argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Privileges and Conduct — House of Lords, 2018-11-15
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the noble and right reverend Lord. I do not know whether I agree enthusiastically with him, but I shall nod to that comment. The points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hussein-Ece, were highly relevant in that regard. The complainant has been criticised in some parts of the media for not formally reporting what happened at the time. She did not report what happened in 2007 to this House, but she told six people of considerable standing. We should remember that, at that time, she would have had to report the incident directly to Members of this House. We had no independent commissioner or other mechanism for reporting at that time. I should also point out that it was not the commissioner who unilaterally decided that it was appropriate to investigate; she sought the permission of the sub-committee, which unanimously decided that the case should be investigated fully under our current procedures. With that, I invite the House to approve the Motion in my name and to agree to the report of the Privileges and Conduct Committee. I invite the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, to withdraw his amendment.
Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: Technology
John Alston Maxton (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, is it not correct that the centre’s name is the wrong way round? It ought to be the advisory committee on digital innovation and ethics, because the innovation will drive the ethics rather than the other way round.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: Social Welfare
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I realise that in the last group I mentioned general medical practitioners. I ought to inform the House of my forthcoming appointment to the General Medical Council. We have had a lot to read in the last few days, and are clearly going to have to take a lot of this on trust, but the thrust of the amendments is welcome, and I am grateful to the Minister for tabling them. As he said, they strengthen the role of local authorities and give them a clear remit to intervene where they feel that, for one reason or another, the care home manager cannot discharge the responsibilities given in relation to the authorisation application appropriately In the letter that the Minister sent to a number of noble Lords, he set out factors that might be considered by the local authority as a responsible body. These would be: "Whether the person has a care plan with the responsible body … local intelligence about a local provider of care homes", which would suggest that the responsible body takes over the process; "insight from local commissioners or concerns about performance … sustained absence of a registered manager"— or presumably when the turnover of managers is high, as it can be; and— "an increase in concerns raised by residents, their carers or families … a new service or category of care provision, and/or … provision of poor or incomplete statements" To me that sounds very comprehensive and welcome What arises from this is that the responsible body will have to make a considerable judgment and, to make it, will need a very clear understanding of the care homes in its area. Could the Minister say a little about how he thinks that local authorities might be supported in that role? Clearly, they now have a major role which they have found it hard to discharge, for reasons that have been discussed. It is important they are able to do this in a consistent way The Minister mentioned the code of practice. It is a statutory code of practice, which I think means that it must be followed unless the local body has very good reason not to do so. It would be interesting to know what plans the department has for checking with the local authorities—not in a heavy-handed way—how well it is going after time and implementation, and seeing whether there is consistency across the country as a whole.
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: Law and Crime
James Donnelly Touhig (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too welcome the amendments and I thank the Minister and his team for the meeting we had earlier this week. He will recall that I raised my concern about different regimes operating in different parts of the country. A responsible body in my borough might decide that it alone would take responsibility for putting together applications, while in the next-door borough the care home manager and so on might be involved. I wanted to look at how we could get to a common approach right across the country. The Minister has helpfully sent us an excellent letter in response to the points I and others raised. In it he states: "We wish to work with a wide range of stakeholders on developing the code of practice" Is he yet in a position to tell which stakeholders he will be consulting? Perhaps he could write and tell us at a later stage, because it would be awful if we left someone off who could make a valuable contribution to this work. The Minister goes on to say: "We are beginning to develop a programme for the new Code of Practice for the Liberty Protection Safeguards, working alongside the Ministry of Justice. The MoJ is also about to start a project to review the Code of Practice for the wider Mental Capacity Act too, so we will have the opportunity to work on both" How does he plan for the two departments to consult between them with stakeholders when looking at the code of practice? Will he consider whether it would be worth setting up a group of interested parties who could act as a sounding board? As the code is developed, similar to what we have done with the Armed Forces covenant, we could bounce ideas off a group which might have an interest and make a contribution. Perhaps we could do something along the same lines. That might ensure that when in the end we get the code of practice, it will have widespread support and be of great benefit to those who we are concerned about.
