argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Income Equality and Sustainability — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Civil Rights
Usha Kumari Prasher (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I thank the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York for securing this debate My focus this afternoon is on ethnic minorities. Stark analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies illustrates the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on ethnic minorities and warns that some ethnic groups look more likely to suffer economically from the lockdown. The harsh realities of long and entrenched inequalities faced by ethnic minorities are all too evident. Ethnic minorities are more likely to be in insecure and low-paid work and are more likely to be unemployed. Ethnic minority staff in the health service are more likely to be on the front line, less likely to progress at work and more likely to be disciplined. All these factors put them at greater risk. While genetics and so-called cultural factors have been mooted as possible reasons, they must not mask the fact that persistent and long-standing social and economic inequalities lead to poor health outcomes and that racial discrimination is a factor A study last year by the Centre of Social Investigation at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, found shocking racial discrimination in the labour market at levels unchanged since the late 1960s. The Runnymede Trust’s latest report, The Colour of Money, shows that racial discrimination, like poverty, is a determinant of economic inequality. Runnymede’s other report, The State of the Nation, paints a very grim picture of disparities As a former director of the Runnymede Trust, some 36 years ago, it pains me to say that after nearly four decades the situation is not much better. For too long we have neglected to tackle discrimination and unfair institutional practices. In the last decade we have focused more on cultural factors and promotion of diversity, and not enough on racial discrimination and economic inequalities. This is not a binary choice. If we neglect racial discrimination and economic inequalities, disparities will persist. Building a resilient and sustainable society will remain a dream. Deep-rooted problems require not just talk but strong action and policies pursued with determination and conviction. Can the Minister please tell the House what action the Government are planning to tackle persistent racial discrimination and consequent economic inequalities, which have been laid bare by this pandemic?
Windrush Compensation Scheme — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Immigration
Michael Hastings (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the opportunity for the House to discuss the issues raised by the Wendy Williams review and the Windrush compensation scheme, further to an initial debate about the Bill itself. I will press the Minister on one or two matters raised in that debate that did not receive a specific answer. We looked at the areas for which historical compensation can be paid. I raised the specific point about reputational damage to individuals, especially from the loss of their work or their removal from the country. Reputational damage should be a factor considered for compensation. Can the Minister reply on that matter The Minister also discussed briefly in her opening remarks the point about improving the lives of those directly affected. There were some examples of what that might mean, but very often a fundamental aspect of improving the lives of people who come from a Caribbean culture is to pay them due dignity and respect. I suggest that the Minister and the Government might seek to bring together an annual conference in the Palace of Westminster—not a perpetual conference of apology, but one of listening, heeding, supporting, enabling and empowering those who feel that their contributions might well have received some kind of financial return, but who, in effect, need to be respected, heard and listened to with greater dignity The particular questions raised by the specific issues referred to in Wendy Williams’ report cause us to ask the hard questions. Who was institutionally ignorant in the Home Office? Who was thoughtless? Was this simply down to political direction, as referred to in the previous speech, by Governments of both colours wanting to limit the amount of immigration, or was there some kind of systemic thoughtlessness within the structures and permanent operations of the Home Office We await the Home Secretary’s reply, which is permitted to be within six months of the publication of the report. Might the Minister advise us whether she can give a specific date when that reply, analysis and return will come from the Home Secretary? Could she also give some consideration to how the Home Office will in reality deal with this institutional ignorance? The only way to remove ignorance is to educate; the only way to remove thoughtlessness is to empathise. What specific actions of empathy and education has the Home Office undertaken to ensure that these aspects are removed I have one further point. Over time, those in power forgot about these people’s circumstances. If the Minister would allow it, could we put in place some way to make sure that we never forget—to bring them together, honour them, bring dignity to them and provide them with due respect?
