argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Psychoactive Substances Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-30
Topic: Other
Caroline Chisholm (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, given the lateness of the hour, I do not propose to speak at length about this group of technical and drafting amendments. My noble friend Lord Bates has provided details of the amendments in two letters to the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, copies of which have been sent to all noble Lords who spoke at Second Reading. Copies of these letters have been placed in the Library. I would be happy to explain particular amendments if any noble Lord would like further details, but for now I beg to move.
Childcare Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Nash (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 28 and 38. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord True, for raising this issue and I hope I can satisfy him that we are keen to stimulate new provision and not crowd it out by regulations. As someone who has fielded against Boycott, I can assure him that his approach is deceptive. He does actually hit the ball extremely hard As I explained in Committee last week, no provider is required to offer places under the existing entitlement. It is of course very pleasing that so many choose to do so. I do not expect that providers will be required to provide places for these additional hours should they choose not to do so. If they do not, they will not be prevented from providing places under the existing entitlement of 15 hours. We have no plans to make the regime more burdensome. If a provider is providing the existing 15 hours, he will have a service-level agreement with a local authority and if that is how he decides to provide the extra 15 hours, he will have a service-level agreement for that provision. However, if a provider decides not to deliver this, there will be no plans for extra regulation The noble Lord asked whether failure to provide places will be reflected in Ofsted assessments. A rigorous inspection regime is important to ensuring the effective use of government funding and improving the quality of provision that children receive, regardless of whether they accept children under the free entitlement or not. However, I reassure the noble Lord that whether or not a provider offers free places will not be a factor in Ofsted inspection judgments. Of course, the quality of provision provided to such children will continue to be inspected. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, that, as I said last week, if grandparents are working they can therefore qualify for the provision. I will reflect on the points made by the noble Lord, Lord True, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and I am happy to discuss those with them privately. I hope I have reassured the noble Lord others who have spoken about their concerns. I therefore urge the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.
Childcare Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Other
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am very grateful, as ever, to my noble friend for listening carefully; I found what he said very reassuring. I will obviously want to look closely at Hansard, but what is important above all is his clear commitment to continuing the dialogue with providers and to understand the mixed nature of the sector. Having heard what he said, particularly his assurance regarding Ofsted—and in no way resisting the comments about quality, which is vital—I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, asked many questions, so I shall try to be as brief as possible A number of these matters were touched on in my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Statement, but, to repeat, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have had discussions with a number of key participants in trying to bring this crisis to an end, including—for the Chancellor—the head of the IMF, today, and a number of members of the eurozone finance group. I believe that we are as up to date as possible in the thinking of all the key participants ahead of the key meetings tonight and tomorrow With respect to businesses and tour operators, I shall expand on what I said. BIS has published detailed guidance to help business as a result of events in Greece. It is available on the Government’s websites along with a business support telephone number. As I also said, the Trade Minister has met a number of UK companies and business groups to discuss the situation and they seem pretty calm. He plans to meet with them again this week. The same goes with respect to our contacts with a number of important tour operators It is indeed the case that the four largest Greek banks have branches in the UK. However, their balance sheets are pretty small by the standards of these things, with deposits totalling less than £225 million. Eurobank is now a branch of the Luxembourg subsidiary and so the Luxembourg subsidiary deposit guarantee scheme will provide protection to eligible deposits there. The others are covered by the Greek deposit scheme. There is one Greek bank with a subsidiary in the UK, Alpha Bank, and this is a separate, stand-alone entity from its parent bank. It is small with assets slightly over £0.5 billion at the end of 2014 and, as a UK subsidiary, it is regulated by the PRA and its deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme There were further questions about the schemes in place for the deposit guarantee. The amount of €100,000 was agreed back in 2010 in euro terms. It is being reduced in sterling terms at the end of this year merely because of the resulting appreciation of the pound against the euro.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thought the days where I was speculating about which members were suited and which ones were not to participation in the euro had long since gone. In that regard I can only say that I do not believe it is particularly useful for anybody for me to offer my own judgment on such matters at this time, particularly ahead of some very important discussions this evening and tomorrow.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Other
