argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Leaving the EU: Defence Co-operation — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What plans his Department has for maintaining defence co-operation with European partners in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK is a global player. We will remain engaged in the world and central to European foreign and security policy as we leave the EU. Much of our engagement is managed bilaterally or in other organisations.
Leaving the EU: Defence Co-operation — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What plans his Department has for maintaining defence co-operation with European partners in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): Obviously, the hon. Lady will have the opportunity to take part in the debate this afternoon and tomorrow. The Prime Minister has negotiated a deal with the EU that she is putting to this House, and perhaps the hon. Lady will support it. But it is also clear that this country always has and always will succeed, whether we are in the EU or outside it; whether we have a deal or no deal, Britain will succeed and Britain will prosper.
Leaving the EU: Defence Co-operation — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What plans his Department has for maintaining defence co-operation with European partners in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We have been clear that we will participate in the projects that are of interest and value to the UK, and we will not be dragged along into projects that are of no value and interest to this country.
Illegal Immigration (English Channel) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Agriculture
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): With respect to the hon. Gentleman, he seems to be confusing a number of different issues. The role of the fleet ready escort is certainly very different from that in which HMS Mersey is currently being engaged, as indeed is fishery protection, which is a matter devolved to the Scottish Government.
Global Navigation Satellite System — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Technology
Stuart James Andrew (Conservative, Centre-right): We have in this country an exciting space industry that is working incredibly hard and is part of the 18-month engineering, development and design study that is expected to conclude in 2020. I am looking forward to seeing the results of that study, because I am sure that the great British industry that we have will provide us with the system that we need.
Russian Military Activity (NATO Discussions) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I have regular discussions with my NATO counterparts on Russia. Most recently, the alliance strongly supported the finding of the United States that Russia is in material breach of its obligations under the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. NATO has also agreed further steps to bolster its ability to deter and defend against the growing threats we face.
Russian Military Activity (NATO Discussions) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK’s participation in NATO’s enhanced forward presence is the most visible demonstration of our commitment to the security of our eastern allies. Does my right hon. Friend agree that their security is a vital part of ensuring our own security?
Russian Military Activity (NATO Discussions) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We have to be confident about what NATO can deliver, and we must increasingly make the arguments for what NATO delivers for everyone and explain its full remit. As we look to the future, we are seeing nations such as Russia and, increasingly, China operating in a grey zone, just below the level of conflict. That does not mean that those actions are any less dangerous. In Ukraine, the grey zone has merged with conventional power.
Russian Military Activity (NATO Discussions) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham (Conservative, Centre-right): The implications of Russian policy in the near east may be more dramatic now that the US has withdrawn from Syria. Will my right hon. Friend tell us whether there is a cross-departmental plan on the implications of the new regional dynamic for us and our other partners?
Russian Military Activity (NATO Discussions) — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We continue to work right across Government to look at how the changing political situation affects many countries, not only in Europe but, as my hon. Friend said, in the middle east. I assure him that we will continue to look at that issue closely.
Leaving the EU: Future Defence Relationship — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK will pursue a distinctive, independent and sovereign foreign and defence policy that meets British interests and promotes our values. The political declaration negotiated with the EU recognises the shared threats and values of the UK and the EU and provides a framework for an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible future relationship.
Leaving the EU: Future Defence Relationship — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Of course, up until recently, we actually led Op Atalanta, which was the counter-piracy operation in Somalia, although that has now handed over to a joint mission between Italy and Spain. In the future, the Prime Minister has made it absolutely clear that, just because we are leaving the European Union, it does not mean to say that we are leaving our responsibilities over security in the European Union. We will look at contributing to missions where we can when it is in both the UK and EU’s interests.
Leaving the EU: Future Defence Relationship — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Giacomo Lopresti (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that, as we regain our position as an independent and global presence on the world stage, it is even more important that the United Kingdom is seen as a reliable and credible partner and ally across the world?
Offensive Cyber-capabilities — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Technology
Matthew Robert Warman (Conservative, Centre-right): Working with the private sector and keeping legislation up to date is essential when it comes to developing cyber-capabilities, offensive or otherwise. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that the private sector is appropriately involved and that legislation is kept up to date?
Offensive Cyber-capabilities — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Technology
James Roger Cartlidge (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, the private sector is a real success story; there is huge growth in the area. What more can the Government do to work with the private sector—in the context not just of defensive cyber, but of offensive cyber—to ensure that we can bring forward technology that assists not only the country, but UK firms as well?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): What we are seeing in Ukraine is the most dreadful of situations, where Russia’s aggressive acts include Ukrainian sailors being held against their will, and they continue to be held against their will. As an act to demonstrate their intent for 2019, Russia and the Kremlin should be looking at letting these men return to their families and friends at the earliest possible opportunity. We are supporting the Ukrainian people. We have already seen HMS Echo visiting Odessa, and the Royal Marines will start training with Ukrainian forces in the very early part of this year.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Does the Secretary of State want to apologise to Scots Guardsman Stephen McWhirter, who was called a snowflake in Capita’s disastrous £752 million recruitment campaign, without his permission? Guardsman McWhirter has received torrents of mocking messages, and he has said on Facebook that he will resign from the Guards.; Sexual violence against women has been an appalling part of the violence we have seen in South Sudan. Will the Secretary of State say a little bit more about what British troops have contributed as our part of the UN operations there?
