argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): Throughout this crisis, as I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, the Government have stood by businesses, as she mentioned, and worked tirelessly to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods across the entirety of our country. As we emerge from the pandemic, we will ensure that we seize the initiative, as she put it, to build back better, greener and faster from this pandemic.
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Labor
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I fully appreciate—this is our key message as a Government—that jobs and employment are a No. 1 priority. That is exactly why my right hon. Friend the Chancellor extended the furlough scheme. I am in constant conversation with him about how better to provide support for our economy under this distress.
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, Mr Speaker, you will remember that, ahead of the Brexit deal, we were told that there was never going to be a deal and that we were going to crash out with no deal. We were told all sorts of scare stories about what would happen with Brexit. I fully accept that there are issues on the border, and I fully accept that many of the business leaders I have spoken to have raised issues, but I think the situation is far better with a deal—ask Nissan in Sunderland—than was the case, certainly, only three months ago.
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I remind the hon. Gentleman that the Brexit debate is over; he, for his own purposes, wants to rekindle this. The business leaders I have spoken to have been extremely grateful for the fact that we got a deal, which he and others opposed—they also predicted that we would not get one. We are moving forward with an active plan and active engagement with the economy. Some £280 billion has been proffered so far. That is a picture that he fails to recognise.
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is quite right. He will be courteous enough to acknowledge that, as Energy Minister, I was directly involved in the conversations ahead of the North sea transition deal. I was very much in favour of bringing forward the completion of the deal. I am hopeful that we can manage to reach a really good deal, in which the sector accepts the need for decarbonisation very quickly.
Covid-19: Support for Businesses — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not accept that any change in overseas development aid money will undermine our position as a global science superpower. As I said earlier, the science community around the world has been extremely impressed with how we are proceeding with the vaccine roll-out and the great innovation that takes place in this country.
Covid-19: Support for Luxury Textile Sector — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Foreign Trade
John Robert Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for that response. As the Minister will know, the damaging tariffs from the US-EU trade dispute are punishing textile mills in my borders constituency. Textile bosses tell me in no uncertain terms that these tariffs are going to cost us jobs and investment. Will the Minister agree to meet me and representatives from the textile sector in my constituency to discuss opportunities to support them during this difficult time?
Net Zero by 2050 — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): We are matching the UK’s world-leading net zero ambition with world-leading action. The Prime Minister’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution will accelerate our path to net zero with £12 billion of Government investment, including a commitment to power every home in the UK with offshore wind by 2030. In December, we published the energy White Paper and we will publish our net zero strategy ahead of COP26.
Net Zero by 2050 — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Environment
Andrew John Carter (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for her statement. Could she expand on some of the points she makes, particularly the support that small businesses in towns such as Warrington might expect to receive to reduce their carbon emissions and contribute to net zero targets at a time when many are concerned about the costs of day-to-day business in the light of covid?
Net Zero by 2050 — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): We recognise the challenges that SMEs are facing and we want to work with businesses to build that green recovery, so we are offering up to £6 million with a boost in SMEs’ access to energy efficiency competitions to develop green solutions. Through the SME net zero working group, we are hearing from businesses how we can go even further to support them. Financial savings are available to businesses taking steps to achieve net zero, and I would encourage SMEs to sign up to the Race to Zero campaign.
Net Zero by 2050 — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are backing the airline sector to achieve net zero, committing £3.9 billion, with industry, to fund aerospace research and development from 2013 to 2026. This includes the FlyZero project, to study in depth the potential for zero emission aircraft. We are also investing £125 million in the future flight challenge, to enable the use of new forms of green and autonomous aircraft.
Green Hydrogen — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK has expertise and assets to support both green and blue hydrogen. Our twin-track approach to enable both routes, in line with our 2030 5 GW ambition, will drive cost-effective supply volumes in the 2020s, while scaling up green hydrogen.
Green Hydrogen — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Christopher Stephen Grayling (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right to talk about both forms of hydrogen. Ideally, of course, we would all be using entirely green hydrogen—as she knows, there are problems with the renewable transport fuel obligation, which I hope she will be able to sort out—but blue hydrogen is going to be part of what we need in the coming decades. What steps is she taking to ensure that we provide the right support for the carbon capture that must, by definition, go alongside the production of blue hydrogen so that it is genuinely a net zero fuel?
Green Hydrogen — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): We are committed to making the UK a global leader in developing carbon capture and hydrogen production, so we are supporting both through new commercial frameworks and financial support, via our £1 billion for a carbon capture and storage infrastructure fund and £240 million for our net zero hydrogen fund.
Green Hydrogen — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support for the 10-point plan, which I think the whole House believes is the right way forward. The £240 million net zero hydrogen fund is, of course, only one element of this, and we are supporting innovation, heat trials, standards, business models and a revenue mechanism to stimulate that private sector investment which is so important. This is going to put the UK firmly at the front of the pack. We will be setting out much more detailed work later in the year when I publish the hydrogen strategy.
