argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Patrick Cormack (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, here we are again: post-legislative scrutiny and a hapless Minister, who has worked with prodigious vigour—we all salute him for that—given a frankly indefensible brief. The hallmark of a good law is clarity and simplicity, so that we all understand what it is. Here we have a law that is continually riddled with new anomalies and new inconsistencies. My noble friend Lord Lamont pointed out a number of them with his customary good humour, but it is not really funny, is it? This is touching the lives of people throughout our country, in a cruel way in many cases The rule of six was most effectively ridiculed in your Lordships’ House a week ago. Not that it was a directed ridicule, but our new noble friend Lady Morrissey said with quiet pride that she has nine children, seven of whom were still at home. We have got to have a law that can be seen to be fair. We have got to have laws that can be seen to have been properly discussed and debated in the other place, and indeed in your Lordships’ House where there is an accumulation of ministerial and medical knowledge second to none in any chamber in the world. We really must get the horse before the cart, because we are not doing that at the moment. Of course I feel sorry for my noble friend, who I genuinely like and admire, but he is being given an indefensible brief. May we hasten the day when he has one that he can truly defend and that we can all support.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Sheila Masters (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I endorse everything that my noble friend Lord Lamont said and I shall list as many of my concerns with the regulations as I can in the two minutes that we are allowed First, the rule of six is not based on science. Indeed, the Minister revealed its basis when he said on 14 September that the Government had relied on "marketing advice from our communications department".—[Official Report, 14/9/20; col. 1000.] He also referred to focus groups. The Minister might think that that is science-based but most would disagree with him Secondly, Ministers would double down by encouraging snitching. That is not the kind of society I want to live in. Thirdly, the rule lacks logic. It is illegal for seven children to gather together to feed ducks, but it is perfectly okay for 30 adults to go out shooting them—the ducks, that is Fourthly, the order lacks precision. It makes mingling yet another way to break the law, but does not define it. On 14 September, the Minister said that it was "a concept which, frankly, I do not think needs much description".—[Official Report, 14/9/20; col. 999.] Frankly, I think that that is an unacceptable way to legislate. Fifthly, as usual, there is no analysis of impact or alternatives and no attempt to explain the balance between the competing interests of our economic future, non-Covid mental and physical health matters and the narrow Covid impact I could go on, but sadly I have run out of time. I regret that my noble friend Lord Lamont is no longer pursuing his earlier fatal Motion. That would have had my vote.
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Patricia Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, we now come to the group consisting of Amendment 28. I remind noble Lords that Members others than the mover and the Minister may speak only once, and that short questions of elucidation are discouraged. Anyone wishing to press this amendment to a Division should make that clear in debate Clause 5: Power to modify retained direct EU legislation relating to social security co-ordination Amendment 28
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Howard Emerson Flight (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am sorry that I must participate by telephone, but Zoom did not work for me today. Amendment 28 would ensure that the power created by the Bill could be used only in ways which are consistent with the UK’s obligations under the UK-EU withdrawal agreement The retained direct EU legislation set out in Clause 5(2) is the full gamut of EU legislation on social security co-ordination. Under the withdrawal agreement, the UK is committed to apply this legislation to all those within the scope of Part 2 of the agreement —"Citizens’ Rights"— and to some others. It seems strange that essentially financial matters to do with pensions are mixed with other social matters here.
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: International Affairs
Deborah Stedman-Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Flight, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for speaking to this amendment. The Government have given written assurances in every Bill document throughout the passage of the Bill on this point; I have reiterated those assurances in Committee, and I will do so again here I can assure the House that Clause 5 does not enable the Government to alter the rights guaranteed to those in scope of the withdrawal agreement. The entitlements of this cohort are guaranteed by Sections 7A and 7B of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. The power at Clause 5 will not and cannot affect those provisions. Rather, it allows for EU law retained by Section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to be modified. The rights under the withdrawal agreement are therefore provided by a distinct and separate legal mechanism in relation to that of retained EU law, and this power will not affect the rights of those within the scope of the agreement. This includes those examples given by the noble Lord, Lord Flight, such as state pension uprating, the S1 scheme and the aggregation of contributions. It is therefore the Government’s view that Amendment 28 is unnecessary, on the grounds I have set out I note the request of the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, for my letter to her to be placed under the "will write" section—I am so pleased that that makes sense—of Bills before Parliament I reiterate that it is the Government’s view that Amendment 28 is unnecessary, on the grounds I have set out. I hope that with this explanation, the noble Lord, Lord Flight, will withdraw his amendment.
