argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-11-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I rise to move the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lady Worthington who, unfortunately, cannot be with us today. Amendments 29A and 29B seek to introduce two new clauses, "Listing rules sustainability report" and "Power to require long-term sustainability reporting" In a Bill that deals with financial services, we would be remiss if we did not debate how we can best promote the long-term sustainability of an industry that contributed almost £127 billion of gross value added to the UK economy and supported 1.1 million jobs directly and indirectly in 2014 Both these amendments are probing amendments. Amendment 29B would require the specification of accounting standards for the disclosure of exposure to the financial risks associated with climate change—an issue that Governor Carney has spoken about very recently. Amendment 29A sets out a requirement for the listings authorities to report on how the rules arrangements governing our financial markets relate to sustainable growth The need for the effective disclosure of the carbon intensity of assets is widely supported, and according to the Bank of England there are already 400 such schemes internationally. The problem is that each initiative varies in status, scope and ambition, and as Governor Carney has said recently, "The existing surfeit of schemes and fragmented disclosures means a risk of getting ‘lost in the right direction’" Amendment 29B calls for uniformity and clarity of reporting standards so that our financial services industry has the right information to make the right decisions when investing clients’ money The UK is uniquely placed to lead on this issue, given the size and importance of our financial services industry. That is why it is important that we look at all means to ensure its long-term sustainability. Amendment 29A does this by asking the FCA to prepare a report into the effect of listings rules on sustainable growth. In particular, it would shine a light on to our "recognised growth markets", such as the Alternative Investment Market The AIM is designed to support new, high-growth and innovative enterprises which would otherwise struggle to meet the requirements to list on the main market, and it encourages investment with income tax, capital gains tax, stamp duty and inheritance tax reliefs. However, this market also allows well-established extractives to list their shares here, avoiding tougher regulation and allowing companies such as Coal of Africa—an Australian mining firm with a history of sacking striking workers—to list its securities on that market. In a time of austerity, we should be looking at the regulation of our financial services industry and markets to ensure that they are encouraging the sustainable growth that we need. I ask the Minister to consider these amendments.
Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-11-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Bryan Davies (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, both on his amendment, for which he has secured widespread support, including from this Bench, and on the way in which he detailed the key arguments behind it, which I know the Government will take seriously. It is somewhat unnecessary for me to fill in any of the interstices that the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, may have left—which were not many—because the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, has certainly emphasised the significant point, which is that British banking needs to be a good deal more diverse than it is at present After all, the Competition and Markets Authority disclosed its findings last month from its review of competition in the retail banking market and found—predictably—that the four largest banks had long dominated the British scene, stifling competition that would give consumers and businesses a better deal. We all know the limited success that has been obtained by the various reforms to make the switching of accounts easier. The British people, I am afraid, are somewhat inured to minor blandishments when it comes to their bank accounts, so there is a need for much more imaginary thought at the centre on how we can make our financial provision more diverse We have support from the Treasury Select Committee. The chair, Andrew Tyrie, has written to the CMA to ask it to report back before the Budget in March next year regarding the 8% surcharge on bank profits. He wants to know what impact that has had on the big four and what implications it has for the wider banking sector. It is clearly the case, he believes, that one size does not fit all. That phrase has obtained throughout this short debate and is one to which I entirely subscribe. The Minister will be all too well aware that the Building Societies Association has made it clear that the problems encountered by financial mutuals in recent years almost certainly would have been fewer if there had been greater diversity in the sector I think that the case for this amendment has been made strongly. No doubt the noble Lord will be withdrawing it on this occasion but the purpose of this debate is to give the Government the chance to show a constructive response to what we all recognise is a real issue with regard to British banking. The noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, cited the German position. Is it not somewhat extraordinary that even under the so-called northern powerhouse, our great cities do not have individual banks? They no longer have individual building societies, either. That says something about the structure of finance in this country, which surely the Government should address in the context of a Bill about the most significant banking structure of them all—the Bank of England.
Palace of Westminster Committee — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Other
Ivor Seward Richard (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am not sure whether it is in order for me to ask the Chairman of Committees this question, but why is he not in the delegation of six? I raised this matter last week on the basis that this House needs the same quality of representation as the House of Commons. As I understand it, the man who has the equivalent duties to those of the Chairman of Committees in relation to the fabric of the House in the House of Commons is going to be on the committee, while the noble Lord the Chairman of Committees is not. That seems to be a little odd, and I would be grateful for some explanation as to why this was decided upon.
Palace of Westminster Committee — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Other
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I endorse what my noble friend has just said. A number of people raised this issue in the short debate we had last week, to which the Leader of the House replied. A number of people also raised the matter of equivalence of membership between the Commons and the Lords. My quite clear recollection is that the Leader of the House said that there would be two joint chairmen, but this Motion provides for the appointment of "a chairman". We cannot have two joint chairmen, one from the Commons and one from the Lords, which is the ideal we wanted, if there is to be the appointment of a chairman. I hope that the Chairman of Committees will clarify that and give us an assurance that there will be a joint chairperson from the Commons and the Lords.
