argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): I am told by my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North from a sedentary position that the Committee lasted only 11 minutes. I am sure that he will be able to explain further in due course Currently, a person who is registered as an elector in a local authority area has the right to inspect and have copies of a wider range of accounts and related documentation under section 25 of the 2014 Act and therefore has no additional benefits under section 26. Amendment 2 addresses the issue of electors in other local authority areas, who have no such rights unless they can show that they are "persons interested" under section 26. At no time, in my submission, has it been more important for electors in other local authority areas to be able to see what is going on elsewhere. Following the abolition of the Audit Commission, which provided easily accessible local authority data, it has become more difficult to make comparisons, despite the importance of comparative data for accountability and policy making.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): I chair the Public Accounts Commission, and we have been looking at the accountability of local government. My hon. Friend makes a good point: the National Audit Office, which audits all central Government Departments—a massive task—is now effectively the auditor of local government. Although I favour the reform, my hon. Friend is right to raise the fact that there is undoubtedly much less detailed inspection of local government audit and finance as a result.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to speak directly to my hon. Friend’s amendment in terms of understanding what other local authorities are doing. I see the Minister sitting in his place. We have had hugely controversial arguments in Lincolnshire about whether to have a mayor, and I and others managed to defeat that. There is now a proposal—it is only a rumour—that North Lincolnshire Council may want to take over or merge with West Lindsey, which I represent. As an elector of West Lindsey, I have absolutely no way of knowing what is going on in North Lincolnshire. I think that if that is being discussed in private, electors in West Lindsey, who have a crucial interest in that, should have a right to know what is going on.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We in this place are trying to do the job of holding councils to account. I tabled a parliamentary question earlier this year to find out the level of non-domestic rate arrears in Bournemouth. I eventually got the answer that there were between £10 million and £12 million of uncollected non-domestic rates. To the council’s credit, within weeks it had issued summonses against all those who owed arrears—I like to think I had some influence on that. We are talking about £10 million to £12 million of non-domestic rate arrears, at a time when we are saying that it is absolutely essential to save 1% of turnover by abolishing existing sovereign councils. It is farcical Trying to get councils to address these issues themselves is often very difficult. The idea of setting up scrutiny committees, which was part of the Localism Act 2011, has not really worked because those committees are often occupied by people who do not really understand, or are not interested in, genuinely holding the council to account. There is also the problem that scrutiny committees are not entitled to look into planning issues, which are often among the most controversial local issues There are lots of other things I could say about neighbouring councils, but I will not trouble the House with all that now. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Michael Tomlinson) is here, and he may wish to add to that catalogue in due course if he contributes to the debate. The essence of the amendment is that everybody should be able to access such information. It should not be limited to journalists and other interested parties The idea is very much supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley, who wanted to extend those rights to everybody. I anticipate the probable response of the Bill’s sponsor, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills, to this point. On Second Reading, she resisted arguments to extend the rights by saying: "If the rights were extended to anyone and everyone, there would be great potential to make mischief through multiple requests to inspect or copy documents, without the accompanying ability to make a meaningful contribution towards raising awareness or improving the accountability of the body concerned."—[Official Report, 25 November 2016; Vol. 617, c. 1199.] I implore my hon. Friend to reflect on what she said, because it is a sweeping generalisation and no evidence was adduced in support of it. Where is the evidence that the freedom to look at documents would be abused? Indeed, if it is abused, there are already safeguards to deal with vexatious behaviour. That, in summary, is the case for amendment 2.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has tried, probably very successfully, to torpedo my amendment. I accept the implied, or even indeed the express, criticism that he has articulated. However, I would fall back on the general common-law interpretation of "politician", which is probably the best way of dealing with that, without specifically having to define it in the amendment Amendment 4 would clarify the law by making it clear that "persons interested" also includes non-domestic ratepayers. I raise that issue because it was the focus of the court case of R. (on the application of HTV Ltd) v. Bristol City Council, reported at EWHC 1219. Paragraph 48 of the judgment of Mr Justice Elias on 14 May 2004 said that he had "reached the conclusion that the interest which the claimant has as a non-domestic ratepayer is sufficient to bring it within the concept of ‘persons interested’." In that case, Bristol City Council had argued to the contrary, citing in support the changes to non-domestic rate legislation in the Local Government Finance Act 1988. With forthcoming changes—the introduction of the 100% retention of business rates, and the pooling of business rates across local authorities—it is worth using this opportunity to clarify and put on the record that the existing legislation should expressly incorporate the rights of non-domestic ratepayers. That is the background to amendment 4 Amendments 5 to 7 are alternative ways of limiting the term "journalist" in the Bill to real journalists. It is noteworthy that section 1(4)(c) of the 1960 Act provides that "duly accredited representatives of newspapers attending for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for those newspapers shall…be afforded reasonable facilities" The National Union of Journalists website sets out what is needed to establish that someone is an accredited journalist. An accredited journalist must have "Employer Identification: Business card, employer I.D. badge, or letter of assignment on corporate letterhead. (Letterhead must identify media outlet name, address and phone)" and "Proof of Assignment: Sample by-lined article published within the past 6-months, or current masthead that includes the reporters name & title, or official letter of assignment from a media outlet." Those are necessary, for example, for a person to be admitted to a press conference as an accredited journalist. It seems to me that if we are to extend such rights to journalists, we should encourage those journalists to be accredited, rather than amateur journalists.