argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Serious Crime Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: International Affairs
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need to shine a light on the murky mafia-related activities that are infecting our country through the acquisition of property and also by the physical entry of individuals into this country This amendment would also make an important statement about British foreign policy, particularly as inevitably in the 21st century we have to rub along with, deal with and engage with Governments who do not respect the same standards of liberal democracy as we do here in Britain. I am a realist and I recognise that we will have to engage with regimes with a dubious commitment to human rights or the rule of law, but there ought to be some moral red lines here. People carrying dirty money and individuals with blood on their hands should not be welcome on the streets of Britain. This is not just a question of moral principle. Sooner or later, if we keep allowing such unsavoury characters into the UK, bringing all their baggage and vendettas with them, we risk finding that it is British citizens who are caught in the crossfire or worse. After all, the Litvinenko inquiry has already heard that Putin’s thugs were willing to engage in nuclear terrorism here in public, so the threat to the British public is real and serious. I remain convinced that Britain should enact a Sergei Magnitsky law, like the Americans, with mandatory visa bans and asset freezes imposed on people linked to the worst international crimes. In the meantime, at the very least we need to shine a light on the exercise of existing UK powers to deny entry or visas to the shady characters who prop up Putin, or indeed any other despot around the world This new clause does that. It would allow a temporary delay in disclosure of the identity of anyone banned if necessary for national security or law enforcement, and it would not alter the substantive scope of any existing powers, but it would ensure that they are exercised consistently, and it would ensure that the public are told whom we ban from Britain. I commend new clause 18 to the House.
Serious Crime Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward Garnier (Conservative, Centre-right): As my father used to say, Madam Deputy Speaker, "There is no point in having two clocks if they both tell the same time." I want briefly to respond to what my hon. Friend the Member for North East Cambridgeshire said about his new clause 28. Having spent quite a lot of my time as a Government Law Officer and having subsequently taken an interest in financial crime, I was much taken by what he had to say. My only suggestion would be that, rather than limiting himself to a further 31 days, he should propose—
Serious Crime Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward Garnier (Conservative, Centre-right): The arguments that the hon. Lady is making are those that I have read and that have persuaded me against supporting new clause 1, which I had originally intended to do when it was first mooted. I am persuaded that the real difficulty we face is getting evidence to court, and nothing that my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) has said will improve the quality of the evidence. I horribly disapprove—
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: International Affairs
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 8, 9 and 10 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), European Union That the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Moldova) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 13 January, be approved That the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Ukraine) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 13 January, be approved That the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Georgia) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 13 January, be approved.—(Mr Foster.) Question agreed to.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Government Operations
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 11 and 12 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Road Traffic That the draft Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 14 January, be approved That the draft Road Safety Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 16 January, be approved.—(Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to. Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Local Government That the draft Community Right to Challenge (Business Improvement Districts) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 14 January, be approved.—(Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to. Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Ecclesiastical Law That the draft Grants to the Churches Conservation Trust Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 13 January, be approved.—(Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to. Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Social Security That the draft Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 15 January, be approved.— (Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to. Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Social Security (Northern Ireland) That the draft Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating (Northern Ireland) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 15 January, be approved.—(Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 17 and 18 together Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)), Tax Credits That the draft Tax Credits (Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2015, which was laid before this House on 15 January, be approved That the draft Tax Credits Up-rating Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 15 January, be approved.— (Mr. Foster.) Question agreed to.
Innovation Fund for Young People — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Technology
Stephen Mosley (Conservative, Centre-right): One key factor of the innovation fund is the use of social investment. How effective does my right hon. Friend think social investment has been? What future does he foresee for social investment in future projects from his Department?
Innovation Fund for Young People — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The interesting thing about this development, which I hope has support on both sides of the House, is that these social investment bonds have advanced dramatically in the past four years, making the UK now a world leader in this, with lots of different Governments coming to ask how to implement it. With the tax relief that we have granted to social investment bonds, the future funding in many of these projects will involve more and more decisions being able to be taken by local government; it will be able to set individual projects up and fund them, without recourse to government, but with a return. So we will be paying for things that happen rather than things that might happen—that is the key.
Innovation Fund for Young People — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): What went wrong was the Youth Contract, full stop. The money used for the Youth Contract actually went to invest in people who had greatest disadvantage, and when we set up our other programmes, including the Work programme, we outperformed anything the Youth Contract had. Furthermore, work experience was not available to young people under the previous Government for any great length of time, whereas we have had more than 50% of people on those work experience programmes go back to work. More young people are in work now than when we came into office; they were left by the disaster of the previous Government.
Innovation Fund for Young People — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman has actually looked at the figures correctly. He will find that under this Government youth unemployment has fallen; there are now more young people in work; and youth unemployment is at a lower level than the previous Government left us in 2010, after they crashed the economy. I might also remind him that they used to put young people on short-term programmes. As soon as they did that, they took them off the register and started them as though they had begun looking for work then, rather than being six months in. The previous Government gerrymandered the figures and they still failed.
