argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Margaret Ann Throup (Conservative, Centre-right): The residents in my constituency tell me two things: first, how much they value the work of doctors, both junior doctors and consultants; and, secondly, how disappointed they are that this House is not united in saying that the strike is not justified on safety grounds. Is the Minister as disappointed as my residents?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): A number of Members met representatives of the BMA in the House of Commons. We were disappointed that, despite continued questioning, they refused to go to the negotiating table, but thankfully they eventually did so, and made some progress. My constituents want a safe, seven-days-a week NHS. Is it not time to get back around the table, so that we can provide the service that NHS patients want?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): It is, and that is why we need to move ahead in fairly short order. Ultimately, if staff contracts are not reformed across the service, those who will suffer most will be patients, and what will be most affected is the consistency of care that they receive at weekends.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): Evidence given to the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration made clear that rostering was made more difficult by the current plain-time terms in the contract. That is why it has been on the table for several years and has been the subject of parts of our discussions with the BMA, when we have been able to have them. It is also why one of the leading chief executives in the country, Sir David Dalton, who led the latest round of talks, has pressed the BMA to come and talk about Saturdays specifically and plain time in general. The BMA has refused to speak about either.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): Whatever the arguments in this case, I can think of no one more honourable, decent and honest to run the negotiations than my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. It is reported that graduating medical students applying to be foundation year 1 and 2 junior hospital doctors are seeking work in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to avoid the new contract. Is that true, and if it is, what can be done to stop this drain of our best medical students?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): We believe that last year about 500 junior doctors were operating on a band 3 payment, which equates to payments for hours of work that exceed what is specified in the working time regulations. That is a relatively small number within the NHS, but it is still significant, and for the doctors concerned, working those excessive hours is unsafe.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Mark Steven Spencer (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister join me in thanking the junior doctors who ignored the call to strike last time, and does he agree that the lack of condemnation from the Opposition demonstrates that they are putting their support for industrial action before my constituents and their healthcare needs?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure how to answer the right hon. Lady’s question, given that she has wilfully misconstrued what I said. I have never once suggested that only the Government care about patient safety. Almost every doctor out there cares for nothing other than patient safety and patient care. However, according to the 10 clinical standards of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, if there are to be consistent levels of care over the weekends, part of that will be achieved through reform of staff contracts. One of those is the junior doctors’ contract, which is why we must press ahead with it.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Wendy Morton (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my hon. Friend for all the work he is doing to deliver a truly seven-day-a-week health service for the benefit of not only my constituents but those of every other Member. I am a little surprised by the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) saying that no one thinks the existing contract is perfect. Does the Minister agree that we should all be working together in the interests of our constituents to bring this situation to a successful conclusion, rather than trying to score party political points with it?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman tempts me with kindness, and I repay the compliment. However, having been involved in this process for some months now, I have found it incredibly frustrating. Up to the end of November, every time we asked the BMA to come and talk to us, it refused, despite personal entreaties. And when it did talk to us, we often found that we had nailed down an agreement only to find it slipping out of our fingers the next day in front of the media. This has been a hugely frustrating and difficult process for everyone concerned—not only for us but for the junior doctors, who have been left confounded and confused by the whole thing.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Tania Mathias (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that most, if not all, junior doctors exceed their contracted hours and that a 72-hour limit is therefore essential? Will he also acknowledge that, even after the negotiations are complete, many junior doctors will continue to exceed their contracted hours?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): Some junior doctors exceed their contractual hours. The average across the service is 48 hours, but some are working as many as 91, which is the current permitted limit outside the working time directive. We wish to stop that altogether and bring it down to an absolute maximum of 72 hours a week, which would equate to a 48-hour average over the agreed period, which is currently six months. The key is to get the number of hours down, because working excessive hours is unsafe for patients and for doctors.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): I represent many junior doctors. I have met them and I have tried to represent their views to the Government, but I have always taken the view that my primary responsibility is to the patients of the NHS. One of those patients, a constituent of mine, emailed me this week to say that a consequence of the strike would be the "cancellation of my wife’s biopsy, planned for this week, without which her already shortened life will be shorter" Will the Minister, the shadow Minister and the whole House join me in condemning this strike? It will achieve nothing. It is a distraction from the negotiations, which need to continue, and it will put the lives of my constituent and others across the country at risk.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Ben Howlett (Conservative, Centre-right): May I join colleagues in thanking the Minister and the Secretary of State for all their work in negotiating a contract, which is obviously a tough discussion to have? Although many of my constituents may have sympathised last year with the BMA’s case, patients and their families, including my father after a recent heart valve replacement, will be concerned that the BMA is not getting around the negotiating table and thus placing a lot of undue stress on the most vulnerable. Does the Minister agree that the BMA should seriously consider those patients as it protracts its negotiations?
