argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-15
Topic: Immigration
Elizabeth Redfern (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will speak briefly and to the point to Amendment 84. It would significantly undermine the Government’s ability to enforce immigration controls and maintain public safety, which is paramount. In the current climate of high migration and growing security threats, I am sure that noble Lords would agree that we need to consider very carefully any measure that could undermine public safety. Although the amendment would not apply to the time limit for certain foreign national criminals, who have knowingly broken immigration laws, these individuals would be able to rely on being released by continuing to obstruct removal It is important to note that, based on current behaviours, a large majority of those currently detained would be likely to take advantage of the time limit. This would seriously undermine the legitimate operation controls and pose an unnecessary threat to the public. It would add a further strain on resources, create more bureaucracy and waste time and taxpayers’ money on unnecessary paperwork and legalities. It is in everyone’s best interests to have an asylum system where decisions are taken quickly and effectively, but not because it is rushed When we deprive someone of their liberty, that decision should never be undertaken lightly. As a country, we should be proud that we take our duty of care very seriously when individuals are detained.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-15
Topic: Immigration
Richard Keen (Conservative, Centre-right): I am obliged to noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. The diversity of views expressed perhaps underlines the issues that have to be wrestled with in such a difficult area The Government take the issue of deprivation of liberty very seriously. Our current published policy in respect of immigration detention is quite clear: there is a presumption of liberty. There is a well-established principle that for an individual to be detained pending removal there must be a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable time, and that is carried out by virtue of judicial oversight. Depriving someone of their liberty is always subject to careful consideration and account is invariably taken of individual circumstances. Amendment 84 would significantly impact on our ability to enforce immigration controls and maintain public safety, particularly at a time when the Government have set out a commitment to ensure effective use of detention, complemented by a renewed focus on facilitating an increased number of voluntary returns without detention, which safeguards the most vulnerable while helping to reduce levels of immigration abuse It might be helpful to remind noble Lords that most people detained under immigration powers spend only relatively short periods in detention. According to published statistics for the year ending September 2015, more than 32,000 people left detention. Of these, 62% had been in detention for fewer than 28 days. The overwhelming majority of detainees—93%—left detention within four months. Of those, approximately 40% were subject to deportation action, having been previously convicted of criminal offences in the United Kingdom or the EU and having refused to leave the UK on a voluntary basis.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-15
Topic: Immigration
Richard Keen (Conservative, Centre-right): With that encouragement, perhaps I may take just a little longer, knowing that I have noble Lords’ ears if not their best wishes. The noble Baroness, Lady Lister, raised a number of questions. I would be perfectly content to respond to them in writing, albeit that no commitment can be given. Putting the matter shortly—yes, the Scottish Law Officer is somewhat verbose, I am afraid—it is the intention of the Government to reflect on the matter of the detention of pregnant women. They do not consider that it would be appropriate for there to be an absolute rule. To give one very short and simple example, if an illegal immigrant arrives at an airport and it is possible to return them almost immediately, it may be necessary for there to be detention even for a very short period. However, the Government will reflect on this and will have considered the matter by Third Reading. I hope that that will reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, at this stage In these circumstances, and with your Lordships’ benign encouragement, I ask that Amendments 84 and 85 be not pressed and that Amendment 86 be agreed.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-15
Topic: Immigration
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): To use the precise words we have agreed—obviously, we have agreed this between different government departments so I need to stick rigidly to what was said—I can confirm that if the further DWP evaluation I have referred to shows that it is necessary to increase the length of the grace period to consistently enable newly recognised refugees to begin to receive welfare benefits for which they are eligible before their Home Office support ends, we will return to Parliament with a proposal to amend the regulations to that effect. I am sure we can have an ongoing dialogue. I know that there is a very good relationship with the Red Cross in these areas. Officials meet it regularly and I am sure they will be able to share the information that comes in as it is received.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-03-15
Topic: Other
Michael Bates (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I did actually say that it would probably be later this year. That would give us the necessary time to gather the new information on the basis of the new changes that have been introduced to our procedures to try to address the concerns that the noble Baroness has identified.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
