argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Schools White Paper — House of Commons, 2016-04-13
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): I want to hear both sides. If we cannot hear it, what about the people who are listening out there? Let us try to keep it in order, because this is a very important debate that affects all our constituents, whichever side of the argument we are on.
Schools White Paper — House of Commons, 2016-04-13
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. In fairness to the Secretary of State, she has given way a lot. If she wants to give way, that is fine, but do not keep clamouring and shouting because I want to get you all in and I will not achieve that.
Schools White Paper — House of Commons, 2016-04-13
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. Mr Berry, we are not being helpful to each other. You are withdrawing the comment about misrepresentation. I think you have got your question across. I am going to hear the Secretary of State. You have withdrawn the remark. That is great. Thank you.
Trident — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Leader of the House on the timetable for a vote in the House on replacement of the Trident missile submarines.
John Woodcock (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Secretary of State understand that, unlike some on the Opposition Benches, we will not allow any individual questions over cost—valid though they might be in and of themselves—to be used as an excuse to wriggle out of our commitment to the British people? Those who remain true to the spirit of Attlee will do the right thing for Britain.
Junior Doctors Contracts — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Other
Dennis Edward Skinner (Labour, Centre-left): If the Secretary of State wanted to do a deal with anybody, does he not think it is a bit unwise to say to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) that she planted a story in a newspaper? That is accusing her of reprehensible conduct. I think he ought to be looking at withdrawing that. I am an expert on this subject. Somebody said to me on the picket line, "Do you know what sums up this Government, Dennis? ‘When first they practise to deceive’"—I had better not finish it. [Interruption.] "Oh what a magic web they weave, when first they practise to deceive." That is what they are.
Junior Doctors Contracts — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): At the beginning, the Secretary of State said he was publishing a model contract, which he believed trusts, including foundation trusts, would by convention implement, but he has subsequently said that there is a legal duty that he can impose. He needs to clarify that, and it would be helpful if he could publish the legal advice. That would not be a surprise in the judicial review cases, because his lawyers are presumably doing their skeleton arguments. We have a right to know the answers to these questions.
Procedure committee — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Other
George Edward Howarth (Labour, Centre-left): I would not go as far as to say that I adore the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker), but I certainly hold him in high regard. Any criticisms were not directed at either him or his Committee. Does he agree that this issue now needs to be resolved, and speedily? We need some means of testing the will of the House. The options set out in the report, and options proposed by me and other right hon. and hon. Members, could be put before the House so that people can vote on how they want to proceed.
Procedure committee — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Other
Julie Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for this incredibly impressive piece of work, and I support many of the recommendations in it. I welcome the fact that it looks as though it will at last bring to an end the sport that takes place on private Member’s Bill Fridays, when on many occasions there is no serious attempt to have a proper debate on issues that concern or distress the wider public. It brings the whole of Parliament into disrepute when serious issues are the subject of sport in this House.
Procedure committee — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Justin Piers Richard Madders (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate the Procedure Committee on its report and wish it more success than previous attempts at achieving reform. We have a tired, discredited system that really does us no credit at all. Much of this short debate has focused on the benefits of Fridays, and I note that the report does not talk about the sitting hours of the House. May I urge the Committee to look at that question as a matter of urgency, because I believe that some of the answers might lie in having different sitting times for private Members’ Bills?
National Living Wage — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): Would my right hon. Friend think it a good idea for the UK Government to make a register of the companies that have undertaken such action, and bring them to a round-table meeting to explain that the purpose of the living wage was to improve, not reduce, people’s expenditure power?
National Living Wage — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Dolan Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman mentioned the Government’s new measures on business rates. I do not know whether he is aware of this, but some local authorities may lose out because of that. In other words, it may cost them more.
National Living Wage — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Joanna Meriel Stevens (Labour, Centre-left): Specifically on the point about small businesses, we know that if the lowest-paid workers, who often work for small businesses, have a pay increase, they tend to spend it locally, so the local economy grows. In addition, the Government have given tax cuts to businesses, so small businesses are not being deprived of any benefit.
Educational Attainment: Yorkshire and the Humber — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
Caroline Louise Flint (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and congratulate her on securing this debate. Does she not agree that one of the problems we face, particularly in our post-industrial towns, is that we do not have the global companies on our doorsteps from which our children can get work experience and other opportunities? It does not matter what type of housing people live in or what the challenges are, those opportunities are on offer to the children of London, but not to our communities in Doncaster and elsewhere in Yorkshire.
Educational Attainment: Yorkshire and the Humber — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Other
Daniel Owen Jarvis (Labour, Centre-left): I absolutely agree. In every respect, it is a great thing to be born in the great county of Yorkshire. That is something around which we can unite—[Interruption.] It is something around which many of us can unite, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have to admit to the House that I did not enjoy that privilege, but my hon. Friend makes an important point. For so many Labour Members—other Members can speak for themselves—the basic, fundamental principle that brought us into politics was that where someone grows up should not determine where they end up. That is the essence of this important debate.
