argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Financial Services: UK Economy — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Other
Anthony Howe Browne (Conservative, Centre-right): Madam Deputy Speaker, you were in the Chair on Monday night when we had a rather fractious debate on a different subject, and I think we all agree it is a nice contrast to have a debate on which there is such wide agreement To the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq), you mentioned a couple of times that you agree with me on a couple of things, and you almost sounded surprised. To the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), who also sponsored this debate, I agreed with almost everything you said.
Financial Services: UK Economy — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Anthony Howe Browne (Conservative, Centre-right): This has been a well-informed, thoughtful and good-natured debate, and it was great to hear the hon. Member for Gordon (Richard Thomson) talk about the importance of financial services to Scotland—I also made that point Many hon. Members raised points that I did not mention in my opening remarks. The hon. Member for Wallasey mentioned the importance of financial crime, which I thought about mentioning, and she is right that it is a big challenge we need to tackle. My hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill) spoke about the importance of legal services and related financial services, which are all part of a package. My hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) talked about the importance of getting the right skills and talent, which I did not address but is obviously completely true. And my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) touched on the importance of access to EU markets, which is critical and unknown at this point. It was good to hear the remarks from the Minister in summing up; it is great to hear that the Government are clearly very supportive of the financial services sector, committed to getting international agreements and making incremental changes that we can all agree on I have one last observation to make. My hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon talked about the Minister being known as the one of the best City Ministers ever. I agree with that, but it is a misnomer calling him a City Minister because, as he said, and as everyone else has said, financial services are important for the entire country. So perhaps we need to change the informal name for that job. This has been an important and thoughtful debate, and it is nice to be part of a debate where there is a large consensus on the way forward Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House recognises the importance of financial services to the UK economy; and calls on the Government to provide adequate support to help create the right regulatory and operational environment for that industry to ensure that the UK is able to retain its competitiveness on the world stage.
Consular Support for British Citizens — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Amanda Anne Milling (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make progress, if the hon. Lady does not mind We can and do intervene on behalf of British nationals where they are not treated in line with internationally accepted standards or if there are unreasonable delays in procedures We take allegations of torture or mistreatment incredibly seriously. Although we cannot investigate allegations ourselves, with the consent of the individual we can raise the allegations with local authorities to demand an end to the mistreatment and to demand that the incidents are investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. Our priority is always to serve the best interests of the individual. Any decisions on the action we might take in response to allegations of mistreatment are made on a case-by-case basis and only with the individual’s consent.
Vulnerable Asylum Seeker Services: Stockton — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Other
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): For the benefit of the House, I confirm that I am aware of the place to which the hon. Gentleman refers but, like him, I think that in this forum it is best not to specifically identify the property.
Vulnerable Asylum Seeker Services: Stockton — House of Commons, 2021-12-09
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Recent conversations have been positive, and we are exploring all the options to ensure that people are moved on from hotels as quickly as possible, including through the very welcome conversations we have had with our local partners in Stockton. We have also been working collaboratively with colleagues across Government, particularly in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to identify empty homes across the UK that could be utilised for this purpose now and potentially as affordable accommodation more widely in future Furthermore, we are taking a number of steps to increase the part local authorities play in helping us meet our statutory obligations towards asylum seekers of all ages. I make clear from this Dispatch Box that it is only right that we all do our bit, and not just a small number of areas. We have therefore recently issued the relevant notice to mandate all local authorities to participate in the national transfer scheme, to ensure that the responsibility for caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is shared fairly across the entire United Kingdom. I am grateful for the continued and invaluable support of local authorities across the country, which continue to provide crucial placements to vulnerable young asylum seekers. It is right we do all we can to protect unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, many of whom have been exploited by people smugglers during their journey The high number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children over recent months, alongside limited local authority participation in some cases, has placed unprecedented pressure on the national transfer scheme. Out of necessity, and with the children’s best interests in mind, we accommodated these children on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels while placements with local authorities were vigorously pursued. Intake remains very high and the situation remains extremely challenging. Hence, as I have already outlined, the Government have now taken the decision to mandate local authority participation in the scheme, although we are still in the period when local authorities can make representations about their individual circumstances.
Social Care: Staff Numbers and Vacancy Rates — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Gillian Keegan (Conservative, Centre-right): As I mentioned earlier, we have sent out £162.5 million, which has not yet been put into effect. For example, Sefton received £1,032,474. That money has only just gone into the bank account, and has not yet been utilised to retain staff, or to recruit agency or other staff. As the hon. Gentleman says, adult social care providers can recruit key adult social carers from overseas from the shortage occupation list. That provides lower fees and a reduced salary threshold of £20,480 for someone to be eligible for the skilled worker visa.