John Horam (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, said graciously that there has been a sea change in Government policy towards housing in the past year or so that recognises that there is obviously a severe problem in London and the south-east in particular, but also in other parts of the country. In debates on housing, we have heard occasionally from the noble Lord on the Liberal Democrat Benches about the different perspective of Pendle in the north-west, but broadly speaking it is recognised that there is a real crisis in housing throughout almost all the country. The Government should be congratulated on this imaginative proposal. I do not suppose that anyone will want to stop it going through in its broad shape, given that it has gone through the other place, but we are here to improve things and I think this proposal can be improved. As the noble Lord, Lord Best, pointed out in his speech moving Amendment 1, it is a very expensive proposal that will cost £8.6 billion if it achieves the full panoply of 200,000 results. That is a lot of money. Even though some of it is offset, it is offset in ways which housing experts rather deplore. For example, less Section 106 affordable housing will be built if this development goes ahead. As the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, pointed out, there will be fewer Build to Rent proposals, which is one of the most imaginative things on the housing horizon. I also get the impression from talking to housing associations that they are concerned about the shared equity homes into which they have put a lot of money, and which are fully supported by Government grant. Those are just three areas that may well be adversely affected by so much emphasis on starter homes.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I apologise for the delay—first day back and all that—but I will now move the amendments. Amendments 2 and 3 require qualifying first-time buyers to be a minimum age of 23 to be able to purchase a starter home As I made clear in Committee, the Government want to strongly discourage starter homes from being considered as commercial investment opportunities rather than homes to live in. Many noble Lords expressed concerns about the eligibility criteria for those able to purchase a starter home, including the possibility of such homes being used as an investment vehicle. One area of risk has been identified as parents buying starter homes in the name of young children, or even their young adult children who are not yet in a position to buy because they are not in stable employment but in higher education I listened carefully to the debate in Committee, and, as a result, we have tabled the amendment to introduce a minimum-age criterion that would limit the ability to purchase a starter home to those who are aged 23 or over. This would prevent individuals purchasing a starter home in the name of a child or perhaps a student under the age of 23 We have considered the age that adult children leave education or training to enter the job market so as to become realistic first-time buyers in their own right. We estimate that about four-fifths of higher education students turn 23 either during their final year or after graduation. This minimum age requirement strikes the right balance between providing real opportunities for hard-working young people and families to secure a home and discouraging starter homes from being used as an investment opportunity. My department’s analysis of Council of Mortgage Lenders data suggests that, in 2015, only 4% of first-time buyers were under 23. I expect that this minimum age requirement would directly impact a relatively low proportion of potential buyers, but would restrict the scope to game the opportunity provided by starter homes. I therefore ask that this amendment be agreed to.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I was unable to attend the Committee sitting in question, but I read the report carefully and understand entirely where my noble friend is coming from. She said that it may affect only 4%. I congratulate her on responding to your Lordships in seeking to address the potential abuse that she rightly identifies, but there is always a risk of viewing legislation from a London position and in a world where so many people who write and think about legislation went to university. Many people do not go to university, and in some parts of the country property values are quite low. In that 4%, there will be aspirant young couples—plumbers or mechanics married to teachers—who have the same hope to make a start in life and who should not be excluded from the opportunity for the sake of closing a loophole I know how difficult this is, and I will certainly not oppose my noble friend’s amendment, but it will go back to the other place as a Lords amendment, so it will be subject to further consideration. I ask that we have a mind in this great House to that small 4% who may not have been to university, do not live in high-property-value areas but want to be first-time buyers and to benefit from the provision. I congratulate my noble friend on responding to the House, but I hope that, when the Bill goes to another place, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will give further consideration to twiddling the amendment a little.