argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Civil Rights
Geoffrey Dear (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I support the amendment. I remind the House that I tabled much the same amendment in Committee. I suggested then that the Minister might take the amendment back, consider it and bring it back on Report—which, of course, has been done. So I record my thanks to the Minister and the officials at the Home Office for their support Some misgivings were expressed in Committee that face veils—religious coverings—would be caught in this legislation. I would like to make it clear—as I think is now accepted—that the only change in this amendment is to allow authorisation for the police to use existing powers to be given orally and recorded in writing later. I hope that the fears concerning religious coverings have been allayed and I am very pleased to support the amendment.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Ilora Gillian Finlay (Crossbench, Unknown): Before the noble Baroness sits down, will she undertake to ask the ACMD to put this issue on its agenda and keep a watchful eye on it in the future? I declare an interest in that I was a member of the ACMD when khat was being looked at.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Civil Rights
Colin MacKenzie Low (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I want to deal briefly with the argument that the amendment is not necessary because it simply duplicates what is already in the law. Licensed premises, including entertainment venues such as pubs, clubs and restaurants, are obliged under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled customers. It is intended to be an anticipatory duty; it falls on service providers to make the reasonable adjustments and take the appropriate action ahead of any disabled person coming along and asking to be allowed to avail themselves of the service. However, the Equality Act duty is widely disregarded, placing the onus on the individual to enforce the duty, when enforcement is extremely difficult for the individual on account of its cost and complexity.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Civil Rights
Ruth Deech (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I know that the Minister is sympathetic, but I still find the arguments unpersuasive. The Licensing Act is already used to enforce other Acts, for example, about children. If there is a cost to business, or a cost that is going to be passed on, are we to say that we can never make improvements for disabled people because it might cost somebody something? That simply will not do. I believe the Minister is suggesting that any amendment that the Government may bring forward would not remove the burden from disabled people but require them to make representations, make phone calls and use the internet to fill in forms and so on—when we know very well that even if you are able, trying to deal with local authorities on this sort of thing can be a nightmare. I am simply saying that access for disabled people—and, as the noble Baroness said, for the elderly, which is all of us eventually if not already—should be mainstreamed All parties in this House, some more than others, claim to have as their raison d’être improving the life of the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. To refuse to do this when presented with a straightforward, effective amendment is incomprehensible to me and goes against what I believe this House stands for. The amendment would make adjustments anticipatory and remove the onus from disabled persons. I do not believe that any compromise that the Minister might offer, well-disposed though she is—I know that she spent a lot of time on this—would meet that bill. Given the mission of this House, I do not think that we should talk the talk; I think that we should walk the walk. On that note, I wish to test the opinion of the House.
National Citizen Service Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Civil Rights
John Bird (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I shall speak to the amendment on citizenship. I am interested in the difference of opinion that seems to be developing on whether the NCS is a means of building character or a means of building democracy. I am interested in the idea that we have to build democracy within our young people. The ideal of building character is all well and good—the boot camp-type argument: "Go out there and have a wonderful time and get very wet and cold, and work with your comrades and come back and enjoy the experience and join with other people". That is really interesting, but it lacks an understanding of what democracy is. Democracy extends only to a very small part of our nation, because if you live in poverty you do not live in democracy. Democracy and poverty do not go together. If we are trying to reach down into the innards of society to help people build a basis in their early years so that they can develop not just literacy but social, political, cultural and democratic literacy, we need to look at opportunities of talking about citizenship whenever they present themselves Citizenship is one of the most profound ways we have of bringing many things together. I backed the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, because I believe strongly that we need to unite character building—I am grateful for that and I have done it all; I am the result of a lot of character building—with citizenship, in which we really need our children to participate. Schools are failing in the arguments around citizenship. Many schools do not teach it. If we can, we must build a basis on which our young people get the opportunity to come together and break down class differences, which is of vital importance in building a different world from the one we live in at the moment I suggest that the Government need to get behind citizenship and the very idea of why we started the NCS in the first instance. We were worried by the fact that children were not participating in democracy and that between the last election and the previous election, the number of young people voting fell from 60% to 40%. All these things are very much related to the arguments around citizenship.
