argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Windrush Scheme — House of Lords, 2019-02-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): Certainly, there has to be a co-ordinated approach to this whole Windrush issue, as the noble Baroness said, and quality assurance is absolutely paramount given what some of these people have suffered, some for many years. So she is absolutely right. The DWP is certainly one of the referral routes for the Windrush generation because some of them may have lost or not been able to receive benefits to which they are entitled. I totally take her point. Yes, my right honourable friend did say when he became Home Secretary that a humane approach was definitely the new culture within the Home Office.
Windrush Scheme — House of Lords, 2019-02-05
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Viscount for his clarification. Certainly, the approach that we took post Windrush was that the task force took not a lenient but a generous view when people came forward to try to prove their status and right to remain in this country. There was not a culture of saying no, but of saying yes when people tried to get that documentation approved.
Windrush Scheme — House of Lords, 2019-02-05
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): Certainly, the Windrush task force has stood ready to help anyone who has been here since before 1988 and would like to regularise their status. It has not precluded people from member states of the European Union, and that would include older people.
Windrush Scheme — House of Lords, 2019-02-05
Topic: Immigration
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord did ask me that and I apologise for not answering at the time. As he and the House will have seen, the Home Secretary took absolute ownership of this issue right from the start, but I am sure that he liaises with other Ministers such as the Immigration Minister.
Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty — House of Lords, 2019-02-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Tariq Ahmad (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord is right to raise concerns. The United Kingdom and Her Majesty’s Government have raised these concerns directly. When it came to the Iran nuclear deal, notwithstanding the United States’ decision, we were firm and strengthened our co-operation with our European allies to ensure that that treaty remains alive. We will continue to work with all allies—including, particularly, NATO—to ensure that proliferation can be addressed The noble Lord asked about the UK’s position across the piece on nuclear weapons. We have made it very clear through our actions that we are a responsible nuclear power. We have over the years reduced the number of our own nuclear weapons and we will continue to work with key partners, most prominently NATO, to ensure that any challenges and security risks are worked through to ensure that we can work towards the reduction of nuclear weapons. That said, the risks are real. Those countries which do not abide by their obligations put such issues at risk and therefore we implore Russia to take note. I hope that this six-month period provides a moment of reflection for Russia.
Social Entrepreneurship Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Order Paper states that this and the following three sets of regulations are due to be moved en bloc, but I am grateful for the courtesy of the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, who advised me in advance that he wished me to move these individually. I will therefore do that. I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Venture Capital Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said in Grand Committee, whose debate I took note of, an impact assessment will be published shortly. The position has not changed in regard to that. But of course that was in relation to a wider debate that the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, took part in where they recognised that we sought to transpose a body of EU law into UK law so that we avoided a cliff edge that would be damaging and very costly for financial services. The answer remains the same as I gave in Committee.
Venture Capital Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Trefgarne (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe this matter came before the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. I apologise that with 300 pieces of secondary legalisation I do not always remember every detail of every one of them but, be that as it may, the SLSC often asks for changes to the impact assessment, as I believe happened on this occasion. The impact assessment has therefore been published; it is just that a further edition has been asked for.
Venture Capital Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
John Taylor (Conservative, Centre-right): This is a point of order. In debate it is customary for Members to speak only once. The noble Lord has made a point. The House has listened to his point. If he wishes to press his point, he has to press his point. I ask him to accept that, on what has been approved by the committees and has been presented to the House today, he should be prepared to accept the word of the Minister.
Venture Capital Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
David Trefgarne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, perhaps I may have your Lordships’ permission to speak once more. In fact, the initial impact assessment was, I believe, withdrawn with the promise of another one, and it is the second one that we await.
Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anne McIntosh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I should like to make one point before my noble friend replies. I had great difficulty in attending the debate on these statutory instruments last week. For two weeks running, through an unfortunate circumstance of timetabling, these statutory instruments were discussed when an EU item was being debated on the Floor of this House, and I hope that that can be avoided as far as possible. I support the point that has just been made. It is placing us in a very difficult position to take these statutory instruments on trust when we could wait to discuss and pass them once we have the impact assessment before us.
Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): I hear what the noble Lords and my noble friend have said. The Government will of course use their best endeavours to ensure that the impact assessments are always in place. We are not entirely in control of the process—there are other relevant bodies—but we will always try to make sure that all the information is there for the relevant committees, which do outstanding work in processing these SIs. I certainly undertake to take back noble Lords’ comments.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with the leave of the House I shall repeat as a Statement the Answer given to an Urgent Question in another place by my right honourable friend the Minister for Housing. The Statement is as follows: "There is nothing more important than making sure that people are safe in their homes. We remain determined to ensure that no community suffers again as the community did so tragically and appallingly at Grenfell Tower Within days of the tragedy, a comprehensive building safety programme was put in place to ensure that residents of high-rise blocks of flats are safe and feel safe, now and in the future. Our department has worked with fire and rescue services, local authorities and landlords to identify high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding, and ensured that interim safety measures are in place until they are permanently remediated. These have included measures such as "waking watch", which has been put in place in all high-rise buildings with ACM cladding, with the oversight of the National Fire Chiefs Council. As of 31 December 2018, interim measures have been in place in all 176 high-rise private residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding Permanent remediation must now, rightly, be our key focus. On 18 December we published our plan to implement the recommendations of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, which will create a stronger regulatory framework and fix these issues for the long term We have repeatedly called on private building owners not to pass costs on to leaseholders who find themselves in this position through no fault of their own. We have also warned private building owners that unless they remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding from their high-rise residential buildings now, local authorities have the power to complete the works and recover the costs from the owner. As a result of our interventions, we have secured commitments from the owners of 268 privately owned buildings, while 212 have either started, completed or have commitments in place to remediate. There remain 42 private residential buildings where the owners’ plans are unclear. On this we are maintaining pressure, and we rule out no solutions This is obviously a matter of great importance to many colleagues and indeed to many constituents, and that is reflected by the huge amount of activity that is taking place within the department, externally within the industry concerned and, critically, in this House, with an Adjournment Debate tomorrow and appearances by me at Oral Questions and in front of the Select Committee this coming Monday".
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his questions and for his welcome of the Statement. I understand, and I shall repeat what was in the Statement: there is nothing more important than making sure that people are safe in their homes. I think we would all agree with that, and that is precisely what I have said today. The measures that are in place ensure that everyone is safe tonight and every night in the buildings where they are. There are two aspects to this. One is making sure that people are safe, and the other is the remediation to make sure that we have a permanent solution to the cladding issue. I have given the figures on that. Even since I last gave figures in this House in answer to the noble Lord on 7 January, the first day after recess, we have made significant progress. He will see that we are closer to ensuring that we complete that process.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Gary Porter (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government should be commended for the speed with which they have put extra resources into the social sector to make sure that money has not been a barrier to getting the cladding removed. The time must now have come for financial assistance to given to those buildings that are in the private sector. However, I do not believe for one minute that the money should then be written off for the taxpayer. Surely the Government must pursue the people responsible for the inappropriate materials—not just the cladding, but the inappropriate insulation, where it has been used. Every effort should be made to recover that money for the taxpayer, but the current leaseholders should not be the ones having to face that dilemma every night.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as ever, I thank my noble friend for a timely and helpful intervention. While his question related specifically to private residential buildings, I do not want to miss the opportunity of saying that in the public arena and the social sector, we have made £400 million available for remedial activity. I agree with what he says; that is part of the process the Secretary of State is engaged in. We are very aware that we need to complete this process. We want to do it with the assurance that leaseholders will not pick up the bill. That would be morally unacceptable, as we have indicated. I pay tribute to the many private companies that have come forward to say that they will sustain the financial cost of this position. We need to encourage, cajole and ensure that others do the same.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for the points he has raised; I too questioned the mathematics. I will write to the noble Lord to confirm the position, but I think the other 14 are made up of hotels and other types of buildings that are not private residential buildings.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Housing
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): I always admire the noble Lord’s great assiduity. With regard to the other point the noble Lord made about picking up the bill, we have ruled nothing out. I agree with my noble friend Lord Porter that we are seeking to ensure that the cost of this is picked up by the owners, not the leaseholders. That is the position we are in and the position that the Secretary of State is carrying forward. As I have said, officials monitor progress in this area on a weekly basis.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I commend my noble friend the Minister for keeping us well informed on the wide-ranging progress on Grenfell. Has there been a clear conclusion as to the original cause of the fire, and are there any implications for the safety of electrical and other household goods?
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank my noble friend very much. The position on possible criminal charges remains outstanding, so I must be careful what I say in that regard. I do not think the cause has been established, as it were, by a court of law. My noble friend is right that there are wider considerations here, and they will certainly inform the Hackitt review on safety requirements, in which we are engaged. It is of course not just on buildings that Dame Judith has reported. We have a very wide-ranging response to the safety considerations, which will inform our process in many other areas as well.
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Public Lands
Jeffrey Sterling (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, over the years the fire brigade has been a key factor in planning. That has changed dramatically. To what degree has the fire service been involved in looking at not just cladding but electrics—mentioned earlier—and escape methods? Can the law be changed in such a way that the fire brigade will always be brought in at the early stages of planning, when life was a safer bet?
