argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Alfred Dubs (Labour, Centre-left): Yes, presumption. Frankly, if the Minister were to accept the principle, I would be happy to drop the word "presumption". I put it in because of the sheer frustration felt by people who approached me saying, "For heaven’s sake, just stop all these things". Most people would like that presumption, but if it made for better law, the word would not have to be there. I think local authorities would understand what they could do I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Horam, for the examples that he has given me, and to the noble Lord, Lord True, with whom I have had a discussion on this. He speaks with the authority of being leader of an important London borough. If he feels that his powers are insufficient to deal with the problem, I have to say, with due respect to what the Minister said, that we have to listen to local authority leaders. They are the ones in the firing line and who want to do best for the people in their community. That is what they are elected for. I mentioned earlier that I bumped into the leader of Camden Council, who said the same thing. She said that, despite the powers that the Minister said local authorities have, there are not enough: they need more powers to deal with these things. I asked whether I could quote her and she said yes. That conversation took place at about 10 am this morning, so it is hot off the press To deal with the comments that the Minister made, clearly her view is that powers already exist. Frankly, they do not. She said that local authorities could prepare codes. Yes, they can, but they are not enforceable. The point of the codes in my amendment is that they are enforceable. Local authorities can have these codes, but they cannot make them happen. I do not want to get into a long debate on the Party Wall etc. Act. All the advice that I have had is that it is insufficient for this purpose. It does some good things, but it does not deal with all the problems I described. I have to act on the advice that I have been given from people who know more about it.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Alfred Dubs (Labour, Centre-left): I am most grateful. That deals with most of the other arguments I hate to put it this way but I think that the Minister has been trapped by her civil servants. I have been a Minister; I know what happens. Sometimes you just have to say, "No, I’m not happy, you’re pushing me into a position that I don’t want to be in, because in my heart of hearts I believe in a modification of policy". That is what I said. I cannot help thinking that, if the Minister were to reflect, she would say that the weight of opinion is entirely against her and against the advice that she has been given. These are not things that I have invented. Local authority leaders are individuals of substance. They are elected to represent their areas and they want to do what is best for them, so this is not some political fantasy. It goes across the party divide. It is not something that the Labour Party has invented. In fact, far more Conservatives have approached me than Labour people. So I am not being at all partisan on this I would just like the Minister to think again, otherwise we will have to have this debate again on Report. I would much rather we debated a proposal from the Government. Then I would be happy to say, "Fine, that’s good". I am happy to give way.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Macroeconomics
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I do not want to prolong this dialogue, but surely it would be better to tie the Secretary of State down to making regulations related to, for example, an indexed figure in connection with household income. That would be a more sensible way to do it than simply taking out the clause.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): The point would be to circumscribe the Secretary of State’s ability to regulate it by linking it to an index. However, we are not voting on that amendment and I will not take matters any further.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Election of Mayor with Police and Crime Commissioner Functions) Order 2016 — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): As an amendment to the above motion, at end insert "and that this House welcomes the principle of devolution, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Devolution agreement, and the draft Order; but regrets the lack of adequate resources allocated to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority; is concerned that funding is being cut whilst essential services are being devolved; notes that a transitional grant is available to local authorities to ease the pace of funding reductions but that out of the ten constituent member local authorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority only three member local authorities will receive this funding; and regrets that the Agreement was conditional on having an elected Mayor".
Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016 — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): As an amendment to the above motion, at end insert "and that this House welcomes the principle of devolution, the Tees Valley Combined Authority agreement, and the draft Order; but regrets the lack of adequate resources allocated to the Tees Valley Combined Authority; is concerned that funding is being cut whilst essential services are being devolved; notes that a transitional grant is available to local authorities to ease the pace of funding reductions but that out of the five constituent member local authorities of the Tees Valley Combined Authority no local authorities will receive this funding; and regrets that the Agreement was conditional on having an elected Mayor".
