argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome this announcement, because probation privatisation has failed, and a cohesive outcomes-led rehabilitation strategy is key. The Secretary of State spoke about links with the police and crime commissioner, but how will he ensure that accountability is improved in probation services? Is there an enhanced role for devolved English authorities such as the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, where the Mayor has PCC powers?
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): Probation services have without doubt suffered immensely because of deep Government cuts and the increasing fragmentation and privatisation of the service, as highlighted again and again by Napo, PCS, Unison and the Labour party, so I wholeheartedly welcome today’s momentous Government U-turn. However, will the Secretary of State establish a strategy for the resettlement of offenders, to link all the aspects of probation together—from through-the-gate support, planning and assessment in prisons to more frequent contacts and relationship building with offenders?
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): I want to stand up for the Lord Chancellor, who is being attacked from both sides of his own Benches today. Either it should not have happened at all, or the renationalisation should not be happening now. Why have we waited until now, when most of the service was taken back in-house last year? Does he want to take credit for that? As he is known—perhaps more than some of his colleagues—for his candour and thoughtfulness, will he admit that this privatisation has been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish?
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): I want to thank the Government for finally doing the right thing and ending privatisation in the probation service. Let us hope that this is a catalyst for bringing detention centres, prisons and other criminal justice services back within public hands. Most of all, I would like to thank the probation unions Napo and Unison, and their members, who have waged a hard-fought seven-year campaign against this wasteful and ideological experiment. Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to those unions and encourage all workers across the UK to join a trade union?
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State may not wish to talk about ideology, but will he reflect on morality? Does he think it is morally right to make private profit out of incarceration and rehabilitation, because I do not?
Probation Services — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): Places such as Eden House in Bristol provided an important alternative to custody for vulnerable female offenders, but the services were slashed under privatisation. Will the Minister commit, based on the work of my predecessor in this place, Baroness Corston, to making sure that services such as Eden House are returned to full capacity, so that we can fulfil that agenda of trying to keep women out of prison and providing a safe alternative for them?
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Labor
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I am proposing some action that the Minister can take this afternoon. He could tell us whether he is confident, as he just said a moment ago—I think "confident" was the word he used—that contractors across the supply chain will be paid more than £9.30 an hour. Will he just tell the House whether he hopes that the Commonwealth Games organising committee can accredit as a real living wage employer? A simple yes or no will be fine.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): I really must draw the Minister back. This is not a matter of party politicking; this is about whether we have food banks or not. Given what he has said, could he just answer the question about the actual real living wage that my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill just asked him? Does he believe that the organising committee will be able to accredit to the Living Wage Foundation and meet its standards or not?
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Labor
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful, but if the Minister refuses to answer the substance of the argument, I will keep seeking to intervene. While he is on the subject of not playing politics and celebrating the role of the Mayor, will he confirm to the House whether the Mayor of the West Midlands has written to him to ask him to ensure that the organising committee accredits as a real living wage employer? Has the Mayor written that letter—yes or no?
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Government Operations
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time I am tempted to engage the House in a long discussion about local government finance in relation to new clause 2; however, I will try not to go on and on. The hotel levy proposed in new clause 2 has been previously proposed by Members of the House of Lords—Lord Rooker of Perry Barr and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath—and is supported by not only Birmingham City Council but, to my knowledge, a number of local authorities that have strong experience of hosting large cultural and sporting events Without going into too much detail about the terrible impact that austerity policies have had on local government over the past 10 years—I hope that most Members are more than well aware of that—the fact is that we in this country now have a national challenge to figure out how we can properly fund local government. Local authorities are struggling through the coronavirus crisis, having been told by the Government to do whatever it takes to fight the virus, and now the Government are falling short of their commitment to fund local authorities to do whatever it takes. That is the background and the backdrop to the situation in which we find ourselves.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): On the face of it, the hon. Member makes an argument that is understandable, in that taxes might constrain economic activity. However, many years of having taxes on economic activity show that the thing we use those taxes for can also generate and sustain economic activity. I am arguing that we ought to have a stream of investment to help local authorities sustain themselves and be able to put on events like the Commonwealth games now and in the future. If he thinks that that is not necessary, I would simply invite him to discuss the matter with any leader of a large local authority in the United Kingdom.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, wish to speak in support of new clause 2; we would be content this afternoon with a commitment from the Minister that he will explore this proposal with the Chancellor in the spending review, which we know is forthcoming I shall give some numbers, because I think they will help this debate. The total cost of the Commonwealth games is about £778 million, about three quarters of which is being provided by Her Majesty’s Government. Some £184 million is coming from Birmingham City Council and its partners, with £25 million going towards the Alexander stadium from the combined authority, plus a further £165 million going to kick-start the housing development, including the athletes’ village, from the combined authority I say that because the Minister will be aware of two significant risks to the local contribution, which makes up about a quarter of the budget. First, there is a risk to the local government contribution. At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet said to local authorities up and down the land, "Do whatever it takes to get through this crisis, keep the receipts and we will pay you back on the other side." The House will be amazed to learn that the deal is now beginning to unravel and the Minister’s Cabinet colleague in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is beginning to query whether all the bills will be paid. In a city such as Birmingham, that means we could be confronting a deficit of £164 million this year. That is why the Minister has an obligation to take steps now to de-risk the local contribution to the games It is not just Birmingham City Council that is in jeopardy; the combined authority is, too. We revealed just a week or two before the elections were postponed that the Mayor’s budget has a £1.2 billion black hole in it. He has made commitments £1.2 billion in excess of the funds he has available. That is because he failed to get his precept through, he failed to get any movement on supplementary business rates and the funding that was going to novate from the local enterprise partnerships to the combined authority has not come through. In addition, there is a £700 million funding gap on the transport plan, because the Department for Transport is beginning to query some of the transport schemes. The broad point I want to make is that coronavirus has created a significant risk to the local authority contribution, and it would appear that there is a significant risk in respect of the combined authority as well.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Government Operations
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): I want to stop the Minister at that point. He mentions the relative investment of the Treasury and the city council, but surely he accepts that the resources of those two bodies are not the same. We are trying to come up with proposals to help the city council and other authorities. Will he concede that the proposal is something that should be taken forward?
