argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Housing
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I can give my hon. Friend the assurance for which she has asked. First, we have commissioned independent work from my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin) on speeding up building once planning permission has been granted. We shall hear more about that this week. Secondly, the consultation that was published earlier this week focuses on developer contributions in particular, and the need to ensure that developers stick to their word and can no longer game the system.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Housing
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?; On 1 March we saw the relaunch of the parliamentary campaign for council housing, bringing together MPs in all parties to call for the mass building of council housing. Can the Secretary of State, or a Minister, specify what the Department is doing to accelerate the expansion of the building of council housing?
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): I reiterate that we are raising the housing revenue account borrowing limit to £1 billion for local authorities where there is the highest need for new council housing to be built. Again, please may I ask the hon. Gentleman to encourage councils in his area to apply?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Housing
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?; On 1 March we saw the relaunch of the parliamentary campaign for council housing, bringing together MPs in all parties to call for the mass building of council housing. Can the Secretary of State, or a Minister, specify what the Department is doing to accelerate the expansion of the building of council housing?; The current definition of affordable housing, introduced by the coalition Government, is set at 80% of local market rate, but when house prices are spiralling out of control, as they are in my constituency, this definition of affordable housing is a cruel joke to those on low or median income. Will the Secretary of State commit to replacing this absurd definition so that housing can be genuinely affordable to my constituents?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand the issue the hon. Lady raises. I would just say that the numbers on social housing waiting lists are down by half a million since 2010, and the number of affordable homes in total, including social housing, is higher in the last seven years than in the last seven years of the last Labour Government. However, we are anxious to do even more. I am not sure that fiddling with the criteria for how these things are measured is the answer. We need to build more homes across the board and I welcome the hon. Lady’s support in that regard.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Housing
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?; On 1 March we saw the relaunch of the parliamentary campaign for council housing, bringing together MPs in all parties to call for the mass building of council housing. Can the Secretary of State, or a Minister, specify what the Department is doing to accelerate the expansion of the building of council housing?; The current definition of affordable housing, introduced by the coalition Government, is set at 80% of local market rate, but when house prices are spiralling out of control, as they are in my constituency, this definition of affordable housing is a cruel joke to those on low or median income. Will the Secretary of State commit to replacing this absurd definition so that housing can be genuinely affordable to my constituents?; My hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar) has already raised the issue of fairer funding for Leicestershire County Council. The county council is broadly supportive of the Government’s consultation, but does the Minister agree that the overall funding formula needs to be looked at in detail, because if the baseline is not addressed Leicestershire will still be falling behind other county councils?
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much agree with my right hon. Friend, and Leicestershire in particular has done much work on this, which will certainly feed into the consultation on fairer funding that is closing today. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing recently met with Leicestershire and I would be very happy to meet my right hon. Friend to discuss this further.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Housing
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?; On 1 March we saw the relaunch of the parliamentary campaign for council housing, bringing together MPs in all parties to call for the mass building of council housing. Can the Secretary of State, or a Minister, specify what the Department is doing to accelerate the expansion of the building of council housing?; The current definition of affordable housing, introduced by the coalition Government, is set at 80% of local market rate, but when house prices are spiralling out of control, as they are in my constituency, this definition of affordable housing is a cruel joke to those on low or median income. Will the Secretary of State commit to replacing this absurd definition so that housing can be genuinely affordable to my constituents?; My hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar) has already raised the issue of fairer funding for Leicestershire County Council. The county council is broadly supportive of the Government’s consultation, but does the Minister agree that the overall funding formula needs to be looked at in detail, because if the baseline is not addressed Leicestershire will still be falling behind other county councils?; Given the importance of European Union regional development funding to communities in Scotland and across the UK, what discussions is the Secretary of State having with the Treasury about replacement funding after Brexit?; A recent report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England says that viability assessments favour large developers over small developers and cut the number of affordable homes by 50%. Will the Minister take the strongest possible action to make sure that small and medium-sized enterprises compete on a level playing field with large developers, and that developers provide homes for those most in need?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and through our planning reforms we are putting far more rigour into the system so that plans are clear about the obligations expected for infrastructure and affordable houses, and also so that developers can be properly held to account in meeting those aspirations and commitments.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Other
