens in Acton their dad back for Ramadan?
Covid-19: Repatriation of UK Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick Bosco McFadden (Labour, Centre-left): I have a number of constituents who are still stranded in Punjab in India—some of them in real distress. I recognise the effort from the Foreign Office in chartering flights from Amritsar, but after several weeks of this effort my office is still receiving large numbers of calls from people with serious medical needs who have so far not been allocated a place on any of the charter flights and, importantly, do not know when they will be. When does the Minister think this repatriation effort will be completed?
Covid-19: Repatriation of UK Nationals — House of Commons, 2020-04-29
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): May I add my congratulations to the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds on the birth of their child On 24 March here in the Chamber, I asked the Foreign Secretary about the situation of my constituents stuck in India and elsewhere around the world. Forty are still stuck in India, including Lashkar and Surinder Jhutti, who have been resident in the UK for almost 50 years. She is a specialist neuro care worker who needs to get back to work. There seem to be echoes here of the Windrush scandal in that they have been told that they are not eligible for consular support. She is needed back at work, as I said. Will the Minister intervene and help them, and all other UK residents, to be returned and repatriated to the UK?
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Labor
Edward Samuel Miliband (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker I can tell the Secretary of State that we are committed to working constructively with the Government on all issues, and we welcome the recent changes to the loans system. I have two specific questions about his draft guidelines on workplace safety. We share the desire for a return to work as soon as it is safe, but he will know that firms with more than five employees are obliged by law to carry out risk assessments on safety. First, does he plan to ensure the publication of these risk assessments to give confidence to workers? Secondly, on enforcement of safe working, the Health and Safety Executive is operating on substantially reduced resources. What will he do to ensure that the guidelines are enforced so that all workers can feel safe?
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Macroeconomics
Edward Samuel Miliband (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, and I hope that he will come to the House to make a fuller statement on these matters at the earliest opportunity I want to ask about another aspect of the lifting of the lockdown, which is financial support for businesses and workers. Does he recognise that there will need to be a second phase of financial support for those businesses that will have to stay closed for longer, including an extension of the furlough scheme, with more flexibility for part-time working? Secondly, on the hospitality sector, which he knows is facing very challenging times, can I urge him to look favourably at the proposal, which has the support of over 80 of his own Back Benchers, to extend business support grants to businesses with rateable values of up to £150,000? It would make a difference to tens of thousands of pubs, restaurants and other businesses that are the lifeblood of our communities.
Covid-19: New Ways of Working — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Labor
Andrew Joseph McDonald (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, the Government gave trade unions just 12 hours to respond to seven consultation papers on safe return to work. The entire country wants the Government to succeed, but that is not how to build confidence or trust. The proposals talk about what the Government expect employers to consider and say that social distancing and hand washing should happen where possible to help, but insufficient attention is paid to personal protective equipment. Taking the necessary steps to protect employees is not a matter of expectation or guidance; it is the law. Will the Minister therefore confirm that covid-19 risk assessments will be mandatory for most businesses; that they will be made public and registered with the HSE; and that, given the lack of capacity to carry out inspections, workplace health and safety reps will be involved in settling assessments and then in their implementation and enforcement, and that they will be able to assist in non-unionised supply-chain companies?
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Covid-19 — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: International Affairs
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): Everyone will understand that we have left the European Union and everyone will understand that the impact of covid-19 might have an impact on the timetable for negotiating our future relationship, so why will the Minister not give businesses the reassurance they need that if the Government need more time, they will take more time? Is it dogma; is it vanity; or is it paranoia?
Covid-19: Large-scale Testing and Tracing — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Education
Catherine McKinnell (Labour, Centre-left): I am pleased that the Government recognise the importance of testing and tracing to contain the virus. It is just one of the issues that we need to get right before we can safely reopen schools. Headteachers in my constituency are really struggling to support vulnerable pupils, particularly with free school meal vouchers, because the system used by the Government’s chosen provider, Edenred, is not fit for purpose. Will the Government get a grip on this urgently, to ensure that our children at least are fed?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Creswell Timms (Labour, Centre-left): I join the Secretary of State and others in commending the Department’s staff for handling the recent surge. I also welcome higher UC, working tax credit and local housing allowance, and it sounds from the Secretary of State’s earlier answer that she agrees that jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance should have been increased as well; it is unfair that they have not been. The unchanged benefit cap is now blocking increased support the Government have decided people should receive, and that is having a particular effect in London. It could be increased, so will the Government now be more consistent in supporting people’s extra costs during this crisis?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): During this crisis, the Government have rightly stopped recovering overpayments from universal credit recipients, but they are still deducting money from those who are given an advance payment. We need the five-week wait to be scrapped, so that people do not need advance payments. Will the Secretary of State confirm today that the Government will defer any recovery of advance payments until after the crisis has passed?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): Last week, I was contacted by a constituent who has a heart condition. He is also immobile because of a problem with his spine, and he has had a liver transplant. He applied for personal independence payments in October 2019 and has still not had a reply. When I contacted the DWP, I was told that, because of covid-19, there would be delays in responding to me, but that application was from October. I am sure the Secretary of State agrees that that is unacceptable, so what is she going to do to ensure that benefits are processed in a reasonable timeframe?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Clive Stanley Efford (Labour, Centre-left): It cannot be fair that families on the benefit cap are not benefiting from the uprating of payments that has happened during this crisis. The Resolution Foundation has predicted that, in over two thirds of local authority areas, a couple with two children in an average three-bedroom house will be affected by the cap. We know that covid-19 will affect poorer families more than other sections of our community. Is it not time that we moved the benefit cap to stop this situation getting worse?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Bethan Winter (Labour, Centre-left): Many of my constituents suffered financial hardship and poverty before covid-19 struck, with the delays in universal credit, the processing of personal independence payments, the child benefit cap, low wages and insecure employment. That has been multiplied by the coronavirus, with communities, individuals and businesses seriously affected. Our local citizens advice bureau has been inundated with welfare benefit queries, and I thank it and all local agencies for their hard work. It is time the Government began to face the financial realities and hardship of people’s lives. Will the Minister please agree to consider introducing a recovery universal basic income to help achieve a sustained economic recovery? It could become the foundation for a future social security system that provides financial security for everyone.
