argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
English Votes on English Laws — House of Commons, 2015-07-02
Topic: International Affairs
Thomas Anthony Brake (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): As devolution to the nations continues apace, we need to find a solution to the English question. The Liberal Democrats remain of the view that a constitutional convention must be part of that solution. The Leader of the House has proposed a novel process, but will he confirm that he will engage with all the parties over the next few weeks and will not proceed with these changes to Standing Orders if they will have severe consequences for the future of the Union?
Serious Crime Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Government Operations
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Will the Minister say something about the time scale? As of when will production orders be required, and will the secondary legislation on the code of practice be in place before the election, so that we can pass it in time?
Serious Crime Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-02-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank the Minister, and I will hold her to at least seeking parliamentary approval in time. I accept that she cannot guarantee that both Houses will vote for the code, but I should be very alarmed if Parliament were not keen to ensure that journalists were included The Minister also spoke about the requirement for production orders to be used in the meantime. That is welcome, because the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 currently protects journalists so that their sources cannot be sought without judicial authorisation, but may I ask the Minister whether the use of such orders is a policy requirement as of today, whether it will require legislative change, and what time scale will be involved? I hope she will confirm that she has made a policy announcement that will take immediate effect. She does not seem to wish to intervene at the moment, but I hope that she will give answers to those questions by the end of the debate, so that I can decide whether any amendments or new clauses need to be put to a vote The Minister said that legislation would not be possible until the next Parliament. She was right to identify a technical drafting issue. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) was also right to say that the Government could have fixed that had they really wanted to, but we are where we are, and I accept that, as things are, we will be leaving serious crime to be treated differently from other issues. I hope that the Minister will confirm that the draft clause—of which I have been handed a copy—will be published so that the whole House has a chance to look at it. It is a welcome step, but it does not seem to be clear about article 10 rights, and I think that it will need to be improved in that regard I hope that the Minister will make the time scale clear, so that the House can make the right decision. It is important for us to protect journalists, and I pay tribute to those who worked so hard to ensure that that could happen. I hope that we can take a full step now, rather than a slightly small, grudging step
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Will the Minister ask officials to look compassionately on benefits arrangements for people with mental health difficulties? So often, when these people are called for assessment, it is not obvious that they really do have problems.; Following my request for a rescheduled meeting about the independent living fund, the Minister kindly wrote to me on 15 January, but why did he make no reference to my request for a meeting and why did he refer me to post-ILF provision under Newcastle city council when my constituency is North Tyneside?; The Government have rightly tackled the long-standing chaos in the Child Support Agency, but attracted controversy with their new 4% admin charge on struggling parents with care when the other parent is not stepping up to the plate. What assessment have the Government made of the big drop-off in the number of parents using the Child Maintenance Service? Are absent parents magically paying up to avoid their charge or are parents with care being scared off to avoid theirs?
Steven John Webb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I was beginning to feel unemployed until this moment. [Laughter.] The philosophy of the new Child Maintenance Service is that, wherever possible, we want to encourage people to sort things out for themselves if they can. The £20 charge is designed to encourage people to think before applying to the Child Maintenance Service. Where, however, there is an instance of domestic violence, for example, that £20 will be waived. We are undertaking research into the people who contact us and then do not use our services to ensure that effective maintenance arrangements are being put in place.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Labor
Questions: Will the Minister ask officials to look compassionately on benefits arrangements for people with mental health difficulties? So often, when these people are called for assessment, it is not obvious that they really do have problems.; Following my request for a rescheduled meeting about the independent living fund, the Minister kindly wrote to me on 15 January, but why did he make no reference to my request for a meeting and why did he refer me to post-ILF provision under Newcastle city council when my constituency is North Tyneside?; The Government have rightly tackled the long-standing chaos in the Child Support Agency, but attracted controversy with their new 4% admin charge on struggling parents with care when the other parent is not stepping up to the plate. What assessment have the Government made of the big drop-off in the number of parents using the Child Maintenance Service? Are absent parents magically paying up to avoid their charge or are parents with care being scared off to avoid theirs?; The Secretary of State has said that local authorities are choosing to give funds to local food banks. I can assure him that Mayor Joe Anderson in Liverpool does not relish having to spend £138,000 to tackle food poverty locally in Liverpool. Will the Secretary of State sit down with representatives from the Trussell Trust to help him understand how more than 1 million people are being forced to go hungry by the actions of his Department?; What steps is the Minister taking to tackle long-term youth unemployment in areas of high deprivation such as Easington? What specific measures has he identified to help my constituents?; The Secretary of State said that by the start of this year no one would wait more than 16 weeks for a personal independence payment assessment. Will he tell us whether that is the case—yes or no?