National Citizen Service Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-12-07
Topic: Other
Godfrey Bewicke-Copley (Crossbench, Unknown): I thank the Minister for his reply. I was so looking forward to calling him a good egg, like the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, but I am afraid I am going to have to disappoint him. I am indeed disappointed. I understand that the Minister will be coming back at Third Reading with a version of this amendment—he is nodding, so I trust that is correct—and I hope I might be more encouraged when I see it; but clearly, seeing will be believing. In the meantime, he is correct that I am disappointed. With reluctance, I do not think it is practical to call a Division at this time of day or with this number of noble Lords, so sadly and with a heavy heart, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-11-02
Topic: Other
Geoffrey Dear (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, at this late hour I am grateful for the contributions that have been made. I am encouraged by and grateful to the Minister for what she has said, and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse — House of Lords, 2016-11-21
Topic: Other
Dafydd Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, will the review direct itself to seek to set a target no later than five years from now for the publication of the final report? Failure to do this may well place a very great strain on human memory. Witnesses will die; others will fail to give coherent evidence.
Care Quality Commission Review: Deaths in the NHS — House of Lords, 2016-12-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sheila Clare Hollins (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I, too, commend Dr Ryan—Connor’s mother—for her persistence. The truth is that if we could get this right for people with learning disabilities, we would get it right for everyone else. Could the Minister confirm that the national mortality review for learning disability will now be permanent, just like other national mortality reviews such as the one on maternal deaths, rather than for the original three-year period for which it was established? I should declare an interest, having been involved in the tender process that led to the appointment of the Norah Fry research centre to run the national mortality review.
Modern Slavery (Transparency in Supply Chains) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-11-07
Topic: Other
Margaret Omolola Young (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I understand that no amendments have been set down to this Bill and that no noble Lord has indicated a wish to move a manuscript amendment or to speak in Committee. Unless, therefore, any noble Lord objects, I beg to move that the order of commitment be discharged.
Wales Bill — House of Lords, 2016-11-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Berkeley (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, if EU investment in south Wales suffers, as some of us fear it might, we could find ourselves with some very dire unemployment problems. Therefore, we will need every penny possible to reinvest in that area.
Brexit: Article 50 — House of Lords, 2016-11-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Frederick Butler (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, is it not the case that the Government have already laid out the basis of their negotiating strategy; namely, that we will insist on taking back control of immigration, that we will take back administration of justice in the UK to the UK courts, and that thereafter we will seek to do as good a deal as we can for trade in goods and services to the benefit of both the UK and our European partners? Given this basis, is there not plenty of time, following what the noble Lord, Lord Howell, said, for the Government to lay a Green Paper with rather more detail and get legislation through in time to meet their deadline of triggering Article 50 by the end of March?
Brexit: Article 50 — House of Lords, 2016-11-07
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dafydd Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, why is the Minister so reluctant to condemn the scurrilous attacks made in the press on Her Majesty’s judges? Does he not accept that what they were asked to do was to look very carefully, historically and analytically, at the prerogative powers? Those powers started as a monarchical dictatorship and were gallantly challenged in the 17th century in the civil war. Today, the remnant is not sufficient to allow the Government to do anything that would further the process of Article 50. Had the judges done anything different they would have been betraying their oath and would have indeed been unworthy of their position. They have acted in the very best traditions of the British judiciary.
