argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): Let me try to help my hon. Friend because there is a bit of a theme running through the Government’s approach. Ironically, given that we are considering the Prisons and Courts Bill, the Government’s approach to evidence is somewhat cavalier. Most of us would accept there is likely to be cause and effect between cutting 6,500 prison officers and replacing them with only 2,500, and the terrible state of our prisons; and between the introduction of massive employment tribunal fees and a lack of access to justice. Now we have bizarre compensation tariff proposals for whiplash with no evidence of where the Government got their figures from, but just an assertion from the Secretary of State that they believe in fair compensation. Well, I believe in Santa Claus as well.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend puts it very well indeed. Evidence is required in court and in this place, and the evidence to back up some of the Government’s proposals is lacking. I will say more about this later, but there is a similar situation in respect of the review of employment tribunal fees. In effect, it says, "There is nothing to see here," despite evidence showing that there has been a 70% reduction in the number of cases brought to those tribunals.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): Fantastic work such as that of the Emmaus project helps not only to turn around the lives of inmates, but to protect society, because the majority of people who go into our prisons will come out and live next door to us. The project helps to give people a stake in society and to reduce reoffending, and the Government can learn much from it. Leaving prison without a home to go to creates a barrier to many things, including getting a job, and that hampers people’s reintegration into society.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): In that context of insufficient staff, does my hon. Friend join me in welcoming the establishment of a prisons and probation ombudsman with considerable powers, including one to direct the form of the response to be made by the Secretary of State to a report from the ombudsman? It is a considerable power. To have a strong ombudsman who would be prepared, if necessary and in certain circumstances, to face up to the Secretary of State is a powerful protection when that ombudsman investigates deaths as well as other complaints.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the difference is that some Government Members apparently have overlooked the fact that very often employment tribunal cases are brought by people who have no job? They have no income. That is why they are bringing a tribunal case. It is very different from a big commercial dispute, where court fees are paid for access to justice, to charge tribunal fees to people who have no income and no job, and that is the substance of their complaint to the tribunal.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important point. I would also give the example of people being charged employment tribunal fees that exceed the underpayment of the wage about which they are complaining. That really discourages claims.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): The coalition Government’s objective in introducing employment tribunal fees was to strengthen the hand of employers, including unscrupulous ones, and to weaken the hand of individual employees. That is what the policy was about and that is why it has worked from the Government’s perspective. The ACAS conciliation now offered as compulsory conciliation is not the same as the role of ACAS in the past when people issued an employment tribunal case. No professional advice is given on the value of the case. Just because a claim has not been issued or a matter has been discontinued does not mean that it has been resolved satisfactorily with both parties on an equal footing. To make it clear, Labour would abolish employment tribunal fees because Labour believes in access to justice.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): More than implicit in the hon. Gentleman’s ill-considered comments is that allowing people to seek justice in the employment courts without paying money is a something-for-nothing practice. That is a disgraceful comment, which we look forward to publicising as widely as we can. The Government need to think again when it comes to employment tribunal fees.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Burgon (Labour, Centre-left): The problem is that the price that is being paid is that of access to justice, and that is unacceptable to the Labour party at least. Are the Government seriously contending that 70% of claims brought before 2013 were somehow fraudulent? If so, that is absolutely outrageous.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Howard Marris (Labour, Centre-left): Would my hon. Friend repeat the figures? I thought he said, in round terms, that there were half a million fewer cases after the changes, but the Minister has indicated that 70,000 more cases go to arbitration. That is a big gap—it is still more than 400,000 people who are not getting access to justice.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the ways in which we could dramatically cut reoffending would be to look at how many people are revolving-door entrants and leavers of prison, not because of criminal intent but because their mental health condition drives them to behave in a way that leads them, inevitably, into the arms of the police—the police are becoming social workers for the mentally ill—and into the criminal justice system rather than into our psychiatric hospitals, which are massively overcrowded and underfunded?
