Download or read book The Report of the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee today publishes its report on the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland Report (HCP 171, session 2009-10, ISBN 9780215542687). This report concludes the Committee's inquiry into the feasibility of implementing the proposals made in the Report of the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland. The Committee reached the following conclusions, including: that Northern Ireland has not yet reached a consensus on how to move on from its recent past; also, it is not clear that Northern Ireland needs a Legacy Commission when bodies such as the Victims and Survivors Commission and the Historical Enquiries Team are already dealing in different ways with aspects of the legacy of the Troubles; that healthcare services, particularly mental health services, for those affected by the Troubles are under strong pressure; that any future Legacy Commission should be chaired, or co-chaired, by figures from Northern Ireland rather than by a foreign figurehead; that the Northern Ireland Assembly, rather than the UK Government, should ultimately be responsible for decisions on how to fund a Legacy Commission - and therefore on the width of its remit; and that clarification is required on what role the Irish Government would play in setting up such a Commission, and in particular on what financial contribution it would be expected to make.

Download or read book The work of the Committee in 2007 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-23 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: work of the Committee In 2007 : First report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book The work of the Committee in 2007 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-30 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: work of the Committee In 2007 : Second report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book British Waterways written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its 7th report of session 2006-07 (HC 345-I, ISBN 9780215521330) on British Waterways (BW), the Committee pressed for adequate funding of the waterways network and expressed concern at the poor relations that existed at the time between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and BW. This further report was prompted by BW's decision in February 2008 to withdraw from the partnership to restore the Cotswold Canals in order to fund urgent repairs to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The report focuses on BW's regeneration and restoration work, but also looks at how Defra and BW are working together and the Committee is encouraged by an improvement in the relationship and communication between the two bodies. Restoration of canals produces little if any direct benefit to BW and BW has often carried all the financial risk in such projects. Canal restoration schemes can be of great value to the areas where the canals are restored, producing knock-on benefits such as more jobs and visitor income. The BW Board is charged primarily with maintaining the existing waterways network and cannot be expected to take on substantial risk from restoration projects, especially in present economic conditions. If the public sector wishes to obtain external benefits from canal restoration schemes, the bodies responsible for obtaining those benefits should bear the risk. Defra, with British Waterways and other interested bodies, should develop a mechanism to score and prioritise public investment in canal restoration according to the external benefits that would be created, and should agree how the financial risks of such projects should be borne.

Download or read book Experience of the Scottish Elections written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Scottish Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 3 May 2007, combined elections were held in Scotland, electing members to the Scottish Parliament and all 32 of Scotland's local councils. The number of spoilt ballots cast in these elections was unusually high, and difficulties with the electronic counting machines led to the count being suspended in some constituencies. The Electoral Commission engaged Ron Gould CM to conduct an independent assessment of the elections. This report examines the findings of the Gould Report and its recommendations, some of which have already been accepted in principle by the Scotland Office and by the Scottish Executive, including holding the Scottish Parliament and local government elections at different times and producing separate regional and constituency ballot papers for the Scottish Parliament elections. Evidence strongly suggests that there are deep problems with the way elections are administered, both in Scotland and across the UK, which, if left unaddressed, could again create difficulties in the future. Any changes to the way in which elections are carried out must be accompanied by rigorous research and testing; the absence of such research and testing was a major failing that led to the problems of 3 May. There were failings on the part of the Scotland Office, where lengthy delays disrupted election planning and led to weak contingency arrangements. The Electoral Commission did not do enough to warn of potential problems with the ballot. The use of e-counting has been subject to particular criticism. Although electronic counting may have the potential to produce results more quickly, in these elections it did not operate efficiently or transparently. Any future proposals must place the needs of the voter and the interests of transparency far above the limitations of any given technology.

Download or read book Parliament and public appointments written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-16 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Report welcomes and responds to the Government's proposal to involve select committees in public appointments by inviting committees to hold non-binding pre-appointment hearings with nominees for key positions. The Report clarifies the purpose of these hearings: to expose nominees to parliamentary and public scrutiny before the final ministerial decision on the appointment, to increase the likelihood that those appointed will be effective in their accountability to Parliament and the public. The Report also establishes criteria to determine which posts should be subject to these hearings, and identifies major auditors, ombudsmen, regulators and inspectors, as well as those responsible for the appointments system itself; along with appointments normally made on merit but where Ministers have chosen not to follow the usual processes. Finally, the Report responds to concerns about involving select committees in public appointments, including several raised by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and proposes ways of managing the risks identified, largely through a framework of clear protocols to be agreed between the Government and the Liaison Committee, and also by monitoring and reviewing the effect of the hearings on public appointments over time.

