argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Local Government (Disqualification) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-04
Topic: Government Operations
Robert Hayward (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I approach the Bill from a somewhat Janus point of view. I welcome its contents but, rather like the noble Baroness, Lady Goudie, I am concerned about its nature, in that it does not cover other elements. When I spoke at the Second Reading of the Elections Bill, I identified—the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman picked up this—that there are 25 major pieces of legislation relating to elections. Our election law is a mess. Unfortunately, this piece of legislation just adds another point to it. A matter that I will return to in Committee on the Elections Bill is precisely this point: we are passing a piece of legislation to exclude certain people from certain elected offices, but we are not excluding those same people from other elected offices. There is a complete mess in relation to those banned from local councils, those banned from standing for office as police and crime commissioners and those banned from being in this House or the House of Commons. It is somewhat ironic that there are fewer restrictions on people being elected as Members of Parliament than as police and crime commissioners and councillors. Somebody could therefore become Prime Minister with far fewer restrictions imposed on them than if they were to be a local councillor In conclusion, I add one other observation. It is not directly relevant to the Bill but it relates to a frame of mind. There is a tendency in this day and age for all parties to disown candidates who have made comments on social media that are regrettable but were often made when they were youngsters. Then, in the haste and fear of an election, the candidate is disowned and dropped. All parties should address this issue. It is not relevant to the Bill, but it is well worth all parties giving serious consideration to how they cope with the content of social media which in many cases people made in their youth Overall, I welcome the Bill but regret the circumstances under which it is coming forward because, as the noble Baroness, Lady Goudie, said, there should be other similar disqualifications and a general review of disqualifications for all elected offices.
Local Government (Disqualification) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-04
Topic: Government Operations
Edward Udny-Lister (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I say thank you very much to the noble Baronesses, Lady Goudie and Lady Hayman, the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, and the Minister for their support for this Bill. In particular, I thank the LGA, which has been very supportive on its journey. I fully understand the arguments about why this should be widened to other groups, but an argument has been clearly made by the Minister about why that should be done by other mechanisms in another place. This will deal with the problem in local government and I urge you to support it. I also thank the Minister for his kind words.
Office for Demographic Change Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2022-03-04
Topic: Labor
Charles Chetwynd-Talbot (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness; it is such an excellent Bill that I got a little overenthusiastic I support my noble friend’s Bill and I congratulate him on bringing it to your Lordships’ House. I read his background briefing to Civitas, and I find it a most interesting document. I have long been an advocate and supporter of the ideas put forward by my noble friend Lord Tebbit when he served in Baroness Thatcher’s Government. His answer to the problem of large-scale unemployment was most controversial but, I believe, right. "On your bike", he advocated, in order to find work. Today, that is very much the case. Many people I know from a wide variety of backgrounds have moved house and area to seek new employment, and they have had to retrain and learn new skills and trades. Indeed, I have a son who is a chartered surveyor who has done just that and moved three times, I think, in 12 years A movable workforce with changing skills to suit new markets is a fact of today’s modern life, and thus, demographics change constantly. Near where I live, the market town of Uttoxeter has changed dramatically over recent years, as has our county town, Stafford. There is new building in abundance, so those house developers and supermarkets must take demographics very seriously and their research must be meticulous. The knock-on effect of demographic change is considerable, and it affects so many issues, including boundary changes of parliamentary constituencies. As my noble friend says in the summary of his document, population changes past and present arouse very strong emotions, and those changes affect every part of our national life. I say "Hear, hear" to that: they affect schooling, healthcare and myriad areas Therefore, in conclusion, the establishment of an office for demographic change would, in my view, be a most necessary and important step forward. I support the Bill and wish my noble friend every success with it.
Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Education
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Lucas for bringing forward the Bill and I thank all noble Lords who have participated in its passage through your Lordships’ House If I may, I will clarify the reference to Hansard that the noble Lord opposite made. When I said that students were not able to act on those encounters, that was not encounters in relation to careers advice but provider encounters with colleagues from further education colleges—UTCs. That is an important distinction to make This simple but effective Bill will ensure that all pupils in all types of state-funded secondary schools in England are legally entitled to independent careers guidance throughout their secondary education. That means high-quality support for every single child in every single state secondary school in every single local authority in England, without exception. It will fulfil a commitment in the Skills for Jobs White Paper, reaching over 600,000 year 7 pupils each year I am enormously grateful to my honourable friend the Member for Workington for his work on this important Bill and I congratulate him on ensuring that it passed through the other place. I know that the whole House will be grateful for this move to extend access to independent careers guidance, which will be widely welcomed. The Government are committed to supporting schools across the country to develop and improve their careers provision. The Bill is one step forward in ensuring that our young people receive high-quality careers guidance from an earlier age.
Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Transportation
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I, too, send my best wishes to my noble friend Lord Borwick, who is unwell, and thank my noble friend for standing in for him today I am pleased to be here to give my support and that of the Government to the Bill. It is an important step to make our transport network safer. As my noble friend Lord Borwick said at Second Reading, the Bill will formalise the sharing of vital safeguarding and road safety information between licensing authorities. I pay tribute to my noble friend for his expert and committed stewardship of the Bill and to the other noble Lords who have contributed their views during its passage through the House It is also right that we acknowledge and thank Members of the other place for their contribution. Peter Gibson, the honourable member for Darlington, shepherded the Bill throughout and it is down to him and my noble friend Lord Borwick that we have the Bill in front of us today. It would be remiss of me not also to mention Daniel Zeichner—I hope that I have pronounced his name properly—the honourable Member for Cambridge, who originally brought a version of this Bill forward and has been a strong advocate throughout. I also thank the many other Members of the House of Commons who contributed to debates on the Bill. The widespread and cross-party support for the Bill in both Houses reflects the positive impact that it will have and the sensibleness of its provisions. Once again, I thank my noble friend Lord Borwick and express my strong support for the Bill.
Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Labor
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I welcome the Bill and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Redfern, for introducing it. As a pensions amateur sandwiched between two pensions professionals—the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and the noble Baroness, Lady Drake—I will keep my remarks brief I wanted to speak about the Bill because it is about equalities, and I like equalities that work both ways: not just treating women equally but, on the occasions when they should be levelled up, treating men equally to women. It is not often that we have the opportunity to do that, but in this Bill we do. As the noble Baroness, Lady Redfern, pointed out, nobody will lose as a result of the Bill. People will only gain, and that is to be welcomed However, I have questions. The legislation that gives rise to this—the need for equal treatment—came about in 1990. It is fair to ask why it has taken quite so long to get to this position. During that period, there has been a question mark over survivor benefits which this Bill now finally seeks to deal with, but one of the important things about pensions is that there should be a degree of certainty. As people plan for retirement and old age, it is imperative that they be able to look ahead and see what their income might be. I am told that this Bill affects millions of people. As a result of this, they will still not be able to look at what their future pension is and plan for it So I ask the Minister whether there is a way in which a deadline could have been imposed to make it clearer for people, so that they can have some idea now of the effect that equalisation will have on the pension they are looking forward to—or should it remain that pension schemes just wait and wait, leaving people in limbo, unable to plan for their future Many times, as she introduced the Bill, the noble Baroness referred to how complex it is. That is true: you only have to look at it; it is a small Bill, but it is certainly not simple. So finally, I make a plea—I am not alone in this, and it has been done many times—for simplification of pensions. How can people look ahead and plan if the legislation is so complicated that even the professionals cannot make sense of it? Many pension professionals still scratch their heads about how the lifetime limit, for instance, will impact people, and we have seen how the tax issue can cause all sorts of unwanted anomalies to pensions. My final plea to the Minister is to please look at pensions simplification, and perhaps a little more effectively than we did with tax simplification.
Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Labor
Elizabeth Redfern (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Wheatcroft and Lady Drake, for their contributions today. In particular I thank my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott and the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, for their support for the Bill. I thank the staff who have so ably guided me through the Bill. I particularly thank Margaret Ferrier, who very ably steered it through the other place so that it might be debated here today Correcting this basic issue of financial differences in people’s hard-earned pension income is important. I am heartened and grateful to see that there is clear cross-party agreement on this issue. I beg to move.
