argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-03-16
Topic: Civil Rights
Paul Yaw Boateng (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I want to raise the issue of two groups who are particularly vulnerable in terms of social isolation: the deaf elderly and the black and minority ethnic elderly. What assurance can the Minister give the House and the wider community that, in their communication strategy, the Government will take the needs of those two groups into account by signing, in terms of verbal and oral communication, and translation in terms of written?
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
John McFall (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, Virtual Proceedings of the House of Lords will now resume. I remind Members that these proceedings are subject to parliamentary privilege, and that what we say is available to the public, both in Hansard and to those listening and watching. Members’ microphones will initially be set to mute; the broadcasting team will unmute them shortly before we reach their place in the speakers’ list. When Members have finished speaking, their microphones will again be set to mute. Please ensure that questions and answers are short; in doing so, we will be able to get through the 10 supplementary questions.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Simon Haskel (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, Virtual Proceedings of the House of Lords will now resume. I remind Members that these are subject to parliamentary privilege and that what we say is available to the public both in Hansard and to those listening and watching. Members’ microphones will initially be set to mute, and the broadcasting team will unmute their microphones shortly before we reach their place in the speakers’ list. When Members have finished speaking, their microphone will again be set to mute We now come to the Virtual Proceedings on the Motions in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott. The time limit is one and a half hours.
Automatic Enrolment (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
George Foulkes (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, as one of the three Scottish Peers participating in this debate along with the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, with whose remarks I agree fully, and the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra—who I think was educated at Fortrose Academy and then the University of Aberdeen, so he has a great interest in the offshore oil industry—I welcome and want to concentrate on the offshore employment order. I also welcome the removal of the sunset clause and the continued cross-party co-operation on automatic enrolment, which was introduced by the Labour Government. However, as I understand it, there is an income threshold of £10,000, which would disadvantage lower-paid and part-time workers. If this is correct, can the Minister take this away and look at it again? She is usually very helpful on such matters Like the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, I will take this opportunity to make a few comments on the situation of the North Sea oil industry as it affects Scotland as a whole, but Aberdeen in particular. As he said, the price of a barrel of crude oil, which was once $120 then $70 as recently as January, is now half that. This threatens further job losses in the industry. As a member of the organisation Peers for the Planet, I want to see the use of carbon fuels reduced. But, equally, there needs to be a plan to provide alternative jobs in the green energy sector—in wind, in tidal and in other alternative energies—so that those who are displaced from the oil industry as it runs down can get a new job. Aberdeen, which once prospered through fish and then oil, needs another major industry to keep its prosperity Returning to the order, I join in the tributes to the front-line DWP staff who have worked tirelessly during this pandemic crisis. Finally, I thank the Minister for her usual courtesy, which I hope she will continue by agreeing with some of the things I have said.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this Virtual Committee will now begin. I remind Members that these proceedings are subject to parliamentary privilege and that what we say is available to the public both in Hansard and to those listening and watching I shall begin by setting out how these proceedings will work. This Virtual Committee will operate as far as possible like a Grand Committee. A participants’ list for today’s proceedings has been published and is in my brief, which Members should have received. The brief also lists Members who have put their names to the amendments or have expressed an interest in speaking on each group. I will call Members to speak in the order listed Members’ microphones will be muted by the broadcasters, except when I call a Member to speak and whenever a Question is put, so interventions during speeches are not possible and uncalled speakers will not be heard. During the debate on each group, I will invite Members to email the clerk if they wish to speak after the Minister. I will call Members to speak in order of request and will call the Minister to reply each time. Debate will take place only on the lead amendment for each group. The groupings are binding and it will not be possible to degroup an amendment for separate debate. Leave should be given to withdraw amendments When I put the Question, all Members’ microphones will be open until I give the result. Members should be aware that any sound made at that point might be broadcast. If a Member intends to press an amendment or say "Not content", it will greatly assist the Chair if they make that clear when speaking on the group. As in Grand Committee, it takes unanimity to amend the Bill, so if a single voice says "Not content", an amendment is negatived, and if a single voice says "Content", a clause stands part We will now begin, starting with the group beginning with Amendment 1. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It will be helpful if anyone intending to say "Not Content" when the Question is put makes that clear in debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee; this Committee cannot divide Clause 1: Code rights in respect of land connected to leased premises Amendment 1
