argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Labor
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): In terms of employees, as well as universal credit and access to other support through Jobcentre Plus, we will connect people to jobs in the labour market, help with their employment skills, such as CV writing, interview skills and so on, and identify transferable skills. It is, though, so important that we do more than that for our high streets to create the opportunities for those people to take up, through the future high streets fund and the work that we are doing with the Retail Sector Council and others at every level of government.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Labor
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): Essentially, it is about creating those jobs and opportunities on the high street to ensure that we can keep retail and expand the offering on our high streets. Clearly, though, we need to ensure that we have that skills transfer work at jobcentre level and elsewhere to encourage our young people to take up those opportunities.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Labor
Elliot Colburn (Conservative, Centre-right): As my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend will be aware that many Carshalton and Wallington residents work in Debenhams and Arcadia stores, particularly the flagship store at the St Nicholas Centre in Sutton. Will he join me in meeting the affected workers should the worst happen at that flagship store in Sutton, and reassure them that the Government are doing all they can to support them?
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Government Operations
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): It is so much about a "grassroots up" approach. It is great to hear about the Hertford hub and the Bishop’s Stortford BID. There are some brilliant examples of BIDs and initiatives; I would like to hear more.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Labor
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, and I commend his work in retail before; many others around the House have done such work. Yes, as well as offering them support through universal credit and other benefits, we will work with them through the Jobcentre Plus and its frontline workers to help them with CV writing, creating opportunities for and sharing opportunities with them, and ensuring that transferable skills have a massive role to play in that.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Transportation
Kieran John Mullan (Conservative, Centre-right): But our high streets need all the help that they can get, and the towns of Crewe and Nantwich are facing the highest parking charges in the region, while other towns in the area face none. Would the Minister agree that the local authority should at least ensure there is a level playing field, and perhaps reconsider its decision to reject some initiatives for December to introduce free parking to encourage people back on to the high street?
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Transportation
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, and he is absolutely right. When people are bringing back their heavy bags—after a long evening’s shopping, hopefully, in the lead-up to Christmas—just a simple token like free parking or cheaper parking can really help drive footfall and support our local high streets.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Labor
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): Clearly, as I have said, there are measures in place that govern the administrators, but we will keep on top of this. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already written to the administrators to expedite the report. We will also follow up to make sure we keep an eye on them to support workers not only through the administrators and redundancy phase, but back into good work.
Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Government Operations
Paul Stuart Scully (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend raises some important points. There is already legislation and regulation in place to look at this. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to the administrators to make sure that they can expedite the report looking at directors’ behaviour, not just in the immediate weeks but looking back to see if anything untoward has happened.
Coronavirus Vaccine — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Technology
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a great day for science and a great day to be Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, I would have thought. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for what he said, which was very generous On the point about repeat testing instead of isolation for contacts, that is something we are trialling right now, and I hope we can make significant progress on it in the weeks ahead.
Coronavirus Vaccine — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Education
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Once we have got through the clinical priority, of course there is a debate to be had about the order of priority after that. Between now and then, if we can get the repeat testing of contacts up and running and working across the board, I hope that that will be effective in ensuring that fewer teachers have to isolate because they are contacts as opposed to positive cases.
Coronavirus Vaccine — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Education
Karl McCartney (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will be aware that Lincoln has a high student population, something of which I am very proud, and that our two universities are highly regarded. Quite a number of constituents have contacted me regarding the potential increase in cases when students return in January. What steps is he taking to support universities with this and what further steps can we take to support students who have to isolate as, often, they are far away from loved ones who can support them with shopping and so on and, as a Government we must do all we can to ensure that education continues as normal?
Coronavirus Vaccine — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Education
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. Just as when students go home for Christmas, we are able to use the massive testing capacity that we have built up to ensure that they do so safely, so we propose to use testing to allow students to return safely. It is rather like the previous answer I just gave about being able to use testing instead of isolation in schools. I say gently to the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins) who, as he sat down, muttered about this: it is far better to work together, and it is only because of the massive testing capacity that has been built up through the actions of this Government that this is possible. We have the biggest testing capacity in Europe and we can use it for keeping people safe in schools and for allowing people to go safely to and from universities. This is exactly the sort of empowerment that we now have as a result of the huge testing programme that we have built.
Agriculture — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): These are the first regulations produced using the powers under the new Agriculture Act 2020. They lay the groundwork for our new agricultural policy Turning to the first of the statutory instruments, the draft regulations will assign additional functions to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. They will enable the AHDB to collect, manage and make available information regarding the identification, movement and health of animals, and to allocate unique identification codes as a means of identifying animals. That information will feed into a new livestock information service Of the 165,000 livestock farmers today, nearly 60,000 keep more than one species. Therefore, those farmers need to engage with different services and systems. The livestock information service replaces separate species-specific systems with a single portal for keepers to meet their reporting responsibilities. It should be more cost-effective and easier to use, and it will allow faster and more accurate livestock traceability The AHDB will also run a unique number identification service on behalf of England and Wales controlling the issuing of official individual identification numbers to animals. The new system will allow for value-added services where submitted data can be used to generate information in wider areas such as livestock productivity and disease management.
