Download or read book Responses to the Committee s Second Report of Session 2004 05 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-04-11 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication sets out responses to the Committee's report on the credit card market (HCP 274, session 2004-05; ISBN 0215021711) published in February 2004, received from the Department for Trade and Industry, the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority. Issues discussed include: transparency in charging practices; data sharing and responsible lending; and regulation of payment protection insurance.
Download or read book Communities and Local Government s Departmental Annual Report 2008 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 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its report of last year on the Communities and Local Government's Departmental Annual Report 2007 (HC 170, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215037978) the Committee commented on the particular nature of the Department's work: on its unusual reliance for the achievement of the goals Government has set it on a plethora of other Departments, agencies, non-departmental bodies, local authorities and other stakeholders; on the long, devolved delivery chains by which those goals therefore have to be delivered; and on the skills of influence, brokering and negotiation which are required to achieve them. In this Report the Committee assesses the progress made since last. The most recent Cabinet Office Capability Review concludes that there has been a positive "direction of travel" for CLG in that period, but the Committee concludes that there is still some way to go before CLG can be said to be performing at the highest achievable level of effectiveness. The Department's overall performance against its Public Service Agreement targets is likewise moving in the right direction but still short of full effectiveness. Achievement of efficiency targets is applauded. Finally, the report considers examples of particular policies which highlight some of the Department's strengths and weaknesses, and follow up some issues in earlier inquiries. These issues include: eco-towns; the Decent Homes programme; Home Information Packs; Fire Service response times; Firebuy; the FiReControl programme. The report also considers the Department's response to the serious flooding of summer 2007, and to the reviews which followed; and the mismanagement of European Regional Development Fund monies.
Download or read book Globalisation and Its Impact on Wales written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Welsh Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Welsh Affairs Committee report, "Globalisation and its impact on Wales" (HC 184-I, ISBN 9780215526373), examines the effects of global trade on a variety of economic sectors, including employment and skills, broadcasting, and food supply and production. The Committee found evidence of existing skills gaps in Wales, for example in specialist areas such as science, and recommends that to avoid dependence on low skilled, low paid jobs, the UK and Welsh Assembly Governments work with the higher education sector to raise the skills base. Universities are the drivers of the knowledge economy, which is key to success in the global marketplace. The Committee believes it is imperative that the UK and Welsh Assembly Governments fully integrate the commercial potential of higher education into their policies. Welsh companies can increase their value and stimulate the local economy by exploiting a strong local identity and values, and by making use of higher level and specialist skills to offer premium goods and services that cannot be sourced abroad, particularly in the farming and food production industries, where Wales is developing a global reputation for excellence. Also in the report, the Committee: welcomes the use of innovative methods of broadcasting used by S4C to engage with audiences outside Wales; recommends the commissioning of more programmes reflective of Welsh identity; supports initiatives helping Welsh companies to exploit their global potential in the creative industries.
Download or read book Further Education written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Education and Skills Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-09-12 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines issues in the further education and skills training sector, including the findings of the independent review into the future of FE colleges conducted by Sir Andrew Foster (2005, ISBN 1844786153) (more information on the review can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/furthereducation/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.viewandCategoryID=20andContentID=18) and the funding of learning for those adults outside the Government's current priority funding groups. Amongst its 51 conclusions and recommendations, the report welcomes the Government's recent statements on the importance of the FE sector to the UK economy and society. However, concerns are expressed that some of the Foster review proposals are not radical enough, such as suggested improvements in the administration and functioning of the DfES and the Learning and Skills Council in relation to FE matters. It argues that current funding priorities for adult learning have not been been adequately addressed in the Government's recent White Paper ('Further education: raising skills, improving life chances' Cm 6768, March 2006, ISBN 0101676824) and that a more coherent planning and funding machinery is essential to the overall development of further education.
Download or read book Local government finance written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sir Michael Lyons, in his report "Place-shaping: a shared ambition for the future of local government" (2007, ISBN 9780119898545) proposed allowing local authorities to make marginal changes to the national non-domestic rate which businesses pay as their contribution to the provision of local services. The Government's recent green paper "The governance of Britain" (Cm. 7170, ISBN 9780101717021) contemplates enabling local communities to take decisions about how to use local funds, and a substantive response to the Lyons report is expected later in 2007. The Committee builds on these developments to argue that local authorities should be able to levy a supplementary business rate to increase or decrease the business rate paid by local businesses. Whilst the decision-making should be left to local authorities, the Government should set down some basic parameters to define the operation of supplementary business rates and confine the purposes to which any revenue generated might be applied. This reform to local government revenue should be seen as a first step in a development process of financial devolution.
