argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Childcare Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-07-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kathryn Pinnock (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The response from the Minister is predictable because of the cost to the public purse of providing free childcare in this gap year. I refer, however, to the comment I made earlier about the motif on the door of the Minister’s office, which says, "closing the gaps". Here is a big gap that I would like closed. If we can edge towards this by saying, "What we would really like to achieve for early years care and education is a planned approach which includes provision from age one to four," I would welcome that. At the moment, we have a more or less ad hoc approach to extensions; first it was to everyone—the universal offer—now to only those with working parents, and to some two year-olds from disadvantaged families. It seems that we ought to be able to extend this to one and two year-olds, especially to those from disadvantaged families who would qualify at age two. As I and many of the Members of this House have said, if we can help the most vulnerable children in the most disadvantaged homes, it helps not only those children but also the rest of society as they grow into adulthood I hope that, at some point, perhaps on Report, there could be an approach to help bridge that gap. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Deregulation Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Other
William John Lawrence Wallace (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 3, Schedule 1, Clauses 4 to 8, Schedule 2, Clause 9, Schedule 3, Clauses 10 to 13, Schedule 4, Clauses 14 to 18, Schedule 5, Clause 19, Schedule 6, Clauses 20 to 26, Schedule 7, Clause 27, Clauses 42 to 44, Schedule 12, Clause 45, Schedule 13, Clauses 46 to 50, Schedule 14, Clause 51, Schedule 15, Clause 52, Schedule 16, Clause 53, Schedule 17, Clauses 54 and 55, Schedule 18, Clauses 56 to 72, Schedule 19, Clauses 73 to 83, Schedule 20, Clauses 84 to 87, Schedule 21, Clauses 88 to 91, Clauses 28 to 35, Schedule 8, Clause 36, Schedule 9, Clause 37, Schedule 10, Clause 38, Schedule 11, Clauses 39 to 41, Clauses 92 to 96.,
Pension Schemes Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Richard Newby (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, that is what we are hoping to achieve, so that everybody is working on the same basis. In making the announcement yesterday, the FCA demonstrated that it has listened to the many representations it has received directly, and to debates in your Lordships’ House. I am pleased that it has. In the light of that announcement, I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.
Pension Schemes Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael German (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I also support the letter from the FCA. It is very welcome. The bottom of the first page of the letter says, in absolute terms, that, "the FCA has also decided to bring the ABI retirement code into our rules" Would the noble Lord agree that that is very welcome, given that the ABI retirement code lays out in great detail the journey through which the customer will travel? The letter makes it very clear that that will happen.
Northern Ireland: On-the-Runs Scheme — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Other
Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I understand the general concern that noble Lords are expressing about this scheme. I can say to the House only that, once we identified the scheme we brought it to an end in an orderly manner. We certainly are not of the view that the scheme has been operated in an efficient and acceptable manner. I once again refer the noble Lord to the Hallett report, which gave a very detailed description of the way in which those letters were issued and the way in which errors were made.
Pension Schemes Bill — House of Lords, 2015-01-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Newby (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): No, I do not think that that is the intention. We believe, and are confident, that everybody will have been trained to a level at which they can give appropriate advice. It would be completely impractical and unnecessary to proceed as the noble Lord suggests. I can assure him that the Treasury is working extremely closely and collaboratively with the guidance bodies to design the service and ensure that we are ready for April. Are we confident that we will be? Yes, we are. The noble Lord asked a number of other questions. Could I confirm that we expect a typical advice session to last 45 minutes? Yes, we can. He asked whether people would be able to go back and get a second bite of the cherry. We have already said that that will be possible, although we hope that if people do not have all the guidance they need, directing them to the website will deal with a lot of second-order issues The noble Lord outlined his understanding of the complaints procedure. I believe that the way he outlined it is correct. If not, I will write to him—I need to read it first The noble Lord also asked about operating hours, which are still being finalised.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-17
Topic: Other
Benjamin Stoneham (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I endorse the words of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, for her unfailing courtesy and competence throughout the transaction of the Bill. I also thank the noble Lords, Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Stevenson, for their efforts to improve the Bill and to work with all of us who have been engaged on it over the past few weeks. I thank my noble friend Lady Janke, who has been assisting me on these Benches. I particularly thank all the officials who have dealt with our replies and the detail of queries that we have had on the Bill throughout the past few weeks.
Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-17
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Alderdice (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am very grateful to my noble friend for giving way. The problem that I have found is that these changes are not made because they do not work for the Treasury here in London, and it regards the value for people in Northern Ireland to be far too small an issue, one that does not get any attention paid to it. That is the reason. The reason for the air passenger duty with respect to the United States is because it is so easy for people to go across the border and to fly out of Dublin. The whole point is that there is a land border. If Scotland was to leave the United Kingdom, I think that you would find that a lot of those kinds of changes became relevant. But it is very important to understand that the situation in Northern Ireland is quite different from that in Scotland, because it is so small, does not have a large financial industry and has a land border. Those are the many reasons why read-across to Scotland does not work, with due deference to my noble friend.
Electronic Commerce Directive (Financial Services and Markets) (Amendment) Order 2015 — House of Lords, 2015-03-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Newby (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That the draft orders and regulations laid before the House on 17 December 2014, 21 and 29 January and 3 February 2015 be approved Relevant documents: 17th, 21st and 22nd Reports from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and 24th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (special attention drawn to the instrument). Considered in Grand Committee on 2 March.
Deregulation Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-04
Topic: Mixed Topics
William John Lawrence Wallace (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his constructive comments, and I recognise that the timing creates some difficulties. I have consulted on whether draft regulations can be finalised, approved and laid before the general election, but I have to say that with the best will in the world that will not, at this stage, be possible. I cannot give the noble Lord a guarantee on the structure, nature and composition of the next Government—I am not sure that any of us can at present. That, of course, has to remain a matter of good will and of the commitment of those who have been involved from all sides in these consultations The duties and the question of the employees of the self-employed are covered by the general duty that the self-employed have to consider the interests of others and the risks involved. That seems to me to be fully covered here. We have moved as far as we can and the draft guidance was intended to provide an indication of where this coalition Government would be moving and where we would trust any successor Government to continue in assessing this very delicate balance between where Professor Löfstedt started, which was with the sense that we should try, "to exempt from health and safety law those self employed people whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others", and, as he also said in his original review, to, "help reduce the perception that health and safety law is inappropriately applied" That is what we on both sides are attempting to do. I felt that the Government had now moved sufficiently far to assure the Opposition that we were very much pursuing this role and that our proposals would bring Britain into line with other European countries and remove health and safety burdens from the self-employed in low-risk occupations. I hope that that does provide sufficient assurance, but I will see how far we have been able to do so.
Deregulation Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-04
Topic: Other
Benjamin Stoneham (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, on behalf of these Benches, I thank my noble friend Lord Wallace for seeing us through this Bill. When we started, we thought that this would be a complete nightmare, but his skill, perseverance and patience have helped that not to be so. I thank also the opposition Benches for their part in seeing this legislation through, and our colleagues in our own office, Giles Derrington and Elizabeth Plummer, who supported us through the business of this Bill.
Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-25
Topic: Civil Rights
Eric Lubbock (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I take this opportunity to raise a couple of points which I took up with my noble friend Lord Cormack in Committee and to which I have not received the promised answers. Without going into all the questions that I put to him, the first was whether or not he had taken legal advice on the compatibility of the proposals in the Bill with the public sector equality duty. The answer to that is either yes or no. I also asked him, if he had taken legal advice on it, whether he would place a copy in the Library of the House The second question I put to him, which is equally important, was whether or not Section 111(1) of the Local Government Act already gave local authorities most of the powers that were purported to be given in new Section 138B, which is to be added to the statute book by the Bill. We always say that legislation should not duplicate Acts that are already on the statute book, and I asked my noble friend to say whether he checked this point. I would be most grateful if he could give me replies to both those questions.
