argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Small Charitable Donations and Childcare Payments Bill — House of Commons, 2016-11-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Kirsty Ann Blackman (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is nice to speak on Third Reading of a Bill when there has largely been agreement on many of the measures it contains The Government’s measures on the gift aid small donations scheme are sensible and logical steps forward, and it is good that more charities will be able to benefit from the scheme as a result. We were very clear that we would have liked the Government to go further, but we appreciate the steps they have taken, and the wide-ranging consultation they have undertaken We raised the matching requirement a number of times. My understanding is that the Government have the power to make changes to that requirement without the need for primary legislation anyway. It is useful to know that the Government can consider that if they receive future representations on the matter. Our concerns related in particular to volunteer-led charities—the very smallest charities, which perhaps do not have the administrative capacity to access some of these schemes. But I appreciate that the Government have committed to undertake a wider publicity effort on the gift aid small donations scheme and on how charities can access tax reliefs. I hope that charities across the UK will benefit from those changes The changes to the way that people will access childcare payments are sensible and seem more accessible than the current system. Having used the current system and struggled with some of its administrative impacts, I think the new scheme will iron out some of those flaws, and am pleased that even before the new scheme comes in the Government are re-evaluating it and looking to make it as accessible and as easy for parents to navigate as possible. I understand that a pilot will take place and that, by the end of next year, pretty much everyone should have moved over to the new scheme. I hope the Government will commit to re-evaluating the scheme as it goes forward, to ensure that it is as accessible as possible On that re-evaluation, in Scotland we are making changes to the early learning and childcare system, and are looking at a mass expansion so that as many families as possible can access free, good quality childcare that is easily accessible in local communities. In my local community, at Manor Park Primary School, 20 two-year-olds will take part in a trial that is taking place in my area and in a number of other places across Scotland. I am sure that the UK Government will be keen to learn from Scotland’s experience of the expansion of free childcare and will be looking at it for the future Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak on Third Reading. As I have said, we are broadly supportive of the Bill but would have liked it to go further in some areas. However, we will not oppose its Third Reading Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I thank the Minister for that, and I accepted the Government’s offer back in June. We have had plenty of time to chat about it. I have to say that standing up to propose an offer of co-operation on the very morning of my debate might be regarded as leaving it somewhat late for a further private chat. The Minister shakes his head to say that that was not his offer and that he did not know anything about it, but I can assure him that I have been talking to members of the Government on and off since June Yesterday, the Government—the Minister has just said it—accepted an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill in the House of Lords and claimed that it was the Turing Bill. It is not, even though some rather obliging news outlets have trumpeted their claim after reading the press releases. I will leave it to Members to decide whether it is fair to attempt to hijack my Bill some 36 hours before its Second Reading in this place The private Member’s Bill process is, after all, intended to allow those of us not in government to seek to leave a legacy of legislation that we believe is good, kind and worth while. I believe that this Bill is kind. The amendment accepted by the Government would, if I understand it correctly, grant an automatic pardon to the deceased, yet the Minister says he is very concerned that the Bill’s provisions would be misused because some people who have behaved improperly would get under the radar and get pardons that they were not entitled to. If he thinks it is hard to enforce that for the living, imagine how much harder it is, by his own logic, to enforce it for the dead. There is an intellectual incoherence here. The Minister can shake his head, but there is an intellectual incoherence at the heart of what the Government are proposing, and I fear that they have not really thought it through. I know that because I have been told in the course of introducing the Bill that I would get Government support; then that I would not get it; then that I would get Government support again; and then that I might get it. I am afraid that the Conservative Government have been all over the place on this. I was very keen to avoid this becoming a party political issue. At no point have I gone to the press or given interviews in which I have referred to the Bill as an SNP measure. In fact, as the Minister knows, it is an English measure. For those who criticise the SNP and say that we are overly concerned with the constitution and Scottish issues, here is something that tackles an English injustice.
