argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-01-23
Topic: Education
Julia King (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, this amendment stands in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Wolf. It leads a group of amendments that concern the powers of the OfS, under Clause 40, to authorise higher education providers to grant degrees. This is an important group of amendments, including things as diverse as probationary degree-awarding arrangements and ecclesiastical licences, as well as the focused area covered by the amendments in my name—that of powers to grant higher and research degrees. I would like to talk about that very specific area and I want to make two points First, the expertise in relation to the specific requirements for higher and research degrees lies most strongly with the research community, which is more closely and obviously linked to the research councils and UKRI than to the OfS. Indeed, research councils have significant experience of research degree success criteria, as they provide much of the PhD funding in UK higher education institutions and have established the very successful doctoral training centres Secondly, the majority of the OfS’s work with new providers will relate to undergraduate provision of various forms by a diverse range of providers, many of whom will not offer, or aspire to offer, research or higher degrees. Therefore, this will be a relatively niche activity and perhaps quite a rarely used power for the OfS For those two reasons, it seems to me that it would be both valuable and appropriate for the Office for Students to be required to draw on the expertise in UKRI, and indeed to reach a joint agreement with it when granting powers towards higher and research degrees Amendments 244, 264A and 485B in this group, as well as Amendment 509, relate to the OfS and UKRI being required to work together to grant higher and research degree-awarding powers—something that appears logical and uncontroversial, and I ask the Minister to consider including this in the Bill. I beg to move.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-01-23
Topic: Education
Robert Kerslake (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I speak in favour of Amendments 251, 252, 259 and 260. In doing so, I very much echo the thoughts of the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. These amendments would remove the probationary powers provisions and put a higher test before universities could award degrees. I tabled these amendments because the Government have seriously underestimated the risk to the reputation of the university sector in what they are doing. Collectively, we need to safeguard this reputation and to require that the OfS or a separate body—as has just been proposed—has the necessary confidence that the organisation to which it is granting degree-awarding powers has the capability to do this on an enduring basis I ask noble Lords to put themselves in the position of a student, either in this country or abroad, who comes across the word "probation". They might wonder what the word means and look at the dictionary here. What the dictionary says is that it relates, "to a process of testing or observing the character or abilities of a person who is new to a role or job", or, "relating to the release of an offender from detention subject to a period of good behaviour under supervision" I venture to suggest that not many students would be reassured by that definition and by the prospect of undertaking a degree at the end of which it would be possible for the whole institution to be found inadequate in its requirements, which must be a possibility under the very definition of these provisions. The term "probationary" is wrong and the concept of "probationary" is wrong. We should, instead, insist that anybody in a position to award degrees is able to do so with an enduring capability. This is a crucial point and it is unfortunate that we are coming to it so late in the evening, because I believe it to be fundamental The question your Lordships might ask is: what problem is trying to be solved? I am strongly in favour of new market entry and improving the validating process where it needs improving, but where is the body of evidence that justifies the introduction of probationary degrees? I cannot find it. I have looked carefully at the documents produced on Friday by the Minister, which were very helpful. Page 7 of the factsheet on the validation process refers to "anecdotal evidence". I suggest that we as the House of Lords should not take our decisions on the basis of anecdotal evidence.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-01-23
Topic: Education
Robert Kerslake (Crossbench, Unknown): I just wanted to come back on this issue of the shift in proportion between full-time and part-time degrees. Could the Minister confirm that the significant cause of that shift is the falling off of part-time degrees and that that is related not to the issue of validation but to the change around funding arrangements? We must be clear about the causes of changes here, or we are likely to find the wrong solutions.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-01-23
Topic: Education