Educational Attainment: Yorkshire and the Humber — House of Commons, 2016-04-18
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Order. I suggested that Members should speak for up to eight minutes. The hon. Gentleman has now been speaking for 10, so I am sure that he must be coming to the end of his speech.
Welsh Economy — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Severn bridge is key to the economy of south Wales, that the debt will be paid back before the April 2018 prediction and that it offers a golden opportunity to reduce tolls for businesses and hard-pressed motorists in Wales?
Nia Rhiannon Griffith (Labour, Centre-left): Last year, the Secretary of State said his ambition was to secure more balanced growth in the Welsh economy, but on his watch we are seeing the loss of hundreds of jobs in our strategically important steel industry. The Government are being painfully slow to heed our warnings on cutting energy costs, and weak and disingenuous when it comes to standing up to Chinese dumping. With EU backing given in December, how much longer will the Government delay the energy compensation package the steel industry in Wales so desperately needs?
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): I cannot believe for a minute that the hon. Lady is old enough to be one of the women concerned. It tests the credibility of the House that that could be so. I am nevertheless grateful for her intervention.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
John Derek Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is making a very good speech. Increasing numbers of women in my constituency have been coming to my surgery and writing to me about this, many of whom I have known for many years because I was born and bred in the constituency. I am absolutely convinced of their sincerity and that they knew nothing about this because of the lack of notification. We saw earlier at Prime Minister’s Question Time the Prime Minister’s complete lack of understanding, or even care, for these women.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is of course entirely right. He will know, because he was part of the previous Labour Government, that we tried to improve this set of circumstances. We conducted the survey that showed that there was a worryingly low level of understanding. Between 2004 and 2009, the then Labour Government instituted several million-pound advertising campaigns and sent out 800,000 personalised letters to the affected women, such as the one I have here, which, in stark contrast to the Tory letter I cited, says on the first page that the addressee will be affected by the change in age from 60 to 65 The reality is testified to by many of my hon. Friends and by the brilliant women of the WASPI—Women Against State Pension Inequality—campaign, whose tenacity and truth-telling we should pay tribute to right across this House, because they speak for hundreds of thousands of women who did not know that they were in the firing line.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Of course it has, because historical inequalities existed then and persist now. The gender pay gap affects women. Women often do not have the full stamp because of their caring duties, and that is why it is doubly unjust that they should now be asked to pay a price in their retirement.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Helen Mary Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that this generation of women are doubly disadvantaged, because many were at work before the Equal Pay Act 1970 came into force and had to take low-paid part-time jobs because of lack of childcare, and the Government are now heaping insult upon injury in disadvantaging them again in retirement?
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry if I am bruising the hon. Gentleman’s feelings with my remarks. I am pleased that he has supported the campaign, and I know that he has been brave enough to speak in favour of it on several occasions. I am positive that a man of his resolve will not be put off by a few words across the Dispatch Box and will vote for the motion, irrespective of what I say; at least, I trust that he will. I will come on to talk about precisely the sorts of transitional arrangements that the Government should put in place.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Jo Cox (Labour, Centre-left): One of the 4,100 women in my constituency affected by the changes recently told me that throughout her life a number of changes have impacted on her and the many thousands of women of her generation, such as unequal pay, the ability of employers to dismiss women because they were pregnant, and a lack of childcare. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is still time for the Government to correct that injustice and, in the interests of being non-partisan, to do the right thing and put in place transitional measures?
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): It is no surprise that the hon. Lady, who speaks with great erudition, has highlighted yet another injustice that women have suffered. I say again that the Government must recognise that and bring forward some suggestions. There are myriad ways in which they could mitigate the problem. There are lots of transitional arrangements that could be put in place, and I will list six of them.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): The case that my hon. Friend is making is absolutely right. The point is that Governments, on occasion, make mistakes. It is not too late for Ministers to stand at the Dispatch Box, put things right and end the misery of thousands of people—not only women, but their husbands, who are equally affected financially by the impact on the household. The Government could put that right.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend speaks with passion and knowledge about the 4,000-odd women in his constituency who are affected. There are thousands of women in a similar position in all our constituencies, and my hon. Friend’s point is clear: one of the transitional measures must be put in place.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way at this point because I want to make sure that we are not given the same excuses by the Minister, when he speaks in a moment, that he has previously given. We heard: "Equalisation was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law".—[Official Report, 2 December 2015; Vol. 603, c. 145WH.] Conservative Members have been writing that out, but it is not true. I have raised this in a number of debates. The interesting thing in relation to changing previous legislation is that Poland is now introducing legislation to reverse its previous reforms. Its Government clearly realised that they had got it wrong, just as this Government have got it wrong.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Immigration
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): Poland has realised that it had moved too fast. France has done the same, as has Germany. Countries across Europe, Governments across Europe—including right-wing Governments in parts of Europe—have acknowledged that they made a mistake and are backtracking. Only this Government refuse to acknowledge any mistake, and refuse to acknowledge that they have any culpability or responsibility This issue will not go away, and when the Minister stands at the Dispatch Box in a moment, he should offer a glint of sunlight and some hope for the WASPI women that the Government have heard their campaign and will do something about it. If the Government do not, I will urge all Back-Bench Members to do so on their behalf.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister is speaking as though we did nothing to bring this issue to the Government’s attention during the last Parliament. That is straightforwardly not true. I participated in debate after debate with my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), who brought it to the Government’s attention time and again. As we have had so many debates about it, can we not just get on with talking about what we are going to do about it?
