argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NHS Services for EU Nationals and UK Citizens Abroad — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
Questions: If he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the availability of NHS services for (a) EU nationals living, studying and working in the UK and (b) UK citizens abroad.
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman that we are incredibly aware of the brilliant work that EU nationals do, not just in the NHS but in the social care system, which he was responsible for, in care homes up and down the country. We recognise that, and I hope that he will be reassured by statements made by the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary yesterday that we want to find a way of allowing those people to stay in the UK for as long as they wish to. We recognise the incredibly valuable contribution that they make, and we are confident in the negotiations ahead that we will be able to secure the outcome that they and we all want.
NHS Services for EU Nationals and UK Citizens Abroad — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
Questions: If he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the availability of NHS services for (a) EU nationals living, studying and working in the UK and (b) UK citizens abroad.
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I enjoyed our many exchanges in this House, and it is a loss on our side as well that they will not continue. I would like to welcome the hon. Lady’s successor to her post, and I hope that I will have a chance to do so again when she asks a question later I agree with the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander). Migrants, or the people who work in the NHS who come from different countries, make an extraordinary contribution. It is fair to say that the NHS would fall over without the incredible work that they do. It is also true that the British people voted to control migration on 23 June, and we have to accept that verdict. In terms of the NHS and social care system, I did not hear, and I have not heard in my time as Health Secretary, enormous amounts of worry about the pressure of migration on NHS services, because on the whole migrants tend to be younger and fitter people. While accepting the verdict of the British people and what they said on 23 June, the important reassurance that we now need to give is to the many people from outside the UK who make a fantastic contribution to the running of our health and care system.
Maternity Care — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): I am more than happy to do so. In fact, we have a copy of the report right here, which my Minister of State has handily given to me. When I was shadow Minister for disabled people, I had a lot of contact with parents of autistic children and with people on the autistic spectrum themselves. The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point.
NHS Staff from Other European Countries — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: How many staff working in the NHS have been recruited from other European countries in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): The Home Secretary is well aware of the enormous contribution that EU nationals make to the NHS. We all have a duty to undo the damage done during the referendum campaign and the poisonous atmosphere that exists in some parts of our communities and to thank personally—I will be doing so myself—EU nationals working in the NHS for their hard work and dedication so that they feel valued by each and every one of us.
NHS Staff from Other European Countries — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
Questions: How many staff working in the NHS have been recruited from other European countries in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): The Home Secretary said she was confident we could get a deal ensuring that they could stay, but we need a new Prime Minister able to start the negotiations caused by the decision of the British people on 23 June. I say in my capacity as a Health Minister— the House has heard from other Members, including the Secretary of State—that we have full confidence in the EU nationals working in the NHS and wish to praise their contribution, which makes the NHS a better organisation.
NHS Staff from Other European Countries — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
Questions: How many staff working in the NHS have been recruited from other European countries in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree entirely with the hon. Lady that we should be thanking EU nationals working in the NHS and social care system. She herself is evidence of the enormous contribution of migrant labourers, not just in the first generation but in subsequent ones. We, as a nation and a House, should be grateful for it. This is a difficult time for many EU nationals in this country, and we should be thanking them not just for the numbers but for the special qualities they bring. In my constituency, the amazing Portuguese nurses in Ipswich hospital bring qualities and skills that some of our own nurses in our own country do not possess in our own hospitals.
Cost of Interpreters — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for that answer, but may I respectfully suggest to the Minister that if we are to have a serious discussion about the costs and the impacts of large-scale migration into the UK on the NHS, we must have access to figures on this cost and we should not have to wait months and months to get them? The figures must be out there somewhere.
NHS Deficits — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): Trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for ensuring that their workforces are affordable, given the financial control totals that have been set for this financial year. We are clear about the fact that the first priority in the reduction of provider deficits will be to reduce unsustainable spending on high-cost temporary staff.
NHS Deficits — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Immigration
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): At the risk of repeating what the Secretary of State and I have said previously, we very much welcome the contribution of all EU nationals working in the NHS. It is for the process of the negotiations to establish the precise status of everyone, both EU nationals and British nationals working abroad. That was not my choice at the referendum, but the decision has been made by the British people. I hope that the hon. Lady will take comfort from what the Home Secretary has been clear about: that she hopes to be able to secure a deal so that we can retain EU nationals in this country.