Julia King (Crossbench, Unknown): I thank the Minister for his detailed answer, and the other noble Lords for their important contributions to this debate. I feel slightly embarrassed as the leader of the one of the most specific areas of amendments to be the person responding on behalf of all those who have contributed I thank the Minister for his assurance that it will be explicit in the public guidance about UKRI and the OfS that they must work together in the area of research degrees and that this will feature in the memorandum of understanding on how they work together. That is extremely positive. I should still like to see in the Bill that they must work together rather than that they can work together. However, I thank him for his assurance that this will be explicit in guidance I am sure that the right reverend Prelate and the other noble Lord who spoke about the ecclesiastical issues will be happy with the agreement to meet the Minister to take those key areas forward. There is still a significant concern in the Committee, which I share, about the probationary degree-awarding powers, protection for students and whether the evidence is that it is the inability to find a validation partner that is stopping innovation in the system. I am delighted that the Minister has offered further meetings to continue this discussion. I am sure it will come up again as we discuss the validator of last resort, and may well also come up on Report. However, in the light of the detailed response from the Minister and the offers of meetings, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-01-23
Topic: Government Operations
Robert Rogers (Crossbench, Unknown): I am very grateful to the Minister for his careful and detailed reply. The noble Lord, Lord Norton, is on to a good point there. If it is an SI Act 1946 statutory instrument, the Act contains the praying procedure. It would indeed put a Minister perhaps in rather a difficult position, having to defend the case, while having, as it were, abrogated responsibility. That is no doubt something about which we will hear, perhaps in a further edition of these exciting letters I do not quarrel with the proposition that the OfS will be best placed to make the assessment, but that does not necessarily mean that the OfS should be able to engage in the law-making process. I fancy that we have once again encountered what we encountered last Wednesday: two reasonable people can disagree about something without either of them being unreasonable. Issues of policy and principle arise in this group of amendments which might well benefit from being reconsidered on Report, but in the meantime I am very happy to beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Northern Ireland: Political Developments — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: International Affairs
John Taylor (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, as one of those involved in the Belfast agreement, I am delighted at the Statement and the Government’s determination to try to help get devolution restored to Northern Ireland. However, the Statement says: "But should the talks fail in their objectives, the Government will have to consider all options" Is direct rule an option, and is joint rule of Northern Ireland not an option?
Northern Ireland: Political Developments — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Government Operations
Paul Anthony Elliott Bew (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, one of the few positive elements that the Minister was able to give us this afternoon was his reference to progress on accountability and transparency in government, the absence of which played a role in the generation of the scandal that has been so damaging to the institutions. Will he say a little more about what the parties have agreed, or may be in the process of agreeing, to enhance the accountability and transparency of the work of the Executive should they return, as we all hope that they will?
Northern Ireland: Political Developments — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: International Affairs
Nuala O'Loan (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, there seems to be no appetite for direct rule. There is no appetite for an Assembly under the current terms, and there is no appetite for the parties to get together around a table. So in those circumstances, is two weeks long enough or do we need to go well beyond Easter in terms of negotiations before we move to direct rule? I must contradict the noble Lord, from the Cross Benches—that is not a good idea.
Northern Ireland: Political Developments — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: International Affairs
Dafydd Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, can the noble Lord confirm that if no acceptable compromise is reached over the next few weeks and if the situation seems to be such that we are spiralling towards direct rule, would Her Majesty’s Government, in conjunction with the other interested parties, consider inviting a statesman of international renown such as Senator George Mitchell or indeed former President Bill Clinton to intercede in the hope that this perilous impasse can be avoided?