Dismiss and Re-engage Tactics — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Labor
Amanda Jane Solloway (Conservative, Centre-right): As I made clear to the hon. Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra), the use of threats of firing and rehiring as a negotiation tactic is completely unacceptable. We expect all employers to treat employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership. Laws are in place to ensure fair treatment in respect of employment contracts and redundancy matters.
Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Pauline Elizabeth Latham (Conservative, Centre-right): Domestic abuse is a heinous crime that destroys lives and families, and it is vital that every part of society works together to prevent it from happening. Will my hon. Friend confirm that his Department is working with businesses to help to build their awareness of domestic abuse and ensure that they notice the warning signs and help workers to access the support that they may need?
Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Labor
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): The Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse has 500 members so far signed up to it, covering 6 million employees. What we can do is work with other colleagues across the House to make sure that we get more signatories to the initiative and more support for employers, as well as employees, and that we can signpost the support where appropriate.
Covid-19: Safety of Meter Readers — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Labor
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): We have introduced safer working guidance so that workers, including gas and electricity meter readers, can continue to work safely during national restrictions. This guidance is kept under constant review and updated in line with the latest scientific evidence.
Renewable Energy — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK is a major global market for renewables, and we have world-leading ambitions for deployment. We aim to deliver up to double the renewable capacity at the next contracts for difference round at the end of this year, compared with the last round. We are spending £160 million to support new port and manufacturing infrastructure needed to achieve our 40 GW offshore wind ambition, which will secure local jobs and benefits.
Renewable Energy — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Mark Rory Logan (Conservative, Centre-right): I declare an interest. I have been listening to too many Elon Musk conversations on what is now all the rage, which is the Clubhouse app. What support can be provided to help Bolton to explore green technology opportunities, especially electric vehicles, boosting our local job market and future growth?
Renewable Energy — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Environment
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am delighted to see my hon. Friend championing the north-west and the opportunities that our green industrial revolution will bring to his area. The north-west is incredibly well placed to benefit from our £1 billion commitment to become a world-leading sector in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere. We have also launched the green jobs taskforce, which will help us to develop plans for green jobs, including in the new green automotive sector across all regions, and we advise on what support will be needed for people who are in those transitioning industries.
Renewable Energy — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Simon Robert Maurice Baynes (Conservative, Centre-right): Can the Minister comment on the opportunities for companies in Clwyd South and elsewhere in Wales offered by the latest £11 million round of the UK Government’s energy entrepreneurs fund, which is dedicated to driving forward new clean technologies?
Renewable Energy — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): Wales’s promising clean tech entrepreneurs are urged to bid for the latest £11 million of Government funding, which is going to support between 15 and 20 projects, with successful bidders receiving up to £1 million each. The funding available through the energy entrepreneurs fund is open to all eligible companies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and I look forward to seeing their submissions.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that the hon. Lady has been listening to the same businesses that I have been listening to for the last year, as they have talked about the cliff edge that they face and their big fixed costs, whether those are business rates, VAT or the rent moratorium, all of which we are recognising. We are continuing our conversations with the Treasury, because it is so important that as we reopen the economy, and look to get customers back to a safe and warm welcome to retail and hospitality, we also have a flexible approach to our financial support in order to tackle this difficult period.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very pleased to announce that I and my ministerial colleagues have stated again and again that fire and rehire is completely unacceptable. I was in regular contact with British Gas—Centrica, as it is now called—as Energy Minister, and I have impressed upon it the need to engage with its workforce and treat them with utter integrity and fairness.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right, and I fully appreciate how key the hospitality sector is to her constituency of Eastbourne, which I have visited many times, even before I was elected to this place. The Government have introduced pay as you go measures, as I am sure she is aware, which give borrowers flexibility when repaying their bounce-back loans. In terms of the other measures that she mentions, I am in constant dialogue with the Chancellor. We are looking at the economy and the situation as it evolves daily—minute by minute, almost—and we hope that we can provide the flexible support that we have in the last year.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: International Affairs
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am absolutely open and prepared to work with the hon. Member. I have visited him in my capacity as Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union. I think we also met when I was Minister of State. I am very happy to work with him and discuss his ideas about regeneration and growth.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I am absolutely aware of that issue. It is almost inevitable that we will be asked by the CCC to include those contributions in our budgets. As COP26 hosts, we will obviously want to hold ourselves to the highest standards, in terms of carbon emissions.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The measures I have outlined today relate to passenger travel. There is, of course, a testing regime already in place for accompanied freight. There is a difference between this country and Australia and New Zealand, and that is that accompanied freight is a significant proportion of our daily imports, including just-in-time delivery, for instance, of food, whereas for islands that are further away from a continent, unaccompanied freight is a much more significant proportion of their international imports. We have to take these practical considerations into account. As I said, we keep the red list of countries under review, and the extra testing measures that I have outlined today will help us with that vigilance so that we can see where variants of concern are and to what degree they are present in other countries around the world.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: International Affairs