Windrush Compensation Scheme — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Immigration
Harry Kenneth Woolf (Crossbench, Unknown): Yes, you have me. I apologise, but the system went down. I welcome this debate and am delighted to take part. I refer to my entries in the register, which include my membership of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, chaired so well by the right honourable Harriet Harman. I also acknowledge the help I received from the excellent Library briefing for this debate The finding of the Joint Committee on the Windrush generation makes very sad reading, as confirmed by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin. When something goes wrong in a society, it is very important that the society not only acknowledges that this has happened but makes sure that it is redeemed, in so far as that is possible. There are times when any Government can depart from the standards that the rule of law requires. I hope that the Minister will accept without reservation that this is such an occasion. If so, the state is under a clear obligation to remedy the situation. In doing so, it should adopt a generous and open approach Sadly, although the Government appeared initially to be adopting the correct approach, they have departed from it. It is worrying that the question of compensation has not been dealt with expeditiously. I cannot believe that more claims would not have been concluded if the Home Office had shown greater flexibility. I can understand why the former shadow Home Secretary said: "The amount and the quantity of the payments are pitifully small".—[Official Report, Commons, 10/2/20; col. 626.] I agree with Wendy Williams that a more personalised and sensitive approach to claimants should have been adopted. Even with my experience many years ago of acting in the courts for most government departments for five years, it takes my breath away that the Home Office, having failed to make or conserve any records, tries to rely on the inadequacy of the Windrush claimants’ efforts to produce records and establish the right to citizenship given to them by the Immigration Act 1971. Then, for a time at any rate, the Home Office turned on its head the burden of proof. A more appropriate approach would have been to give the claimants the benefit of any reasonable doubt. That is what should be done. It is not necessary for representation; what is needed for justice to be done to the claimants has not happened yet.
Windrush Compensation Scheme — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Immigration
Deborah Bull (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, it hardly seems possible that this issue could have assumed greater significance now than when it first came to public attention in 2017, but this pandemic has highlighted the extraordinary contribution of the Windrush generation and their descendants to the UK and to vital public services such as health, social care and transport, making even more shameful the treatment they received as a result of the Windrush scandal. Some of them have answered government’s call and come out of retirement to help this country through our current crisis, echoing their response in 1948 when they boarded "Empire Windrush" to help rebuild a nation devastated by war This scheme is an important step towards redressing the considerable wrongs visited on those original pioneers and on other Commonwealth citizens, injustices powerfully articulated by the noble Baronesses, Lady Lawrence of Clarendon and Lady Benjamin. I want to address three points The first is on the importance of getting implementation right. I welcome the establishment of the cross-government working group and the £500,000 community fund for grassroots organisations to promote and advise. However, as I noted at Second Reading, grassroots organisations are effective because they are community-specific and, given the range of communities and locations involved, this funding may not be sufficient Concerns have also been raised about the complexity of the process and whether this contributes to the small number of applications having been received so far: around 1,000, despite the Home Office estimating that some 15,000 people could be eligible. Lack of access to legal aid may be a factor, and so might lack of trust. Is the Minister confident that the Home Office can earn the confidence of communities which have every reason to be nervous of engaging with it Secondly, I want to stress the importance of adopting the lessons of Wendy Williams’s review more widely across government. As she says, we must "go further to right the wrongs" With that in mind, I urge the Government to address the growing risk that the EU settlement scheme becomes what some charities are already calling "this generation’s Windrush". Does the Minister share my concerns that we risk creating once again a tier of second-class citizens and that the lessons of Windrush have not been learned Finally, we should not imagine that this scheme on its own will end the discrimination against BAME communities so clearly evident in relative rates of poverty, access to education, housing and employment and in social and health-related inequalities. This has been highlighted in the gravest of ways in the disproportionate numbers of BAME patients and NHS staff critically ill with, and dying from, Covid-19 This scheme is welcome, but we would most effectively honour the legacy of the Windrush generation by a wholehearted commitment to eradicating, once and for all, the inequality, discrimination and denial of rights that gave rise to and perpetrated one of the most shameful episodes in our national life.
Fisheries Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2020-03-09
Topic: Civil Rights
Bryony Worthington (Crossbench, Unknown): I thank the Minister for those comments. Could we have one of those meetings with the specialists in the room? I am merely a voice that is carrying a view from the sector itself. I would certainly appreciate that. In particular, could the Minister confirm that we can have a meeting on this point about the public rights and the allocation?
Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-01
Topic: Other
Simon Russell (Crossbench, Unknown): We come now to the group beginning with Amendment 3. I remind noble Lords that Members other than the mover and the Minister may speak only once and that short questions of elucidation are discouraged. Anyone wishing to press this or any other amendment in this group to a Division should make that clear in debate Amendment 3
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Nuala O'Loan (Crossbench, Unknown): Leave out from "that" to the end, and insert "this House declines to approve the Regulations because they (1) have been rejected by the Northern Ireland Assembly, (2) are legally flawed by being in breach of section 6 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, (3) do not prohibit abortion on the grounds of non-fatal disability, (4) perpetuate stereotypes towards persons with disabilities, including Down’s syndrome, and (5) do not prohibit abortion on the grounds of sex selection during the first twelve weeks of gestation, as is the case in Great Britain, and therefore perpetuate negative stereotypes and prejudices towards women."
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
David Alton (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, be clear: CEDAW makes no mention of abortion. Moreover, the committee report—which is binding only because we have made it so—expressly condemns disability-discriminatory and sex-selective abortions, which these regulations do not. Instead, they fly in the face of devolution, ignoring the overwhelming and united views of Northern Ireland’s majority, manifested in polls and a recent vote of the Northern Ireland Assembly These regulations also fail the good governance test. Our Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee said the time provided for consultation—which generated 21,000 responses, with 79% opposed—was "too short for so sensitive a topic." It concluded that Parliament was denied "an opportunity for scrutiny before the instrument came into effect." Ignoring our own scrutiny committee, the devolved Assembly and the considered views of disability groups, charities and the Attorney-General for Northern Ireland will simply bring Parliament into disrepute. That is why, whatever your views about abortion, we should vote "Content" to my noble friend’s amendment.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Susan Lilian Primrose Cunliffe-Lister (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, my husband and I adopted two six-week-old babies. I felt the joy of babies growing up and the need to protect little children. Today, I feel the need to protect the unborn child. The regulations allow abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities but limit it to 24 weeks for non-disabled children. Many people are dismayed and horrified by this discrimination. There is no protection for healthcare professionals if they do not wish to perform abortions, which are slaughter. These discussions should be left to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, abortion is difficult; there are two lives. I welcomed David Steel’s law. I have resuscitated women after back-street abortions, assisted at vacuum abortions, shared the sadness at an aborted late foetus, signed abortion forms and supported many women. Whatever your views, abortions will happen and must be safe, but not viewed as convenient sex selection Constitutionally, there is a problem with this statutory instrument. It was wrong to exploit the lacuna of Stormont not sitting to impose legislation that is wider than in England and Wales. Northern Ireland is in an unstable position as we leave Europe. It must decide for itself if it joins Eire’s framework or legislates in line with the rest of the UK, but we should not impose on it. I support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, and will vote "Content".