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Social Welfare
Howard Emerson Flight (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, this amendment addresses the aggregation of social security contributions across the EU, mutual healthcare and, in particular, the payment of pensions and pension increases to pensioners living in different EU countries. It is important that citizens’ positions are protected. The noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, has given a satisfactory undertaking that these areas cannot be affected by the clause in question and that this amendment is therefore not necessary. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Macroeconomics
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the impact of all the restrictions, on the hospitality sector in particular, are particularly acute. I completely recognise the noble Baroness’s point that this touches on the lives of many hard-working people from low-income backgrounds who have casual labour arrangements with the hospitality sector. There are millions of people involved, and this epidemic has hit them particularly hard. That is why we put schemes in place like the furlough scheme The Chancellor spoke very movingly this morning on the "Today" programme about his intentions and his determination to ensure that people are protected from the worst outrages of Covid. We are also putting in economic measures to avoid the kind of recession which the noble Baroness describes. The honest truth is that other parts of the economy are doing extremely well. It is an awful shame and sadness that, once again, Covid is hitting the most vulnerable the hardest, and the noble Baroness is quite right to identify the people she does.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Government Operations
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will tackle those in reverse order. I would not seek to be patronising for a moment. We value the contribution of local leaders enormously, and if I hit the wrong note then I regret that. What I was trying to get across is that the rhetoric in the public media and the realities of the day-to-day conversations between government and local government are not exactly as they might appear. The roles performed by both are complementary, rather than a zero-sum game. It is worth in this Chamber remembering that On procurement, the noble Baroness is entirely right; there is a real tension between the absolute requirement to move quickly to meet the challenge of Covid—to stand up facilities and services that did not previously exist—and to move on a national population-wide scale in a way that is not frequently seen in the health system. I can reassure the noble Baroness that a huge amount of work is being done on the auditing, checking and supervision of these contracts. They are not entered into in either a naive or flaky way—quite the opposite. We have put a huge amount of audit and legal resources into striking the right contracts. Cabinet Office colleagues provide a huge amount of analysis and challenge to the way in which these contracts are drafted and in checking against the delivery of the products and services involved.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Kenneth Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I fully support the speech made by the Prime Minister a week ago in Devon, when he set an ambitious target of equalising practical and technical education with academic education. That is a very ambitious target which no Prime Minister since 1945 has had or indeed implemented, and it has my full support. I am very grateful for the mention of the colleges that I support, the university technical colleges. At the moment, they are by far the most able and successful technical schools in the country. We are having a record year in recruitment and we have incredible destinations. Last year, one of our colleges on the north-west coast of England produced 90% apprentices, which is absolutely incredible when the national average is 6% The speech that Boris made had a Boris flourish in it: "Now is the time to end the pointless, snooty, and frankly vacuous distinction between the practical and the academic." Of course it is. The trouble is that, since 1945, there has been a huge drive to send people to universities, which is good for social mobility but it means that graduates have had disproportionate esteem, disproportionate political influence and disproportionate reward compared with those who make things with their hands. This is the time when we have to elevate the intelligent hand: to train not only the brain but the hand as well I am particularly concerned about the level of youth unemployment today, which for 18 to 24 year-olds is 13.4% and likely to rise to 20%. Nothing could be worse for an 18 year-old than to start their lives on the dole: it is a blemish that will affect them all their lives. My proposal is that, instead of being on the dole, they should engage in a year’s or perhaps two years’ further training for a higher national certificate or diploma, through which they will get skills that will help them to get a better job a year later. At the moment, the youngsters who do that have to take out a loan of £6,000 to £8,000. That should be stopped for the next two years, and these courses should not only be free but should have maintenance grants to help students with their living costs, because they will not be eligible for unemployment pay. I will set out the details when I have more than a minute or two to speak.