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): There have been more than 82,000 new claims for universal credit in Wales. That is unprecedented and I echo the thanks to DWP staff, but some people are still struggling to get support with their new claims, including the constituent who could not get through on the phone and had to walk for 45 minutes to get help because she cannot afford internet access. May I urge the Secretary of State to make it much easier to access support with new claims, including by ending the five-week wait?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): Recently the Secretary of State said that she was confident that the system was working. Prior to this pandemic, more than 8 million people struggled to access food, and now a further 8 million households with children have lost their income. With food banks reporting increased footfall of more than 100%, can she please explain what possible grounds she had for that misplaced confidence and her continued justification for the five-week wait for universal credit, the two-child policy and the benefit cap?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Labor
Daniel Owen Jarvis (Labour, Centre-left): Mental and physical health conditions should not be a barrier to finding work. That is why, working with the Department for Work and Pensions, we launched Working Win, an employment programme that has now helped 3,000 people across South Yorkshire. Does the Secretary of State recognise the value of programmes such as Working Win? Will she commit to providing funding to support our most vulnerable workers through the covid-19 crisis?
Covid-19: DWP Update — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Kate Ofunne Osamor (Labour, Centre-left): May I remind the House that back in March, when I wrote to the Secretary of State to ask what emergency measures were in place to allow the Department to cope with the increase in new universal credit claims, I was told that the Department would redeploy staff and review priority of work? The Secretary of State has repeated that today. However, I am afraid to say that, months into the crisis, I still have constituents who are being told that the waiting time is eight hours when calling the claim line. As a result, many have been forced to use food banks for the first time. Given the ongoing issues that my constituents are experiencing, will the Secretary of State give resolving the technical and capacity issues the highest priority by providing clearer guidance to the public and the hard-working DWP staff on the correct process for making digital and non-digital universal credit claims?
Pensions — House of Commons, 2020-05-04
Topic: Labor
John Eugene Joseph Dromey (Labour, Centre-left): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker Following on from what the Pensions Minister said, our country is gripped by the greatest crisis since 1945, and in the great battle to save jobs and livelihoods I too have nothing but praise for the DWP staff, who, together with key and essential workers throughout our country, have been utterly magnificent in rising to the challenge of protecting the public and the public interest. We will come through this, not least because in an hour of darkness what we saw was our staff, the very best of Britain, rising to the challenge, putting themselves on the line to support others, sometimes in desperate difficulty and occasionally putting themselves in harm’s way, to do the job they are determined to do. They deserve nothing but our warmest praise The Pensions Minister has heard me say before that auto-enrolment, introduced by the last Labour Government, was a landmark achievement. It is deeply welcome that there has been a continuity of policy, as a consequence of which 10.2 million people are now saving £90 billion a year via auto-enrolment. We are seeing extraordinary benefits: for example, 77% of people are now engaged in a workplace pension. It was a dream that we would ever make such progress in years gone by; it was a vision that we gave birth to and carried forward. I stress once again that I welcome the continuity of policy on the part of the Government There is undoubtedly room for improvement with auto-enrolment; 8% cannot be the summit of our ambition —the £10,000 threshold and the age of 22 threshold likewise. There are improvements that require to be made at the next stages, including tackling the deep-seated problems for the self-employed. Having said that, it is absolutely right that we celebrate the progress made thus far Turning to the statutory instruments, we must constantly broaden the scope of auto-enrolment to take in yet more workers on the one hand and ensure that nobody falls out on the other. To that end, these statutory instruments are necessary; otherwise, the interests of maritime workers and seafarers would be put at risk, and that cannot be right, not least because of the job that they do. The sunset clause that would otherwise have created real problems for continuity requires to be dealt with by way of these statutory instruments, and we are therefore pleased to endorse them and we will certainly not be voting against them. Going forward to the next stages, in the spirit that the Pensions Minister referred to I say that we have monumental problems as a country and I am in no doubt whatsoever that there will be significant implications for pensions and future generations of pension earnings for years to come. But today these are necessary statutory instruments, which we are more than happy to support.