argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill — House of Lords, 2019-07-08
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): That this House regrets that the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill fails to include the option of relocating Parliament to a city outside London as a means of rebalancing the constitution of the United Kingdom, which is over-centralised on London.
UK’s Ambassador to the USA — House of Lords, 2019-07-08
Topic: International Affairs
Denis Tunnicliffe (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the leak of the diptel cable will do extraordinary damage to the UK’s interests abroad, and the confidence of civil servants will now be marred by knowing that they cannot freely feed back their insights. The Government are right to launch an inquiry. On an issue of such significance, speed is of the essence. Can the Minister outline the timetable for the inquiry? In the immediate term, will the Minister detail what steps the Government will take to ensure that diplomats feel safe to pass on information to the FCO?
UK’s Ambassador to the USA — House of Lords, 2019-07-08
Topic: International Affairs
Helen Lawrie Liddell (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, like a number of noble Lords, I have walked on both sides of the street as a Minister and as a member of the Diplomatic Service. I can testify to the significance to both sides of having frank and unblemished advice from our ambassadors. However, when I became a member of the Diplomatic Service, I was subjected to detailed, developed vetting, to the extent that a bank account my mother had opened when I was eight was uncovered. I am not aware of any equivalent vetting when I became a Minister. Will the Minister give the House a guarantee that, should it transpire that a politician was responsible for these leaks, action will be taken against that politician with the full force of the law in such a way as to ensure that we are not bandying around terms such as "honourable" and "right honourable" without any honour being present?
UK’s Ambassador to the USA — House of Lords, 2019-07-08
Topic: International Affairs
John Davies (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I think that everybody will be very pleased to hear the robust statement of confidence in our ambassador in Washington that the noble Lord has just delivered. Does he agree that there would be no point at all in having ambassadors or a Diplomatic Service abroad if they were not allowed to communicate back to the Government frankly and fully the reality of countries as they see it? Will he perhaps go a little further and give an assurance to everybody in the Diplomatic Service that no one’s career will be damaged by virtue of a leak that is no doubt made with personal or political motives, such as occurred in the last few days in relation to our embassy in Washington?
Conduct Committee — House of Lords, 2019-05-09
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): That a Conduct Committee be appointed and that, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following members be appointed to the Committee: Anelay of St Johns, B. Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, L. Donaghy, B. Hussein-Ece, B. Mance, L. (Chair) That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers and records; That the Committee have leave to report from time to time; That the reports of the Committee be printed, regardless of any adjournment of the House; That the evidence taken by the Committee be published, if the Committee so wishes.
Conduct Committee — House of Lords, 2019-05-09
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. Last Tuesday, the House agreed to the Privileges and Conduct Committee’s fourth report and, in doing so, agreed to proposals for a new code of conduct, the appointment of a new conduct committee and a new standing order restricting debates on conduct committee reports on Members’ conduct. This first Motion appoints five noble Lords as members of the new conduct committee. A Motion to appoint the lay members of the committee will be brought before the House in due course. The second Motion in my name on the Order Paper, which I shall move shortly, sets out the text of the new standing order. I would like to take this opportunity to inform Members that the new Code of Conduct, Guide to the Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct for Members’ Staff, as agreed by the House last week, were published this morning and copies are available in the Printed Paper Office and online.
Standing Orders (Public Business) — House of Lords, 2019-05-09
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): Further to the House’s approval of the 4th Report from the Privileges and Conduct Committee Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme: Changes to the Code of Conduct, that the House agrees the following new Standing Order: 68A Reports from the Conduct Committee Reports from the Conduct Committee resulting from an investigation under the Code of Conduct, together with any resolution on a sanction, are decided without debate.
