argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Dorothea Glenys Thornton (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I will speak to two amendments in my name in this group, although I may also come back on what has been said Amendment 23 concerns supported decision-making and is based on Clause 12 of the Law Commission’s draft Bill. The amendment would require a clear determination, "made on an assessment that steps to establish supported decision making are not practicable" It states: "Steps to establish supported decision making are practical if, in relation to decisions about their personal welfare or property and affairs (or both), a cared-for person— … is aged 16 or over, and … has capacity to appoint a person to assist them in making those decisions" Amendment 24 concerns the restriction of defence and is based on Clause 9 of the Law Commission’s draft Bill. It states: "The assessment must include … a description of the steps which have been taken to establish whether the cared-for person lacks capacity" NICE recently released guidelines on what it thinks the Bill should say regarding supporting a cared-for person: "Support people to communicate so that they can take part in decision-making. Use strategies to support the person's understanding and ability to express themselves in accordance with paragraphs 3.10 and 3.11 of the Mental Capacity Act" NICE also recommended: "Practitioners should make a written record of the decision-making process, which is proportionate to the decision being made. Share the record with the person and, with their consent, other appropriate people. Include: … what the person is being asked to decide; … how the person wishes to be supported to make the decision … steps taken to help the person make the decision … other people involved in supporting the decision … information given to the person … whether on the balance of probabilities a person lacks capacity to make a decision … key considerations for the person in making the decision … the person’s expressed preference and the decision reached … needs identified as a result of the decision … any further actions arising from the decision … any actions not applied and the reasons why not" These basic and important matters were included in the Law Commission’s draft Bill but not adequately included in this Bill. I am pleased to be part of this group and able to raise these issues. I will let my noble friend Lord Hunt talk about Amendment 50ZA.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, has made a very telling comment. Part of the issue of training is cost. It seems to me that part of this Bill is about cost shift from local authorities, which have found managing this process very difficult, to care homes. We have not discussed this very much, but will the Minister tell us who he expects to pay the cost of this whole process? I suspect that the answer is that it is going to be in charges, mainly for self-funders, who not only will probably pay the cost of their own assessment, but will probably—as they do at the moment—have to subsidise the cost of local authority-funded people who come under the provisions of the Act. Clearly, the Government did the RIA on the basis of trying to show that the cost will be minimal in order to prevent being rumbled on essentially what they are seeking to do, which is clearly to cost shift the public sector in favour of self-funders The RIA is simply non-believable, and puts into question quite a lot of the architecture of the Bill. We know that care home managers, as the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, said, have rudimentary qualifications. We also know that the turnover for care home managers is quite high. Therefore, major new responsibilities are being given to people who are in a sector where they are often pretty poorly paid; they do not have much training, and they do not have professional qualifications in many cases Training is very important indeed, and we need to have some answers as to how this is actually going to happen and who is going to pay for it. If the answer is that it will mainly be paid for by self-funded, vulnerable people, I do not think that is right.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Dorothea Glenys Thornton (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this has been a very useful and essential discussion about training. The noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, is quite right that there needs to be a strategy. I am concerned that there does not seem to be a strategy, so can the Minister tell us what consultation there has been about how this training—even the minimal familiarisation—would be achieved? Even the Minister accepts that that is clearly not going to be acceptable In terms of the stakeholders, the MHA—a charity providing care, accommodation and support for older people throughout the UK—heard from a care home manager in Hereford, who said, "As home managers without a mental health nursing background, it would be impossible to expect a home manager to undertake these assessments, as with the continuing health assessments, which we are deemed unable to complete as we are not healthcare professionals". Well, quite Age UK says that at present there are no less than six assessments for a DoLS application. In order for care home managers to be able to conduct these assessments—or indeed be party to them, if only to act as secretaries, as outlined by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay—they are going to need the requisite training The LGA point out that the Government should recognise the problems caused by these additional responsibilities and the financial pressures—as mentioned by my noble friend Lord Hunt—put on care homes by the provisions in the Bill, especially when the sector is already facing significant challenges in terms of both resources and workforce recruitment and retention Voiceability expressed its concerns about the new requirements on care home managers. It is concerned that this transfer of responsibility sets up potential conflicts of interest, which we have already discussed. Mencap says that there has to be significant consultation with the care sector about the implications of the new requirements on care home managers I am just wondering how we have got to this point in the Bill without that consultation having already taken place. We need to play catch-up because this is such an important area: not only are there funding implications, but we should not be expecting people who do not have appropriate skills to be carrying these responsibilities.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Dorothea Glenys Thornton (Labour, Centre-left): I am not sure whether my question has been answered so I will repeat it. Does this mean it is automatic that the cared-for person will see the AMCP? Is that what the noble Baroness is saying? She has started tying me up in knots. Will it be automatic? Except, obviously, in the cases that have been mentioned, is that what will happen?