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): Why? We are moving into a completely different digital age in which people can set up blogs and Facebook pages. This is just inevitable, and my hon. Friend is slightly living in the past when he talks about the NUJ and journalists having to be accredited. He is just trying to put his finger in the dam, and it is not going to work. We need to have complete openness and complete transparency.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): I understand my hon. Friend’s point, but why should we, to maximise the number of people who have access, distort the meaning of "journalist" by saying that any member of the public can describe themselves as a journalist and thereby come within the terms of the Bill, rather than make it clear that we want to include all members of the public? But if we are talking about journalists, we owe it to them to try to maintain a standard for professional and accredited journalists.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher Robert Chope (Conservative, Centre-right): Of those three, I prefer amendment 5 on accreditation, because "accredited journalist" is a well-understood expression. As I said earlier, it is even referred to in statute, such as in the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 Amendment 8 seeks to ensure that we do not define "journalist" in the Bill. The Office for National Statistics lists a series of roles defined as "journalist". These form the single occupational group of journalists and newspaper and periodical editors—including the editor of the London Evening Standard Amendment 9 would ensure that any person making an inspection under section 26(1) of the 2014 Act could do so at all reasonable times and without payment. If section 26 is to achieve the Government’s purpose, we need to ensure that this provision is included, otherwise it would be too easy for the objectives of transparency and accountability to be frustrated. In Committee, the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole, said: "In 2015-16, it would seem that local electors exercised their rights over a total of 11,000 bodies only around 65 times."––[Official Report, Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Public Bill Committee, 7 April 2017; c. 5.] They did so under section 25, but it would be ridiculous to suggest that extending the same rights to section 26 applicants would be unduly burdensome and too expensive.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is on to a very good point. We are dealing with a powerful issue, and there is not really enough time for us to discuss it today, but let me explain what I want the Bill to do. Again, I am addressing the Minister, because I think that the Government must get a grip on this. I want a culture that enables all members of the public—not just members of the National Union of Journalists, not just cliques, not just councillors, not just Members of Parliament—to have access to the accounts of not only those who work in local government and health services but those who work in academies, where huge salaries are often paid. That is what should happen in a modern age.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): There may be some reason for why there is no definition of "citizen journalist" in the Bill, but I must admit that I am unaware of what that reason might be. What I can say, before I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), is that the Bill’s explanatory notes state in paragraph 4: "Accordingly, we are seeking to extend the definition of ‘any persons interested’ in section 26(1) of the Act"— the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014— "to include journalists, including ‘citizen journalists’" Crucially, paragraph 4 goes on to state that "citizen journalists" means "bloggers and others who scrutinise local authorities but who may not be accredited members of the press to enable them to access a wider range of accounting material in order to report and publish their findings so that it is available to local electors in an area, thus providing them with information that will enable them to better hold their local council to account." Who can disagree with that? It seems an entirely laudable aim, and it is rather disappointing that that laudable aim was not carried through on to the face of the Bill. That is what my amendment seeks to do.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): Where do social media fit into my hon. Friend’s wide definition of the term "journalist," particularly with regard to Facebook and Twitter? If he is basically saying that the term covers anyone who wants to publish anything on the internet, it seems to me that anybody, anywhere can publish on Twitter or Facebook, or whatever. Will that fall within his definition? Does his definition of journalism cover any member of the public? That brings us back to amendment 2, moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope).
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention because he touches on what I will cover in my remaining remarks on amendment 1. There is a distinction to be drawn, because although I agree that my wide definition would, on the face of it, give a very large number of people the right to go and inspect the accounts, the definition does require some publication on the internet. If somebody wanted to go for their own private interest, perhaps for academic research, they would not be included without there being such a publication. There would have to be some element of publication on the internet, and I make no apology at all for my definition covering a wide category of people, because I want to make it as wide as possible.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): In short, yes—I am absolutely clear about that—because my definition refers to publication on a website. If a person publishes something on their Twitter account, it is possible to look them up using the web address and to scroll back through their tweets to see what they said yesterday, a month ago or a year ago. It is published for all time on the internet.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not unsympathetic to my hon. Friend’s point. The only issue I would raise, and it may be an added complication, is that many Twitter profiles, as we all know too well, are anonymous. We would have no idea who is behind such publications. Is there any implication in amendment 1 that, in defining "journalist", the public should have the right to know who is publishing the particular material?