Modern Slavery Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-25
Topic: Other
Sally Rachel Hamwee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, on Report, I spoke forcefully in favour of the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, because I thought it was essential to express the strength of my feeling, and for the House to be able to express the strength of its feeling. However, after that debate, I commented to a number of people that I did not think the amendment could stand because I believe that it contains inherent problems. I have in no way changed my view about the issue—having said that, it is inappropriate to refer to people as an "issue"; I mean the situation in which some people find themselves, for which few adjectives are adequate. I hope that those who thanked me at that point will not feel that I am breaking the faith. I am certainly not condoning the situation.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Civil Rights
John Warren Shipley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, Amendment 42A concerns media and public access to meetings, addressing issues around the right of the press and the public to have access to the meetings of combined authorities. Existing statutory requirements enable the press, the media generally and the general public to attend, view or listen to council meetings, council committee meetings and council sub-committee meetings. These regulations are well understood in terms of their requirements and their spirit. Alongside the right to attend meetings, there are rights to receive advance notice of meetings, to see agendas in advance and to inspect relevant documents This amendment seeks to ensure that those rights of access cannot be diminished in the case of combined authorities. It requires reasonable access to be ensured and, in subsection (2), acknowledges the need to ensure that commercial confidentiality is protected and for officials to feel able to give essential advice to those who are charged with making decisions. Both criteria are, of course, within the existing regulations for local government. Why, therefore, does the Bill fail to make any mention of an obligation on the mayoral authorities which it creates to meet in public? Members of the public and the media currently have a general right to attend council meetings, including those of the local authority executive or the cabinet and their committees. They also have the right to film, audio record, tweet or blog from those meetings. These rights are primarily set out in the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 and the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014. Given the freedom that the Secretary of State will have to set up the new authorities by ministerial order, there is great potential for them to be watered down unless the rights of the public and the press are protected by being placed firmly in the Bill Given the importance of overview and scrutiny committees, will the Minister tell us the intention behind Schedule 3, which contains an enabling power allowing the Secretary of State to block disclosure of information to an overview and scrutiny committee and to determine what material it, in turn, can put into the public domain? This amendment seeks to address these concerns. I look forward to the Minister’s confirmation that there will be no diminution of the right of the press, the media generally and the public to attend meetings of combined authorities as they currently do within local government.
Greece — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Susan Kramer (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, watching the events in Greece is like watching a car crash in slow motion, and we on these Benches hope very much that steps will be taken over the coming days and weeks to avert what is undoubtedly a lose-lose outcome for essentially everyone involved. I have a few questions for the Minister Everyone in the House will be concerned for British citizens who are travelling in Greece. For tourists, the advice is to carry cash. I understand that that seems to be the most obvious solution, but I do not think that anyone would recommend it for themselves or their family because it exposes one to extraordinary risk. What conversations are taking place with our consular officials in Greece to see if they can provide some better advice, and if this continues beyond a few days, on looking to work with financial organisations? American Express and Thomas Cook are organisations that come to mind in terms of going back to some of the older methods of payment like travellers’ cheques, which were used before the days of credit cards Can the Minister give an assurance that the UK banks have passed stress tests which look not just at the immediate fall-out of the impact on the Greek banks, but on banks in other parts of the eurozone which might be the victims of knock-on effects by predatory financial traders, and indeed of the normal actions of the market looking for other weak spots? Can he also assure me that conversations have been held with the bank regulators? At times of volatility, and this crisis could lead to one, there is an obvious opportunity for misbehaviour in the financial system. We have another burgeoning crisis in the US swap market and one would hate to see those bad behaviours use the opportunity to take advantage of the volatility that may result from this crisis. Does the Minister agree with the Financial Times that this, "is a soluble problem merely cloaked in an aura of impossibility" Although the British Government have pointed out that they are not directly involved because they are not members of the eurozone, surely this is the time for the Government to make strenuous efforts and urge all parties back to the table. Does he not also agree that this crisis in Greece offers up some broader lessons, one of which is that EU Ministers and Governments will not put up with endless game playing? As a consequence, as he looks at the EU’s own negotiations on reform, will he ask the Government to make sure that they do not focus on synthetic issues—quite frankly, like whether there are phrases about ever-closer union—but on real issues such as the standing of non-eurozone countries and whether they are on a par with others? Perhaps he will speak to members of his own Cabinet who think that playing with a no vote in a referendum is a way to strengthen Britain’s negotiating hand. That is the kind of childish behaviour that we have just seen get Greece into extraordinary difficulties. This is a time when everyone needs to act like a grown-up.