argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Veterans’ Access to Support Services — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Health
Questions: I welcome what the Secretary of State says about supporting veterans. My constituent, Lieutenant Colonel L.T., served with distinction for almost 30 years. Ever so typically for a man of his standing, he is more concerned about the investigations into the men he served with in Northern Ireland than where investigations may lead for himself. Does my right hon. Friend agree that those veterans also deserve our support?
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a very important point. The actual mental health outcomes of service personnel are exceptionally good, but there are service personnel and former service personnel who do need a bit of extra support. The investment of £2 million in the veterans gateway is aimed at helping and supporting veterans and service leavers to access the type of support that they best need once they have left the armed forces.
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (Conservative, Centre-right): In addition to the great work at the MTC, does the Secretary of State agree with me that an excellent example of new technology supporting military capability is the electric drive systems using anti-vibration technology being installed on our marine vessels, which were both developed in Rugby and built in Rugby, and does he agree with me that they represent a great future for British manufacturing?
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): Such technologies do represent a fantastic future for British manufacturing. If we look at the success that the Type 26 has had not just with the eight Type 26 frigates that are going to be built in Britain, but in securing orders in Australia and Canada, we can see that it demonstrates this kind of technology is not only designed in Britain, but should always be built in Britain.
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew), and I have been working very closely with BAE Systems, but also with the Qataris in securing a key order for Hawk trainer jets. The hon. Lady raises an important point about the diversity of the site. It is certainly something that I can raise with those at BAE Systems at my next meeting with them, and I will be seeing them later this month.
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted that the Secretary of State has seen fit to protect our amphibious capability—HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion —and their related technologies, both new and conventional. These are such crucial tools for the Marines. On that note, will the Secretary of State fully understand and comprehend the importance of 40 Commando to my town of Taunton in his assessment of future capabilities?
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I know David Brown very well. He is of course the man who saved Aston Martin, so there is a very famous industrial heritage there. If I am not able to visit David Brown, I am sure the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey, will be able to do so. We will look to make sure that one of us does. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the amount of technology and ingenuity we have in this country, and we should be very proud of it. That is not always just through the prime contractors, but through the many businesses that are so dependent on defence contracts.
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK’s defence capability has been immeasurably enhanced by the arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth. We saw her in New York this weekend. Will the Secretary of State consider putting together a national carrier strategy, so that for the next 50 years she has a real, important global purpose?
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We do need to have a very clear national carrier strategy, because this is not just an important part of projecting power, but a key part of our national deterrence and of making sure that nations all around the globe understand that Britain has the capability to defend herself and to protect our international interests.
UK’s Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure the hon. Gentleman did not intentionally mislead the House by implying that we are going to have old aircraft. We will have new aircraft in terms of the potential procurement of Wedgetail. We are confident that this is the best capability; it is world leading and it has the best ability to bring it to our Royal Air Force at the earliest possible stage.
Armed Forces Pay — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): As there is a bidding war, may I say that, as the last six generations of my family came from Huddersfield, I am definitely up for coming back there Our assessments are made with the support of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. In making recommendations, the AFPRB takes account of the need to recruit, retain and motivate suitable service personnel, affordability, the inflation target and the need for armed forces’ pay to be broadly comparable with that of civilians.
Armed Forces Pay — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): The frontline of our country’s defence is increasingly in cyber-space, and the strength of that defence depends on the calibre of the people operating in it, such as my constituents at GCHQ. What steps are being taken to ensure that payscales are sufficient to attract and retain the brightest and the best?
Armed Forces Pay — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): We take those factors into consideration, and I was delighted to open the new defence cyber-school back in March. We feel strongly that cyber-skills should become part of the core skills of all our armed forces.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): We remain committed to maintaining the overall size of the armed forces. We have a range of measures under way to improve recruitment and retention, and these are kept under constant review. Importantly, the services continue to meet all their current commitments, keeping the country and its interests safe.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): Retaining our service personnel is always a challenge, and that is precisely why we are focusing hard on the offer—the opportunity to train and to serve overseas. Only this month, some 5,500 personnel are serving on Saif Sareea 3 in Oman; equally, we have servicemen serving in Estonia and on Exercise Trident Juncture in Norway. We have perhaps not previously had those opportunities to train and to serve overseas, which are key to retention.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am confident that it will get better, partly for the reasons I have just outlined. We are focusing very hard on the offer to our service personnel to ensure that people stay. That is not only about pay—we have talked about the pay award—but the opportunities we give to our service personnel and the training they receive. There are very few professions in this country where one can join with limited qualifications and then leave with a degree-level apprenticeship. That is the sort of offer we make in the armed forces, and we are determined to continue.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Gino Francois (Conservative, Centre-right): Capita’s Army recruitment contract has been an unmitigated disaster, so as a member of the Select Committee I was very relieved to hear the Secretary of State say in evidence to us last week that if necessary he would be prepared to sack it. The sooner the better. May I ask the Minister of State, who we all respect, whether there is any good news at all on Army recruitment that he can share with the House today?