Download or read book Equality written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-08-02 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee undertook this enquiry to examine the issues surrounding the establishment of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) and to further the debate on equality in preparation for the introduction of a Single Equality Bill. Despite some practical concerns that the CEHR might not be ready in time, that its budget will not be sufficient, and there might be some loss of expertise, the Committee supports the creation of a body that will bring together all the strands of equality and human rights. At the same time the Government should press ahead with a Single Equality Bill to remove simplify current provisions, remove anomalies; and promote action to prevent unfair discrimination.
Download or read book Is there a future for regional government written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-14 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This inquiry was prompted by the fact that although it is more than twelve months since a referendum rejected the plans for a regional assembly for the North-East, there has been no new direction for the Government's regional policy. The Committee focused on two main questions: how does the current system of regional governance actually work; and what role city-regions play in the future development of regional policy. In conclusion it recommended "the Government should commit itself to a clear city-regions policy, indicating the extent of city-region feasibility, and the powers and resources which will be made available, so that this alternative to regional governance can be properly explored."
Download or read book Iraq written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In he report 'Lessons of Iraq' (HCP 2003-04 57), which examined the military operation to oust Saddam Hussein, it was noted that planning for the post-war period could have been improved. This enquiry follows up that conclusion to examine the continuing work of the UK military in Iraq and identify weaknesses in its capability to manage post-conflict situations. The subjects covered are: pre-war planning for the post-conflict phase; the insurgency; challenges in Southern Iraq; security sector reform; civil-military issues; broadening the coalition; future commitments to Iraq; Whitehall issues.
Download or read book Annual Report For 2004 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Liaison Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annual report For 2004 : First report of session 2004-05, report, together with appendices and formal Minutes
Download or read book Sessional Returns written by Great Britain: House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-06-23 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With corrigendum slip dated June 2005 (1 sheet).
Download or read book Draft Sentencing Guideline written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-03-07 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draft sentencing Guideline : Robbery, second report of session 2005-06, report, together with annex and formal Minutes
Download or read book The Departmental Annual Report 2005 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 2005-12-20 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: departmental annual Report 2005 : Fourth report of session 2005-06, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes, and lists of oral and written Evidence
Download or read book The Balance of Power written by and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The balance of power between central and local government matters because it affects the responsibility and accountability for delivery of services and improvements to local people and communities. Democracy is strengthened where local people understand what local government is responsible for in terms of both policy and resources, where they can hold to account local government for its performance, and where, crucially, they believe that local government can make a real difference. Local authorities should have the freedom to shape the development of their communities and the scope to unlock the full potential of local innovation. Yet the predominant trend, particularly since the second world war, has been for central government to increase its powers and responsibilities at the expense of local government. This report looks at the current role of local government, assessing where it could be more proactive in making best use of existing structures, and where change is required elsewhere - by central government and its agencies and by Parliament - to increase the scope for autonomous local government activity. It considers the role of central government, and the advantages to be gained at both the local and the national levels from adopting a "minimalist" as opposed to a "maximalist" role in relation to local government, advocating further cultural change within central government to facilitate a decentralised balance of power structure. The Committee also addresses the pressing need for reform of local government financial arrangements, with a view to enabling local government to raise more of its own money.
Download or read book Understanding Social Security Second Edition written by Jane Millar and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2009-02-02 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of this important text reviews policy developments since 1997. The chapters have been extensively updated and there are new chapters on social security reform, inequalities and social security, and the new 'welfare market'.
