argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I, too, thank Dr Whiteford, and I am sure that the noble Baroness did not mean to suggest that Scotland and Northern Ireland are not integral parts of the United Kingdom The noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown, has rightly reminded us that this is a people’s issue, not just a women’s issue; his crown is highly polished, and very bejewelled. I declare an interest as I was a member of the board and chair of the domestic violence charity Refuge. That was many years ago, but I still declare the interest because that experience was very vivid. Very recently, within the last few days, I have agreed to become a member of an advisory group for the organisation Voice 4 Victims It struck me that this debate might almost have been wrapped up with yesterday’s debate for International Women’s Day, on the UK’s role in promoting gender equality. Because of the importance of the exercise of the UK’s role, it would be very significant if the UK ratified the convention—or, I should say, it will be significant when it does Reports on violence against women often have a section headed something like, "What is violence against women and girls?". Sadly, there are many women and girls who could testify. This week, a survey of laws in 73 countries found that there are bad laws underpinning what was described as a global "epidemic of sexual violence". The aims of the convention—prevention, protection, prosecution and integrating policies—are so sensible as hardly to need any description. However, there have been only 10 ratifications so far I joined the board of Refuge on the day I was asked to come to your Lordships’ House 25 years ago. Attitudes in the UK have changed, but not as much as one might expect in a generation. They have often changed among senior people who have to deal with the issue—the police are one example—but less so in lower ranks. Some of us were privileged to hear DCC Louisa Rolfe from West Midlands Police talk about coercive control at a recent all-party group meeting. Her understanding and description were very impressive indeed. As I said, there have not been the changes one might expect in a generation. The importance of the issue is enormous, yet there is a lack of belief and understanding.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Other
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Minister said that it would be right to have everything dealt with in the same hearing. I questioned whether "proceedings" meant "hearing" because to me they are not the same thing. Did the Minister say "hearing"? That might require a tweak.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Housing
Susan Kramer (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I do not pretend for a moment to have the drafting skills of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, but I associate myself with all the other comments that have been made on the amendment. Rather than repeat the issues that have been so well described, I want to pick up the point that the noble Lord, Lord Faulks, made—that this Bill is a real and rare opportunity to tackle this problem, which, as he will have heard, exercises Members on all sides of the Committee and is essentially a non-partisan series of concerns When I had the privilege of sitting where the Minister is sitting, I brought a Bill through this House which was fondly and informally known as the "Dump it in here" Bill. It is perfectly possible, even at this stage, for the Government to come forward with some well-drafted language that would achieve the goals that have been described by various noble Lords today and by others who have been concerned about this issue. The Government have been looking at it for a long time. Given the fact that it will be difficult to get new legislation through in the next couple of years, I urge the Government to look at drafting that language—they have the capacity to do it and would be in a position to do it—that would bring into the Bill the kinds of remedies that would require the public register of beneficial interest for property ownership that presently we do not have in the UK. I met representatives of the British Virgin Islands the other day. The British Virgin Islands actually has such a register and would be delighted to provide mechanisms and recommendations to the British Government if they felt they needed advice in this area.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, this amendment would provide a new clause on anti-money laundering supervision, requiring supervisory authorities to publish certain information. When the Bill started its passage through this House, briefings to noble Lords from a number of organisations made similar points about supervision, including that there are too many supervisors, there is inconsistency, and there are conflicts of interest since enforcement does not lie very comfortably with promotional activity. The term "a dysfunctional system" also was used. There was also quite a lot of comment about lack of transparency and accountability in the supervisory system, a matter which formed part of Transparency International UK’s analysis of the weakness in the rules. Its report was entitled Don’t Look, Won’t Find I am aware of the Treasury’s work and the current call for information but it seemed to me that it was worth pausing particularly on transparency and accountability. As Transparency International explains, these are, "fundamental components to an effective supervisory regime". TI also quotes the Macrory report: "Transparency is something that the regulator must provide to external stakeholders, including both industry and the public, so they have an opportunity to be informed of their rights and responsibilities and of enforcement activity. However, it is also important for the regulator itself, to