argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-04-11
Topic: Macroeconomics
William Arthur Roger Mullin (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Correct! I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman remembered. He referred to the importance of skills, which are of course fundamental to productivity growth. For some 30 years, the UK has been failing, particularly at the intermediate and higher-intermediate skill levels Let me come on to another iniquity in the Bill: the continuing failure to relieve Scotland’s police, fire and rescue services from the burden of VAT. The Government’s excuses on this are well rehearsed, but they are hollow words. Their actions confirm that, rather than supporting the police and fire services in Scotland, the Tories are their enemies This Finance Bill rides uneasily alongside the Chancellor’s statement to the House on that "we are going to deliver a strong and compassionate society for the next generation".—[Official Report, 22 March 2016; Vol. 607, c. 1388.] I do not know a single young person or couple that will be able to take advantage of raising the amount that can be invested in an ISA to £20,000 a year. I do know, however, all too many constituents, many of them young, who live on take-home pay that is much less than £20,000 annually The actions of this Government are not building a strong economy for the future and are certainly doing nothing to create a compassionate society. This Government and this Chancellor are not merely failures; they are purveyors of misery.
State Pension Eligibility — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Labor
Questions: What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; If his Department will make an assessment of the merits of options for transitional protection for women who will adversely be affected by the acceleration of increases in the state pension age.
Martyn Day (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In 2005, the Pensions Commission said that "a policy of significant notice of any increase (e.g. at least 15 years) should be possible", to mitigate the impact of any such changes. I would argue that the start of that 15-year process should be the beginning of the changes in 2010. In effect, the retirement age for women will be 63 from April this year, so will the Department look again at smoothing out to 2025 the increase in pensionable age for women aged 63 to 66?
State Pension Eligibility — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Labor
Questions: What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; What support his Department has made available to women born in the 1950s who are affected by recent changes in the age at which they become eligible for the state pension.; If his Department will make an assessment of the merits of options for transitional protection for women who will adversely be affected by the acceleration of increases in the state pension age.
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I hope the Minister will answer my question, given that he ignored the one asked by my colleague. Will he apologise formally for the utter shambles his Department has made of communicating the changes to the acceleration phase, as raised by Women Against State Pension Inequality, and for the inaccurate communication to pensioners regarding national insurance contributions? We learned over the weekend that the Government Gateway website is still showing that the pensionable age for women is 60. How does the Minister expect the House—and, indeed, the public—to have confidence in his Department’s ability, given that it has failed so spectacularly to communicate and to deliver fairness?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Can the Secretary of State give me some indication of when he will publish the draft regulations on housing benefits for 18 to 21-year-olds? Will he also look sympathetically at exempting from those regulations those who cannot live safely in their neighbourhood where their family home is because of sexual abuse, gang-related activity or overcrowded housing?; As the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on multiple sclerosis, may I ask the Minister to join me in applauding the excellent work of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in supporting people with MS? Will he tell us how his Department is supporting people with MS to get into work or to keep their jobs after a diagnosis of MS?
Andrew Egan Henderson Hendry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister’s latest proposals to change the way in which personal independence payments are assessed will be a further blow to disabled people, who have been among the hardest hit by the UK Government’s austerity measures. I know from my constituents who are experiencing lengthy delays that the assessment process is not yet working. Will the Minister abandon these latest proposals, which will narrow disabled people’s eligibility for benefits, and instead focus on getting this part of the process right rather than adding complex changes that will reduce the support available to disabled people?
Financial Conduct Authority — House of Commons, 2016-02-01
Topic: Labor
Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): My reason for speaking in this debate leads on from my Adjournment debate last Monday on the mis-selling of pensions, in advance of which I came up against the FCA for the first time. As a not very qualified and not very long-standing MP, and as someone who has never really had to deal with any of the regulatory bodies, I went to the Library for some background. I asked what turned out to be a very silly question. I asked for a list, going back to the 1990s, of regulators and what they were responsible for, only to be informed by the relevant expert in the Library that it was a huge piece of work and that he could not get it to me in time for this debate. I now perfectly understand that My point in telling everyone that and showing my complete ignorance is that normal, everyday people are in exactly the same boat. They do not always understand where to go to get redress. We are debating the motion today, on the FCA, but that does not mean much to people in the street. They do understand, however, that they do not seem to be getting a very good deal. When I listen to more erudite and learned Members—I do not mean that in the legal sense—I understand even better how my normal, everyday constituents feel. This whole mess of regulation and responsibilities and the attempts to fix it by bringing forward other regulators dealing with yet something else has to stop.
Foreign National Offenders (Exclusion from the UK) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-03-11
Topic: Law and Crime
Lisa Cameron (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): First, I must declare an interest, having previously completed risk assessments in this regard. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is important that foreign national offenders receive comprehensive risk assessments so that appropriate judgments can be made?
Productivity — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Kirsty Ann Blackman (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Scottish National party has continually argued that the UK economy is in dire need of investment to stimulate productivity. Despite the productivity plan, the Chancellor seems determined to persevere with policies that stifle productivity. What policies have the UK Government enacted that will encourage an increase in productivity?