Questions: Thousands of houses have been granted planning permission in my constituency, but there are often long delays before they are actually built. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that, when planning permission is granted, homes are built, particularly affordable homes?; On 1 March we saw the relaunch of the parliamentary campaign for council housing, bringing together MPs in all parties to call for the mass building of council housing. Can the Secretary of State, or a Minister, specify what the Department is doing to accelerate the expansion of the building of council housing?; The current definition of affordable housing, introduced by the coalition Government, is set at 80% of local market rate, but when house prices are spiralling out of control, as they are in my constituency, this definition of affordable housing is a cruel joke to those on low or median income. Will the Secretary of State commit to replacing this absurd definition so that housing can be genuinely affordable to my constituents?; My hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar) has already raised the issue of fairer funding for Leicestershire County Council. The county council is broadly supportive of the Government’s consultation, but does the Minister agree that the overall funding formula needs to be looked at in detail, because if the baseline is not addressed Leicestershire will still be falling behind other county councils?; Given the importance of European Union regional development funding to communities in Scotland and across the UK, what discussions is the Secretary of State having with the Treasury about replacement funding after Brexit?; A recent report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England says that viability assessments favour large developers over small developers and cut the number of affordable homes by 50%. Will the Minister take the strongest possible action to make sure that small and medium-sized enterprises compete on a level playing field with large developers, and that developers provide homes for those most in need?; If the Government are serious about the northern powerhouse and improving connectivity between communities in the north, does the northern powerhouse Minister think TransPennine’s plans to lengthen journeys from Hull across the Pennines, and not turning up to a meeting with the city’s MPs and business leaders last week to discuss this, will help to deliver his plans for the northern powerhouse?; With High Speed 2 set to displace a number of tenants living in social housing in my constituency, will my hon. Friend consider whether the Rent Act 1977, which obliges councils to rehouse council tenants whose homes are subject to compulsory purchase orders, will need amending to reflect the fact that the majority of social housing stock is now owned by housing associations rather than local authorities?
Sajid Javid (Conservative, Centre-right): It is an important issue, and we are looking to see what more we can do with the challenges that it represents. We are planning to publish a consultation and will do so as soon as possible.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, as you will appreciate, the letters described in the question are part of an ongoing investigation, and as such I am not in a position to comment on them. However, the Government condemn the content of the letters as clearly abhorrent, with no place in decent society. This Government take hate crime and Islamophobia extremely seriously, and the UK has a robust legislative framework to respond to it Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights define us as a society. The Government are determined to promote those values actively, working in partnership and alongside Muslim and, indeed, all faith communities to demonstrate that what we have in common is the best defence against extremists who would seek to divide us Our hate crime action plan, published in 2016, sets out our comprehensive approach to tackling hate crime. We have a strong legislative framework to tackle hate crime, including offences of inciting racial and religious hatred, and racial and religiously aggravated offences. The legislation provides equal protection under the law for all ethnic and religious groups. We have sources of expert advice on the nature and causes of hate crime through the anti-Muslim hatred working group and the independent advisory group on hate crime We have committed £2.4 million over three years to help to protect places of worship that have been the subject of or are vulnerable to a hate crime attack. We also committed a further £1 million following the terrible Finsbury Park terror attack in June last year, to help to protect places of worship and associated community centres that are vulnerable to attack on racial, religious or ideological grounds. So far, we have funded 45 mosques under both schemes. We have also funded Tell MAMA to record anti-Muslim hatred incidents and to support victims. From this year, we have made it mandatory for police forces to disaggregate religious hate crime data held by the police to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem, which we are determined to tackle.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Anna Mary Soubry (Conservative, Centre-right): I just want to put on the record the fact that the mayor of Broxtowe, Halimah Khaled, just happens to be a Muslim. She happens to be the first person of colour to be mayor of Broxtowe and she is its first Muslim mayor. She also happens to be a Tory. She has completed nearly one year in office, during which time she has had a warm welcome wherever she has gone in my borough, and rightly so. People are sick and tired of hate crime and Islamophobia. This is absolutely no longer to be tolerated. I commend the Minister for everything she has said in her statement, and I do believe this Government take this very seriously. We are not really talking about a hate crime here; it is actually an act of blatant incitement to terrorism. In any event, I am looking over at the co-chair of the all-party group on British Muslims, the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting). We have worked together on this, and I am sure he will agree when I say that the time has now come for a proper legal definition of Islamophobia. Does the Minister agree?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for her impassioned plea for recognition throughout the country of the role not only of her local mayor, but of many other people in public life who happen to practise the Muslim religion as part of their way of life and who contribute so very much to our community. I put on record my thanks to her local mayor There are many definitions of Islamophobia, but most people tend to adhere to the one used by the Runnymede Trust. We do not accept the need for a definitive definition, but we know that Islamophobia is clearly recognised and that we have very effective monitoring of race-hate crimes. Considerable work is done on these matters by Tell MAMA and the anti-Muslim hatred working group.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Hate crime in all its forms is to be condemned, as is this letter. Another group that is affected by growing hate crime is the Jewish community, and the Community Security Trust is having to go to ever greater lengths to protect local Jewish community centres. Can we ensure that all these forms of hate crime are combated as far as possible?