Download or read book Improving the Speed and Quality of Asylum Decisions written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The numbers of people seeking asylum in the UK peaked between 1999 and 2002, before almost halving in 2003. The high levels in applications led to a large backlog of cases awaiting an initial decision and subsequently an increased volume of appeals. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate spent £1.86 billion on its operations in 2002-03, including £1.07 billion in supporting asylum applicants. In the same year, the Immigration Appellate Authority spent £101 million on dealing with appeals from immigration and asylum cases. Following on from a NAO report on this topic (HCP 535, session 2003-04; ISBN 0102928495) published in June 2004, the Committees report examines the progress made in tackling the influx of asylum applications and in improving the timeliness and quality of decision-making. Findings include that the Home Office should balance additional administrative costs involved in increasing staff and infrastructure resourcing to meet surges in demand, against the extra costs arising if backlogs are allowed to accumulate; and fast-tracking procedures should be expanded, with a more demanding joint target set for the Directorate and Appellate Authority for time taken to process cases and reach a decision at appeal stage.
Download or read book Administrative Justice and Asylum Appeals written by Robert Thomas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-18 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FIRST PRIZE WINNER OF THE SLS BIRKS PRIZE FOR OUTSTANDING LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP 2011 How are we to assess and evaluate the quality of the tribunal systems that do the day-to-day work of adjudicating upon the disputes individuals have with government? This book examines how the idea of adjudicative quality works in practice by presenting a detailed case-study of the tribunal system responsible for determining appeals lodged by foreign nationals who claim that they will be at risk of persecution or ill-treatment on return to their country of origin. Over recent years, the asylum appeal process has become a major area of judicial decision-making and the most frequently restructured tribunal system. Asylum adjudication is also one of the most difficult areas of decision-making in the modern legal system. Integrating empirical research with legal analysis, this book provides an in-depth study of the development and operation of this tribunal system and of asylum decision-making. The book examines how this particular appeal process seeks to mediate the tension between the competing values under which it operates. There are chapters examining the organisation of the tribunal system, its procedures, the nature of fact-finding in asylum cases and the operation of onward rights of challenge. An examination as to how the tensions inherent in the idea of administrative justice are manifested in the context of a tribunal system responsible for making potentially life or death decisions, this book fills a gap in the literature and will be of value to those interested in administrative law and asylum adjudication.
Download or read book Network Rail Making a Fresh Start written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-07-07 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee took evidence from the Department for Transport, and the Strategic Rail Authority on the establishment of Network Rail in place of Railtrack and the subsequent review of the rail industry. The report considers the issues raised in the NAO report (HC 532, Session 2003-04) and how they have been addressed by the subsequent White Paper. There are five main conclusions: the Department will need to set strategy more effectively than was done by the SRA; the Department needs to recruit staff capable of dealing with the highest levels of the railway industry; Network Rail should develop long term financial indicators to show it is meeting objectives in a cost effective way; the Department should establish effective oversight of the risks associated with Network Rail's financial liabilities; the Government should justify the extra cost of private finance rather than conventional public funding for Network Rail.
Download or read book Inheritance Tax written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-07-12 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of estates liable to inheritance tax has grown in recent years, reflecting the rising value of assets in property, particularly of houses. Following on from a National Audit Office report (HCP 17, session 2004-05; ISBN 0102931550), the Committee's report focuses on the following issues: strengthening compliance checks and enforcing penalties for non-compliance; improving case processing and making the system easier to use, including simplifying forms; and the operation of the tax exemption scheme for heritage assets. A number of conclusions and recommendations are made, including the need to: improve data collection and analysis to examine the tax gap on undeclared or under-valued assets; consider extending regulations on disclosure obligations to inheritance tax avoidance schemes; and to further reduce the number of long-outstanding cases by setting targets and making full use of powers to secure information required. The report also recommends that the Revenue should consider developing a co-ordinated bereavement website, in co-operation with other departments, containing advice and information on dealing with the death of a relative, including filing inheritance tax and probate returns.
Download or read book Tackling Congestion by Making Better Use of England s Motorways and Trunk Roads written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-28 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Road congestion is estimated to cost industry and commerce £3 billion a year, with around 7% of the motorway and trunk road network suffering heavy congestion at peak times. Although the Government has set a target to stabilise congestion at 2000 levels by 2010, it has acknowledged that this will not be achieved. This report, which follows-on from a report by the NAO (HC 15 2004-05, ISBN 010293150X), looks at how the Highways Agency is tackling the problem. It concludes that the Agency has been too risk averse in testing and using measures adopted abroad and that they have failed to give motorists the information they need to make choices before and during their journeys.
