argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Myanmar — House of Lords, 2021-02-11
Topic: International Affairs
David Maxim Triesman (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, my noble friend Lord Collins has already raised the question of the assets of the military leaders and the companies that they control. The point has been made by a number of noble Lords about the support of President Biden. I can say from overnight conversations that President Biden’s Administration are looking very hard at what steps we propose to take, in the same light. The Minister said that we were looking at all the tools and that he feared he would frustrate us in not answering on them, but I know that he is a man of great integrity. What do the Government know about assets held in London and the overseas territories? Will they take steps to sequester and hold them, until they can be provided to the people of Myanmar, for their future? Will he make progress reports to the House on this?
Post Office Court of Appeal Judgment — House of Lords, 2021-04-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Gisela Stuart (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the tragedy of this case is not just the length of time it took to put this wrong right but the number of players who individually felt they had nothing to answer for other than just to say that they were sorry, which is not sufficient. We need to find out why this happened I return to the issue of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. It was set up as a royal commission to speed up the process in the wake of the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and a number of serious miscarriages of justice. When you look up the funding structure of that body over the years, we see a combination of increased workload and reduction of funding. The very least that we can do is to fund it so that it can perform its function as it was set up to do, and not allow this sub-postmasters miscarriage of justice to be added to that list of grave injustices which have not been righted in the proper way.
Post Office Court of Appeal Judgment — House of Lords, 2021-04-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Tina Stowell (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, my point picks up on that just made by the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley. As horrified as we all are at this miscarriage of justice, what is also shocking to everybody is just what it tells us and shows us about the arrogance of those of us in positions of authority when we are faced with something that is so obviously wrong and has been brought to us by the general public. I understand what the Minister is saying about a statutory inquiry and the inquiry that Sir Wyn is doing at the moment. However, will he consider and express to us his understanding of the reasons why there is that lack of confidence from the sub-postmasters and many others in the robustness and validity of the review that is under way and the need for more reassurance that other steps can be taken if accountability and responsibility is not shown through that process?
Post Office Court of Appeal Judgment — House of Lords, 2021-04-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I thank the Minister for his update today, which is helpful. One of my passions throughout a long police career was the fight for justice and to put right miscarriages. This case has caused personal tragedy to hundreds of people through family breakup, bankruptcy and loss of liberty on an industrial scale. Some, of course, have since died. For example, why did nobody join the dots when deficits were occurring throughout the Post Office estate following the installation of the new Horizon IT system, and why was it kept secret? Does the Minister think it is now time for those who took the decisions at the top of the Post Office all those years ago to be called to account, so the matter can now be closed? Has Sir Wyn Williams got powers to summon witnesses and seize written evidence? If not, surely it requires nothing less than a full statutory inquiry, with powers to determine who knew what and when, so that fair compensation can be awarded to allow all the victims of this massive miscarriage of justice to get on with their lives.
Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2021 — House of Lords, 2021-07-15
Topic: Law and Crime
Amirali Bhatia (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I agree with what the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, said in her introduction and I will not repeat the Explanatory Memorandum for this SI. Does the Minister agree that a large proportion of the Muslim community does not agree with terrorism and that these terrorists are acting in their own personal interests?
Environment Bill — House of Lords, 2021-06-23
Topic: Environment
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, in his initial answer to the various amendments, the Minister said that it was the Government’s intention to set targets on a wide range of areas through this Bill. Therefore, by way of elucidation, could the Minister indicate whether it would be the intention of the Government, by way of the Bill or by accepting an amendment, to request the banning of sachets for cosmetic items and non-food products, such as household cleaning products? Many of these types of sachets end up clogging up our landfill sites.
