argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-20
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jonathan Toby Harris (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this is a slightly strange group of amendments. We have talked about microbreweries and so on, but most of the debate has focused on Amendment 52 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe. I support what has been said on it. Of course there is no industry standard yet for digital ID; the whole process has been very slow. However, as a number of noble Lords have commented, security technology has been moving very rapidly and there is no doubt that this could be delivered without any great difficulty The reality at the moment is that, when young people go out to pubs or bars for an evening of entertainment, they have to take a physical card with them; often, it is a passport or a driving licence. In the nature of things, those physical documents get lost, which brings extra costs and security issues that we should all be wary of. However, people’s ability to safeguard their mobile phone is always very high The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, gave us probably more detail than any of us ever wanted to know about this particular topic and the standards being adopted and agreed. However, I think that the approach taken by my noble friend Lord Stevenson of Balmacara is the way forward, and I hope that the Minister can agree something this evening I listened with great interest to the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering. She was clearly concerned that if this amendment were to pass tonight, it would somehow favour one or other of the current developers of the technology for digital age verification. However, if you listen to her speech, you will find that she seemed to be defending the right of PASS—a scheme which she chairs, and which has done noble service to age verification over the years—to continue as is for several more months I hope that when the Minister looks at this, she can find a way forward along the lines of Amendment 52, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-20
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Roy Kennedy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I support the amendments in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Holmes of Richmond and Lord Addington, relating to small breweries and sporting clubs. I am a bit disappointed that the Government have not found a way to do something here. We hear lots of talk about supporting small business, but we seem to be in a rigid situation, where we cannot move out of where we are. I do not see why we could not do something and it is regrettable that we could not find a way. I accept that breweries do not have licences now, but they could be given something temporarily. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, made the point that sports clubs are often open only a couple of nights a week. Why have we not sorted them out? In this emergency Bill to deal with Covid-19, we have chosen to ignore them, and that is regrettable. I do not see why the Government have done that. They could have moved a bit more on that. I support the amendments, and it is regrettable that there will be no progress on them A convincing case has been laid out for Amendment 52, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, and other noble Lords. I supported the idea in Committee. Equally, I see some of the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, and I accept that this is a temporary Bill; perhaps doing something permanent in a temporary Bill may be a problem, but the least we should get tonight is a commitment. Technically, this can be done and the Government should get on and make sure that it happens.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-20
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Deborah Wilcox (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, this amendment has the noble aim of boosting local tourism and raises questions about the package travel regulations. We are still awaiting the Government review of the package travel rules and I am reluctant to accept the Minister’s previous suggestion that we cannot consider this issue until we have left the EU. The Government should do whatever is possible to support the domestic tourism industry through this tough time, so I would welcome it if the Minister were able to expand on what support they will offer.
Business and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-20
Topic: Other
Roy Kennedy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his kind comments and join him in thinking that the House has worked very well in dealing with this important Bill. We send it back to the Commons in a much better state. Members from all around the House raised important issues; the Government considered them carefully and listened. We have passed many good amendments over the last few days. I am very grateful to the noble Earl and all his ministerial team for their work.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Other
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I have mainly technical, minor drafting points, which do not require much discussion. The Minister was consumed during his speech because of the hypothetical tin of biscuits that he brought into play. I am so glad that we do not have details of what pig semen is carried in. I much prefer us sticking with the tin of biscuits as our main metaphor in these issues Like the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, I wonder why these amendments are being tabled now. After all, the Bill has been through the other place and been republished. Only now are we getting evidence of "scrubbing the text" to ensure that the sorts of issues raised in this group of amendments will not get into the final version of the Bill. It is a minor criticism of a very minor issue, and I am happy to await the answers to the questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, which would bear substantial response and will need to be dealt with at the appropriate time.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
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. Anyone wishing to press this amendment or anything else in this group to a Division should make that clear in the debate. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, is having difficulties connecting with us, so I call the noble Lord, Lord German Amendment 15
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hain, lost his connection, so we shall try him again now. It seems we are still having problems with the noble Lord, so I now call the noble Lord, Lord Naseby.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Other
Ruth Henig (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to Amendment 32. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. Anyone wishing to press this or anything else in this group to a Division should make that clear in the debate Amendment 32
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robert Stevenson (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, we are obviously in competition to make the shortest speech of the evening; I cannot imagine why, because this is quite an interesting question, although we had a partial answer to it in an earlier debate. My take on it was not so much about the points raised clearly by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh; I am worried about how acceptably these phrases, put into this Bill at this time, work in a digital world. It is clearly stated in the clause that we are talking about businesses that are local and not local, businesses which are located or not located in an area. We are talking about propinquity and the ability of those who have to interpret these clauses to understand where there are real businesses and how they are operating if they are to be seen to be local That does not work for Amazon or quite a lot of the shopping we will be doing between now and Christmas, which will be largely digital in form. Is "hypothetical" to mean virtual? I leave that rather complicated philosophical question for the Minister to respond to.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Civil Rights
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, we now resume Committee stage and come to the group beginning with Amendment 33. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. Anyone wishing to press this or anything else in this group to a Division should make that clear in debate Clause 8: The non-discrimination principle: indirect discrimination Amendment 33
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Charles Falconer (Labour, Centre-left): I am not complaining, but the Minister did not try to answer any of my questions, so I would like a comprehensive response I am really interested in whether the Government envisage that in private law actions the courts will be resolving whether regulations that are discriminatory on the face of it for public purposes, as defined in the Bill, are valid—that is, whether they are for a legitimate aim. If they are, then the consequence is that Parliament is subcontracting decisions on these policy issues to the courts. I am not asking the Minister to deal with the other issues, but if she could deal with that one now, I would be grateful. If she cannot, because the answer is not yet known or has not been worked out, I would be grateful if she could indicate that. This issue seems to be absolutely key to the question of certainty for business. If where we come out at the end of the Bill is the courts system deciding on the legitimacy of a whole range of regulations, I am sure that that would not be what the Government would have wished. That is why the common frameworks process looks so much more attractive.