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): The next speaker on my list is the noble Lord, Lord Fox, but as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, pointed out, he is joining the debate after the interval. I therefore call the noble Lord, Lord Adonis.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Roger John Liddle (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I am grateful for being allowed to intervene. Had I realised the procedure, I would have made some Second Reading remarks myself at an earlier point. I support the Bill. It is a modest measure that takes us nearer what I think should be the public objective of a universal service of high-speed broadband. It therefore has my general support There are two points from the Minister’s summing-up on which I would like to press her. The first concerns the question that my noble friend Lord Adonis asked about the future of BT Openreach. I am afraid I did not fully catch what the Minister said in reply because of connection problems, but I regard this as a subject of fundamental public interest. I would like to be assured that the Government will also regard it as such and will not just say, "This is a matter for BT to decide what it wants to do in terms of its own private interests and its shareholders’ interests". I would like an assurance that this is regarded as a matter of great public interest My second point relates to the final section of the Minister’s legal bit at the end about who is and is not entitled under these arrangements to press for better connections. I shall look at this question in a very practical way. I am very concerned about young people, including students, living in short-term lets in multi-occupier buildings—for instance, in old council blocks where someone has bought a flat to rent it out and their main occupiers are students on short-term tenancies. I should like an assurance that this provision applies to young people and students whatever the basis of their living in that kind of accommodation. It is fundamental that young people have access to high-speed broadband. This has been brought home to me as chair of Lancaster University, where we are now doing our teaching online. Even when the Covid-19 crisis comes to an end, a much higher proportion of university teaching will be online, and this applies to many other vital spheres of life. There is a practical concern here. I ask the Minister to go back to the department, think about all the circumstances in which young people and students rent accommodation in blocks of flats and multi-occupier properties, and say whether they have an untrammelled right to ask for better provision and whether the process will be so rapid that a student on a short-term tenancy will want to see it through.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, in moving this amendment I will also speak to Amendment 9 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, which covers much of the same ground In the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, the Government said: "We do not think it is acceptable for landlords to be able to deny their tenants a service if an operator is prepared to provide it. We want to bring telecoms operators in line with the gas, energy and water sectors by providing a ‘right to entry’, where a landlord is given notification of an operator’s intention to access a property" We are entitled to ask the Minister to explain what happened. Why has the Bill failed to live up to the very sensible remarks made in the review and some of the comments that have been made this afternoon Other noble Lords have mentioned the impact of Covid-19 and how it has radically changed the position regarding a gigabit-capable infrastructure. We have just been talking about whether that should become the USO position, which I would support. However, access to home schooling, home working and home shopping are now as important as clean water and energy. Why perpetuate the myth that gigabit-capable access is in some sense discretionary? No individual and no family should be left behind Secondly, operators are part of the solution and certainly not the problem, in terms of where we are trying to reach. The discussion about Openreach and the desire of operators to co-operate if the circumstances arise are all part of this issue; to achieve what we want we must support operators in the limited time we have left. If they are in an area installing fibre and have the personnel and equipment there, it must be more cost-effective for them, beneficial for all and in the public interest for all premises in that area to be dealt with This amendment would not remove any control from owners of properties, but it would open up the whole process. It seems from the comments we have already heard that there is support for the amendment. We need an operator to be able independently to initiate the process, so that those who want this service can get it. I cannot see that this is, in any sense, against the public interest. I beg to move.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Mixed Topics
Roger John Liddle (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I strongly support what my noble friend Lord Stevenson has said. I do not understand the Government’s problem with giving operators this right. There is clearly a planning benefit, in terms of efficiency, in giving them the right to look at the problems area by area and to identify where additional provision needs to be made in order to promote a universal service. I just do not see why the Government want to deny us this amendment.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Iain McNicol (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 9. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "not content" if the question is put made that clear in the debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee. This Committee cannot divide Amendment 9
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, we now come to the group consisting of Amendment 11. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "Not content" when the Question is put made that clear in debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee; the Committee cannot divide Amendment 11
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 12. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the Clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "not content" if the question is put made that clear in the debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee; this Committee cannot divide Amendment 12
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Housing
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I move Amendment 12 and will speak to Amendment 13. Taken together, these amendments probe in a little more detail the way in which operators and property owners will be able to come to some sort of deal. While the Bill sets out to provide a mechanism under which, if necessary, the courts can supervise an arrangement so that access can be provided, the truth is that most operators would wish to have a voluntary arrangement through which they can deal face to face with the person responsible, in order to satisfy the potential user of the new equipment about what they are trying to do. In a sense, it is a slightly strange mixture The Bill seems incredibly one-sided in the way it approaches the rights of the owner of the property. We had this debate when considering previous amendments, and I am still a little uncertain as to why this should be. Throughout the discussion, the Minister has tried to make it clear that it is a balance between three competing interests: the rights of the owner of the property, those of the user and those of the operator. But I do wonder whether the balance is right in this respect The bar set by the Bill for a landlord to be engaging with the network builder—this is the dialogue that we are talking about—seems to be set a bit low. As I read it, the only requirement of the landlord is that they acknowledge the request notice in writing. That does not give any confirmation that the landlord will negotiate the terms of access to the property in good faith. Can the Minister say in more detail what the Government have in mind here? Could the landlord simply say, "Thank you for your letter—I will get back to you", and the whole process stops at that point because there is no way of unlocking the arrangement In responding to the original consultation, the Government said that a substantive response from the landlord would be enough to take them out of the scope of the Bill, but the Bill as drafted does not require a substantive response. I agree that this might be a definitional issue but if so, why is no definition included in the Bill? This issue was discussed during the Commons stages of the Bill. Amendments that could have addressed it were discussed extensively but the Government rejected them, confirming their view that, by definition, in responding, a landlord ceases to be unresponsive. While I absolutely agree that there is an element of truth in that, it does not solve the problem, which is that if landlords want to play this long and get out of it without committing, it looks as though they can do so. It would sensible either to have no recommendation at all, as per the amendment, or some form of time-limited arrangement under which further action could be taken to resolve the issue. I beg to move.