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-10-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I have added my name to two of these amendments. We heard earlier that the Minister has agreed that the Bill at some point in the future will reflect the need to consult the cared-for person. This is clearly a great advance and sets the context for the debate on this group of amendments. I particularly commend the suggestion that the consultation should be not just about what the assessment has concluded should be done to the cared-for person—I fear that the sense of the Bill at the moment is "done to"—but what the alternatives are This is where I come back to one of our problems with the architecture of the Bill. So much responsibility is given to the care home manager who, inevitably it seems to me, must think about residence in a care home as being the only option because their job is to make sure that occupancy is of the highest level in order to maximise the viability of the home. It would be good to know how the Government think with this Bill and the new arrangements we are going to ensure that the alternatives are properly looked at before someone’s deprivation of liberty is actually authorised.
European Union (Information, etc.) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-07-20
Topic: International Affairs
Dianne Hayter (Labour, Centre-left): The Government have said that, for everything else, existing funding through EU funds—whether structural funds or anything else—will continue at least until the end of the transition period. The question is this: will the Government replace this funding which would have been available had we been a member of the EU, as they have promised to do elsewhere?
Standing Orders (Public Business) — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): That the standing orders relating to public business be amended as follows: After Standing Order 70, insert new Standing Order 70A: "70A Laying of documents under Schedule 7 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 Where, under paragraphs 3(3) and 17(3) of Schedule 7 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, any document is to be laid before Parliament, the deposit of a copy of the document with the Clerk of the Parliaments in accordance with this Order at any time during the existence of a Parliament when the House is not sitting for public business shall constitute the laying of it before the House."
Standing Orders (Public Business) — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, on 11 July the House agreed to the fifth report from the Procedure Committee and, in doing so, agreed to new procedure for sifting arrangements for certain instruments laid under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The report proposed a consequential amendment to the public business Standing Orders, and today’s Motion simply makes those necessary changes. I am aware that concern has been expressed to me, on and before 11 July, about the possible negative instruments which may be laid during the Recess. I refer noble Lords to the withdrawal Act, which makes it clear in specifying the scrutiny period that that means 10 sitting days from the first day back. I hope that that reassures noble Lords. I beg to move.
Standing Orders (Public Business) — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: International Affairs
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the noble Lord for his question. First, this refers to the EU withdrawal Bill, so we need procedures appropriate to that. A new class of instrument is also being introduced, and we are applying the existing procedure to the new class of instrument. It will very much affect the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. In anticipation of the workload with increasing numbers of SIs, that committee has taken on two additional committee advisers, and another committee assistant, meaning that it is now supported by a clerk, four advisers and two committee assistants There will be a parallel committee established in the House of Commons, which it never had before, and which will be referred to as the European Statutory Instruments Committee. That will be sifting along with the House of Lords committee, and it is anticipated that there will be engagement with both committees to ensure the smoothest approach. It is a new procedure as a result of the EU withdrawal Bill If the noble Lord is looking for more reassurance, the debate on 11 July was quite clear on these issues, and I refer him back to that. If he still has problems, he can knock on my door and I will be happy to have a chat.