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I have had the great privilege of seeing our service personnel who are part of the UN mission, and the work that they are doing in combating sexual violence in South Sudan is something we can all feel rightly proud of. We have seen them take action to deal with some of the threats that many women and children are facing every day, but we have to look at how we can do more. Earlier last year, we saw the opening of a new training programme at Shrivenham, and we need to look at how we can step up that work.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Does the Secretary of State want to apologise to Scots Guardsman Stephen McWhirter, who was called a snowflake in Capita’s disastrous £752 million recruitment campaign, without his permission? Guardsman McWhirter has received torrents of mocking messages, and he has said on Facebook that he will resign from the Guards.; Sexual violence against women has been an appalling part of the violence we have seen in South Sudan. Will the Secretary of State say a little bit more about what British troops have contributed as our part of the UN operations there?; Tomorrow afternoon, the funeral takes place of Acting Corporal Iain Dodds, formerly of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. His family are obviously grieving. He died, very tragically, before Christmas, at the age of 39, following years of adjusting having left the service after serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. May I put on the record my thanks to the Minister for the Armed Forces for helping the family with the funeral arrangements?
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his acknowledgment. In cases like this, it is absolutely right that collectively across the House we should act in the way we have. I am delighted that we have managed to put things in place to help the family.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. The hon. Lady is always ahead of herself. What she does at this stage is say, "To ask the Minister to make a statement on universal credit". We will get her full blast in a moment.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. Very many people outside the House—many stakeholders —have welcomed the statements made in the House on Friday and what the Secretary of State said in her speech. I am sorry that the hon. Lady did not welcome the positive changes that have been made and are being proposed The hon. Lady talked about a number of issues, and I shall go through them. She mentioned the legal judgment on Friday; as she acknowledged, that judgment came out literally a few days ago. As a Department, we will consider it very carefully and then respond. On the two-child policy, we have of course made that change; as she will be aware, the regulations were laid on Friday. She talked about the overall two-child policy, and we do believe that the overall policy is fair. Ultimately, those receiving support in the welfare system should face the same sort of choices as those who support themselves solely through work. It is worth pointing out that if a family who supported themselves solely through work decided to have another child, they would not automatically expect their wages to go up. This is about sustainability The hon. Lady mentioned the pilot. We have made it clear that that will start in July 2019, and we are working with a wide range of stakeholders on it. She talked about the severe disability premium: those regulations have been laid. She also mentioned the benefits freeze. May I ask her to reflect on the reason why we had to make various policy choices in the past? It was the awful financial mess left us by the last Labour Government. [Interruption.] I am sorry, but she cannot get away from that point I have one final thing to say to the hon. Lady. She talks about changes to the five-week period. I have said this in the House before: if she is so keen on supporting claimants, particularly the vulnerable, as we on the Government Benches are, why did she not vote for the £1.5 billion of support that came in under Budget 2017 and the £4.5 billion of support announced in the 2018 Budget?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Kenneth Clarke (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister and his Secretary of State on the progress that they are making on eliminating some of the obvious defects that have emerged in this otherwise highly desirable policy. Does he agree that the problem is that the details were designed by people who were well intentioned but too paternalistic in their attempts to introduce people to the disciplines and normal way of life of people in work? They were often dealing with people who were vulnerable and relying day to day on cash When it is affordable, after we have really recovered from the consequences of the financial disaster, will my hon. Friend address the five-week delay in the first payment, which does cause hardship and which I hope will be gone by the time the so-called migration comes to my constituency?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his support for the policies that we have announced. On the five-week period, we have ensured that people can get support through 100% advances from day one if they require it; two weeks of housing benefit run-on is also available. As part of the package that we announced in the Budget, additional run-on support will be available from 2020 My right hon. and learned Friend is right: we need to make sure that throughout this process we support the most vulnerable, and that is exactly what the changes that have been announced have been all about.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
John Alan Redwood (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the emphasis on helping people into work, and the idea that the implementation of the policy should be compassionate. With that in mind, may I ask whether there will be changes in the timing of benefit so that those who are most in need of it receive it earlier, and whether there will be a review of the housing element, which has sometimes caused trouble as well?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is, of course, right: throughout this process, we must provide support for the vulnerable in particular. As he will know, once universal credit is fully rolled out, there will be over £2 billion more in the welfare system than there is under the current legacy benefits. One of the changes made in the Budget was the uplifting of work allowances, which will help young parents and also the disabled.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said previously in the House and as I said earlier this afternoon, we have put more money into the system to support the most vulnerable, which is absolutely right. As for the pilot phase, we will of course work very carefully with stakeholders to make sure that we get it right.