Social Care: Staff Numbers and Vacancy Rates — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Christopher Stephen Grayling (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a particular challenge in a county such as Surrey that has a rapidly ageing demographic, high housing costs, and where the cost of living is high generally. Could I urge the Minister and the Secretary of State to ensure that they consider all possible avenues to assist with what is becoming an acute shortage of key staff? We cannot end up in a position where the elderly do not receive the care they need, and we need maximum flexibility to ensure they get that care.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Member for giving way, and I apologise to the Minister for not being here at the very start; I was on a train back from a ministerial visit in my constituency. I would just like to pay tribute to some of the campaigners who are in the Public Gallery at the moment, particularly those from Karma Nirvana, the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, the Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Does the hon. Member agree that it is those campaigners and charities who have worked on this issue for a very long time who have really brought it to the fore—they have just been supported by some Members of this House—and that it is they who deserve the credit?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Other
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I have three people indicating that they wish to speak. I ask people to make really short contributions, because I want to give the Minister six minutes to wind up and we will then go into the votes at half past.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Other
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): This is a little more generous than the six minutes I feared I might have to work with, Mr Deputy Speaker If I may, I will address each set or theme of amendments in turn. First, I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden) for the work he has done. He rightly highlights that in a sense he is but the voice of the campaigners who have worked so hard on this issue over a very long period. I am pleased that today, while it is not his exact amendment, we have been able to work together to table an amendment that I hope will command cross-party support across the House to deliver on what he has campaigned so effectively for I have known my hon. Friend a very long time, so I should not have been surprised by the persistence with which he beat a path to my door to seek to secure agreement on exactly this policy issue.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Other
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): Can I just say that the Minister has been absolutely superb in engaging throughout this process? I would like to thank the shadow team as well, who in Committee and today—and throughout—have shown real conviction towards this end. I thank the Minister and his team and also the shadow team for all they have done.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): On the contrary: data protection laws are UK-wide, so it is appropriate that this should be done UK-wide The second area is services. For instance, if a new treatment is available to Scottish patients in Edinburgh, which has one of the finest hospitals in the country, and if on rare occasions it is available to a Welsh person in Wales with a rare disease, should that person not be able to benefit from it? Likewise, if a treatment is available in one of the great London teaching hospitals and somebody from Stirling needs it, should they not be able to get it? At the moment, access to such specialist services is available on an ad hoc basis, but it is not broadly available. That is what new clause 60 seeks to address.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Fiona Claire Bruce (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to speak to new clause 31 in my name, which would reduce the upper gestational limit for abortion in most cases to 22 weeks gestation. This time limit amendment would replace the current 24-week time limit for abortions on the ground where there is a greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman or any of her children of proceeding with the pregnancy, under section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act 1967. The current 24-week limit law is based on an outdated understanding of the viability of premature babies, and it needs to be updated.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Other
Robin John Millar (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, which is a good and relevant one, and it speaks directly to the heart of what the Minister said in his opening comments. There is good collaboration and an emerging consensus on this, so I am optimistic that that will be the case. In fact, my concluding remark is to say that I will not press new clause 61 to a Division, but I will listen carefully to the Minister’s response.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Maria Frances Lewis Miller (Conservative, Centre-right): I speak to new clause 50, tabled in my name and that of the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson) We badly need a wake-up call, because at the moment we are allowing the criminal law as currently drafted to drive a fundamental wedge between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, treating women in Northern Ireland in a completely different way from women in England and Wales when it comes to abortion. Two years ago, the Government changed the law governing abortion in Northern Ireland after a vote in this place, removing criminal sanctions on abortions in Northern Ireland, while leaving women in England and indeed Wales facing the possibility of the harshest criminal sanctions for abortion in the world, under laws passed more than 50 years before any women was even able to vote for the people representing them in this place New clause 50 would change that. It would decriminalise abortion and ensure that women in England and Wales are treated in the same way as women in Northern Ireland when it comes to abortion. Our values and our rights are what unite our four nations. To treat women differently in those nations weakens those ties. That needs to be rectified. The new clause does just that, and it would change nothing about abortion services, access to abortion or the time limits on abortion The women most likely to be affected and governed by the criminal law are some of the most vulnerable in our society: victims of domestic abuse, of honour-based violence and of rape, and those who are too poor or marginalised to travel to a clinic to seek help. If a desperate woman attempts to end her pregnancy, do we really want her to not seek medical help for fear of arrest and prosecution? New clause 50 simply removes women from being subject to the criminal law for seeking an abortion, and it is fully supported by the medical experts, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Other
John Charles Baron (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister and the Government for listening and for accepting the new clause in its entirety. It is a progressive step. I and the whole group behind the new clause look forward to working with him. If nuanced changes were required, then, by all means, we would consider them.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Civil Rights
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I heard what the hon. Gentleman said. He will know that there are strong feelings on the issue of abortion across the House, on all sides of that issue. If legislation does ever come to the House, it is important that it is always a matter of conscience, and that is how MPs are expected to receive such legislation.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Immigration
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point and he speaks with deep experience. What I can tell him is that we will shortly be publishing an integration White Paper, which, given what he has just said, I am sure he will welcome.