Game Birds (Cage Breeding) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Agriculture
Thomas Coke (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank your Lordships for allowing me to speak at such late notice, and I refer to my interests in the register with regard to land management, farming and forestry Policy towards animal welfare, including the welfare of game birds, should be based on principle and evidence, not opinion. The evidence from the Defra research in 2015 clearly demonstrated that there was no need for further restrictions on the use of laying units, including raised laying units, when they are used in accordance with the existing statutory code of practice and industry guidance. The evidence from this research suggests that restricting or banning the use of properly managed raised laying systems could very well compromise the welfare of breeding birds. Advice from the game bird veterinary sector suggests that if RLUs are replaced with alternative systems, a rise in the use of antibiotics is almost inevitable. This is important There are two fundamental advantages to raised units from a health and welfare perspective: the health of the breeding birds is better in raised units as they do not come into contact with contaminated ground conditions, and eggs produced are always cleaner than floor-laid eggs and therefore have a significantly lower chance of yolk sac infection or other diseases such as rotavirus. Both these factors have had an important impact on antibiotic use in the game sector. Indeed, over the last six years, I think the game sector has reduced the use of antibiotics by 70% and therefore the build-up of antimicrobial resistance—AMR. The WHO has predicted that AMR, if left unchecked, could be responsible for more human deaths in the world than cancer by 2050. Finally, I will go part of the way to answering the assertion or question from the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, on the number of prosecutions. There have been no successful prosecutions against game farms by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, which carries out regular targeted game bird farm inspections. We also need to put this into perspective: each year, 50 million pheasants are reared, but we must remember that 1 billion broiler chickens are also reared in this country.
Game Birds (Cage Breeding) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Randall (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate; some very good points were made. I mention in particular the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, but I also very much welcomed the comments from my noble friends Lord Leicester and Lord Erroll. Private Members’ Bills come in a variety of categories. There are those that aim to legislate—obviously, that is their nature—but others that aim to raise the issues higher up the agenda My noble friend Lord Leicester suggested that I might have conflated raised cages with battery cages. In a normal cycle, these things would be raised and discussed in Committee, and a Bill could be amended. I am not going to sob myself to sleep over this one. The Government have described my proposals as unnecessary and premature—this is not the first time that I have been described in such terms, including by various family members—but it has been important to raise these issues The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, asked me where the suggestion of two square metres came from. That was put in with a view to establishing through debate whether that would be the correct measurement. I recognise that many people, both within your Lordships’ House and outside, have direct knowledge of this. I have already spoken to game farm specialists and I will be meeting some. But the point of some of these things is exactly what we have heard I know that my noble friend the Minister cares as much as I do about conservation and the welfare of animals, but he sits on the Front Bench. That is a slight difference; he is somewhat constrained, not necessarily by his immediate colleagues but by other forces out there, including even, perhaps, some down the road. We have had a very interesting debate. I live in hope that this will be given a Second Reading, because this is the House of Lords—if we were the House of Commons, we would have booted it out. With that, I beg to move.
Glue Traps (Offences) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Agriculture
Alexander Randall (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, having taken up rather a large amount of time on the previous Bill, it is only for me to say that I fully support my noble friend Lady Fookes, a well-known and long-standing champion of animal rights; that I congratulate the Government, since, being psychic, I think that they like this one—and that, without submitting to the danger, as we heard in considering the previous Bill, of becoming unnecessary, I shall sit down.
Glue Traps (Offences) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Government Operations
Janet Evelyn Fookes (Conservative, Centre-right): One query about bodies corporate was not answered by the Minister. My understanding is that this is simply to ensure that corporations cannot get away with it because they are corporations and so can give the blame to somebody else, which is why there is a reference to particular senior people in a corporation who would have to take the blame if anything happened The noble Baroness made another point, which I did not quite get, but which related to the paragraphs about inspectors on premises. I know these look rather detailed, but the idea is to make sure that nobody has any wiggle room. They perhaps rather overegg the pudding, but better that than to underegg, in the circumstances I very much hope that the Bill goes through unamended, because of the danger that it would otherwise be lost altogether. I will be closely following the speed with which the department acts in dealing with these matters and the care that it takes in drawing up the conditions attached to licences. I forewarn my noble friend the Minister that I will be after him if progress does not seem satisfactory.