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robin Teverson (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply. There is a real problem here and it is something that needs to be fixed. I do not in any way question her or her department’s will that this project happens or that they will communicate with the combined authorities, but the track record shows there is a need here. I will think about that further. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Other
John Warren Shipley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her response. We will look carefully at what she has said and consider whether there is a need to pursue this matter further on Report. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2015-06-29
Topic: Civil Rights
John Warren Shipley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I add two facts for ministerial consideration. One fact that really struck me about the Scottish referendum was the very high turnout rate of 75% of 16 and 17 year-olds, when for the 18 to 24 year-old age group it was only 54%. That is very marked. What it demonstrates is a clear interest in current affairs and their futures. The question is whether an age group that can demonstrate such a commitment to thinking about their future should be denied a vote generally Secondly, decisions are made regularly by local councils which impact on the daily lives of 16 to 18 year-olds. A very good example is the cost of public transport for young people—the cost of bus services, urban rail systems and so on. I have come to the conclusion that the voice of those young people is not adequately heard. I am in favour of votes at 16 and have been for many years, but I am even clearer now that the time has come to implement the change that Scotland has trail-blazed.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Other
Richard Newby (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I thought it might be to the benefit of the House if I reminded your Lordships of the rules of debate on Report. The Companion states: "On report no member may speak more than once to an amendment, except the mover of the amendment in reply or a member who has obtained leave of the House, which may only be granted to: a member to explain himself in some material point of his speech, no new matter being introduced; the member in charge of the bill; and a minister of the Crown … Only the mover of an amendment or the member in charge of the bill speaks after the minister on report except for short questions of elucidation to the minister or where the minister speaks early to assist the House in debate … Arguments fully deployed either in Committee of the whole House or in Grand Committee should not be repeated at length on report".
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Other
Jeremy Purvis (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am grateful and I have been listening very carefully to my noble friend. Perhaps he could clarify to the House what he means by "over the period" of five years. Is it that we would meet it once in every five years? Is it an average over five years? Is it rolling over five years or is it in each year of those five years? Will he clarify his understanding?
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lindsay Granshaw (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The noble Lord has it absolutely right. I am saying that there is no dichotomy between them. It is clear that economic development is transformative; the issue is how you underpin it and take it forward. I was indicating that Jim O’Neill puts that emphasis on human development to have the economic transformation that the noble Lord and my noble friend seek. There is no dichotomy. That is why we approach it in terms of both human development and taking economic development further forward.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Housing
Lindsay Granshaw (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): We are talking about a Bill relating to development. We are talking about a 0.7% target to do with development. That is what the Bill is about and that is why we oppose the amendment: it does not relate to the Bill in question.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill — House of Lords, 2015-02-27
Topic: Other
Jeremy Purvis (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Ordinarily, I would give way but on the basis of that guidance and a reflection on the Companion, I regret that I will not But as my noble friend has drawn me, let me address his amendment. He was referring to whether it would be virtuous to establish a separate organisation to carry out this function. In Committee, I was very clear in citing from the Official Report when my right honourable friend Michael Moore lodged his proposal. I quoted that and need not do so now, but he lodged his proposal and consulted upon it. The Government put forward their reasoned argument with regard to effective independent evaluation. My right honourable friend accepted that argument and the Bill was sufficiently amended. I am therefore satisfied that the Bill as it stands is robust in that regard and does not require the creation of a wholly new and separate quango. We have a structure in place under the Bill that I believe calls for the points that the noble Lord, Lord Hollick, called for. On that basis—and, hopefully, clarification—I hope that he will withdraw his amendment.