Pine Trees Development — House of Commons, 2021-11-23
Topic: Housing
Steven John Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): The residents of Pine Trees in High Wycombe bought their homes on the basis that the council would adopt open spaces—indeed, they have supplied evidence that the council’s original intention was that a planning obligation should secure just that—but it has not happened. I am therefore pleased to have received a petition signed by three but accompanying a much longer petition signed by 524 residents The petition states: The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to legislate to ensure in future if planning is granted on particular conditions, and these are not carried through by a council, then that council is responsible for remediation and to ask the relevant Member to seek to broker a solution I will of course seek to broker a solution to this problem Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of the constituency of Wycombe, Declares that planning permission for Pine Trees was granted by the local authority (now Buckinghamshire Council) on the condition that the developer, Taylor Wimpey, paid a commuted sum to support the upkeep of the open spaces and play areas known as Bobcat Park, allowing for the local authority to adopt the park; notes that the local authority failed to include any mention of said commuted sum in the Section 106 planning conditions for the development; notes that the developer sold, and continued to sell, homes at Pine Trees on the basis that Bobcat Park would be adopted by the local authority and that residents would not need to pay anything towards upkeep of the park; notes that in connection with a separate planning condition, the developer has paid to the local authority more than £2 million for the creation of a bus link scheme which has since been abandoned, leaving funds available to support adoption of the park; and notes that in the absence of a commuted sum, the local authority has indicated its opposition to adopting the park, leaving the costs of maintenance to be borne by the residents at the development, conflicting directly with what they had been told. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to legislate to ensure in future if planning is granted on particular conditions, and these are not carried through by a council, then that council is responsible for remediation and to ask the relevant Member to seek to broker a solution. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P002698]
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend, because he makes an important point that I will return to later about the need for dignity and independence, and to stress that there are no second-class citizens when it comes to Down’s syndrome.
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lia Nici-Townend (Conservative, Centre-right): I wholeheartedly support my right hon. Friend’s Bill. On that point, does he agree that it is important to make sure that people with Down’s syndrome and other learning difficulties have the right to services when they are younger because it is vital to ensure that they are as independent as possible as adults, so that parents and carers feel that their children will have a good, long, healthy life?
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Civil Rights
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point and perhaps I should explain why we did not bring this forward as a whole of the United Kingdom Bill. I did not want this to become an argument about the rights and wrongs or responsibilities of different parts of devolved Administrations in the United Kingdom; it has to be about people. If we can encourage other parts of the UK, through whatever systems of government are responsible for these issues, I hope the unity that exists across the House and the fact that this Bill was sponsored by all parties in the House of Commons will be a guiding light to those other parts of the United Kingdom about the urgency of making these rights available to all I end on the following point. This is not a Bill about a condition. It is not about dealing with Down’s syndrome; it is about people who deserve the same ability to demand the best health, education and care as the rest of our society. It is not on our part an act of charity; it is an act of empowerment and a recognition that all members of our society must have a right to respect, independence and dignity. That is why I have brought this Bill forward.
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Other
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): No, as I am concluding For all the Drews, Freddies, Maxs, Fionns, Tommys and Bethanys it is not our voices that resonate in Parliament today, but theirs, and my message to them is, "You have been heard, at last."
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Liam Fox (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. Everything he says is absolutely correct. Does that not have an added importance in an era of greater life expectancy, when we can no longer depend on parents taking those with Down’s syndrome to services? Those services must be able to be independently provided to those who need them, without the need for parents to be a part of the equation.
Down Syndrome Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Elliot Colburn (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to the hon. Member for his intervention. I think I can highlight that point in even more detail One really shocking thing I have found through constituency surgeries is that, when parents come to me with copies of their children’s education, health and care plans, the children’s names are often incorrect on the plans, many of which are quite obviously copied and pasted. They are templates, and there is a standard form that is adjusted very slightly whenever a new plan is issued. That is not how to cater and deliver services for children living with Down’s syndrome, or, frankly, for any child who needs access to an education, health and care plan. The whole point of the legislation and such plans, as well as the point of the Bill, is to make sure that services properly cater for the individual and reflect their needs accurately I passionately support the Bill because it will give parents and people living with Down’s syndrome the legal backing of the state if they do need to go into battle. I support the Government in their approach to consulting those service users, and indeed those who will be delivering these services, when it comes to designing the guidance. I also put it on record that I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset that it is vital that the issue of redress is taken properly into account during the Bill’s passage so that we have that in place by the time it becomes legislation The testimonies of the families I have spoken to at Get on Downs, and that I am sure we have all heard from our constituents and families up and down the country who have been campaigning hard to secure the passage of such legislation, have been incredibly heartfelt. I have heard over and over again what a difference the Bill will make to their lives, or what it would have meant to them if they had had this kind of legislation in place when they were struggling. When I met Charlotte and the families at Get on Downs, they said they wanted to be listened to, and we have the opportunity to listen to them today, so I hope colleagues will join me in voting for the Bill, start the journey of putting it into law and help better the lives of the thousands of people living with Down’s syndrome in our country today.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2021-11-26
Topic: Mixed Topics
Suzanne Webb (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the swiftness of the Government’s response to the new variant that is under investigation. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that, as the situation develops, the Government will continue to move at the earliest possible opportunity?