help ensure they use their sanctioning powers in a proportionate and risk based way" My Amendment 70 is based directly on Transparency International’s report in the light of the recent government announcements The supervisors do not necessarily seem comfortable with the system. The Solicitors Regulation Authority comments that the draft regulations—the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017—fall short of requiring the supervisors of anti-money laundering to be fully independent of any representative body. The authority is keen to see where the weaknesses in the system can be addressed ahead of the Financial Action Task Force review next year. It asks us to raise in the context of the Bill the issue that the underlying legal position is in need of clarification to ensure explicit recognition that supervisory bodies should be fully independent from representative ones. I dare say that the Minister, or at any rate her officials, will have seen that briefing. Having focused on transparency and accountability, I beg to move.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Kevin Sharkey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, Amendment 108 seeks to help the FCA to ensure meaningful compliance and right behaviour in the banking sector, which has not been entirely a stranger to money laundering. Work done by the New City Agenda think tank, of which I am a director, has shown some progress in changing the culture within banks—but has also shown that there is still a need for much more change Last week's report by the Banking Standards Board also had interesting things to say about banks acting in an honest and ethical way. For example, its very comprehensive survey found that 12% of employees had seen instances where unethical behaviour had been rewarded; 13% saw it as difficult to get ahead in their careers without flexing ethical standards; and 18% had seen people in their organisation turning a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour Since the FCA under its previous chief executive abandoned its promised inquiry into the culture within banks, it has relied heavily on financial penalties to punish misbehaviour and as a control mechanism. Since 2013, the FCA has levied an absolutely staggering £3 billion in penalties on firms. The latest, which the Minister mentioned, was a settlement in January with Deutsche Bank. The proposed penalty was £230 million, which was discounted to £163 million. This was a settlement. In fact, almost all the penalties imposed have been settlements. Typically, the FCA proposes a financial penalty and then agrees a discount if the firm settles—as almost all do. The discount is normally 30%. Since 2013, that amounts to a total of £1.2 billion awarded in discounts My amendment proposes to put this gigantic discount mechanism to better use. It would enable the FCA to have direct sight of the improvements in process and behaviour agreed in any settlement. It would enable it to see that appropriate disciplinary action had been taken against those responsible for the transgressions. It would give the settling firms a powerful incentive to fulfil any settlement conditions. It would do this by making part of any discount withholdable until the settling firm had satisfied the FCA that all appropriate disciplinary actions had been taken. Only then would the full discount be realised This is a simple proposal. It would give the FCA more power, more say and more insight into how transgressors had modified their behaviour and addressed individual and structural culpability. It would give the firms involved a powerful incentive to take proper remedial action—which, unfortunately, still seems to be needed.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Kevin Sharkey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Does the Minister accept that there is a big difference between having the powers to do something in addition and having an automatic system of withholding, which makes it directly in the interests of the firms to take the action that they are supposed to take, rather than have the FCA make an assessment later and come back to discuss whether it ought to impose an additional penalty? One is automatic, giving an immediate incentive for the firms to do something, while the other requires additional supervision.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Other
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That will be helpful. As I understood it, the proposal was for regulations, and the further consultation has a limited number of questions to flesh out the earlier work. The Minister obviously has some more information.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Susan Kramer (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, obviously I am going to withdraw the amendment, but I want first to make a couple of points. I am not going to give up on this issue. Let me point out that a moment ago the Minister talked about an office for money laundering to be set up within the FCA. As far as I am concerned, that is an ideal pattern to follow. The notion that this proposal would create an extraordinary and hefty bureaucracy is not credible because, frankly, the entire bureaucracy would probably be paid for by one whistleblower revealing one scandal on the scale that we have seen in recent years. I reject the idea that this is onerous. There are plenty of templates to follow that would allow us to do this sensibly On the financial incentive, I do not believe for a moment that whistleblowers do it for the money. The money is a recognition that they have destroyed their future. There may be some protection within the company they work for which ensures that they are not dismissed, but neither I nor anyone else can be persuaded that people do not look at whistleblowers and decide that they are not quite right for this