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as far as I understand the considerable things written on this topic, it is somewhat unclear. It will be a very interesting test case in the event of such an outcome from these important discussions in the next couple of days, and I can imagine a number of legal types will have some fun pursuing these discussions in the event of such an outcome.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Other
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am afraid that I will answer in a similar spirit to my answer to my noble friend Lord Lawson’s question a couple of minutes ago. I have spent many years talking about these kind of things, but we are at such a delicate stage of discussions following the outcome of the weekend’s referendum, which, I think I am right in saying, was considerably larger than was anticipated by virtually anybody. Now, through this evening and tomorrow, very delicate discussions will take place, and it would not be advantageous for anybody if I offered my opinion on anything that the noble Lord asked about such important, critical details.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, my noble friend raises some very interesting ideas and suggestions, and in the course of our ongoing discussions with our friends in all parts of the eurozone, which I am sure will continue through the rest of today and tomorrow, we will pass those ideas on. I thank him.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Terence O'Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, while that may not have been discussed in the other House, it has, as I am sure my noble friend Lord Howell is aware, been suggested by some other members of the eurozone. It is certainly something that we are aware of having been raised and it will be mentioned again in discussions; that is for sure. I reiterate, however, that it is not appropriate for me or my right honourable friend the Chancellor to talk about such matters ahead of the delicate discussions that will take place tonight and tomorrow.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Mixed Topics
Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, while it is true that the Syriza Government have made some bad policy decisions and have at times been very provocative, is it not also true that on one fundamental point they are right—in 2010 there should have been a much more extensive write-off of the Greek debt? If we are to have a sustainable situation in Greece, it requires, as the IMF has now said, a substantial further write-off of debt because the debt is not sustainable. This continuing extending and pretending is only shoring up more trouble in the long run.
Concessionary Television Licences — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Other
James Stopford (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, all noble Lords will know that I speak for the whole Government from this Dispatch Box. I repeat what I said earlier: the manifesto commitment will be retained for the whole of this Parliament.
Concessionary Television Licences — House of Lords, 2015-07-06
Topic: Other
James Stopford (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the noble Baroness has great knowledge of these matters. I am sure that what she says will be noted. The fact is, we have the charter renewal and all matters raised by noble Lords will be looked at.
Child Exploitation in Oxfordshire — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Other
John Nash (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the noble Baroness makes some very good points. Sadly, in my job I meet a lot of local authority councillors in very difficult situations, so I may not have a particularly good cross-section. Her point about proper training for councillors is a very good one, and I will take it back and look at it.
Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Immigration
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): I listen to what the noble and learned Lord says on this of course. This subject was debated in your Lordships’ House in the context of the amendment to the Immigration Act proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, in which she sought a cap of 60 days. We have to look at this, but we are making progress. One serious point—I am not making any cheap points here—is that it was not so long ago, in 2008, that children, even disabled children, were held at Yarl’s Wood. We have moved on from that. We are now focusing on pregnant women and the treatment of women there, and I expect us to continue to make progress in the way that we treat people who are in our care.
Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Immigration
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is right. Of course many people who have come here have entered this country clandestinely. We need to establish their identity, which sometimes takes some time to do. In the wider context of the security of the country, we need to make sure that if people come here clandestinely, we check out that they are who they say they are and their reasons for doing that before they are released into the community. I think people expect that. However, again, we need to look at this whole area. That is why we have asked Stephen Shaw to undertake his review. We will be studying the all-party report and, of course, the allegations that have been made against Serco very carefully and will come forward with responses to them.
Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): Children are of course not held at Yarl’s Wood but at a family detention centre, often the Cedars, which is run by Barnardo’s, where they receive education. However, I agree that it is very important that children in particular are carefully looked after in this respect.
Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Immigration
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): I will look again at what the noble Lord said at that point. There is of course the independent monitoring board, which is headed by Mary Coussey, a former Independent Race Monitor. The immigration monitoring board has the keys to Yarl’s Wood and can go in and out at any point in time. Obviously, it will need to look very carefully at how it has undertaken its responsibilities, and the conclusions which it has drawn from its activities.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Diana Harding (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I rise to speak against these amendments. I must first declare an interest because I run a large public company, TalkTalk, which would clearly be subject to this legislation I agree with the Government’s prompt payment proposals, and it is worth us pausing to recognise how robust they are and how tough a reporting requirement this will be. To report quarterly in detail on your payment performance and policies is more detailed than the report I have to make on the financial performance of my company. I have an obligation to report in full on a half-yearly basis. I would not underestimate the power of transparency—of having to report this publicly and clearly. We see this in a whole range of compliance areas in business. Having to explain publicly to your customers as much as to your suppliers what you are doing acts as a strong brake on bad behaviour and is the beginning of the culture change in payment policy that I am sure that all sides of the House want to see I am not persuaded, however, by the Opposition’s amendments. There is a real danger that we try to overcomplicate and second-guess how businesses will wish to negotiate with each other. There are also a lot of unintended consequences—I am sure that they are genuinely unintended—in the Opposition’s amendments that will simply lead businesses to avoid the provisions and will create the very problem that they are seeking to avoid, which is the negotiation of much longer payment terms that meet all the requirements of a much more tightly defined code but actually do not enable small businesses to be paid faster It is therefore important that we support the Bill and the improvement in publicising and shining a light on poor payment policies and performance. But we in this House must not think that we can create culture change by specifying in ever more precise detail what businesses can and cannot do. That would have the opposite effect on the culture that we are trying to change.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Cope (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I also have doubts about the terms of the amendment, both for the reasons that my noble friend has just given and because we have to consider who is laying down the payment terms. The amendment refers to the supplier’s payment terms as though the supplier—the small business that we are thinking of—is able to say that it wants payment within a certain time. However, in the instances that the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, gave just now of large companies extending the terms in which they make payments, it is of course the customer who lays down the terms. If you do not like those terms—the extension to a larger number of days—then you do not supply. A big company in a powerful position in its market will be able to lay down its terms and that will drive a coach and horses through the amendment. Therefore, I do not think that this is the solution I do not for a moment say that there is no problem—of course there is. I entirely accept what was said earlier and in Committee about the difficulties of late payment, and these are not new difficulties; we have had them for years. I think that the amendment to the existing law proposed in the Bill is a step forward. I would like to see that come into law rather than the more prescriptive version suggested by the Opposition.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Housing
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for this amendment and for providing the opportunity for us to look again at the important matter of retention payments. Following Committee we have been busy. We have consulted with stakeholders on payment terms, and it is clear that the practice of retentions is an issue, as we suspected, largely confined to the construction sector. As with other payment issues in construction, issues with retentions go to the heart of the industry’s business models. These models are driven by a broad and diverse range of customers—and, of course, there is an extensive reliance on subcontracting. The work is project based and frequently short term, with no ongoing relationships. Typically, low levels of capitalisation mean that the industry is heavily reliant on cash flow.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Cope (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, has said, we have debated access to finance and all the various schemes, both government and private sector, on a number of occasions. I agree with him that there is an awful lot going on in this field. A lot of improvements have been made, by the Government’s efforts, these new forms of alternative finance and so on. I go along with the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, on all that and on the difficulties of assessing quite what is happening and where the best developments are Where I get into trouble with Amendment 6 is the last little bit—proposed new subsection (4)—which says that, at the end of this review, when it is laid before Parliament: "The Secretary of State may, by regulations, act on the findings of the review" That is an incredibly sweeping power, which I would be wholly reluctant to give the Government. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, said at the end of the debate on the previous amendment, but this is a very sweeping power indeed, about which I am very cautious.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Howard Leigh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as has been said, we have discussed finance for SMEs at length and it will continue to be a perennial topic. I welcome Clause 5. All the challenger banks—the noble Lord, Lord Myners, named some of them but I was thinking more of the crowdfunding-type organisations—are very excited about what is going to happen in the market. I have talked to some of the big four clearing banks and they are excited. Despite the fact that one might have thought that they would be nervous about the clause, which will almost force them to send their customers to challenger banks, they are keen and excited about, and welcome, this event On the surface, the amendment looks sensible, other than—I reinforce the point made by my noble friend Lord Cope—proposed subsection (4), which is open-ended. Business is nervous about this sort of provision. It is worried by some of the pronouncements that have been made by the Opposition. A Labour Party proposal that has not been raised in this House suggests that if a business chooses not to raise finance, or is not successful in raising it, but actually seeks to find a purchaser of more than half its equity, before such a transaction can be completed to a purchaser of the choice of the vendor, the vendor will be required to offer the business to all its employees on comparable terms. That was proposed in a recent speech by the leader of the Labour Party because he wants a John Lewis-type economy. While I understand that direction of travel, it is, of course, totally impractical and destructive to business life. That sort of policy might be brought in under subsection (4) of the amendment. That makes me nervous and is one of the reasons why I would not be happy about the proposed new clause.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Gummer (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not find the second half of the amendment compelling, but the first half is very important indeed. The EHRC has a very special role in society and it is looked at very carefully by people outside. The Government have to be super-careful: we know perfectly well that this will not, of course, interfere with the EHRC. This is not, in any way, some sinister operation, but there are people out there who will find sinister operations in anything, particularly when one is dealing with something as delicate as the issues with which the EHRC is concerned. The trouble is that the mischievous people come from both ends of the spectrum: one end wants the EHRC to be more dominant and expansive in its role and the other end wants to have as little to do with it as possible. It is, therefore, important that the wording is right and I hope that my noble friend will have been able to consider this, both in relation to this Bill and on the other occasion that this issue has been raised. I hope she understands that this is not because either side really thinks that there is something here that is wicked or hidden and being covered up. It is simply that there is a very blanket view from outside and it is quite hard to see why it is so difficult to exclude the EHRC. I very much hope that my noble friend will be able to help on that part, at least. The other part of the amendment is probably otiose: I shall not argue with it but I would not want to support it. However, the EHRC is particular, special and has a real reputation in the rest of the world that we do not want to see undermined.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Lindesay-Bethune (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I also have a problem with a large part of the amendment. I disagree with the argument of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, that putting some departments and regulators in the Bill would make it more flexible than using secondary legislation. The Bill provides a requirement for that secondary legislation to be debated by Parliament. My other concern is the very wide exemption that the amendment suggests for a large number of regulators that fall under the six departments cited. This would undermine and threaten a policy that has been developed specifically to support small businesses and would send an unhelpful message. The policy is simply aimed at improving the appeals and complaints processes of a regulator when dealing with small businesses We should not forget that driving greater efficiency, accountability and transparency into the interaction between regulators and those they regulate has to make sense, as does having a simpler, more effective, more transparent, less costly and better understood series of processes by which small businesses are able to challenge regulators’ decisions and behaviour. Ensuring that regulators have appeals and complaints processes that work well and are fit for purpose, that rectify wrongs with minimal delay and are sensitive to small businesses—and micro-businesses in particular—must be good news for the economy as well as for the objectives that regulators are seeking to deliver. I would be very uneasy at the thought of the Bill exempting the number of departments and the very large number of regulators that the amendment proposes. I agree about the EHRC, but I understand that the Government will use secondary legislation to exempt it from this section.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-03
Topic: Other
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I very much take the point that the noble Lord has made. I am happy to consider whether we could put the EHRC into the Bill, but whether I can do that, I am not sure. Giving the commission that clarity seems to be widely supported around the House.