Yemen: UN Security Council Resolution — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: International Affairs
Raymond Collins (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the response to that Urgent Question and welcome the resolution, despite the fact that the United Kingdom had been sitting on a draft for two years. I also welcome the fact that it covers the five areas identified by Mark Lowcock on 23 October. In the debate in this Chamber last Thursday, I expressed the hope to the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, that other vital issues would be covered in any draft resolution, particularly the need for accountability for war crimes and human rights violations. In the other place, the Foreign Secretary said that this is not the last word but the beginning of the process. He said that the priority is to build trust, but trust can only be sustained in the knowledge that no party can act with impunity. Jeremy Hunt said that he gave a tough message on the need to investigate war crimes. Was it in the draft which he discussed in Saudi Arabia with the Crown Prince? If it has been removed, how does the United Kingdom intend to ensure that the tough message it has already given holds and is implemented in the future?
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire (Fire and Rescue Authority) Order 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Minister has, unfortunately, said something quite outrageous. I chaired the Metropolitan Police Authority for four years, and the number of times we went into private session was extremely small. Most of those meetings were held in public with television cameras and most of the national press present. That was the balance.
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire (Fire and Rescue Authority) Order 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-11-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Rosser (Labour, Centre-left): I am talking about this in general terms. Is the ability of a PCC to work with those around her—for example, the police and crime panel and her own staff—a factor that is taken into account in considering whether she or he should also have responsibility for the fire and rescue service?
Draft Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Government Operations
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): That the Commons message of 27 November be considered and that a Committee of six Lords be appointed to join with the Committee appointed by the Commons to consider and report on the Draft Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill presented to both Houses on 18 October (Cm 9710), and that the Committee should report on the draft Bill by 28 March 2019; That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following members be appointed to the Committee: Blunkett, L, Brabazon of Tara, L, Byford, B, Prashar, B, Stunell, L, Warwick of Undercliffe, B That the Committee have power to agree with the Committee appointed by the Commons in the appointment of a Chairman; That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers and records; That the Committee have power to appoint specialist advisers; That the Committee have leave to report from time to time; That the Committee have power to adjourn from place to place within the United Kingdom; That the reports of the Committee from time to time shall be printed, regardless of any adjournment of the House; That the evidence taken by the Committee shall, if the Committee so wishes, be published; and That the quorum of the Committee shall be three.
Brexit: Attorney-General’s Advice — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Goldsmith (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I apologise to the noble and learned Lord for intervening. As he said that he would not anticipate what is to come, I thought that he was going to stop Given the references to things that I have said in the past, I thought that I should intervene for a couple of moments. First, I do not agree with or accept the characterisations that have been made in relation to what happened in 2003, but that is for another day. Of course, all the advice given on Iraq was disclosed in the Chilcot inquiry and looked at in great detail. It is important to recognise that. Secondly, I want to press the noble and learned Lord on the point that he has not really dealt with. In 2003, no resolution or humble Address was ever made by the House of Commons to the Government; they could have released whatever they wanted at any time. I am interested to know what the Minister has to say about the effect of the Commons resolution.
Schools: Funding — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Education
John Bassam (Labour, Centre-left): The noble Lord is being extremely courteous and helpful to the House, but what he does not seem to be doing is explaining why it is that all these schools, in experiencing what he is saying are increases in budgets, are also experiencing reductions and losing the ability to provide the level of service that they have provided in the past. The Barnet study is a good case in point, because it is not just one isolated school; it is all the Barnet schools. While I am here, I recommend to the noble Lord that he uses Lockets next time, rather than worry about Tunes.
Schools: Funding — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Education
Michael Goodall Watson (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister has not mentioned the fact that schools are meant to meet the first 1% of the pay rise themselves, so that is not funded. Can he explain that? Can he also answer my earlier question as to whether he accepts the figures in the Institute for Fiscal Studies report?