Steven John Webb (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Action is already being taken. Those statistics were a snapshot showing the position in April 2014. Measures that we have announced, such as the charge cap, mean that some of those schemes will be dealt with, and by the end of this week I shall have met six major pension providers to discuss how we can speed up the process of tackling the high legacy pension charges which the last Government did nothing to tackle.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Environment
Duncan Hames (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Three times now the Minister has referred to moving to lower carbon emissions in the UK, but what good is that if it results in displaced coal being available for use in other parts of the developed world? Whether the emissions come from coal being burnt in Germany or in the UK, they still contribute to climate change.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Energy
Robert Hill Smith (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The important thing that has come from these exchanges is that it is the use of carbon that causes the emissions. Therefore, it is crucial that we have a proper emissions trading scheme throughout Europe and that the source of the energy should be as low carbon as possible. Therefore, maximising the economic production from the North sea is an important first step.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Environment
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank the Minister for that amendment. It goes halfway towards my amendment, which called for that to happen and then said that we should not allow fracking if it increased emissions. She spoke about the report from Dave Mackay, one of my constituents. Does she accept that he also says that "in the absence of strong climate policies…we believe it is credible that shale-gas use would increase both short-term and long-term emissions rates?" If it turns out that we do see higher carbon emissions, will she agree that we should end fracking at that point at least?
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Energy
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I will try to be brief, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Joan Walley), and I pay tribute to her for her work on this issue and her call for the moratorium, with which I agree. We have the problem of using too many fossil fuels; despite knowing the harm that climate change is causing and is going to continue to cause, we still see a thirst to have more and more of them. The solution has to look different. Perhaps in the future it will be nuclear fusion—who knows? We are 25 years away from that, as we have been for about 50 years. We have to reach a situation where we have renewables and other low-carbon energy sources, and energy efficiency, so that we use less energy, be it for heating, transport or anything else.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Energy
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Indeed; we should be seeing a quest for more renewables. One of my concerns about the dash for fracking and for gas is that it can be seen as a substitute for a dash for renewables and other low-carbon technologies, which is where we have to get to. That is what worries me about all this. When we know from study after study of the huge amounts of fossil fuels that we have to leave in the earth because we simply cannot afford the harm that would come from burning them, why go to a mass effort to legislate to say that we have to take as much as possible out of the ground? That is not the right way to go. Carbon emissions, be they carbon dioxide or methane, are the biggest problems with shale gas and fracking It is very interesting to look at the scientific evidence on the comparison with liquefied natural gas. A comment was made about my constituent Dave MacKay and the range of carbon emissions. What he found was that the range of carbon emissions from shale gas overlaps with that from liquefied natural gas. There is no guarantee that we will see a reduction as a result.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Environment
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I will not give way, because many Members wish to speak Other concerns have been mentioned. I am talking about not the extreme claims that do not stack up but the real issues around this matter such as water usage.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Environment
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank the Minister for that welcome news. I was going to talk about water usage, but I will turn to that matter instead. The Minister’s words effectively bring us closer to proposed new clause 4 and amendment 44, which were tabled by me and a number of my Liberal Democrat colleagues. They propose that we should not allow fracking if it leads to an increase in carbon emissions I thank the Government for new clause 15, which takes us halfway there, and this other amendment, which takes us even further. We will know, as a result of this change, whether there are higher carbon emissions. The change does not go quite as far as banning fracking, but it is, none the less, a welcome step. I will not now be pressing new clause 4 and amendment 44 to a Division I still feel strongly about new clause 6, but we are waiting to get clarity from the Department about exactly which areas are excluded. I hope that we will get that clarity later. New clause 9, on a moratorium on onshore unconventional petroleum, was tabled by the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi), who asked me to speak in support of it as she is unable to be here today. I believe that we should have that moratorium, and so am happy to support that new clause. I would love to hear what the position of the official Opposition is on it as they were not prepared to say. On amendments 50 and 51, which I also feel strongly about, the Opposition made it clear that they do not support them. We will see what happens if we have the opportunity to test the will of the House on those as well.