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): No, I will not Let us focus exactly on what it is that the amendment that the Minister mentioned does. The amendment accepted by the Government would grant an automatic pardon to the deceased. Of course that is great, and my Bill makes the same provision, but I have to ask the House: should we not prioritise the living over the dead I wonder whether Members spotted an elderly gentleman who toured the TV and radio studios yesterday. He is a 93-year-old who feels immensely strongly—[Interruption.] No, no one on the Labour Benches. This was somebody different who toured the TV studios talking about the injustice that he feels about his criminal convictions. He hash-tagged himself "the oldest gay in the village" on Twitter. He is 93, and he says that he is determined to live to 100 to see justice served, because he has lived with a sense of injustice for all these years.
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
John MacKenzie Nicolson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am going to make progress How odd would it look for the elderly to be told that they must wait until they die for the automatic pardon that the Government now seem to be proposing? Let us finish the law reform that we have started by recognising that the victims of society’s prejudices are still hurting, and are still alive. They deserve the peace that the Bill would bring. [Applause]
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I am sure that the hon. Gentleman prepared for the debate today by reading the Bill. He will be aware that clause 1, which sets out the effect of the legislation, states: "Nothing in this Act is to be interpreted as pardoning, disregarding or in any other way affecting cautions, convictions, sentences or any other consequences of convictions or cautions for conduct or behaviour that is unlawful on the date that the Act comes into force." What is unclear about that?
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Fraser Weir (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Did the hon. Gentleman not listen to my hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (John Nicolson) explaining this? Anyone wanting to go through this process will have to prove the age of the other party involved in the incident that led to the conviction. My hon. Friend conceded that that could be very difficult in some cases, and many people will find it impossible, given the state of the records. However, it is a safeguard against the very issue that the hon. Gentleman is talking about.
Child Refugees: Age Checks — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Social Welfare
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I, too, welcome the Minister’s comments in response to a question that shows not only a lack of compassion, but a fundamental lack of understanding of the fact that these young people have had to grow up beyond their years because they are children who have been robbed of their childhood and have to fend for themselves. Does the Minister agree, and will he do everything possible with his Department to ensure that these children and young people do not grow old waiting to be processed?
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): As Members we must recognise the importance of language. A Policing and Crime Bill is utterly inadequate for dealing with the issue. The language is fundamentally important. On the issue of the living as opposed to the dead, the Government’s position is intellectually and morally bankrupt.
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): It is a matter of regret that the law did not change in Scotland until 1981, but the hon. Gentleman will be aware that for many years prior to that the Crown Office had a policy of not prosecuting these offences.
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point about the juggernaut and the various stages that might ensue. However, as my hon. Friend made clear in his speech, this is essentially a victimless crime. What possible harm can it do—rather than good, of course—to pardon people who, in essence, committed no crime at all?
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Fraser Weir (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I do not quite understand the Minister’s point. It is possible that someone who is now deceased and gets an automatic pardon is in exactly the same position as someone who is still alive, and there could be a potential victim there, so why is he making this strange distinction between the two?
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Joanna Catherine Cherry (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister said earlier that his objection to the Bill was that it gave out a blanket pardon that might cover unlawful conduct. May I give him comfort by telling him that that is not the case? Clause 1 states: "Nothing in this Act is to be interpreted as pardoning, disregarding or in any other way affecting cautions, convictions, sentences or any other consequences of convictions or cautions for conduct or behaviour that is unlawful on the date that the Act comes into force." How could it be clearer? In addition, clause 2(4) states that the conditions for a pardon are that the other person must have consented and that they must not have been under the age of 16. Those provisions answer the Minister’s concerns. Will he have the decency to admit that the Government are wrong about this, and that the Bill tackles the issues that he is raising?
Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill — House of Commons, 2016-10-21
Topic: Law and Crime
Michael Fraser Weir (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): In my earlier intervention, the Minister said that his concern was that someone getting a blanket pardon who was still alive could then get a job as a volunteer with children. However, the Bill specifically says that anyone who is still alive and wants the offence expunged from the record has to go through a second procedure. Surely anyone applying for such a job would have go through a criminal records check, which would show up what was still on the record. I do not see where the difference lies.
Rural Broadband — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Technology
Stephen Patrick Gethins (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Minister will be aware that rural communities such as those in North East Fife, and small businesses in particular, rely on broadband, and there are concerns that the current plans do not go far enough. Are there any plans to extend them further so that we can get faster speeds in rural communities?
Global Trade — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Foreign Trade
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The Secretary of State recently reaffirmed the Government’s target to double exports by 2020, but at the autumn statement the Office for Budget Responsibility contradicted this, stating that it expects UK trade to reduce as a result of the UK leaving the EU and the single market. So who is right: does he accept the assessment of the experts of the OBR, yes or no?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Over the past five years, South Korea has been our second fastest growing trading partner. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should seek to boost trade with South Korea further still until we leave the EU and, after we leave the EU, enter a prompt bilateral trade deal with South Korea, which its Government would welcome?; Recently, the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg) said in relation to emissions standards that what is good enough for India is good enough for us. May we have a firm assurance that no emissions standards will be watered down as part of any free trade deal?; On Monday, I was delighted to hear my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announce that she wanted to take the trade relationship with Israel to the next level—our key ally in the middle east and strong trading partner. Can my right hon. Friend set out the steps that he is taking to ensure that we put in place a new trade deal with Israel, so that we can cement that commitment by the Prime Minister?; What action is my right hon. Friend taking to promote our world-class science base around the globe? Will he confirm that he recognises that face-to-face collaboration is an important part of that continued success, and that we need to attract the best and the brightest to do their research here?; In prioritising a post-Brexit free trade deal with Israel, will the Minister ensure that as far as possible the Palestinian Authority is included, because enhanced trade between the UK, Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be an essential part of building a sustainable and lasting peace?
Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): A recent parliamentary question revealed that the involvement of Scottish companies in the recent trade visit by the Prime Minister to India was very limited. What extra effort can the Secretary of State make to ensure that Scottish companies are better represented by the UK to support them in exporting into new international markets?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Over the past five years, South Korea has been our second fastest growing trading partner. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should seek to boost trade with South Korea further still until we leave the EU and, after we leave the EU, enter a prompt bilateral trade deal with South Korea, which its Government would welcome?; Recently, the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg) said in relation to emissions standards that what is good enough for India is good enough for us. May we have a firm assurance that no emissions standards will be watered down as part of any free trade deal?; On Monday, I was delighted to hear my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announce that she wanted to take the trade relationship with Israel to the next level—our key ally in the middle east and strong trading partner. Can my right hon. Friend set out the steps that he is taking to ensure that we put in place a new trade deal with Israel, so that we can cement that commitment by the Prime Minister?; What action is my right hon. Friend taking to promote our world-class science base around the globe? Will he confirm that he recognises that face-to-face collaboration is an important part of that continued success, and that we need to attract the best and the brightest to do their research here?; In prioritising a post-Brexit free trade deal with Israel, will the Minister ensure that as far as possible the Palestinian Authority is included, because enhanced trade between the UK, Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be an essential part of building a sustainable and lasting peace?
Alan Brown (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): When the Secretary of State is lobbying for foreign inward investment, does he agree with the comments of his friend the Foreign Secretary, who said that a pound spent in Croydon has more value to this country than a pound spent in Strathclyde?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Labor
Christopher Charles Stephens (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. First of all, I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my position as chair of the Public and Commercial Services Union parliamentary group Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be aware that an issue exercising Members who represent the great city of Glasgow is the proposal to close half its jobcentres. Yesterday my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald) raised in a point of order the fact that it was day seven with no information at all referring to this matter on the website of the Department for Work and Pensions. Today is day eight with no information on the DWP website about a public consultation on the proposed closure of half the jobcentres in our city. That is of great concern. We are now entering the Christmas and new year period, when public consultation is already curtailed The consultation is a morass. In my view, it shows contempt not only for hon. Members of this House but for the general public. Mr Deputy Speaker, can you advise me whether a Minister could come before the House today to outline the processes of public consultation on the proposed jobcentre closures in the great city of Glasgow?