Download or read book User Involvement in Public Services written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Administration Select Committee 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 report considers various forms of user involvement in public services, from consultation with service users to stronger variants such as user control over service provision. It examines some of the arguments given for making public services more responsive: that it would be more democratic, that it would improve service levels and that it would be cost-effective. It also explores some of the potential implications of greater user involvement-for staff working in public services, for service users and for how public services are organised and evaluated. Involving public service users by allowing them to control or influence the way in which services are provided can improve service quality, make for more appropriate services and increase people's satisfaction with public services. It is, however, still early days for many of the stronger forms of user involvement, such as individual budgets in social care. Initial evidence about such initiatives seems promising, but there is a need for comprehensive and rigorous monitoring and evaluation, particularly regarding their cost-effectiveness. In addition, involving service users is not always appropriate. In some circumstances it could create inequalities of service, as well as being risky and expensive. In other situations people may simply be unwilling or unable to engage in this way. A key challenge for the Government and for public service providers will be to establish where user involvement is desirable, and in what form. Service providers also need to ensure that user involvement complements the contribution made by public service workers.

Download or read book Badgers and cattle TB written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-02-27 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cattle TB is one of the most serious animal health problems in Great Britain today, with the number of infected cattle doubling every four and a half years, and nearly 20,000 being slaughtered in 2006. The cost of the disease to the taxpayer (£80-100 million a year) and to the farming industry is unsustainable. The introduction of a new system of valuations for slaughtered cattle has proved inequitable in many cases. The final report from the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB concluded that badger culling could not meaningfully contribute to the future control of cattle TB in Britain. This conclusion was contradicted by Sir David King, the then Government Chief Scientific Adviser (though he had not discussed findings with the ISG). The Committee believes there is no simple solution that will control cattle TB. The Government should adopt a strategy that includes: more frequent cattle testing; the evaluation of post-movement cattle testing; greater communication with farmers on the benefits of biosecurity measures; the deployment of badger and cattle vaccines when they become available in the future; and continued work on the epidemiology of the disease. Under certain well-defined circumstances it is possible that badger culling could make a contribution towards the reduction in incidence of cattle TB in hot spot areas. Any cull should be licensed by English Nature and: be done competently and efficiently; be coordinated; cover as large an area as possible (265km² or more is the minimum needed to be 95% confident of an overall beneficial effect); be sustained for at least four years; and be in areas which have "hard" or "soft" boundaries where possible. Crucial gaps in the knowledge about cattle TB and the way it spreads remain, and more research is needed. Defra needs more funding from the Treasury to pay for the Committee recommendations.

Download or read book Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is principally about the governance, structure and accountability of the veterinary profession as conferred by the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. The profession must meet modern day standards of quality of service, and have the transparent and accountable disciplinary procedures demanded by the public. There is general agreement that aspects of the Act require modernisation, and that the disciplinary procedure is in urgent need of updating. But the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) does not have the support of the majority of the profession for its proposals on compulsory practice standards and compulsory continuing professional development. The RCVS has not yet formulated a detailed plan for how a new Council might be structured. Nor is there a clear vision of how "para-professionals" and those administering complementary and alternative therapies to animals ought to be regulated under a new Act. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has said that there is no funding available for work on a White Paper to update the Act until at least 2011. These next three years must be used by the profession as an opportunity to decide what it wants, and to iron out internal differences. The RCVS should analyse the costs of its proposals both for those practising and for the consumer. Any new Act should not overload the profession with unnecessary legislation, but it must safeguard the health and welfare of animals and also protect them, and their owners, from those who offer potentially dangerous treatments without sufficient knowledge or training.

