Download or read book Super PACs written by Louise I. Gerdes and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2014-05-20 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The passage of Citizens United by the Supreme Court in 2010 sparked a renewed debate about campaign spending by large political action committees, or Super PACs. Its ruling said that it is okay for corporations and labor unions to spend as much as they want in advertising and other methods to convince people to vote for or against a candidate. This book provides a wide range of opinions on the issue. Includes primary and secondary sources from a variety of perspectives; eyewitnesses, scientific journals, government officials, and many others.

Download or read book Parliamentary Accountability written by Philip Giddings and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by members of the Study of Parliament Group, this book assesses Parliament's response to the reorganisation of much of the civil service into 'executive agencies'. Chief executives have been given freedom to take operational decisions. Yet Ministers insist that they themselves remain constitutionally responsible for the work of the agencies. After reviewing Parliament's mechanisms and considering several case-studies, the authors conclude that Parliament has yet to exploit fully the opportunities for greater accountability which the new arrangements provide.

Download or read book Nhs Pay Modernisation written by House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Social Service Abstracts written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Model Rules of Professional Conduct written by American Bar Association. House of Delegates and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Download or read book Journals of the House of Commons written by Great Britain Parliament Staff and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journals of the House of Commons

Download or read book Campaign Guide for Congressional Candidates and Committees written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Journals of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1803 with total page 894 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Managing Financial Resources to Deliver Better Public Services written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annually, central government spends some £558 billion, and this is forecast to increase to £678 billion by 2010-11. Strong and competent financial resources management is central to departments meeting their objectives cost effectively and delivering public services which represent value for money. Since the Committee's last report on this topic (HC 181, 25th report of session 2003-04, ISBN 9780215023636) the number of qualified finance directors with a seat on the departmental board has increased, enhancing the focus on financial performance at senior management level, but the lack of financial skills and awareness amongst non-finance staff remains a barrier to improving financial management more generally across government. Accruals-based accounting and budgeting systems are helping some departments identify under-utilised assets and dispose of those no longer required. Departments need to improve their forecasting capabilities to strengthen budgetary control and to avoid underspends not being identified early enough to reallocate resources to other priorities. Departments are continuing to spend less money than they forecast, particularly on capital projects, increasing the risk that resources are not being allocated across government in the most effective way. Few departmental boards are presented with accurate, timely and integrated financial and operational performance information to enable them to take sufficiently informed decisions on the use of resources and to review performance. Although the Treasury and Cabinet Office have a number of initiative to improve resource management, there is some way to go before financial management is fully embedded within departmental cultures.

Download or read book Department of Health written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Properly managed, the use of temporary nurses can play an important role in helping hospital achieve flexibility. However their high use can have a detrimental impact on patient care and satisfaction. In 2001 the Department of Health anticipated that a growth in the NHS workforce would lead to a decline in the use of temporary staff but in spite of this intention temporary nurses still account for the same percentage of the nursing budget (around 9%). On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee has investigated the extent of the use of temporary nurses; whether the process is properly planned and managed; and whether there are safety and quality implications. One of the conclusions is that there has a lack of planning and it is only as a result of the problem with deficits that the NHS has taken a more co-ordinated approach

Download or read book Legal Services Commission written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-16 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Family disputes that are resolved through mediation are cheaper, quicker and, according to academic research, less acrimonious than those that are settled through the courts. Despite these advantages, only some 20 per cent of people who are funded by legal aid for family breakdown cases (excluding those involving domestic violence) currently opt for mediation. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 256, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944525), the Committee's report examines the shortcomings of the current system for referring clients to mediation, and the actions the Legal Services Commission has in train to increase referrals to and take-up of mediation services, to improve the quality of mediation offered, and to strengthen the Commission's oversight of solicitors and mediation providers.

Download or read book Estimating and monitoring the costs of building roads in England written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-08 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Transport has approved expenditure of over £11 billion between 1998 and 2021 for the development of new and existing trunk roads and motorways by the Highways Agency, and just under £1.7 billion on major road schemes proposed and developed by local authorities in five year Local Transport Plans. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 321, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944600) published in March 2007, the Committee's report examines the steps taken by the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency to improve value for money and oversight of the roads programme and contracting methods and project management capability. By September 2006, the Agency's 36 completed schemes in the Targeted Programme of Improvement cost 40 per cent more than estimated initially, and for schemes still to be completed, latest forecasts indicate that final costs could be 27 per cent more than original estimates. The main causes for costs exceeding estimates are increases in construction costs, higher than forecast land prices and compensation to landowners, inflation and changes in the scope of the project. The report finds that the DfT has not been rigorous enough in its oversight of the Agency's delivery of major road schemes, allowing it too much latitude on delivery and cost plans, and has failed to monitor in-year expenditure against progress and delivery milestones. The Agency is overly reliant on consultants for project management expertise and needs to develop its in-house capability.

