argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Port Examination Codes of Practice and National Security Determinations Guidance Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Law and Crime
Peter Snape (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I apologise: we lost our internet connection earlier. I hope noble Lords will forgive me if I repeat anything said earlier I welcome these powers, but have a practical question on their application. Schedule 3 of the code of practice includes "additional powers to allow an examining officer to retain and copy a person’s property (including confidential material)" Repeating a point made by my noble friend Lord Harris, I am at a loss to understand how, if someone claims to be a journalist, an officer could exercise these statutory duties in the way outlined by the code of practice. After all, according to the Explanatory Memorandum from the Home Office, journalistic protection requires all confidential material to be handled with care, to minimise the risk of it being seen by a front-line officer. Again, there is probably a simple explanation for this, but I cannot understand it. If a front-line officer is forbidden from seeing confidential information, how do we know that such information exists in the first place I have another fairly simple question for the Minister. The Minister for Security, James Brokenshire, wrote to Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Committee, on 8 June. Has the Minister or the department received a response to that letter, setting out the Home Affairs Committee’s view on this statutory instrument? If so, will she share it with us today?
Saudi Arabia: Arms Sales — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: International Affairs
Desmond Browne (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I agree with Save the Children that this decision is indefensible. The Government say that they want to be a global force for good but, the very next day, decide that killing and injuring thousands of children does not constitute "a pattern of harm". Proper scrutiny of this decision requires access to the unique methodology and data that the Secretary of State referred to in her statement. Can the Minister explain the methodology? Will Parliament be given access to it, or will Parliament and the defenceless children of Yemen have to wait until our courts compel its production—as they will?
Saudi Arabia: Arms Sales — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: International Affairs
Frank Ashcroft Judd (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Government have gained considerable credit recently for toughening up sanctions and for their willingness to apply those sanctions in the context of human rights abuses. Do the Government understand that real credit will be established—otherwise cynicism, bitterness and dissolution will take its place—only if they apply themselves with equal vigour to the protection of countless ordinary people who are being subjected to suppression and oppression in Saudi Arabia and Yemen?
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
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the content of this order is important, in that the application of modern technology to the conduct of police interviews is part of the criminal justice system. This is, of course, uncontroversial; no one is going to criticise the use of digital technology in this context. However, reading the order and the background to it, what leapt out at me was the point that the noble Viscount made at the outset, which is that it should be 2020 when we are making this change. That struck me as odd when I first looked at the order; he thought it was almost amusing that we were talking about the conduct of interviews by tape from the 1960s and 1970s. The notes on the background of this order raise a point of some concern. Paragraph 7.2 on the policy background says: "The equivalent Code of Practice for video recording with sound for police in England and Wales and Scotland was updated in 2012. The current Code of Practice for Northern Ireland came into operation in 2003" So there were nine years between those two, and a further eight years since 2012, where there have been failures to update these provisions in respect of Northern Ireland. The two points that come out of this clearly are, first, that that is obviously unacceptable. How did we in Parliament and the Northern Ireland Office continue for eight years after the equivalent updating of the code in England, Wales and Scotland, and 17 years after the original code came into practice, in respect of technology that has been available for that whole period? That is obviously unsatisfactory and could lead—and maybe has led—to miscarriages of justice, because old-fashioned tape corrupts and deteriorates in a way that modern digital recordings, with the storage we have talked about, do not It raises a second concern, which I wonder if the noble Viscount could address: are there other areas of police practice in Northern Ireland which are similarly antiquated by reason of the regulations that govern them? The noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, referred to all the codes relating to the conduct of interviews and investigations since the Birmingham Six. I hope the noble Viscount can address, by summing up or writing to us, whether other areas of police practice and regulation are governed by codes of practice and procedure more antiquated than those that apply in England and Wales, simply by failure to modernise the law. It is our duty as parliamentarians to ask that question, and the Government’s to give us a clear explanation of whether there are such areas. If there are, the obvious follow-up question is: should they not be modernised too, and a great deal more quickly than this order?
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
Stewart Martin Wood (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too thank the Minister for the clear and collegiate way in which he introduced this proposal. I am happy to support the order. I shall not repeat the questions that noble Lords have already asked, but I want to ask two further brief questions for clarification First, as the Minister said, the proposed code of practice shadows the code for England and Wales, and for Scotland, but it is different in one important respect. Unlike the other codes, this one for Northern Ireland contains no reference to post-charge questioning. This is because under the 2008 Act, PACE codes need to be amended first to reflect how post-charge questioning should be dealt with, which is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive As someone who had the privilege of serving as a Northern Ireland adviser to Gordon Brown when he was Prime Minister and was involved in so-called "phase 2" of the devolution of policing and justice, I was disappointed to see that the necessary changes to PACE code H have not been agreed by the Northern Ireland Justice Committee. Do we have any idea of timescales and can we all urge the Justice Committee to do this as soon as possible Secondly, I have a related question about the preservation of existing evidence: will it remain technically viable? The need to switch to digital recording technology raises the question of what steps are being taken to preserve long-standing evidence on pre-digital formats. I know from my time in government that there is a significant challenge for legacy investigations—some of which can stretch back over many decades—in ensuring that existing records do not decay and degrade. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has estimated that digitisation of this catalogue of evidence could cost many millions of pounds. Can the Minister assure us—for the sake of existing legacy investigations and for those that may be necessary in the future—that the Government will fund this vital preservation work? Can he also assure us that this commitment to evidence preservation will extend to the Stormont House oral history archive, which is a key historical, community and national public resource in documenting the Troubles?
