argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Government Operations
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): I certainly think that the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland too, need to be involved in this commission and this process, because it has got to work for the whole of the United Kingdom. I think that is possible, but only if all parts of the House and those on both Front Benches behave in a different way and recognise the responsibility that has been placed on us by the hung Parliament that we have been given. That means, too, that the great repeal Bill that the Government want to put forward can no longer be a Bill that simply accrues powers to the Government through Henry VIII powers, because in a hung Parliament the legislature simply cannot hand over huge power to the Executive. The legislature itself must be involved in those decisions, step by step along the way The right hon. Member for Mid Sussex was right when he said that the course before us is more complex than anything he or I can remember at any time. With a hung Parliament we will have to work differently, but that has to start with the Government. I urge them to start today by changing course on public services and, as the amendment before us asks, on public sector pay and supporting our public sector workers, but also by changing course in the approach to Brexit, in a way that can build consensus, not division. That ought to be the spirit of what the Prime Minister has said.
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Gloria De Piero (Labour, Centre-left): Last week I was told by Pauline that her mum, 79-year-old Sheila, who has dementia and heart failure, suffers from seizures and is unable to eat, go to the toilet or dress on her own, has been denied a funded place in a care home. Does the hon. Lady agree that that is a scandal that needs to be resolved?
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend, having served as a Minister with responsibility for policing, will remember the inputs of the Ministry of Defence police in providing security and stability for much of our most important national infrastructure. Is he aware that there is to be a £12.5 million cut in Ministry of Defence policing in this year, which means that fewer armed police officers will be available to support Home Office police?
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important point. I want to challenge the Government, in the winding-up speeches, to say what the Government mean when they talk about an uplift in the number of armed police officers. We have a downlift of more than 1,500 armed police officers I praise the speed and effectiveness of the response in London, and indeed in Manchester, but the events in London happened within one mile of a significant concentration of armed police, here in central London. If those events had happened in some parts of the country, there would have been great difficulty in effectively getting an armed police response at the speed that we would expect, and that was delivered by brave police officers here in London More police officers are now reporting sick because of stress. The number of police officers who have taken sick leave each year has increased by about 1,500 since 2010. That is because they are under pressure, because they do not have the numbers that there were in the past. It should also be remembered that police officers do not do 24-hour shifts. Police officers take holidays. Police officers sleep. Police officers have time off. Those police officers whom we have are very thinly stretched We should also recall that the police officer cohort is ageing; nearly 50% of officers are now in the higher age range. Unless we recruit effectively and speedily, we will not have the level of policing that we would wish to see in our community at large I mentioned the European arrest warrant and the European matters that we face as part of Brexit. On Monday, in answer to a question that I asked her, the Prime Minister said, "As regards Eurojust, Europol and the European arrest warrant, those will be matters for…negotiations"—[Official Report, 26 June 2017; Vol. 626, c. 321.] I am very sorry; they should not be matters for negotiation. They should be things that we, as a United Kingdom Government, are committed to participating in in the future. We need the European arrest warrant, Eurojust and Europol to ensure that we tackle crime, stop terrorism, bring back to this country people who have committed heinous offences here, and export to other countries people who have committed heinous offences there. I want a commitment from the Government as soon as possible that they will commit to the European arrest warrant, Eurojust and the European security co-operation measures that make so much difference to our lives and our security. We shall be voting against the Queen’s Speech tonight, and we are right to do so until we get clarification on those key issues
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Labor
John Woodcock (Labour, Centre-left): It is good to see you back in your place, Mr Deputy Speaker. Indeed, it is rather good to be back in mine after everything that has happened Those of us who occasionally glance at Twitter while we are listening attentively to speeches in the Chamber may have noticed that the Government appear to have told the media today that they may be relaxing the pay cap that has been strangling public sector workers for many years. The Minister was gracious enough to look at the badges that many of us are wearing, although he has declined to wear one. Given that we have heard no announcement, I do hope that he may be about to let the House know what the policy will be for the millions of public sector workers.
