argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Vaccine Access — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Sarah Deborah Champion (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister is right that vaccines alone are not enough, and she is aware that the International Development Committee has just done an inquiry on the secondary impacts, which show that developing countries are suffering economically through their healthcare and through gender inequality. What efforts and preparations are being made by FCDO to prevent there being a development mountain to climb after the pandemic subsides?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Rebecca Long-Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): Salford is home to one of the UK’s oldest Yemeni communities, as well as charities providing humanitarian relief to the region, and they fear that the US designation will have a devastating impact, as humanitarian access and the ability of food supplies and other goods to reach Yemeni civilians will be severely obstructed. I welcome the comments that the Minister has just made, but will he go one step further? Will he contact President-elect Biden and ask him to revoke the designation when he starts in office?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): As we have heard, from today President Trump and Mike Pompeo have designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation. That will make peace in Yemen more difficult to achieve and could now lead to the starvation of more than 1 million people, yet our Government have said and done little, and even abstained at the United Nations Security Council. Why have the Government failed to condemn this obviously dangerous step? Will they now join us in calling on Joe Biden to reverse this decision as quickly as possible?
Kashmir: Human Rights — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Sarah Mei Li Owen (Labour, Centre-left): Three young Kashmiris working as labourers were abducted and brutally murdered by an army counter-insurgency officer. Illegal weapons were strapped to their bodies and they were wrongly branded hardcore terrorists. I know the Minister shares my concern that horrific abuses in Kashmir are not new or uncommon, but as our country continues to chart a new course internationally, can he tell us what the Government are actually doing to protect human rights in Kashmir and why the Secretary of State, sat next to him, lacks the courage to speak out against injustices around the world?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Rebecca Long-Bailey (Labour, Centre-left): I certainly welcome the comments of the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa earlier regarding the situation in Yemen. However, will the Government now back up their words with action, and suspend all arms sales and military support to the Saudi-led coalition for use in Yemen, especially in the context of President-elect Biden’s commitment to end the war in Yemen?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Lisa Eva Nandy (Labour, Centre-left): The Foreign Secretary had strong words about the arrest of Alexei Navalny, but he knows that those words will not be taken seriously by Moscow until the UK takes action to disrupt the networks of dirty money on which this regime depends. How many of the Russia report recommendations have now been implemented?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Eleanor Claire Reeves (Labour, Centre-left): The official end of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s five-year detention is less than 50 days away, but despite this, she continues to live under the threat of a further prison sentence. In 2017, when the current Prime Minister was Foreign Secretary, he promised to "leave no stone unturned" to bring Nazanin home. Can the current Foreign Secretary also make this commitment, and will he, unlike his predecessor, actually make good on this promise?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): The Foreign Secretary will know that tripartite talks are taking place today between Bangladesh, China and Myanmar regarding Rohingya repatriation. The process has been slow, as the Rohingya refugees, after fleeing horrific genocidal violence, remain understandably distrustful of the Myanmar Government. Can he say what representations he has made to his counterparts involved in today’s talks, and what involvement the UK currently has in the Rohingya crisis?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Agriculture
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): More than 100 Members of this House signed a cross-party letter to the Prime Minister about our anxieties for the peacefully protesting farmers in India, and we eagerly await his response. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is extremely concerning to hear alarming reports of harassment and intimidation by the authorities there, which have started issuing notices to peaceful protesters, union leaders and human rights activists?
UK Musicians: EU Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: International Affairs
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister and Conservative MPs keep claiming that they made this fantastic offer, but we cannot test that because they have not published it. The EU has. It is there in black and white on page 171 of the draft agreement from March last year, allowing 90-day visa-free touring by British musicians and other cultural activities. Will the Minister publish the Government’s proposal, so we can see where the truth lies?