Conduct of Debate in Public Life — House of Lords, 2019-05-09
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, it is customary on these occasions to say how grateful you are to everyone who contributed. I suspect that that is sometimes formulaic, but it has been a debate of profound content. Like my noble friend Lady Morris, I have gained something, learned something and been provoked into thinking about something by every single contribution we have heard. I am also grateful to the Minister for a response that at least attempted to cover the enormous breadth of issues raised during our discussion. He did so with his usual urbanity, courtesy and all the values that we have said are so important in our public life I want to make it clear that I brought forward this debate not because I think the problems we face are new. I very much take the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley. The first death threat I received as a public figure was almost 30 years ago. It was scrawled on the front of my house in black paint, and it was quite clear what the intent was. At the time, the police duly took a little note of it. A chief constable saw a photograph of it recently and said, "Oh, we’d take that very seriously these days". I am sure that is very reassuring. The point is that this is not a new phenomenon, but the consensus from every speaker has been that it has got significantly worse and significantly more serious in recent years I think a consensus emerged that we want to see strong leadership—I prefer the word "better"—to confront and deal with these issues. Unfortunately, strong leadership begins to sound like the strong man or the strong woman; that is the antithesis of what we are looking for. But we do want leadership, and people who are prepared to build consensus and confront the unacceptable, rather than pretend it is not there or ignore it. The overwhelming feeling I got from the contributions today was that we cannot allow this to drift, because the drift could lead us to a very unacceptable and frightening place. Given the unanimity that has been expressed today, I beg leave to withdraw the Motion Motion withdrawn.
Serco — House of Lords, 2019-07-04
Topic: Law and Crime
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this issue arises out of the Government’s infatuation with the concept of privatising public services—in this area, largely in connection with prison and the probation service. In these areas, privatisation has been a signal failure. Why has it taken six years from the revelation of Serco’s fraudulent charging for the offender tagging contract between 2010 and 2013 to secure the payment of £19.2 million? Deloitte has also been fined £6.5 million for its role in the scandal. Why do the Government apparently intend to continue to allow these companies to tender for government contracts of this or other kinds?
Serco — House of Lords, 2019-07-04
Topic: Government Operations
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, what lessons have the Ministry of Justice and other government departments learned from this instance? In particular, are the Government satisfied with the adequacy of the contract management arrangements that they have in place, and have they enhanced them as a result of the various incidents that have been discussed in your Lordships’ House today?
Work Capability Assessment — House of Lords, 2019-07-04
Topic: Social Welfare
Maeve Christina Mary Sherlock (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for repeating that slightly opaque Answer. This is really serious. There have long been complaints about the WCA process from campaigners concerned about the impact on people—including, in some cases, their deaths—following assessments The DWP conducts peer reviews into serious outcomes and deaths associated with DWP activity. The independent statutory reviews the Minister mentioned were conducted by Paul Litchfield in 2013 and 2014. Disability News Service reported earlier this year that letters to Ministers from coroners, along with several peer reviews, were not given to Dr Litchfield’s team. The DWP will not confirm that, but DNS says that it then lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner and that the summary of its discussions with the DWP shows that that information was not passed along to the review team In response to a letter from my honourable friend Debbie Abrahams, the DWP finally said that it has had a good look around the department and that despite, "a robust and thorough search", it could not find any information about this, citing, "the length of time since the reviews were carried out", and, "factors such as document retention" It also implied, as the Minister did, that the review team did not ask for them. These were documents related to the circumstances of people’s deaths. The independent reviewers were investigating the WCA process, including its impacts on the clients. Either these documents were withheld from the reviewers or the DWP’s record keeping is so poor that the department does not know whether they were passed across. I regret that, given the level of anger and mistrust of the DWP out there as a result of repeated cuts and the profoundly dysfunctional nature of the benefit assessment system, this will inevitably fuel suspicions that there was something in those documents that the DWP did not want an independent reviewer to see Does the Minister accept that it is the department’s responsibility to ensure that an independent reviewer has any potentially relevant information? It is not their responsibility to work out what to ask for. If that is true, why did it not include all peer reviews and coroners’ letters Secondly, since trust is now so low, will the Government accede to the widespread calls for an independent inquiry into how assessments are carried out and the medical evidence of their impact on the health and well-being of claimants? Will she guarantee that all documents relating to deaths or serious and complex cases related to DWP activity will be shared with any future independent reviewer? This is a matter of justice and it is the only way to restore trust in a deeply discredited system.
