argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question and take the opportunity to congratulate him on his re-election to the chairmanship of the Home Affairs Committee. I dare say that he and I will be looking at each other across a room in the House of Commons on a number of occasions over the coming months The right hon. Gentleman is right that we need to identify the need to do something about the journeys from parts of Africa through the Mediterranean. The route from Libya to Italy is crucial, but he is right that people are being transported and moved through the Turkey-Greece border into Europe. We will work with Governments in Africa and elsewhere to ensure that we have an understanding of those movements and that we are able to deal with the criminal gangs. That is why I am pleased that the National Crime Agency has already focused on that and is increasing that focus.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Phillips (Conservative, Centre-right): The path to Calais may begin in Khartoum or Conakry or other places in Africa, but it passes through a number of Schengen countries on the way. Those countries have no borders internally. What discussions is the Home Secretary having with her European counterparts to ensure that they take responsibility for that concentration, which is what we have in Calais, of that humanitarian disaster?
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and I congratulate him on his recent election as Chair of the Select Committee on International Development Yes, we do. In fact, at the Justice and Home Affairs Council last week, I raised the need for Europe to look collectively at how its aid money is disbursed to ensure it is being used properly to alleviate poverty in the areas people are coming from.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Damian Howard Green (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right that preserving good relations with the French Government so that our border is effectively at Calais and Coquelles, as opposed to Dover and Folkestone, is the biggest single contribution to the integrity of our borders in this part of the country. She also said that Operation Stack worked well. May I gently point out that it may work well in administrative terms, but whenever it comes in, it causes huge disruption and misery to my constituents and thousands of other people in Kent? Will she, with the Secretary of State for Transport, take this opportunity to redouble efforts to make sure that alternatives to Operation Stack are brought in? Every time it comes in, it causes massive disruption to one of our biggest road routes to Europe.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Transportation
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for gently pointing that out to me. He makes his representations. Representations are also made to me on a regular basis by my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) on the impact these incidents have on the port and the surrounding transport network. I will raise the comments my right hon. Friend makes with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very happy to answer, briefly, that I am pleased we are not in the Schengen area. That is absolutely the right decision. We need to be able to maintain control of our borders and we will not be joining Schengen.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): We are working with a number of Governments across Europe. Indeed, as part of the Greek action plan agreed across Europe and put into effect by Frontex some time ago, we have been putting resources into that plan to help to support the Greek authorities to deal with the numbers they have coming across their border.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): Surely, two of the issues are these. First, we are seen as an El Dorado because we have high employment rates compared with the rest of continental Europe. We do not want to change that. The second issue is Schengen. What discussions has my right hon. Friend had with the French Government to strengthen border controls, which she has already mentioned, with Italy and other countries? Schengen partners are allowed to do that in such emergencies.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in response to a similar question, we are not part of Schengen and any discussions on how the Schengen rules operate are predominantly for those countries within the Schengen area. As my hon. Friend will have seen, the French have taken recent action. This is not the first time such action has been undertaken. I am aware that the Schengen countries have had discussions on the question of internal border controls, should emergency circumstances require them.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): Sadly, the situation we face is that the people smugglers and the human traffickers will try every way possible to ply their trade. That is why it is so important that our law enforcement agencies, working with law enforcement organisations in Europe and elsewhere, are identifying trafficking routes, traffickers and people smugglers and can take action against them.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Damian Noel Thomas Collins (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Home Secretary agree that the scale of the problem yesterday was exacerbated by the French strikers gaining forcible access to the channel tunnel, leading to the closure of services there as well as at the port, and that the French authorities need to do more to secure the channel tunnel at Coquelles? Has she been given any reassurance by the French Interior Minister on that point?
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has misunderstood, as the £12 million is specifically for improving border security at the juxtaposed controls. In respect of the issue she raises—children being exploited and trafficked—we are stepping up the efforts we are able to make as a Government. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 is a seminal piece of legislation, the first of its kind in Europe. It is very important, giving extra powers to law enforcement agencies and ensuring that victims are taken into account. We are taking a number of actions to provide extra support to victims of human trafficking when they are identified.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises an important point. Taking action on this matter has been discussed at the European level, but action against the boats setting forth from the Libyan coastline has to be done in discussion with the Libyan authorities. Those discussions are taking place. The United Kingdom is also playing a leading role within the UN in looking to see whether a resolution can be brought forward that would enable action to happen.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Peter William Bone (Conservative, Centre-right): The Home Secretary can be rightly proud of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the fact that there are now tougher penalties for traffickers, that it is easier for the police to take action and that a commissioner has been created. However, these are evil criminal gangs, equal in evil to the gangs that deal in drugs, yet we put in only a proportion of our resources for fighting traffickers and much more for fighting drugs. Can we look at that balance to see if we have it right?