UK Musicians: EU Visa Arrangements — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): I have been listening to the Minister’s replies, and it is always somebody else’s fault with this Government, isn’t it? Our world-class events and production companies, such as Adlib in my constituency, tour the EU with UK and US-based musicians, but very few EU-based companies tour the UK. Does not the Minister realise that her giving up on agreeing comprehensive arrangements to enable this to continue could destroy a sector that has huge export success and destroy the jobs and livelihoods of the technicians, who are already struggling because of the pandemic restrictions to their trade?
Trade Bill — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he has said, but as he and I know, the International Trade Committee was promised access to the Japan deal and to the assorted documents attached to it by a certain date, and that did not happen. First, the Committee did not get the time that it should have been given. Secondly, notwithstanding some fairly wild claims made by the Minister about the ability of Parliament to vote on these matters, the reality is different. An international deal can be signed on behalf of Her Majesty by this Government and the only way in which this Parliament can vote against it is under CRaG, which means that Labour needs to use an Opposition Day to have a vote. What happens—and this has happened—when we do not get Opposition Days during the period in which we are allowed to debate a trade deal and have a vote on it? It cannot be claimed that the roll-over deals that we have had so far have been followed by time given to Parliament to debate them The hon. Gentleman is in a privileged position as a member of the International Trade Committee, because he has a greater opportunity to scrutinise any deal, but the rest of Parliament does not. We are making deals with countries that come from the same stable—because of historic reasons, have developed their democracies on the back of learning about democracy from our country—and yet they now have a greater chance than we do to scrutinise those trade deals. What holds up a trade deal is not British Parliament having the time to scrutinise it, but the other Parliament in the country with which we are signing the trade deal.
Trade Bill — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Foreign Trade
Michael Whitley (Labour, Centre-left): I understand that we are pressed for time as many Members wish to speak on this important matter, so I will endeavour to be brief. In the coming months and years, the Government will seek a range of free trade agreements which will profoundly change our country and the lives of our constituents. That is obviously a matter of great interest to my constituents, and I have been inundated in recent weeks with messages urging me to speak in this debate. The view of the people of Birkenhead is clear: they do not want these trade deals to be agreed behind closed doors and signed in secret. They understand that the only way to safeguard our health service, maintain our world-leading food standards and protect our environment is to ensure robust parliamentary scrutiny of trade deals by elected representatives. This is one of the opportunities that this House has to discuss the 10 continuity agreements that the Government have signed since the new year The experience of the past few weeks has shown that we simply cannot depend on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 to guarantee parliamentary scrutiny of trade deals. I am therefore glad that this Bill has returned from the other place amended by Lords Purvis and Stevenson. Their amendments are badly needed and would go a long way to addressing the democratic deficit at the heart of the UK’s trade policy, so I hope that when this debate concludes, Members from across the House will join me in voting for the amendment to guarantee Parliament’s right to debate and approve trade deals.
High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Transportation
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): To follow on from the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan), I find it slightly bizarre that at a time when rail travel has been upended and changed dramatically, there was no mention of that in the Minister’s comments. Keynes said, "When the facts change, I change my mind." The pandemic has certainly changed the facts even more than those who questioned the original rationale of this project could have anticipated. It has especially highlighted the contrast between the grand projet—the great project—and the incremental improvement of capacity. That is what the Eddington report, produced back in the early 2000s, highlighted. It should have been listened to much more That is to some extent on the supply side. The impact on the demand side has been dramatic. The question is whether that is a blip or an oscillation, or a structural seismic shift. Has it, in fact, changed travel patterns for good, both for conurbation commuting and for inter-city travel? One factor will be possible annual recurrences of the pandemic, as with flu. It may not be as dramatic in a future wave, but it will certainly have an impact We have also seen work patterns change. We see that here, with many people working from home. They may not continue to do that all the time, but they may well be working split weeks. That will have an impact on demand. Far more meetings are now conducted by Zoom. That process has accelerated dramatically in a way that nobody, not even the founders of such companies, anticipated. If those meetings patterns change, what will that do to daytime inter-city travel? Will there actually be the demand? Will having the west coast main line and HS2 not actually mean that both become unviable I have to ask the Minister, in the light of those developments, whether the Transport Department has actually reassessed the fundamentals of the project—what work has it done on it? While considering the Lords amendments, and given the astronomical sums involved, should there not be a pause and a reassessment, which could require a complete rethink of the project? We may have sunk a few billions—the sunk costs argument is always attractive and seductive but fundamentally wrong—but do we really want to continue to spend tens of billions more?