Standing Orders (Public Business) — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Government Operations
Angela Smith (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister and the Senior Deputy Speaker on this. He will recall that, when this was discussed in the Procedure Committee, assurances were sought and received. Will he discuss one point with the Government? One of the issues we raised was that, when instruments are laid during recess, they should be easily accessible to all noble Lords and to the public. I was given that assurance by the Chief Whip, which was helpful. We agree with this and it is important that, if they are laid during recess, we have that additional time to scrutinise them before the sitting days. It has become evident that, rather than all of them being available on the website for the Department for Exiting the European Union as we anticipated, they are being published on different department websites. Could he ask if they could also be published on the central website of the Department for Exiting the European Union, so there is no confusion for anybody and everyone can access them by looking at one website and not every different department’s?
Rendition of UK Citizens — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Law and Crime
John Morris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, hard cases never make good law, however horrific these allegations are. Despite what the Minister has said, has not the principle of not sending anyone abroad to face trial where there is a possibility of a death sentence been abandoned? How will the Government deal with the cases of other British citizens who face the death penalty? How will they ever again be able to make representations on their behalf?
Rendition of UK Citizens — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I want to be clear on this. Is the noble Baroness saying that Her Majesty’s Government may or will provide evidence or information to the prosecuting authorities in a case that could lead to the death penalty? If I have understood that correctly, is she not dancing on the head of a pin when she says that we oppose the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, because this is a circumstance in which the death penalty could occur as a result of the direct actions of Her Majesty’s Government?
Non-Domestic Rating (Nursery Grounds) Bill — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Agriculture
Roy Kennedy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, first I draw the attention of the House to my relevant interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I support the Bill and its intention of providing that buildings that are, or form part of, a plant nursery ground should be exempt from non-domestic rates if they are used solely for agricultural operations at a nursery ground. We have heard from other speakers in this short debate that this issue arose as a consequence of the judgment in the Tunnel Tech Ltd v Reeves case in 2015, which highlighted how structural changes in the industry have resulted in purely horticultural operations being rated, as opposed to being exempt. It is welcome that the Government have sought the opportunity to correct this and I congratulate them on it We know that since 1928 Parliament has had no intention of rating the agricultural industry. That is absolutely right: I support the industry and support sustainable growth in agriculture and horticulture. We have heard from other noble Lords that there is no longer a distinction between nursery grounds and market gardens: all operators consider themselves to be growers and I agree with that. That is an important point to make here, as is the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, that the industry is worth £108 billion a year and, excluding potatoes, horticulture is worth £3.1 billion a year to our economy. I agree with the noble Baroness that we produce some wonderful food in this country: we have some wonderful farmers and growers and we need to always be supporting them, so that they can sell their produce to us and also export it. For the United Kingdom it is very much about selling high-quality produce, so we must support them in growing that high-quality produce I too received the briefing from the National Farmers Union. It is an excellent briefing, as the noble Baroness said: seven pages long, which is six pages longer than the Bill. It highlights how important this is—at the moment for a small number of growers, but with the potential for many more—so I think it is important to support it. I am also aware that when the Bill went through the other place, no amendments were tabled or agreed. I think that was right and, unusually for me on a government Bill, I am going to suggest that we make no amendments either. I have no intention of tabling an amendment and I hope that other noble Lords will not table amendments, so that very quickly, when we come back in September, the noble Lord can stand up and move to discharge the commitment Motion. That would be the best thing to do, so as to quickly get the Bill on to the statute book. I have looked at it very carefully and I think it is the right thing to do: it is a good Bill and I fully support it.