Palace of Westminster Committee — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Other
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): The Leader—sorry, he is the Chairman of Committees. He would be better as Leader of the House, but that is another story. Will the Chairman of Committees clarify the position of the joint chairman? It was made absolutely clear by the Leader of the House in our debate last week that there would be equal chairs from both Houses.
Psychoactive Substances Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Other
Richard Rosser (Labour, Centre-left): I take this opportunity to thank the Minister for his courtesy and thoroughness in responding to points raised and amendments tabled by noble Lords during our considerations of the Bill, including when the response has been made subsequently in writing. Although reservations about the likely effectiveness of the Bill have been expressed by some noble Lords during our deliberations, I am sure we all hope that, when the Bill is finally passed, it will make a favourable impact on the very real problem that it is intended to help address.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Housing
Dale Norman Campbell-Savours (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, would have a case but for the fact that the Government are relying on charitable organisations to deal with the housing crisis. We are dealing here with the nub of the issue: the charitable status of organisations that are responsible—or, in many cases, have been given that responsibility—for building homes to house people in areas of stress I have spoken twice on this matter in the past month. On the first occasion I read to the House a letter from a Mr Bill Bewley in Keswick, the chairman of Keswick Community Housing Trust, expressing anger and concern on behalf of the trust in Keswick, which comprises an ecumenical gathering of people, including Catholics, Protestants, Quakers, Kings Church, Methodists and others, who all voluntarily, without remuneration, give their time to build houses in Keswick through a local charitable organisation, all motivated by the single objective of helping those in need in the Keswick area. What troubles them is that, having worked in this climate of charity for so long and made that effort, they are now being engaged to build even more in the town, with another project to come on stream in the next year or two, but they will find that they are obliged by law effectively to sell their properties at a subsidised rate That brings me to an accompanying issue, which is what happened in the Budget. We were told in the Budget that housing associations are going to be required over the next five years to reduce rents by 1% per annum. If you take into account that requirement, which I understand might apply to the charitable organisations that I am referring to, in conjunction with the provisions that we are talking about today, you can see why we are driving these organisations, comprising people whose only wish is to serve the public, into a position where they have to relinquish their property. That is why I hope that the Minister, who has been given much notice of this issue during the course of previous debates in Committee, will come to the Dispatch Box today and put all our minds at rest.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Housing
Thomas Graham (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Government’s housing policy is in a mess, and I speak of the problems being faced by a number of good people who have so far done well from legislation. The right to buy was approved by everyone who was interested in wanting to give people an opportunity to get their foot on the property ladder. However, I remind the House of what has happened. The right to buy carries with it the right to sell. Over the last 30 years those who have bought their houses at a discount, having justified and verified their entitlement to it, have been glad to have the opportunity not only to buy but to sell. As a consequence, the whole policy has been warped and needs to be looked at in general. I shall give your Lordships an illustration. There is a couple who operate in the Ashford area. The Guardian newspaper last year reported that they have amassed not just one or two properties but, by purchasing in the main ex-council houses, a portfolio of 1,000 properties. That situation, with people looking for an opportunity to make money, existed when I was the Member of Parliament for Edmonton. They bought their house and then rented it out. I hope to speak in tomorrow’s debate on the Budget and extend this argument. People should not kid themselves that the main beneficiaries of the purchase of council houses have been the people who occupied them at the time. The people quoted in the newspaper said that they were thinking of selling their portfolio. They already had an estimate of its value: through their empire having grown and grown, it was estimated to be worth £100 million.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Housing
Dianne Hayter (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for that and I thank all speakers who, on the substance, it seems to me, agreed with what we are trying to achieve. The difficulties are over whether this is the right Bill or the right wording, which basically says that the Charity Commission must make sure that, "independent charities are not compelled to use or dispose of their assets in a way which is inconsistent with their charitable purposes" If the wording can be better than that—if it should be something such as the "best interests" of charities, as the Minister says—I will be very content, if the amendment is passed, to work with him at Third Reading to make the wording correct and acceptable to the Charity Commission and to the charity lawyers, who know far more about wording than I do On the issue, there are two things that I want to say. The first comes from what the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, said. This is a Bill about the protection of charities, and we are trying to protect charitable assets so that the money can be used for what the donors wanted when they bequeathed it. The idea of putting it on to the Charity Commission is that, basically, somebody has to protect charities from being compelled by someone else—not by their charitable trustees—to do something with the money that those who gave it did not intend The noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, asked about compulsory purchase for a road. In a sense it is always the public sector that does that; it is nationalisation. The land is taken over so that a road can be built. I said in a meeting with the Minister that it was not normally his party that wanted to nationalise things, so I am interested that over charitable housing that is what the Government want. We are talking about a swathe of housing—not one or two in the way of a new train line—that over time will undoubtedly be held by the private sector My second issue is that we are not talking just about housing—albeit that we have heard about the Peabody, Keswick and Sutton housing associations. We are also talking about that wider big society. I used to work in alcohol misuse issues; we ran a lot of social care. It could be our assets, under another Bill, where the Government felt that they wanted to use them in a certain way that we as an independent charity, which had raised the money, did not want to do. We have heard about the National Trust—or indeed, it could be hospitals or hospices The issue is not just about housing, which is why it is not appropriate to leave it to a housing Bill. We want to state something very simply: where money has been donated to an independent charity for a particular purpose, the trustees must abide by their trustee duty to make sure that the assets are used there. That is something on which this House would like to take a view.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Mixed Topics