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend says, the Secretary of State was very clear, in the evidence he gave to the Select Committee, that there is always the option of ending the contract. I am pleased to say that there is good news. This is a long process, from application stage to delivering a soldier who is trained perhaps a year later, but we are now seeing applications at a five-year high, so the hopper is being filled at a rate not seen for the past five years. Equally, the conversion rate—managing to get applications converted and on to training—is also improving. At the start of the pipeline there are very positive signs indeed.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not seen any evidence that supports what my hon. Friend has just said, so I would be grateful if he could supply it. None the less, the point he makes about our veterans being pursued legally is an important one. I can only refer him back to the Adjournment debate, I think on 25 June, when over 50 right hon. and hon. Members came to the House to discuss the matter. There is a consensus across the House that this is an issue we simply must address. He will be aware that the Government have consulted on the issue and we intend to publish the results of the consultation shortly.
Armed Forces Personnel Numbers — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): We have already discussed some of the actions we are taking, but equally it is important to say that, while the hon. Lady likes to project a picture of gloom, the Army, for example, is actually over 93% manned and fulfils all its operational commitments. Our service personnel are getting opportunities today—the opportunity to train overseas, or, crucially, through training itself—that they may not have had five or six years ago. I have already talked about the fact that the Ministry of Defence is the largest provider of apprenticeships in the United Kingdom. These are some of the things that the hon. Lady might like to champion and praise for a change.
CBRN Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Stephen William Hammond (Conservative, Centre-right): The Minister will know that following Salisbury, the armed forces played a vital role in identifying the nerve agent and helping to clear up the scene. Will he reassure the House that the MOD will do everything that it can to ensure that the investment in that capability will be maintained and increased?
CBRN Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely, and I pay tribute to all those who worked so carefully and so hard in Salisbury and Amesbury on our behalf. As I said, the £950 million is there to improve this over the next 10 years. That includes £48 million to help to set up a new chemical weapons defence centre in Porton Down to make sure that we maintain our cutting-edge capability in chemical analysis and defence.
CBRN Defence Capability — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady makes a very important point. Of course, this is not just about the armed forces; we have to recognise that all the emergency services were there very quickly. We need to ensure that they have all the training that they need. I will speak to colleagues in other Departments to ensure that that is happening.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): The Army is working closely with Capita to deliver improvements to recruitment. While there are positive indicators that measures are having an impact, I continue to monitor the Recruiting Partnering Project very closely and hold regular discussions with my officials regarding the contract.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): No, I do not think I do actually. Successive Governments have involved the private sector and I am sure that that is set to continue. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that there is a challenge to that particular contract at the moment, but I remain convinced that the use of the private sector in delivering the Defence Fire Risk Management Organisation is probably the right thing to do.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt (Conservative, Centre-right): The private sector has had enormous success in delivering huge efficiency savings to the Ministry of Defence over decades now, but on this particular contract, there seems to be an element of risk aversion in the management of it, not least on the medical side from the people making health assessments. Is there a case for getting more military back engaged in the delivery of this contract to make the right risk assessments about recruiting?
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point. He will be aware of recent work being carried out by the Ministry of Defence through a medical symposium to try to tackle these very issues. Sometimes, some of the medical reasons for not joining are frankly quite archaic. To give a brief example, if someone has had childhood asthma, they cannot join even if they no longer have it, even though the chances are that it will not return until that person is probably in their 50s, when, of course, 99% of service personnel will have left.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not celebrating current recruitment levels. What I am saying is that we are all aware of the challenges facing the defence recruiting system some months ago, but given that this is a long pipeline, I am confident that the hopper at the start of that process, which can take up to a year, is now at a five-year high. I hope and I am confident that we will then see that slowly come through the system, which will result in an increase in the number of our service personnel.
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): The sorry saga of the Capita recruitment programme is made worse by the fact that the Ministry of Defence was told at the time that it would not work. I hope the programme will be sorted out in the short term, but until then will the Minister place a greater emphasis on retaining those superb personnel currently engaged in our armed forces?
Capita Management of Army Recruitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): There are always two factors in the equation of armed forces numbers. One, clearly, is the number we recruit, and being a bottom-fed organisation, we have to keep recruiting, but equally, although we cannot retain everybody—the rank structure does not allow it—it is important that we continue to retain as many service personnel as possible for as long a career as possible. I have already highlighted some of the things we are doing to make that happen.