Health, Social Care and Security — House of Commons, 2017-06-28
Topic: Law and Crime
John Woodcock (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister shakes her head, but will she tell me whether that definition will take into account the full need to deter the horror of financial control and emotional abuse, as only a strong definition will? If it will, the Government can rely on full and hearty support from Labour Members. If it will not, we will push them to finish the job properly.
Pension Investments — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Questions: What steps the Government are taking to ensure that people have accurate and clear information to inform decisions on the use of their pension investments.
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): The Government missed an opportunity this year to tackle a wide range of issues in the pensions industry, but they chose to ignore most of them, instead bringing forward the narrow Pension Schemes Bill. The Secretary of State then failed to further his own agenda by instructing his Ministers to resist any attempt to introduce transparency, member engagement and greater clarity on costs. Why does he choose to protect the industry instead of savers? What will the Government do to correct this failure and help us all to build trust in our pensions industry?
Self-employment Trends — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Justin Piers Richard Madders (Labour, Centre-left): It seems that not a week goes by without another story emerging of the outrageous treatment of the self-employed. This is exploitation. The Deane review of self-employment reported back to the Government over a year ago, and one recommendation it made was that there should be equal treatment for the self-employed, but all we have is yet another review from the Government. When will they actually take some action?
Self-employment Trends — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): The Government’s proposed increase to national insurance contributions for self-employed workers in this month’s Budget showed a scandalous detachment from the reality of the majority of self-employed workers’ lives, a failure to understand the boom in self-employment and a lack of the will to address the issues self-employed workers face, including the fact that one in three is concerned about becoming sick or being injured during their work. What discussions did the Secretary of State have with the Chancellor on this before the Budget, and is he concerned about the reliability of the minimum income floor calculation, given the Office for Budget Responsibility’s comment?
Personal Independence Payments — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): A constituent contacted me after she submitted a claim for personal independence payment and then had to wait 12 weeks for the home assessment appointment she needed. Capita finally telephoned, giving less than 48 hours’ notice of the visit, only to cancel 10 minutes before the appointed time. After three and a half months, she is still no nearer receiving the support she needs. I know from my discussions with the Meadows Advice Group that she is just one of dozens of disabled people being let down by the Minister’s Department. When will the Minister address this catalogue of failure?
Personal Independence Payments — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Marie Elizabeth Rimmer (Labour, Centre-left): Last Thursday, at business questions, the Leader of the House stated that there would be a debate on the Government’s emergency PIP regulations, which will affect the eligibility for PIP of more than 160,000 people, mainly those with mental health conditions. However, he failed to give a date, and the praying against period comes to an end on 3 April. If there is no debate and vote before the House rises for Easter, even if the House votes against the regulations next month they will not automatically be revoked. That represents a huge democratic deficit. Will the Minister now commit to scheduling a debate and vote this week?
Young People in Work — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Jenny Chapman (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister can highlight what he likes, but long-term youth unemployment in Darlington and the Tees valley is completely stagnant: the situation has not improved at all. What is he going to do to make sure that in six months’ time the picture has improved?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Lucy Maria Powell (Labour, Centre-left): I shall not mention hon. Members’ ridicule of the Minister’s answer, but I want to raise another point about universal credit: the interaction between passported benefits and universal credit, and the progress on this that the Government are making. My constituents tell me that as they get into work and move through universal credit, they lose free school meals, bus passes for their children and entitlement to a free uniform, so they are much worse off in work than they would be if they were not in work.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): Last week’s report by the Equality Trust illustrates just how extreme inequality is in the UK, with the average pay of chief executive officers of FTSE 100 companies standing at £5 million a year. From this April, families on low incomes who are claiming tax credits or universal credit will not receive support for the third and subsequent children in a family, except when the child is disabled. In that instance, however, the money will be withdrawn from one of the other children. Will the Government address this injustice and scrap the two-child limit?