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
Paul Murphy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this has been a very good and useful debate. The Opposition absolutely and completely support the Government in this statutory instrument. We must remind ourselves that it comes under the Terrorism Act 2000. I completely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Caine, that the threat from republican dissidents and rogue loyalists still very much exists. We have only to think of the murder of Lyra McKee to emphasise that. Also, it has been an opportunity for noble Lords, particularly those from Northern Ireland, to refer to the scandalous situation whereby the Northern Ireland Executive are not in a position to pay the pensions to victims. I applaud my noble friend Lord Hain for his remarks on that I pay tribute to the security agencies, the judiciary, as the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, has said, the PSNI and, above all, the overwhelming number of people in Northern Ireland from every community who completely reject violence and all that goes with it. We need to modernise the tools for tackling terrorism, including digitalising the recordings of interviews, but I agree with my noble friend Lord Adonis. We should not be using video cassettes in 2020. There must be a reason why this has taken so long. Nevertheless, we are changing it now; obviously, we agree with that change The Minister referred to the consultation, which I think has been good. The response has not been great, but those who did respond—the PSNI, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission—raised some very important issues which have been addressed, such as the awareness of suspects of their rights under caution. A number of your Lordships also raised the question of interpreters; that is really an issue of resources, ensuring that there is sufficient money so that interpreters can be employed My noble friend Lord Wood made an extremely good point about retaining the old video cassettes, which go back nearly four decades, while we are still looking at legacy investigations, including those recommended by the Government in their most recent proposals. He also mentioned the oral history archive, which was agreed in the Stormont House agreement. The preservation of those cassettes could cost a great deal of money but would be necessary if these legacy investigations continue However, whatever the issues that have been raised; this order very much deserves your Lordships’ support. I fully support it.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
David George Clark (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this piece of legislation is sound and timely. I guess that most of us were aware of the plastics littering the seashores of Britain, but when we saw Sir David Attenborough’s "Blue Planet" series, and especially when he showed the effect of plastic on the marine environment and marine animals and fish, we were especially shocked. And it was not only us; the British public were really shocked. So when the instrument comes into effect, will the Minister ensure that that swell of support from the general public is built upon and that the British people are kept fully informed at every stage of its implementation?
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Deborah Wilcox (Labour, Centre-left): The ban on these items was initiated by the former Prime Minister at a Commonwealth summit over two years ago—a long time coming but at least it is here now, at an increasingly serious and difficult time for the UK. Can the Minister say what estimate his department has made of the increase in plastic waste as a result of the pandemic? Is the department still committed to eliminating avoidable plastic waste? Why are we still waiting for the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers to incentivise people to recycle more plastic? Since the pandemic began, single-use has increased, exploited by some companies, which claim that it shows single-use, and often single-use plastic, to be the safest option. The science does not back that up; the virus can live on single-use surfaces as well The Welsh Government are currently consulting to restrict single-use, hard-to-recycle and commonly littered plastics and help move Wales towards a circular economy. We have often been at the forefront of these things. The longstanding commitment is outlined in Beyond Recycling. Today, I support the speedy introduction of these regulations for England and argue for a review of the regulations after 12 months.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Jack Wilson McConnell (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I support these regulations and am very pleased that the Government have brought them back to us, despite the difficulties of the last three or four months in peak lockdown. However, the Government now need to look to the next steps. When will they bring forward plans to ban mixed packaging, which seems a particularly disgraceful waste that could be eliminated quite easily through regulation and legislation? I also ask the Minister to say more about how the Government are contributing to the delivery of UN sustainable development goal 12, which calls for sustainable consumption and production. At home and abroad, this Government should lead the way by going much further than this ban and making sure that any recovery around the world is more sustainable in both its consumption and production.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Alicia Kennedy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too am pleased that these regulations are before the House today. Half of all the plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years. Plastic production has increased exponentially; so much so that, every year, about 8 million tonnes of plastic waste escapes into the oceans, killing and harming millions of fish and animals, and ending up in our air, food and water. These regulations are a step forward and I support them, but it is only a step forward. The pandemic has, understandably, interrupted progress on tackling the plastic problem. These regulations have been delayed and the plastic bag charge has been lifted. We cannot let this temporary pause become an excuse for ongoing inaction. I want to ask the noble Lord about the bottle deposit return scheme, which is also delayed. When will this legislation come forward? Is it the case that the Government are now reconsidering this scheme, due to pressure from the industry?