Tax Havens — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British overseas territories and Crown dependencies and (b) elsewhere.; What his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British overseas territories and Crown dependencies and (b) elsewhere.
Neil Charles Gray (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Last month, I tabled a series of written questions about the tax gap resulting from individuals and businesses using overseas territories and Crown dependencies. All seven questions were grouped into one answer from the Financial Secretary, which basically said, "We have no idea." Now that the Government have been shamed by the Panama papers into hasty action, will they finally rectify the extraordinary situation whereby the Government have no idea how much is lost to the Treasury in this way each year? Would a public register of beneficial ownership not help in this regard?
Tax Havens — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: What his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British overseas territories and Crown dependencies and (b) elsewhere.; What his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British overseas territories and Crown dependencies and (b) elsewhere.
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Tax havens lead to a loss of revenue here as individuals can hide through opaque structures and businesses simply do not pay UK tax in respect of where economic activity takes place. Given the revelations from Mossack Fonseca, has the Treasury carried out a new assessment to calculate the scale and size of the revenue lost to the UK?
Solar Power — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Energy
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): One of the big things this Government could do to help solar and, indeed, all renewables is to remove the double charge on storage, whereby storage is charged when it takes on the power and charged again when it gets rid of the power and puts it back in the grid. Will the Treasury consider changing its approach and helping storage? It could do so with a stroke of a pen and it would make a huge difference. I urge the Treasury to stroke that pen and make sure that that change happens.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Questions: Will the Chancellor update the House on any discussions he has had for a potential city deal for the Swansea Bay city region, and on what he can do to drive growth and create jobs in south-west Wales, particularly in my Gower constituency?; Analysis by the House of Commons Library, including that on the 2016 Budget, shows that, cumulatively, 86% of savings in the period between 2010 and 2020 will come from women’s pockets. What has the Chancellor got against women?; Last year when I held a small business breakfast in Wimbledon, the level of business rates was the biggest issue, so my constituents are understandably delighted with the Chancellor’s permanent doubling of small business rate relief. Will my right hon. Friend say what else he is doing and what else the Government can do to support small businesses to ensure that they invest for growth and further jobs?; The Panama papers unearthed an array of revelations, amid which was the exposure of the relationship between tax and land ownership. What steps are the Government taking to ensure transparency of land ownership across the UK?; In the Budget, the Chancellor outlined measures on tax avoidance and evasion to bring in about £12 billion. How much more does he expect to bring in from the measures announced since, which we all welcome, to make every business in this land pay its fair share?; Following reports in this morning’s Daily Mail that energy firms overcharged customers by £130 for their energy this winter, does the Chancellor agree that Treasury cuts to incentives for building new renewable energy sources were another one of his bad ideas?; All 31 local firms that have reached the final of my Havant small business awards will benefit from the Government’s corporation tax cut. Will the Chancellor join me in congratulating all the finalists and confirm that the Government will continue to support small businesses across the country?; Ministers will have heard the concerns of small business organisations about the change to quarterly tax returns. What are they doing now that that change is in place to monitor its operation and ensure that it does not become unnecessarily burdensome to small businesses?
Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Last week, the Financial Secretary confirmed to me that details obtained from Crown dependencies and overseas territories and shared with the UK would not be passed on to other tax jurisdictions. If that remains the case, there is a real chance that the UK would be complicit in tax evasion. Will the Chancellor urgently review the situation to ensure that tax is paid where it is due?
Libya — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: International Affairs
Stephen Patrick Gethins (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I also praise the work of Martin Kobler and of the British ambassador to Libya, whom I met in Tunis and who has been making the best of a very difficult job. Libya has been an unmitigated disaster for this Government. We even had a sitting US President criticise a sitting UK Prime Minister. A UN official described the UK’s humanitarian efforts as "paltry bone-throwing from a European country whose bombers reaped so much destruction" We do not have a good record on Libya Following the questions of the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who raised a good point as usual, will the Foreign Secretary tell us how much of the mission he envisages taking place on Libyan soil? As for what he calls a training mission, will any deployment of UK troops on Libyan soil be brought to this House for consideration? Given that he can only have meetings in the naval base, how does he envisage a training mission in Libya taking place at the moment? Finally, does he commend the US President’s candour in saying that Libya was his worst mistake, and what does he think has been the Prime Minister’s worst foreign policy mistake?
