argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Alastair Cooke (Conservative, Centre-right): Is my noble friend aware that the 1,300 independent schools belonging to the Independent Schools Council want to do all they can to assist their local communities? I declare my interest as a former general secretary of the council. Has my noble friend noted in particular that they are anxious to help with childcare? To that end, they are getting in touch with their local authorities to concert practical plans. Finally, I ask the Government to bear carefully in mind the grave difficulties that independent schools will suffer if they are unable to secure help from insurance companies for business interruption.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my noble friend for that question. Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of speaking to the heads of both the ISC and the Boarding Schools’ Association. They passed on that message, particularly in relation to looked-after children who are in their care and will remain in their care for the moment. We are grateful for their offer of support, which I have passed on to the Secretary of State. When we talk about collaboration locally, that means all schools and colleges, including the independent sector.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the noble Baroness. I reiterate that this will be a fair and just situation for all students. It is good that we are aware of factors such as underpredictions; all these matters are being taken into consideration. At the moment, I am not able to give details on the building blocks, but I expect that tomorrow’s guidance will give the noble Baroness the answers she requires.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the noble Baroness. I invite all noble Lords to keep these specific questions coming. We want to hear about the issues on the ground. I will confirm to the noble Baroness who the key worker is when the social worker is at home. In relation to head teachers, we are in collaboration with local authorities and expect them to use their discretion as they know their communities best. I will have to come back to her to clarify whether all those costs are covered by the reimbursement of free school meals provision that the Secretary of State announced yesterday.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I first commend my noble friend and her department on the heroic efforts they are clearly making to deal with the consequences and complexities of this difficult decision. I would like to ask a slightly different type of question. As an economist, I have seen so many times that models based on extrapolations or assumptions can turn out to be incorrect. Should we find ourselves in the fortunate position in a few weeks’ time that the predictions have turned out to be less dire than we might currently expect, is there some leeway to look at reviving the examination prospects for this younger cohort with respect to either GCSEs or A-levels, albeit perhaps a bit delayed, so that the knock-on consequences for universities might not be so significant and we might be able to pick up through the summer?
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, on the latter part of the noble Baroness’s question, we are acting on the scientific evidence; that is what has informed this decision. It would be utterly inaccurate of me to speculate at all about the future; we are making decisions on the basis of the scientific information that we have. I agree with her that there are heroic efforts happening on the front line as we speak, for schools and local authorities to prepare for what will happen on Monday. I welcome the comments of all noble Lords. We want to hear, whether directly through noble Lords or through local authorities, about all these granular issues that we know we need to address over the coming days.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the most reverend Primate. At the moment, the Government are responding step by step to the scientific evidence that we have. Unlike in many situations, it is not possible for us to predict what might happen in the medium and longer term. We have only the scientific information to hand at the moment. I add to the tributes paid when I say that I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking to the head of the Church of England Education Service and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, who are leading on Church of England schools, and the Catholic Education Service. We are going to need all their assistance. In particular, these groups have a lot of DBS-checked people who can give further assistance to our schools, and they are sometimes geographically placed right next to the local school.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government are keenly aware that, in taking the decisions that we have in relation to movement of the public and schools to suppress the peak, there are massive implications for the economy, and a raft of measures have been introduced in relation to that. We have made changes to arrangements for statutory sick pay: it is now payable on first day off, and self-isolation is viewed as a sickness. The minimum income floor has been lowered in relation to self-employed people. But, yes, there is much work still to do on alleviating the effects on the economy for us all.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, on vulnerable children, the EHC plan process and the needs assessment, we expect head teachers to collaborate with the local authority. There will be discretion for them on who is considered a vulnerable child. We trust them to make the appropriate decisions It has been clarified by the Box that the vouchers we are talking about are supermarket vouchers. Some schools have already been purchasing supermarket vouchers, which is why we say that they will be reimbursed for that cost. I know that all schools, including those in the independent sector, and childcare providers will be working closely on the ground to ensure that we can deliver this change in education to enable key workers to keep the services going that we need to protect us from the disease. As I said, the list of key workers will come out today, but I can confirm that teachers are key workers.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, all I can say to the noble Lord is that it is for head teachers, in collaboration with the local authority, to be making these decisions. Obviously, we do not expect hordes of parents to be presenting at school when this information will have gone out. But there may be isolated cases, which we know and trust the head teacher, in collaboration with the local authority, will deal with—safely and respectfully, I hope.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Social Welfare
Joanna Penn (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I would like to ask my noble friend the Minister about childcare funding. Can she confirm that the Government will continue to provide the funding for the free hours of childcare, even if children are not attending? Given that nurseries often rely on additional hours and private funding to keep going, what further support might the Government provide to those nurseries so that they remain a going concern during this time?