Download or read book Draft Sentencing Guidelines written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-28 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Domestic violence is a social problem of enormous proportion. In 2000 there were an estimated 12.9 million incidents, and 1.2 million women were affected by stalking. It accounts for a quarter of all violent crime. Victims and children suffer with physical and psychological abuse. The costs to society are high, recently estimated as amounting to £3.1 billion for services for survivors: including absence from employment, medical, psychiatric and addiction treatment, housing and other social and legal assistance. The loss to the economy has been estimated at £2.7 billion per year. Two draft guidelines on domestic violence were published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council on 11 April 2006. Overarching Principles: Domestic Violence deals with the general principles. There is no specific offence of domestic violence, and conduct amounting to domestic violence can be covered by a wide range of offences: not only assaults, but criminal damage, harassment, threats to injure or kill, false imprisonment, and sexual offences. The guidelines define domestic violence, and discuss assessing seriousness, aggravating and mitigating factors, and the wishes and interests of victims and children. Breach of a Protective Order, the second draft guideline, addresses breaches of restraining or non-molestation orders imposed in order to prevent harassment or fear of violence, or the molestation of others. The Committee endorses the general approach in these guidelines, particularly the explicit recognition that courts should treat domestic violence no less seriously than other cases of violent crime. The Committee makes a number of recommendations for amendments to the guidelines.
Download or read book The Occupation of Iraq Volume 2 written by Stefan Talmon and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 1572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The invasion and occupation of Iraq rank among the most controversial and complex issues in international law in recent history. This volume of documents covers the occupation of Iraq from the planning stages of the invasion of Iraq in early 2002 to the transfer of governing authority to the Iraqi Interim Government on 28 June 2004. The book presents 595 selected documents including the first complete set of all Regulations, Orders, Memoranda and Public Notices issued by the US-led occupation administration of Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), several of which were never published on the CPA`s website or promulgated in Alwaqai Aliraqiya, the Official Gazette of Iraq. Some of these legal acts have shaped the economic and political system of present day Iraq and will be part of the country`s legal order for years to come. The book also includes some 120 other CPA and CPA-related documents selected from more than 5000 unclassified CPA documents and received under freedom of information requests lodged in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland. These documents include instructions and proclamations to the Iraqi people in the early stages of the occupation, organizational charts, internal legal opinions, diplomatic notes, international agreements concluded by the CPA with other States, and numerous internal memoranda for the head of the CPA, Ambassador Paul L Bremer, on legal, diplomatic and political issues. The book also presents for the first time all 235 resolutions passed by the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) between July 2003 and June 2004. The resolutions as well as many of the 25 other important IGC documents (including various political statements, press releases and decrees of the Council`s Higher National De-Ba`athification Commission) have been translated from Arabic and are presented here for the first time in English. These documents are complemented by the relevant United Nations documents on the occupation of Iraq as well as some 50 policy documents of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Iraqi opposition movement as well as all relevant fatwas (religious rulings) of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani which shaped the internal Iraqi political process during the occupation. This collection archives these important documents for future use and makes them easily accessible to researchers and professionals. Considering that the main source of information for the occupying powers in Iraq were the precedents set during the First and Second World Wars, the occupation of Iraq will serve as a modern precedent for future administrations of occupied territory. The documents are made easily accessible by a comprehensive table of documents, a list of abbreviations, more than 1100 explanatory notes and cross-references and a substantive subject index. This volume is the second on The Occupation of Iraq. It is complemented by a monograph by the same author which, on the basis of the documents collection, presents a comprehensive analysis of The Governance of Occupied Territory in Contemporary International Law.
Download or read book The use of airspace written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-07-10 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government's Future of Air Transport strategy aims to significantly increase UK airport capacity over the next two decades to accommodate the predicted growth in demand for air travel. New runways at Heathrow and Stansted airports are two of the key airport development proposals. If all the White Paper-supported airport development proposals came to fruition, current Government forecasts predict that the number of passengers passing through UK airports will increase from 241 million passengers a year in 2007 to 455 million passengers a year in 2030. This UK growth matches air traffic predictions for the whole continent. Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, predicts that European air traffic will double by 2020. If rising demand for air travel is to be met effectively through additional airport capacity, a corresponding increase in airspace capacity must be realised. However, a country's airspace, the portion of atmosphere above its territory and territorial waters, controlled by that country is a finite resource. UK airspace, particularly in the South East of England, is already some of the busiest and most complex to manage in the world. This will almost certainly require improvements in the efficiency of the UK air traffic management system.The Committee's inquiry aims to look at how to meet these challenges. Its findings are aimed at those organisations responsible for airspace-related decisions in the UK: the CAA, NATS, and the Department for Transport. Passenger numbers and freight demand globally have declined in 2008 and in the first months of 2009. In its conclusions and recommendations the Committee covered the management of airspace, strategy, change and co-ordination in airspace management, environmental impacts of airspace changes and European developments.