High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Transportation
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that helpful reply. Are the Government undertaking an assessment of whether patterns of travel have structurally changed or whether this is just a temporary blip? If patterns of travel have changed, the whole basis of this scheme may have done as well.
High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-01-19
Topic: Transportation
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): Is one of the main drivers not peak-time capacity and daytime capacity? Inter-city travel is very much driven by business travel. We have seen how remote conferencing—Zoom we call it, but there are all the other companies as well—has changed the ways in which people are undertaking those meetings. Might that not really drive down use, so that we do not need that peak-time capacity? In the evenings, there is no problem at all, and that may be when people travel for leisure. Has there not possibly been a significant change?
Covid-19: Learning Catch-up — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): Even before the pandemic, child poverty stood at more than 4 million, up more than 700,000 since Labour left office, and progress on narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other students had stalled. What targets has the Secretary of State set to address those shocking failures?
Covid-19: Learning Catch-up — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): But just days from the Budget, there is still no commitment to keep the £20 uplift in universal credit, no sign that the Secretary of State will abandon the public sector pay freeze, and he has allocated just 43p per pupil per day to support catch up. Does he really believe that that is good enough, or will he stand up for children and families and tell the Chancellor that they must come first in the Budget?
Sixth-Form Student Funding — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her answer, but in reality the funding that she mentions does not scratch the surface after a decade of real-terms cuts. The cost of educating sixth-formers has risen and student numbers have ballooned, due to covid and demographics. As such, the rate increase will likely be entirely eaten up by inflation alone in the coming year. Will she finally commit to increasing the rate to at least £4,760—the level recommended by the Raise the Rate campaign, and supported by experts across the sector, including the Education Committee and Ofsted’s chief inspector?
Covid-19: Financial Support for Students — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Catherine Jane Smith (Labour, Centre-left): There is a huge issue with students being legally unable to return to accommodation that they are legally obliged to pay for. The Prime Minister has said that he will look into this. Indeed, when I questioned him about the matter on 22 February, he said: "We will do whatever we can to support them," and we will, "help them to get compensation."—[Official Report, 22 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 656.] Can the Minister put some flesh on the bones about what the Prime Minister meant when he talked about compensation for students who are legally unable to return to accommodation that they have to pay for?
Covid-19: Financial Support for Students — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): Many students have lost the part-time work they rely on and their financial concerns are helping to fuel their mental health crisis. The Scottish Government have given students studying in Scotland the equivalent of £78 per student; the Welsh Labour Government have given students studying in Wales the equivalent of £302 per student. The UK Government have given students studying in England the equivalent of £45 per student. Why do this Government put such a low value on the welfare of students in England?
School Breakfast Provision — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her response, but unfortunately the Government’s current school breakfast programme only provides for 7% of schools that meet the Government’s deprivation criteria, and it ends in July. Pre-pandemic, up to 2 million children were starting their school day without a breakfast. My School Breakfast Bill would extend and scale up provision via funds from the soft drinks levy. Please can she ask the Chancellor to implement my Bill and get breakfast into the Budget?
Covid-19: Pupils Receiving Free School Meals — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): May I wish you and the House a happy Saint David’s day, Mr Speaker? The Secretary of State has said that no child’s prospects should be blighted by the pandemic and that he would not be timid in his responses, but earlier he sounded vague when he was asked for specifics. The schools Minister has had the job for a decade, so he should not need to outsource his answer to consultants. What specific interventions are being planned by Ministers to target those poor pupils for whom the pandemic has been an extinction level event for their education?