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Of course, any group of people who are the victims of hate crime as a result of their religious beliefs deserve our sympathy and also our action. I, like him, condemn any form of anti-Semitism. I know that the police are as focused on that form of crime as they are on any other form of religious hate crime.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. and learned Lady for her question and, indeed, for her contribution in relation to what is happening in Scotland. We very much look at how we tackle hate crime, particularly through our hate crime action plan, which was published in 2016 and will be refreshed this year. Its range of actions include: funding for security for places of worship; the disaggregation of religion-based hate crime data; taking further action in relation to education so that teachers can have sometimes difficult conversations with their students about beliefs and words; and funding programmes through the Anne Frank Trust and Streetwise. We are determined to ensure that our action in relation to hate crime is up to date and current.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Matthew James Offord (Conservative, Centre-right): As someone who visited a Syrian refugee camp in Malatya in Turkey over the weekend, I find it a little offensive that a Labour Member has said that no Conservative Minister had ever actually condemned any kind of anti-Muslim extremism. Is the Minister aware that her equivalent at the Department for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), publicly rebuked the President of the United States for retweeting certain comments and invited him to visit Muslim communities in the United Kingdom?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend. I must say that I was not sure whether I had heard the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) correctly. As I have said, the record of both the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers on the issue of tackling anti-Muslim sentiments is pretty clear. It may be that the hon. Lady can clarify her remarks at a later stage.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that the hon. Lady has sadly been the victim of much hatred online, as have other Members. We are very clear that it is our expectation that technology companies will, in accordance with the law, remove such material as and when it is brought to their attention. We have had some progress, as the technology companies are getting better at this, but I do not for a moment pretend that we have the full response that we would like, which is to see these posts taken down as quickly as possible. That is the Home Secretary’s expectation when she meets the technology companies.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): We take the view that hate crime is a matter for the whole community, given that it can take so many forms. It is not restricted to one’s religion; the five characteristics are set out clearly in the hate crime legislation. We ensure that the police and others are trained to spot this crime when it occurs and to deal with it seriously and, I hope, sensitively.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Simon Richard Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): The rising tide of creeping Islamophobia and anti-Jewish sentiment should concern us all. How is improving the recording of this hate crime helping us to track what is going on in our society and how we can tackle it?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): They are getting it. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady for setting out the concerns of her constituents; she has highlighted the fear that people must have felt when they received those letters. She is absolutely right to say that Tell MAMA is an organisation that is universally recognised as playing a very important role in this field. I am told that from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, 2,622 anti-Muslim hate incidents were reported to Tell MAMA by victims, witnesses, third parties or the police. That shows us the scale—certainly three years ago—of these worrying incidents of hate crime that we are facing in this country. We support Tell MAMA to the tune of £1.9 million, and its work is highly valued.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I am keen to accommodate colleagues, but I would just remind the House that there is a further urgent question after this, and then no fewer than four ministerial statements, so there is a premium on extreme brevity from Back and Front Benchers alike.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): I, too, condemn the despicable letters that have been sent out. Following a recent incident in my constituency that I would classify as racial abuse, will my hon. Friend reassure my constituent and the whole House that that crime will be classified correctly and not just washed away and classified as a public order offence?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
John Michael Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): I join my hon. Friend the Minister in condemning these letters. In view of the similarities between anti-Muslim hate crime and the anti-Semitism that we have seen, will she reassure me that the action plan proposed by the Government will be adequate?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. He has a long and established record of supporting our Jewish communities. Yes, the hate crime action plan covers all forms of hatred, as defined by the legislation, and of course, sadly, anti-Semitism forms part of that.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): The anti-Muslim hatred working group brings together all parties from across Government and further afield to try to tackle this specific form of hate crime. One of its initial achievements was to work with the Society of Editors to tackle anti-Muslim hatred and, more recently, with the Independent Press Standards Organisation to develop training for editors and journalists to tackle the negative portrayal of Muslims in the media On the hon. Gentleman’s point about ensuring that mosques are visited in the run-up to the date mentioned in the letter, we will happily send letters to each chief constable to ensure they are aware of this. It is a matter for chief constables, but we expect that mosques will be protected.
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): I join my hon. Friend in condemning these letters and welcome the £2.4 million that the Government have devoted to protecting places of worship from hate crime. Can she expand on how that will work and give assurances that it will be given all the back-up it needs?
Hate Crime — House of Commons, 2018-03-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Victoria Atkins (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to do that, and it follows on well from the previous question. The Government have committed £2.4 million over three years to help protect places of worship that have been subject to or are vulnerable to a hate crime attack. We hope that that money will help local communities to feel safe in their places of worship.