argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-06-20
Topic: Defense
Madeleine Moon (Labour, Centre-left): I hope that people in the Department for Education are listening to my hon. Friend, because it is essential that we reawaken the British public’s understanding of the nature of the threats we face. We have taken our security for granted, and too many of our citizens no longer see the risks and, indeed, no longer trust their Government to accurately portray the risks to them. That has been fertile ground for Russian disinformation campaigns and cyber-attacks. In fact, in some respects, the most horrific thing about the attack in Salisbury is how many people have said to me, "Oh, it was MI6." They actually believe we carried out an attack on our own soil, on ourselves. We have to wake up to that and we have to deal with it The alliance is very good at addressing military weaknesses, but we are not very good at looking at how we ensure we take our populations with us. The disaffection of our public, their lack of recognition of the infiltration of our social media and cyber, and the attacks on our values, our politics and our alliance must be dealt with. We cannot carry on like this. We are like the frog in the water, and there is a risk we are not noticing that the heat is rising In relation to Brexit, our priority must be for the UK to reassure our allies not only of our total commitment but of our enhanced commitment to the NATO alliance, and that we will remain a strong, effective and committed partner. Finally—
NATO — House of Commons, 2018-06-20
Topic: Defense
Luke Pollard (Labour, Centre-left): We have got towards the end of a defence debate, with all the defence family here, and no one has said the word "Plymouth", so it seems only appropriate that I should rise to my feet and talk about Plymouth First, however, I want Members to cast their minds back a few years. Before I was the wonderful silver fox that Members see in front of them, I had brown hair, and back in 2004 I was at the NATO summit in Istanbul. It was there that my real affection for NATO was formed and that I understood how important it is that we co-operate across borders and are ready to face the threats coming our way. Warfare is changing—no one is denying that it is changing—and we must keep an eye on the future. NATO needs to be flexible and adaptable, but if I am honest, it has been too hard and too structured to respond to some of its needs. It was too inflexible after the terrorist threats we saw from 2001 onwards, and it is still a little too inflexible. To return to the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) made, it does not seem able to cope with understanding how hybrid warfare and online and cyber-threats face us as an alliance, and it needs to We know that there is increased Russian activity threatening the alliance. We know that there is a very real risk of Russian cyber-attacks in the UK, and there have been such attacks on our NATO allies. However, article 5 has not been triggered, which means that we are in this limbo land, where the Russians are getting away with these things, but if we were using the tactics prevalent 100 years ago, they would have been in a conflict. We need to understand that threat As well as understanding what is being done with hybrid warfare to destabilise our allies, we need to understand the use of drones and swarm warfare, which Russia is practising and using in Syria, as well as the increase in its military activities elsewhere and in the weaponising of migration We need to keep an eye on our high-end capabilities. In particular, I want briefly to talk about the maritime role. In Devonport, we have a world-class dockyard, a world-class naval base and skills that we really need. With increased Russian submarine activity in the north Atlantic, the anti-submarine warfare of the Type 23s and the Type 26s, which I hope those on the Government Front Bench will announce are coming to Devonport shortly, is absolutely essential, as is understanding how we can counter the rise in Russian surface fleet activity and under-sea cable spy ships, which are an increasing threat, but which are not often spoken about in this place We also need to protect our amphibious capabilities. The UK has fantastic amphibious capability in Albion, Bulwark and the Royal Marines, and we need to make sure that that is protected in the modernising defence review that is coming. In terms of the ministerial assurances that Albion and Bulwark will go out of service in 2033 and 2034, I hope that that commitment will be maintained in the modernising defence review, when it is published next month.
Idlib — House of Commons, 2018-09-10
Topic: Defense
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for all his responses to questions on such an important issue. Can he expand on his response about how and when action will be taken against those commanders who have been found to be responsible for these illicit attacks, for these war crimes? It is not good enough to say that it will happen at some stage. Will he reassure us that no stone will go unturned and that these people will be held to account, and held to account quickly?
Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement — House of Commons, 2018-09-10
Topic: Health
Helen Catherine Goodman (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister says that the Government have published notices. Last week, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union told us in this House that the medicine notices covered stockpiling. I looked at them and could see no reference to stockpiling. In which notice is the stockpiling of medicines set out?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-06-27
Topic: Health
Questions: What work has the Cabinet Office done to ensure that Departments have the skills and people required to deliver a successful exit from the European Union?; What progress has my hon. Friend made in allowing the Jain community to declare their religion in the new census, and will she agree to meet a delegation from the community?; Will the Minister please explain how the Government justify wasting time and taxpayers’ money on the “testing and scrutiny” of contractual arrangements, only to ignore their own highest possible risk rating for Capita and award it the fire and rescue contract?; What recent discussions has my hon. Friend had with Cabinet colleagues about the cost to the taxpayer of public sector workers’ taking trade union facility time?
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): The anniversary of the Prime Minister’s announcement of a public inquiry into contaminated blood is fast approaching. Can we expect a statement in the House to say that the terms of reference have finally been agreed and the public inquiry can get on with its work?
Engagements — House of Commons, 2018-06-27
Topic: Defense
Questions: As a former Chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, may I ask the Prime Minister whether, given the unresolved issues that remain in Northern Ireland, she has any plans to visit the Province in the near future?
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (Labour, Centre-left): I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Armed Forces Day and Reserves Day. I hope that we also recognise that we need to do far more to address veterans’ housing and health needs I also pay tribute to the firefighters tackling the blaze on Saddleworth moor. I am sure all our thoughts are with them, and their communities and families, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) is there today to support them On Brexit, the Business Secretary believes that business "is entitled to be listened to with respect."—[Official Report, 25 June 2018; Vol. 643, c. 609.] I am sorry to see that the Foreign Secretary is not with us today. He takes a very different view, using an Anglo-Saxon term to make his point. Which is the Prime Minister’s view?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-06-27
Topic: Health
Emma Ann Hardy (Labour, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I rise to ask your advice on a matter of exceptional importance to my constituents. As you know, I have been seeking for quite some time now to get a simple, clear answer to what I believe to be a simple, clear question. I have written to Ministers, put in written questions and asked questions during oral questions, and so far I have been unable to get a straightforward answer to this question: when will this Government release the money for the child and adolescent mental health services unit in my constituency that they have long promised? In fact, to the last written question I put in, I received what can only be described as the slightly offensive reply that "details of ministerial discussions are not…disclosed." They have not even had the decency to give me some kind of timeframe. How can I get the Department of Health and Social Care to tell me when it will release the money for the CAMHS unit that is so desperately needed in my constituency?
Privately Financed Prisons — House of Commons, 2018-06-27
Topic: Defense
Diana Ruth Johnson (Labour, Centre-left): Last week, a Defence Minister stood at the Dispatch Box and told us that the Government had awarded a contract to Capita, despite the Ministry of Defence saying it was the highest risk possible for failure— 10 out of 10. I just wonder whether this Minister might be able to reassure the House that if Capita comes forward with a bid for any of these contracts and scores a risk of 10 out of 10, it will not be awarded a contract.
Offensive Weapons Bill — House of Commons, 2018-06-27
Topic: Health
Rosalie Winterton (Labour, Centre-left): I have now to announce the result of today’s deferred Division. In respect of the question relating to healthcare and associated professions, the Ayes were 467 and the Noes were 2, so the Ayes have it [The Division list is published at the end of today’s debates.]
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Health
Mohammad Yasin (Labour, Centre-left): In Bedfordshire, children with mental health issues are travelling up to 100 miles to access services. Their recovery is hugely compromised by sending them away from their families and friends. Will the Chancellor now commit funds to local specialist facilities for young people and reinstate the mental health beds in Bedford that his Government took away?