Download or read book Local authority investments written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-11 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of Icelandic financial institutions in the autumn of 2008 brought to light not only the surprisingly large amounts of money invested by local authorities, but also the fact that local authorities had invested nearly £1 billion in Iceland, funds that were consequently at risk. This prompted the Committee to launch an inquiry into local authority investments, in order to understand current practice, to study the roles and responsibilities of various groups and individuals involved, and to make recommendations intended to limit the exposure of local authority funds to such risk in future. The unusual nature of the recent financial situation should not excuse failures that occurred in local authority financial arrangements. The inquiry reveals a degree of misunderstanding, misinformation and complacency on the part of some crucial players, both within local authorities and in the wider financial sector, which contributed to the putting of taxpayers' money at unnecessary risk. There is significant room for improvement in the guidance and codes of practice for local authorities: to be more explicit in certain areas in order to make the system more transparent; to explain where the responsibilities lie, both in executing and in overseeing treasury management, including more rigorous training and reporting; and to highlight the variations of service on offer by different external service providers. It was the role of external service providers, specifically some of the treasury management advisers, which caused the Committee most concern and the Financial Services Authority should investigate the services provided by them as soon as possible and should take a more active role in their regulation.

Download or read book Housing and the Credit Crunch written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this report the Communities and Local Government Committee says the Government must stick to its long term house building targets, despite the credit crunch, but a greater proportion of the homes built should be social housing. The Committee is concerned that the £975 million borrowed by the Government from its 2010-11 budgets to build social rented housing now is not new money, and that the Government has been unable to say how that borrowing will be replaced. The Committee urges the Department for Communities and Local Government to: put pressure on the Treasury to ensure measures to revive the mortgage markets are implemented immediately; increase construction of new social housing, both to provide for housing need and as a means of maintaining capacity in the homebuilding industry whilst the market recovers; accelerate refurbishment programmes for social housing; acquire further social housing through the purchase of unsold stock and street properties; consider the purchase of unsold family homes which have been on the market for more than a year; encourage public sector bodies to make land available for the development of new homes. The report also urges the Government to do more to help those at risk of repossession by considering sanctions against lenders who repossess too quickly and by doing more to protect tenants and homeowners from unscrupulous landlords. An Office of Fair Trading recommendation for sale-and-rent back schemes should be implemented as a matter of urgency to protect the growing number of households falling behind in mortgage payments. The Committee would like to see more done to support housing associations, including increasing social housing grant where necessary.

Download or read book Investigating the Conduct of Ministers written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Administration Select Committee 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: The post of Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests was created in March 2006, and extended by the incoming Prime Minister in July 2007. Part of the new Independent Adviser's role is to investigate allegations that the Ministerial Code has been breached. This Report considers the suitability of the new mechanism for investigating alleged breaches of the Code. The creation of an investigatory capacity is welcomed as an important step. However, the Committee identifies limitations on the Independent Adviser's powers which cast doubt over the effective ability of any holder of the post to secure public confidence. The Independent Adviser should be free to instigate investigations rather than, as at present, being dependent on being invited to do so by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister should also undertake that findings of investigations into the conduct of ministers will routinely be published. Constitutional watchdogs such as this new investigator need to be demonstrably independent of those they regulate. The post of Independent Adviser meets none of the criteria associated with independence. The holder of the post, Sir Philip Mawer, has been appointed by the Prime Minister on a non-specific term of office which can be terminated by the Prime Minister at any time and on any grounds. He has no staff of his own, no office and no budget, but relies on the Cabinet Office for all these things. There has been no open advertisement process and no parliamentary involvement in the appointment. Until these defects are remedied, the Committee has difficulty accepting the suggestion that the new investigator can meaningfully be considered to be independent.

Download or read book Outside and insiders written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-25 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outside and Insiders : External appointments to the Senior Civil Service, further report, with the Governments response to the Committees seventh report of session 2009-10, twelfth report of session 2009-10, report and appendix, together with formal Min

Download or read book Administrative Justice in Context written by Michael Adler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-04-30 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book comprises a definitive collection of papers on administrative justice, written by a set of very distinguished contributors. It is divided into five parts, each of which contains articles on a particular aspect of administrative justice. The first part deals with the impact of 'contextual changes' on administrative justice and considers the implications of changes in governance and public administration, management and service delivery, information technology, audit and accounting, and human rights for administrative justice. The second part deals with conceptual issues and describes a number of competing approaches to the administrative justice. The third part deals with the application of administrative justice principles to private law disputes while the fourth part deals with the distinctive characteristics of administrative justice in three other jurisdictions. The final part deals with current developments in administrative justice and the book concludes with a discussion of legislative and policy developments in the UK. The general approach of the book is socio-legal and interdisciplinary. The chapters adopt a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including those derived from political science, public policy, social policy, accounting and information technology as well as from law. Although most of the contributors are academics, some are practitioners. For these reasons, the book should be of interest to lawyers, particularly those with interests in administrative law, and to social scientists, particularly those with interests in public administration, public policy and public management.