Agriculture — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Daniel Rayne Kruger (Conservative, Centre-right): Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise to discuss the second instrument about direct payments, and I beg your forbearance and that of the Front Benchers, who I expect thought they would get away with being the only speakers this afternoon. I am sorry about that, but I put in because I did not get the chance to speak in the debates on the Agriculture Bill earlier this year. I hope the House and you will indulge me for a few minutes while I speak about Wiltshire farmers and the role I think farming could play in the UK after Brexit I much enjoyed the Bill Committee, and especially the erudition and good humour of the two Front Benchers. My hon. Friend the Minister and I have something in common, which is a parent in the public eye—both with some strong farming and food credentials, and both with some suspicions about what the Government are up to it when it comes to agriculture—
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): These statutory instruments will establish the future plant health regime for Great Britain by ensuring that EU legislation relating to phytosanitary controls, which is retained under the EU withdrawal Act, is operable after the end of the transition period. Devolved Administrations have given their consent to these SIs It is our responsibility to protect biosecurity across plant and animal health and the wider ecosystem. It is important that our biosecurity protections are aligned to address the specific and often unique risks that relate to Great Britain. These regulations are specifically about protecting plant biosecurity On the plant health SI, this makes operability amendments to the retained EU plant health regulation to reflect the risks to Great Britain, rather than the risks to the wider EU, and to reflect the EU’s status as a third country after the end of the transition period. There are amendments to implement a new UK plant passport in place of the current EU one, with the format of the new document set out within the SI From the end of the transition period, Great Britain will also no longer use the EU protected zone arrangements and will instead move to using pest-free areas, an internationally recognised classification that allows countries to take additional protective measures against incursions from pests which are established elsewhere The SI also makes transitional provisions to allow the continued flow of trade and to reflect the phased import requirements detailed in the published border operating model. Phytosanitary certificates will be required for those plants and plant products from the EU that pose the highest biosecurity risk to Great Britain from 1 January, where import controls for lower-risk plant material will be phased in gradually from April This SI makes operability amendments to the Official Controls (Plant Health and Genetically Modified Organisms) (England) Regulations 2019 to correct references to EU legislation. It also makes consequential amendments to fees legislation, including amendments to allow charging for services relating to exports to the EU.
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very important that we have very high standards and I am glad that we are doing that, but will my hon. Friend also ensure that they are high standards that help domestic growers, because we need to have more home-grown food on British plates and more jobs in agriculture in Britain?
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. This is a matter that he and I have discussed before and I know that he is every bit as ambitious for the future of British horticulture as I am. I really do think that there is more that we could be growing here and I very much hope that, in the next few years, that comes to pass This SI also contains amendments to primary legislation to remove references to EU obligations. These changes have no operational impact, but simply remove redundant and inoperable references to EU obligations I turn to the phytosanitary conditions SI. This sets out the lists for Great Britain of quarantine pests, provisional quarantine pests, pest-free area quarantine pests and regulated non-quarantine pests. It also sets out measures in relation to the introduction of plants, plant products and other relevant objects into Great Britain and the movement of these within Great Britain.
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is a great champion for his farmers. This SI is related to GB only, but I assure him that I speak very frequently to the Minister in Northern Ireland. I have not done so this week, but I do generally often and I probably will in the course of the next few days. I know that he and I are both committed to very high standards in British agriculture In making these operability changes, we are focused on ensuring that the phytosanitary controls reflect actual risks to Great Britain. The risk assessment process follows the UK’s well established risk management methodology using our UK plant health risk register as our principal screening tool. Applying this evidence-based process to determine our lists of regulated plants, products and pests for the future has resulted in increased focus on the threats about which we really need to be concerned. For example, some pests that pose a risk only to citrus, rice and other tropical crops, which we do not grow, have been deregulated. This has positive impacts, as it allows our inspectors to focus their efforts on the higher-risk commodities about which we are concerned, such as Xylella hosts, and tree species such as plane, which we are really worried about. This approach means that items that have previously been subject to restrictions or prohibitions even though the risk is in fact negligible, such as mangos, curry leaves and so on, are now able to be imported into Great Britain free of restriction.
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Environment
Luke Morgan Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): It will not have escaped the Minister’s notice that we are actually in a pandemic, and protection and prevention for our environment before getting to that stage are really important. How robust does she believe the implementation of this legislation will be in ensuring that we are indeed as protected as we can be?
Exiting the European Union (Plant Health) — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Agriculture
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point. These statutory instruments are broadly transferring rules into GB law, but we are able to use this moment in our history to ensure that they are better suited to us and the biosecurity risks that concern us. As he says, in the midst of a pandemic that takes on a special and added significance Protecting biosecurity is of enormous importance for any Government. It is important that we facilitate the import and movement of plant material, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) said earlier, but this must be done in a biosecure manner. That is why these operability amendments, with their focus on risks to GB, are so important. They establish our future plant health regime and ensure that the current phytosanitary protections, which are vital to protect our biosecurity, are maintained at the end of the transition period. I commend the draft regulations to the House.
