argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Young People (Employment or Education) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, I need to correct the record. It would be helpful if Opposition Members looked at the true youth unemployment numbers, which are down on the year and down nearly a fifth since 2010. Opposition Members delivered an increase in youth unemployment of 45%. Please stop scaremongering, get the facts right and go and help young people into jobs.
Young People (Employment or Education) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): What can I say to Opposition Members? They seem blind to the truth. The fact of the matter is that youth unemployment was going through the roof—there was an increase of 45%—and this Government have brought it down by nearly 200,000 since 2010. Working with businesses, we brought in an array of support, from work experience to sector-based work academies and wage incentives. We brought in a whole plethora of support. Some worked better than others—that is correct—but the aim and the outcome remains: youth unemployment is down by nearly 200,000 since Labour left office.
Young People (Employment or Education) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid it is the right hon. Gentleman who has soft skills. I have core skills in telling the truth: youth unemployment is down 200,000 since he left office. We do not need a job guarantee scheme, which does not work and costs an incredible amount of money. The work experience scheme we brought in is delivering better results at a twentieth of the cost. You bring in Labour, you pay a lot more for a lot less results.
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The benefit cap is having a positive impact on people’s lives. I believe it is encouraging them to find work. The statistics show that. [Interruption.] Yes, they do. Those affected by the cap are 41% more likely to go into work than a similar uncapped group. It is under this Government that we are seeing long-term unemployment fall to its lowest level since 2009. The employment rate, at 73.2%, has never been higher.
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Adam Afriyie (Conservative, Centre-right): I had good cause this weekend to reflect on where I grew up. It breaks my heart to think that so many people spend such a long time on long-term welfare and state handouts. In Windsor, the number of people claiming benefits for more than a year has fallen by almost two-thirds, to just 70 people. That lifts my heart. Does the Secretary of State agree that we have a moral and social imperative to ensure that people are able to make their way from welfare to work and have a meaningful life?
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend. There is a fairness element: before we introduced the cap, about £9 million a year was being spent on fewer than 300 families. When asked, 73% of the public support the benefit cap and 77% agree it is fair for no household to get more than the average working household after tax. It seems like the only group that absolutely opposes the cap is the Labour party.
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
David Thomas Charles Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that our changes to benefits regulations have ensured that record numbers of people are now in work, and that this coalition Government are delivering jobs, prosperity and growth and that the only alternative from Labour Members is more debt, deficit and dole queues?
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): She is nodding, but that proposal only brings the benefit cap back in line with average earnings, which are £23,000 Through the cap, the Government have delivered fairness to the system and an incentive to go back to work, and as a direct result, more people are going back to work than ever before. We are asking people to take responsibility for their lives, just as those who are working and are not within the cap take responsibility for their lives.
Benefit Cap (Employment) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to speak to anybody the hon. Lady wants me to speak to about this matter. I believe that the benefits system in the UK helps those in the greatest difficulty—there is plenty of access to things such as hardship funds if that lady is having difficulty temporarily after breaking her leg—but if it is the hon. Lady’s belief that a Labour Government would increase spending on welfare, perhaps she could encourage those on her Front Bench to be honest about it and say so.
Benefit Sanctions — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Department does not make an estimate of the amount of benefit withheld as a result of sanctions. The sanctions system is in place to ensure claimants comply with reasonable requirements in order to move off benefits and into work.
Benefit Sanctions — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government do not make estimates because they would be wildly inaccurate, like the figures that the right hon. Gentleman has given. That is because only a maximum figure could be given that did not take into account hardship payments, which could be 80%, or that people already had a job, and there would be so many inconsistencies. The last Government—he was a Minister in the Department—did not make such estimates either.
Benefit Sanctions — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that it is important for us to acknowledge the role that sanctions play as the ultimate backstop in support of our welfare system, particularly as 70% of claimants say that they are more likely to abide by the rules when they know that their benefits are at risk if they do not?
Benefit Sanctions — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady will know, we are always improving what we do and always making things better. We brought in the Matt Oakley review to look at better communications, and we work with claimants always to ensure that sanctions are applied only correctly. We know that the vast majority of people work within the system. For employment and support allowance claimants, over 99.4% work within the rules, and with jobseeker’s allowance claimants, it is over 94%. It has to work, but we always look to see how we can get it better.
Child Support Agency — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Government Operations
Richard Harrington (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister and want to ask him a further question. For most MPs starting in 2010, this issue provided a lot of constituency casework for us, and the agency in question was often felt not to be fit for purpose, despite the good intentions in setting it up. What progress have the Government made in dealing with the fraud and error that has been so well publicised as existing in the system?
Child Support Agency — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Nicholas Soames (Conservative, Centre-right): May I thank my right hon. Friend and the Government for the substantial reforms that they have made to the Child Support Agency, whose service as it was a few years ago is unrecognisable to us now?
Discretionary Housing Payments — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What assessment he has made of the potential effect on people subject to the under-occupancy penalty of a reduction in funding for discretionary housing payments in 2015-16.