UK–Commonwealth Trading Relationship — House of Lords, 2021-07-08
Topic: Foreign Trade
David Maxim Triesman (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I too declare my interest as a former Commonwealth Minister, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Howell, for initiating this debate. It is also a pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans I start by wishing all of us well, here and in the Commonwealth, in our trade relationships. I do not think you could create the Commonwealth today; it is a unique organisation, and it has deepened its relationships with all its members in so many ways. I also want to say that the noble Lord, Lord Grimstone, is a very fine ambassador for trade But our optimism about it needs to be tempered by some realism, particularly as we want to see global developments in trade. The noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, used the term "geopolitical proximity", and that is always a genuine issue. I just want to make the point that distances cannot be dismissed lightly. According to the Library briefing, the average distance by air from London of our top 10 trading nations in the Commonwealth is 9,601 kilometres. The average for the top 10 of our former EU partners is 1,020 kilometres—and that is by road, which means that the delivery of goods is significant. We are looking at 9.4 times the distances we have traditionally looked at. That is significant because our trade is largely in goods, not so much in services. We use shipping. We have seen that even one ship in the Suez Canal can create considerable difficulties. Most shipping is using bunker fuel and emitting huge amounts of sulphur into the atmosphere. These are all important factors we need to overcome The interconnectivity the noble Lord, Lord Howell, refers to is of course absolutely real, but it is universal. The interconnectivity is not just with the Commonwealth but with all other countries, none of which sleep in the world of this interconnectivity. But even interconnectivity is not unproblematic. It is a huge source of business, of course, but we know now that it is an even greater source of fraud—not insurmountable, but a real factor. I just want to finish on the Covid point, which has been made so well by my noble friend Lady Chapman. It is a really serious matter. Forty-four million people in the Commonwealth have been infected—130,000 more each day. There have been 700,000 deaths, growing by 1% per day. Vaccines so far have got to about 1% of the population of Africa, and that really does mean that the people are suffering in all the ways we know about medically but also in their ability to construct and reconstruct and build their economies. If we have a serious approach to this, we will deal with it Finally, but not as an afterthought, I applaud what the noble Lord, Lord Risby, just said. When I was Minister for the Commonwealth, I also thought associate membership would be very important and that Algeria would be a prime candidate.
Covid-19: Education Settings — House of Lords, 2021-07-08
Topic: Education
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I am pleased to follow noble Lords who have spoken with so much wisdom, and I thank the Minister for the Statement. At the outset, I want to acknowledge formally and thank Ms Davies from Mulberry school, which is my local school. She has been helping thousands of children—400 children and their families—every single week for the past six months A number of parents have written to me saying that they have received letters threatening punitive fines and other actions for children missing school, either due to Covid or long Covid symptoms. Can the Minister assure me that parents will not be punitively fined and punished for any such reasons? My second point is that, as we approach the summer, can the Minister give details of the government plan to support children with the provision of breakfast and lunch, in addition to providing essential IT equipment and broadband access? Have the Government undertaken an assessment of the gaps, particularly among children who are already disfranchised—
Covid-19: Education Settings — House of Lords, 2021-07-08
Topic: Education
Manzila Pola Uddin (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): I have nearly finished, thank you. These children are marginalised as a result of inequalities, poor health, poverty and poor-quality housing. Will the Government ensure adequate planning for their education needs, as well as their well-being?
Free Trade Agreement: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — House of Lords, 2021-10-14
Topic: Foreign Trade
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): To move that this House takes note of the Free Trade Agreement between Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, laid before the House on 16 July Relevant document: 3rd Report from the European Affairs Committee (special attention drawn to the instrument).
Free Trade Agreement: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — House of Lords, 2021-10-14
Topic: Foreign Trade
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): Certainly—there is a recommendation in the latest report from the International Agreements Committee that a concordat be entered into. The International Trade Committee in the House of Commons has written in support of that. So there is considerable support for it in Parliament, and it would be very interesting, as the noble Lord is here, to hear the Government’s current thinking.