Download or read book The Impact of the Office of Government Commerce s Initiatives on the Delivery of Major IT enabled Projects written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-07-05 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central civil government annually spends £2.3 billion on information technology, some 16% of its total procurement budget. This report examines the progress the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has made in improving departments' capacity to deliver successful IT projects and programmes. In particular it looks at the application of the Gateway Review Process, where there is an independent review of projects at critical points; the use of OGC initiatives by departments; and engagement with suppliers.
Download or read book Ministry of Defence written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-30 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to deploy troops in key military operations at short notice, the Ministry of Defence employs a system known as the Urgent Operational Requirements. The purpose of this method is to provide speedy and flexible procurement of capabilities, and it has been a major feature of UK recent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Following on from an NAO report (HCP 1161, session 2003-04, ISBN 0102930589) published in November 2004, the Committee's report focuses on three main issues: the importance of identifying and costing likely Urgent Operational Requirements; improvements to the way the MoD captures data on the process and outcomes, and the scope to apply lessons from Urgent Operational Requirements to the regular procurement programme.
Download or read book The United Kingdom s Civil Space Activities written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-09 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report follows-on from a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (HC 359 2003-4 ISBN 0102927391) which examined the Partnership of Departments, Agencies and Research Councils that manages the UK space programme. It concludes that the Partnership does not apply risk management techniques consistently across their programmes, and in particular the Beagle 2 project had large risks that were not explicitly addressed in the appraisals of funding applications. It also finds that cost control is compromised by internal information systems and that the Partnership neither summarises the benefits across space programmes nor monitor progress against strategic objectives.
Download or read book London Underground Public Private Partnerships written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2003, the Government signed three 30-year public private partnership (PPP) deals worth an estimated £15.7 billion for the maintenance and renewal of London Underground trains and stations, track and signalling, after a five-year procurement process which cost £455 million. Under the PPPs, London Underground retains responsibility for operations and safety, whilst three private sector infrastructure companies (infracos) maintain and renew the infrastructure. There is a built-in periodic review mechanism, untried in any other PPP arrangement, which enables the parties to respecify requirements and make changes to prices. Ownership of London Underground was transferred to Transport for London in July 2003, which reports to the Mayor of London, although the Department for Transport still retains an interest. Following on from two NAO reports (HCP 644, session 2003-04, ISBN 0102928339 and HCP 645, session 2003-04, ISBN 0102928320) published in June 2004, the Committee's report examines the rationale for the PPPs, the contract price and other costs, and the contract management arrangements.
Download or read book Reducing Crime written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-21 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Home Office aims to reduce crime by supporting Police Basic Command Disorder Units, as well as 354 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in England and 22 Community Safety Partnerships in Wales. On the basis of evidence from the Home Office, this report examines the effectiveness and administration of these schemes. It finds that the initiatives have contributed to reductions in crime but, because they have not been systematically evaluated, it is not clear how much of a difference they have made. It also concludes that the Partnerships have too great an administrative burden and that the number of Partnerships should be reduced and their funding stream should be simplified.
Download or read book Facing Justice written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-16 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2002, 85 per cent of defendants attended hearings in England and Wales at the dates and times set for them, but those who do not turn up cause distress and inconvenience to victims and witnesses, and waste the time and resources of the courts and other agencies. Criminal justice agencies are not dealing with this situation effectively. For example, only 45 per cent of the 118,000 bail warrants issued in 2002, were executed by the police within three months. The Committee recommends that areas with a poor record for enforcing defendants' attendance should be "named and shamed" by the National Criminal Justice Board. The Board should determine the responsibilities of the different criminal justice agencies at each stage of the criminal justice process. The increased use of stipendiary magistrates should be re-considered by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Download or read book Access to Justice written by Ellie Palmer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on a series of ESRC funded seminars, this edited collection of expert papers by academics and practitioners is concerned with access to civil and administrative justice in constitutional democracies, where, for the past decade governments have reassessed their priorities for funding legal services: embracing 'new technologies' that reconfigure the delivery and very concept of legal services; cutting legal aid budgets; and introducing putative cost-cutting measures for the administration of courts, tribunals and established systems for the delivery of legal advice and assistance. Without underplaying the future potential of technological innovation, or the need for a fair and rational system for the prioritisation and funding of legal services, the book questions whether the absolutist approach to the dictates of austerity and the promise of new technologies that have driven the Coalition Government's policy, can be squared with obligations to protect the fundamental right of access to justice, in the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom.