promotion, that project or opportunity. If they try to change companies they go with what is almost a black spot on their hand, marking them out as someone it is perhaps better not to take a risk on. That is a reality which the Government have never faced up to. When dealing with detriment, I would recommend the Minister and others who are interested to connect with the charity Whistleblower.co.uk, which would be delighted to provide them with a great deal of detail. I hesitate to mention individuals without their specific permission, but all the protections have turned out to be completely useless for them. People’s lives have been wrecked. Frankly, even the regulator would agree that despite all the systems that are in place, people’s lives have been wrecked, and there has only been some tinkering at the edges. Nothing has happened to bring about fundamental change. All this comes together in the poor statistics that I set out when moving the amendment. Very few people are coming forward and blowing the whistle on substantive issues that can affect our absolutely massive financial services sector. This allows the industry to be rather complacent, and that is exceedingly dangerous I hope that the Minister will recognise that while I will withdraw the amendment, we are nowhere near coming to the end of this issue.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Stevens and Lord Kennedy. Mobile phone credits for cash? I have led a very sheltered life The Minister said that the problem was in the phrase "may be used as currency". But it seems to me that one can know that only through experience. That is why betting receipts, gaming vouchers and so on have now been included. I am really not sure that I follow the argument, although I will think about it after this evening I mentioned bitcoins not because I was suggesting that they should be included but simply as an example of how some time ago we did not know what was coming One’s living expenses include the expenses of dependants—I think that is what the Minister said. She is nodding. It is not quite within the normal meaning of the words, but I will accept that, and I am glad that it has been confirmed I do not think that I adequately followed the argument about the term "exceptional circumstances". The Minister said quite a lot about the rest of the clause and of course I shall look at that after this evening. For now, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I understand the need to broaden the scope but I cannot help but think that we have been told that there are a lot of organisations that could give responsibilities to their janitors. The point is that decisions on who is given responsibility to do what can be made by senior officers of the day in an inconsistent fashion. In most organisations that would be entirely reasonable but we are talking about very serious powers, so my amendment and my comments are not intended to be frivolous Of course, I shall not pursue this matter tonight, and indeed after two or three mentions of thanks for my careful scrutiny and, reading between the lines, thoughts of "I wish the noble Baroness would shut up", I think that I probably will for tonight. As I said, it is not a frivolous point but I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
EU Court of Justice Ruling: Religious Signs — House of Lords, 2017-03-15
Topic: Civil Rights
Lorely Burt (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I, too, thank the Minister for this extensive explanation. We on these Benches and, I am sure, Members of the whole House believe strongly that freedom of religious dress is important in an open and democratic society. I am not the world’s best at interpreting legal judgments, I am afraid, but as I understand it, national Governments through their courts have the ability to interpret the judgment in line with existing cultural beliefs and practices. Is that the Minister’s understanding? Can she therefore confirm that all existing freedoms of religious dress in this country will be protected?
Neighbourhood Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-15
Topic: Housing
Matthew Owen John Taylor (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): In every case when I have advised on new settlements coming forward, I have advised local authorities, councillors and communities but also those promoting the project to establish the basis of the joint venture and partnership for delivery of the original objectives and to hold people to it. It is only by getting everyone around the table jointly to discuss that—again, that is the case at Carclaze—at every key stage, whether in looking at the master plan and working out how to deliver affordable housing and quality, wherever the ultimate power may lie to take the decision, that we have all been jointly involved in coming to the right conclusion. That is what these bodies achieve; they are, ultimately, about keeping it honest, but they are also about getting it delivered. The noble Lord clearly has that experience in the Olympic context, and we need that experience in each of these initiatives The last thing that we want is to create bland housing estates in the countryside, not great communities. If we do the former, the project will die very quickly, and public enthusiasm will disappear; if we get it right, people will clamour for what are actually the intentions of the 1947 planning Act, when people talked about stopping suburban sprawl, rejuvenating cities and towns and building new communities to meet the needs of those who could not be housed. This is about returning to those objectives and putting back under control the suburban sprawl that we see once again too often around our historic towns and cities. It is a new option and a better one I thank the Minister very much for his supportive comments. We have worked very closely on getting this right.