Free Trade Agreement: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — House of Lords, 2021-10-14
Topic: Foreign Trade
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): I thank the Minister, who is unbelievably courteous and was as courteous as ever when still answering emails from me at 9.20 pm last night. I think he realises that the whole House is very grateful for his engagement. I add my thanks to my many colleagues who have spoken in this interesting debate, unfortunately held late on a Thursday—a time when not so many of our colleagues were going to be here. I will not go through what everyone said—I would certainly never do that—but I have written down three things that I thought worthy of reflection The first is the chimera nature of this free trade agreement, which on the one hand is new and on the other is old. There is an element of a chimera nature, but I hope the Minister will reflect on the fact that the scrutiny processes in this House are well developed. The International Agreements Committee, which was born out of the European Union Committee earlier this year, is a highly professional organisation that wants to do good, not harm. Rebalancing, as I put it, between Parliament and the Executive is necessary, so I hope that if a similar agreement came along it might fall on the other side of the fence and that there would be some engagement In fact—this is my second point—as the Minister went through the good news about the devolved Administrations, I very nearly got up and said, "Can we have that as well?", because they are getting a heck of a lot more engagement and discussion of these things than our own International Agreements Committee. That is another thing that the Minister might like to reflect on. I know he is deeply interested in scrutiny, and getting that balance right is very important. It is indeed a balance, and there could be too much. Reflecting on that would be good The final point—it seems to be the final point every time I get up in debates such as this—is Northern Ireland, of course. The Minister generously said there would be business guidance. There was no timetable on that, but I very much hope that guidance will come along pretty quickly. At the moment, if I were trying to import raw salmon into Northern Ireland, I am not sure what I would do, because it is the beneficiary of now being tariff free in the UK but not in the EU. Who knows what would happen to a piece of raw salmon when it arrived in Belfast? That needs urgent attention. There are quite a lot of other things to do with Northern Ireland that we raise in the report and that I hope would be coped with at the same time.
Procedure and Privileges — House of Lords, 2021-09-06
Topic: Government Operations
John Eric Gardiner (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the three proposals in the report before the House concern matters previously considered by the House in July 2021 and October 2020. Noble Lords will recall that the first two issues fulfil undertakings in the report that the House agreed on 13 July. That report established the nature of the business in the Chamber from today, as we return from hybrid to physical sittings. Accordingly, the report before the House makes a recommendation on the sitting times for Grand Committee, bearing in mind, among other things, the new timings for Oral Questions and Private Notice Questions. It also makes a recommendation on a more streamlined way for timetabling Thursday debates The third issue concerns Private Members’ Bills. In October 2020, the House agreed to a proposal from the committee that Ministers should explain to the House before Third Reading any circumstances where a devolved Assembly has not provided its legislative consent to the Bill. This requirement does not fit well with Lords starting Private Members’ Bills, for which the normal expectation is that legislative consent is sought before Committee stage in the other place. Should we fail to address this, a ministerial Statement will almost always be needed, but will add no obvious value to the House and will risk asking devolved Assemblies to spend their time considering questions of legislative consent on measures that may have little prospect of reaching the statute book. I beg to move.
Republic of Cameroon: Economic Partnership Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-06-29
Topic: Foreign Trade
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, and to contribute to this debate. I commend both the noble Lords, Lord Grantchester and Lord Purvis, for securing these debates regarding the new trade agreements with Ghana and Cameroon I support the Motion to Regret in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, on the trade deal with Cameroon on the basis that there has been a lack of thorough impact assessment for these deals and the issue around human rights abuses. I agree that trade with third-world countries is important, as is a substantial overseas aid budget, which should not have been reduced. There is a need to ensure that we have full parliamentary scrutiny for these trade deals and that we examine fully where there have been human rights abuses. I recall that we raised these issues during the passage of the Trade Bill through your Lordships’ House last autumn Some key issues have emerged in relation to these trade deals which focus on impact assessments and scrutiny, human rights abuses, regional trade and rendezvous clauses. In relation to impacts assessments and scrutiny, there has been a lack of thorough impact assessments for these deals. Can the Minister ensure that, whatever changes have taken place, there is scrutiny and accountability before these deals are fully implemented? We should remember that there has been no parliamentary scrutiny despite their importance for developing partners The International Trade Committee in Parliament asked the Government to consider withdrawing trade preferences from Cameroon in the light of the human rights abuses in the country. The deal includes references to human rights, outlining a process for dealing with such abuses. There has been violence in the anglophone regions of Cameroon as a result of the Government forces’ large-scale security operations, and attacks from armed separatists. Apparently, this has included the burning of villages, the use of live ammunition against protesters, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, sexual abuse and killing of civilians, including women, children and the elderly, by government forces Another area of concern is the rendezvous clauses, which mean that specific issues are scheduled for future negotiations. Can the Minister in summing up indicate what action will be taken to address the lack of accountability and scrutiny, along with the level of human rights abuses, before these deals are ratified?