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): I understand the hon. Gentleman’s points about the whiplash culture, but does he appreciate that the Bill does not cover the ability of rogue solicitors to pursue false claims against individuals who have not been involved in car accidents? Those solicitors claim that they have, and that people have been injured. An elderly couple in my constituency were harassed terribly, and although there was no evidence of injury, the solicitor pursued the claim. The court threw it out, but the Solicitors Regulation Authority would not look at the matter at all.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): I am fully aware of that. What the Minister needs to know is that the Justice Committee believes that there is still a tangential link between two matters, which is why it is considering the whiplash provisions in the Bill together with employment levels. We are very conscious that, as well as the potential examination of the Government’s case in regard to whiplash, there should be an examination of their case in regard to industrial and employment injuries. There are myriad cases—I have no time to list them now, but I shall do so on another occasion—in which industrial injury claims would be detrimentally impacted by the change in the limit, and while that is not directly in the Bill—
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Labor
David George Hanson (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister does not work in the same spheres that I work in; people in my constituency depend on that level of employment injury support to ensure that they get justice at work. We will return to that at a later stage. The Minister is looking quizzical; he will have an opportunity to come and explain his proposals and those on whiplash to the Justice Committee in due course The Bill’s direction of travel can and should be supported. However, the beef of this Bill is what really matters. There are measures that the Government can take to improve it, and to reduce the poor indicators that have been growing in disparity over the last few years, and not just in staffing. They should also consider issues such as those raised by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckham and those that the Justice Committee asks the Government to look at again.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): I totally endorse everything that my hon. Friend says. She sets out the tragedy of the difficulties that women in prison face in maintaining family contact. Their children often end up in care or being farmed out to family members who cannot travel long distances. In particular, for Welsh women, children have to travel to England to see their mum in prison. This damages the family cohesion that is so vital to rehabilitation.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Katherine Anne Green (Labour, Centre-left): There is a huge amount of consensus this evening about maintaining prisoners’ family relationships. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a corollary of that is that family contact should not be removed as a penalty where other forms of sanction are available? It is unfair to the family members and it defeats the object, which he and others have talked about, of maintaining prisoners’ contact with their families.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the hon. Gentleman, whom I consider my friend, for giving way. I suggest that the Justice Committee does visit Parc prison, because the leadership from the director there is essential. These things work only with leadership, quality staff, a whole organisational approach and a commitment to change. I am sure the Chair of the Select Committee would be delighted at what he finds there. I must admit that my staff and I can take no responsibility for the wonderful work there; we can only support it.
Prisons and Courts Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-20
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (Labour, Centre-left): Because these are the very people who do not have the money to bring their cases. The hon. Gentleman is so far from reality. With the greatest of respect, although he did make some useful contributions in his speech, he is in a hole when it comes to this issue, so I suggest that he stops digging. His contribution really gets no better with the number of remarks he makes The final parts of the Bill are on whiplash claims. I have already said that I agree with the hon. Member for Bury North that the way to deal with fraud is not to increase the small claims track limit in this way. On whiplash, as on everything else, we will judge the Bill and look to amend it in Committee based on what it does for access to justice. That is the central principle on which it must be judged.
Commonwealth Countries — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other Commonwealth countries on the future of trade and investment between the UK and those countries.; What recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other Commonwealth countries on the future of trade and investment between the UK and those countries.
Matthew Toby Perkins (Labour, Centre-left): Members on the Conservative Back Benches are desperate for the Secretary of State to give us more confidence that we will massively increase trade with the Commonwealth, but I think he is wise not to do so. India, Australia and Canada collectively account for less than 5% of our exports, and research shows that the most enduring statistic is that trade halves whenever the distance between nations doubles. Is it not foolhardy for us to be turning away from our closest trading partners and relying on increasing trade with countries so very far away?
Commonwealth Countries — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other Commonwealth countries on the future of trade and investment between the UK and those countries.; What recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other Commonwealth countries on the future of trade and investment between the UK and those countries.
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): One country with which negotiations on trade have been very advanced is Canada, with the EU discussions on the Canadian trade deal. Obviously, the Secretary of State will want to seek to replicate that fairly quickly after our exit from the EU, but that has been subject to a huge amount of disinformation regarding the costs and benefits of the deal. When are the Government actually going to take on this issue and set the record straight?
Brazil — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with the Government of Brazil on a trade agreement with that country after the UK leaves the EU.
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister will be aware that the barriers to trade are not simply those that would be covered in an orthodox trade deal; there is also the unfamiliarity with local customs and so on. If we are to encourage our small and medium-sized enterprises to export, what practical facilities can be given to open up markets like Brazil, potentially enormous but at present very difficult for SMEs to access?
Brazil — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with the Government of Brazil on a trade agreement with that country after the UK leaves the EU.
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): Of course, the Minister could have pointed out that a trade agreement can only take place with Mercosur, because Brazil is part of that bloc, and should an EU trade agreement be put in place with Mercosur prior to our leaving the EU, it would become one of the agreements the EU currently has with some 50 countries. How does the Secretary of State propose to carry out his manifesto commitment to replicate all of those existing agreements after Brexit, and specifically, what legislative instruments does he propose to introduce to that end in the trade Bill?
Food and Drink Sector — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Labor
Questions: York has a food manufacturing sector, and it has real concerns over the increases in import and production costs and over labour; we are all, of course, concerned about the environment. Can the Minister tell the food manufacturing sector what new trade opportunities he has secured for it, and what their value will be to the economy?
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): Why have the Government done nothing to stop Nestlé moving production from the United Kingdom to Poland, with the loss of 300 jobs? The Government confirmed this week in a written answer that Ministers met Nestlé in April. Nestlé has said that it would take an investment of £1 million to keep production in the UK. The Government found £1 billion to save one job in Downing Street, but they cannot find £1 million to save 300 jobs at Nestlé. Unbelievable!
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: As well as an economic opportunity, there is a moral opportunity in trade with the developing world. Will the Secretary of State please tell the House what steps he is taking to support trade with developing countries?