Download or read book Existing Housing and Climate Change written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UK contains more than 26 million homes which, collectively, emitted 41.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2004, representing more than a quarter of the UK's emission of the main greenhouse gas driving climate change. The Government plans that the three million more households to be added to the housing stock over the next 12 years will be as carbon-neutral as modern building methods, technologies and regulation can make them. But the Government must pay as much attention to reducing the carbon footprint of the existing housing stock, given the UK's challenging target of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Domestic energy efficiency measures taken since 1970 have halved what UK domestic energy demand would otherwise be, but the amount of energy used now needs to decline sharply if the target is to be achieved. Chapters examine: regulation and encouragement; financial incentives; energy performance certificates; breaching the barriers to change; newer technologies; older buildings. There are many existing means to achieve rapid reductions in carbon emissions. such as cavity-wall insulation, loft insulation, double-glazing, condensing boilers, more efficient lighting. One problem is that of engaging with a greater proportion of the population and convincing them of the need for action. The proposed Green Homes Service due in late 2008 should provide a one-stop source of information for householders to overcome this "information barrier" to quick, simple and cost-effective action in many homes. The Committee believes that substantial and rapid change is possible if millions of individuals and families can be encouraged to rise to the challenge.

Download or read book Parliaments and Human Rights written by Murray Hunt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many countries today there is a growing and genuinely-held concern that the institutional arrangements for the protection of human rights suffer from a 'democratic deficit'. Yet at the same time there appears to be a new consensus that human rights require legal protection and that all branches of the state have a shared responsibility for upholding and realising those legally protected rights. This volume of essays tries to understand this paradox by considering how parliaments have sought to discharge their responsibility to protect human rights. Contributors seek to take stock of the extent to which national and sub-national parliaments have developed legislative review for human rights compatibility, and the effect of international initiatives to increase the role of parliaments in relation to human rights. They also consider the relationship between legislative review and judicial review for human rights compatibility, and whether courts could do more to incentivise better democratic deliberation about human rights. Enhancing the role of parliaments in the protection and realisation of human rights emerges as an idea whose time has come, but the volume makes clear that there is a great deal more to do in all parliaments to develop the institutional structures, processes and mechanisms necessary to put human rights at the centre of their function of making law and holding the government to account. The sense of democratic deficit is unlikely to dissipate unless parliaments empower themselves by exercising the considerable powers and responsibilities they already have to interpret and apply human rights law, and courts in turn pay closer attention to that reasoned consideration. 'I believe that this book will be of enormous value to all of those interested in human rights, in modern legislatures, and the relationship between the two. As this is absolutely fundamental to the characterand credibility of democracy, academic insight of this sort is especially welcome. This is an area where I expect there to be an ever expanding community of interest.' From the Foreword by the Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons

Download or read book Un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities written by Joint Committee on Human Rights and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-04 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report follows the Committee's first report of session 2008-09 on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HL paper 9/HC 93, ISBN 9780104014165) in which the Committee welcomed the Government's intention to ratify the Convention but drew attention to proposals for reservations and interpretative declarations. The Committee was concerned that there had been insufficient scrutiny of these proposals, not least because draft texts had not been published, and that the Office for Disability Issues had not robustly challenged Government departments about their proposals. The Government laid the Convention before Parliament on 3 March, heralding the beginning of the ratification process. Four reservations and one interpretative declaration were proposed. The Committee has criticised the Government for ruling out formal consultation on these proposals and also drawn attention to the limited opportunities for parliamentary scrutiny and control of the ratification of treaties. Ratification should take priority over potentially lengthy and futile discussions about whether or not to enter reservations but the Government's approach to some of the reservations has been unduly cautious and may detract from the position role the UK has played in relation to the Convention. The Committee considers that the reservation relating to service in the armed forces is open to challenge as incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention. The reservation relating to immigration control is felt to be too broad, its purpose has not been adequately explained and so it should be dropped. The Government should clarify matters in relation to the reservation and declaration on education and should consult on how to deal with the treatment of benefits appointees.