Teachers Strike — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I do not wish to disrupt the flow of the hon. Gentleman’s eloquence or the eloquence of his flow, but at this point all he needs to do is ask his urgent question. His more detailed supplementary will come after he has heard what the Minister has to say, in which I am sure he is extremely interested.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): There was no mechanism but there was a second referendum a few years later. I forget the percentages, but a much clearer level of support was expressed for the Welsh Assembly in that referendum. Realistically, now, by the time of the next election there will be people who have lived their entire lives with a Welsh Assembly. I do not think that it is a greatly loved institution, but it is not greatly hated, either. It is just accepted, as part of the furniture The only point I would make to the hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) is this. Regardless of whether her amendment 21 gets the support of the Committee today, I think it is absolutely inconceivable that there will ever be any attempt to get rid of the Welsh Assembly. It is our duty to work with it and to remember what the Welsh public have said to us twice through referendums. I hope that we will all take the same view about all referendums in which the Welsh public have expressed their voice.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
John David Penrose (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, we already run two very heavily overlapping but subtly different electoral registers for local council elections and parliamentary elections. There are different qualifications. For example, an EU national who currently lives in a British city might be eligible to vote in a local council election and not in a UK parliamentary election, so we have two heavily overlapping but not identical registers. The same applies to Scottish parliamentary elections to Holyrood. That will continue, and should the Cardiff Assembly decide that it wants to change things in some way it will have the competence to do so for the electoral roll for Cardiff Assembly elections, but it will not have the competence to change the registration process or scope for UK parliamentary elections as that is a reserved matter to be decided in this place. I hope that clarifies things for the hon. Gentleman.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
John David Penrose (Conservative, Centre-right): There has been a difference for many years between local election registers and parliamentary election registers. That is a very long-standing principle. We are not changing that. It would be possible, should the Welsh Assembly so decide, to make further changes and enfranchise other groups of people whom we would not necessarily want to enfranchise for UK parliamentary elections. At the moment, however, there is already a difference between the two electoral registers. There has been for a very long time. Nothing about this will change any of that, but in future it will be up to the Welsh Assembly to decide whether it wants to make further changes that might narrow or widen the existing long-standing differences.
Wales Bill — House of Commons, 2016-07-05
Topic: Civil Rights
Alun Hugh Cairns (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to give way, because there are many technical amendments I need to cover and I want to make some progress. I say to the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams), who moved amendment 32, that he has made a persuasive argument that the Assembly processes would ensure that Welsh is treated equally anyway, without adding a prescriptive provision to the Government of Wales Act. I would like to give the matter more thought but undertake to return to it on Report. I therefore hope that he will consider withdrawing the amendment.
Government Estate — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Housing
Henry Bellingham (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for that reply and congratulate him and his team on the work they have done. Given that the estate has been reduced by nearly a quarter since 2010, is it not crucial that as much of this land as possible is used for new housing, especially given that quite a bit of it is going to be brownfield?
Boycott and Divestment Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I find it surprising that the Scottish National party engages in and supports discrimination of this kind. We should trade with the world, except where a boycott decision has been made at a national level. The idea that we should discriminate against companies with which we otherwise have a good trading relationship is wrong.
Permanent Secretaries: Diversity — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that following an outstanding permanent secretary’s move from Whitehall to become chief executive of Ofcom there are no permanent secretaries from BAME communities at present. However, 20% of permanent secretaries are women, which is higher than the figure for 2010 of 17.5% and much higher than the figure for 2005 of 8%, but clearly it is still considerably too low and we have a great deal more work to do to make sure we are drawing on a talent pool that reflects the nation as a whole.
Permanent Secretaries: Diversity — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is right. As a matter of fact, the situation is even slightly worse than she suggests. The percentage of disabled senior civil servants—or, at any rate, of senior civil servants who have registered themselves as disabled in staff surveys—is only 3.4%. That is much too low, and it reflects the fact that we have not yet been able to remove all the barriers that we need to remove. I am sitting next to the Minister without Portfolio, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), who has shown that it is perfectly possible for someone who suffers from a significant disability to reach the highest level in politics, but we need that to be true throughout our public administration because we need to draw on talent from wherever it comes.
Permanent Secretaries: Diversity — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): I will go back and talk to colleagues about the methods by which we publish what happens under that procedure. I would like to point out to the Opposition spokesman—[Laughter.] I would like to point out to the Opposition spokesperson that we draw permanent secretaries from the pool of directors general. If we are to draw on that talent, we have to encourage more women to be directors general. As I have said, I am glad that the percentage of women directors general is now up to 37%. We would like to get up to 50% or beyond, and as we do so we will have the talent from which to draw into the permanent secretary ranks, which is obviously where we want women of talent to end up.
Anti-Corruption Summit — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): We are calling for them. The Prime Minister was absolutely right then, and we are delivering on that now. Later this month we will publish the beneficial ownership register for the UK. All the overseas territories have signed up to beneficial ownership registers, and we urge them to make them public.
Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is important to begin by acknowledging that, thanks largely to my hon. Friend’s efforts, the social value Act came into force in January 2013. He can be proud that the Act has unlocked a range of public benefits from the procurement of goods and services. Lord Young reviewed progress in 2014 and reported in 2015. His findings inform our current work to quicken the pace of implementation. As part of that work, we will publish a paper this summer that will give examples of how central Government are driving forward the social value Act and what further actions we will take.
Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (Conservative, Centre-right): We reviewed central Government’s progress on the Act and found increasing awareness of it and a clear willingness and commitment to implement it. I will publish an appraisal of central Government’s commitments to the Act later in the summer, which will set out the steps being taken and the plans for the future. In preparing for that, I have invited a panel of external social value experts to review and critique current plans and practice. That process is helping to ensure that central Government’s aspirations for social value are being stretched.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: The National Citizen Service has been a wonderful success in Huddersfield and Colne Valley. What more can be done to make sure that even more young people in Yorkshire can find out how to access this transformative experience?