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. He is well aware of these issues from when he was chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on human trafficking and of the terrible evil that, as he says, lies behind this crime. We do indeed look at the balance, and I have asked the National Crime Agency to provide a focus on human trafficking. We should not think that the gangs deal either in drugs or in people: sadly, these gangs will deal in anything that they think will make them money. Many of them are therefore dealing in people and drugs.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has been misinformed about exactly what happened. I think that he is trying to refer to Mare Nostrum, which was not a European-wide engagement but one done by the Italian Government. Indeed, in the year Mare Nostrum was in place, more people died in the Mediterranean than in the previous year. There is now a Frontex operation, to which the UK Government give support. The Prime Minister referred earlier to HMS Bulwark, and it will be replaced by HMS Enterprise. There are also two Border Force cutters taking part in the enterprise of saving lives in the Mediterranean. The UK is certainly playing its part.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his comments about Border Force and its work. The money made available covers physical security, in the form of extra fencing and looking at the layout of a port to make it more secure by providing larger areas for lorries, for example. We have also put in some extra sniffer dog capacity by increasing the numbers in the teams, as well as extra detection equipment, so that we can identify when clandestines are in lorries.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Sue-Ellen Cassiana Braverman (Conservative, Centre-right): Before I first came to this place, I represented the Home Office in several people-smuggling cases, and I echo the comments of other hon. Members in commending Border Force officers. Will my right hon. Friend say more about investigatory powers for police officers, the duties of investigation for haulage companies and sanctions for breach?
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Gareth Alan Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am glad that the Home Secretary mentioned the work of Kent police in her statement, because they have been working tirelessly on the whole issue. Whenever industrial action of this nature takes place in France, it has a knock-on impact in Kent and causes problems for both motorists and the police. I understand that the police were given extra resources to help them to tackle the issue, but will the Home Secretary keep their funding under review, so that they can continue their good work?
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. Given that the Kent force polices the Dover area in particular—but, obviously, other Kent ports as well—it often finds itself having to react to various initiatives, and in need of resources to enable it to do so. We do, of course, consider the basis on which police forces are funded, and take account of their requirements.
Border Management (Calais) — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: International Affairs
Antoinette Geraldine Sherratt (Sandbach) (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand that we are not part of the Schengen agreement, but actions taken by Schengen countries clearly have an impact on our borders. Will my right hon. Friend encourage the French to conduct more operations like the Italian border operations, to ensure that the problem is not concentrated on Calais as it has been to date?
A&E Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, and our hon. Friends in Northamptonshire, have worked hard together—as Northamptonshire MPs did previously on a cross-party basis—to find the best configuration of services for their county. It is a great shame that that model of cross-party working cannot be echoed or reflected across the House. In that vein, I would prefer it if the Opposition had come here to talk about plans for social care. They have two competing visions for social care. We sometimes hear thoughtful remarks from the shadow Minister for care and older people, but then there is the shadow Secretary of State’s repetition of the phrase about wanting a top-down reorganisation of the NHS around a social care model. None of that will deliver what we all want: an integrated NHS and social care model, which is what we are beginning the journey of creating. We are doing that by reflecting locally what local places need in terms of integration rather than creating a national model to which they have to adhere. Again, it is important to fix all this—
A&E Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): I will after I have finished this comment It is important to put all this in the financial context. I have been through the Lobby with the shadow Minister and with many Labour Members who were in the previous Parliament. We went through the Lobby just before the election when we agreed to cuts in public expenditure in the first two years of this Parliament and the former shadow Chancellor committed the Labour party to cuts in local government spending. Difficult choices are forced on us by the catastrophe and chaos that we were left in 2010. Labour Members need to confront those difficult choices. They cannot have it both ways. They cannot, on the one hand, say that we need massive increases in payments for social care and, on the other, say that they are going to constrain public spending. The answer to that dilemma is surely to try to find a better way of integrating social care that I hope would see cross-party consensus rather than the politicking we have just seen at the Dispatch Box.
A&E Services — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the focus on integration, particularly in relation to social care. Enfield suffers from historical underfunding, with a lack of fairness in relation to the growing deprivation and age profile. We have made great progress, but we need to make more to ensure that there are winners, such as Enfield. That may lead to other parts of London, and inner London, being losers, but let us take these decisions now and make funding fairer, particularly in relation to social care.
Sport and the 2012 Olympics Legacy — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Transportation
Mark Steven Spencer (Conservative, Centre-right): I had the privilege on Sunday of taking part in the Great Notts bike ride, where there were more cyclists than at any point in the event’s history. Surely, the hon. Gentleman would recognise, just by stepping out on to Bridge Street, that the number of cyclists making use of cycle roads in London, courtesy of my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), has increased dramatically. Surely, that is a success of the Olympic games and the Great British cycling team?
Sport and the 2012 Olympics Legacy — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): The economic study I just referred to said that the impact on Scotland was a boost to the gross value added between 2004 and 2020 of between £2.3 billion and £2.75 billion and the creation of between 51,200 and 62,400 jobs in Scotland.
Sport and the 2012 Olympics Legacy — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving that example, which is mirrored up and down the country. He is absolutely right that we should not be negative, because we have made a huge amount of progress, and benefits are still flowing from the games. I do not want to speak for much longer, as a lot of people want to speak in the debate.