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, of course I too support this legislation, which will provide some help to reduce the awful problem of plastic waste, as described so vividly by colleagues. But frankly, we still have an awfully long way to go—it only scratches the surface. There is much more that needs to be done to tackle not just single-use plastics but other types of problem waste in our society. All this work will form an integral part of our green recovery, yet we still have uncertainty over when the Government will publish the second wave of consultations, as has been mentioned already, for the extended producer responsibility scheme, the EPR, and the deposit return scheme, the DRS. We remain in a state of limbo over both. Will the Minister advise the House as to when the secondary consultations will be published?
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Anthony Gueterbock (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am sorry the Minister was not able to be in his place in the Chamber because I think I missed much of his introduction. As ever, we must look at this in perspective. According to the National Geographic, 8 million tonnes of plastic is deposited in the oceans every year, and straws represent 0.025% of that; that is one in 4,000. Here we have a 30-clause Bill to deal with 1/4,000th of the waste problem. The Minister said he is committed to eliminating plastic waste but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, said, he needs to do a lot more. When he comes to wind up, I hope he will explain exactly what he is going to do about the much bigger problem of tackling the rest of the plastic waste in the oceans.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Mary Goudie (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I welcome these regulations and I support my noble friend Lord McConnell regarding the development goals. Britain could clearly be leading the way on the development goals on plastic. Next year—because it has been postponed—we are hosting COP 26. By doing this we could show the rest of the world that we are banning all forms of plastic for consumers and for building, because we have seen what it is doing to our sewers, to our oceans and to Antarctica. We must protect the environment not only for ourselves but for our children and further generations. I hope that the Government will ensure that there is enough funding for local authorities to enforce these regulations.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Iain McNicol (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, plastic pollution poses immense risks to the environment and the ecosystem. Incredibly, only 9% of plastics are recycled. With the UK experiencing the highest single-use plastic consumption in Europe, these regulations take an encouraging step—but, as many others have said, they fail to go far enough Small single-use plastics make up a fraction of global plastic waste. Some 25 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans annually, which is the equivalent of pouring a garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute. It is estimated that small, single-use plastic makes up only 5 tonnes of those 25 million tonnes. Without a shift in policy on other forms of plastic waste, the crisis will grow exponentially, so I would ask the Minister why we are legislating only on small, single-use plastic, which makes up such a tiny proportion of plastic waste.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome this modest change and note that the charge on plastic bags has been pretty much universally accepted across the country and with virtually no complaints. But we need to go significantly further. The whole takeaway, throwaway culture has to be challenged. It is not long-standing in this country, but very modern. Be it in our canteens across the Palace of Westminster, where people seem to feel that taking food and plastic utensils back to their offices is normal, or the absurdity of people buying takeaway hot drinks and wandering the streets or cycling with them, this culture needs to be challenged and changed, and government action is crucial to assist that.
Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-10
Topic: Environment
Anthony Young (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too welcome the regulations. As many people have said, they are a small step in the right direction. What I query is that while the public may say they support these things, their attitudes display something different. Too many bottles, cans and plastic bags litter our environment. Why are retailers still offering plastic bags? We need to increase charges. Why is polyester still being used as packaging when we know how detrimental it is? Other people have mentioned the importance of speedily introducing the deposit return scheme; if we had one, children would probably co-operate in clearing up that problem. I looked at the Government’s 25-year strategy and there are some good things, but it fails to deal with one of the worst blights: wet wipes. Millions and millions of these are used, totally unnecessarily. In the good old days, we used a flannel that was capable of being washed. I look forward to the Minister’s response.
Covid-19: International Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-18
Topic: International Affairs
Jack Wilson McConnell (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I start by drawing attention to my interests in the register. I thank the Minister for securing this debate and for her comprehensive introduction, setting the scene for what I am sure will be an interesting three hours This pandemic has highlighted yet again—perhaps more starkly than ever before—just how interdependent our world is. As the UK sits on the G7 in June and the UN Security Council in the lead-up to the summits that will take place in September, it will undoubtedly focus on recovery and future resilience. It is vital that the UK plays a role way beyond encouraging the comprehensive availability of a vaccine to make sure that there is a proper economic recovery globally and that there is a resilience in our systems to help us to cope better everywhere in future In that economic recovery, we need to remember the importance of education. It is not just in this country that young children are missing out on education; it is happening in every corner of the globe. In pursuing critical economic and health measures, I hope that the UK does not forget the vital importance of getting children, particularly those in the poorest parts of the world, back to school My final point relates to the Decade of Action UN summit planned for September. The sustainable development goals give us a framework for greater resilience in not just our health system but our economy around the world. This pandemic should reinforce our commitment to the global goals and ensure a greater degree of determination, both at home and abroad, in implementing and delivering them in a decade of action between now and 2030.