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Simon Denis Brown (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, in common with the noble Lord, Lord Faulks, I too oppose Amendment 1. These unexplained wealth orders, in my submission, are to be welcomed and we must do nothing to dampen them at their outset. However, to put the criminal burden of proof into the very first provision would, I suggest, do just that. This provision surely should be based on the balance of probabilities Government Amendment 6 will introduce into new Section 362B(2) being inserted by the Bill, as the test of satisfaction, "that there is reasonable cause to believe" Your Lordships will notice that new subsection (3) sets out a different test, that of being, "satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the known sources of the … lawfully obtained income would have been insufficient", while new subsection 4(b) says there should be, "reasonable grounds for suspecting that … the respondent is, or has been, involved in serious crime", and so forth. To "suspect" something is merely to suspect that it may be the case; to "believe" something is to believe that it is the case. These tests therefore differ. I do not know, but perhaps the one under new subsection (3) could be tightened. Rather than trying to introduce the criminal burden in the first provision, those who would like to make these orders more difficult might at least want to consider whether "reasonable grounds for suspecting" should be uplifted to the requirement the Government are introducing in amended new subsection (2): that there is "reasonable cause to believe". For my part, I would introduce as the first provision a balance of probability test and leave the others essentially where they stand My only further thought is that if the House—to my mind, unwisely—were to raise the threshold remotely as high as the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, suggests, you would want the lowest test to be enshrined in the Bill; whereas with a lower sum in question, you might want a correspondingly higher test. Those are thoughts, because this, after all, is at an early stage and these are essentially probing amendments.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Ian Warwick Blair (Crossbench, Unknown): I am glad that I did not interrupt the noble Lord, Lord Faulks, because he and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown, approach this matter from long knowledge of the law. I would like to consider the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, in relation to the investigative process. UWOs are effectively a search warrant. That is the test, and that is not beyond reasonable doubt. You have a search warrant because you think something might be happening. When you have executed the search warrant, you know whether it has happened or not and at that point, you might charge someone with a criminal offence, for which the test would be "beyond reasonable doubt". From an investigative point of view, that amendment would put at the front of the operation a test which is almost impossible to pass unless you issue the order and effectively use a search warrant on the individual’s bank balances.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicholas Addison Phillips (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I speak in harmony with the previous two speakers. I have some experience of this area, having wrestled in a judicial capacity with more than one appeal in relation to the Proceeds of Crime Act, and I have also recently taken the chair of the board which supervises more draconian legislation than the Bill for the confiscation of unexplained wealth in Mauritius. These unexplained wealth orders are designed to deal with the very real difficulty of proving facts which are likely to be in the exclusive knowledge of the holder of wealth. It would be simply contrary to the policy to impose the criminal rather than the civil burden of proof in respect of matters such as the value of property in which a person has an interest or the very question of whether he has an interest in that property at all.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Simon Denis Brown (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I start with a very pedantic point. If this amendment is to go ahead, it needs to begin with an "or". As the noble and very clever though not technically learned Lord points out, this is a further alternative to the two already listed in new Section 362B(4). The next point is that of course the property here envisaged, registered in the name of an overseas company in which the respondent has an interest, is not—I repeat, not—the same property as referred to in subsection (1), in respect of which one seeks to have an unexplained wealth order made. It is a different property altogether I have great sympathy with the amendment and the policy underlying it. Like the noble Lord, Lord Deben, I deplore the extent to which London properties are in foreign ownership nowadays. But I respectfully wonder how far the amendment would go—if any distance—in actually dealing with that problem and with money laundering. Surely with regard to most of the people who buy and own these London properties—if they are not already PEPs, or politically exposed persons, and we know that a lot of them probably are—nobody questions how much money they have. But would it not then be rather difficult to satisfy the earlier requirement —which, again, has to be satisfied to make one of these orders—in new subsection (3)? Each of the various requirements set out in proposed new subsections (2), (3) and (4) has to be satisfied. First you have to show that they hold property of the relevant value; then, in new subsection (3) you have to be satisfied that, "there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the known sources of the respondent’s lawfully obtained income would have been insufficient for the purposes of enabling the respondent to obtain the property" The property there being referred to is not property in London registered in the name of an overseas company, it is the property in respect of which you are seeking a UWO Those points need to be borne in mind before one goes down this particular road. It is not going to be the panacea that some who have contributed to the debate thus far seem to think it is likely to be.