argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Commonwealth in 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: International Affairs
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): I quite agree. I have been proud to work with the Commonwealth secretariat in promoting press freedom, youth projects and, in particular, the youth development index, which includes an index based on freedom of speech. It is vital that we continue that important work. The Commonwealth Youth Ministers meetings happen regularly, and I have attended the last two. The Government have failed to turn up to a number of them in the past few years. I hope that with a new, revitalised ministerial team, we will see a change in that. Of course, I was personally proud and delighted to attend with Malala Yousafzai, who was honoured at the palace for the work she has done on girls’ education.
Commonwealth in 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman rightly highlights the contribution that so many Commonwealth citizens have made to our country, including of course those who came over on the Windrush. That also includes the 160 Commonwealth citizens identified by the Public Accounts Committee who may find themselves in the same position as the Windrush generation, but whom the Government are refusing to track and contact. Does he not think that we owe it to our Commonwealth brothers and sisters to do that work to make sure they do not have to go through the pain that so many have already gone through?
Commonwealth in 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: International Affairs
Fleur Anderson (Labour, Centre-left): May I present another offer of hope, and a glimmer of light from the Commonwealth? Will the hon. Gentleman join me in congratulating Rwanda, where the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting will be held? It has made enormous strides in respect of water and sanitation, which is especially impressive because it is such a mountainous country. Many other Commonwealth countries need to go further in those respects to achieve health and wealth: through the Commonwealth and our work with DFID projects, we can achieve that as well. Water and sanitation need to be part of CHOGM, and part of our work with the Commonwealth.
Commonwealth in 2020 — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: International Affairs
Mohammed Afzal Khan (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments; I am looking forward to his Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday and hope to join him. I hope that the Minister will commit to raising human rights violations in the Commonwealth at this prime opportunity A strong and united Commonwealth must be able to tackle the crisis in the light of the current coronavirus outbreak. Will the Minister tell us what assistance the UK will provide to vulnerable countries in the Commonwealth with insecure health systems In conclusion, the Commonwealth is a diverse family of nations that, by virtue of historical and cultural ties and shared values, seeks to find solutions and share common goals. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemptown highlighted, there is a gap between the Commonwealth’s emphasis on human rights and the reality on the ground in many member states. We should be focusing on promoting democratic values and developing and amplifying the voices of small states; upholding human rights and LGBT rights; and tackling global challenges such as extremism and climate change. The potential for the Commonwealth is vast, but to ensure that that potential is realised, we have a responsibility to promote the common principles throughout the Commonwealth, along with all our other human rights goals.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: Government Operations
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With the leave of the House, we will take motions 6 to 9 together Ordered, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy That John Howell be discharged from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and Paul Howell be added European Scrutiny That Margaret Ferrier be a member of the European Scrutiny Committee. Finance That Nigel Mills and Sir Robert Syms be discharged from the Finance Committee and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Dame Eleanor Laing and Tommy Sheppard be added Procedure That Dr Kieran Mullan be discharged from the Procedure Committee and Anthony Mangnall be added.—(Bill Wiggin, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.) Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c., Bills Ordered, That Duncan Baker, Simon Baynes, Elliot Colburn, Chris Elmore, Imran Hussein, Simon Jupp, Conor McGinn, Grahame Morris, Jane Stevenson, Julian Sturdy and Suzanne Webb be members of the Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c., Bills.—(Bill Wiggin, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.)
Flood Prevention: Rainwater Attenuation and Reservoirs — House of Commons, 2020-03-09
Topic: Environment
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): I do not exactly have a brick in the toilet, I am afraid, but as it happens, I have grey water tanks, which we use. I appreciate the points that the Minister is making. I was staggered when I discovered that consumption figure: 22% of fresh, clean, pure water gets wasted by flushing it down the toilet. It is just ridiculous. Think about the nations around the world that do not have fresh water and here we are wasting 22% of it. Worse than that, 20% of the water supply is lost through leakage. That is staggering, is it not? I appreciate what she was saying earlier and I would very much welcome a meeting with her and my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch) to discuss these proposals.