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Richard Harries (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, for the simple reason that it is fundamental to the devolution settlement that we respect the view of the people of Northern Ireland as made known through the votes of the Assembly—and it has been made known, with absolutely no ambiguity. These regulations were decisively rejected in two key votes. Of the 90 Members of the Assembly, 75 voted against. On abortion generally, I support the position of the Church of England, which is to support abortion in certain, very clearly defined circumstances. As far as I can see, these regulations go beyond the law in the rest of the UK in a way that is unacceptable. The Government have said that they are under a legal obligation to enact this law, but Governments sometimes make laws that they later reverse because of some overriding consideration. There is an overriding consideration in this case: the people of Northern Ireland have said clearly and firmly that they want to make their own law on this issue.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Sheila Clare Hollins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, fear of difference and otherness extends to disability. Many of us still grow up with no personal experience of people with Down’s syndrome or cerebral palsy, and children might be cruel to someone with a cleft palate, but those are not reasons to propose the discriminatory practice of abortion for unborn babies with these conditions up to birth. This practice offends children and adults who live with so-called impairments, and it offends families who love their disabled family members unconditionally and are tired of seeing them discriminated against. Many people with Down’s syndrome say that it makes them feel like they should not have been born. A truly liberal society would welcome and celebrate difference. As my noble friend Lady O’Loan said, Regulation 7 is not CEDAW compliant: paragraph 85 stipulated that the law must be changed "without perpetuating stereotypes towards disabled people." As a doctor and a mother, I support the amendments.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Ruth Deech (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, the Northern Ireland Act does not limit Parliament to the recommendations of CEDAW; it is broader. This is an exercise of parliamentary sovereignty. Secondly, it has been held in law that the unborn do not have rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. However, most of all, I draw attention to something shameful. There is respect for the foetus, I hear from our Northern Ireland colleagues. Why, then, until very recently, when the mother had her perhaps unwanted baby out of wedlock, were they put in mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries, subject to arbitrary detention and forced adoption? There is a four-year, ongoing interdepartmental working group looking into the shameful treatment of mothers and babies in Northern Ireland, which the UN Committee Against Torture recommended. I do not understand this respect for the foetus if it does not carry over to the born baby and the mother, so I support the regulations.
Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Nuala O'Loan (Crossbench, Unknown): I wish to draw to the attention of the House that the noble Lord, Lord Kilclooney, was told that he was not permitted to speak, and he left the Chamber in disgust The noble Lord, Lord Duncan, suggested that we have discussed these regulations before. We did not know there would be sex-selective abortion to 12 weeks. That is not allowed in Great Britain, and what the law does not forbid is permitted. We did not know there would be abortion to birth for non-fatal disabilities. The noble Lord, Lord Hain, suggested that Ireland has corresponding regulations; the law in Ireland is much more limited. Three of the regulations are manifestly ultra vires. The Government have power under Section 9 to amend these regulations. There is no international legal obligation to give effect to these regulations. The Government could introduce different regulations; it is not this or nothing. I am going to ask the noble Lords to vote "Content" to my amendment. I wish to test the opinion of the House.
Probation Services — House of Lords, 2020-06-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Deborah Bull (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, black, Asian and minority ethnic-led charities working in the criminal justice system have an important role to play in the new model for probation because they are trusted voices in their communities. However, they are in the main small scale and therefore less equipped than larger organisations to bid successfully for available funding. Can the Minister say what the Government are doing to build capacity in this specific part of the voluntary sector? How do they plan to strengthen communications between the probation service and BAME charities so that they do not continue to feel, in their own words, overused and undervalued?
Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme Changes — House of Lords, 2020-06-18
Topic: Housing
John Bird (Crossbench, Unknown): I suggest that one of the big issues today is not simply removing the homeless from the streets—as this Government valiantly did, and we should back them for that—but preventing homelessness. That is the real big issue. I call on the Government to have a moratorium on evictions, provide work through jobs training and invest in businesses to keep people in work. Importantly, if people slip into the treacle of homelessness, they will be there for decades, children will be hurt and there will be a knock-on effect on the NHS and the well-being of our whole society. We have to concentrate on preventing people falling into homelessness.
European Union: Negotiations (European Union Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2020-03-16
Topic: Other
David Hugh Alexander Hannay (Crossbench, Unknown): Perhaps I can give the noble Viscount an answer to his question. The answer is no, it does not mean that. It could only mean that if the French agreed to make it mean that, and they will not.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, we are aware that there are some connection problems for the Minister, but we will continue as we are at the moment. I have been notified of three noble Lords who wish to speak now: the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, and the noble Lord, Lord Adonis. I will call each in turn, and after each person the Minister will respond. I call the noble Lord, Lord Liddle.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, we now come to the group consisting of Amendment 2. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "Not content" when the Question is put made that clear in debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee; this Committee cannot divide Amendment 2
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, we move on to the group beginning with Amendment 7. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the Clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "not content" when the question is put made that clear in debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in Committee. This Committee cannot divide. I will open the next group, and then hand over to the noble Lord, Lord McNicol. Amendment 7