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): I too pay tribute to the work of my noble friend. It was my pleasure to host a round table of UTCs which have been particularly successful. The noble Lord, Lord Storey, mentioned them as well. In fact, a new UTC was opened in September in Darlington. The colleges have been particularly involved in the T-levels, which were introduced to give parity at the age of 16 between A-levels and T-levels, and to make sure that such attitudes are a thing of the past—that those with technical skills or who make things with their hands are viewed with the same esteem as those with academic qualifications. Indeed, 81.6% of our 16 to 18 year-olds are in education or apprenticeships, which is as high as it has ever been However, we are aware that it is the young who could be hit hardest during this crisis, which is why there is additional support for employers to take on young apprentices. The Kickstart scheme is open to those who are young and claiming universal credit, and there are 30,000 traineeships, which the department has just begun to procure. These are a work-based progression for young people, to make them ready for work or an apprenticeship. I am sure that I can get a response to my noble friend’s proposal that levels 4 and 5 should be free, but that is not what is being offered at the moment. What is being offered is level 3 tuition fees for anyone who does not have a qualification at that level.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in relation to reskilling, there are, as I have outlined, the digital boot camps that we have offered so that people can gain training as they do that work. If they lack that level 3 qualification, they will be able to do that, but, as I say, there has been a particular focus on young people, who are more vulnerable to the effects of what is happening at the moment.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, these are not just statements of intention; today, I have outlined that the numerous initiatives that have been started by the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions are matched by funding. They will be a reality—some of them are already. The noble Baroness is completely right: in relation to the UTCs, which are important in promoting technical education, there is now a duty on the local authority and on schools to make sure that young people are made aware of that offer. The careers service has a link with employers locally so that they are brought into schools to outline the needs and skills that they have Teachers have been assisted to make sure that they are also aware of the apprenticeship offers because, unfortunately, as the noble Baroness will know from a Select Committee we both sat on, many teachers have not gone through these routes. We have been helping and training them and giving them the links so that they can make people aware of these offers. We want a greater take-up of level 3 and, particularly, levels 4 and 5 qualifications and for them to be validated by employers as making people qualified for jobs.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I assure the noble Lord that there is no snobbery in the Department for Education; we want to promote parity of esteem for vocational and technical qualifications across our sector. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are behind this Everybody has a role to play in ensuring that these skills are seen and respected; television programming over the last 10 years has shown the importance of construction in many of the programmes that they have chosen to produce. We have also invested £900 million in work coaches, who are essential to getting alongside people on a one-to-one basis to help them into work. There is £17 million for the new workplace academy programmes, which are helping people with their CVs and job interviews The noble Lord is correct: one of the things we have to do for young people is this review, particularly of level 4 and level 5 qualifications, of which there are over 4,000. I remember sitting with the noble Baroness on a Select Committee and seeing the plethora of avenues and qualifications that were there, so that the pathway is clearer for young people and they get a qualification that an employer says is relevant and equips them for the job that they want. I can only draw attention, once again, to the £2 billion for the Kickstart scheme, which is about jobs for young people who find themselves on universal credit at the moment.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, yes, the funding that has been announced for the National Careers Service—that is the adult careers service. The Careers & Enterprise Company is available in schools and I know that additional funding has been given to that to ensure that young people are made aware of those opportunities. In relation to apprenticeships, as I have already outlined, through the Careers & Enterprise Company we are assisting schools to promote those. Fire It Up was our campaign to make sure that young people are aware of those apprenticeships. We are encouraging schools to know their destination data: it is important to know where those young people go on to, so that the best opportunity for the young person is put first by our schools and colleges.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is correct that, obviously, for many people, the concept of a job for life is a thing of the past. People have numerous careers or jobs during their working life. I can assure her that the curriculum taught in our schools is knowledge-based and it is rich. Young people are encouraged to explore nature and to use the outdoors. I know that many schools, whether it is forest schools or woodland schools, et cetera, have adopted that. Obviously, teaching about the environment is an important part of that She is entirely right, as well, that employers need to be at the centre of this. That is why there has been this transference on to employers. The institutes of technology will be a partnership of employers, universities and FE colleges. Apprenticeships are employer-standard led, and also there are local skills advisory boards that bring together local employers, the LEPs and others. There will now be a national skills and productivity board, so that we have a structure around employer engagement in these qualifications.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Labor