Commercial Financial Dispute Resolution Platform — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Macroeconomics
George Kerevan (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The right hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. In my experience, it has been those very whistleblowers who have suffered most in terms of mental stress. They started off trying to present justice to the community, the banking world and small businesses, and ended up losing their job, their family and their partnerships. They are still suffering to this day The issue is also economic. We have had eight years where, although there has been economic growth, levels of productivity have been poor, if not flatlining. A lot of that is due to the underperformance of the small business sector. It is not just individual businesses that have been affected by mis-selling and the lack of resolution. It has carried on to a lack of investment in new businesses, and it has been an additional factor in important entrepreneurs withdrawing from the business process. Unless we find a permanent resolution, we will not be able to create the economic growth that I know all of us in this House hope to see.
Commercial Financial Dispute Resolution Platform — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Macroeconomics
Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Unsurprisingly, I agree wholeheartedly. The importance of economic growth is tied into this. There are individual consequences to issues like these, but there are also whole-system economic problems that come from them Aberdeen is going through a difficult economic time as we speak, although I think we are beginning to see green shoots of recovery. However, we have not seen the problems associated with the previous financial downturn, and we may be in a beneficial situation. However, there is no systemic solution, and just because we do not have a problem now, that does not mean that there will not be problems in the future. The economic problem in Aberdeen has been particularly localised, but if it were to be repeated on a national level, the mistakes of the past could well creep back in. As the UK moves towards leaving the European Union, there is the risk of greater pressure on our financial and business systems, and the temptation may come back for banks to use the opportunity to make money on the backs of others. It is therefore incredibly pressing that we get this right The benefits of this proposal would be manifold. Rather than huge crises that we need to solve, we would have early intervention, and we would have parity between banks and companies, so that they could identify and solve problems early, without the need for massive recompense, as has been the case We have heard from many hon. Members today that it is very difficult to put a figure on the cost to business. It is even more difficult to calculate the cost to the economy of lost growth as a result of these problems. But let us come back to the human cost, which a number of Members have mentioned: the hours of grief, the hours of anguish and, in certain cases, as the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Michelle Thomson) mentioned, the lives that have been lost. That is the problem, and we can do something about it: we can protect our businesses. We can ensure best practice, and above all, we can ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated.
Broadband Universal Service Obligation — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Social Welfare
Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way. Does he agree with me that the heart of this issue is not that Ofcom does not know where the gaps are; it is that provision in rural areas is challenging? It is a challenge that companies do not find conducive to taking up and we have social exclusion as a consequence?
Broadband Universal Service Obligation — House of Commons, 2016-12-15
Topic: Technology
Calum Robert Kerr (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): Scotland aims for superfast, and my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde (Ronnie Cowan) demonstrated how we will make that happen—fantastic! I take it, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I have 10 minutes to make some points. I will reflect on the debate only very quickly, as there are a number of points I would like to cover that we have not got to First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) not only on securing the debate but on his fine balancing act of calling for more while not talking down his Government. I am sure that the Ministers past and present were both grateful. We then heard some very interesting points, which I will touch on. I agree with the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian C. Lucas), who emphasised that the regions and devolved Administrations are particularly badly affected because of our rurality. As usual, the right hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) turned up, made some noise, praised himself and then went off to see what had been said on Twitter about it, but he raised some interesting points. I agree with him in particular on the need for digital and on the need for the Minister for Digital to have a higher profile and more responsibility in Government.