argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Pension Schemes Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2020-06-30
Topic: Labor
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on the Front Bench on the clarity with which she has introduced this Report, and I thank her and the Bill team for the time, effort, care and consideration they have taken with Members, which is best illustrated by the number of government amendments which have rightly been brought forward at this stage in our proceedings. She has clearly demonstrated what can be achieved collaboratively in the legislative process when it is approached with such openness. She and her team absolutely epitomise a truth that everyone should constantly remind themselves of: two ears, one mouth The pensions proposition is one of the greatest creations of civilisation, but just in my lifetime—without giving away my age, I am only slightly younger than my noble friend Lord Naseby—we can see that the proposition has changed, not so as to be unrecognisable but significantly. It started out with a commitment by employers to have defined benefits where they would take the risk. The fund was rightly separated from the employer under the governance model of a trust. That clear separation of powers was eminently sensible because something as significant as someone’s retirement nest egg should be separated from the corporate entity so that if, God forbid, anything should happen to the corporate entity, the pension fund would remain. What has occurred in recent years is an extraordinary shift of that risk, if not a wholesale one, from the employer to the employee, hence the explosion of defined contribution schemes. In reality, neither position is where an individual, a group or even a society would wish to be, given that so much of the risk falls on to one or other of the parties. That is why CDCs have a lot to recommend them, not just in the combining of resources and the pooling of risks, which is a great advantage, but in the positive implications that the initials "CDC" have in other areas of our lives. Let us consider the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We should take something from the positivity of the acronym because it has a lot to recommend it. This would certainly not be necessary had we not seen some of the changes, not least to how schemes were funded and how the funds were treated, particularly from the taxation point of view. That was one of the biggest nails in the coffin of defined benefit schemes. However, that is water long under the bridge. CDC schemes will become increasingly significant to pension provision as we go forward. They are a positive contribution to this area and I wish this Bill a speedy passage through your Lordships’ House, and its equally speedy consideration and passage through the other place.
Pension Schemes Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2020-06-30
Topic: Labor
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I first declare an interest as a recipient of the parliamentary pension fund. I support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. I will also refer to Amendments 85 to 88 in the Minister’s name, which make particular reference to Northern Ireland.
Beyond Brexit (European Union Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2020-05-12
Topic: International Affairs
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, while there is not time for the usual courtesies, I must begin by thanking my predecessor as chair, the noble Lord, Lord Boswell of Aynho, for his long service to the committee and his excellent and hugely informative opening speech; it was a fitting swan-song. I shall focus only on the institutional structure for the future EU relationship, and in particular its parliamentary dimension. Our relationship with the EU—its 27 member states and 450 million citizens—will be complex, and a relationship of such complexity will need structure. Within that structure, the parliamentary dimension will be vital: to support dialogue, to build relationships and to promote transparency There are many precedents on which we could draw in designing such a body: for instance, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly or the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. There are also precedents on the EU side. Indeed, the EU’s March draft agreement included a clause setting up a parliamentary partnership assembly, made up of representatives of this Parliament and the European Parliament. While I do not agree with every word of the EU’s proposal, I welcome it as starting point When questioned by my committee on 5 May, Michael Gove agreed that "engagement, discussion and dialogue between parliamentarians is always a good thing", but insisted that it was not for the Government to "prescribe exactly how Parliament chooses to operate." The Government have placed the onus on Parliament to respond to the EU’s initiative. I understand the constitutional propriety of that position, but how, given the large Commons majority, is Parliament to act unless the Government take the lead As chair of your Lordships’ committee charged with considering EU matters, I believe very strongly that we need to establish a structured interparliamentary dialogue as part of the future relationship. Indeed, the committee supports that. My question to the Minister is: how exactly do the Government expect Parliament to signal its support for an interparliamentary body? Will a report from my committee be sufficient? Or a joint enterprise with the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union in the House of Commons? I am happy to do whatever it takes to try to break this logjam and I ask the Minister for his help.