Violent Crime — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): To move that this House takes note of the recent increase in violent crime and the case for a cross-governmental response that includes not only policing, law enforcement and policies on gangs and drugs but also health services, youth provision and opportunities for young people.
Violent Crime — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Law and Crime
Anthony Young (Labour, Centre-left): I was not being flippant. I hope I was making the point that I support the police in such action. However, having said that, we know that when they do take that kind of action we will have to address the points made by the noble Lord. Again, I hope the Minister will respond. We require regulation of how and when the action will be taken, but I certainly support the approach and I believe that the police should be supported.
Violent Crime — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Education
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): I think that is a hint. The Minister may not have been listening earlier when her noble friend Lord Agnew said quite explicitly that school pensions were being fully funded by the Government, so why is it that the schools settlement can be determined and those pensions fully funded yet at the moment she is unable to provide that commitment?
Violent Crime — House of Lords, 2018-11-29
Topic: Law and Crime
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who contributed; I know that the previous debate overran significantly. As we get older, we may all have cause to be grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Bertin, for tweaking and developing House of Lords procedure and practice A number of noble Lords, including my noble friends Lady Donaghy and Lady Massey, stressed the importance of the multiagency approach. However, what we have heard today from the Minister is that, yes, she understands the importance of it. She talked about 61 commitments and actions to be followed through. Perhaps she needs to go back and ask, not just in her department but across government, who is overseeing and progress-chasing that. It is all very well to have 61 actions, but they can get lost in the miasma of the government machine unless there is someone senior and central. The point of my mentioning Tony Blair’s COBRA meetings was because he had Ministers of State and junior Ministers in the room and would say, "What’s happened since last week? I expect this to have happened by next week"—and, my goodness, it made a difference In conclusion, it is not a question of my saying that these things were worthy; my concern was that they were worthy in the context of being platitudinous. My point too is that they are essential. When I reviewed the tragic deaths of 87 young people in prison, the reality was that most of those need never have got into the criminal justice system had there been the appropriate interventions much earlier in their lives by the agencies of the state.
Bank Recovery and Resolution and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I was unable to attend the Grand Committee because of business in the House. Will the Minister confirm whether this is one of the many hundreds of statutory instruments needed because of a possible no-deal exit from the European Union, which no one wants and which would be disastrous for this country, and on which many civil servants are spending a great deal of time when they should be doing many other more useful things?
Capital Requirements (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I was unable to attend the Grand Committee because of business in the House. Will the Minister confirm whether this is another of the many hundreds of statutory instruments that this House has to consider to prepare for a no-deal exit from the European Union, which no one in their right minds wants and on which a large number of civil servants are spending time which they could use more profitably?
Capital Requirements (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I was unable to attend the Grand Committee. Will the Minister confirm whether this is yet another of the many hundreds of statutory instruments which we are having to consider in this House in the event of a no-deal exit from the European Union, which 17.4 million people did not vote for—because there was never any suggestion of there being a no-deal exit when that referendum took place? I hope the Minister will correct his statement on the previous regulations. This is something which is taking up a lot of our time in Grand Committee, and a lot of civil servants’ time, which could be used in more profitable activities.
Capital Requirements (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
Angela Smith (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Minister says that this is essential good responsible planning from a Government in case there is no deal. Would it not then have been more helpful to Parliament as a whole had the Prime Minister not pulled the expected votes last week, so that Parliament could have voted on whether it considered no deal an acceptable option at all?
Capital Requirements (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
Anthony Gueterbock (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the European Commission has today published a paper entitled Preparing for the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019, which gives various scenarios for financial services, transport, air and everything that we discussed yesterday. It says that it will allow a certain time for arrangements to be put in place, provided that the UK Government match it with similar concessions the other way with UK residents on the continent and everything else. How will the Minister and the Government deal with the responses to that paper and have them debated in your Lordships’ House?