Apprenticeships — House of Lords, 2019-07-04
Topic: Education
Anthony Young (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, first, I congratulate the Minister on giving a comprehensive reply. He might not have completely covered the waterfront but I am sure that he will respond with written answers where he has not I take this opportunity to thank everybody who has participated in the debate. The contributions were fascinating. They were eclectic and constructively critical, and a lot of good ideas were put forward. I am conscious that I am the only thing stopping the House adjourning, so I will not attempt to cover every aspect of every contribution, but they certainly gave me food for thought in a number of ways that I had not considered concerning our approach to apprenticeships and how the levy should be used I do not want us to have an either/or debate on whether it is vocational training, an apprenticeship or the university route. When I talk to young people as part of the Lords outreach programme—to 16 and 17 year-olds and sometimes younger—I say, "Look, it’s not an either/or choice". Some will start on apprenticeships and then go on to take a degree. I stress that they are making a pretty key choice and that they should choose wisely. If they are going down the university route, it is quite an expensive one. As other noble Lords have said, a benefit of apprenticeships is that apprentices can earn while they learn; for some young people, this is crucial I will pick out one issue that was raised a number of times, by the right reverend Prelate and others. I am not sure that the Minister covered it, and I come across it again and again: travel costs. As I looked in my pocket, I was just thinking, "I have this thing called a Freedom Pass. It is a nice little perk that I do not really need—I can afford to travel—but young people should have the benefit of one while travelling for an apprenticeship". If you go into further education colleges and speak to students about the issues they face, travel costs come almost top of the agenda. I do not want to end on this point, but it was not quite addressed. Once again, I thank everybody for their contributions and the way they made them. They have given the Minister a lot to think about.
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I beg to move the first two Motions standing in my name on the Order Paper. As many noble Lords will be aware, the House operates a rotation rule in respect of most Select Committees, which requires that any Member who has been appointed to a Select Committee for three successive Sessions may not be reappointed in the following two Sessions. The rotation rule is based on the duration of a Session being approximately 12 months. The current Session began on 21 June 2017 and has therefore lasted for 24 months so far In 2014 the House approved a report from the Procedure Committee which stated that, in the event of a Session lasting significantly longer than 12 months, the Committee of Selection should be asked to consider whether any ad hoc adjustments should be made to the operation of the rotation rule. Accordingly, at its most recent meeting, the Committee of Selection agreed that the rotation rule should be applied today, 1 July, in order to ensure a degree of turnover in committee membership As a result of the exceptional duration of the current Session, many current Select Committee members have sat on their committees for four years, which is significantly longer than the usual term length. We value their service, but it is only right that now, more than two years after the current Session began, we look to refresh the membership and allow other Members of the House the opportunity to contribute to the important work of our committees. I beg to move.
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): I did not ask the Senior Deputy Speaker to say when the general election will be—heaven forbid. What I asked was: if there is a general election later this year, how does that affect the principle of rotation?
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): If the noble Lord looks at what this document says about members appointed today, on 1 July, he will see that their membership up until the next general election is not included. The rotation rule will kick in after the next general election.
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My apologies—after Prorogation. So the term that the members will serve until Prorogation will not count: their term on a committee will start thereafter The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, mentioned the EU Committee. The Committee of Selection looked at the EU Committee but felt that since the rotation rule has not been applied since 2017, it was appropriate to apply it now. As for gender, I was very grateful to the noble Lord for discussing this with me last week. The Committee of Selection has looked at gender in the past. I recognise that the position varies between committees, with some having a 50:50 split and others falling some way short of that. Across committees as a whole, around 30% of the membership is female. For comparison, women make up just over 26% of the membership of the House. However, I recognise from my conversations with Members that there is much more to do there and I undertake to keep raising awareness of this among the usual channels The noble Lord, Lord Cormack, mentioned the EU Committee. I cannot add to that, but, as mentioned, I am undertaking a review of the committees and a number of issues have come before the committee. We hope to produce a report reasonably soon on that, and these points have been studied by the review of committees. That is all I can say at the moment I thank the noble Lord, Lord Howell, for his chairmanship of the International Relations Committee, which has been quite outstanding. On the issue he raised about outgoing chairmen being consulted, one of the proposals put to the review of committees was that a chairs’ forum would be established with the Senior Deputy Speaker—me—as its chair. It would be an informal committee but it would take soundings. It would ensure that, where there was any overlap in committee work, any problems would be ironed out. It would look to the future. That is an area where something could be done. The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, made the other point that one of the issues before the Committee of Selection is ensuring that more Members get opportunities to serve on these committees.