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend raises a good point that I had not previously considered. On the one hand, I agree with him that it is important that individuals should know who is putting such information out there. On the other hand, if it is an anonymous Twitter account, or if the user’s identity has been protected for some reason, I would be inclined to trust the public to treat any published information with a high degree of caution because they would not be able to know its source. Although I would defend the right of anyone to publish such information —this comes back to the question of fake news raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch—the problem with such accounts is that, because they are not accredited to any recognised journalistic outlet, members of the public should be cautious about what they read on them. That does not detract from my fundamental point that the mere fact of information being published on what we refer to with the shorthand "social media" should not stop it being regarded as having been published In the past, things were published in a daily newspaper and that was it. There is the old saying about today’s newspaper being tomorrow’s fish and chip paper, and I am old enough to remember when that was true.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Gregory Knight (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a little concerned about my hon. Friend’s amendment, because I think it is restrictive. In terms of hard-copy publications, it refers only to "a newspaper or magazine". Would it therefore not exclude a parliamentary candidate who was seeking to root out local corruption and wanted to publish in an election leaflet?
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that intervention, and I fear my definition might exclude that, which may be why my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch tabled an amendment to include "politician" in the definition. I would hope that any would-be politician—any election candidate nowadays—would have access to social media and their own website and so would be able to use the fact that they were going to publish on that website as reason to inspect the documents Let me try to pre-empt some further criticisms that may be made of my amendment that relate to the definitions of "internet" and "website". The definition of "internet" is: "A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols." Alternatively, the "net", as the internet is often referred to, is defined as "a worldwide system of computer networks—a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer".
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not intend to exclude anybody. Nowadays, all the broadcasters have websites. They would not necessarily need to publish or broadcast online, but I am not aware of any broadcasters that do not have websites. Perhaps my right hon. Friend is aware of some, but I would have thought it very simple for any broadcaster, faced with a council using the argument advanced by my right hon. Friend as a shield, to say, "In any event, we will be publishing it on our website."
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Technology
Philip Andrew Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): To reinforce my hon. Friend’s point, all TV channels can be accessed via the internet these days, so really they all publish on the internet as well. If I read his amendment correctly, it talks about what is included; it does not necessarily refer to excluding other things. It is really an enabling amendment, which I hope will give some comfort to my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight).
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
David Nuttall (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention, because it is important to note that the amendment says "and includes"; I have tried not to exclude any other options but merely to clarify. I hope that that will be noted by the Bill’s promoter and the Minister, who I fear may have some reservations about my amendment. I hope they will concentrate and reflect on that intervention from my hon. Friend I wish to comment briefly on several other amendments, but I am understandably concerned that I advance the best possible case for my own. I hope I have been able to satisfy all those with concerns about my amendment and that I have set their minds at ease. I note that the Bill’s promoter has not sought to contest my amendment in any way during my remarks. I sincerely hope that, when she speaks, she will indicate her willingness to accept it in the spirit in which it was tabled. It is not a wrecking amendment; it merely seeks to achieve what her explanatory notes to the Bill say and extend the cover to citizen journalists and bloggers to enable them to inspect the accounts of local authorities I wish now to deal with the amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch and make it clear which of them I do and do not support. His amendment 2, as on the amendment paper, would essentially mean that virtually anyone would be able to make use of the powers in the Bill. I am happy to support that, although it is perhaps a touch ambitious, given the views expressed so far during the Bill’s progress by its promoter and the Minister My hon. Friend has suggested several other options for the House to consider, including, in amendment 3, extending the access to include politicians. As I made clear in my intervention earlier, I have some concerns about the fact that the word "politician" is not defined anywhere in the Bill, but I have no objection at all to the general proposition of extending the scope from journalists to politicians Amendment 4 deals with the position of non-domestic ratepayers, which is particularly important as we move into an era in which we are going back towards the localisation of business rates. That move will inevitably lead businesses within an area to take more interest in what is going on in their local authority, so I wholeheartedly support the amendment Amendments 5, 6 and 7 give the House the opportunity to choose between the Bill applying to journalists who are accredited, professional or qualified. We heard from my hon. Friend earlier that his preferred option would be for it to apply to accredited journalists, as per amendment 5. I am happy to go along with my hon. Friend for the reasons he set out Amendment 8 would remove the definition of a journalist entirely. As that would, of course, be in direct contravention of my amendment, I would oppose it and press my own instead.
Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-03-24
Topic: Government Operations
Gregory Knight (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is galloping on at such a speed that he rather skipped over amendment 3. Does he share my concern that it might be defective because it refers to a politician, the definition of which is someone who is professionally involved in politics, especially someone who holds an elected office? That might rule out an aspiring politician who is a candidate but is yet to be elected.