Beyond Brexit (European Union Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2020-05-12
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome the report and the references to the need for the EU and the UK to establish effective channels of communication and co-operation, plus the need to respect the Good Friday agreement in order not to weaken the confidence of unionist and nationalist communities in the political process. Unfortunately, I am afraid to say that the UK Government are not engaging properly with the EU, and with the pragmatic intent that the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, talked about, to resolve issues and to ensure, in the particular area where I live, the full implementation of the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol Let me give two examples to show how the Government have not negotiated properly, with true intent. First, there is the issue of the transition: to obtain that good, effective deal, the transition period needs to be extended by two years, during this period of the pandemic. Secondly, the UK has refused to allow the EU to have a technical office in Belfast for the implementation of the protocol, to allow proper procedures to be put in place to deal with those customs arrangements at the ports and to provide unfettered access for business. Because of the shortness of time, I ask the Minister to address both those issues and to work with colleagues to ensure that that respect, pragmatism and level of co-operation return to the negotiations, to achieve an effective deal.
Covid-19: Strategy — House of Lords, 2020-05-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the new lockdown rules are making the job of the police "almost impossible". Those are not my words, but those of John Apter, the chairman of the front-line Police Federation. On the next sunny weekend, a father of five in London can now gather his household and drive for a day’s exercise to the Lake District. Were the police consulted on this relaxation of the rules? What advice would the Leader of the House give to the police who might check the vehicle as it enters Cumbria, particularly in the light of convoys of other drivers doing the same thing? Finally, does she think that this decision is an example of good, solid, British common sense?
Victims of the Troubles: Payment Scheme — House of Lords, 2020-06-08
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, will the Minister confirm whether the discussions that the Secretary of State is having with the political parties of Northern Ireland are nearing completion and the possibility of a result? Will he also confirm that it is Sinn Féin that is blocking the statement?
Public Services: Update — House of Lords, 2020-04-29
Topic: Macroeconomics
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I have strong solidarity with all public sector workers. What are the plans for the post-Covid economic strategy, and when will we have sight of them? Perhaps the Minister could ask his colleague the Chancellor about them.
Educational Opportunities: Working Classes — House of Lords, 2020-03-05
Topic: Education
Amirali Bhatia (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome this debate initiated by the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley. I wish to make my comments on the early years of children, from the ages of two to five. At a debate on a similar subject on 8 January 2015, I said that, "education starts at the age of two, which is why early years education, free for all, is an imperative. By the time the child reaches school age, most key brain wiring, language ability and cognitive foundations have been set in place. The early years are critical in the formation of intelligence, personality, social behaviour and physical development".—[Official Report, 8/1/15; col. 469.] Science also tells us that human development occurs more quickly in years two to four of life than at any other time in human growth I have been involved in the early education field since my days in Tanzania, from where I come, and in the UK. I have been associated with the Montessori system and the HighScope foundation in Michigan, USA. The single most important lesson I have learned is that unless a child receives good early childhood education from the age of two, his or her foundation education is ruined Since 2010, the Government have steadily reduced the funding for this sector. Sure Start projects have been reduced substantially. Funding cuts have hurt children from low-income families significantly. As a result, only families who can afford to send their young ones to private early years schools make it to better schools and reach university and professional careers. This is how the UK has become a society of haves and have-nots As a result, poverty in the UK is on the increase. Food banks are the only safety net left for low-income families. Despite this, and the fact that there is considerable evidence that funding for the early years education continues to be reduced, I request that the Minister respond to a simple question: as austerity is over, will more funding be made available for the important early years sector of education?