Post Office Update — House of Lords, 2021-05-24
Topic: Government Operations
Gisela Stuart (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the Minister is making a valiant attempt at defending the split between the Government as a shareholder and allowing the Post Office to conduct its own operations in relation to compensation. The path we are currently going down is only adding insult to injury. To say that the outcome of the inquiry can be used for future compensation claims and further civil action simply delays wrong being put right. I urge the Minister to reconsider this and not hide behind the operational and shareholder split on this issue.
Post Office Update — House of Lords, 2021-05-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I thank the Minister for updating the House on this industrial miscarriage of justice. On 28 April, I, along with other noble Lords, asked for the powers of the inquiry to be increased. I am delighted that the Government have acted decisively in converting this into a statutory inquiry. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will press the Post Office to include Fujitsu in any liability for compensation? In the light of the Statement mentioning that a criminal investigation is going ahead, can the Minister confirm this will give certain witnesses the right to remain silent? Does this not somewhat inhibit the scope of the inquiry?
Post Office Update — House of Lords, 2021-05-24
Topic: Government Operations
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, the Minister referred to the fact that the Government were actively discussing this issue with the Post Office. Can he confirm whether that means that the Government will take full responsibility for the compensation for all those post personnel, including those from Northern Ireland, who were so wrongly maligned and convicted?
Secret Documents — House of Lords, 2021-06-30
Topic: Law and Crime
Brian Mackenzie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, breaches of security at such a high level are rightly of concern to members of the public and Members of this House. This Question has important implications regarding blackmail and breaches of the Official Secrets Act. Can the Minister clarify the circumstances in which the documents were found? Can she also say whether it is normal practice to hard copy security materials that can be handled digitally and securely? Will the identity of the negligent official eventually be made public?
Secret Documents — House of Lords, 2021-06-30
Topic: Government Operations
Margaret Ritchie (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, there has been a suggestion that some of the documents were printed on pink paper, indicating the sort of material that should not be removed from the MoD except under exceptional circumstances and according to strict procedures. What were those exceptional circumstances in this case and what are those strict procedures?
Environment Bill — House of Lords, 2021-09-08
Topic: Environment
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, I want, very briefly, to support Amendment 11. The whole point of this Bill is that it is going to be ready for the COP 26 meeting. It is a model Bill. It is something that we hope that other countries will adopt as a method of dealing with very difficult problems It seems to me in business experience that if you have long long-term targets, interim targets are very helpful. Therefore, as a necessary logical consequence, one would want the model Act to have such interim targets as well—the exemplar we would want other countries to follow. As I am sure we will be managing the thing in a logical way and therefore managing it with interim targets and would want other people to do that as well, it is logical that we should have these targets.
Afghanistan — House of Lords, 2021-07-12
Topic: International Affairs
Gisela Stuart (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): My Lords, as it happens, today is Malala Yousafzai’s 24th birthday—an exceptionally forceful reminder that the right to education and the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan simply cannot be ignored. I accept the unwillingness to give a running commentary of who we have or have not talked to. However, we know that things are not going to get any easier. Will the Minister undertake to give more precise details of how the Government intend to, first, deal with Pakistan in that relationship and, secondly, ensure that the right to education for girls will continue to progress in even a slightly comparable way to the progress we have made so far?
Environment Bill — House of Lords, 2021-07-12
Topic: Environment
Charles Hay (Non-Affiliated, Unknown): I am also sorry to delay matters. I thank the Minister for his response, but I am afraid he did not address my point about refuges and safe areas caused by governmental bodies not controlling the problems of squirrels and deer. They were listed in subsection (3) of my proposed new clause. To save time, I wonder whether he might add to his lengthy list of things a meeting to discuss that, because it is a very serious area. If we do not address that problem successfully, as I and many others pointed out, we will not be allowed to do the forestation we need.