Dianne Hayter (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I have only two things to say: thank you and sorry. The Minister had only just taken off his red gown after being introduced when I got at him about this, and that does need an apology. I also want to thank him for engaging with us on this, for having got exactly the right amendment and for describing it far better than I could. I also think it shows the value of your Lordships’ House that, on an issue such as this that does not divide us politically, we have the same aims of protecting young people and we are able to work together to move this forward. My noble friend and I are very happy to support this amendment.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-20
Topic: Other
David Edward Lea (Labour, Centre-left): I would like, on the second time of asking, with the permission of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth—from a sedentary position if you please—to have an answer to the question that I posed in Committee that was not answered and I now repeat.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2015-10-29
Topic: Other
John Bassam (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I have not given the noble Lord notice of this question but can he advise the House whether we are in a 12-month, 18-month or two-year parliamentary Session? Much as we welcome these recess dates, we would all like to know how long we are going to be here.
Global Climate Change — House of Lords, 2015-10-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anthony Giddens (Labour, Centre-left): I just make it clear that I am fully in favour of a rules-based approach, but in international relations there is no system of enforcing those rules in the way that there is in the national legal system. Therefore, power counts for an awful lot. What the large powers do could really be crucial, alongside the Paris agreements, if we are to get traction in countering climate change.
Global Climate Change — House of Lords, 2015-10-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Julian Charles Roland Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Minister and other noble Lords for their participation in this debate. We have had very interesting speeches—I am looking forward to hearing about whether the fashion dimension will also go to Paris and upstage the conference—and many other important aspects were introduced.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patricia Hollis (Labour, Centre-left): I hope that the noble Baroness will forgive me, but I think that she has slightly misunderstood me. I accept for the sake of this argument her position—that the Secretary of State does not want to lay down principles—but what you actually have to do is deduce from the examples he has accepted which principles and action he is motivated by. That is best done in an annual statement to bring them together, which may or may not be accompanied by any contemplation that the Secretary of State may have had about the offerings. That is the way we learn from each other. I worry that small seaside towns do not have the resources of Greater Manchester to do the sort of heavy lifting that this work might otherwise require.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Other
Jeremy Hugh Beecham (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, does the noble Baroness recall the leader of a council not too far away from Manchester who led the council for some 50 years before retiring at the age of 85 to make way for a younger successor who was 76?
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
William David McKenzie (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, as we have heard, Amendments 21 to 24 require that there should be two components of a single precept in circumstances where the mayor for a combined authority takes on the role of the PCC: the policing and the general work component. We have heard that this separation is necessary should different referendum principles be applied to PCC precepts generally, and this is enabled, of course, because the Bill also requires separate accounting for PCC functions. Amendments 16 to 18 have been described as consequential, and we see them as being entirely reasonable.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Other
William David McKenzie (Labour, Centre-left): Before the noble Baroness sits down, could she clarify this? I think she said that we would reach Amendments 62 and 77 on Wednesday. According to the groupings list, they are in the group that we have just discussed.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Other
William David McKenzie (Labour, Centre-left): We would be very happy to have a further discussion—it is vital that we do—although we would be squeezed for time on Wednesday with lots of other big issues. I thought from what the noble Baroness said that these amendments are not included in the group that we just discussed. According to the groupings list, they should be.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Other
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): It might help the noble Lord if I point out that even though the amendments are in this group, if they are to be taken on another day it is open to any Lord to raise them when they are called.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Patricia Hollis (Labour, Centre-left): I apologise to my noble friend, but as my amendment was on the very different issue of council tax bands and I thought it was worth trying to explore that in greater detail, fairly late today I asked for it to be disaggregated. Therefore noble Lords will find that on the latest list of amendments Amendment 75A is at the very end, and it will be the last amendment to be debated on Wednesday. The noble Lord may have had an earlier set of groupings in which it was included; I pulled it out after the draft groupings had come out.
European Union Referendum Bill — House of Lords, 2015-10-13
Topic: Domestic Commerce
David Edward Lea (Labour, Centre-left): The noble Lord did not make a reference to hedge funds, but the point I am making is that, according to the papers, there is a very prominent role for hedge funds in financing the "get out" campaign. I assume that he is not unhappy to take their money.