argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Educational Assessments — House of Commons, 2022-03-17
Topic: Education
Robin Caspar Walker (Conservative, Centre-right): The specific measures we are taking this year are in recognition of the pressures the sector has faced. We will, of course, review their impact as we go forward I am grateful to have had the opportunity to debate this very important issue this evening. I must be clear that there are no plans for new wholesale reform of GCSEs and A-levels, which are internationally respected and enjoy high levels of public support. I am proud of the strides that this Government and previous Governments have taken to boost the quality of our technical and vocational qualifications. Our reforms since 2010 have already made a lasting improvement to qualifications, ensuring that they reflect the knowledge and skills pupils need to progress. Our GCSE and A-level reforms were substantial and designed to last, but some of the reforms to qualifications were quite new when the pandemic started. I am determined to continue the great work of my predecessors and embed them into our system. I am also acutely aware that schools, colleges and our brilliant teachers will benefit from a period of stability as we recover from the effects of the pandemic As we gear up for the return of exams this summer, I will close with a reflection on what that will mean for students across the country who are preparing for them. For the first time in two years, students in my constituency of Worcester, as well as in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Meon Valley and along with those up and down the country, will have the chance to demonstrate what they have learned through public exams. I am pleased that through their hard work and the hard work of their teachers, they will have the opportunity to secure the valuable qualifications they need to progress to the next stage of their careers Question put and agreed to.
Agri-research — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has one of the five largest science and innovation budgets in Government. It is investing £270 million in innovation through the farming innovation programme to 2029, working with our leading-edge agricultural research institutions across the UK’s four nations to harness the power of innovation.
Agri-research — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Christopher James Green (Conservative, Centre-right): The advocate-general of the European Union recommended gene editing, but the European Court of Justice opposed it and put it in the same category as genetically modified organisms. Professor Nigel Halford said that "the decision could set back agbiotech in Europe by another 20 years. We are already a generation behind. Young scientists interested in agbiotech are likely to move to places where common sense and scientific evidence prevail" In the name of better productivity, healthier food and scientific progress, when does my hon. Friend expect to see gene-edited crops on the UK market?
Agri-research — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): The EU has just opened a consultation on the issue, because my hon. Friend is totally right that precision-bred crops are very different. We have already taken steps, starting with the introduction of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which will go into Committee very shortly. Through its agricultural research institutes, the UK is at the leading edge. There will be overwhelming benefits for climate change, food resilience, pest resistance and so on. I look forward to the Bill receiving support across the House, going through Committee and going on to the other place.
Wet Wipes: Plastic — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Like the hon. Member, I am determined to tackle the issue. We have already run a call for evidence to explore policy options for tackling wet wipes, including a possible ban on those that contain plastic. We have also sought views on mandatory flushability standards, mandatory labelling and an extended producer responsibility scheme.
Wet Wipes: Plastic — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): There was a huge response to the call for evidence, and we are working our way through the details. We have to make sure that if a ban is brought in, it does not have knock-on effects that will cause similar problems. Even though other wet wipes might be deemed suitable to flush, they still get stuck in sewers, so we have to be mindful of that. I say to everybody, "If you don’t need to use a wet wipe, don’t—and don’t chuck them down the loo."
Wet Wipes: Plastic — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Felicia Jane Beatrix Drummond (Conservative, Centre-right): Anyone who has visited a sewage works such as Budds Farm in Havant or Bishop’s Waltham, as I have, can see the impact of wet wipes on the sewerage system. What more can we do now to raise awareness of the issues among the public so that only the three Ps are flushed down the loo?
Wet Wipes: Plastic — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I can only agree that it is revolting. We are getting sewage overflows more frequently than we need because of blockages with wet wipes. It is slightly extraordinary really, but that is why we are doing all the work and that is why we have done the call for evidence. We will come up with some suggestions for what we propose to do very shortly.
Farm Profitability — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We will spend over £600 million on farm-based innovation over the next three years. Our recent food strategy outlined how we intend to use grant support to help businesses invest to improve their profitability and increase their agricultural output. While we will not tell farmers what to invest in, we will support the investment decisions that they judge to be right for their own businesses.
Farm Profitability — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Sheryll Murray (Conservative, Centre-right): My farmers are seeing rising production costs, from increases in fertiliser costs, feed prices going up, the price of red diesel agriculture fuel doubling and increasing labour costs because of low availability of labour in the south-west. Those pressures will increase food prices further or see farms go to the wall. What more can be done?
Farm Profitability — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. It is true that farmers are facing increased input costs, particularly for fertiliser, fuel, animal feed and energy. Some farm-gate prices are also at record highs, and that is helping to mitigate the impact of those increased costs. The Government have already announced a package of measures to support farmers with the availability of fertiliser. To help with cash flow, we have brought forward basic payment scheme payments to July, and we have also announced an additional 10,000 visas through the seasonal worker visa route to help with labour shortages.