Sayeeda Warsi (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the register of interests I welcome the Statement, particularly the announcement of a flexible lifelong learning loan. Picking up a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Watson, I ask my noble friend this question, of which I gave notice: when do the Government anticipate this loan becoming available? As we come to the end of the furlough scheme, where many sadly will lose long-term jobs and possibly seek to retrain, do the Government see the necessity of speeding up the consultation process and the legislative process to implement these announcements?
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Labor
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as I have outlined, the level 3 entitlement will begin in April next year. I assure my noble friend that we will consult and legislate as necessary as fast as we can. We recognise that the changes happening out there in the workplace are swift, and we will act as soon as we can.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Labor
Ralph Matthew Palmer (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I congratulate the Government on this Statement and on the commitment it exemplified. Will my noble friend confirm that within this policy we will be supporting the Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award, from idea.org.uk? The award is designed to help people who have had to change career, or who are coming back after a period of unemployment, to realise that they have the potential for a career in the digital sector and to hone their enterprise and employability skills at a basic level—all of which is free. Will my noble friend also confirm that the Government understand that many people, particularly if they have lost a job in a sector that is contracting, will need to start to retrain at a level below that at which they are qualified? They may have a degree and need to go back to level 3 or 4 training to find a new place. Will taking a step back to make a new life going forward be something that the Government will fund?
Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education — House of Lords, 2020-10-06
Topic: Education
Elizabeth Rose Berridge (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend. This is precisely why it is a four-year offer, so that those who have a degree might then be able to take level 4 or level 5 training. I regret that, despite copious briefing here, I have not heard of the specific award that my noble friend mentioned, so I will write to him to outline what the department is doing in relation to that.
Sentencing White Paper — House of Lords, 2020-09-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, prisons need investment. That is why we are putting in £2.5 billion to be spent on prisons, not just for additional places but for upgrading prisons that need upgrading. It is important that young people in particular get individual services to ensure that they do not keep reoffending and get the services they need in the community to help them come out of crime.
Sentencing White Paper — House of Lords, 2020-09-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as someone who has spent 25 years in local government, I am sure it is understood that local government is important in delivering. As the noble Lord said, it is about housing and drug and alcohol support. It can even be about education, particularly basic skills that some of these young offenders—or older offenders—often do not have. I quite agree with him and will take that back.
Sentencing White Paper — House of Lords, 2020-09-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Jane Scott (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, that is exactly why the Government are looking to invest in our prisons, but we have to ensure that the public understand and have confidence in the system. They are asking that we have dangerous prisoners in custody for longer, but the noble Lord is absolutely right that we then have to invest in our prisons.
Sentencing White Paper — House of Lords, 2020-09-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I think we all accept that effective community sentencing and a proper probation service are urgent and necessary. However, I am concerned that these can be an excuse for not investing in the prisons we need—both new prisons and the repair of some deplorable examples, which my noble friend the Minister touched on. There has not been adequate emphasis on such investment since I had the pleasure of working with the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Lympne, in the 1990s. I welcome today’s sentencing reform, but investment in prisons is very slow. Will the Government accelerate and enhance their plans for investment announced now over a year ago?