Press Regulation (Communications Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2016-12-20
Topic: Civil Rights
Simon Denis Brown (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I should perhaps start by noting that I was one of the committee of five which appointed IPSO and its chair, Sir Alan Moses, an old friend and colleague, and someone in whom I had and have full confidence. He is someone of robust independence and absolute integrity, and no respecter of persons In response to the title of this debate, so brilliantly introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Best, it would be my basic contention that we are now in a reasonably good place—certainly one that would be worsened rather than bettered by bringing Section 40 into force. This debate, fortuitously perhaps through its long delay, clearly feeds neatly into the ongoing consultation process on Section 40 and Leveson 2. I hold no particular brief for the press, least of all the Daily Mail. How could I when it published an outrageous piece so recently on judges—"Enemies of the people", if you please? But I gently point out to the House that even in the fanciful event of the Mail signing up to Impress, there would be no sanction for headlines of that sort. The brief I hold is not for the press, but it is strongly for freedom of expression, subject only and always to the laws of the land, civil and criminal Section 40 was of course passed in the wake of the hacking scandal, the revelations of which shocked the nation In the febrile atmosphere that followed Leveson, the political parties reached agreement on a detailed future regime for press regulation, Section 40 being, as the noble Lord, Lord Best, described, designed as carrot and stick to cajole—one could say, to bribe and bully—the press into signing up to an ultimately state-approved regulator, something not easily seen as self-regulation Hacked Off, whose members include some, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, for whom I have the most profound respect—
Press Regulation (Communications Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2016-12-20
Topic: Mixed Topics
Sheila Clare Hollins (Crossbench, Unknown): Excuse me. I am not a member of Hacked Off. Hacked Off does not really have members. It has advised and briefed me, and it represents victims, but I am not a member of Hacked Off.
Press Regulation (Communications Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2016-12-20
Topic: Civil Rights
Richard Best (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for his excellent summary of all that has gone before, which means that I need not spend too much time repeating any of that. This debate illustrates that there is something to be said for a pause between a report being published and it being debated in your Lordships’ House. With the opportunity to reflect on these matters in the intervening period, the quality of debate has been enormously high. I am very grateful to noble Lords Roughly speaking, I discovered that one-third of your Lordships were in favour of the absolutely essential Section 40 being introduced forthwith; roughly one-third thought that Section 40 should not be introduced now or ever; and a third looked for the opportunity of a compromise solution that could genuinely be devised to secure that balance between the freedom of the press and real protection for citizens from libel or invasion of privacy by the press. That is a very rounded debate that I hope the Government will find of considerable value in the consultation exercise into which, fortuitously, all this now plays. With gratitude to all my colleagues for their contributions, I beg to move.
Wales Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-14
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Hope (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I shall raise two short points. One is to commend the Government’s Amendment 1 and the skilled drafting that is revealed by it. However, there is no doubt that the wording that it seeks to replace was too tightly drawn. It looked only at the legislative part of the body of law that makes up, if one likes to put it this way, the body of England and Wales and, looking into the future, following the point by the noble Lord, Lord Morgan, it was designed to follow the law of Wales itself as it built up its own common law. What was missing was an acknowledgement that there is a body of law outside legislation that applies in both jurisdictions as part of the great heritage of the common law that England and Wales has exported around the world. It would be very sad if the common-law element was not accepted. So the word "include", as the noble Lord, Lord Elis-Thomas, pointed out, carries with it a great deal. That is not expressed at length, thank goodness, because, as he put it, the simplicity and exclusivity of the language chosen does it all for us. It is very nice to see simple language being used so effectively in legislation, so this is an excellent amendment and I warmly support it As for Amendment 3, I recall long arguments during discussion on the Scotland Bill—which the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, may have listened to but I am not sure took part in—when we tried to persuade the Minister, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Keen, to drop the word "normally", but he refused. The passage that the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, quoted from what was said in the Supreme Court last week was just a repetition of the points the noble and learned Lord made in response to those who were seeking to effect that change in the wording.
Wales Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-14
Topic: Other
Dafydd Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench, Unknown): From what the Minister says, it seems pretty obvious that the protocol will not be in existence before the Bill receives royal assent. So one will be left with some sketch on the part of the Minister. That is not the ideal way of doing things, but I am sure that we would be prepared to accept the word of the Minister on what the basic content of the protocol will be.