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): I respect the economic argument that the Minister tries to make, but the proposal is for a pilot scheme, which can be governed jointly, that delivers a £1 a night tax. A pound a night in the context of the average hotel bill in Birmingham is frankly pretty insignificant, but across a spectacle as grand as the Commonwealth games, it could mean a significant amount of money. If the Minister has got a better way of de-risking what is now a dangerous fiscal situation for the Commonwealth games, let us hear it.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Transportation
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for his comments, but as one of my hon. Friends has just pointed out, £1 is about half an hour’s parking. In the context of what we are talking about, the idea that that would massively dissuade people from a hotel stay would probably bear interrogation. However, this idea, similarly, is not going anywhere, and it is well supported across the country by civic leaders. For now, however, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion Clause, by leave, withdrawn. Third Reading
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Government Operations
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): That was a fantastic defence of the Mayor, and it only lacks the very best wishes conveyed to the Mayor of the West Midlands on the occasion of his birthday today. None the less, all I would ask by way of intervention is for the Mayor to speak to his finance director, because during the transition talks before the mayoral elections were cancelled, it was not my analysis that revealed the £1.2 billion black hole; it was the analysis of his finance director. Admittedly, it took her three weeks to crunch the numbers and produce that figure. This is a gentle ask, I suppose, that we work together to try to repair this rather large hole that the WMCA finance director herself has identified.
Zoos, Aquariums and Wildlife Sanctuaries: Reopening — House of Commons, 2020-06-11
Topic: Environment
Justin Piers Richard Madders (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. One of the most important aspects of the zoo’s work is with the schools in my constituency, which is, no doubt, the case in his constituency. Does he agree that that kind of important ecological work needs to carry on, and that, given the difficulty we have with schools going back, we need to make sure that that work is given some extra focus in the months ahead?
Covid-19 Outbreak — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): As the Secretary of State knows, the Welsh Labour Government are making a thank-you payment of £500 to every social care worker in Wales. Does he agree that it is a kick in the teeth to those workers that the Treasury intends to tax that bonus payment, and will he join me and the Welsh First Minister in urging the Chancellor to think again?
UK-EU Trade Negotiations — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Education
Ruth Lorraine Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Over the years, the Erasmus scheme has benefited many young people in Newport West. The Welsh Labour Government have repeatedly requested that Wales should be able to participate in programmes such as Erasmus, even if the Conservatives in England stop England doing so. Can the Minister confirm whether this important request from a devolved Government has been relayed by the UK negotiators, and if not, why not?
Covid-19: Welsh Businesses — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Feryal Demirci Clark (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister join me in welcoming the Welsh Government’s economic contract, which means that any business that receives financial support must demonstrate its commitment to growth, fair work, employee health and skills, and reducing its carbon footprint?