Innovation Fund for Young People — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The reality is quite different from that set out by the right hon. Gentleman. Youth unemployment is down 171,000 on the year—nearly a fifth; 7.1% of all young people are unemployed and not in full-time education; and the number of young people on jobseeker’s allowance has fallen every month for that past three years. The truth about this is quite the opposite to that he suggests. The previous Government left us with young people unable to get work experience and unable to get jobs, and a real stagnation problem, with young people not being able to get the skills necessary. Youth unemployment is now falling. Youth employment is rising—[Interruption.] No; since the last Parliament youth unemployment has fallen. Youth employment is rising. Once in a while it would be nice if the right hon. Gentleman got up and said, "You know what, the last Government got it wrong. Thank you for getting it right."
Mental Health (Employment Opportunities) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Mark James Harper (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to helping people with mental health problems into work. We are piloting a number of innovative approaches to employment support for those with mental health problems, and the Access to Work mental health support service can help people with a mental health condition who are absent from work or who are finding it difficult to get back into work.
Mental Health (Employment Opportunities) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Mark James Harper (Conservative, Centre-right): Just before I answer the hon. Lady, let me say that I am happy to agree with you, Mr Speaker, that your conference showed great leadership, which we were happy to follow. I think that it is wise to acknowledge that from the Dispatch Box—[Laughter.] The Secretary of State says keep going. The hon. Lady makes a serious point about sanctioning. We have to make sure in the Department and Jobcentre Plus that if someone on employment and support allowance does not engage with the help they are given, we understand why they do not engage with it and then deliver proper support. Last week, when I was looking at the pilots, I was trying to see how we better engage with that mental health support to ensure that we give people the support both to stay in work, and to get back to work, if they have a mental health problem.
Mental Health (Employment Opportunities) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Justin Paul Tomlinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I was delighted to welcome the Minister to the Olive Tree café which provides opportunities for more than 30 people to rebuild their confidence and skills. That has been achieved through a successful social enterprise. How can we share that best practice?
Mental Health (Employment Opportunities) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Mark James Harper (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the things that our work coaches in the jobcentre are able to do is flex the claimant commitment people make according to the claimant’s health condition. What should happen in such cases is that, if the individual remains on JSA, their work coach can alter the conditions to deal with that. If the hon. Gentleman has specific examples where that has not happened, I would be delighted if he wrote to me so that we can look into those cases.
Job Creation (Yorkshire) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on those great statistics. Late last year, I organised a jobs fair in Shipley that had employers there with more than 300 current vacancies. She will be aware that many Conservative MPs in Yorkshire have also held jobs fairs in their constituencies. Will she ensure that jobcentres always support jobs fairs, to ensure that as many jobseekers as possible come to them?
Job Creation (Yorkshire) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. I congratulate him on holding a jobs fair. He is right to draw attention to the fact that Conservative MPs in Yorkshire have been putting the Labour MPs to shame for not holding as many job fairs. Because of those events and our welfare changes, and because of the success of our long-term economic plan, more jobs were created in Yorkshire last year than in the whole of France—something I am sure my hon. Friend is particularly pleased to hear.
Job Creation (Yorkshire) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for asking that question, because I frequently hear the myths put about by the Opposition. I can assure him that 80% are full-time jobs and 75% are managerial and professional jobs. These are very good jobs for excellent people who are trying to support their families in Shipley and across the UK.
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): As part of this Government’s long-term economic plan, we are committed to developing the northern powerhouse. We are investing heavily in infrastructure, science and technology, and culture to rebalance the economy by closing the long-term gap between the north and south—something the Opposition did not manage to do.
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, I am delighted to answer the question; again, the information was out of date. The information for that report closed in 2013 and covered the previous 10-year period, when the Government whom the hon. Gentleman supported were in office. The latest figures would show that 60% of jobs created are outside London and the south-east. I know that the hon. Gentleman, as the previous Chair of the Education Committee, takes a keen interest in opportunities for young people, so I hope he will welcome the latest announcement from Yorkshire Water that it will create 160 apprenticeships.
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Jason McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister join me in thanking Huddersfield job centre, which supported my jobs fairs in Holmfirth and Marsden last year, giving local people access to real jobs and apprenticeships? Will she note the 4,130 apprenticeship starts in my constituency since 2010?
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed. I congratulate my hon. Friend’s local jobcentre and him on all the work he does. Those were over 4,000 apprenticeships in his constituency, but at the end of last year there were 2 million new apprenticeships for young people right across the country. That is why we have seen the biggest fall in youth unemployment since records began.