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): If the BMA was truly representing its members, it would be thinking about patient welfare during the strikes. Just now, we heard my colleagues describe with great eloquence the kinds of effects on individuals that a strike will cause. These strikes will get us no nearer to a solution; the only way to come to a solution is by negotiation.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): It would make a significant difference. Now that the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition is sitting on the Front Bench, he might like to take note of the fact that if we have a united political response condemning strikes that affect patients and their safety, it helps to bring negotiations to a more profitable end.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady does dangerous work if she tries to conflate the comments that I and others have made about the leadership of the BMA with the motivations of junior doctors, none of whom I have impugned. I recognise that junior doctors work incredibly hard, care passionately about their patients and have a vocational drive to do the best for the people they care for, but that is different from an organisation that refuses to talk, refuses to negotiate, lies to its members and is very slippery in the statements it puts out to the press.
Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Kettering general hospital is always under huge pressure, and the junior doctors there do a fantastic job. May I tell the Minister that my constituents will be extremely disturbed to hear him tell the House today that the BMA said at the ACAS talks that it would negotiate about Saturday pay but is now refusing to do so? The consequence will be a strike on Wednesday, and my constituents are appalled that 2,884 operations have already been cancelled, with that number possibly set to go even higher.
Local Government Finance — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Defense
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Before the Secretary of State provides a comprehensive and, I am sure, scintillating reply to his hon. Friend, I take this opportunity to say what a delight it is to see our new Serjeant at Arms in the chair.
Local Government Finance — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Health
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly will. I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s words. One knows that more people choose to retire to places such as Devon than to other parts of the country, and it is important that that is recognised in the funds that are available. As everyone knows, my hon. Friend chairs a very important Committee of this House, and one of the essential tasks of this Government over the years ahead will be to make sure that health and social care come together. They are two sides of the same coin. The same people are being looked after, whether by councils or by the NHS. One of the things I am determined to do is to make sure that we have a much better connection between the NHS and social care, and I would be grateful for her advice and that of her Committee in how we do that.
Internet Trolling and Online Abuse — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Questions: What steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to increase prosecution rates for internet trolling and other forms of online abuse on social media; and if he will make a statement.
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that the effect of online abuse on mental health can be damaging, particularly among young people? Will he urge the social media sector to engage with the CPS and other agencies to root out poor behaviour and signpost the support that is available to victims in law?
Internet Trolling and Online Abuse — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Questions: What steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to increase prosecution rates for internet trolling and other forms of online abuse on social media; and if he will make a statement.
Robert James Buckland (Conservative, Centre-right): I am naturally reticent to trespass upon the bailiwick of my hon. Friend’s hair, so I will confine my remarks to the serious issue he raised about the mental health impacts on young people. Work is being done on training so that CPS prosecutors can enable victims and users to report abuse and, in particular, to ensure that offending content can be removed by providers.
New Junior Doctor Contract — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect on gender equality of the proposed new junior doctor contract.; What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect of the proposed new junior doctor contract on women in that profession.
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): We anticipate that this contract is better for women in a series of different ways and we expect women to be able to engage more easily with the workforce than they have under the previous contract. We believe that it is better for working mothers and better for women who are taking time out for maternity leave. For those reasons, we hope that it will reinforce the continued progression of women in the medical workforce, of which we are very proud in the Department of Health.
New Junior Doctor Contract — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect on gender equality of the proposed new junior doctor contract.; What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect of the proposed new junior doctor contract on women in that profession.
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my hon. Friend confirm that under the existing contract two doctors doing the same job with the same level of responsibility and the same hours can be paid differently, but that under the new contract the total number of hours that can be worked will be reduced from 91 to 72, and that that will be especially welcomed by female doctors?
New Junior Doctor Contract — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect on gender equality of the proposed new junior doctor contract.; What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect of the proposed new junior doctor contract on women in that profession.
Benedict Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): I can confirm that and it shows once again my hon. Friend’s attention to the detail of the contract. It should be made clear to the House that the British Medical Association agreed almost all of the contract that we are now putting in place, including many of the aspects that the Opposition are now seeking to attack.
LGBT Young People — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend and I have discussed this matter, and he knows that I have also discussed it several times with the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison). The Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Ben Gummer), has also been listening to what my hon. Friend had to say We have lifted the lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have had sex with men. As my hon. Friend will know, the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, which sets blood donation guidelines, has announced that it is reviewing the evidence and the policy. We expect to hear from it sooner rather than later.