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Health
Ruth Stephanie Nicole George (Labour, Centre-left): My clinical commissioning group in north Derbyshire has seen an uplift of only 1% over the five-year funding settlement from 2016-17, resulting in a deficit of £51 million to find this year in cuts and of £71 million next year. It is having to cut everything that it is not statutorily required to provide, including all voluntary services. Will the Chancellor look at the funding that has gone to the national health service over the past six years to make sure this can be met?
NHS Funding — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Health
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): Is the Chief Secretary aware in the discussions the Health Secretary may have had on NHS funding whether he mentioned his unilateral plan to ditch the 2013 pensions deal agreed with representative bodies, which was supposed to last for 25 years, and which may affect 1 million NHS staff?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that it is unfortunate that we have not had a proper debate about our involvement in the coalition of which, as we have just heard, we are apparently part? It is particularly concerning that we continue to sell arms to the coalition, but do not investigate some of the atrocious issues that my hon. Friend and others have raised.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend, who is a new Member, has already made his mark on both the International Development Committee—which I chair—and the Committees on Arms Export Controls, which is especially relevant to this debate. In a moment, I shall deal with the issue of our arms sales to members of the coalition, particularly Saudi Arabia.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend also share my concern about the fact that the head of the Export Control Organisation, which controls arms sales here in Britain, advised the Minister in 2017 that he thought it would be "prudent and cautious" to suspend licences, "given the gaps in knowledge" that the British have about the humanitarian results of use of our weapons? It is concerning, is it not, that the Minister overturned that official advice and continues to allow sales?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Hilary James Benn (Labour, Centre-left): In supporting my hon. Friend’s call for a suspension of arms sales pending an investigation, which the Leader of the Opposition—who is in the Chamber—and I in my previous capacity jointly made a couple of years ago, does my hon. Friend not agree that this is a matter of the law? I know that there has been a legal case, but criterion 2c says very clearly that a licence should not be granted "if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law" Are not the incidents in August merely further proof that breaches of international humanitarian law are being committed by the coalition?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for the role he has played on this issue over a significant period of time, and I absolutely share his view. I know there are different views about this in the House, and we had a fundamental difference of view on this in the Committees on Arms Export Controls in the previous Parliament, but I share his view, and I fear that our approach to this as a country undermines our credibility as a force for good in the control of arms around the world.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
John Francis Spellar (Labour, Centre-left): In my hon. Friend’s considerations in coming to that conclusion, does he give any weight to the tens of thousands of skilled aerospace workers, and their families and their communities, who depend on the military aircraft, let alone the whole aerospace supply chain which is vitally important for our industry? Should we not be thinking about them as well?
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): My right hon. Friend is of course right to say that one of our considerations in having a policy on the defence industries must be the work for those who are in those industries, but we have not only signed up to a set of laws in our own country, in Europe and internationally on arms control. We have taken the lead in international forums, and those laws and rules have very little meaning if we are not prepared to enforce them, and enforce them consistently.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): I am of course aware of the court case, and the hon. Lady is right that that process will move forward. She is right, too, that on paper we have some of the strongest and most robust controls in the world, but the test is in the reality of what we do, and our country has not been turning down licences for the members of the Saudi-led coalition, unlike other countries. That raises concern about the practice, as distinct from the theory, of our robust approach to arms control in this country.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Stephen Twigg (Labour, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. This conflict is multifaceted; it is not simply two-sided. AQAP is a security challenge that predates the Yemen conflict and there is a further element to which I will refer in a moment: the north-south element of this conflict. However, all of us will of course agree that the defeat of al-Qaeda is of absolutely crucial importance.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising that very serious and very important point. I will put it as I have put it to many of those who work in these factories: no one who makes arms in this country wants those arms to be sold in contravention of national law and international law. I appreciate that there has been a court case, and I appreciate that there is an appeal. I watched the court case carefully, and I feel that, from those parts of the trial held in open court, there is an overwhelming case that we should no longer be selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, half the case was held in secret court, in which we do not know what happened, so we do not know why the court came to its decision, which frankly, raises a completely different issue about the accountability of secret courts Ultimately, no one wants to do anything outside the law, and it is important for our arms industry that sales are done within the law. I know those workers understand that. I do not stand in the way of our arms industry; I stand in the way of our arms industry selling weapons illegally around the world. Frankly, I do not want our bombs and our planes to be responsible for this, and I am quite sure my right hon. Friend does not, either.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Graham Peter Jones (Labour, Centre-left): On the list of actors on this particular stage, would the hon. Gentleman also include Hezbollah? It sends its commanders and troops into the country on fast boats from that Iranian ship parked in the Gulf. To follow up on the question asked by my friend from the Defence Committee, the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois), part of the problem we face is that the Iranians are bringing the rockets in on long trucks. The large rockets are taken to market squares, tilted upright into a vertical firing position within 15 minutes, and the Saudi Arabians have a tremendous problem in identifying them and making a decision in minutes about what to do. Hezbollah is involved in that. We almost have a pseudo-terrorist operation. Human shields are becoming a weapon of war in Yemen.