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Gary Porter (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as this is the first time I have spoken on Report, I remind the House of my declaration of interests. It is long and exhaustive, and I do not propose to read it out again. Noble Lords should refer to previous copies of Hansard or to the register, where it is all recorded I support my noble friend Lord True on the age restriction. I would not go through the wrong Lobby on this minor issue, which is going to go to the other end of the building and hopefully someone will look at it, but the age restriction based on the arguments that were exercised in this House excludes some people who may well be able to purchase a starter home if they are not university students. To exclude people who are not university students because we are worried about avaricious parents of university students seems perverse. I hope the Government will try to work out a way in which we can get a restriction on people getting into schemes that does not preclude those youngsters—probably in couples, with trades behind them—who could earn enough money, subject to being able to get access to a deposit, for 80% of the value of the scheme where they would not for 100%. That aspect requires a bit more work In response to my noble friend Lord Best’s comments about properties for the elderly being excluded from this measure, quite clearly there would be an expectation that we would not be putting starter homes on elderly-unit accommodation. However, that is not to say that a developer, if the financial circumstances warranted it, should not be expected to pay a commuted sum to offset the cost of starter homes on an alternative site. Some more work needs to be done on this to ensure that we are not allowing some developers to get off without it while we are imposing it on others.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): On the government amendment regarding the minimum age of 23, I take the points made by my two noble friends. The under-23s are of course aspirants too, and in certain parts of the country this policy might really help them. But as the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, says, we have to draw the line somewhere and, given that 96% of 23 to 40 year-olds will benefit, that is where we have chosen to draw it I thank my noble friend Lord Lansley for his Amendment 4. As noble Lords will know, we are committed to delivering the 135,000 shared-ownership and 10,000 rent-to-buy products. Each has its place, and these products can and do complement each other. They can be considered by councils as part of their wider affordable-housing requirements for their area, and the starter homes clauses will not prevent these developments coming forward. We will be touching on this later on Report. However, trying to blend them would create complexity and lose the distinctive characteristics of each, and it could put at risk our starter homes manifesto commitment. For example, if a young person entered a right-to-buy arrangement, at what point in their occupation of the property would they be committed to purchase? After how many years of occupation would they be entitled to sell at an increased market value? That could be difficult to justify when we need to deliver as many new homes as possible Still, we recognise that there may be different routes to purchase, and over time there may be different opportunities to consider how these will fit within the overall starter home model. Much of the detail on the model will sit in secondary legislation, and the definition of purchase in the Bill is broad enough to allow different purchase mechanisms to be used. As the starter home model rolls out, we will keep it under review I also thank the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Beecham, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Andrews—who is not in her place—and Lady Bakewell, for Amendment 10. Our consultation on the starter homes regulations sets out potential flexibility on the on-site starter homes requirement. We recognise that some developments, including age-restricted schemes, do not easily lend themselves to an on-site provision, and we do not want to render those schemes unviable or undeliverable.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): Before my noble friend sits down, I apologise for not having reminded noble Lords of my interest as leader of a local authority, although the issue that I raised would not apply there. I was disappointed by my noble friend’s response and by the response from the Front Bench opposite. If the Labour Party does not recognise the potential situation of young people in craft or trade, who may be precisely the sort of people who are caught if we have an arbitrary age limit, that is disappointing. This issue may be dealt with in regulations, but regulations cannot solve the problem if there is not primary legislation at the cut-off stage. I ask only that there is some criterion where people under 23 have to show whether they are in full-time employment or have their own income as the basis for securing a loan. It ought to be possible to bring in that other 4% of aspirants and I hope that that will be considered.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Nicholas True (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I, too, should declare an interest as a member of the Leaders’ Committee of London Councils. I should make it clear that London Councils is sympathetic to the amendments in the group, although I do not speak on its behalf I hope very much that my noble friend, in summing up, will show the same understanding she had in Committee for the issues raised in the amendments. There is certainly a concern about the hierarchy of need and the difficulty in some areas of providing affordable housing, and the potential problems, particularly in high-income areas in my case, of starter homes squeezing out. I know that it is not the intention of my noble friend Lord Kerslake, or anybody else, but I do not want to see us getting to the point where we make it less likely that a government initiative, which was a manifesto initiative, and has been supported, will be implemented across the board. It is an extremely difficult balance to strike I am seeking something that is not necessarily on the face of the Bill but which shows a real display of understanding by the Government of some of the tensions and difficulties. I think that I heard in Committee—and I am sure that I will hear again today—about the difficulties of providing for the gamut of different types of housing needs in an area. That will certainly include affordable for rent, starter homes where we can do them, and other things of a different nature. So I would be nervous of putting something in the Bill that might inhibit or be used to inhibit—it could be the basis of legal challenge, or whatever—the delivery of starter homes, but I hope that my noble friend will show very much that she has heard and understands the spirit of the amendments.