Farm Profitability — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Farm incomes have seen a strong recovery since the 2016 referendum. Land prices are running at record highs and the price of milk has also increased. Farm profits have been on the rise in recent years. In the current year, it is true that the increased input costs caused by the spike in gas prices will put pressure on margins, but it is in the context of a successful post-Brexit boom for agriculture generally.
Peatlands — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): We have a genuine focus on protecting and enhancing our peatlands, because that helps to tackle net zero and add to wider ecosystem services. We have an England peat action plan and a nature for climate fund, £4.8 million of which is to restore 3,500 hectares of blanket bog in the Pennines. That forms part of a bigger initiative working with the great northern bog.
Peatlands — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for that answer. The North Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty contains some of the largest areas of blanket peat bog in the UK. Peat can trap up to four times as much carbon dioxide as woodland. The peatland code provides a real opportunity for the voluntary carbon market to show it has quantifiable and additional benefits for the environment. What are the Government doing to highlight that and enable more environmental opportunities for areas of blanket bog peatlands, and ensure that environmental schemes are concentrated on where they can do the most good and not taking up—
Peatlands — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the value that restoring peat can bring to us. That is why we have nearly 100 restoration projects across the UK registered with the peatland code, which he referenced, enabling the restoration of nearly 14,000 hectares of peatland. Through the natural environment investment readiness fund and the peatland grant scheme, we are also developing a lot of pipeline investing projects that will bring forward all the things he is highlighting.
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Before answering this question, I would like to take this opportunity to correct the record. In an urgent question to which I replied on 19 May, I stated: "We are largely self-sufficient in wheat production, growing 88% of all the wheat that we need."—[Official Report, 19 May 2022; Vol. 714, c. 839.] In fact, we produce 88% of the cereals that we need and the figure for wheat is a little lower, at 81% In answer to the hon. Lady’s question, let me say that the food strategy has themes that are cross-cutting and have effects on policy in many other Departments. I can therefore confirm that the process of securing collective agreement meant that this issue was discussed exhaustively with Cabinet colleagues and other Departments.
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): No, he was wrong, because we have implemented new point-of-sale restrictions, which take effect later this year, in October. That is already driving reformulation; so we have put in place policies that deliver on the issues highlighted in Henry Dimbleby’s report. As for advertising and bans on promotions, we do not believe that that is the right thing to do in the context of rising food prices.
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Daniel Robert Kawczynski (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for issuing reports on food strategy, but I am still not entirely convinced that we have a long-term sustainable policy on the production of indigenous fertiliser in this country. Will he put into the House of Commons Library additional information for us to share with our farmers on this very important issue? Given the rising costs of fertiliser and the concerns about potential closures of fertiliser plants, may we have these assurances?
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): Although CF Fertilisers has confirmed its intention to close the Ince plant, it is maintaining production at the Billingham plant, which is the largest of the plants, and I understand that it has full order books until later this year.
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman; although CF Fertilisers has chosen to consolidate its UK operations into Billingham, the Ince plant remains viable and the best commercial exit from that plant for CF Fertilisers would be to progress an offer based on selling it as a going concern. There are many skilled people in his constituency who have been working at that plant, and the best outcome for all concerned would be for it to be sold as a going concern.
Food Strategy — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State has just mentioned that we lack total self-sufficiency in wheat production. Presumably, given the skyrocketing prices in the wheat market because of what is happening in Ukraine, the Government food strategy is more about producing more of our own wheat. I do not ask him to comment on a particular planning application, but what does he think of an application to build a solar farm covering 7,000 acres of good agricultural land in my constituency? I am not asking him to comment on that proposal around Gainsborough, but will he consult his colleagues to ensure that we maximise food production on our farmland?
Pets: Travelling Abroad — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): We are clear that we meet all the requirements to gain both part 1 listed status and recognition of the UK’s tapeworm-free status. We see no valid animal health reason for those not to be granted. We are carrying out further engagement to make progress on this issue.
Pets: Travelling Abroad — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): I do recognise the challenge. There is no change for animals coming from the EU to here and there is no reason why that arrangement should not be reciprocal. We are proactively engaging with the assistance dog community and relevant stakeholders and we are continuing the engagement with the EU to make sure that we can overcome this challenge.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): As we have recently heard, we have a high degree of food security in the UK. We produce 74% of the food that we can grow here and we have robust supply chains for the rest. Our food strategy sets security as a goal. We are clearly concerned by the rising pressures on household incomes and are monitoring them very closely.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): We have worked very closely with FareShare, an organisation that I have the utmost respect for, during the last couple of years in particular. Tackling poverty in all forms is a real priority for the Government and the Chancellor has now committed £37 billion-worth of support as part of a package to help families with food costs.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (Conservative, Centre-right): An important part of food security is reducing food waste. I recently visited an amazing organisation in my patch, the Horley Food Club, which is doing tremendous work recycling food waste into the hands of the community, using great food that would otherwise have been thrown away. However, the big supermarkets say that some regulations are holding them back, such as use-by labelling. Will the Minister update the House on what we might be able to do about that?