Libya — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): If spending 13 times as much on bombing Libya as on reconstructing it is not one of the Prime Minister’s worst foreign policy decisions, I wonder whether the Foreign Secretary could tell us what is. Of the £10 million announced today for the conflict security fund, how much will be counted as official development assistance, how much will be counted towards the NATO 2% target, and how much will be counted towards both?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I realise that the Economic Secretary is trying to be helpful, but does she not recognise that there is a strategic difference between the process of information-gathering through the agents and that of policy-making through the bodies of the Bank itself? That is where we are asking for representation.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Sheppard (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister moved on very quickly from the matter of the name. I just want to clarify whether the Government have a view on changing the name of the Bank of England to reflect the fact that it is the Bank for all the nations of the United Kingdom. Notwithstanding the fact that in normal, everyday parlance it will, I am sure, still be referred to as the Bank of England, its long and proper title surely should reflect all the nations of the United Kingdom.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her forbearance in giving way again. She is taking refuge in the Bank of England’s existing mandate, a mandate that all Members, on both sides of the House, know has long since become redundant. The inflation target has been dead in the water for years and years, because inflation is nowhere near 2% and is not likely to be for a long time. Implicit in the new clause is the fact that we are questing about for other policy measures to replace the 2% inflation target. Will the Minister address the question of what future targets the Bank of England should have to address the needs of a deflationary era, rather than the inflationary era of the last 20 years?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in the United States, the central bank is called the Federal Reserve for the very simple reason that it is appointed federally, and the interest rate setting committee is a federal committee? The principle is therefore well established in other jurisdictions.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Government Operations
Thomas Sheppard (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend share my sense of regret and bewilderment that the Government can so casually dismiss the proposal to amend the long name of the Bank of England? Does he agree that it is disingenuous of the Conservative Government to talk about a respect agenda that embraces the contributions of all the United Kingdom’s nations when they refuse to recognise those contributions at the first opportunity, and state that only England should be in the name of this most significant institution?
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-04-19
Topic: Government Operations
Philip John Boswell (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Like many others in the Chamber and, as is clear, in the Treasury Committee, I welcome the progress made on the Bill but have serious concerns about it and, in particular, its role in the systematic gradual compromising of the independence of the two key regulators, the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Further to the Minister’s announcements in her opening remarks, which were touched on by many in this House, including my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (George Kerevan), I welcome the Government’s determination that more oversight is needed on the appointment of the chief executive of the FCA by the Chancellor. However, I have concerns about the new procedures, as announced. Until this legislation is in place, this is very much open for debate and I sincerely hope we will debate it thoroughly, in the way described by my hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Roger Mullin) Another consideration is this: if the Treasury Committee recommends the appointment to be put forward as a motion to the House, the Government could simply whip votes to approve the Chancellor’s appointment. Select Committees provide substantially more apolitical deliberation of key specialised issues. For that reason, a direct Treasury Committee veto of the appointment needs to be considered.
Libya — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Kirsten Frances Oswald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I was disappointed to read in the media the Secretary of State’s recent statement that he had personally authorised the use of United Kingdom bases for United States airstrikes in Libya. The matter was not brought to the Chamber in advance. Furthermore, yesterday’s papers reported that the Government had now deployed British advisers to Libya. Will the Secretary of State commit himself to stopping this mission creep, and to ensuring that no further such action is taken without the leave of the House? Will he also explain his assessment of whether the action to date was lawful according to UK standards relating to the use of force, international humanitarian law, and human rights law?
EU Referendum: Civil Service Guidance — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Margaret Ferrier (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the Treasury’s most senior civil servant, was quoted as saying that he believed that impartiality guidelines did not apply in "extreme" cases such as the Scottish independence referendum. Would the Minister classify the EU referendum as an extreme case, and if so, can we expect normal rules of civil service neutrality to be completely disregarded?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: Government Operations
Kirsten Frances Oswald (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your assistance in relation to a matter that is of some concern to me. In December I asked, by means of a written question, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer had last met the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss certain matters. The response advised me that Treasury Ministers meet a wide variety of organisations and referred me to the Treasury’s transparency reports online, stating that that is where details of such meetings are published. The reports detailed no bilateral meetings between the Treasury and the FCA over a two-year period I therefore challenged the Economic Secretary to the Treasury—she is aware that I am raising this matter today—on that point during a Back-Bench business debate on 12 January. She did not address the matter in her response, so I raised it with her again in a Back-Bench business debate on 1 February. To my great surprise, the hon. Lady stated: "Contrary to what the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire seems to think,"—[Official Report, 1 February 2016; Vol. 605, c. 748.] she had met the acting chief executive of the FCA, and that she regretted that I had formed a different opinion Of course, my opinion was formed on the basis of a written answer, the Treasury’s own transparency reports and exchanges with the Minister in this Chamber, all of which I should have been entitled to rely upon. It is worth noting that a similar issue has arisen in relation to another question, with the Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People referring me to a non-existent or impossible to locate piece of information on the Department for Work and Pensions website The record therefore suggests that I have misunderstood or am mistaken, but neither is true. I would be very much obliged for your advice, Mr Speaker, on how to put the record straight on this matter. Finally, I would be most grateful if you could advise me on how best to stop Ministers referring Members to websites that do not contain relevant information.
Referendums — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Scottish independence referendum was held in September, and, if anything, the campaign benefited from the fact that people could campaign during the warm summer months with extended daylight hours. What advice does the Minister give to the devolved Administrations, who will no sooner have come out of a pre-election purdah period than they will have to go into a pre-referendum purdah period, just as they start implementing the manifestos they were elected on?
Referendums — House of Commons, 2016-02-29
Topic: International Affairs
Patrick John Grady (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Will the hon. Lady confirm what the shadow Foreign Secretary said the other day, which is that it is the position of the Labour party that if Scotland votes to stay in the European Union and the rest of the UK votes to leave, Labour is quite happy for Scotland to be dragged out of the EU against its will?