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank noble Lords, particularly the noble Lords, Lord Cameron and Lord Best, for the persuasive arguments they put forward in Committee. We would not want to create some of the effects they talked about, such as benevolent landowners putting forward sites that are then slapped with a starter home policy. I ask the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, to allow me to take this issue away and return to it at Third Reading. I hope that that will help him and other noble Lords who plan to speak on this amendment.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Housing
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Foster, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, for the amendments and the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, for speaking to them. I need to be clear right from the outset that there is nothing in Clauses 3 and 4 that prevents the use of Section 106 with starter home developments, and local authorities will still be able to seek on-site Section 106 infrastructure contributions. Section 106 agreements are crucial for securing the supporting infrastructure. Indeed, our starter home requirement will be secured on sites using Section 106 agreements. We are working with the sector on draft model Section 106 clauses to help local authorities and applicants with the process. As such, we expect authorities to continue to have regard to the need to secure Section 106 agreements on starter home developments, as they would do on any other development The noble Lord, Lord Foster, asked about the new burden assessment. I can assure the House that the new burdens on local authorities arising from starter home duties, such as that of providing monitoring information, will be considered in the usual way that new burdens are Planning decisions for all developments, including those that contain starter homes, will still need to be made in accordance with local planning policy, subject to the starter homes requirement and other material considerations. Infrastructure considerations will clearly need to be issued Yes, we are going to reaffirm in national planning policy that affordable housing contributions should not be sought for starter homes and that we need to exempt starter homes from community infrastructure levy contributions. I make it absolutely clear that this will align with existing practice on affordable housing and that local authorities will continue to be able to seek site-specific infrastructure improvements, if they are necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms. They will also continue to be able to seek additional on-site affordable housing, including housing for social rent and shared ownership, where it is viable to do so I have listened carefully to the debate and hope that the reassurance that local authorities will continue to be able to use Section 106 agreements to secure infrastructure on sites means there is no need to divide your Lordships’ House and that the amendment will be withdrawn.
Panama Papers — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Tina Stowell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I can tell the right reverend Prelate that the register of beneficial ownership, which will be established in the United Kingdom, will, from June, be available publicly to anybody who wants to access it The overseas territories and Crown dependencies have committed to collate the relevant information on beneficial ownership so that our law enforcement agencies are able to access it. That is a step forward and a significant improvement on the current situation. They have not committed to preparing a public register but nor has any other country around the world, so I think we should acknowledge the positive steps that the Crown dependencies and overseas territories are taking. Clearly, we will continue to work with them so that they always look at taking further steps. We will make sure that they are in a strong position by adopting the standards that we would expect of any overseas territory, any Crown dependency or any place associated with the United Kingdom, so that they are chosen as places where those who are respected can invest in a respectful way and so that they, as nations, can prosper from those investments.
Update on the UK Steel Industry — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord can help me on this but I think the conditional agreement between Tata and Greybull that was announced on Friday also covered the Tata Rotherham mills, and we have offered government-backed commercial funding if it is needed. Perhaps I may follow up on this and write to the noble Lord on the other points. I would make the general point that we now have the Steel Council, where the industry, the unions and other stakeholders have come together to examine all of these issues, and that is very important. Further, Tata has today put up for sale pretty well the whole of its operations. I will look at that further and write to the noble Lord.
Update on the UK Steel Industry — House of Lords, 2016-04-11
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): Is it not encouraging that the workforce and the management say that they have a turnaround plan and require only medium-term financing? That is not dissimilar to what happened at Rolls-Royce. Against that background, in Canada and Holland there are large mutual organisations capable of turning around and running steel organisations. Should we not think along those lines as well?