Jobcentre Plus Closures — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Questions: What assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed closure of Jobcentre Plus offices on claimants’ travel times and costs.
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) on the campaign that she has run with the Public and Commercial Services Union and local residents to keep open the Eastern Avenue jobcentre, which serves both our constituencies. Will the Minister confirm that the only reason for closing Eastern Avenue is to save money, and that if it closes, extra capacity will be needed at Cavendish Court and Woodhouse jobcentres? In the light of that need for extra capacity, will he produce figures showing whether there will actually be any net saving as a result of the closure of Eastern Avenue?
Jobcentre Plus Closures — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Questions: What assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed closure of Jobcentre Plus offices on claimants’ travel times and costs.
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): It is clear from the Minister’s answer to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) that he does not know how much the closure of East Avenue jobcentre will save. We do not know how much rent is being spent there, and we do not know how much needs to be spent on Woodhouse or Cavendish Court to increase capacity for the additional claimants whom they will have to serve. Will the Minister commit himself to giving the House those figures before he makes his final decision and final statement to the House?
Jobcentre Plus Closures — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Questions: What assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed closure of Jobcentre Plus offices on claimants’ travel times and costs.
Heidi Alexander (Labour, Centre-left): Nearly a quarter of the jobcentres earmarked for closure are in London, and, as the Minister will know, both the disability and the black and minority ethnic unemployment rates are higher in the capital than elsewhere. Is the reason for the delay in the equality impact assessment the fact that it will show a disproportionate impact on the groups that typically need the most support to gain access to employment?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): In response to the Minister’s answer, I ask him whether he will respond to the comments of his Government’s former Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann, who said she regretted the Government’s failure to properly communicate state pension age equalisation, an approach she described as "a massive failure of public policy", and the comments of Steve Webb, another of their former Pensions Ministers, who said that the last Government made a bad decision on changing the state pension age? Will the Minister look at rectifying that?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): It is not good enough for the Minister to say, as he did earlier, that that is it for the WASPI women and that everything has been done that is going to be done. Has he given any consideration to the recommendation from the Work and Pensions Committee talking about allowing the WASPI women the chance to claim their pensions early at a reduced rate, which I believe is cost-neutral and fits with other areas where the Government have allowed pensioners to take their pensions earlier at a reduced rate?
State Pension Age: Women — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Labor
Questions: The Minister said in terms that the Government cannot afford to fund transitional arrangements or any of the proposals in the report referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson). May I suggest that he look again, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at spending over £30 billion on tax relief for pension contributions, for which there is no evidence that it encourages pension savings?
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): Labour will oppose the earlier increase in the state pension age and the end of the triple lock, recommended in last week’s Cridland report, but we welcome the statement from John Cridland that at least 10 years’ notice should be given of any age increase, so there is yet another chance for the Minister. Do the Government agree with Cridland? If they do, will the Minister now admit that they got it badly wrong with the WASPI women and at least back Labour’s proposals to extend pension tax credit?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: I warmly welcome the latest fall in unemployment, particularly the 52% reduction since 2010 in my constituency. Will the Minister please endorse the work of Motiv-8 South West, which supports young people into employment and training, and continue to do all that he can to help those who are still struggling to find employment?
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): We heard earlier about the cuts to PIP support for people with mental health conditions that were brought in 10 days ago. The Government estimate that they will affect 160,000 people. This time next week, half a million sick or disabled people who have been found not fit for work and have been placed in the employment and support allowance work-related activity group will start to see a cut in support of £1,500 a year. Given that disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty as non-disabled people and the recent analysis showing that that has increased significantly, how does the Secretary of State justify the cumulative cuts to disabled people?