Wales Bill — House of Lords, 2016-12-14
Topic: Other
Igor Judge (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I thank the Minister. I think that the proposals that he has put forward are politically very wise but, legally—and I mean this with no discourtesy —they are completely irrelevant. But I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Brexit: UK-EU Relationship — House of Lords, 2016-12-01
Topic: Immigration
Josephine Valentine (Crossbench, Unknown): I will limit my remarks today to the impact of our relationship with continental Europe on London’s talent mix. London is possibly the most successful and concentrated service-sector economy in the world, and given that it contributes nearly a third of the nation’s tax take, it is important that it continues to flourish There are roughly 1 million mainland Europeans in London, but only 19% of them would have the right to stay under existing visa rules without their EU rights. Two things worry me: first, our moral duty to these people, and secondly, the impossibility of running the economy in the absence of willing and able workers such as these. The official Vote Leave campaign proposed that there should be, "no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK. These EU citizens will automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK" Polling from ICM for British Future found that 84% of the British public supports letting EU migrants stay, including three-quarters of leave voters I am concerned about the impact on the economy of removing European workers both now and post-Brexit. In some of London’s high-growth small businesses, particularly in technology, often one-third to one-half of staff come from all over Europe. Research from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory found that around two-thirds of European workers in the financial and professional services sector across the UK would not have the right to stay under existing visa rules My contention is that not only do we need to continue to welcome the global talent, including students, that supports London’s position as the most highly skilled city in the world, we also need for the foreseeable future to attract those with medium-level skills in cyclical industries such as construction, and in sectors where the majority of the labour force is currently foreign-born. Today we do not have enough people to build the houses we need, even with European workers. Furthermore, London attracts more international visitors than any other city, and global tourism is growing. However, EU citizens make up half the labour force In the long term, there is no doubt that we can train more locals—for example, now that we have the somewhat overdue but welcome decision on airport capacity, the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, is leading a taskforce to develop talent from all around the country, and HS2 has its training college at Doncaster—but none of this can happen overnight. Business needs time to plan, invest and resolve challenges, and the education system needs to do better at providing people with the right skills. In the meantime we need transitional arrangements with Europe that recognise that there will be a continuing need for overseas workers with a range of skills while we seek to train sufficient willing and able people to meet our economic needs, and we urgently need to clarify the status of those continental Europeans already here.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-11-30
Topic: Other
Ian Warwick Blair (Crossbench, Unknown): I point out that Amendment 115 would work if it was 56 days as well. In other words, you could have a two-year experiment with 56 days as well as a two-year experiment with 28 days.
Policing and Crime Bill — House of Lords, 2016-11-30
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dafydd Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I whole- heartedly support the amendment. It seems to me that the arguments that have been adduced are utterly overwhelming. The current situation is restrictive, and unnecessarily so. I was greatly impressed by what one might call the testimony of my noble friend Lord Blair, who speaks with an abundance of authority and experience on this matter. It is a nonsense to cling to the present restrictions, which are wholly unjustified. Everything that I saw in the 25 or so years that I served as a judge and a recorder supports that.
Stormont House Agreement — House of Lords, 2015-01-07
Topic: Law and Crime
Maurice Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): My Lords, can the Minister give an assurance today that the proposed new historical investigations unit will not equate criminals and victims as coequals, that innocent victims will be afforded the respect and regard they deserve and that a clear distinction will always be maintained as the HIU takes forward its work?
Northern Ireland: On-the-Runs Scheme — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Law and Crime
Wallace Browne (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): My Lords, will the Minister explain how a suspect received an on-the-run letter in error relating to a murder that took place post the 1998 peace agreement? Who was responsible for the error and who signed it off?
Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-17
Topic: Macroeconomics
Wallace Browne (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I am saying that this cannot be implemented until all these things are sorted out Finally, I hope that there will be a political consensus that the lower corporation tax is not merely a short-term experiment but a policy that will be in place for many years. That is what is needed to give the long-term confidence to businesses and investors that Northern Ireland is the place to do business. The Bill will provide a sound basis for the development of a productive economy fit to survive in the very competitive global economy. It is a good example of positive co-operation between the Northern Ireland Executive and the Westminster Government and I trust that it will be one of many in the coming years.