Budget: Economic and Fiscal Outlook — House of Lords, 2020-05-05
Topic: International Affairs
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, both documents that we are taking note of today are now simply historical because they have been overtaken by the unprecedented circumstances of the coronavirus, which has dented our economy. Perhaps I may give an example of that in a Northern Ireland context Unemployment is predicted to rise to 10.5% this year, and many of those affected will be very young people—young graduates and young people leaving school—who will find themselves out of the door, having just been brought in through the door of employment. In fact, the economy is set to contract by between 7.5% and 10.5%, which is unacceptable. However, there are other issues that we have to take into account. The other shock to our economy is Brexit. I firmly believe that today the Minister has to tell us what plans there are on the far side of the coronavirus pandemic to underpin, develop and revive our economy As a remainer, I accept that we are leaving the European Union, but in relation to Brexit there are two outstanding burning issues that require resolution. The first is the transition period. Because of the coronavirus, there is insufficient time to deal with the trade agreement. For that reason, in spite of what the Minister said today and what the Government said last week, I urge the Government to extend the transition period. Secondly, the Government are not engaging properly with the European Union to obtain a good deal, and in that respect I cite the discussions that have been held on the transition I want to make another fundamental point. In February 2019, the European Union asked to be given offices in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. At the time, the Government promised that the EU would have permission to arrange that. The Ireland/Northern Ireland protocol requires the EU to have an office in Belfast to forge the technical details. However, I have received a Parliamentary Answer from a Minister, who has informed me that that will not be possible. That is outrageous. That office is needed to work out and fully implement the technical details of the protocol —for example, the question of unfettered access. Perhaps the Minister can respond to those issues today.
Covid-19: Department for Work and Pensions Update — House of Lords, 2020-05-05
Topic: Social Welfare
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, what further steps—by which I mean the introduction of new legislation—will the Minister and her colleagues take to transform welfare policies to ensure that they are applied with fairness, equality and compassion to bring about a reduction in poverty?
Terrorism Act 2000 (Video Recording with Sound of Interviews and Associated Code of Practice) (Northern Ireland) Order 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Law and Crime
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend the Minister for the manner in which he introduced this instrument, with his customary courtesy and clarity. I also take this opportunity to give my thanks and complete support to all those women and men in the security services: those in the west country and those based in town. They do their work invisibly—understandably so—but they are true heroes and heroines who keep us safe at all times. They deserve all our support and enduring thanks I support the order. On one level, they are very straightforward and clear, but I associate myself with the comments of my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier, and indeed those of my friend through sport, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem. They go to the heart of a number of issues essential to the whole criminal justice process. In light of this change, have the Government done a piece of work, not just in the Northern Ireland context but across government, to understand other situations where cassette tapes, fax machines and other largely redundant, obsolete and—certainly from a security perspective—woefully inadequate sub-technology is still in use? I think it would be an incredibly important piece of work and I would be happy to help Finally, I associate myself with the comments of my noble friend Lord Wei. There is so much technology which needs to be deployed and could be helpful in this particular use case, not least distributed ledger technology. I gently guide the Minister to a report that I wrote in 2017 and updated in 2018, Distributed Ledger Technologies for Public Good. This kind of thing—albeit not exactly this—was one of the use cases set out there. It has such huge potential to transform the state, and the relationship between citizen and state, in a new, transformed, digital, smart social contract. I would welcome any comments the Minister might like to make on those issues.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome these regulations as we still have some way to go. I wish to make the following points. First, local authority recycling remains inconsistent and patchy, and food-waste management is absent in many boroughs. Secondly, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, that supermarkets remain on the back foot regarding the use of plastic packaging. Having strolled through two markets yesterday, I saw plenty of free plastic being given out, demonstrating that understanding of the detrimental impact on the environment remains inadequate. Does the Minister agree that the visual campaign needs to be broadened, including in various languages Finally, on the use of alternatives to plastic straws and cotton buds, I agree that more needs to be done in respect of manufacturing robust materials. I have a disabled family member and grandchildren, and I know that paper straws and cotton buds crumble very easily and often do not function adequately, so I welcome the exemption. Does the Minister agree that now is not the time for punitive measures such as fining companies, without first educating people and producing durable alternatives?
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Amirali Bhatia (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I support this legislation. The three items covered by it that use plastic must be banned and their manufacture stopped. Surely, with the help of science, a replacement material such as wood could easily be used. I have heard that grass or straw could be used and then eaten, thereby avoiding any residual material to be disposed of. This would help address environmental issues It is generally accepted that the environment and climate change are the important issues of this century. Current plastic stocks must be destroyed, and the Government should recompense the stockholders. What plans are being considered to find a replacement material, dispose of the current stocks and compensate the stockholders?
Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-02
Topic: Transportation
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome these regulations and congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the clear and comprehensive manner in which she introduced them I salute all our frontline workers who have kept the bus fleet moving during the Covid crisis, putting themselves in harm’s way; we owe them all an enduring debt of thanks. I also send sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives while working to ensure that other key workers could get to work to look after those of us who have fallen sick as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic I very much welcome these regulations. The provision of clear, coherent, consistent real-time data will not only drive passengers on to the buses in a really positive way; as other noble Lords have commented, it could bring tech and innovation into this sector. When this service was introduced in London, for example, it added some 14,000,700 jobs to the local economy. Anyone who has been on a London bus will realise the benefits of this service, and of audio-visual announcements on buses. I commend all the drivers on my local 65 bus route—for those who are interested, it runs from Ealing to Kingston very regularly I wrote to my noble friend the Minister last year with a question—WQ 15588—about the provision of accessibility data within this system. She said that it was not possible to include such data at that stage of the rollout. Does she think that, a year later, the time is now right to do so? Providing that information would enable those who may otherwise be uncertain about using, or unable to use, the buses to do so. There is a potential market to consider, as well as the obvious question of inclusion. It could also increase innovation in the form of apps and technology solutions to support, enable and empower disabled people. Finally, on a separate but allied note, can the Minister tell us what is happening at Bank Junction in the City of London, where currently, only buses are allowed through? This is appropriate to a certain extent, but will she look into enabling London-licensed black taxis to go through the junction? They have never been involved in a crash. For some people, particularly those with accessibility needs, a black taxi is not a luxury but a necessity to get to appointments in that part of the City.
Contracts for Difference (Electricity Supplier Obligations) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-02
Topic: Energy
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister for the clarity and thoroughness of his introduction to these regulations. I also sincerely thank all those key workers in energy and power production, not least everyone at National Grid, who have kept the lights and the heat on through this Covid crisis, often putting themselves in harm’s way to ensure that everybody across the country has power I welcome the regs in the sense that they are necessary, given the current construction of the sector, but as other noble Lords have commented, there is an extraordinarily high level of complexity and opacity in the whole energy sector. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that it would be helpful to produce a clear chart showing the real price per kilowatt hour of energy, including everything, from whatever source that energy came I appreciate that this is somewhat off-piste, but perhaps my noble friend will indulge me: in this new future that we are embarking upon, does Hinkley C in any sense seem like something we should be doing? A technology unproven and unbuilt, a deal done at a strike price three times the strike price at the time—it was a bad deal then and it looks disastrous now. If he were offered that today, would he say "deal" or "no deal"? Finally, what are the Government doing to address one of the most pernicious energy issues? Those on meters or pre-paid cards—those in our society who have the least—often find themselves paying the most. Does he agree with me that we still need to do so much to address this inequity?
Higher Education (Fee Limits and Student Support) (England) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-02
Topic: Education
Christopher Holmes (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I thank my noble friend for introducing these regulations in the manner that he did, and I draw noble Lords’ attention to my interests as set out in the register The United Kingdom has such phenomenal soft power. Undoubtedly, our higher education system is the brightest star in that soft power constellation. For obvious reasons, international student numbers will be decimated as a result of Covid-19, but they will come back at some stage. That is a great thing in terms of those who come over here and have a higher education experience in the UK. They stay, work, study further and contribute to this country, or go back to their own countries and are superb ambassadors for the United Kingdom These regulations make sense in the short term, but I want to ask my noble friend the Minister a number of questions. First, what consideration was given to the devolved nature of higher education and the impact that these regulations would have in that regard? Secondly, does the Minister agree that more could be done to better position apprenticeships in both a parallel and series way with higher education—so potentially, for some routes, apprenticeship and then into university, not just seeing an apprenticeship or a degree apprenticeship as a better route through? Thirdly, what impact does he believe these regulations will have on social mobility? Finally, if he will indulge me, I have a question that goes slightly beyond the regulations. With the base rate currently at 10 basis points, what is the current interest rate being paid on student loans? Does the Minister believe that that rate is in any sense equitable, and what impact does he believe it will have on social mobility, widening participation and widening access to our fine higher education establishments in the United Kingdom?