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): In his recent talks in the United States, did the Secretary of State discuss President Trump’s initiation of a section 232 investigation into the effect of steel imports on US national security? What concerns does the Secretary of State have about the impact such a protectionist ruling might have on the UK’s steel sector and on jobs in our steel industry due to lost exports and trade deflection of dumped goods on our market?
State Pension Age: Women Born in the 1950s — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Labor
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the disadvantage experienced by women born in the 1950s as a result of changes to the state pension age.; What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the disadvantage experienced by women born in the 1950s as a result of changes to the state pension age.
Nicholas Dakin (Labour, Centre-left): Yesterday, in response to the Westminster Hall debate, the Minister made the well-intentioned but ill-judged suggestion that an adequate response to the pensions plight of the 1950s-born women was for them to access apprenticeships. That shows how far out of touch some people are on this issue. There is a clear consensus across this House to address this injustice. When will the Government bring forward legislation to address that injustice?
State Pension Age: Women Born in the 1950s — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Labor
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the disadvantage experienced by women born in the 1950s as a result of changes to the state pension age.; What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the disadvantage experienced by women born in the 1950s as a result of changes to the state pension age.
Gillian Furniss (Labour, Centre-left): Following the appalling announcement in yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate, which was probably the best-attended debate ever in that Chamber, many of us have heard through our postbags that the poverty caused by this Government’s decision on equalising the pension age is appalling. Is that not just another sign of this Government showing yet again how out of touch they are with the real world, as they have over the past three weeks?
Ex-prisoners (Support) — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Ian Colin Lucas (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister has correctly identified the importance of homelessness in reoffending, but will he give much more detail about what specific assistance is given to individuals who leave prison, who we do not want to see reoffending but who need assistance at a crucial time?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Barbara Mary Keeley (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that response, but I really must ask him whether he shares my deep concern about the state of adult social care, as highlighted by today’s report by the Care Quality Commission. Some 3,200 care services were rated as "requires improvement", with more than 340 rated as "inadequate". That means that some 92,000 vulnerable people are receiving poor care and some 10,000 people are receiving inadequate care. The picture is even worse in nursing homes, with one in three receiving the poorest ratings Does the Minister share my concern about safety, with one in four care locations failing on protecting people from abuse or avoidable harm? That means thousands of vulnerable people not getting prescribed medicines, being ignored when they ask for help and not having enough time for their home care visits The Labour party has repeatedly raised the damaging impacts of budget cuts, with more than £5 billion having been cut from social care since 2010. Does the Minister now accept that that has caused the crisis in care staffing, which is at the heart of the poor care that is being reported? Poor staffing levels and staff training are key factors in those providers with the poorest ratings In his written ministerial statement earlier this week, the Secretary of State suggested that the £2 billion allocated in the spring Budget to local councils for social care, to which the Minister has just referred, will now be dependent on performance against targets for delayed transfer of care. That means that some councils could lose funding that they have already planned to spend. Does the Minister accept that threatening local councils with the loss of planned funding could lead to a worsening of the quality and safety issues highlighted today? With social care in crisis, this is not the time to be threatening joint working with local councils, so will he reverse that threat and match the Labour pledge of an extra £8 billion for social care, including an extra £1 billion this year?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Mian Faisal Rashid (Labour, Centre-left): This week marks the sixth anniversary of the Dilnot commission report on social care, yet the Government are no closer to finding a solution on funding social care. Will the Minister tell the House why his Government have wasted six years and failed to take any action to solve the social care crisis?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Maria Eagle (Labour, Centre-left): Liverpool City Council spends more on adult social care than it is able to raise in council tax, yet still has more of a cut to make, and pays a very low level of fees as a consequence. Can the Minister give an assurance that councils such as Liverpool will not be further disadvantaged when he rolls out the extra funding he is promising to try to improve this situation?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): If we are going to have that honest debate, the Minister, whom I welcome to his place, has to accept that the decisions of his Government have fuelled the social care crisis. My council, the third most deprived in the country, has had the 17th highest cuts to its budget, including having £40 million taken out of social care by 2020. The social care precept that the Minister has introduced does not raise the amount of money in my area that it could in wealthier areas. Will he please accept some political responsibility for the mess we are in?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): In March, the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government agreed a report on adult social care. We called for significant extra funds in the short and medium term, but we said that, in the long term, a lasting solution will be found only through cross-party working. The Minister seems to agree in principle, but will he confirm: that he will engage with Opposition Front Benchers and other parties on the consultation’s terms of reference; that he will fully involve them in the consultation; that he will approach the consultation with an open mind, and not rule out any alternatives; and that the Select Committee will be involved in the consultation?
Adult Social Care Funding — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Paula Michelle Sherriff (Labour, Centre-left): You finally spotted me, Mr Speaker. Worryingly, Age UK recently described choosing a care home as "Russian roulette". Does the Minister believe it is acceptable to force people to take these risks with their most loved ones?
Jobcentre Plus: Closures — House of Commons, 2017-07-06
Topic: Labor
Margaret Greenwood (Labour, Centre-left): (Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to make a statement on his plans to close Jobcentre Plus offices, and the impact on local communities and Department for Work and Pensions jobs.