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
Genista Mary McIntosh (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, could the noble Lord clarify the issue of a general election? I believe—he will correct me if I am wrong—that if there were to be a general election then it would mean the end of the entire Parliament, not just the end of the Session, and that, therefore, all the committees would have to be reappointed. However, there would be nothing at that moment to prevent current members of committees being reappointed to those committees if they had not served the requisite number of sessions by that time. Can he clarify that?
Liaison Committee — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): What I can do is refer to the paper that the Committee of Selection put out —this takes in the point of the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, as well. The Committee of Selection, "has agreed that, for newly appointed members of committees, service in the remainder of this session will not be counted towards the rotation rule, unless the session extends beyond 1 January 2020" As for a general election, the noble Baroness is correct that membership would be done anew from there.
Inflation — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
David Edward Lea (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, although I attributed possible motive to the Bank and the Treasury, I said that my main concern was the lack of authority to put this adjective in front of it to say that it was discredited. On what basis can officials brief the press that the RPI is discredited?
Inflation — House of Lords, 2019-07-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Reid (Labour, Centre-left): Will the noble Lord explain something to me? I do not understand his contention that one of the main reasons why RPI is discredited is that if something goes up by 25% and then comes down by 25%, it does not end up where it started. If any figure goes up by 25% and is then reduced by 25%, it does not end up where it started.
Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill — House of Lords, 2019-03-12
Topic: Government Operations
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Thornton who has done a splendid job in dealing with this Bill, in analysing it and bringing forward amendments for consideration by the House. According to the Delegated Powers Committee, this Bill has "a breath-taking scope". I have not heard that said about any other Bill coming before the House. All the other Bills and statutory instruments that we have considered deal with providing exactly the same arrangements that we have at present in the event of no deal. They have been precautionary for that. This is the only one, as I understand it, and this is the only department that is trying to include something completely new, very wide and extensive, as the noble Lord, Lord Marks, and my noble friend Lady Thornton said If the Government want to do that, as my noble friend said, they can wait until the Queen’s Speech. We know that the Government Chief Whip does not know when that will be, but there has to be one eventually and that is the right time for us to consider it. We can then look at the proposals in detail and, as the noble Lord, Lord Marks, said, examine them then. These additional powers are opposed by the trade unions, the BMA and a whole range of people. Indeed, I have not found anyone except Conservative Members and Ministers in favour of this wide extension, this "breath-taking scope", of the Bill. I hope that the House today will support my noble friend’s amendment and reject the proposal put forward by Her Majesty’s Government.
Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill — House of Lords, 2019-03-12
Topic: International Affairs
Frank Ashcroft Judd (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too find this amendment imperative. The Bill as it stands has some exciting prospects, which are worth looking at, but if we are to go down that road we must recognise that the implications are highly complex and potentially demanding economically. It is quite unthinkable that we should move along that road without primary legislation that has been properly considered by a wide cross-section of Britain, including the professions. It is extraordinary to bring in exciting, challenging ideas of this kind on the back of a Bill concerned with making sure that the excellent arrangements that exist within the European Union are protected The most imperative words that we have heard in the remarks so far—apart from the, as usual, exemplary speech by my noble friend Lady Thornton—came from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, who, with all his experience, said that this is just wrong and that we cannot pass major legislation on this basis. That is exactly how I feel. To dilute our commitment to those in the European Union and, indeed, to people from the European Union living in this country—arrangements will be reciprocal—would be very unfortunate. I hope the House will warmly endorse the amendments.