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Nicholas Soames (Conservative, Centre-right): I warmly welcome this excellent move by the Department. Will my hon. Friend please pay tribute to the sympathetic, careful, diligent and effective manner in which the staff of the Jobcentre Plus in Haywards Heath carry out their difficult duties?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend has highlighted a very important point. He has talked of the incredibly hard-working DWP staff in the Haywards Heath jobcentre, but the Secretary of State and I see the same hard work as we go up and down the country talking to our colleagues in jobcentres. They are all incredibly committed, and they see the benefits of universal credit in helping people and ensuring that claimants have the one-to-one support that was not in place before.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that we have had this exchange before, and I am sorry if the right hon. Gentleman feels that I repeat myself. Of course it is important that we get money in people’s pockets early. There is no question about that, and that is why we made the changes when we said we would make sure that absolutely anyone who needed it could get up to 100% of their advances up front. I have talked about the two-week run-on for those on housing benefit, which does not have to be repaid, and as the right hon. Gentleman knows in the last Budget we also announced that from July 2020 those on out-of-work DWP benefits will also get a two-week run-on.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): The manager of the Jobcentre Plus in Redditch said that this is the best system she has seen in 30 years; she has been on the frontline. Does the Minister welcome the fact that today the Resolution Foundation has pointed out that it is those on the lowest end of the income spectrum who are getting back into work, so this is a truly progressive benefit? It is great to see these reforms.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend highlights an important point. I was at the launch of the Resolution Foundation report this morning, which highlighted precisely the point she has raised. I encourage all colleagues on both the Government and Opposition sides to go to their jobcentres and talk—[Interruption.] No, if they would talk directly to the people responsible for providing that advice, I think they would find that the system is working.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): May I suggest that if the hon. Lady has time she and I should talk directly to colleagues in the jobcentre in her area? Let us have a discussion with them and see how we can support her constituents even better.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The policies we have put in place since 2010 are working; we can see that in the jobs figures. When we came to power in 2010, some 1.4 million people in the country had been on out-of-work benefits for at least nine of the previous 10 years; that is not a legacy that the Opposition should be proud of.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Labor
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): We will of course respond on the High Court ruling. I am pleased the hon. Lady raised the point about what sort of jobs have been created: just to put it on the record—these are not Government figures; they are from the Office for National Statistics—since 2010 some 75% of all the jobs created are full time, are in high-level occupations and are permanent. That is something I wish Opposition colleagues would acknowledge.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I am pleased that my hon. Friend feels that we were able to react in a matter of hours to the recommendations of the Select Committee. I think he is talking about a process of pre-population, and we will of course work throughout the pilot phase. We have responded to the Social Security Advisory Committee with some of the plans that we have. I would point out, however, that when we had the move to employment and support allowance, we underpaid people as a result of having incomplete information.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): Universal credit has now rolled out across the country, as the hon. Gentleman will be aware, and we will of course continue to proceed with it. He is right to say that we need to get this right for everyone, and that is precisely what the changes are about. Universal credit does work for the vast majority of the people who claim it, but it is absolutely right that we provide support, particularly for the most vulnerable.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Can the Minister confirm that the spending on universal credit when it is fully rolled out will be some £2 billion a year more than on the existing legacy benefits, and that this could be worth an average of up to £300 per universal credit family?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to say that there will be more money in the system. I should point out that, under the legacy benefits system, there is £2.4 billion of unclaimed benefits. That will change under universal credit, supporting an estimated 700,000 households who will get paid their full entitlement.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to apologise for repeating that the reason we made so many difficult decisions when we first came into office and in subsequent years was the record deficit left by Labour—[Interruption.] There is no getting away from that. I have already made it clear that when it comes to issues around uprating, these will be announced in the appropriate way to Parliament.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Macroeconomics
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry that the hon. Lady feels unable to welcome the changes. The previous two Budgets have included additional support and, as I just said in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Nigel Huddleston), we will see what more we can do where that is appropriate.
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Kevin Paul Hollinrake (Conservative, Centre-right): Universal credit was rolled out in my constituency almost two years ago. The roll-out was largely successful, but there are issues, particularly with payment frequency. Will my hon. Friend commit to continue to listen, learn and make adaptations where necessary?
Universal Credit — House of Commons, 2019-01-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Alok Kumar Sharma (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right that the policy will support 15,000 families, but we anticipate that 77,000 families and 113,000 children will benefit over a five-year period. It is important that we provide support, but ultimately, as he will know, the overall policy was tested in the courts and was found to be sound.