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 15. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "not content" when the question is put made that clear in debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in Committee. This Committee cannot divide. Amendment 15
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): The case has been so well made by my noble friend Lord Adonis that I have very little to add. I thought, as he did, that the exchanges in the Commons were extraordinary. We need some better explanation of what has been going on there. This is an area where there may be some case for a bit of guidance being issued by the Minister, and not necessarily in regulatory form I have recently moved house and have had exactly the same problem of trying to take over an existing line from the previous owner and being told that I could not switch operators and had to stick with the same equipment, even though it is clearly not right for our type of use. I am sure that this a pro-competition and pro-choice amendment which the Minister will want to support—there is a bit of a get-out here which she may want to think about.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): I am extremely grateful to the Minister. As she says, there are drafting issues, but I am sure that if they were the only concern we would all be happy for the Government to do the drafting for us. There seems to be a contradiction in the Government’s position. May I ask the Minister to clarify it? Is she saying that under the Bill as drafted, and the terms of the agreement with the proposed Part 4A order, alternative operators will or will not have easy access to new infrastructure? To prevent people unfairly undercutting initial investors, it is important that they should not. It is not clear to me and that point seems to go to the heart of the Government’s argument. Are they arguing that operators will have easy access, so that what is proposed here is irrelevant; or that operators will not have easy access, which is intentional because if they did, there would be undercutting? Which of those is the Government’s position?
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Andrew Adonis (Labour, Centre-left): I am very grateful to the noble Baroness but she opens herself to the argument that I am seeking simply to insert into the Bill what the Government have said they intend to do anyway, and I may come back to this point on Report. However, on that basis, accepting what the noble Baroness has just said about writing to me and acknowledging the contributions made by my noble friend Lord Stevenson and the noble Lord, Lord Fox, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 17. I remind noble Lords that anyone who wishes to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. It would be helpful if anyone intending to say "not content" when the question is put makes that clear in the debate. It takes unanimity to amend the Bill in this Committee. The Committee cannot divide Amendment 17
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): I am very grateful to all those who have contributed, particularly the Minister, whose detailed explanation deserves further consideration and I will read it very carefully in Hansard. I am also delighted to have escaped at least one amendment that did not get criticised for having unexpected consequences, so I must have got something right on that one This is very difficult to get right and I appreciate the difficult issues that have been raised. I will reflect on what has been said. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Arrangement of Business — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, Virtual Proceedings in the House of Lords will now resume. I remind Members that these proceedings are subject to parliamentary privilege, and that what we say is available to the public, both in Hansard and to those listening and watching. Members’ microphones will initially be set to mute; the broadcasting team will unmute them shortly before we reach their place in the speakers’ list. When Members have finished speaking, their microphones will again be set to mute. Please ensure that questions and answers are short We now come to the Virtual Proceedings on the Statement. Please note that it has been agreed in the usual channels to dispense with the reading of the Statement itself. We will proceed immediately to questions from the Opposition Front Bench.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Other
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, who is the only speaker whom we were not able to call within the 30 minutes. The time allotted for the Statement is now up. The day’s Virtual Proceedings are now complete and are adjourned.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): Small sports clubs are particularly vulnerable to the lack of people paying to go in. When will the Government come forward with plans to allow small numbers of people to pay to be spectators at sports such as football or rugby league, socially distancing in the same way as is now allowed in cinemas, pubs and restaurants?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Mixed Topics
Richard Oliver Faulkner (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I refer to my railway interests as declared on the register. I wholeheartedly support the wearing of face coverings on public transport and certainly wish to see the regulations enforced, but one aspect alarms me. A substantial number of rail passengers with a variety of disabilities, which my noble friend Lord Blunkett has already referred to, are unable to wear a face covering and may now face abuse from other customers Happily, there are train operating companies meeting this challenge by issuing sunflower lanyards free of charge so that they do not have to explain their lack of face covering to other customers. I understand that GWR has already posted out 160 of these lanyards. We need greater awareness of exemptions so that we can all be more considerate and less aggressive if we see someone without a covering. Will the Minister offer reassurance to those who cannot wear face coverings and tell them that they can travel and—following her colleague, the Minister for Disabled People—endorse this scheme?