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Social Welfare
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my noble friend. We are aware of the situation for early years funding. Yes, all the three and four year-old entitlements and disadvantaged two year-old entitlements that the Government pay will continue to be paid regardless of who walks through the door. As of yesterday, the early years providers were included in the business rates exemption. We are working closely with Her Majesty’s Treasury because we are aware of the mixed model of free entitlements funded by the Government and private income from other parents that is used by most early years providers.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in relation to the sixth form issue, I will have to come back to the noble Lord. In relation to the legal power, obviously the Bill in relation to the coronavirus will be published today. As a lawyer, I will have to write to the noble Lord in relation to the precise legal basis that head teachers will have. But they will have protection to make the decisions that we have asked them to make.
Educational Settings — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I have reassured noble Lords that communication is going out daily from the department to head teachers, as it has been since early March. However, as noble Lords have requested it, in looking for the will of the House I will write to all noble Lords to answer in one fell swoop all the questions they have raised.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will now repeat in the form of a Statement the answer to an Urgent Question made in the House of Commons by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen. The Statement is as follows: "Mr Speaker, this is an uncertain time for our country, but the Government are clear that they will do whatever it takes to protect our people and businesses from the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out further steps in the Government’s economic response, building on the initial response he outlined in the Budget last week. This included standing behind businesses small and large, with an unprecedented package of government-backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses to get through this crisis. I have been working very closely with him and the banks and they are very clear about their responsibility to make these work The Government have made available an initial £330 billion of guarantees—equivalent to 15% of our GDP. That means that any business which needs cash to pay salaries will be able to access a government-backed loan, on attractive terms. The Government will do whatever it takes to support our economy through this crisis and stand ready to provide further support where necessary As the Chancellor announced, we will go much further to support people’s financial security, working with trade unions and business groups. Following his appearance before the Treasury Select Committee yesterday afternoon, the Chancellor spoke to the trade unions and he will today be meeting the TUC, the CBI, the BCC and the FSB—I will not spell out those acronyms. This will be with a view to urgently developing new forms of employment support to help protect people’s jobs and incomes through this period I am sure that you will appreciate that these are unprecedented times. The Chancellor has said he will look at further steps to help protect jobs and incomes, and he will announce further details in due course." My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Government Operations
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for his questions and for the responsible attitude that the Opposition are taking to this emergency. I am afraid that I am unable to give him a timescale at the moment; I can say only that all government departments are working as urgently as they possibly can on these matters. As soon as we have any further information on schemes that will be introduced, the Chancellor will make the appropriate announcement.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Baroness for her questions. Their extent reveals the number of different sectors of the economy that we will need to look at. As she says, they range from sole traders to small businesses and to the very largest companies. We are looking at a comprehensive package. There are a number of different international models that have been introduced. A number of think tanks in the UK have also produced suggestions. They are all being examined at the moment. We are guided by three principles: it has to be a comprehensive package; it has to be co-ordinated; and it has to be coherent. The noble Baroness will understand that we need to look at these things properly. It is no good having a scheme that comes into effect in six months’ time. It needs to work now, it needs to be available and it needs to be deliverable. We are doing all those things, and we will make the appropriate announcements as soon as we possibly can. I understand people’s natural frustration and their wish for urgent action.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Labor
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I think, again, the noble Lord makes a very good point. We have of course already announced extensions to statutory sick pay and the qualifying period. His points are well made and echo the points made earlier about freelancers. All the different sectors of the economy need to be looked at. We will do whatever it takes. We will put in place a comprehensive package and will announce details of that as soon as we are able to.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the noble Lord for his question, which illustrates the complexity of the problem, all the different factors that need to be taken into consideration, and how there needs to be a cross-government response, across a number of departments and obviously backed by the Treasury with comprehensive financing. The answer to his question is: yes, all these matters are being looked at. We are looking at various international options and proposals and we will hopefully have something to announce very soon.
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Labor
Sayeeda Warsi (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my noble friend inform the House whether much broader thinking is now being done by government about employees who are affected by the coronavirus crisis, not just regarding health issues for those self-isolating or who have symptoms, but those who are now affected because they have children at home or because the people they work for do not have the orders and they are therefore short-working, and those who are not contractually protected—people on zero-hours contracts? Would it be easier for the Government simply to respond to people’s needs because they are impacted by coronavirus, rather than breaking them down into specific categories?