Period Poverty — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Carolyn Harris (Labour, Centre-left): A recent report by Women’s Aid shows that almost half of domestic abuse survivors living in refuges do not have enough money to pay for essentials. Schools, prisons and hospitals now provide free sanitary products for women and girls, so when can we expect victims of domestic abuse living in refuges, and their daughters, to be extended the same courtesy?
Women’s Life Expectancy: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on improving life expectancy among women living in disadvantaged areas.
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): Well, that is not true for women in the poorest communities in our country, is it? The Marmot review shows that life expectancy has fallen for women in the poorest communities. Frankly, that is what happens after 10 years of public service cuts and falling living standards. When are the Government going to take responsibility for the misery they have inflicted on the poorest women in the country?
Women’s Life Expectancy: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on improving life expectancy among women living in disadvantaged areas.
Naseem Akhtar Shah (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister explain what action is being taken to support women—especially black and minority ethnic women, and single mothers—who have faced not only disproportionately more poverty under years of austerity, but also the greatest barriers to work? How are Ministers breaking down barriers to lift those women out of the poverty that this Government have put them in?
Women Living in Poverty — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Jessica Elizabeth Morden (Labour, Centre-left): But a recent report by Welsh charity Chwarae Teg highlights the fact that 38% of women in Wales on universal credit are in work compared with 29% of men. What is the Minister doing to ensure that there is strong action in the Budget to tackle women’s in-work poverty?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Dawn Petula Butler (Labour, Centre-left): Can the Minister confirm that the disproportionate impact on women was specifically considered at the recent Cobra meeting dealing with the effects of coronavirus? Our country’s social infrastructure has been weakened by this Government’s cuts—86% of the cuts have fallen on women. The gig economy and zero-hours contracts have affected women more than any other group, hence the rise of in-work poverty. Caring responsibilities and volunteer work in our country are built on an army of women and grand- parents—the system is dependent on unpaid work by older women. What provisions have the Government made to address the adverse impact on women?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): There is a still a 17% gap. It is too big, too wide, and should be closed, and the Government should do something about it Every fortnight, three women are killed by their partner or ex-partner, and domestic violence is likely only to increase if large numbers of people have to self-isolate. Ten years of austerity has denied councils the funding they need to support victims of domestic abuse. Will the Prime Minister commit to the extra £173 million that is needed every year to ensure that survivors get the support they so desperately need?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Centre-left): Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concerns that the Chancellor is not doing enough to tackle the problem of the quality of social care, given that he barely mentioned it in the Budget statement and that 87 people a day die waiting for the care that they need?
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Angela Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the Father of the House. I agree with his view that we are on the cusp of a very major change in the tax base, and it is important that we debate what the nature of that change should be We are living in very uncertain times. We are on our third Conservative Prime Minister in four years, and this Budget was presented by the fourth Conservative Chancellor in as many years—a Chancellor who has been in place for barely a month and who had to agree to play second fiddle to Dominic Cummings as the price of his sudden elevation No Budget was delivered last year, and the Office for Budget Responsibility last published an official forecast nearly a year ago. To make up for that, we are now told to expect that 2020 will be a year of two Budgets and a spending review, so what the Chancellor announced today may be only the first in a trilogy of fiscal events this year This Government of Brexit obsessives have deliberately chosen to inflict a high level of uncertainty and disruption on our future trade arrangements. There is still the prospect of an effective no-deal cliff edge at the end of 2020 should the talks with the EU go badly. The Bank of England’s own assessment points to an 8.25% hit to GDP by 2024 in the event of a sudden, unmanaged WTO outcome to the talks, yet the Chancellor barely, if at all, mentioned Brexit in his hour-long speech If that were not enough, the country is now facing an immediate and massive threat caused by the rapid advance of coronavirus across the globe. In his evidence to the Treasury Committee last week, the outgoing Governor of the Bank of England said that coronavirus is likely to have a large but temporary effect on the global economy. Today, announcing an emergency interest rate cut of half a percentage point and an offer to banks of four years of cheap funding to ensure they continue to lend, the Bank of England noted a "marked deterioration" in the outcome of already weak economic growth in the coming months. With the persistence of historically low interest rates since 2008, the efficacy of monetary policy is now questionable. That makes the Chancellor’s fiscal adjustment and supply-side response in today’s Budget crucial in mitigating the coronavirus crisis Clearly, fiscal policy needed to be looser, temporarily at least, to protect otherwise viable businesses from being destroyed by the short-term abnormal supply and demand shock, so I welcome the Chancellor’s fiscal stimulus package, which he costs at £30 billion. We all hope he has done enough, and we all trust that he will return with more if the situation demands.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): The growth figures the right hon. Gentleman quite rightly draws the House’s attention to are after the Government have chucked in a £174 billion fiscal stimulus and the Bank of England has slashed interest rates to an all-time low. I would draw his attention to the fact that productivity in our economy is now absolutely broken, and that surely is a damning indictment of the economic strategy of the last few years.
Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Liam Dominic Byrne (Labour, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman is a sophisticated thinker, so I will give him a sophisticated intervention. The judgment that had to be made in 2010 was how we closed the deficit. We said that one third of it should be closed by spending cuts and two thirds of it by taxes. The former Chancellor George Osborne changed that judgment, seeking to close 90% of the deficit with spending cuts. That slowed the economy and meant that instead of having falling debt by 2016 we still had rising debt. The judgments were wrong, which is why things went off track.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Education
Margaret Olivia Hillier (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State update us on the thinking about what will happen, if this does continue as is projected, for schools? If schools close, what in particular will happen to children on free school meals, whose parents massively rely on them to keep their children well fed?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
Christopher John Bryant (Labour, Centre-left): I completely agree with the Secretary of State about keeping Parliament open, and I am grateful for the work that he, you, Mr Speaker, and the Leader of the House, have done to ensure that is the case. May I ask about something that I did not fully understand from what the Chancellor said this afternoon? As I understand it, if Wales wants and need extra money for the health service to deal with coronavirus, it will get it, whatever amount is needed. I presume that also applies to social care budgets in Wales, which my local authority is already worried about. Why does it not apply to all the other measures that are meant to support the economy through this difficult period? Why does it not apply to council tax and business rates?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Labor
Angela Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): The Chancellor’s announcements earlier today were very welcome, but will the Secretary of State help to cast a bit more light on the announcement about employment and support allowance? There are millions of people, as he knows, who do not qualify for statutory sick pay. The effectiveness of self-isolation and doing the right thing relies absolutely on many people who do not have standard employment contracts being able to be confident that if they self-isolate, they will not lose out, yet the ESA system works in retrospect, with delays, and is quite bureaucratic. Will he say a bit to us tonight about how that is going to be mitigated so that those who are not on standard employment contracts will know that they can do the right thing and not suffer?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Education
Christopher Philip James Elmore (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for keeping the House informed throughout this crisis. He is doing his job well, and it is good that the response is cross-party and has the support of people right across the United Kingdom Lecturers and schoolteachers in my constituency have contacted me to ask what discussions the Secretary of State is having with the Department for Education, exam boards and the devolved Administrations about what will happen as we approach the examination season. The point was made to me, particularly by further education lecturers, that it is not just children who face exams in the coming months.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: International Affairs
Wayne David (Labour, Centre-left): I note what the Secretary of State said about different approaches in different countries, but I was recently approached by the professor of visual neuroscience at Cardiff University, Professor Jonathan Erichsen. He says that there is a great deal that we can learn from South Korea in particular. Will the Secretary of State give a commitment that he will keep an open mind on how we approach this problem, in the light of lessons from other countries?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State said in his statement, "We are working closely" with the social care sector "to make sure that it is ready." Could he say a little more about some of the stories circulating about the use of volunteers, and particularly students, to provide social care?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Education
Darren Paul Jones (Labour, Centre-left): Some parents are unsure whether to send their children to school when somebody in the family household is self-quarantined. Will the Secretary of State confirm what guidance has been given to schools to deal with what would normally be classed as unauthorised absences? Perhaps he will be able to alleviate some of the concerns from headteachers and indicate that Ofsted will take a lenient view of absence figures in later inspections.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Secretary of State clarify a point that was made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on Monday? She said that social security claimants who were due to take a work capability or work-related activity assessment would not have their social security support stopped, but those claimants were omitted from the group that the Chancellor talked about in the Budget statement, so will the Secretary of State clarify who is right? Will he also make sure that information is available for the deaf and the visually impaired? There is a gap in the information in that respect.