Download or read book Protecting Consumers written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 52nd report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HC 571, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215524928), and it follows an NAO report (HC 342, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953114). It looks at protection of consumers through removal of price controls by regulators, examines the benefits of this decision to different groups of consumers and the challenges of regulating these markets. The regulators Ofcom, Ofgem and Postcomm have statutory objectives requiring them to protect consumers through the introduction of competition, where appropriate. Between 2002 and 2006, each removed retail price controls from the following: fixed line telephone provision; gas and electricity supply; special delivery postal services for business account users. Once price controls are removed, regulators rely on consumers to switch suppliers, so in theory rewarding companies who offer good service and competitive prices. For this to work, consumers need good information about the different suppliers, must be able to switch supplier easily, have confidence in the market to believe changing supplier will make a difference and, when necessary, obtain redress if the company behaves anti-competitively. Regulators need to ensure the competition is working effectively and that there is protection for vulnerable consumers, especially at a time of large increases in energy prices and telecoms prices above those of most countries.

Download or read book Assets Recovery Agency written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Assets Recovery Agency (the Agency) was set up in 2003 to recover assets from criminals using new and unique powers of civil recovery as well as criminal confiscation and taxation. It was also tasked with the training, accreditation and monitoring of financial investigators. The Agency is to be disbanded in 2008. It was set up with insufficient preparatory work. There was no business case setting out the expectations for the Agency, resulting in unachievable delivery aims. It is reliant on cases being referred to it by other authorities, but only 707 cases have been referred from 129 out of 696 potential referral partners. The Agency did not develop effective work processes: it failed to keep a comprehensive database of cases referred to it; it did not invest in a time-recording system to manage and monitor staff time and the cost of cases; and it failed to put in place processes to enable management to monitor the progression of cases effectively. Receivers' fees accounted for almost a quarter of the budget but fixed price contracts were not introduced until April 2006. The Agency's office is in central London, heavily reliant on temporary staff, and with high levels of staff turnover. The Agency had recovered assets amounting to only £23 million by December 2006 against expenditure of £65 million, and it has not met its target of becoming self-financing by 2005-06. Asset recovery has been slow because in most cases the full value of the assets was pursued through the courts rather than seeking settlement for a proportion of the assets. The Agency has not been adequately monitoring the accreditation of trained financial investigators. Of the 4,500 financial investigators trained at almost £700 per place, only 1,400 of those were active in the role by summer 2006.

Download or read book The efficiency programme written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-11 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government's Efficiency Programme is designed to achieve ongoing efficiency gains across the public sector of £21.5 billion a year by 2007-08 to improve front line services, to reduce Civil Service posts by more than 70,000 and to reallocate a further 13,500 posts to front line services.Departments are responsible for delivering and quantifying the efficiencies achieved while the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) checks the robustness of figures put forward and provides support to help departments deliver their gains. On 26 February the Committee took evidence on the £13.3 billion of annual efficiency gains departments had reported up to 30 September 2006. While some of these reported gains are robust, almost £10 billion of reported efficiency gains remain uncertain. On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General,evidence was taken from OGC and the Treasury on four main issues: the measurement of efficiency gains and headcount reductions; the effects of efficiency projects on service quality; the management of the Programme; and embedding a culture of efficiency into the public sector.

Download or read book Dr Foster Intelligence written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-18 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Health established the Information Centre in April 2005, in order to centralise the collection and dissemination of information across the NHS to support their health reform agenda. In February 2006, 'Dr Foster Intelligence' was launched, a joint venture between the Information Centre and Dr Foster Ltd (a private company already successful in health data dissemination) with the aim of developing information products and services which would encourage senior, strategic NHS staff to make effective use of information. The Committee sets out a number of recommendations, including: without a competitive tender, the joint venture seemed to offer an advantage to one company; also without competition, the Information Centre cannot demonstate that it paid the best price for its 50% share; the joint venture deal did not follow established good practice in public sector procurement; the cost of professional advice rose from an initial estimate of £248,000 to between £1.75 and £2.5 million; that the Department and the Information Centre could have made use of wider government experience on forming public private partnerships; it is unclear what benefits the Information Centre will receive from the joint venture; the first year saw a loss of £2.8 million.

Download or read book Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-30 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodegradable materials in landfill sites, such as food, vegetation and paper, generate methane and other emissions to the soil and water which can be harmful to health. The European Union introduced a Directive in 1999 which set maximum allowances for the tonnage of biodegradable municipal waste that each Member State could send to landfill from 2006 onwards. Waste collection and disposal is a key responsibility of the 388 local authorities in England, and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has to work closely with them to enable the United Kingdom to comply with this Directive. Non-compliance could result in a fine of up to £180 million a year. The UK's historic reliance on landfill led to a four year extension to the timetable, but DEFRA took no effective action until 2003. Although 2005-06 saw a reduction of 2.3 million tonnes against the previous year, a further reduction of 4.9 million tonnes will be required to comply with the 2013 maximum allowance set by the EU. Much of the progress made has involved an increase in recycling, due to the public's enthusiasm, but manufacturers and retailers continue to use large amounts of packaging. Recycling alone will be insufficient to comply with the Directive, and new infrastructure - energy-from-waste plants which incinerate, anaerobically digest, or compost waste to generate electricity - will be necessary. But such plants are unpopular and typically take nine years to become operational, and there is a significant risk that many will not be ready in time.