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Owen Smith (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister says that the Labour Government did limited work. May I point out that, following a freedom of information request to the Government just a couple of weeks ago, it was conceded that Labour spent more than £5 million advertising the changes and sent out 800,000 letters? That was in stark contrast to the previous Tory Government, which, frankly, did damn all.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): Order. Before the Minister replies, 25 Members wish to catch my eye and we are hoping to have a Division at about 4:50 pm. We still have another Front-Bench opening speech, and we are getting tight on time. Interventions have been very long, but if the Minister could start concluding his remarks, we might be able to get everybody in.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman has been in and out of the Chamber. He was here at the beginning of the debate. May I use this opportunity to calm things a little bit, so we can move on? A very large number of Members want to speak. If Members make interventions, please keep them short. May I also remind Members that they are speaking through the Chair? When they say "you" they are addressing the Chair, not hon. Members.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Natascha Engel (Labour, Centre-left): Order. The hon. Gentleman is speaking through the Chair. When he says "you", he is speaking to me, but I am not directly participating in the debate. I would be grateful if he would address his comments in the third person.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Helen Mary Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry; I do not have time Ministers should come here and introduce transitional arrangements for these women. They have been the backbone of this country for years, many of them are saving us millions by caring for others, and they have been treated with gross unfairness and contempt by this Government.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Other
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): Given that a great many Members want to speak, it would be helpful if Members did not intervene, because if they want to make speeches later, we shall be in an impossible position. If Members could shave just a little bit off their speeches, I shall try to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): Usually, when somebody says to me, "So-and-so is being a bit waspy," it is a signal to tread with some care, so when I was told that a load of women who were concerned about this issue were coming to see me at my surgery on Friday, I trod with sufficient care. I was able to tell them that I spoke on Second Reading of the 2011 Act to point out that the women who left Foxhills comprehensive in my constituency in 1970 were the very women who would be affected, that it was not fair and that, frankly, there needed to be a better deal than two months’ transitional mudge I am aware that we are short of time, so I will just give a voice to those women. Marie Spikings said to me: "My personal story began when I was 15 years old, leaving school at Easter with no qualifications. From the start of my working life at 15 years I paid a full National Insurance stamp believing that I was entering into a contract." That is a common belief. She continued: "I understand the need for equality, however the 2011 Act has given me no time to prepare for working until I am 66! Not only have I lost thousands of pounds but also the benefits that come with the state pension e.g. heating allowance and bus pass etc." That is a key point about the other allowances, from which those women are now debarred. She told me: "I am a single parent through no fault of my own. Day to day life is a struggle as I have a dependent child, and a disabled dependent adult child. I am tired and the thought of having to work for another 5 years is daunting to say the least." Christine said to me: "I feel trapped." Her choices have been taken away from her Annette said to me: "I was born in May 1954 and my state pension date has been moved twice, the first time I was informed in writing that it was changing from my 60th birthday to my 64th year. Since then I had heard nothing until someone told me to check the website by entering my DOB. The date for my state pension then came up as January 2021 another 18 months on. I am sure you will agree this is completely unfair". That is an example of the poor communication that we have heard about. Another woman pointed out to me that her older sister, who was born in April 1952, has already received her state pension. The woman who wrote to me is 22 months younger than her sister and has to wait an extra five years and five months—not fair and not reasonable. I could go on to give many similar examples.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Christina Elizabeth Rees (Labour, Centre-left): There are 3,540 women affected by the changes in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that the 1995 changes were reasonably well communicated, but the 2011 changes were badly communicated? Some women who are affected by the 1995 changes were also affected by the 2011 changes, which compounded the issue.
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women — House of Commons, 2016-02-24
Topic: Civil Rights
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend has it spot on. Communication, as the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans) said, is one of the issues at the heart of the matter. What happened in 2011 compounded what had happened previously, and the situation is totally unfair The debate has been quite good since we got to the Back-Bench speeches, although my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith) did a good job of kicking things off. I welcome the comments of the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard), who drew attention to my hon. Friend’s six suggestions and said that they were a good starting point. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) said that there was a deal to be done, and I think he is right. The hon. Members for Salisbury (John Glen) and for Mid Bedfordshire (Nadine Dorries) encouraged Ministers to find a way to put right the injustices The women we are talking about are not asking for the world. They are not even asking for the things that some people have suggested that they are asking for. They are simply asking for a reasonable settlement and a reasonable deal, which is what they deserve.