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for her interest in this really important question. I am pleased to confirm that the Food Standards Agency has agreed to ensure that there are no more unnecessary barriers to food redistribution through food banks or other types of community sharing organisations. I would be ever so happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the issue further.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady knows, agriculture is devolved. In England, we have been able to take steps to support our farmers through rising input costs, such as those for fertiliser. On fertiliser, we have been able to bring forward the support payment to July from December to give farmers the confidence to place orders for fertiliser, which is important. We have also made other changes to the guidance on farming rules for water and urea, for example, which really ought to help the movement from chemical fertilisers to biofertilisers.
Food Security — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): We continue to monitor very closely both the cost of food and the effect that this has on household budgets of those who are struggling. The Chancellor, as I have said, has recently added £15 billion to his total support package for struggling families—£37 billion in total. We know that food, while a very important part of household expenditure, is not the largest part in terms of cost for families. It is around 11% in the average family and 14% in more struggling families. We continue to work very closely with a wide range of organisations to make sure that we know what is happening on the ground and that we can intervene where necessary.
Village Halls — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Craig Paul Tracey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for not sharing that song with us As a former chair of my local village hall, I know how important village halls can be in connecting people of all ages. That was particularly evident during the pandemic. Village halls are generally run by small dedicated teams of volunteers who, unfortunately, are continually scraping around for the cash to keep them open. What more can we do to give easier and more sustainable funding to ensure that as many of these vital community hubs as possible can stay open?
Puppy Smuggling — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): We are delivering on our manifesto pledge to crack down on the smuggling of dogs and puppies. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill includes powers to introduce further restrictions. We have recently consulted on these and we will be publishing our report very shortly.
Puppy Smuggling — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Neil Peter Hammerton Hudson (Conservative, Centre-right): The steps proposed in the kept animals Bill, in our Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report on the movement of animals across borders, and in the commercial and non-commercial movements of pets in Britain consultation are desperately needed. I, as a vet, along with charities such as the Dogs Trust, have serious concerns about the biosecurity of the UK’s dogs if smugglers continue to be able to abuse the system. Will my hon. Friend go further and commit to now introducing visual checks on dogs that enter the country and also institute pre-entry health checks and preventative measures such as tick treatments?
Discharge of Untreated Sewage — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): This Government are the first to set out our expectation that water companies must take significant steps to reduce storm sewage overflows. Through the Environment Act 2021 we have set a legal duty on water companies to reduce discharges and enhance monitoring, and we have just consulted on the largest programme in history to tackle storm overflows. Sadly, the hon. Gentleman’s party voted against these measures in the Environment Bill.
Discharge of Untreated Sewage — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman has referred to the storm overflow discharge reduction plan, which we will publish in September. A huge amount of scientific research is informing this, and we have set a revolutionary system in place that will tackle these storm sewage overflows. We also have to be mindful of the cost of this on water bills, but we are certainly tackling the worst areas first—bathing waters and protected sites. We have a very sound system in place to deal with this once and for all, and the water companies have to clean up their act.
Discharge of Untreated Sewage — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue, but that is why we have a very sound system in place through the Environment Act and through our directions to Ofwat, the regulator, to tackle this area. It is why event duration monitoring will be in all storm overflows by 2023. It is why we have such an important and comprehensive system of monitoring and reporting back on when these storm overflows are being used. It is why we are tackling the water quality above and below storm sewage overflows so that we can demonstrate what is happening and action can be taken—and action will be taken on the water companies; we make absolutely no bones about that at all.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I take this opportunity to welcome the confirmation this week that the UN convention on biological diversity, COP15, will now be going ahead at the end of this year in Canada under China’s presidency. This week, in preparation for that, the UK will lead ambitious calls to protect nature at Nairobi in the run-up to building ambitious biodiversity targets This week I met the US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture to discuss many issues around sustainable agriculture and trade. I am pleased to announce today that the UK will join the Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition convened by the United States. I look forward to working with our international partners in this dialogue on innovation, science and sustainable agriculture.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will know that duty and tax is a matter for the Treasury, but I am more than happy to meet his constituents. The English wine industry has been a fabulous success story in recent decades.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We have set out some detailed proposals on this, both in our response to the Glover review, but also under the Environment Act 2021. Local authorities will be required to have local nature recovery strategies in future, and that will include commitments around public access in particular locations. We have also opened a new farming and protected landscape scheme, which is all about supporting public access to the countryside.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2022-06-23
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Residents in Gedling have recently received letters regarding a nearby outbreak of avian flu, and I am grateful for the work of DEFRA officials in combating that, but might my right hon. Friend be able to offer any update on when restrictions are likely to be lifted? I am particularly thinking of my constituents who race pigeons. There is a short pigeon racing season from April to September, and they are currently prevented from doing so. They would like to get on with their hobby.
Johanna Peta Churchill (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has highlighted, we have witnessed the worst avian flu outbreaks on record in recent months, having sustained 122 cases this year. We will lift restrictions in disease control zones, including those on racing pigeons, as soon as we are able to do so, because of the biosecurity need. This week, we have announced that scientists across the UK will join forces in a major new research consortium to fight against avian flu. I note that my hon. Friend has written to me, so he will get a fuller answer.