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Simon Denis Brown (Crossbench, Unknown): I want to address only Amendments 58 and 59, both of which I oppose, to new Section 336B on page 28 of the Bill. That section deals with an application under the previous section to extend the moratorium period, which has to be dealt with as soon as is practicable. New subsection (3) says that the court, "may exclude from any part of the hearing … an interested person", or "anyone representing that person". We see that formulation again in new subsections (4) and (6). They are the people whose presence or otherwise at the hearing is in question New subsection (4) allows for a particular application, that certain specified information may be withheld from the interested person or representative, but that order can be made only under new subsection (5), if the court is, "satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that if the specified information were disclosed", something bad would happen—that either, "evidence of an offence would be interfered with or … the gathering of information …would be interfered with", or somebody would be injured, or, "the recovery of property … would be hindered, or … national security would be put at risk" In that situation, new subsection (6) comes into play. Unlike new subsection (3), which we looked at earlier, where the court "may exclude", in this instance—because it relates to an application under new subsection (4)—the court inevitably "must" direct that the interested person or his representative be excluded. With the best will in the world, I cannot see how we could sensibly leave out new subsection (6), which puts a requirement on the court which is not to be found in new subsection (3), which deals with the general position. Nor would it make any sense whatever to substitute "may" for "must". You have already got "may" in new subsection (3), but for this situation, "must" is the appropriate direction to the court for the order to be made. I respectfully oppose those amendments.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Nicholas Addison Phillips (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I support this amendment. I suggest that whistleblowers need to be both protected and rewarded in order to encourage them. The Mauritian legislation of which I spoke earlier makes provision for rewards to be paid to whistleblowers whose information leads to the confiscation of unexplained wealth. Indeed, the board that I chair has the function of making such awards. In my view this is a salutary provision as one of the weapons in the fight against crime and corruption. Therefore, I support in principle this amendment, but as a starting point because I suggest that it is a principle that should be applied much more widely in the case of action taken that leads to the recovery of the proceeds of crime.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
John Stevens (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I also support this group of amendments. I declare an interest as my son is the head of the financial recovery unit of the Metropolitan Police. This is one area of the Bill that had an immense weakness. To ensure that the provisions work properly as far as officers working on the front line are concerned, these amendments must be inserted into the legislation.
Criminal Finances Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-28
Topic: Law and Crime
John Stevens (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I support Amendments 81, 82 and 83. I pay tribute to the Minister and her team, who have listened to the officers who are actually on the front line as well as to others. In general terms—and I know these are probing amendments—if there are direct links between money assets and anything that may be used as currency, can consideration be given to those links being widened? Pursuing that would be of great help to the agencies which are enforcing these laws. I stress my tribute to the Minister and her team for listening to those who have to enforce these laws.
Class 4 National Insurance Contributions — House of Lords, 2017-03-15
Topic: Macroeconomics
Karan Bilimoria (Crossbench, Unknown): Although I welcome the fact that the Government have backed down on this, the reason given very clearly is on the spirit of a manifesto commitment not being broken. Well, the biggest manifesto commitment that has been broken is remaining in the single market. Are the Government now going to back-track on that? We shall wait and see The main reason why people—and when I say people I mean Members across the parties in another place and here—objected to this increase in national insurance contributions for self-employed people affecting more than 2.5 million people is because the perception that it sends out is that the Government are going after and hitting the very people who take the risk to be self-employed and going against encouraging entrepreneurship. Would the Minister agree that the main role of government in this area is to encourage entrepreneurship, which means encouraging job creation, tax takes and growth, which will help to get rid of the deficit—not by hurting the very people who will create that growth?
Neighbourhood Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-15
Topic: Government Operations
Andrew Mawson (Crossbench, Unknown): I welcome that, and I absolutely agree with the noble Lord. The Civil Service finds it very hard to understand—and I think that the noble Lord is saying the same thing—that what really matters is having people around the table from different sectors who care about the place and are going to stay on this journey a very long time. It takes a long time to deliver these things and it is very difficult, but it is all about having the right people—people who care.
Higher Education and Research Bill — House of Lords, 2017-03-15
Topic: Technology
Julia King (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I give my strong support to the government amendments in this group that allow for larger research councils, including an executive, and make it clear that our research can aim just to advance knowledge. I am very much an applied scientist, but I think it is hugely important that people are able do research that is just about moving forward the frontiers of their subject, even if we may not know for many years whether it has any purpose or practical application. I am delighted to see that such a provision has been included. I thank the Minister for not only listening to the comments of noble Lords and the research and innovation community, but responding to them I also add my support to Amendments 164A and 166A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, which would add a senior independent member to each council. I encourage the Minister to adopt that approach among the many other excellent improvements that he has already made.