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I know that the noble Lord, Lord Tope, will be surprised at this, but I support his amendment. If you believe in the concept of a strong mayor—whether a strong Mayor of London or a strong mayor in combined authorities—what is proposed in these amendments is absolutely right. If you believe in a localist agenda, which I understand that the Government purport to do, this is the right approach. This should be how decisions about surplus land should be made On the basis of the comments I have made during the course of today’s Committee, it is important that there is the opportunity for people to make places. The people best placed to do that in this instance will be the mayors; the Mayor of London and the mayors of combined authorities. This is an opportunity. If it is the case—and I believe that my interventions in the last hour perhaps helped facilitate the discussions that may have led to an agreement—that the Government are going to accept the principles behind this, then I, for one, will be delighted.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Government Operations
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, before the noble Lord, Lord Tope, decides whether or not to withdraw his amendment, can we have a little more clarity as to why the Government believe that Amendments 112 and 113 would add significantly to the time taken to dispose of assets? This is simply giving the Mayor of London or the mayor of a combined authority an opportunity to consider whether to acquire or to refuse to acquire, whereas the route that the Minister described required the creation of a mayoral development corporation. That seems to be a much longer, more drawn-out process than the one in the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Tope.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-23
Topic: Environment
Barbara Young (Labour, Centre-left): I am sorry to prolong the sitting but I should declare an interest as a former chief executive of the Environment Agency. The point of sustainable drainage systems is not necessarily about the location of development, which the sequential test that the Minister has just described attempts to deal with, but about the fact that increasingly with climate change we are seeing much heavier downpours of rain in rather random places that fill the drains up and flood no matter where you are. I have a house on top of a hill. Two Wednesdays ago a lake that had not been there for 50 years appeared as a result of torrential downpours of rain in Northamptonshire. It is that sort of situation we are looking for protection against in sustainable drainage systems. That can happen virtually anywhere. Were the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, in his place, he would testify to the fact that in the big flood of 2007, Sheffield did not flood as a result of the river but as a result of the drainage system. Protection against that is what we are looking for in the sustainable urban drainage package.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Rosser (Labour, Centre-left): I apologise in advance for the fact that my contribution will contain a fair element of repetition of what has already been said but it will be relatively brief In his review for the Home Office into the welfare of vulnerable persons in detention, Stephen Shaw recommended that it amend its guidance so that the presumptive exclusion from detention for pregnant women was replaced with an absolute exclusion. Stephen Shaw said in his report that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons had told him that in its view there was little to suggest that pregnant women were being detained only in exceptional circumstances. He also said that the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees had pointed out that an inspection of Yarl’s Wood had found pregnant women being detained without evidence of the exceptional circumstances required to justify this, with one of the women being hospitalised twice because of pregnancy-related complications. In the light of the evidence presented to him, which he set out in his report, Mr Shaw said that he had not sought further evidence that detention had an adverse effect on the health of pregnant women and their unborn children, since he took this to be a statement of the obvious Stephen Shaw also said in his report that he believed that the Home Office should acknowledge the fact that in the vast majority of cases the detention of pregnant women does not result in their removal, and that in practice pregnant women are very rarely removed from this country except voluntarily. Concluding, he said that he was strongly of the view that presumptive exclusion from detention should be replaced with an absolute exclusion I hope that the Government will reflect on their apparent decision not to accept Stephen Shaw’s strong recommendation in respect of the detention of pregnant women. It is my party’s policy that pregnant women should not be detained in these circumstances, a view also expressed by Mr Shaw in his independent report to the Home Office. If my noble friend Lady Lister of Burtersett decides, at the end of the debate—and, most importantly, after the Government’s response—to test the opinion of the House, we shall support the amendment.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Margot Aline (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken. Many have spoken so eloquently, drawing attention in particular to the implications of this for unborn children, and have made the case very strongly I realise that the Minister is in a difficult position in that he is not able to make the statement to which he referred. I asked him for reassurance that the new policy will mean that pregnant women are detained genuinely in the most exceptional circumstances because the current policy is that they should be detained only in the most exceptional circumstances. While the hint of a time limit is encouraging, I have heard nothing to reassure us that the new policy will be different from the old policy I quite understand that it is not the Minister’s fault—if that is the correct word—that he is not able to make the statement today. But Stephen Shaw delivered his report to the Home Office on 24 September. The Government have had over six months to consider this crucial issue, which they know many people—organisations, individuals who gave evidence to Shaw and individuals who gave evidence to the inquiry—feel very strongly about. They must have known that people would want a clear answer on this by now and I am afraid that clear answer has come there none. I am quite sure that the noble and learned Lord understands why it is not good enough to say, when this is the last chance we have to discuss it in this House, that we should wait for a few days because the Government have not managed to get their act together to enable him to make the statement today Given that every noble Lord who has spoken did so very strongly in support of this amendment, I feel that I have no choice other than to test the opinion of this House.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard Rosser (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I support the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, in relation to the first amendment and retrospection, which was addressed by the Constitution Committee, and to the other two amendments and the extent to which they do or do not mean that the Secretary of State could dictate to a criminal court, including a court of criminal appeal. I am afraid I did not see the Minister shake his head when the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, made that comment, but I hope that, if that is the position as far as the Government are concerned, it does not mean that the Secretary of State will in any way be able to dictate to a criminal court and that the Minister will set out very clearly in his response why it is incorrect to draw that inference or assumption from these amendments.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Education
Julian Charles Roland Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): With respect to the remarks of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and those of the Minister, the Science and Technology Committee had a special session here at the House of Lords in March, and we heard that the funding available for training teachers who are not advanced in mathematics or science to become better trained is actually decreasing. I wonder whether the Minister’s remarks are implying that there will be more money for this training, which is absolutely essential if we are to raise the skills and educational levels in science and technology.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Environment