Magnox: Early Contract Terminations — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Government Operations
Rebecca Long-Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): The NDA has withdrawn its appeal against the judgment that was handed down in late July last year, so will the Secretary of State explain why this decision has been taken now, why the matter was brought to appeal in the first instance, and whether both actions were sanctioned by him or his predecessor The judgment confirmed that the NDA had not acted properly in the tender process, and that it was "acutely aware that an unsuccessful bidder might challenge the outcome of the competition." The court stated that the NDA had fudged the evaluation to achieve a particular outcome. More worryingly, the judge also confirmed that the NDA attempted to get rid of information that might have been detrimental to its case, and there was reference to the shredding of notes. Given the serious nature of the judgment, will the Secretary of State assure the House that there will be full public disclosure of the investigations, and a public hearing? Does he agree that this case has called into question the future operation of the NDA? Will he explain what structural changes are necessary, and when? Can he offer any assurances to Magnox workers Finally, the Secretary of State’s written statement confirms: "It has become clear to the NDA…that there is a significant mismatch between the work that was specified in the contract as tendered in 2012" Will he tell the House when he or his predecessor was first aware of that mismatch and whether it would have been apparent from the work that had already been carried out by previous contractors?
Magnox: Early Contract Terminations — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Energy
Iain David Wright (Labour, Centre-left): May I thank the Secretary of State for his courtesy call on this matter this morning and for his subsequent letter? The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee will challenge hard, but work constructively with him and with Steve Holliday on this important issue. Will he clarify whether the inquiry will be confined to the procurement process, which led to this specific contract? Will it consider other contracts such as the one to decommission Dounreay, which was awarded to essentially the same consortium that won the Magnox contract? I think that he has already confirmed this, but will he say whether the inquiry will be broad enough to consider whether the governance and management arrangements of the NDA have always been, and will continue to be, fit for purpose?
Magnox: Early Contract Terminations — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Energy
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): Given the cost problems with the NDA’s Magnox decommissioning contract, how can the Secretary of State have any confidence whatever in the cost figures for Hinkley Point C, which will itself need decommissioning, especially given the farce of the massive cost overruns and huge time delays in building the EDF sister reactors in Finland and Normandy, neither of which has yet opened and each of which is years late?
Bus Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Transportation
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): New clause 1 stands in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Members for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald), for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) and for North West Durham (Pat Glass). It would require that the Secretary of State for Transport publish a national strategy for local bus services within 12 months of the day on which the Act is passed, setting out the objectives, targets and funding provisions for buses over the next 10 years. It would also require that the national funding strategy include a consideration of a reduced fare concessionary scheme for young people aged 16 to 19 New clauses 2 and 3, in the name of the hon. Member for Southport (John Pugh), also relate to bus funding generally, and to young people’s concessionary fares specifically. New clause 2 would require the Secretary of State to lay a report before Parliament setting out possible steps to support local transport authorities in providing concessionary bus travel to apprentices aged 16 to 18, and new clause 3 would require local transport authorities to assess how creating an authority-wide travel concession scheme for 16 to 18-year-olds in full-time education would affect the way in which students use bus services It is clear that a long-term national discussion from central Government on the funding of the bus industry is long overdue. Since the bus market in England outside London was disastrously deregulated in the 1980s by a Conservative Government, public support for bus services has been provided in a far from transparent way. The effects of deregulation have been stark.
Bus Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Transportation
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): I very much agree with my hon. Friend, and I will return to other examples of the failure of deregulation in a moment. It is not just about the number of services. Fares have risen faster than inflation, and patronage overall has fallen by more than a third. Bus market monopolies have become the norm in far too many places Back in October, we noted the 30th anniversary of bus deregulation, but it was far from a cause for celebration. It meant 30 years of bus users being ripped off by a handful of big bus operators, which have carved the market into chunks and which go largely unchallenged in their own territories.
Bus Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2017-03-27
Topic: Transportation
Andrew Murray Burnham (Labour, Centre-left): Young people in Greater Manchester have told me that it is sometimes cheaper for four of them to get a Uber than to travel on buses in Greater Manchester. How on earth can that possibly make sense, and how on earth can that lead to anything other than complete gridlock on our roads?