Immigration (Provision of Physical Data) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Government Operations
Richard Rosser (Labour, Centre-left): My point was that there is to be a pilot scheme. Will there be an opportunity for a discussion in this House if it is decided, as presumably it will be, to extend the pilot scheme to other groups, or will the Government just decide that the pilot scheme has been successful and will be able to extend it without any debate or discussion in this House? That was the point of my question about whether there will need to be a further statutory instrument.
Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Education
Roger John Liddle (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, may I add something from a university perspective? I declare an interest as chair of the council of Lancaster University. I welcome the fact that the £9,250 maximum fee is being extended for another year—although of course that has denied to universities for the past two years the inflation increase that they were promised The review is necessary given the political climate surrounding fees, and the Government have to take into account the risky financial situation now facing the university sector. Any significant cut in fees would have a big impact on the excellence of our universities, unless it were wholly made up for by an increase in teaching grant. I ask the noble Viscount whether he is in any position to offer the sector any assurance that any cut in fees would be made up for by an increase in teaching grant. If it is not, there will be consequences, particularly for universities like mine, which has ambitious plans for expansion, and also, for a leading academic institution, has one of the best rates of state school pupils and people from deprived backgrounds in the country. We are good on equity as well as excellence, and the possibility is a real cloud over our financial prospects for the future One of the issues the Government have to address is that if there is a significant cut in fees following the review and there is no increase in teaching grant, one of the areas that universities are bound to look at is the money set aside for widening participation. At the moment we give a lot of bursaries to poor students. I have met many students at Lancaster who say that the reason why they came there was that we could offer them a £1,000 bursary. With the withdrawal of the means-tested maintenance grant, this has become very significant. I hope that the Government are considering bringing back a means-tested maintenance grant, but the real point I want to make is that these regulations give universities financial certainty for only an additional year. The future prospect is very clouded. Universities need more certainty if they are to be one of the starring sectors of the British economy, as they have been for the last 20 years.
Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry to interrupt the noble Viscount, but the situation of Northern Ireland is therefore very serious because there is no other means of conducting a review or introducing changes in the current climate. When the review was set up, it looked as if the Northern Ireland Executive might be re-established. That has not happened. Is he in a position to inform the House further about the Government’s attitude in respect of Northern Ireland?
Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Education
Michael Goodall Watson (Labour, Centre-left): That this House regrets that the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018 create significant powers for the Office for Students to grant access to students’ confidential data to a single commercial provider, and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to carry out a privacy impact assessment on the Regulations (SI 2018/607).
Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Government Operations
Michael Goodall Watson (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that answer, but it does not get to the root of the problem. He talks of scrutiny, but the point is that these regulations came into force some five weeks ago. How does that square with scrutiny? It does not with me.
Brexit: Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: International Affairs
Roger John Liddle (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, returning to paragraph 7, which was referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, paragraph 7.b. refers to Northern Ireland but the only commitment it makes is that, "the Government has been clear about its steadfast commitment to the Belfast Agreement" Is there any reason why, in this document, the Government’s commitment to no hard border has not been put down in black and white or why the amendment that this House passed on Northern Ireland and the avoidance of a hard border, which was accepted by the other place, has not been repeated? Do the Government continue to accept what they accepted in December: that there needs in this withdrawal agreement to be a backstop agreement on the avoidance of a Northern Ireland hard border?
Brexit: Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State has apparently told the House of Commons this afternoon that the Government are making preparations to stockpile food in the event of no deal. Does the Minister think that that is sensible? Secondly, paragraph 118 of the White Paper states, with no qualification whatever: "The UK will pay its share of the EU’s liabilities as at 31 December 2020" Are there any circumstances whatever in which Her Majesty’s Government will not honour that commitment?
Immigration Detention: Shaw Review — House of Lords, 2018-07-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Alfred Dubs (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, for some time there has been widespread concern about the detention of victims of torture—indeed to the point where people who have been tortured should surely not be detained under any circumstances. Is there anything the Government can do to speed up the process of looking at rule 35 and in the meantime alleviating the position for people who have been tortured and releasing them if that is at all possible?