Covid-19: Education Outcomes — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): Those listening to the Secretary of State’s answers in this session so far will fear previous failures being repeated. He talks about a targeted approach, but in the next breath says it is up to teachers to decide where those budgets are targeted Once again, we have got the Secretary of State showing a complete lack of leadership, which leads to funds being unspent and his initiatives failing. We have seen it on exams, we have seen it on testing, we have seen it on school returns, we have seen it on university student wellbeing, and we have seen it on BTECs. We need a Secretary of State capable of providing the clarity, the leadership and the ambition required to support a generation of schoolchildren. If he cannot, will he please step aside and let us get a Secretary of State who can?
Covid-19: Safety of Early Years and Specialist Settings — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Centre-left): Social distancing is impossible in early years settings and special schools, where staff often provide close contact care, and it has been a nightmare for them to operate at high capacity in lockdown, with many staff off sick or self-isolating. Vaccinating school staff over half-term and prioritising key workers such as early years staff, once the most vulnerable have been jabbed, would have relieved this pressure, protected staff and helped to keep children learning, so why did the Government miss this open goal?
National Education Union Recovery Plan — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Ian Lavery (Labour, Centre-left): There has been a worrying pattern during this pandemic where, time and again, the Government have ignored the science, closing schools too late and opening them too early. Many scientists are warning that the Government’s measures for schools are not strong enough on their own to protect pupils and staff against the risks of airborne transmission. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies recommended a phased return to schools, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have listened. With this Government forging ahead regardless, so much more must be done to tackle the critical issues of PPE, adequate ventilation in classrooms, special educational needs and disability, and vaccination. We need to protect our key workers. Has the Minister got a grip on that?
Brain Injury: Specialist Education Support — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): What estimate he has made of the number of pupils under the age of 18 who are in receipt of specialist education support as a result of experiencing a brain injury in the last 12 months.
Brain Injury: Specialist Education Support — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): Happy St David’s day, Mr Speaker I really find that a disappointing answer. There will be children going back to school after several weeks who will have had brain injuries of various kinds. If the Department does not even keep statistics on them, it is probably likely that lots of headteachers will not even know whether their children have had acquired brain injuries. Sometimes, the results of a brain injury can look remarkably like being naughty or unco-operative in school, and kids end up being excluded despite the fact that they have a medical condition. The special educational needs code still does not even mention brain injury. How are we ever going to take this seriously if we do not even gather the information and make sure that those children who really need support get it? It is often referred to as a hidden disability; well, it is completely hidden from the Minister herself.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Wesley Paul William Streeting (Labour, Centre-left): Last week, the Secretary of State confirmed that 120,000 pupils have been reached by the national tutoring programme, but it has reached fewer than 10% of all children on free school meals. Given that we know that the need for additional tutoring support will extend to all pupils on free school meals, and many more besides, how do the Government have the brass neck to claim that they are doing all they can to tackle disadvantage and are being ambitious for children—our country’s future—when their flagship scheme is reaching only a fraction of those pupils who need additional support?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Headteachers in Warwick and Leamington tell me that their pupil premium funding is being slashed. Given the huge increases in poverty resulting from the pandemic, why has the Minister decided to base pupil premium calculations on the number of children receiving free school meals in October 2020, rather than in January 2021, as would be standard practice?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): There have been repeated calls from the Labour party, teaching unions and others to vaccinate teachers before schools reopen fully, but they seem to have fallen on deaf ears. If teachers fall ill or there are class closures due to covid transmission, will Ministers take personal responsibility and do the honourable thing, having precipitated further chaos and disruption to our children’s education?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Labor
Yvonne Helen Fovargue (Labour, Centre-left): The unionlearn fund has provided access to skills for over 200,000 workers, many of whom previously had few or no qualifications. Will the Secretary of State reconsider the decision to scrap that highly successful programme and fund it through the national skills programme.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Education
Siobhain Ann McDonagh (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the reopening of schools and the long awaited introduction of school testing, but, with parental consent required, some schools cannot test up to half of their pupils, putting their peers and families at avoidable risk. Given the importance of school testing, should it not be opt out rather than opt in, ensuring that a far greater number of pupils are tested while retaining parents right to choose?