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I spoke to my Irish opposite number, Minister Donnelly, this morning and he has assured me that that data will be provided appropriately and securely; we have been working together to ensure that that happens for some time As I said in my statement, we have been working with the Irish Government to ensure that there are appropriate measures, both in the Republic of Ireland and in the United Kingdom, to ensure that the border on the island of Ireland can be kept completely open, as it must, yet we have adequate protection against arrivals of variants of concern internationally. It is the two countries working together, putting in place similar arrangements both in the Republic and in the United Kingdom, that will allow us to deliver that goal, which I am sure we all share.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I support the introduction of targeted quarantine for passengers coming from high-risk covid-19 variant countries. Will my right hon. Friend also commit to regular reviews and even a sunset clause on these regulations, as we seek later in the year to get our economy restarted and support our aviation sector?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not underestimate the impact that all these measures have had on Gatwick. My hon. Friend represents so many of those who work at Gatwick, and I understand the impact. I was at Gatwick airport on Friday, and the empty departure hall was really quite a sad sight. These measures are necessary, in my view, and I am glad that he supports them, difficult as they are. We are also acutely cognisant of the economic impact on airports and those who work in them, and I would be happy to keep talking to him about how quickly we can remove these measures safely.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Environment
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady raises an important point, which is taken into account in the work that we are doing to push forward high-quality ventilation, which is good for tackling carbon monoxide poisoning and for trying to reduce the risk of the spread of covid.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes; we do not underestimate the impact of these measures on the travel and aviation industries. My right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary is leading the discussions, as he has done throughout, because it is incredibly important that people get the right level of support. It goes to the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), which is that we need to ensure that we go into these measures with a plan for how we come out of them into a set of secure international travel arrangements, so that people can get moving again.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, absolutely. One of the things that we have been doing in our discussions with hotel groups and others is ensuring value for money as much as possible for passengers. Hence we have managed to get the costs down to £1,750 for an individual traveller in a room alone.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary has looked into the issue about DVLA that the hon. Lady raises, and Public Health Wales has been involved in advising DVLA, which is of course based in Swansea.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Transportation
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): That is exactly our goal, and we have been working very hard with the carriers and airport operators to put this new scheme in place. There is further work to do in the days ahead, and no doubt after its initial introduction on Monday. What I would say very directly to my hon. Friend, the airline industry and the airports is that I know this is very difficult and tough. It is absolutely vital that we all work together constructively, positively and with the spirit of innovation that she describes to put in place a robust system that uses all possible technology to ensure that we have the basis of a future safe global travel arrangement. It is about both securing the borders now and ensuring that we can get global travel going for the long term.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): What lessons can we learn from Israel which, uniquely, is ahead of us in this race to protect its people? For example, when we reach group 10—under-50s who have not already been injected—should we prioritise those who have not been exposed to the disease and who are not bursting with antibodies, so that we actually protect more people? Incidentally, the Israelis are also injecting 16 and 17-year-olds. Are there any lessons to be learned from that?
Social Security — House of Commons, 2021-02-09
Topic: Social Welfare
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2021, which was laid before this House on 18 January, be approved There is no question but that this has been a challenging time, and the coronavirus outbreak has caused financial hardship and disruption for many across our country. That is why, since the start of the pandemic, we have mobilised our welfare system like never before to provide a comprehensive package of support worth over £7 billion, providing an essential safety net for those who need it My Department has risen to the challenge, utilising the speed and agility of the universal credit system to deal with the huge increase in people needing our support. There is little doubt that had we relied on the legacy benefit system, we would have seen queues down the streets outside our jobcentres and long delays, leaving families facing financial disruption without support. Crucially, through our universal credit system, we have managed to pay over 90% of new claimants on time and in full That has meant that universal credit and the Government’s investment in the welfare safety net have been there to help catch many of those affected by the pandemic. That has been hugely important for the 3 million more people who have made a benefit claim since March last year. I think it is right once again to publicly thank the thousands of work coaches in jobcentres up and down our country, who have responded at speed and scale to ensure that we have supported people in their hour of need. Now they are working tirelessly to deliver our plan for jobs As the House knows, the Chancellor introduced the £20 per week uplift to universal credit and working tax credit as a temporary measure in March 2020 to support those facing the most financial disruption. That additional support increased the universal credit and working tax credit standard allowances by up to £1,040 for a year I understand that that subject is the elephant in the room; I know that the House is eager to know about the future of the £20 uplift to universal credit. The uplift sat, and continues to sit, outside today’s annual uprating order and is therefore not directly relevant to today’s proceedings, but I have to say that the Labour party is simply wrong in its use of emotive language that the Government plan to cut universal credit in April. In fact, the only talk of cutting universal credit in April has come from the Opposition parties. I gently say to them that they should be very careful with their use of emotive language and what they say in this House, because scaremongering in this House has real-world consequences, which the Department sees every day in claimant behaviour.