argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Greg Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The stress and anxiety that has been faced by so many pupils, staff and parents due to covid restrictions cannot be denied, so I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement today. It is the right thing to do. Can he give me an assurance that his Department will also do everything possible to ensure that this message goes out loud and clear to anyone who might seek to stigmatise the class of 2021 as having had some sort of easy pass, rather than these measures’ being rightly about fairness in the face of exceptional circumstances?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. The children who are facing exams this year have done so much, in quite extraordinary circumstances. The grades they will receive will be a real testament to their hard work, their dedication and their commitment to education, either in the 11 years in the run-up to their GCSEs or in the 13 years in the run-up to their A-levels and other vocational qualifications. I hope that employers in the future will recognise the amazing work that has gone into every single grade and every single achievement of all our children.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
David Timothy Simmonds (Conservative, Centre-right): It is always easy to criticise, but does my right hon. Friend agree that while, sadly, it appears that the dog ate Labour’s homework on this one, his statement provides headteachers in my constituency and others with certainty? Does he also share my admiration for the work being done by local authority virtual schools so that children who are in the care system are able to access the wide range of support provided by the Government to ensure that they continue to close the gap with their peers who are not in care?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend highlights a really important area. The virtual school heads programme for local authorities and schools, has been a real success. We have seen a real impact for those children—some of the most vulnerable children in society, with some of the best attendance for them—by getting that tailored support. It is a scheme that I would deeply love to see rolled out more extensively, because the evidence points to the real impact and difference it makes to young people’s lives.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend congratulate St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Christchurch on being given an accolade by The Sunday Times for being one of the best primary schools in the country? Will he tell us what criteria will be available to enable the public to judge primary schools next year, if there are no tests at key stage 1 and very few at key stage 2, bearing in mind that the key stage 1 tests are the test against which future progress is gauged?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much join my hon. Friend in congratulating St Joseph’s school in Christchurch on such an accolade. I am sure that he, the teachers, parents and, most importantly, pupils feel incredibly proud at receiving it We recognise that we have had to make some changes that we would not normally want to do, in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of schools. We will continue to publish data on schools, including attendance, so that parents are in the best possible position to make the best choice for their children in school.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We believe that this is a comprehensive package. We will ask the expert group to look at some of the challenges that students will face in order to be able to progress to their next stages. We will look very closely at the evidence that is provided on lost learning.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the decision to retain exams, not as the best but as the least worse form of assessment. Having held a virtual roundtable with heads recently, I know that they will welcome this long-awaited clarity and the flexibility that will be given to schools that have been in areas of high covid infection, which has obviously impacted on classroom time May I ask the Secretary of State about A-levels and university applications? Unfortunately, other nations in the UK rushed ahead to scrap exams next year. Therefore, pupils from England applying to Scottish universities—as my son did—or to Welsh or Northern Irish ones, will be treated differently from pupils in those other nations, or from such pupils coming to English universities. How do we ensure that all will be treated equitably in this now divergent system?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We been working very closely with UCAS and Universities UK on this issue. Universities have been used to different systems. The Scottish system, for example, is different from the English system in terms of its grading, its curriculum and its qualification at the end. There has been divergence between Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England over the past few years. We are confident that, by giving clarity at this stage, including on the way that we will be grading and the generosity with which we will be grading, universities will best be able to adapt. We saw a record number of students going to university last year, and we will not be surprised to see a record number going to university next year as well.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): All the measures that we have undertaken have been aimed at supporting those children who have been most affected, but we have to understand that every child in this country has been affected by this pandemic, which is why we also need a national approach to support all children. We have created a system that supports those children who have suffered the most and makes sure that they are in the best position to focus their studies and their time on the areas that will deliver them the best results in terms of grading in August.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
David Anthony Evennett (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement of a package of measures to ensure fairness in next summer’s exams despite the many challenges. Can he assure me that, if the disruption caused by the pandemic continues into next year, the situation will be monitored and assessed and, if necessary, further measures will be introduced?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We are absolutely certain that we can deliver a full exam series. Quite simply that is because, over the past number of weeks, we have delivered a full exam series for GCSEs and A-levels in which tens of thousands of students have taken part and they have gone safely and have been successful, so we are absolutely confident about being able to deliver that exam series in the summer of next year. My right hon. Friend highlights the issue of lost learning and differential learning, which is why we have set up the expert group to be able to advise us should we need to take any other interventions to ensure that students are in the best possible position to be able to progress to college, to university, into an apprenticeship or into the world of work.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): At every stage, we want to support all those schools that have been impacted by the pandemic, whether they are in east Hull or east London, whether they are in the east of England, the south-west, the north-east or the north-west. We will continue to deliver that support not only to schools, but, most importantly, to children.