Tower Blocks: Cladding — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Public Lands
Nicholas Bourne (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful for my noble friend’s question, which enables me to pay tribute to the public services for the great work they have done in this regard, particularly the fire brigade. It is central to the policy we are putting in place and will inform the process. I know it is involved in consultation on document B, regarding the safety of buildings, which I think remains open until 1 March. I am sure that the fire service will take part in that consultation. We have been in touch overnight about matters that have arisen and have its assurance that the building in Manchester, referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, is entirely safe and that the process is going forward to ensure that the cladding is removed.
Justification Decision Power (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): On that last point, I have had an assurance from my noble friend Lady Vere that a reward will be on offer—but let us wait until we have got through all four of these before I rely on the generosity of her offer: she might change her mind later. Let me deal with the points that have been raised. The noble Lord, Lord Pannick, asked when these were published. I can assure him that they were published on 23 November last year. The instrument makes absolutely no changes to policy: it is just a technical amendment to ensure the continued operability of the justification regulations, and therefore a public consultation was considered unnecessary and inappropriate. Subsequent regulations made using the power contained in this instrument will continue to be subject to the consultation requirements, where the justification regulations impose on the making of justification decisions.
Justification Decision Power (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, where appropriate, that will happen. I can speak only for regulations that I will bring before this House relating to my department—but the noble Lord will no doubt be in his place to listen to other Ministers and other regulations as they come through. I repeat that, when we come to make further decisions under these regulations, at that moment—because there might be a change in policy—those decisions will be subject to the consultation process that I spoke about. If the noble Lord will bear with me, I will give way on this.
Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I start with the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, when he referred to orders that seem to have been removed from the Order Paper. I did not quite catch the details, but I think they related to non-invasive species or something of that nature.
Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think that those orders related to my department. The noble Lord will be aware from his time as a Minister that all Ministers answer from the Dispatch Box on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government as a whole, not purely their department. I think he would accept from his experience that very often one is not in a position to know why decisions have been made by another department on what has been withdrawn from the Order Paper and what has not. I think he will accept—this is quite fair—that those who advise me on such occasions would be even less likely to know why orders relating to habitats and the other matters he referred to, which are not relevant to the department I represent on this occasion, are or are not on the Order Paper.
Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): Either I will write to him or the noble Lord will be aware that fairly soon—when we have finished with my regulations, whenever that will be and whether I get the sweets from the sweetie box referred to earlier—I will be followed by my noble friend Lord Gardiner from Defra, who might be in a better position to advise him on these matters. We will certainly pass that on to my noble friend. I do not think it would help if I did write to the noble Lord on that subject; I leave it to him to make that point later. He also wanted to know—I think this was at the heart of the question from the noble Lord, Lord Pannick—what the regulations will resemble in the event of a deal scenario. These new regulations have been drafted for a no-deal scenario. The old 2008 regulations would have remained in effect for the implementation period if there was a deal. In the event of a deal, the future supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel will be subject to negotiations with the EU. This may mean that the 2019 regulations never come into force, or come into force in an amended form. I do not think I can take that any further.
Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I have now set that out. These regulations have been to the appropriate scrutiny committees. They have not queried that part of the Explanatory Memorandum, and I do not think I can take the noble Lord any further.
Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Oliver Michael Robert Eden (Conservative, Centre-right): As I think I made clear, in the event of a deal during the transition period we revert to the old 2008 regulations and they remain in effect for the implementation period. Thereafter, it depends on the outcome of the negotiations I come to the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, about the cost of some new IT system. All I can say at the moment is that no bespoke IT system is required as a result of the procedures set out in these regulations. The cost relates to administrative working hours Finally, I notice the point made by my noble friend Lord Selborne and the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, about Euratom. We will leave Euratom; that has been made clear and is cut and dried. But obviously we will continue to work with it, as we have made clear on a number of occasions—not least during the passage of the then Nuclear Safeguards Bill, which now seems an awfully long time ago.
Nuclear Safeguards (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Pannick, for restating the issue that I raised under the last statutory instrument. It is of concern to both the House and the public. Could my noble friend outline for us in what way the regime that will exist from March 2019 will be deficient relative to the regime that exists, once we reach the Euratom standards in 2020? I understand that, as of March, we will not have the required number of trained inspectors. We have inspectors sufficient for the international standards—which are lower than Euratom—but in what way would the regime be different?
Invasive Non-native Species (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
John Eric Gardiner (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very straightforward to bat that away. They had not come out of the JCSI, and we thought that it was important that we had the benefit of the committee’s view. Of course, we will need to bring them forward for your Lordships’ scrutiny.
Invasive Non-native Species (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 — House of Lords, 2019-01-22
Topic: Other
John Eric Gardiner (Conservative, Centre-right): My understanding is that they had not come out of the JCSI, and I think we would all find it helpful in our deliberations—I certainly have on these two matters—to hear what the scrutiny bodies of the House had come forward with on these instruments. It is therefore constructive that, wherever possible, we bring forward instruments which have gone through the scrutiny that we would all like.