Bryony Worthington (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I, too, express some concerns about the removal of the amendment in the Commons. Although I have listened to the argument that it would detract from the intention behind the OGA, I seriously hope that the Government will look back at the primary objectives that they have given it and conduct a timely review—I know that that will happen Since we last considered the amendment, we have had two important events. The first was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone: the cancellation of the carbon capture and storage project. I do not intend to debate the whys and wherefores of that, but it is clear that there has been a significant dent in investor confidence. People have invested in good faith in this technology knowing that, to meet our long-term climate targets, we need a form of capture and storage for certain sectors of our industry The second big event is the signing of the Paris agreement, when the Government and the Secretary of State, Amber Rudd, played an enormous role in making it the success that it was. That states a very clear target for the world: that we must get our anthropogenic sources, our sources of carbon emissions, matched and cancelled by anthropogenic sinks. That largely means capturing and storing carbon and putting it underground. We need to take that Paris equation seriously.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Environment
Bryony Worthington (Labour, Centre-left): I note that, but I would just say that we are not Canada and we are very fortunate to have the North Sea as a reserve to use, which I believe would make it more cost efficient if we could do it in a timely fashion—obviously, not wanting to gold-plate anything, but making the best of the resource that we have in this nation. As I said, we need some reassurances from the Government. I am part of the group that the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, has now set up, which is looking at the whole issue afresh. We do not want to push carbon capture and storage for its own sake, but only in so far as it gives us options to decarbonise at least cost. I hope that the Minister will be able to say some words of reassurance about that process and the seriousness with which the Government will take the recommendations of that group.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Government Operations
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): I shall speak to Amendments 7U, 7V, 7W, 7Y, 7AC, 7AD and 7AE which are in my name. The Minister is a good friend of mine, and I have great respect for him. Before he became a Minister, he and I used to work together on the great issue of devolution of powers to Scotland and Wales. We worked very well together, so I want to reassure him that I have every interest in him continuing in his post. I do not want him to do anything that would threaten his future. That is why I want to reassure him that everything that I am suggesting is in line with the Conservative election manifesto pledge.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Energy
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): It is unprecedented, as my noble friend Lord Hain says. I also want to reassure the Minister that no constituencies of English Conservative MPs will be affected by this because I know some of them are genuinely worried about the effect on their constituencies. What I am suggesting in my amendments and what others are suggesting in theirs deals with proposals principally in Scotland and with very important community projects in Scotland. Two categories are dealt with in my amendments. The first category is those covered by Section 75 which are unable to go ahead not because they do not have planning permission —they have managed to get that—but because of some technicality. We are suggesting that that technicality is creating huge problems for them. The other category is in relation to grid connections. There is a particular problem in Scotland with the transmission and distribution grids not necessarily being as easily available as south of the border and having different arrangements. Some projects have fallen foul of these regulations If we put the schemes together, they amount to only just under 90 megawatts of generation. It is not a huge amount we are asking for. It is a relatively small amount. They all have the democratic consent of the local council, which is one of the matters raised in the Conservative election manifesto. I shall give the House a couple of examples. There is a scheme in Sorbie, a working dairy farm in Ardrossan in north Ayrshire, that has full planning consent and for which bank finance has been secured, a turbine contract has been agreed and design work has been started. Nearly £1 million has been spent on the scheme by the people concerned. The family-run working dairy farm is already suffering because of the low price of milk. If this project were to be cancelled because of the Government not accepting the amendments being put forward today, it would be in real difficulty. That is the kind of problem that is being faced.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Energy
Joyce Gwendolen Quin (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I would like just very briefly to seek clarification on something that has arisen from our debates. I do not know whether I am alone in not being sure of the implications of what we are discussing here. However, I would like to know from the Minister, or indeed from those who tabled the amendments, how many schemes are affected, where they are, and whether any of the schemes that might be affected by the amendments are ones where the local communities have very much opposed the developments that are taking place I feel in something of quandary in approaching these amendments, because I do not want schemes which have a lot of public support, referred to by my noble friends Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Hain, to be prevented from going ahead, but at the same time I hope that what is proposed would not allow schemes to go ahead in my own county of Northumberland, where a large number of schemes have been introduced against the wishes of local people and local communities. I would not like them to go ahead because of changes that we are considering introducing here via amendments The Minister knows that I have a lot of sympathy with the Government’s approach, in that a lot of schemes have been inflicted on local communities in sensitive landscapes and in areas where we are trying to develop tourism. It has been a real issue in Northumberland, which has twice as much onshore wind capacity as any other English county. I would simply like to hear from the Minister and others whether there are implications for Northumberland in what is proposed today.
Energy Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-04-12
Topic: Energy
Bryony Worthington (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I was not intending to speak on this amendment, but, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace, was kind enough to refer to me, I want to ask a simple question. I want also to pay tribute to the commitment shown by the noble and learned Lord in the detailed way in which he has approached this question and sought to canvass a wide section of views on this clearly still controversial topic My question is more about the future. The Government are doing what they wish to do and it is clear that we need to see a pathway towards all renewables standing on their own two feet, supported, one hopes, by a carbon price which makes investment in cleaner technologies a sensible way forward. My question is in relation to another event that has taken place since we last considered this matter, which is the announcement about the auctions of CFDs. I understand that onshore wind will not be eligible for CFDs. I wonder whether there has been representation from Scotland in that decision-making process, since many questions about eligibility for the RO could be alleviated if there was access for Scottish wind farms to a CFD or equivalent that Scotland could determine. That is my question. It is less about the detail looking backwards over this government statement than about the Government saying something reassuring about repatriating an element of energy control to Scotland to enable it to persevere with this industry, which is clearly very important to it.