Sport and the 2012 Olympics Legacy — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Social Welfare
Maria Frances Lewis Miller (Conservative, Centre-right): I could not have put it better myself. My hon. Friend is absolutely right There are other parts of the legacy, such as the cultural Olympics, increased participation, and the challenge to the way in which disabled people are viewed, so that people are viewed for what they can do, rather than for what they cannot do. My hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd) mentioned the importance that was attached to volunteering, which successfully reversed a long-term decline started under a Labour Government, resulting in more people putting themselves forward.
Sport and the 2012 Olympics Legacy — House of Commons, 2015-06-24
Topic: Education
Graham Charles Stuart (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the recommendations of the Education Committee’s report on school sport and the Olympic legacy in the previous Parliament was the need to extend the woefully small amount of training that primary school teachers, in particular, receive in physical education. I wonder whether the hon. Lady would like to comment on that.
Farm Animals: Disease — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): We have made it very clear that we do not support the routine preventive use of antibiotics or the use of antibiotics to compensate for poor animal husbandry. That is reflected in the revised guidelines on the responsible use of animal medicines on the farm, published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate last December. We continue to work with a number of industry bodies to encourage the development of prescribing guidelines, to challenge and optimise prescribing practices and behaviour.
Farm Animals: Disease — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not had any specific discussions on that point. As I have said, all antibiotics have to be prescribed. It is important to distinguish between routine use and preventive use. Sometimes it is right to use them preventively if there is a particular problem in a herd or a flock, but they have to be prescribed by vets—and only sparingly.
Air Quality (Glasgow) — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Environment
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady is aware, air quality in Scotland is a devolved issue, so I have not had direct conversations with Glasgow City Council, but I saw the Scottish Environment Minister on Monday. Officials are in regular contact with Scottish Government officials about the revision of UK nitrogen oxide air quality plans, including those for the Glasgow urban area.
Air Quality (Glasgow) — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Government Operations
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I reconfirm that this is very much a devolved issue and one on which officials from Glasgow City Council can work closely with our departmental officials to resolve, but I do not wish to stand at this Dispatch Box and dictate to Glasgow.
Air Quality (Glasgow) — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Environment
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): Scotland, in common with 27 member states of the European Union, is non-compliant with the EC arrangements. Does the Minister agree that low emission zones can help improve air quality in cities such as Glasgow and that, in proposing a low emission zone for London, the Mayor of London has offered a good way to improve air quality?
Air Quality (Glasgow) — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Environment
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very happy to discuss that matter in detail, but as the shadow Minister said—[Interruption.] "Say yes", it is suggested from the Opposition Front Bench. As the shadow Minister has acknowledged, we need to tackle this issue in partnership with local authorities. The prime responsibility needs to reside there because the sources of the emissions are quite different from one local authority to another, and therefore the solutions will be different from one local authority to another.
Flood Defence Schemes — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Environment
Karl McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the work of the three internal drainage boards that affect my constituency, Witham first district IDB, Witham third district IDB and Upper Witham IDB? What steps will the Government take to ensure that the Environment Agency, which is lackadaisical in my local area, and other parties work together more effectively for the benefit of my constituents in Lincoln and the people of Lincolnshire?
Flood Defence Schemes — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Environment
Elizabeth Mary Truss (Conservative, Centre-right): Like my hon. Friend, I am a huge fan of internal drainage boards. We have some fantastic drainage boards in Norfolk and I have visited the internal drainage boards in Boston. I want internal drainage boards to work closely with the Environment Agency to continue to protect homes and farmland. I would like this model to be rolled out across the country.
Food and Farming Sector — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): British food and farming is worth more than £100 billion a year to our economy and employs one in eight workers in Great Britain. That is why the Government are committed to working with industry to develop a long-term plan to buy more, sell more and grow more British food. The plan will set out how British food and farming can become a world leader that is innovative, competitive, profitable and resilient, and we will work on that in the months ahead.
Food and Farming Sector — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Julian Charles Sturdy (Conservative, Centre-right): I draw Members’ attention to my declaration of interest Population growth predictions estimate that we will need to produce 60% more food by 2050, but British crop yields have plateaued over recent years and the agrichemical toolbox available to farmers has been ever reducing. Will the Minister look seriously at offering more support for research and innovation that is focused on increasing yields and on the production challenges that farmers face today?
Food and Farming Sector — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. Following large growth immediately after the war, yields have plateaued in recent decades. DEFRA is spending about £1.75 million a year on research into crops, and our research councils, through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, have a number of programmes in this area. In particular, Rothamsted has a major programme called "20:20 Wheat", which aims to get yields of wheat to 20 tonnes per hectare in the next 20 years.
Food and Farming Sector — House of Commons, 2015-06-18
Topic: Agriculture
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): This week a dairy farm in my constituency closed its gates for the last time. That follows a 55% reduction in the number of dairy farms in the UK since 1998. What can the Minister say to support British dairy farming?