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Sara Alice Britcliffe (Conservative, Centre-right): I have been on many calls with my local schools—Mr Speaker, as you represent a Lancashire seat, your schools will face the same difficulties—where our infection rate has meant that local pupils have had to isolate more than once and their education has been severely disrupted. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that if the disruption caused by the pandemic continues into next year, it will be monitored and assessed and, if needs be, further measures could be introduced?
Exams and Accountability 2021 — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Education
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We put together the package of proposals to deal with and support schools in the hon. Lady’s constituency of Halifax and many other areas across the country. We recognise that exceptional measures have to be put in place to support them, and that is why we have taken the steps that we have.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Lord Chancellor for his statement and welcome what he has said. I and the other members of the Justice Committee certainly wish to join in the tributes that have been paid to the hard work of all those involved in the Courts Service and the broader justice system in dealing with the necessary recovery from the pandemic Can the Lord Chancellor help me on a couple of points, though? First, does he accept that it will be necessary to have a multi-year settlement once this year is out of the way to maintain the progress that we need to achieve to get our courts system back to the levels of reform and improvement that we have ambitiously set out? Secondly, will he update the evidence that he helpfully gave to the Justice Committee on Tuesday as to where we are in reducing the backlog in the Crown court? Although there has been progress, he will know that the backlog prior to the pandemic was already at record levels, and that was increasing up until the latest management figures we had that went back to October. Will he give us the projection—and, in due course, the modelling behind it—as to when we will see that backlog start to reduce? None of us wants to see contested trials being listed out to 2022, as I am sure he would agree.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend. First, with regard to a multi-year settlement, it would not be right for me to prejudge what the decision of the Chancellor might be on that. The important decision had to be made this year to have a one-year settlement for the obvious reasons of the covid outbreak and the fact that, rightly, there was not a fiscal event—namely, a Budget. I will leave that decision ultimately to the Chancellor. However, my hon. Friend can be reassured that the work being done within the Department is indeed looking beyond one year only and coming up with evidence-based arguments and proposals that lead on to longer-term investment. For example, he will see in the capital programme not only a welcome £105 million extra for court maintenance but the multi-year prison capital programme, which will make a huge difference in terms of modern conditions in our prisons With regard to the Crown courts, my hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the figures. The figures for Crown court statistics are populated both manually and by automation. Therefore, they take some time to fully settle down. However, I am particularly encouraged by the figures relating to effective trials: trials that end up being "cracked", as they say, with a guilty plea on the day; and trials brought into the court by the judge just before trial, or a week before trial, where guilty pleas have been tendered. The overall figures I am looking at now through November show a very encouraging increase in that overall number, getting us much closer to the pre-covid baseline. It is not there yet, but if those trends continue, we can get to that pre-covid baseline on trials, I think, in the new year. Of course, that allows us to start to make real progress on the rest of the case load.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. and learned Lady raised three distinct issues, which I will deal with in turn. First, with regard to obligations to victims of sexual offences, I reassure her that the way in which cases are prioritised in the courts in England and Wales very much bears in mind that important provision in terms of listing. I can give her the encouraging statistic for the most serious offences—sadly, many of them will be sexual offences—that just over 80% of those cases where someone has been remanded in custody have been listed for trial between now and spring 2021. Indeed, we keep a close eye on the progress or otherwise of other cases of a sexual nature. May I say to her that my officials and I have been watching the position in Scotland carefully and talking with colleagues in her jurisdiction about the approaches being taken? We are learning from each other in terms of development. The position on employment tribunals is that, as I said, the number of cases being heard now has reached pre-covid levels as a result of the increased use of technology. That was an issue to begin with in the employment tribunal, but we are dealing with it. Of course, we have more money allocated next year for that further recovery If I may, I will come back to the hon. and learned Lady in correspondence on her specific point about limitation periods. I think I have dealt with all the matters. If I have not, I will write to her.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Shaun Stephen Bailey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his statement. As we come out of the pandemic, the challenges, difficulties and errors made along the way need to be reviewed. Will he assure me and colleagues in Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service in the Black Country that, as he looks at that, he will take an all-encompassing, lessons learned approach that reaches out to all stakeholders, including the profession and HMCTS staff?