Mark James Harper (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a good question. Last year, two thirds of local authorities did not spend all the money that the Government allocated to them. If the money is not spent, it returns to central Government and to whence it came—that is, to the taxpayer
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK currently has the 3rd lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, and it has fallen faster than that of any other G7 economy in the past year. Thanks to welfare reform and our long-term economic plan, businesses are creating jobs, and 1.85 million more people are in work than in 2010. For interest, that is more than the total population of Estonia.
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I do recall that the Opposition extolled the virtues of the French Government and what they were doing. It is worth bearing in mind therefore what would have happened if they had followed the French example—which I think they still plan to do. If the UK had the same employment rate as France, employment would be 3.5 million lower in this country. If the UK had the same unemployment rate as France, unemployment would be nearly 1.5 million higher. But there you go—the truth is that every time a Labour Government leave office, they leave unemployment higher than when they arrived.
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the steps my right hon. Friend is taking to create jobs and reduce unemployment, which has fallen by 40% in Macclesfield over the last year. I have recently been on a delegation to Spain where we discussed the challenges they are facing of 25% unemployment and 50% youth unemployment, so does my right hon. Friend agree that it is absolutely vital for the UK to stick to its current course for the years ahead?
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I do. This Government—under the Conservative party—with our long-term economic plan, will stick to those plans, so we would continue to see unemployment fall. Spain has taken huge strides in trying to make changes, but they still have more to do, as they said to me, to deregulate the ways in which they work, but none the less they are at least making real efforts to do so, and they look to us for some examples. Our unemployment and employment rates are better, but I would like to think they are trying very hard to get there.
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely, but the point I would make to the hon. Gentleman is that I would love for somebody on his side to get up and say, "The economy under Labour crashed with a 6% fall in GDP." Does he honestly think that had no effect on his constituents? [Interruption.] Since then, we have got unemployment down below 2010 levels and got employment levels up, and we are doing our best to reskill people through work experience and so forth—[Interruption.]—and for all the shouting on the Opposition Benches, they blame everybody else for the crash but they do not give us the credit for the changes and improvements.
Unemployment (UK and other European Countries) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a very good thing that we are out of the euro—I am very happy about that. As far as credit is to be given, as the hon. Gentleman knows, I have been opposed to entry into the euro and my party was, under my leadership, absolutely opposed and continues to be so, and I am very pleased about that. May I finish by reminding the House of what even those in Europe say when they look at us? The OECD said of the UK that "the performance of the labour market has been remarkable!" That is the point: the rest of Europe says the UK has done better on employment and unemployment than anybody else, and that is down to the Government, thanks to their long-term economic plan. We have got it right; they have got it wrong.
“Not Just For Boys” Campaign — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): With record employment and vacancy levels, the "Not Just For Boys" campaign is intended to encourage young girls and women to consider a career in an industry where they are traditionally under-represented. After just under a month, some of the UK’s and the world’s leading businesses are on board, as are schools, business women, companies such as BT, Microsoft and Diageo and organisations including Opportunity Now, the Construction Industry Training Board and Be Onsite. I could continue, but for the sake of brevity, I will sit down.
“Not Just For Boys” Campaign — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Education
George Michael Edward Hollingbery (Conservative, Centre-right): A recent OECD report made it clear that gender differences among high-performing students remain stubbornly high in science, technology, engineering and maths—the STEM subjects. In 2012, only 12% of women entering university chose to study in science-related fields, compared with 39% of men, with all that that entails for women’s long-term job security and levels of pay. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this simply underlines how incredibly important it is that campaigns such as her "Not Just For Boys" campaign should succeed?
“Not Just For Boys” Campaign — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Education
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I do indeed agree with my hon. Friend. The campaign came about after we looked at where the jobs were going to be over the next decade. There will be 12 million jobs in fields such as IT, engineering and manufacturing, yet only 7% of girls were going into those subjects, so we knew that we had to do more—hence the campaign. Businesses came on board, as did women wanting to be role models. The Department for Education should also take some credit here, because there are now 10,000 more girls studying STEM subjects at A-level than there were in 2010.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): We have begun the national roll-out of universal credit. Those plans are on track, and universal credit is now available in nearly 150 jobcentre areas for single claimants and in nearly 100 areas for couples and families. Universal credit will be available in over 500 jobcentre areas—seven in 10—by the end of the year, and it will be rolled out to all our 714 jobcentres next year.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): In contrast to some reports today, the staff in the jobcentres in my constituency are looking forward to the roll-out of universal credit because they know the advantages it will bring to local jobseekers. Has my right hon. Friend made a recent assessment of the benefits of universal credit following the roll-out so far?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): We have indeed. From what I have read of the reports my hon. Friend mentions, every single point made in them is wrong and misleading. We will be making our position clear on that. The analysis that he asks for has shown that the benefits of universal credit are statistically significant. Findings now show that, compared with similar claimants on jobseeker’s allowance, universal credit claimants spend more time looking for work, enter work more quickly and spend more time in work. They also end up earning more.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Technology
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The IT system is exactly the same system, and it works in all categories. The difference is that we have rightly decided, in accordance with the Public Accounts Committee’s request, to roll this out stage by stage—we have been told that this is the correct way to do it—rather than trying to rush it, as was done with the tax credit system, which crashed. The hon. Lady mentioned the digital solution. Digital development and the online service are merging together, because the live service has many elements that will be used by the digital service anyway. This is a merging of the two services, and we will be reporting on that as we go along. It is successfully rolling out at the moment and expanding at the same time. I would be very happy if the hon. Lady wanted to go and visit it.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Questions: I congratulate the Government on their agile approach to the roll-out of universal credit. Given that it is expected to come to Wycombe, along with every other constituency, in the course of the next year, will my right hon. Friend remind the House of the advantages that our constituents can expect from it?
George Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Apart from the technical changes, the reality is that at the moment when someone falls unemployed then takes a part-time job they have to sign off and go through the whole rigmarole of claiming tax credits with no one talking to them. Under universal credit, they do not sign off. They stay with their adviser, who helps them enormously in negotiating their way through all their job applications. There is therefore a human interface, which is much better and which will help people who are unemployed and who have difficulties. People can look forward to that.
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The objective of the Work programme is to move more people into sustainable employment, and so the available data relate to people’s job outcomes, not starts, which means they have been in work for three or six months. To September 2014, there were 300,410 referrals of people aged 50 and over, resulting in 42,750 job outcomes.
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Work programme is the largest programme of its kind, helping people into work on an unparalleled scale. It is superseding all the expected levels and targets; it is better than anything that has gone before it.
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Anthony Brian Baldry (Conservative, Centre-right): With the Banbury and Bicester job clubs, we seek to help people who are out of work to get back into the world of work, irrespective of age. Am I not right in thinking that 50,000 over-50s who are in work now were not in work last year? So 50,000 over-50s have found work in just the past year, and it is right that we should not write anyone off simply because of their age.
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is correct about that. We are seeing what extra support we can give to the over-50s, which is why, with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Pensions, we have brought together the "Fuller Working Lives" document. It is also why we are looking at: how we can do extra IT; how we can do extra CVs and résumés; and how we can have older worker champions going into business to really sell the benefits of older employees, because it is key that they should be there to share their experience.
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not really sure where the hon. Lady has got her figures from. I have the figures in front of me and the one in 10 would refer to the number of employment and support allowance new claimants who found lasting work—that compares to a figure of one in 25 when they first joined and is well above the expected average, which would have been about one in 14. But we must remember that these people are some of the most difficult and hardest to help into work, which is why we have put this in place to support them. [Laughter.]
Work Programme (Over 50s) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I do indeed, and what my hon. Friend is doing there is incredible, supporting people of all ages through job fairs. As there were peals of laughter from Opposition Members, they obviously do not understand how the Work programme works and who goes on it, because it is there specifically to help those who are the hardest to help into work and to give them extra help and support.
Work programme (Disabled People) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): The objective of the Work programme is to move people into sustainable employment, and so the available data relate to people’s job outcomes, not starts, which means they have been in work for three or six months. As of September 2014, there were 596,640 referrals for people with a disability indicator and 78,480 job outcomes paid.
Work programme (Disabled People) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Mind also looked at the fact that all previous job schemes did not do enough for those with mental health conditions, who are the hardest to help and support. The Work programme tailors support to the individual, looking at an individual’s barriers into work. We have helped thousands of people with mental health conditions into work, instead of writing them off. There is more to do, so we are working and doing extra pilots to see how we can better engage with people with mental health conditions
Work programme (Disabled People) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Henry Edward Millar Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I was very grateful to the Secretary of State for visiting Crawley last month to see how successfully the Work programme was operating. Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the staff of Royal British Legion Industries who deliver the Work programme in my constituency for paying great attention to getting disabled people and people with mental health conditions back into work?
Work programme (Disabled People) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Labor
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed I will join my hon. Friend in celebrating the work of the Royal British Legion and all the other charities and voluntary groups up and down the country as they try to ensure that there is a personalised plan and support for people looking for work. They do an invaluable job, and the people who go into such a field have a passion for getting people into work.
Work programme (Disabled People) — House of Commons, 2015-03-09
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: One of the greatest disabilities that stops young people getting a job is autism. Is the Minister aware that autism is predicted to cost this country £32 billion a year? Will she stop for a moment being the “hard-hearted Hannah” of the Front Bench and be a little more compassionate about disabled young people looking for work?
Esther Louise McVey (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand a lot about autism and the extra support, help and work that we need to do. That is why the Secretary of State and I introduced the campaign, Disability Confident, which reaches out to employers and says, "Listen to the needs of the people and find out what we can do and how we can best work with these people." I do hope that the hon. Gentleman’s comment was not sexist, as I have had very many such comments from the Opposition Benches.