Yemen — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Defense
Emily Thornberry (Labour, Centre-left): Before the Minister moves on, I have a question. It is estimated that 400 civilians were killed in the past month, largely as a result of coalition action. Is the Minister in a position to tell us whether any of those deaths were a result of the use of British bombs or planes?
Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill (Money) — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Health
Geoffrey Robinson (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for her kind words. I say right from the start that she and the Government have been an invaluable asset in getting the Bill to this stage. It has been supported throughout the House of Commons, and I was delighted with that. All the party leaders in this place have supported it. I must pay tribute to the tremendous support that I have received from the office of the Leader of the Opposition and from my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition himself. All that taken together—plus the Prime Minister’s considerable personal support—means that we can now have a money resolution, which we are delighted to accept. It provides £18 million for an essential public awareness campaign, which is intended to make it clear to the public what exactly the Bill does, why we are doing it and how it will operate. If we lose public support, we have lost everything, so this money will be well spent The Government are confident that the other money linked to the programme can be found from their savings and—to give credit here, too—for the first time we have a long-term commitment to funding of £20 billion over 10 years. We should be able to find a share of the other resources we shall need—the increase in surgeons, nurses and facilities—from that and from the savings that the Act itself will bring after the first year of planning, when it comes into operation. The cost of long-term and chronic care for kidney patients is enormous. The savings are therefore real, and we take the Government’s assurance that, together with the money resolution, that will be sufficient for our present purposes Having thanked all those concerned and everybody in the Chamber now, I commend the money resolution to the House Question put and agreed to.
Personal Independence Payments — House of Commons, 2018-09-11
Topic: Health
Danielle Rowley (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. He is making a fantastic speech. Many of my constituents, especially those with mental health difficulties, have said that when they went for their assessment, they were assessed on how they were doing on the day. They have described it as like going for a job interview; they were trying to do their best. One constituent said that she was asked whether she could get a pen out of her handbag. She picked up her handbag, and on her form it said that she was able to pick up a handbag. Does he agree that that is ludicrous and that this way of testing people is simply not fair and not reflective of their disability?
Offences Against the Person Act 1861 — House of Commons, 2018-06-05
Topic: Health
Karen Elizabeth Lee (Labour, Centre-left): Directly before entering the House, I actually worked for two years in gynaecology clinics, one of which was for terminations of pregnancy. If a doctor has a conscientious objection, they do not have to sign certificate A; they can come out of the process and not do so.
Offences Against the Person Act 1861 — House of Commons, 2018-06-05
Topic: Health
Yvette Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the speech that the Chair of the Health Committee is making and her point that this is an opportunity to prepare and to consider such things in detail in anticipation of future legislation. Does she agree that the moving thing about the "Home to Vote" movement in the Republic of Ireland’s referendum campaign was that so many women said that they were returning home to vote so that other women did not have to travel in future? They were making journeys so that other women would not have to do so.