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend, a former Minister in the Department, for his intervention. We did indeed seek to concur with the GLA: it identified the problem, and now we have introduced the solution I turn to new clause 3 and Labour party policy on the proposed introduction of a national infrastructure commission. The Bill covers a range of important issues, but the debate we had in Committee on this proposal from the Opposition was one of the more thoughtful and interesting: we dealt not only with the intricacies of formulating infrastructure policy, but with the role of the Government and Members of Parliament in formulating a vision for rail, road, energy and other infrastructure development? I am grateful to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) for re-tabling the new clause and allowing us to deal with these issues again.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): In recent weeks and months, the question of whether to set up a separate body has been much debated in both Houses, and many people outside Parliament, including the Armitt commission set up by the Opposition, have contributed thoughtfully to that debate. All of that has informed our discussions, but the Government take the view that it is up to Ministers, accountable to Parliament, to set out the infrastructure vision for the development of our country. It is not something we should subcontract to another body; it should be up to us. Our constituents should make representations to hon. Members to inform our deliberations, rather than feeling they have to go to a non-elected body to make those important recommendations.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): It is tempting to debate whether there should be a third runway at Heathrow or whether it should be built at Gatwick—we have all seen the adverts on the tube and elsewhere in London—but I do not think you would want me to go down that path, Mr Deputy Speaker We recognise the need for one interconnected strategy for all our infrastructure networks.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Alan Beith (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The Minister just mentioned the Bill’s relevance to the roads investment strategy, which I take to include the dualling of a large part of the A1 in my constituency. Am I right in thinking that the mechanism in the Bill gives some assurance that future Governments will have an obligation to continue with that responsibility?
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Yes. In this instance, terms such as "earliest opportunity", "shortly" and "soon" really do mean that. We all know that we are up against the buffers of a fixed-term Parliament, which is a very good constitutional initiative. When I say "at the earliest opportunity", I mean "at the earliest opportunity". In other words, we hope that the statutory instrument to which my hon. Friend has referred will be published and laid before Parliament in the next few weeks.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): That is similar to examples that I gave earlier, in which councils were conservative, with a small "c", in their interpretation of the legislation. The Localism Act makes it clear that if 21 people come forward and say, "This is an asset of community value to us", the local authority should list it unless the criteria set out in the Act apply. The Act contains nothing about compensation, requirements for business plans, or any of the other matters that campaign groups have brought to my attention. We are reviewing the Act, and I trust that all those concerns will be knocked on the head in due course.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Environment
Stephen Roy Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My hon. Friend has put his remarks on the record. He will know that neither I nor any other Minister in the DCLG can comment on a particular plan Government amendments 84, 45 and 46 deal with the control of invasive and non-native species. Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall resist the temptation to speak about the European beaver and other interesting items that would have been in my speech I turn to the telecoms provisions that were introduced into the Bill in Committee, as we heard earlier. The House will have heard the Minister of State, Department for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), give the reasons why the Government now wish to withdraw these proposals when he discussed the programme motion. Accepting Government amendments 91, 92, 93, 100 and 104 to 108 would give effect to what my right hon. Friend described at the beginning of our deliberations.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Government Operations
