argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Persecution of Christians — House of Commons, 2020-02-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course. Forgive me if I did not say it loud enough, but I will be happy to repeat it now: I will get somebody from DFID to write to my hon. Friend with the answers to her questions The Government believe passionately that everyone should enjoy the same freedom to choose and practise their religion, or to hold no religion at all. We will continue to strive for that to become a reality for everyone everywhere, and to strive for a world in which all nations respect and protect the rights of all their people, irrespective of their faith or belief. Those suffering persecution today, including the 260 million Christians, deserve nothing less Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the matter of the persecution of Christians.
NATO Allies — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need to use NATO, and it will require reform to adapt to meet new threats. The way to do that is to strengthen and reinforce NATO, so that it can deal with state actors, including Russia, cyber, and all the modern threats. We are absolutely committed to doing that, and bringing our European and north American allies together.
NATO Allies — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right: a lot of the solid, steady work that NATO is doing, and the work in bringing our allies together, goes unnoticed, as is often the case in security. The most important thing the UK can do is continue to lead by example. We contribute to every NATO mission. This includes: leading the enhanced forward presence battle group in Estonia; contributing to the US battle group in Poland; and working with our NATO allies on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we will continue to do all those things.
Climate Change — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK was disappointed at the lack of progress made at COP25 in Madrid. The UK and Italian diplomatic efforts will be squarely focused on achieving a successful COP26. COP is about more than negotiations; it is about real change happening across countries, civil society and the private sector. These broader elements will be a primary focus of COP26.
Climate Change — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Siobhan Kathleen Baillie (Conservative, Centre-right): At the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a Stroud Greenpeace exhibition about climate change and protecting our oceans. Will the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continue to advocate for international agreement on climate change at the United Nations? Will the Minister tell us more about the Government’s commitment to protecting our oceans and the work on the UN global treaty negotiations?
Prosperity in Africa — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend and everyone involved in the very successful Africa investment summit. Will there be another one and, if so, what would the African countries that were not invited to this one need to do to get an invite to the next one?
UK Nationals: Consular Support — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anthony Howe Browne (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much welcome the assurances that this Government have given to the 3 million EU nationals who will continue living in the UK after the transition period, but we have heard far less about the rights of the 1 million UK citizens living in the EU post Brexit. What work is the Department doing to help preserve those UK citizens’ futures?
Gambia: Arrests of Protestors — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: What representations he has made to his Gambian counterpart on reports of arrests of peaceful protestors by Gambian security forces. [R] What the Gambia did in coming together to rid itself of the human rights abuses of former President Jammeh was nothing short of spectacular and gave a real opportunity to build a world-leading democracy, but last week, hundreds were beaten by security forces for peacefully demonstrating. Four journalists were detained and charged with incitement, and two radio stations have been closed down. Using the Government’s global media freedom campaign, what can the Minister do to support the majority of Gambians, who are terrified that this is the start of a slippery slope backwards, when they clearly want to go forwards?
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her question. We are concerned that the political protests on 26 January turned violent. We are monitoring the investigations into that incident closely through our high commission. The UK is clear that the right to peaceful protest and media freedom must be upheld without recourse to violence and intimidation.
Middle East — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. We have discussed the case of Luke Symons at some length, and of course my door always remains open. We continue to do what we can in a very difficult and challenging situation with our interlocutors and partners to secure the outcome that I know the hon. Gentleman wants for Mr Cummings.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: I was at Vicarage Road on Saturday, when both goals for Watford were scored by foreign players. Will the Secretary of State assure me that the premier league will still be able to attract talent and international players from around the world?
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): What an excellent question, particularly bearing in mind how important soft power is to our standing in the world. We are proud to host the best league in the world, showcasing the greatest talent in the world, and this year we will welcome our European friends to Glasgow and London for Euro 2020—yes, my hon. Friend can be assured about that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: I was at Vicarage Road on Saturday, when both goals for Watford were scored by foreign players. Will the Secretary of State assure me that the premier league will still be able to attract talent and international players from around the world?; As the Foreign Secretary should be aware, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union who are employed by Interserve at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have begun a month of strike action. The dispute is over a lack of trade union recognition for collective bargaining purposes, sick pay, and unfair contractual changes. I am pleased that some of those workers are here today watching proceedings, and I stand in solidarity with them in their fight for dignity, respect, and fair treatment at work. Will the Foreign Secretary urgently review the situation, and work with all parties to bring the dispute to an end and achieve a fair and dignified resolution?; Does the Minister share my view that unless and until peaceful co-existence is taught, championed and modelled in Palestinian schools, any peace deal with Israel will be short-lived?; For those who believe in the international rules-based order, the Trump annexation plan is an utter disaster that ushers in the law of the jungle. If the British Government support this plan, surely they will also be giving a green light to Russia and China for their various annexation activities. If it is okay for Israel to do this, what will the Foreign Secretary say to Russia and China?; Soft power will be increasingly important in the post-Brexit world. Among the many international treasures the UK can marshal is the BBC World Service, with an audience of over 320 million. After the BBC recently reneged on the funding agreement for free TV licences for over-75s, will the Minister ensure that the BBC does not try to compensate by raiding the BBC World Service budget and endangering this vital resource?; Will the Minister provide an update on why the Chinese Government are not giving permission for their citizens to leave the country with their British partners?; The Prime Minister’s speech yesterday was welcomed by many businesses in Bishop Auckland for his words about championing free trade globally. On freedom, a number of my constituents have been in touch to ask specifically what we can do to help to promote freedom in Venezuela.; With regard to Hong Kong BNO—British National (Overseas)—passport holders, can the Secretary of State say whether the Government consider them to be British or Chinese nationals? If it is British, what more can we do to enable them to access consular support in the place they live?