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Charles Falconer (Labour, Centre-left): I go back to the very interesting answer that the Minister gave on the coal example. Let us assume that the coal example, which he described as being a prohibition on sale but not use, did not come in a pre-existing requirement and that it had been entered into after this Bill became law. I would be right, would I not, in assuming that such a requirement would offend against the non-discrimination principle under Clause 8? It is obviously a disadvantage to be able to sell coal to people who cannot use it. In those circumstances, it is valid only if that was a provision entered into after the Bill became law if such a provision was justified by one of the legitimate aims identified in Clause 8(6). Would I be right in assuming that? Would I be right in assuming that the question of whether the ban on the use of coal survived would depend upon a private law action between the supplier of the coal and the buyer of the coal?
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-28
Topic: Housing
Dianne Hayter (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have contributed to the debate, which poses more questions than even I had realised. I have also realised that I have not got a complete handle on the services that are covered. Are financial services excluded? I think auditing is excluded. It would perhaps be helpful if a note could be passed about what services are covered. I assumed they are cultural and intellectual property, education and architecture, but there are some interesting ones where there are big differences at the moment between countries I am particularly thinking of residential property, where Wales now licenses landlords and is ahead of us in licensing letting agents. We are now in discussion with the Government about the licensing—shortly, we hope—or authorisation of all property agents, but then that would be different between England and Wales and Northern Ireland and Scotland. Presumably all that would be caught by this, but I am not certain This is a genuine question and it would be really helpful to have, without it being part of the Bill and without it committing the Government to anything, a more useful note of what is covered. Then we could look at what is already different, particularly in licensing, as is certainly the case in the area that I know about of residential agencies in Wales and elsewhere In a sense, the bigger issue is the one I set out at the beginning. The noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, put it much better. I was asking about the purpose of Part 2. I think the noble Baroness went further and asked whether we even need Part 2. It actually comes back to whether we need the whole Bill or whether the common frameworks road might be the better one, or, as the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, asked, whether it might be sufficient to fall back on the 2018 position on what things could not be agreed—it would probably save an awful lot of this. The purpose of Part 2 needs justifying, rather than defining. Why do we need it? Is the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, correct that we do not need this level of detail If the Minister could also informally explain a little more about what would be covered, that would be helpful, and we might come back at a later stage to look at whether we could define why we have this part. However, for now, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Covid-19: Economy Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Roger John Liddle (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of Cumbria County Council, and it is a Cumbria point I want to make. One of the welcome features of the Chancellor’s Statement was the introduction of a grant scheme for businesses impacted by tier 2 restrictions, even though they are not legally closed. Cumbria is in tier 1 but most of its businesses, such as hotels, boarding houses and restaurants, serve people who come from tier 3 areas in the north-west. There has been a dramatic fall in bookings, with lots of cancellations in the last week or so. These businesses are going to go bust unless they receive the help that tier 2 is getting. Can the Minister offer them some hope that, despite being in tier 1, they might receive some help?
Covid-19: Economy Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Anthony Gueterbock (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Sunday Times of last Sunday says that the Prime Minister has ordered a review which would allow "City dealmakers, hedge fund managers and company bosses flying into the UK" to be "exempt from the 14-day quarantine period under plans to ‘promote global Britain’." There are also stories that working lunches of up to 30 people, now being promoted by expensive London restaurants, can be allowed as long as business is discussed. Can the Minister confirm that anyone who is, or thinks they are, involved in global business, global Britain or business can therefore exempt themselves from these rules and that that can apply to anyone else? If not, how can the Government expect the rest of the country to comply while allowing their apparently rich friends to buck the system?