Gregory Thomas Mulholland (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I shall be as quick as possible, Madam Deputy Speaker. I had a conversation with the Minister of State, Department for Transport, the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), and I must thank him for his collaborative way of working, and his attempt to find a solution and get through to the Department for Communities and Local Government—alas, he failed. The Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Stephen Williams) rather gave the game away when he said that what is being proposed is not a concession but something the Government were discussing and planning to do in any case. So this has nothing to do with a concession for today; the House needs to be clear on that. One serious point is that DCLG civil servants told the Campaign for Real Ale that the change that has been proposed—not a concession, as we know—would need primary legislation and could not be done through secondary legislation. There is a concern as to whether it could even happen New clause 16 is a much better solution. It is not partial and the Government’s solution would cost more, involve much more bureaucracy, take much longer and be considerably less effective. None of us wants red tape, but if hon. Members think red tape is acceptable for nightclubs, theatres and laundrettes, not supporting new clause 16 sends a clear message that not only do they not support local pubs, but they do not think local people should have a say. If hon. Members support pubs and support local democracy, they should vote for new clause 16, and if they do not, they should vote against.
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): On behalf of everyone else from the all-party cycling group, others who supported the new clause and all the organisations who have worked on this, I thank the Minister for the Government agreeing to do this, because it will make a big difference. Will he update us on what has happened to the draft strategy that came out last year? When should we expect a full-blown strategy to take effect?
Infrastructure Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Alan Beith (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): There is no better illustration of the Minister’s point than the history of A1 dualling over decades. I commend the Government for building in a commitment to, and the means of achieving, a substantial part of that. We would like more to be dualled, but that is a very significant move forward.
Traffic safety measures in Cartmel — House of Commons, 2015-01-26
Topic: Transportation
Timothy James Farron (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I seek to present a petition on behalf of residents in Cartmel and neighbouring communities concerned about road safety outside Cartmel Priory school. The petition states: The Petition of a resident of the UK, Declares that current traffic safety measures on the road outside Cartmel Priory School are insufficient and pose a safety risk to pupils and local residents and further that a local petition on this matter was signed by 255 individuals The Petitioner therefore requests that the House of Commons urges the Government to launch an urgent strategic review of traffic safety measures in the Cartmel area and the implementation of further controls and restrictions And the Petitioner remains, etc [P001423]
Household Energy Bills — House of Commons, 2015-02-05
Topic: Energy
Edward Jonathon Davey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): Energy bills remain a worry for many, so we have three main ways of helping households: giving direct financial help, promoting competition and enabling energy efficiency. Our financial help includes the £2.15 billion winter fuel allowance for pensioners, and more than £31 million will be spent this winter on providing assistance to more than 2 million low-income and vulnerable households. Although there remains room for improvement, energy markets are more competitive than they were in 2010, enabling many people to save around £300 a year by switching supplier. Our energy efficiency policies, which provide permanent cuts to bills, have improved the energy efficiency of more than 1 million homes, enabling us to meet our target earlier than expected.
Household Energy Bills — House of Commons, 2015-02-05
Topic: Energy
Edward Jonathon Davey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I certainly agree with Which?, which has welcomed the referral of the energy market to the Competition and Markets Authority—something that we have backed. The Leader of the Opposition, when he was doing my job, failed to back such a referral on three occasions. It is vital that the cuts in wholesale costs are passed to consumers, and we are on it.
Household Energy Bills — House of Commons, 2015-02-05
Topic: Energy
Edward Jonathon Davey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): The problem with the Opposition’s policy is that if we had listened to them and frozen bills, people would now have even higher bills and would be in even more debt. We are not going to listen to the Opposition’s failed energy policy. Our policy has seen bills come down, not just frozen. People can get some of the best deals by switching to the independents that we have encouraged into the market.