Covid-19: Welsh Businesses — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome some of the wartime-socialism policies of this Government, based on Gordon Brown’s rescue packages under the last Labour Government, which were then cruelly undermined by the Tory Government who followed. But there is room for more fiscal measures, including perhaps looking at VAT on events as a way of trying to stimulate that industry. When the Chancellor sits down next to him, will the Minister whisper in his ear and tell him to do that?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Labor
Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (Labour, Centre-left): I am shocked and angered at workers in UK clothing factories such as Boohoo being paid a mere £3.50 an hour and being forced to work in totally unacceptable conditions. In the 21st century, there must be no room for exploitation and modern slavery. We must call time on fast fashion for the sake of people and our planet, so my question is simple: what will the Prime Minister do about it?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): That is not an apology, and it just will not wash. The Prime Minister said that "too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have" It was clear what he was saying. The Prime Minister must understand just how raw this is for many people on the frontline and for those who have lost loved ones. I quote Mark Adams, who runs a social care charity, who spoke yesterday. He said: "You’ve got 1.6 million social care workers going into work to protect our parents, our grandparents, our children, putting their own health and potentially lives at risk. And then to get the most senior man in the country turning round and blaming them on what has been an absolute travesty of leadership from the Government, I just think it is appalling." Those are his words. I ask the Prime Minister again: will he apologise to careworkers? Yes or no?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Keir Starmer (Labour, Centre-left): I am glad to hear it. I gently point out that his Government have been in power for 10 years, with no plan and no White Paper. Of course we will join in plans for reforming social care, but 10 years have been wasted. The reality is that more than 19,000 care home residents have died from covid-19. It is a far higher number when we include excess deaths. Overall, around one in 20 care home residents are estimated to have died from the virus. One in 20—it is chilling. These are extraordinary numbers, yet the Prime Minister has consistently ducked responsibility for this. Will he accept that it is not care workers who are to blame; it is his Government?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Law and Crime
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, after a delay of more than a year, the Government published their response to their call for evidence regarding violence and abuse against shopworkers. In that period, there have been 150,000 such incidents, which are completely unacceptable. There are a lot of good things in the Government’s response, but it is disappointing that they have stopped short of a change in the law. Will the Prime Minister make a commitment that if his plans do not reduce the 400-plus incidents every day, within six months he will support legislative change?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Labor
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Prime Minister for getting things moving on the disclosure and barring scheme. It was also good to hear him belatedly adopting the policy of jobs, jobs, jobs, but does he mean jobs in the UK, or in France, Poland, Germany, Korea and China? It is all very well announcing, for example, blue passports, but those are now not being produced in the north-east, but by a French company in a Polish factory. Will the Prime Minister now take back control and give instructions to the Treasury, the Cabinet Office, Whitehall and town halls to buy British and protect British jobs, jobs, jobs?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Before I call the shadow Chancellor, I inform Members that at the end of questions on this statement, I will call the Chancellor of the Exchequer to move a provisional collection of taxes resolution. Copies of the resolution are available in the Vote Office.
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Labor
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): May I give a cautious welcome to the Chancellor’s emphasis on young people, employment and training? Many of us across the House have a lot of experience of schemes like this, some of which have worked better than others. We would be willing to work with him to make this a success. There is disappointment, however, that he has not accepted my challenge to introduce a windfall profit tax like the one Mrs Thatcher introduced in order to pay for a massive green apprenticeship scheme Lastly, on a very serious point, if we are going to train these young people, we have to have the capacity to do so. Further education colleges are in deep trouble, and they need help now. Private trainers, including some in my constituency, are struggling to maintain their existence. Will the Chancellor look at this urgently, because we need the trainers to train these young people?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): This week saw the first meeting of the ExcludedUK all-party parliamentary group, an APPG for the excluded, the estimated 3 million people who have missed out on Government support and are facing real financial hardship. I note that the Chancellor has avoided answering questions on this matter so far today. May I explain to him, the excluded include people on zero-hours contracts, the directors of small companies paying themselves through dividends, and many self-employed people? In my constituency, that is taxi drivers, joiners, beauticians, childminders, care workers, driving instructors, IT consultants—the list goes on. Will the Chancellor look again at providing support to the excluded, so that they, too, can play their part in the recovery?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Labor
Nicholas Desmond John Smith (Labour, Centre-left): To boost employment in Blaenau Gwent, we need to help more people get on the Ebbw Vale train to Cardiff, but the line needs to be redoubled, with improved signalling and bridging works. A business plan is in the pipeline from the Welsh Government. Will the Chancellor commit to follow through and please look at providing the investment for jobs that we need—in short, to do what is right for the people of the south Wales valleys?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Labor
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): Having introduced the future jobs fund and the wider youth job guarantee as Work and Pensions Secretary in 2009, and having been appalled when they were cancelled a year later under the coalition, I very much welcome the reintroduction of those measures now. The Chancellor will know that speedy delivery is crucial, and the scheme will have to be bigger because the crisis is bigger. We achieved it last time by involving local councils, working with the local private sector and third sector, to deliver jobs speedily. We could do that again. Will he confirm whether this is a job or training guarantee for every young person, as we had last time? If so, from which month will the guarantee apply?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Environment
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Given the emergency nature of the statement, will the Chancellor lay out exactly what kind of impact assessment will be made of each of the funding pots, so that we can ensure value for money, look at the impact of each measure on the environment and avoid any corruption or fraud?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Social Welfare
Paula Barker (Labour, Centre-left): The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the deep and systematic inadequacies of the current social care system and revealed the true extent of the impact that underfunding, structural issues and market instability have had on the system’s ability to respond and protect older people at a time of crisis. Despite the Prime Minister seeking to flagrantly blame our incredible social care sector for excess deaths this week, when will the Government get serious about caring for our most vulnerable and fund local authorities properly to bring social care services back in-house?
Economic Update — House of Commons, 2020-07-08
Topic: Government Operations
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): At the beginning of this crisis, the Chancellor said that the Government would do "whatever it takes". Local government finance is in crisis, but it was not mentioned in his statement today. Durham County Council has spent £62 million on its covid response and it has had £33.2 million from the Government, leaving £28.8 million for the taxpayer locally to pick up. When will he bring forward a comprehensive settlement for local government, which is being called for by all political parties in local government? Without it services will be lost and jobs will also be cut.