Coronation Street: 60th Anniversary — House of Commons, 2020-12-02
Topic: Technology
Andrew John Carter (Conservative, Centre-right): I happened to switch on my TV, and when I saw "Corrie" was being discussed I had to come down and pay tribute as a north-west MP. It is not just the actors and the writers that "Coronation Street" has developed. There are also the back room staff who are so critical to delivering brilliant television day in, day out—the wardrobe team, the make-up artists, the camera operators and so on. "Coronation Street" and Granada Television have fostered and developed that talent, transforming the north-west of England into a TV powerhouse. I am sure the hon. Lady agrees, having spent time at Granada studios, that that embryonic development has played a significant role in transforming the north-west media environment.
Universal Basic Income — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): We have supported those on the lowest incomes throughout this crisis by investing more than £7 billion in the welfare system, and we are focused on helping people to get into work by making up to £30 billion available through our plans for jobs.
Universal Basic Income — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): I am happy to learn from the 2017 Work and Pensions Committee report that said it was "difficult to see how"— a universal basic income— "would substantially alleviate poverty", or from the OECD, which said that a universal basic income could "increase poverty" and negatively affect the poorest. If the hon. Gentleman is putting forward this proposal, he should set out what the specific amount is. I note that to date the SNP has refused to do that.
Ineligibility for Covid-19 Financial Support — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not making the point that every single person can access every single scheme that the Government have put in place. That is not what I am saying; everyone will have different circumstances. What I am saying is that across the suite there is a range of support—a sum total of £280 billion-worth—designed to protect businesses, the employed, the self-employed and public services. Indeed, councils have been given large amounts of funding—billions of pounds—to help those in their communities who need it most, and they are well placed to make those decisions.
Ineligibility for Covid-19 Financial Support — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is meeting with that particular group. In that interview, I was making a general point about the fact that I and my team had met with various representatives of those who are self-employed. It is something that we did right at the beginning of this crisis as we looked to design the self-employed scheme and we have continued to do so throughout.
Ineligibility for Covid-19 Financial Support — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Labor
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): Perhaps the hon. Lady could let me know whether she thinks that it is right to target support on those who are majority self-employed. She refers to the millions of people, but, as I have explained from this Dispatch Box, 1.5 million of the 5 million people who file self-employed tax returns are not majority self-employed; they earn the majority of their income from things such as employment, which means that they can access, for example, the furlough scheme. That was a decision that was made because we are targeting support in a certain way and we do not know what individuals are doing. By the way, the principle of our decision was supported by every organisation that I spoke to as we designed the scheme. Indeed, they were all supportive of a much higher threshold—a less generous threshold—than the one that we ultimately used, which was a majority of 50%. They were all supportive of something higher— 60%. Rest assured, Mr Speaker, that those who are in that category have median self-employment earnings of between £2,000 and £3,000; it is not the primary source of their income. At that level, all the various other things that we have done will be of some help to them.
Fiscal Policy: Household Income (Scotland) — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): This year, the Government have put in place an unprecedented package of support to protect incomes and jobs right across the UK. Analysis published earlier this year shows that our interventions significantly protected people’s incomes, with the least well-off in society supported the most.
Fiscal Policy: Household Income (Scotland) — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Labor
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out a moment ago, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will be meeting that group, but we have also targeted the support, including on those who are majority self-employed. Through that targeting, we have been able to confirm an additional £2.4 billion of support for the Scottish Government.
Fiscal Policy: Household Income (Scotland) — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Foreign Trade
Stephen Paul Barclay (Conservative, Centre-right): What economic analysis has always shown is that Scotland’s trade with the rest of the United Kingdom is much more important than its trade with Europe. However, Government Members have always been clear that we seek a deal. The asks that the negotiating team have put forward are extremely reasonable, and Lord Frost and the team continue to work to that effect.
Aviation Sector: Financial Support — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Transportation
Alexander Jesse Norman (Conservative, Centre-right): It is great to see you in the Chair, Mr Speaker. I thank my right hon. Friend for his very constructive engagement with the Government on this important issue. The Government have recently announced, as he will be aware, a package of financial support for English airports and ground handlers. This support, which will shore up jobs and reinforce local economies, will be equivalent to the business rates liabilities of each business up to a maximum of £8 million per site. It has been warmly welcomed by the Airport Operators Association.
Aviation Sector: Financial Support — House of Commons, 2020-12-01
Topic: Transportation
Christopher Stephen Grayling (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for that additional support for regional airports, which is very welcome, but the steps taken by the Government generally to move a small distance towards reopening the aviation sector last week go nowhere near what is needed. We face a situation in January when the Brexit transition period will be open, but our principal airports and our principal aviation links to key business centres around the world will effectively still be closed. I urge the Chancellor and the Minister to use every influence they have in government to get that dealt with and at least to get airport testing and what is necessary available on those key strategic routes.