South China Sea — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): The continuing expansion of Chinese military activity in the South China sea, particularly around the Paracel islands, should worry anyone concerned about stability in the region, hence it was welcome to see HMS Albion there, flying the white flag—[Laughter.] —I mean the white ensign, but more will be necessary to reassure our allies. What are my right hon. Friend’s thoughts on more forward deployment of Royal Navy assets in this region—flying the correct flag?
South China Sea — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point about how our allies have seen our presence in the Indo-Pacific region. We have had the largest deployment of the surface fleet in a generation, and that will continue with HMS Argyll, which is due to be on exercise with our five power defence agreement allies, and also with HMS Montrose, which will be going to the region next year. It all goes to show that our passion and commitment to the region is growing, and we will be looking at how we can expand this in the future.
South China Sea — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): There might be some challenges with that, but we will always consider all options and ideas. The actions that the Royal Navy has undertaken have brought in more allies in support of upholding the rules-based international order in the South China sea. That is what was so valuable about both Australia and France taking part in operations.
South China Sea — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand from a defence company in my constituency that the Taiwanese are looking for defence contracts in this country and that the Americans are about to spend a lot of money on ships out in Taiwan. Can companies in this country go for those contracts, or is there some difficulty with that?
Counter-Daesh Operations: Syria and Iraq — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to remember that although Daesh has been considerably weakened and the amount of territory under its control has been massively reduced, it remains a great threat. In the last month alone the RAF has made 27 strikes against it, which goes to show that the tempo of operations is not actually slowing down. We cannot take it for granted that Daesh has been defeated, and we must continue to put pressure on it.
Defence Expenditure Commitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect on NATO capabilities of the NATO commitment to allocate 20% of defence expenditure to major equipment.
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): The 20% target for major equipment ensures that investment is directed towards NATO’s capability priorities, which directly enhances the security of the alliance. The United Kingdom continues to spend more than 2% of GDP on defence, and to spend more than 20% of that on major equipment. That investment helps to keep the UK safe, and ensures that NATO remains at the heart of our defence.
Defence Expenditure Commitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect on NATO capabilities of the NATO commitment to allocate 20% of defence expenditure to major equipment.
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): The NATO commitment opens up many potential opportunities for UK shipbuilders. Sadly, however, it comes at a time when Babcock International is considering the future of Appledore shipyard, which is very concerning. Will the Minister join me, and my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr Cox), in continuing to work with Babcock in committing ourselves to a long-term future for Appledore?
Defence Expenditure Commitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect on NATO capabilities of the NATO commitment to allocate 20% of defence expenditure to major equipment.
James Whiteside Gray (Conservative, Centre-right): NATO has always been the cornerstone of Britain’s defence, so does my hon. Friend agree that the worst thing that could possibly happen to NATO would be the arrival of a Government whose leader has said recently of NATO: "I’d rather we weren’t in it" He has said: "NATO, the father of the Cold War in the 1940s, should have shut up shop in 1990" That was from none other than the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn).
Defence Expenditure Commitment — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Questions: What assessment he has made of the effect on NATO capabilities of the NATO commitment to allocate 20% of defence expenditure to major equipment.
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. NATO is an important alliance that we are proud to be a member of, and it is part of our defence strategy. It is extremely alarming to hear some of the views from the Leader of the Opposition.
UK Cyber Counter-measures: Russian Activity — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): The Ministry of Defence takes cyber-security extremely seriously and co-ordinates closely with the National Cyber Security Centre. I cannot comment on specific measures that the Department has taken, for national security reasons, but I can say that the Government have identified a number of cyber-actors widely known to have been conducting cyber-attacks around the world, and who are in fact from the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service. The cyber-attacks are a further demonstration of Russia’s disregard for international institutions and norms.
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): Earlier this month I met my counterparts in NATO to discuss efforts to strengthen the alliance, including further burden sharing and working with allies so that they can step up their efforts to tackle today’s threats, including by deterring malicious cyber-attacks.
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Luke Anthony Hall (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Secretary of State agree that the UK should continue to play a leading role in NATO, and that working with our allies to combat terrorism and the increasingly sophisticated threat of cyber-attacks should remain a priority?
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We should be incredibly proud of the leading role that we play; we were the first nation to commit our offensive cyber-capabilities to NATO, we have seen an uplift in troop numbers in NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, and we are second only to the United States in supporting NATO and the work it does.
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-10-22
Topic: Defense
Julian Murray Lewis (Conservative, Centre-right): As I am sure you will vividly remember, Mr Speaker, on this very date 35 years ago the largest ever demonstration by the campaign for one-sided nuclear disarmament marched in London. Just under 100,000 people marched—although, typically, four times that number was claimed—and the then leader of the Labour party, a lifelong unilateralist, told the rally that NATO should not deploy cruise or Pershing II missiles. If that policy had been followed, we would not have had an intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. What assessment have my right hon. Friend and his Department made of whether that INF treaty, which has been successful for so long, has now been violated by Russia?