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right that the National Citizen Service around the country and in his own constituency has made a huge difference. There were 467 people who went through it in 2015 in Kirklees, the local authority in which his constituency lies. We are determined to increase that number. There is a new marketing campaign, and I am glad to say that 8 million hours of volunteering have so far been contributed by National Citizen Service participants. I hope my hon. Friend will see in his constituency a proportion of that effect coming through in the next year.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Other
Questions: The National Citizen Service has been a wonderful success in Huddersfield and Colne Valley. What more can be done to make sure that even more young people in Yorkshire can find out how to access this transformative experience?; What provisions are the Government putting in place to ensure that non-UK citizens of the EU living here will continue to enjoy the same rights after a possible Brexit vote as they do now?
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is asking a question about something that is a matter of hot debate as we go through the next week or so, and it highlights one of the issues that would need to be resolved and that is of very great complexity.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: The National Citizen Service has been a wonderful success in Huddersfield and Colne Valley. What more can be done to make sure that even more young people in Yorkshire can find out how to access this transformative experience?; What provisions are the Government putting in place to ensure that non-UK citizens of the EU living here will continue to enjoy the same rights after a possible Brexit vote as they do now?; This Government have a responsibility to ensure that their citizens are safe online. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on what progress he is making in developing the 2016 national cyber-security strategy?; The backward steps in gender inequality at the top of the civil service are unacceptable. Will the Minister release the gender breakdown of those who were shortlisted for the role of permanent secretary so that we can have further transparency on this important issue?
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said to the House a few moments ago, we will take that serious suggestion away and come back with a view about whether it is possible to release those data without compromising individual sensibilities. I am absolutely with the hon. Lady that we need to see more women joining the ranks of the permanent secretaries, and as I mentioned to her, it is of great importance that the directors general are now much better distributed in a gender balance.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: The National Citizen Service has been a wonderful success in Huddersfield and Colne Valley. What more can be done to make sure that even more young people in Yorkshire can find out how to access this transformative experience?; What provisions are the Government putting in place to ensure that non-UK citizens of the EU living here will continue to enjoy the same rights after a possible Brexit vote as they do now?; This Government have a responsibility to ensure that their citizens are safe online. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on what progress he is making in developing the 2016 national cyber-security strategy?; The backward steps in gender inequality at the top of the civil service are unacceptable. Will the Minister release the gender breakdown of those who were shortlisted for the role of permanent secretary so that we can have further transparency on this important issue?; The National Citizen Service provides a real opportunity for young people in Cornwall, a part of the world that is quite deprived. What more can we do to ensure that young people have access to the service this summer?
Oliver Letwin (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. There were 312 people in Cornwall who participated in the National Citizen Service last year. We want to see that number rise significantly. Already 486 people have signed up and we hope to see more come through during the coming year. We are spending £1 billion over the four years to increase the proportion of young people who can do National Citizen Service, which I think will have an enormous effect on, among other things, social cohesion—80% of those who went through National Citizen Service said at the end that they had a better view of people from other backgrounds than they had before they joined it. [Interruption.]
Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
Peter James Guy Aldous (Conservative, Centre-right): I share the sentiments and sympathies the Prime Minister expressed to the victims and their families and friends in Orlando The Australian parent company of Sealite United Kingdom Ltd see Europe as a major market for expansion, but it has put on hold its plans to build a factory in the enterprise zone at the South Lowestoft industrial estate. Lowestoft has enormous potential as a centre serving the European maritime market, but does the Prime Minister share my concern that this opportunity would unnecessarily be placed at risk if the UK leaves the EU?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Mixed Topics
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly share my hon. Friend’s concern. I well remember visiting his constituency and seeing what a thriving business location Lowestoft is. He is right that many companies come to Britain and invest in Britain for many reasons, but one of the most important is access to the single market of 500 million customers. Next week we have the opportunity to put our place in that single market beyond doubt, and I hope that we wake up on 24 June knowing that businesses are going to invest more in our country, create more jobs in our country and see more growth in our country, because that will help the families of our country. The unemployment figures today show another welcome fall. We can see continued progress—let’s keep our country moving forward.
Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-06-15
Topic: Immigration
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. In answer to the question about employment agencies that only advertise for overseas workers, we are looking at that to see—we have announced this already—if we can ban that practice, because we do not believe it is right. Of course, the answer to so many of these questions is to make sure that we are training, educating and employing British people and getting them the qualifications they need to take on the jobs that our economy is creating. Today’s unemployment figures are another reminder of that In terms of funds to help communities impacted by migration, we have a pledge in our manifesto that we are looking forward to bringing forward, which is a controlled migration fund to make sure that we put money into communities where there are pressures. Of course there are some pressures and we do need to address them, and I am happy that we will be able to work on a cross-party basis to do that. As I have said many times, there are good ways of controlling migration, and one of them is the important rules we are bringing in so that people do not get instant access to our welfare system, but there are bad ways of controlling immigration, and leaving the single market and wrecking our economy is certainly one of them.