Covid-19: Economy Update — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Mixed Topics
Jeffrey Rooker (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, first, I thank the Minister, who, unlike some of his colleagues, has shown massive respect to the House and in responding to the questions that he has been asked. That being so, perhaps I may take him back to the first supplementary question, from the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, who called not for a coalition but for a united national effort, and I think that that is what the public want. If we stay in our tribes, we will not win. We have to reach out outside the tribe. I am looking for some desire on the part of the Government to seek to reach out, outside the tribe, so that we can have a national effort to get through this crisis. Does the Minister agree?
Timber and Timber Products and FLEGT (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Other
Jill Pitkeathley (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I will try calling the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia, one more time to see whether we can connect with him. Lord Bhatia? No, we are still having trouble with the connection. I call the Minister.
Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Other
Iain McNicol (Labour, Centre-left): We now come to the group beginning with Amendment 3. I remind noble Lords that anyone wishing to speak after the Minister should email the clerk during the debate. Anyone wishing to press this or anything else in the group to a Division should make that clear in the debate Amendment 3
Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Other
Maeve Christina Mary Sherlock (Labour, Centre-left): I am very grateful to the Minister for coming back on this. I will look out for those responses, and for the opportunity to discuss them on the Floor of this House. I thank her for her intervention, for addressing the questions and for her constant willingness to talk to us. These things make our debates much better.
Covid-19: Disparate Impact — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Civil Rights
Janet Alison Whitaker (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, the Welsh Government have explicitly included Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children along with other minority ethnic groups in their list of groups that are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. That is absolutely right, both because of their legally recognised ethnic minority status and because of such data as exists on the disproportionate impact of the virus on the communities, reflected in my noble friend Lady Lawrence’s excellent report. What attention have the Government paid to these communities? Will their specific ethnicity be recorded on death certificates and elsewhere?
Covid-19: Disparate Impact — House of Lords, 2020-10-27
Topic: Civil Rights
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): The Statement looks forward to the availability of a vaccine, which will be—when it happens—warmly welcomed in this House, of course, as well as across the country and indeed the world. But one ethnic minority group will have a kickback at that time. A report I have just released, a copy of which has gone to the Minister’s department for her personal perusal, shows how the anti-vaccine movement is deeply embedded with anti-Semitism. Some 79% of the anti-vaccine groups organising in this country publish vehement anti-Semitism in their discussions; for example, categorising Bill Gates as Jewish, talking about the Zionists being responsible, blaming Israel for the creation of coronavirus—the Rothschilds and the new world order. Those are the same old conspiracy theories. Does the Minister agree that we need to take on the extremists on the far right and the far left of the anti-vaccine movement both now and in advance of a vaccine being available? Their conspiracy theories are garnering too many views online, and perhaps too many supporters, with deeply worrying anti-Semitism at their heart.
UK Terrorism Threat Level — House of Lords, 2020-11-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Reid (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I too express my sympathy for the families grieving in France, Austria and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, reminded us, Kabul. This is a global struggle I want to press the Minister a little more on the question of resources. In my view, JTAC was correct to raise the threat level. It was precautionary, of course, but in view of what we have seen on the continent it was wise and prudent to do so. Obviously, this requires an additional operational dimension. The Minister said that there are 6,000 more police officers, although that is 14,000 short of where we were when her previous boss, Theresa May, was Home Secretary No doubt the Minister will also say that it is a question of operational deployment. Is it possible for the envelope of resources to be increased, either automatically or on request, commensurate with the increase in the threat level? If not, should it not be automatic that when the threat level increases, the resources to deal with it increase?
Construction Products (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Roy Kennedy (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I think that I will be equally brief in my remarks to the House today. First, I draw the House’s attention to my relevant registered interests as the chairman of the Heart of Medway Housing Association and a non-executive director of MHS Homes Ltd On looking at these regulations one might be forgiven for thinking that they are very technical and will ensure we are ready for the next phase of our relationship with the European Union, and so they will. They are very important not only for our future relationship with the EU but for how the products they regulate will be used both here in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland. It is important that these products are properly assessed, approved and licensed and properly used as well. Like my noble friend Lord Blunkett I would be very interested to hear more about the enforcement regime. We need to ensure that, whatever licences and approvals are given, the products are used properly. Problems can arise when they are not used properly, sometimes with tragic consequences. We therefore need to hear about the enforcement regime. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.