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He is right to say that, while covid has been a huge challenge for all of us, we have learned many things about the way in which the system works together, the way in which we use technology and the blend that we can achieve with regard to hearings being partially remote and partially in person. We will never go back to the position prior to the pandemic because, of course, we were already investing over £1 billion in our court reform programme, which was all about improving the technology on the court estate. He is right to make that important point.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman. As a former police and crime commissioner, he knows the effects of that appalling crime on victims. He will be glad to know that final roll-out of section 28 cross-examination has now been completed in our criminal courts, which means that victims will be able not only to give their evidence in chief on video without having to come to court, as they have been able to do for a number of years—of course, they can do that at an earlier stage—but to be cross-examined on video as well before the trial hearing, saving them additional pain and difficulty when it comes to the court process. There is a lot of reform going on to improve the experience, but he is absolutely right to continue to press me for more and more improvement. I will work on that basis.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that, in some instances, we have been able to do that. There are other instances where the buildings are no longer in the control or ownership of HMCTS, and some of them, having been looked at, were not in the right sort of condition to be used—hence the fact that we have been wide ranging in our approach to Nightingale courts, which we will be scaling up as part of phase 3. I am looking at over 60 courtrooms that can be developed across the country. The important point she makes is about technology. I can assure her that, during this crisis, cloud video technology has already been rolled out to every courtroom, and it is making a real difference to the lives of victims and witnesses. If there are local issues in Calderdale, I would be more than happy to talk to her about them in order to address any particular issues in her constituency.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): The effective operation of our magistrates courts is at the centre of our criminal justice system. What progress has my right hon. and learned Friend made in bringing down the number of outstanding cases, and what further action is he taking to bring it down even further?
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to talk about the central importance of the magistrates courts. They are the first port of call with regard to all criminal cases. I am glad to tell him that since August the overall number of cases being dealt with has exceeded the number of cases coming into the courts, and we are working on the basis that we can return to pre-covid levels in the spring to middle of next year. That is remarkable progress, and I very much hope and believe that it will be maintained.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is right to raise the vital role of court security staff, and indeed all staff who look after the interests of witnesses and victims of crime. She will be glad to know that in the spending review, a further £43 million was allocated for further covid safety measures in our courts and prisons. We have come a long way since the beginning of the pandemic, when there was, as a result of concerns, a ramping up of the cleaning programme throughout the court system. The reports that I am getting from many court users, including staff, are that systems are indeed much better and safer. The use of plexiglass and perspex to help with social distancing is a vital part of that programme, together with a redesign of buildings and the use of extra capacity to allow for social distancing. I have been keeping a very close eye on the PPE situation, and I am satisfied that there are absolutely the supplies to allow our staff to use them. If the hon. Lady wishes to raise specific issues with me, I would be more than happy to hear them.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Felicity Christiana Buchan (Conservative, Centre-right): Several of my constituents have written to me concerned about delays to probate, which is clearly a very difficult time for families. Will my right hon. and learned Friend update the House on delays to probate?
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to raise an issue that causes real concern and pain to many families. She will be glad to know that waiting times have improved for each of the last few quarters since the middle of 2019, which was a particularly difficult time for the probate system—and that is despite the impact of covid-19. The waiting time for digital cases is currently between two and five weeks on average, whereas the average time for paper applications is between four and six weeks. I reassure her that individual cases are looked at by my officials. We are always anxious to try to ease the burden that is placed on those who are bereaved at such a difficult time.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that, for clear constitutional reasons, it would not be right for me to direct the judiciary. I assure him, by repeating the answer that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), that the judiciary have indeed created a sensible series of practice guidance about how to deal with such cases. Individual delay issues could be raised from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals. I cannot go into the merits of any individual case, but I hear him loud and clear about the importance of dealing efficiently with antisocial behaviour cases.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Joy Inboden Morrissey (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for standing up for the victims of sexual violent crimes through additional funding for victim support, and an increase in funding for independent sexual violence advisers. Will he provide assurances that a proportion of this funding will be ring-fenced specifically to support children who are victims of sexual crimes, and will he meet me to discuss how we can further the issue of protecting child victims?
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend. She will know that the range of support we give involves the child victims of sexual crime, whether male or female. In the past year, we awarded £12 million to 91 rape support centres in England and Wales. As I have said, we have increased, by an additional £4 million until March 2022, funding for 120 new independent sexual violence advisers across our jurisdiction, which will go in some great measure to address the concerns she rightly raises.
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): I accept that delays are inevitable as a result of coronavirus. However, for cases related to Medomsley youth offenders institute, in my constituency, this means delays to justice of another year for so many people who have suffered for so long. Will the Lord Chancellor tell me what additional funding he is putting in place for the courts? Will he assure me that every effort will be made to expedite historical sex abuse cases such as those of the people who suffered at Medomsley as quickly as possible?
Courts and Tribunals: Recovery — House of Commons, 2020-12-03
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, who takes a great interest in Medomsley, in his constituency, and all those who work in it. He is right to press the Government for more action. I can reassure him that in the year ahead we will be spending £337 million on the criminal justice system, to address not only the covid pressure, but the other issues relating to criminal justice which will be welcome to hon. Members—the increase in police officers will inevitably have an effect on our criminal justice system. I look forward to engaging with him further on those important local issues in North West Durham.