Covid-19: Employment Support — House of Lords, 2020-03-19
Topic: Social Welfare
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): Similarly to the previous question, my noble friend’s question reflects the complexities of the issue and why a comprehensive response is required. We are working on that; we of course have universal credit, the social security system—the welfare system—for people to fall back on, but there are numerous different aspects to it and different sectors of the economy that will require a response. We are working on it urgently and cross-departmentally; the whole of government is focused on this and we will come back to both Houses as soon as we possibly can.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Macroeconomics
Sheila Masters (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I too shall be brief. I support what my noble friend Lord Balfe said about the House getting back to work. Indeed, I encourage my noble friend to come and join us in the Chamber, where he will find a warm welcome awaiting him I hope that he was wrong when he said that he was expecting Divisions on Report. We have to get this Bill on to the statute book as soon as possible. I hope we will not lose sight of the fact that these are temporary relaxations designed to help get the economy working again. Many of the issues raised are problems of normal times; we are not in normal times and we should not judge the relaxation proposals in the Bill by the issues we encounter in normal times. The important thing is to give the benefit of the doubt to premises that want to get going again. There are provisions in the Bill which allow licences to be revoked at a later stage if it does not work out. The most important thing is that we embrace the liberalisation encompassed in the Bill and do not hold it back by trying to make the application process more difficult or by putting more barriers in the way of our economy getting going again.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Law and Crime
Mohamed Sheikh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I support Amendment 11 in the name of my noble friend Lord Balfe. Clause 3(2) states: "Before making a determination in respect of the application" for a pavement licence, "the local authority must … take into account any representation made to it … consult the highway authority … and other persons as the local authority may consider appropriate." I support having input from the people and organisations stated, but I feel that it is necessary for the local police to be consulted in making a determination To reiterate what I said at Second Reading, I welcome the Bill, which will trigger the revitalisation of our businesses and help the well-being of the people. As a businessman, I would like the economy to pick up and create employment for all the people who have been idle for the last few months. However, my concern is the safety of staff and the nuisances and disturbances caused on pavements and streets and in neighbourhoods. Before the pandemic, we saw young men and women misbehaving and fighting in the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. I used to see this happening when driving through towns at night. My concern is that people have been frustrated over the last few months and that the relaxation of the rules will lead to social problems When the problems of anti-social behaviour arise, they will be dealt with by the police on the spot. Local police know the hot spots in their areas where problems are likely to flare up. To alleviate the issues and possible problems, we need consultation and input from local police when an application is made for a pavement licence. I appreciate that the police have powers to issue closure notices, but this is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is therefore important that the police are consulted before the problems arise.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Transportation
Ralph Matthew Palmer (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, Amendments 22 and 23 are intended to offer the Government an opportunity to outline how a district authority can take full advantage of this Bill when the highways are controlled by a county authority. Without any permissions or discussions whatever, I take the example of my native town of Eastbourne. Grove Road has a lot of cafes in it; the pavements are narrow and the traffic is fairly continuous. There is no way in which the cafes can spill on to the pavements. However, if we can close the road, as is easy to do because there are good workarounds for traffic that would not cause any great problem, we suddenly become able to offer all those businesses the opportunity for profitable trade However, in doing this, the district has to work with the county. I would like to see workable arrangements that enable the district to say what they want to happen and for the county to enable that without delay and argument.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Transportation
Anne McIntosh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I have sympathy with what my noble friend Lady Noakes has just said, but I have lent my support to Amendment 16 in the name of my noble friend Lord Holmes. It is appropriate that a local authority should be able to include conditions when granting pavement licences in line with any concerns expressed in the public consultation—with the proviso that the consultation takes only seven days, so I am afraid that I do not support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Low. However, my noble friend Lady Noakes had a point when she said that such conditions should not be so restrictive as to make a nonsense of what is requested in the licence being applied for. I hope that common sense in this regard will prevail.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Transportation
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, my noble friend Lady Noakes should have been listened to. I say again that I lived opposite a pub; I knew the publican. I knew the local councillor for the ward in Islington. In my own ward, up in Highview, I knew where the pubs were. I cannot believe that in this day and age and at this point in time, the local councillors do not know which of their pubs are considering making use of this legislation. I am certain they do. Furthermore, I suspect all the local residents know exactly which pubs are likely to want to do this pavement extension business, so I say to my noble friends: we need to get on with it I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Haringey. I remember the days when I was the leader of the London Borough of Islington and say that, if anything was stretched out, it was when we were discussing joint issues with Haringey—but that was a long time ago. Seven days is pretty reasonable at this point in time. I say to your Lordships: let us get on with it.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-13
Topic: Transportation
Ralph Matthew Palmer (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that reply, but I did not gather how he expects the county authority to respond to a request from the district that a particular road should be closed to traffic to enable restaurants to spread on to the pavements and streets. We are looking to do things quickly. As others have remarked, timescales in such requests can stretch into years. We have been asking for permission to put a pedestrian crossing opposite the new conference centre we built. This opened a year and a half ago, but nothing has happened yet. We want these things to happen quickly. What in the Bill will make superior authorities react speedily?