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Claudia Naomi Webbe (Labour, Centre-left): Earlier, the Government, through the Treasury, announced a package of support for local authorities to protect the vulnerable during the coronavirus outbreak. Does the Secretary of State agree that a proportion of this hardship fund should be allocated to local welfare provision so that support can be given to those who are most vulnerable and facing financial hardship?
Coronavirus — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Thangam Elizabeth Rachel Debbonaire (Labour, Centre-left): I have two questions for the Secretary of State. I thank him for his commitment to keeping this place open, which I agree is very important What guidance will the Secretary of State give to prepare us for what may be necessary, such as the possibility of having to cancel events, constituency surgeries and so on? I have staff, as I am sure most Members do, who are already concerned about how they should be protecting us and, most importantly, themselves and their family and friends Secondly, what is the Secretary of State doing, or talking to colleagues about doing, for those on very low incomes who have to self-isolate and are unable to order food through the internet because they have either no credit card or no internet?
Electric Car Batteries: Disposal and Recycling — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Energy
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman might well have read my speech, because those are exactly the points that I hope to make Returning now to innovation, when I studied electrical engineering at Imperial some decades ago, batteries were big, boring and messy. Now they are at the cutting edge of many exciting developments. We are getting down to the fundamentals of physics in the storage of energy and its applications everywhere from our smartphones to our national grid. Batteries are getting smaller, safer, more sustainable and more manageable, but we must also acknowledge that we are entering an era of battery reuse, recycling and transportation the like of which we have never before seen.
Electric Car Batteries: Disposal and Recycling — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Energy
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry, but I need to give the Minister some time to answer my questions At the moment, our fire services do not have the appropriate resources, training and personal protective equipment necessary to deal with these new challenges. It is estimated that up to 25% of the 510 fires in UK material recycling facilities in 2018 were caused by small lithium batteries. In 2019, one such fire in Dunbar, Scotland took over 40 firefighters to contain. A specialist training facility such as that proposed on Tyneside would have helped to reduce the pollution and damage. A recycling plant could have entirely avoided it Recycling plants, touching on the point made by the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts), do need to be regional. Electric vehicle batteries are classed as hazardous waste, and the further they are transported, the greater the risk. As we have the skills in the north-east to support such a plant, we would welcome one in our region. We are a global leader in electric vehicles. The Washington Nissan plant introduced electric cars to Europe in 2011, creating a brand-new lithium battery plant from scratch in 18 months. Washington’s Envision-AESC factory is the first of its kind in the UK and leads the world in battery technology. It is eager to expand and exploit the new market opportunities offered by the lithium-ion technology revolution, and it has the knowledge to do so. We are going to need at least five battery gigafactories across the country to meet our decarbonisation targets—let us have one in the north-east. I know that that is more a matter for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, but I hope the Minister will speak to BEIS about it Newcastle University is a centre of excellence in electric vehicles, leading a £300 million pound project entitled "Driving the Electric Revolution". It has performed fascinating research on the systems integration of electric vehicle charging points. Northern Grid is actively looking at ways to integrate battery technology into the network. I am grateful for the Government’s commitment of £274 million between 2017 and 2021 to the Faraday Institution for research on the development and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK. This has supported some of the research at Newcastle University. However, I am concerned that future funding remains unclear after this year. Will the Minister speak to her BEIS colleagues and meet me to discuss how Newcastle and the north-east can play a critical role in the safe storage, transportation and recycling of electric vehicle batteries We clearly need a circular economy for lithium batteries. Regulations, codes and standards are an important part of this, as are research and development to deliver at-scale recycling facilities, and safety guidance and training. I hope the Minister will welcome the opportunity to work with me to ensure that Newcastle can be a centre for all those things.