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend knows, we take freedom of religion and belief extremely seriously, and the Prime Minister’s envoy, my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham and Rainham (Rehman Chishti), is working closely with me on the plans for that conference.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Immigration
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I have not yet seen the BBC documentary, and I suspect that the hon. Gentleman has not done so either, because it is due to be aired shortly. However, it is important to stress that officials discussed advice to be sent to Ministers late in 2019, and the final discussions were held with Ministers in 2020. Parliament was then informed. This relates to the back end of the timetable, which concerns people moving to universal credit in 2024-25, so the change was communicated in good time The hon. Gentleman referred to cost, and it is important to put that in context. This is additional money that will go into the pockets of our claimants, some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our country. About 900,000 people could now receive transitional protection who would not have been able to receive it through natural migration.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Immigration
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for his kind words. The answer is a categorical yes: his constituents will be better off. Under our forecasting, around 900,000 people will now be eligible for transitional protection, and as a result they will be better off.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not entirely sure about the correlation between that question and this urgent question but, nevertheless, the hon. Gentleman can write to me, or I would be happy to meet him to discuss the issue further. I cannot guarantee that we will agree, but I will be happy to listen to him to understand the issues he raises.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope you recall, Mr Speaker, that I did make a full, frank and unreserved apology in this Chamber. As for the case that the hon. Lady raises, if she would like to write to me with the details, I will happily look into it. There are strict Treasury rules about errors and deductions, but I will be happy to look at them.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (Conservative, Centre-right): I, too, have visited my jobcentre and its staff universally welcome universal credit—there is no doubt about that—but there have been one or two hiccups. When an employer tends to pay early, say at Christmas, that does tend to muck up the next month’s universal credit payment. Are we trying to resolve that issue?
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend asks a pertinent question that was raised by six separate colleagues at oral questions only last week. I am looking closely at this area and intend to organise a roundtable with interested colleagues and officials to explore how we can tackle the issue.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not want anyone in our country to have no choice but to use or visit a food bank. I visit food banks regularly, and I want to get a clear understanding of food insecurity in our country. That is why we have commissioned questions for the Family Resources Survey, which started in April last year. I am also working with food banks and other organisations that tackle food insecurity to better understand the issue. If we better understand the issue, we will know how to tackle it.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I can of course give that commitment, but I stress that this is a change in policy based on forecasts. Forecasts do change, and it is responsible of Ministers to look at them and change policy accordingly. If the forecast changes, I will of course look at it, as will the Secretary of State, and where necessary, act accordingly.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question and the constructive way in which he put it, but I must respectfully disagree with him. There is no five-week wait. People are able to access their advance on day one.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a little confused, because my understanding is that those performance stats are indeed available. The Department has a very good record on payments and payment timeliness. Can we improve? Of course we can, and I meet with officials on at least a weekly basis to discuss that. In many cases, it is down not just to the Department but to how the claimant provides information. We are putting in additional resource, where appropriate, to help people to help themselves to get us that important information that we need to process the claims.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nigel John Mills (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister confirm that one solution to this would be to get more uptake for the excellent help to claim service through Citizens Advice? Will he confirm that service will be extended so that it is there for the whole period through to the end of the roll-out?
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. Under universal credit, it will always pay to work and it will always pay to do more hours. That is the principle that we stand by, and we will stick by it.
Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
William James Quince (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe I answered this question a little earlier today. I am looking at the issue, and I will invite the hon. Gentleman, along with other colleagues who have an interest in this area, to the Department to raise it with officials. We are looking at solutions. It is not potentially an easy or quick fix, but if we can address this, of course we will.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am more than willing to repeat the points I made, which were that this briefing was additional to normal lobby handlings. Those lobby handlings are entirely normal, standard and routine, and have been so over successive Governments. I am not taking any further lectures from the Labour party, which needs to look in the mirror a little on this. The hon. Lady is part of a shadow Government who wish to regulate and introduce Soviet-style licensing of newspapers; and whose leader and shadow Chancellor take money from media organisations, such as Press TV, which are owned by foreign, hostile Governments. Under that culture, a BBC editor had to have protection at the Labour party conference, and the shadow Chancellor encourages direct action against journalists who do not write what he likes. Conservative Members strongly support the free press. I have set out the ways in which we do that. In addition to the briefings and the very normal routine operation of the lobby, the Prime Minister has a huge amount of further appointments and engagements on a range of channels. For example, he did more than 120 media engagements during the election. Senior members of the Government come to this House to answer those questions again, and we intend to continue doing those things. That choice is absolutely clear, and we on this side of the House stand up for a free and vibrant press. The hon. Lady needs to ask herself and her colleagues the same questions.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend the Father of the House for his wisdom and long sight on this issue. He shares with us exactly what these things looked like over successive Governments, which is to say that it is quite routine for there to be lobby briefings on a regular basis—we run them twice daily—and in addition to that some specialist and technical briefings. I understand the point that my hon. Friend closed his contribution with and am sure that that will be correctly considered. It is so valuable that we hear from him, given his long sight on this issue, which reminds us how these things look over history.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): The short answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is no. The longer answer is that he, too, should be careful about what he says. If he wants to hand out prizes, perhaps he might look back to the days when Alex Salmond, formerly of this parish, used to routinely exclude journalists from his briefings. There is a tinge here, Mr Speaker, of people who are not willing to look at their own record before they come here and prance around with a few too many adjectives The other thing I would add is that we on the Government Benches, like others in other parties, are proud Unionists. We recognise that there are national broadcasters that deal with all parts of our country. Long may that last.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think the hon. Lady understands that her party has been the worst of all on this point. Her party is the one that has offered to open up journalists’ tax returns and has had to provide bodyguards to journalists. All that is because the leader of her party is of the kind of bent that looks down a camera and says, "Change is coming." Well, the British people ensured that he was the one who was changed. The hon. Lady should heed that.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Abimbola Afolami (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister confirm two things for the House—first, that the Government will of course look at making sure that briefings are done in a sensible way, with the agreement of all members of the lobby over the longer term; and secondly, that this Government and, indeed, this House should always be committed to there being no political interference in our media, because that is a foundation of our democracy?
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right on that point. As I have said, the Government are upholders of freedom and accessibility for Government briefings. We take it as a matter of pride that we are an extremely open Government, ensuring that there are briefings available across a range of channels. As I have already said, what has been happening recently, and the subject of today’s question, is in fact the perfectly normal operation of the lobby: twice daily briefings and, in addition to that, the offer of further specialist briefings. There is clearly the ability to hold the Government to account, and that is how we intend to continue to work.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that it is ridiculous for the Labour party to pose as champions of press freedom when, as mentioned earlier, the BBC’s political editor has to be assigned a bodyguard to attend the Labour party conference? Does she agree that that is unacceptable and that our press should be able to report without fear?
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Jerome Patrick Burke Mayhew (Conservative, Centre-right): Given that the Labour party called for the resignation of BBC journalists who had the courage to report on antisemitism, does the Minister agree that it is the Conservative party that stands up for a healthy, vibrant and independent press?
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Civil Rights
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome my hon. Friend’s contribution. He is absolutely right that what we are talking about here today is how the Government are, ought to be and will be, committed to being open in their dealings with the press and to the principles of media freedom. That is something that we stick by firmly as a matter of principle and of practice.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Other
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome that glimpse of experience. It is important to say again that what we are discussing here today are the normal operations of the lobby. We are making sure that that is supplemented by these additional briefings.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dehenna Sheridan Fareham (Conservative, Centre-right): While the Labour party, true to form these days it seems, is obsessing about the London bubble, will my hon. Friend confirm that the Treasury is looking at how best it can support the media across the country? What impact does she believe that the recently announced business rates relief for local newspaper offices will have, particularly on great Bishop Auckland organisations, such as the Teesdale Mercury and The Northern Echo?
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Chloe Rebecca Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a helpful wider point, which is how we, as a Government, can use policy and indeed scrutinise it here in this place—I say this as the Budget and other such vehicles come up—to look at ways to support the vibrancy of our press and media across the country. I referenced the Cairncross review earlier. These things, together with fiscal measures, are important in that debate.
Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access — House of Commons, 2020-02-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Timothy Simmonds (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that this very much has the flavour of a storm in a Westminster bubble? Will she outline what further steps she might be taking to improve the ability of our regional and local newspapers to hold all of us as politicians to account, outside of that bubble?