Extracts from Commons proceedings: Zoom - Nov 16
Tuesday, 17 November 2020 08:50
Extract from Urgent Question (Commons) on Participation in Debates
Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab):...The contacts of the hon.
Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) may well have been identified
and isolated, but he did not have a proxy and he was in the
queue—that means that he has exposed all hon. Members who were in
that queue. Will the Leader of the House look again at remote
voting? He said that the system broke down, but that was once and
it was corrected. We are so far down the road...Request free trial
Extract from Urgent
Question (Commons) on Participation in Debates
(Walsall South) (Lab):...The contacts of the hon. Member
for Ashfield () may well have been identified and isolated, but he
did not have a proxy and he was in the queue—that means that he has
exposed all hon. Members who were in that queue. Will the Leader of
the House look again at remote voting? He said that the system
broke down, but that was once and it was corrected. We are so far
down the road from the start. The Lords are actually undertaking
seven to eight hours of virtual proceedings and they are now
looking at the second Chamber. Debate is controlled by call lists,
anyway, so will the right hon. Gentleman look at Westminster Hall
and Public Bill Committees, which involve small groups and could be
done by Zoom? Will he also confirm how long the
proposed changes will last and commit to cross-party talks before
they are removed?
The Leader of the House of Commons (
):...On the issue of people revealing their medical
conditions, I have of course thought very carefully about that
because I know that many people would not want to reveal what their
medical condition is. The issue is that either we would have to
have an entirely virtual Parliament with all Members
Zooming in—otherwise one could say,
“That person has something wrong and that person doesn’t,”—which we
found from experience did not work, or we would have to have it for
a very small group.
To read all the exchanges, CLICK
HERE
Extract from Westminster
Hall debate on Tuition Fees
(Streatham) (Lab): They say that a student’s time
at university will be the best years of their life, but for
thousands of students across the UK at the moment, it is a
nightmare. Those of us who enjoyed our time at university are
probably thinking that we are lucky that we are not them. They are
locked up in their halls of residence, attending freshers events
over Zoom and running the risk of contracting the
virus during face-to-face teaching...
...At the moment, university students are paying £9,250 a
year to attend university, or, as some of them say, £9,250 to
effectively live in prison-like conditions. Students in Manchester
have dubbed their university “Her Majesty’s Prison, Manchester
University” because fences have been put up to keep them in.
Students are paying to stay in halls while watching their lectures
online over Zoom and many other platforms.
International students from Europe have been asked to come to this
country, but, having left their countries, they are attending their
lectures online...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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