Blood Safety and Quality (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: Government Operations
John Lawrence Whitty (Labour, Centre-left): Would the frustration of both Ministers and the House not have been met had the Government responded to the point raised on the Statement last week by the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, asking the Government to set out clearly for the House what legislation is required between now and 28 March and in what order it will come in terms of both of primary legislation and SIs? We would then know what the sequence of events was and Ministers would not be faced with concern that the Government are trying to slip things through. I suggest that the Minister talks to his Chief Whip and that the usual channels produce such a schedule in time for us returning in January.
Blood Safety and Quality (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister referred a moment ago to a "responsible Government". The idea that a responsible Government would be preparing for a no-deal Brexit is a contradiction in terms. No responsible Government would be preparing for this country to leave the European Union without a proper treaty arrangement next March. Let us be very clear: the Government are seeking to intimidate Parliament into voting for the Prime Minister’s deal by holding us hostage to the idea that there could be a no-deal exit next March. This is a phenomenal waste of the time of Parliament. It is also deeply disreputable in terms of the Government’s dealings with all those external partners, including the Minister’s partners in the NHS, whom he is winding up into thinking that there could be a no-deal exit for which they are preparing but which there is no chance whatever of this Parliament or this Government agreeing. The Minister should withdraw these regulations, say clearly that we are not doing a no-deal exit and prepare an orderly arrangement for us to hold a people’s vote next March so that we do not leave the European Union at all.
Yemen — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
Raymond Collins (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. Like my right honourable friend in the other place, I pay tribute to the Foreign Secretary for the time and effort he has put into addressing the terrible situation in Yemen. I also join in the tributes to Martin Griffiths and Mark Lowcock, who have, as the Minister said, worked tirelessly for both the peace talks and the humanitarian relief that is so necessary I greatly welcome the confirmation that a resolution is to be tabled this week at the Security Council. From what the Foreign Secretary said in the other place, it seems that on this occasion it will have the support of the United States, which of course is extremely welcome. As we have heard, initially the ceasefire agreement will apply only to Hodeidah. We all understand the reasons for this: the most urgent priority is to get the humanitarian support in. But can the Minister tell us a little more about the next steps? How do we broker a wider ceasefire? How are we brokering a wider political settlement for the country as a whole Obviously, the immediate priority is to foster the hope of peace and to get that urgent humanitarian support in, but we must not forget the issue of accountability, particularly for some of the terrible crimes that have been committed. Therefore, I very much welcome the fact that, as the Foreign Secretary said in the other place, the resolution will contain a reference to the obligation to act in accordance with humanitarian law, there will be timely investigations, and those responsible will be held to account No one could have been left unmoved by the harrowing investigation last week by the Associated Press into the use of child soldiers by the Houthi rebels. It is alleged that they have forced 18,000 children aged as young as 10 into service in the conflict. I hope that the Minister will share my concern that, if those authorities do not hold people to account, we should ensure that the United Nations conducts a fully independent investigation so that those who commit these crimes are fully held to account.
Yemen — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
David Edward Lea (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister cast any further light on a point arising from the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay? As the Minister said, in Stockholm it was clear that there were questions about the command structure, communications and the delivery mechanism between what was agreed at Stockholm and on whose authority, and what happens on the ground. To take this a step further from what the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, said, in other examples like this—Bosnia springs to mind, but there are many others—I assume that there needs to be monitoring by UN personnel, but not wearing blue berets. The Minister mentioned the delicacy of the situation, and the noble Lord, Lord Campbell, mentioned China. To what extent is there an issue about making sure that the UN has some ability to be in the chain of command in the context of implementation, or is there a blockage in the area?
Yemen — House of Lords, 2018-12-19
Topic: International Affairs
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, tragic though the situation in Yemen obviously is, there is also a very tragic situation in Syria where 500,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced, half of them outside the country. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to attempt to relieve the tremendous suffering that has occurred in that country?