Approved Premises (Substance Testing) Bill — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Amanda Sater (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank my noble friend for his support and his comments on the importance of follow-up with treatment and support for the residents in approved premises. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, from the Opposition Front Bench, whom I would also call my friend The Bill will enable approved premises better to identify and respond to drug use and, in turn, help provide the appropriate care and treatment for individuals on their path to rehabilitation and efforts to reduce reoffending Finally, I thank the clerks and the officials at the MoJ for their excellent guidance and advice on procedure during the preparation of the Bill.
Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2022-03-25
Topic: Law and Crime
David Wolfson (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I too have no wish to delay the House but, like the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, I also thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans for highlighting this important issue and enabling us to have the time in the House today. I thank him for giving me his time earlier in the week. With all respect to other meetings which I had during the week, that was one which I found really interesting and from which I learned a lot I will say word about the legislation and, as the right reverend Prelate indicated, the Government’s approach. The legislation would require a coroner or inquest jury to record gambling addiction and any other relevant factors in a conclusion of death by suicide. Of course, the Government endorse the sentiment behind the Bill and recognise the importance of gathering quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including the role that gambling can play. However, the Government do not agree that these proposals are the appropriate way to tackle the issue. As my noble friend Lady Scott set out at Second Reading, they would result in a significant expansion of the coroner’s jurisdiction to identify the perceived reason—the "why"—behind an individual’s suicide death, and we do not consider this to be appropriate for the fact-finding summary process of a coroner’s investigation, which is really focused on the hard factual questions of who, where, how and when. We also have a concern that information gathered in this way would likely be both incomplete and inconsistently obtained and therefore would not provide a sound basis for delivering the interventions needed to secure improved outcomes in this important area.
Digital Technology (Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2022-03-11
Topic: Technology
Ralph Matthew Palmer (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I was very lucky to have the chance to serve on Lord Puttnam’s committee. It was a most enlightening and enthralling experience and I stand by all the conclusions that we published in the report and look forward—my noble friends on the Front Bench may not agree with me—to advocating them, when we come to the Elections Bill and the online harms Bill, in various reports As the report says, it is up to us to protect democracy and to aim for a world run in the interests of us all. That requires us to be strong and active in advocating that. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, I started out being optimistic about what are now the tech giants, but I now just view them with disgust. It has been a real lesson in how not to be carried away but to look at things critically and to try to understand where the direction they are going might lead. But at least they need us. Without us, the current crop of tech companies would be nothing. What will the next lot—the ones based on robots that can do everything and produce everything—need us for It is really important that we have a strong democracy and that we keep control of these companies and those that come afterwards. None of the tech giants that we have at the moment are going to live that long. Where are MySpace and Friends Reunited now? Who now signs up for Facebook who has all their own teeth? These things are going to be replaced. It is our responsibility as a Government to create the conditions so that what comes after the companies we have at the moment is much better and really supports the ideas of trust, amity and power to the people. That is what I look to the Government for: to create the conditions. They could do a lot worse than choose a really strong and informed chair of Ofcom.
North East Ambulance Service — House of Lords, 2022-05-23
Topic: Government Operations
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Baroness for raising those concerns. I completely agree with the sentiments she expressed; this is completely uncalled for. As I said previously, my honourable friend Maria Caulfield pledged that there would be an investigation into this. As to whether it will be a formal inquiry, it is too early for me to give a direct answer, but I will go back to the department and as soon as I have more information I will write to the noble Baroness. I understand that these are historic incidents and that the CQC has said that its service is improving, but as more information is still coming out—even today when I had the briefing, not all the information was there—I will of course commit to write to the noble Baroness.
North East Ambulance Service — House of Lords, 2022-05-23
Topic: Government Operations
Syed Kamall (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree with the sentiment expressed. We should be grateful to all public service workers. They were put under immense strain during the early days of Covid and beyond, and still face some of those issues. There is no doubt that the extra pressure that people face in the workforce can have an impact on their behaviour. Going back to the point made about culture by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, we have to look at incentives and disincentives, and why people behave in a certain way. We have to not only question that but ask what we can do better in the future. That is the point of learning. We want people to be as transparent as possible, and to feel free to come forward and explain where things have gone wrong.