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to improve job opportunities for people in the north of England is for Government to reduce tax and red tape on businesses to give them the opportunity to create new businesses, and to ensure that the Government always make it pay to be in work, not on benefits?
Employment Opportunities (Northern Region) — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Macroeconomics
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Once again, my hon. Friend speaks sound sense. That is exactly what this Government have been trying to do. We have been working with businesses, finding out what they need to expand and grow and to take on young people. As we have seen, growth is increasing. We are now growing faster than any other country in the G7. We know that not only are wages going up by 2%, but they are destined to go up by 3.4%, and inflation has fallen by 0.5%. If anybody had a long-term economic plan, it is this Government.
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): We have continued to drive improvements in providers’ results. Jobcentre Plus is integral to this, and we have implemented a closer working approach between jobcentres and providers. The evaluation indicates that the relationship between jobcentres and providers has strengthened over time—for instance, through the use of co-location and enhanced information sharing.
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I would like to remind everybody that the Work programme is the most successful scheme of its kind in getting people from long-term unemployment into work. Some 1.75 million people are now being helped and over 600,000 have got a job. In feedback, participants are saying that they are happy with the frequency of contact and think that that works with them and helps overcome the barriers to finding work. The number of people on ESA shows that it is actually performing well above what was expected. It was expected to apply to only one in 14 people and the figure is now one in 10. All the extra work that we have done on the communications between Jobcentre Plus and work providers is obviously showing results.
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): What more can the Minister do to get a better relationship between jobcentres and Work programme providers so that they can provide a warm handover when claimants move into the Work programme and when they return from the programme at the end of their two-year period?
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. This is all part of the Oakley review. It is about ensuring that communications are better, that that hand-holding is understood, that people get a copy of the claimant commitment, and that they can understand a good cause and work together. At the end of the day, we are trying to get some of the most vulnerable people, who have been unemployed for a long time, into work. What is needed is that communication and that support from Jobcentre Plus and prime contractors.
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): This was a complicated case. I will obviously meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss it. His constituent had been laid off and then, as we were trying to support him back into work, he did work experience. It was in a different part of the business, and it was how we could best enable him to move from long-term unemployment into employment. If the hon. Gentleman would like to meet me, I am more than happy to do that, but I have already looked into this case.
Work Programme — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises yet another good point. Under Labour, the number of people living in households where nobody had ever worked doubled. We therefore needed not only to do a lot of work to bring us back to the regular standards of what we had before Labour came into office, but to build on that to get more people into work. That is exactly right. We have helped hundreds of thousands of those people who were left unemployed for a long time.
Access to Benefits — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Citizens of the European economic area who choose to come here without a job to start will not be able to access universal credit. We have introduced several restrictions to benefits to ensure that our welfare system focuses support on those who are contributing to the economy. These include strengthening the habitual residency test, banning access to housing benefit for new EEA jobseekers, and introducing a three-month residency requirement for income-based jobseeker’s allowance.
Access to Benefits — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The universal credit programme is working well. It is now completing its roll-out to all the areas in the north-west, to all singles, couples and families. In the next month, it will start rolling out across the country, and that will bring universal credit to more jobcentres. By the time that process is completed, one in three jobcentres will be running universal credit. The key thing is to make sure that we get this vital reform, which helps people to get back into work faster, that we land it correctly and safely, and that we learn the lessons of the past when things like tax credits, brought in under the previous Government, were absolute disasters wasting billions of pounds in lost money and fraud.
Access to Benefits — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
David Anthony Andrew Amess (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is quite wrong for people who are working in this country on a temporary basis to be able to claim benefits for their dependants in their country of origin, when one considers the cost of those benefits in relation to the differences in the cost of living?
Access to Benefits — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes; changing that situation is something that the coalition has set out to achieve. I remind my hon. Friend that when we came to power, the last Government had pretty much left an open door for access to benefits. People were able to claim jobseeker’s allowance pretty much on arrival. There was a habitual residence test, but it was very weak. We strengthened it and stopped people claiming for more than three months. People will not be able to claim housing benefit and they must have a right of residence. If they do claim, they must show that they have a minimum earnings likelihood. Anything below that will not count as a job. We are tightening up the system after the mess that we were left by the last Government.
Access to Benefits — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I will take that as a peculiar compliment. We inherited a system in which people did not have to work for any time to claim jobseeker’s allowance. Within the existing rules, we will not pay for the first three months. If people are unemployed, they will be paid for three months. After that, they will be asked to leave. That is a much tighter position than the one we inherited. I, of course, would like to take it further. As the Prime Minister set out clearly in a recent speech, he believes that there should be years of contributions before someone is eligible to claim benefits, be they tax credits or jobseeker’s allowance. When the Conservative party gets back into power, we will implement that.