Download or read book Management of Asylum Applications by the UK Border Agency written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New Asylum Model, introduced by the Home Office in 2006 to achieve faster conclusions to asylum applications, has strengthened aspects of the asylum process. The case ownership approach, in which a single individual manages an application from start to finish, has created a strong incentive to conclude cases and applications are being concluded more quickly, and there are also signs that the quality of decision-making is improving. But the new process is not yet working to its optimum efficiency and effectiveness. The UK Border Agency has done well to improve its handling of the casework. There was a rise in the proportion of cases being dealt with within six months, peaking above the target of 40 per cent in December 2007. The backlog of decisions to be made has however more than doubled in over a year, to 8,700 in the second quarter of 2008. At the point of application, the full screening interview is not taking place in a quarter of cases, so that key information about claims could be being missed. A separate process has been established to clear, by 2011, the backlog of 'legacy cases', unresolved before the introduction of the New Asylum Model, which is put at some 335,000 cases. The Agency has made inroads but the target looks challenging. Few removals of failed applicants are being achieved, hampered by a lack of detention space and problems obtaining emergency travel documents. Throughout the second half of 2007, the gap between unfounded applications and removals increased. The Agency missed its 'tipping point' objective, which is to remove more failed asylum applicants than the number who make new unfounded applications. Unfounded applications exceeded removals by over 20 per cent.
Download or read book Ofgem written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some 2.25 million households in the UK are classified as being in fuel poverty, spending more than 10 per cent of their income on energy to heat their homes. Some consumers get into debt, often through inaccurate estimated bills, and they are then required to use pre-payment meters, even though this is the most expensive way of purchasing energy. Ofgems encouragement of suppliers to recover the cost of installing and using pre-payment meters is found to be inconsistent with its obligations towards vulnerable consumers (in contrast, Ofgem protects rural consumers from paying the higher costs of delivering energy to their homes). The Committee concludes that suppliers should provide accurate bills, should not discriminate against pre-payment meter consumers, and should provide more information to them about the disadvantages of those meters. On the energy efficiency commitment (administered by Ofgem), requiring energy suppliers to meet specific energy saving targets, the Committee queries whether the provision of measures such as cavity wall insulation and low-energy lightbulbs, do actually deliver the energy reduction intended. Ofgem, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the energy suppliers, should undertake a national campaign to encourage energy efficiency. Clearer explanation of the environmental measures to save energy, and their costs to consumers, is recommended.
Download or read book Department for International Development written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last two decades 65 million people have been infected and 20 million have died of HIV/AIDS. The United Kingdom contribution to the global response is lead by the Department for International Development, which spent GBP 270 million in 2002-3, with plans for GBP 1.5 billion to be spent in the next 3 years. This report looks at the scale of the UK response to the epidemic, ways of getting most from development partners, supporting an effective response and providing balanced and informed country programmes.
Download or read book Immigration Control written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-07-23 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the report of an inquiry into the policy and practice of immigration control, examining entry clearance (visa) system, the granting or refusing of further leave in the UK and the enforcement of immigration control. It considered the degree to which the aims of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and UK visas are being met; the progress in implementing recommendations from recent reports; and lessons to be learnt from the operation of the current system. Although it is recognised that staff are working hard and diligently there are a number of problems , especially related to fragmentation and lack of communication. The Committee make a number of recommendations including the establishment of a Cabinet Committee and an Independent Immigration Inspectorate; a redrafting of the Immigration Rules and a greater focus on the quality of decision making as opposed to speed.
Download or read book Welfare to Work written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-05-24 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government has spent over £800 million since 1998 on helping over-50s find work. Of the 2.7 million people over 50 and under the state pension age, who are not working, between 700,000 and 1 million would like to work, and, of these, some 200,000 are actively seeking employment. Government initiatives include the New Deal 50 plus, which provides access to a Personal Adviser for over 50s seeking work as well as financial incentives; the Age Positive campaign which encourages an an end to age discrimination; and the PRIME Initiative for over-50s interested in self-employment. The report includes the following recommendations: Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council should eliminate duplication by harmonising their contracting with local service providers. Better use should be made of performance targets, for example. Jobcentre Plus should develop performance measures to indicate improvements in employability of those who have participated in programmes but are not yet ready for work. All major employment programmes should be evaluated to determine their net economic effect, and their continuing value for money.