Update on Grenfell Response and Building Safety — House of Lords, 2017-09-05
Topic: Housing
Robert Andrew Stunell (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to the fact that I was a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2012. I thank the Minister for the Statement and welcome the reviews which have been announced. I thank him for the way he has communicated with Members of this House about the terrible situation and what has to be done to deal with its aftermath I will pick up two or three specific points. The Minister mentioned that tests had been carried out on 89 privately owned buildings. He did not give a breakdown of the results of those tests in the same way that he did with the public sector buildings. Is he able to do that or undertake to provide noble Lords with them to give us some idea of the scope of the problem at a national level, not just in the public sector The primary reason that much of this cladding was put on was to improve the energy performance of these buildings; it was not simply decorative or cosmetic. That implies that where this insulation is being taken off for very understandable and proper safety reasons, residents around the country in buildings like these will be exposed to higher heating bills and less satisfactory living circumstances. We are coming very rapidly to the winter. It is not likely that replacements can be found for this winter. Again, I urge the Minister to consider how we can find a speedy replacement that is satisfactory and restores the thermal insulation value of the homes which have been stripped of this material. Linked to that is a question about the capacity of the industry to mount a major programme of stripping this material and to supply whatever is specified to replace it in time to reduce or mitigate the exposure of tenants and residents living in these blocks to the worsening conditions that they would otherwise suffer.
Update on Grenfell Response and Building Safety — House of Lords, 2017-09-05
Topic: Housing
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I follow the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Anderson. I do not want this point to be considered a complaint on my part about the correct approach taken by the Government that requests and demands in relation to housing should be satisfied, that people’s needs are understood and that there are very special needs in this circumstance. Are the Government or the local authority keeping data on the reasons for rejecting offers of housing, as I think that might feed into further consideration of demands and requirements for social housing? I was struck by the very localised views of a number of the displaced tenants who see their own community as very narrow. They do not want to go over the border to Westminster, even though geographically it is very close, as they feel that it is a very different community My second question is about the different issue of the inquiry. There is much strong feeling locally about the need for diversity among those who, as locals see it, are in charge of the inquiry. I heard Sir Martin Moore-Bick make the point very clearly and correctly that there was no panel at the point when he was accused of having a panel which was not representative. Can the noble Lord tell the House about any progress on the composition of the inquiry, perhaps on a panel or assessors to assist the chair?
Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Bill — House of Lords, 2017-02-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Joan Walmsley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, we on these Benches are also happy to support the amendments. Like the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, I have no intention of detaining the House with long-winded thanks. However, I want to voice my recognition that the Minister, in his new role, has both understood and responded to the issues raised on the Opposition and Cross Benches about the shortcomings of the Bill, which had been through the House of Commons without anybody noticing or trying to amend its unintended consequences, rather like the Article 50 Bill that we debated in this House on Monday and Tuesday.
Neighbourhood Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2017-02-23
Topic: Housing
John Warren Shipley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I should declare at the start of Report that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I pay tribute to the tenacity of the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, and for her work on a range of amendments, but this one in particular because it is terribly important. It is about giving confidence to those engaged in neighbourhood planning that what they achieve will not be turned over by the actions of some other authority. We also know that where we have neighbourhood plans 10% more housing gets built, so having confidence in the system seems to me to matter a very great deal. It is just very important that neighbourhood planning groups understand that their neighbourhood plan can be defended from predatory actions by the local planning authority, the Secretary of State or the Planning Inspectorate A number of noble Lords know examples of where an adopted neighbourhood plan is under attack from the local planning authority. Therefore, making sure that we have the statutory position absolutely clear matters a great deal, and for that reason I am fully behind this amendment. I very much hope that the words of the Minister will assist us. There is probably a further conversation to have. I think the fact that the Government have withdrawn the Henry VIII clause, Clause 40, is material here. Although the Henry VIII powers in relation to compulsory purchase will stay, they will not apply any further to the planning parts of the Bill and that is therefore certainly a move in the right direction.