LGBT Young People — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Health
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): Members on both sides of the House will know of my long-standing interest in mental health issues for all young people, and of the priority that we give it in the Department for Education, which flows through to the priority we give it in the Government Equalities Office. In the financial year that has just ended, we provided £4.9 million to 17 voluntary and civil society projects delivering support to children and young people with mental health issues, including almost a quarter of a million pounds £250,000 to Metro Centre to establish a mental health service for LGBT young people and to those working with them across London and Kent. We are obviously looking at what we can do in this financial year to make sure that services will continue to be funded. Again, I will work with my colleagues in the Department of Health to make sure that people of all ages with mental health issues get the support they need.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): Indeed. I could not possibly disagree. That is entirely right Secondly, we felt the inquiry was necessary "to consider how we should adjust our whole military posture to the new type of military operations we face, including at the tactical level: whether our soldiers, sailors and airmen are getting the right training package for that type of warfare; whether…we have the right equipment for the task; whether we have the correct balance of forces, and what needs to be done so that we do not become disproportionately reliant on urgent operational requirements—a kind of panic-buying formula—to make up the shortfall in equipment."—[Official Report, 11 June 2007; Vol. 461, c. 583.] Thirdly and finally, there had already been several Select Committee inquiries, and there was a real need for a comprehensive inquiry by an independent committee established by the Government. We suggested there was real urgency. In introducing today’s debate, my right hon. Friend mentioned the effect of the time lag. At the time, I said: "The reason for the relative urgency is that, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond, Yorks"— now Lord Hague— "said, while the events are fresh in people’s minds and the e-mails have not been destroyed, we need to learn whatever lessons we can from the background to operations in Iraq so far, and to apply them to Afghanistan before it is too late."—[Official Report, 11 June 2007; Vol. 461, c. 585.] So there was an imperative, and a great disservice has been done to everybody, in that the inquiry was not established in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war but indeed was six years late. As I said, the bereaved are owed an explanation.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has been a Defence Minister and shadow Defence Minister. What is his opinion of the argument put at the time that, whenever our forces are in the field, we cannot have an inquiry, which seems madness to me? We had a successful inquiry into Norway, for example.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my right hon. Friend. He mentioned Norway, and indeed there is plenty of precedent. I think that that was an excuse for not holding an inquiry, and I think that it was a mistake It is not just the bereaved who are owed an explanation, however. Those of us who were in the House at the time are owed one as well. All of us bore a responsibility for the decisions that we made on whether to vote for the war or not, and those of us who were on the Front Bench bore a special responsibility. However, we had no more information than what we read in the newspapers When I voted for the war, I did so for three reasons. First, I had had a meeting in New York with Hans Blix, the United Nations chief weapons inspector, who had said that he had no doubt that Saddam Hussein intended to develop weapons of mass destruction, and that if he could develop them he would use them, but he—Hans Blix—could not, at that point, find them. He said that just a month before the war started, and I thought that it was pretty compelling My second reason was, of course, the "45 minutes" claim. I remember this vividly, because it was all over the front page of the Evening Standard. We were told that Saddam Hussein could launch what I think were described as "battlefield biological and chemical weapons" at 45 minutes’ notice, and reach the sovereign British base of Cyprus. I thought, "I have a responsibility. I am a shadow defence Minister." I could hear Mr John Humphreys, on the "Today" programme, saying, "Well, you knew all about this, Mr Howarth, so why did you not take action at the time?" I felt that that claim had to be taken seriously Thirdly, I thought that, as a key ally of the United States, we had a very close relationship with that country, and we had to have a good reason for not supporting our US friends. I realise that that view will not be shared universally in the House.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
James Gerald Douglas Howarth (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a good question, but it is a question in retrospect. At the time, not only did the chief weapons inspector tell me, to my face—and tell the other members of the Defence Committee who met him in New York—that he thought that Saddam Hussein was intent on developing weapons of mass destruction, but I was then told by the Government—the British Government, my Government—that there was a possibility that he would be able to launch those lethal weapons at 45 minutes’ notice That brings me to my next point, which is, of course, that all this involved Dr David Kelly, and all the tragedy surrounding that poor chap, and the dodgy dossier. I believe that one of the things for which Mr Blair and the rest of the Government will have to account to the nation is what I consider to be the usurpation of the Joint Intelligence Committee by the Prime Minister’s spin doctor, Alastair Campbell. He was the man who was putting pressure on the Committee, led by Sir John Scarlett, to release enough information to produce—to coin a phrase—a "sexed-up" dossier to make the case as convincingly as possible, to us in the House and to the British people, that there was a real threat which we could not ignore and on which we had to take action I think that one of the lessons we have to learn now is that the Joint Intelligence Committee must be led by a man or woman with experience in security matters, and must not be subject to political pressure. Its professional view must be respected, and its authority must not be usurped.
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
Robert Alexander Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my very good friend for allowing me to intervene. I agree with every word that he has said so far, but one question has confused and really worried me, and I do not think we have had an answer to it yet. If there were no weapons of mass destruction—I am referring particularly to chemical weapons—what was it that killed the Kurds and the marsh Arabs? We have never found those. Where the heck did they go?
Iraq Inquiry Report — House of Commons, 2016-04-14
Topic: Defense
David Michael Davis (Conservative, Centre-right): The House needs to address this idea that we cannot debate or investigate anything when troops are in the field. When I have spoken to our troops in the field, they have said that they want our democracy to work properly. They want to feel that they are fighting for an honourable cause. In future, we should dismiss this idea that we are undermining our troops; we are standing up for something that will ensure that their lives are not wasted in the future.