Download or read book The last report written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Science and Technology Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-07 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 28 June 2007, the Prime Minister announced changes to the machinery of Government that had an impact upon the select committee system within the House of Commons. As a result, the Science and Technology Select Committee will be dissolved and replaced by a new Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee at the beginning of the next session of Parliament. This Report explains the role that the Science and Technology Committee has played within Parliament and the science community. It outlines the Committee's innovations, its impact and concerns regarding future science scrutiny in the House of Commons. It concludes that, in the long term, a separate Science and Technology Committee is the only way to guarantee a permanent focus on science across Government within the select committee system and recommends that the House be given an opportunity to revisit this issue.

Download or read book Thirty first Report of Session 2005 06 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-26 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-first report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 14 June 2006, including: A citizens agenda - delivering results for Europe; Preliminary draft budget 2007, report, together with 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 Joining forces to deliver improved stroke care written by Jess Hudson and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-13 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many years, stroke was viewed as an inevitable consequence of getting old. For stroke patients there seemed little to be done, except making them more comfortable.Things have begun to change, moving towards better treatment and care for stroke through specialist services and key interventions, such as stroke units, immediate scanning, thrombolysis and Early Supported Discharge.The publication of the NAO report 'Reducing Brain Damage: Faster Access to Better Stroke Care (HC 452)' in November 2005 highlighted how these developments can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of stroke care. As a result, the Department of Health is working to develop a comprehensive national stroke strategy, crossing prevention, urgent care, hospital care, community support and social care.This publication 'Joining Forces to Deliver Improved Stroke Care' sets out recommendations from expert project groups for a new national stroke care strategy, while also examining key messages and examples of good practice arising from the October 2006 'Joining Forces to Deliver Improved Stroke Care' conference hosted by the NAO

Download or read book Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009-06-29 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An area of tropical forest the size of England continues to be lost each year. This gives rise to around 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, greater than global emissions from transport. Addressing deforestation is as essential as decarbonising electricity or transport if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change. A failure to act on deforestation could double the cost of avoiding dangerous climate change to 2030. Deforestation is caused by a range of factors, many of which are exacerbated by a growing global population and increasing consumption. Halting deforestation requires: (a) support for rainforest nations to help them manage their development so that it does not allow continued deforestation; (b) management of the demand for commodities whose production encourages deforestation; and (c) the introduction of a mechanism to pay developing countries for maintaining, and in due course recreating, their forests. The UK needs to act in all three areas if its policies on deforestation are to be successful. Ignoring any one undermines the effectiveness and durability of action in the other areas. As part of this work the Government must: remove subsidies that contribute to deforestation, such as biofuels policy; develop sustainability standards for agricultural commodities; implement and enforce government timber procurement; and, seek an EU-wide ban on illegal timber imports combined with robust sanctions. Illegal timber imports are still a fact of life within the UK timber trade. The economic, environmental and development case for immediate action on deforestation is clear. But success is possible only if the international community works together effectively.

Download or read book Strategic lift written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-05 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ministry of Defence needs the capability to transport personnel, equipment and stores from the UK to operational theatres across the globe. This capability, known as Strategic Lift, can by delivered by sea, land or air, and its annual cost to the MoD is almost £800 million a year. The Committee's report examines the progress of the MoD in delivering the Strategic Lift requirements set out in the Strategic Defence Review and whether these requirements need to be revisited given the experience of the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Findings include that good progress has been made in improving strategic sea-lift, particularly in relation to Ro-Ro ships and the acquisition of Landing Platform Dock (Auxiliary) vessels. However, strategic air-lift is a particular concern given the age of many of the aircraft, and the report looks at the progress of two major equipment programmes designed to deliver new transport aircraft (the A400M transport aircraft) and new tanker aircraft (the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft).

Download or read book Defence Equipment 2009 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mission of the MoD's (Ministry of Defence's) Defence Equipment and Support (DE & S) organisation is to equip and support our Armed Forces for operations now and in the future. Support to current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq has taken priority and the organisation has performed well. The Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) system remains highly effective in enabling vital equipment to be provided quickly to the two theatres to meet rapidly changing threats, but there are concerns that UORs represent a partial failure to equip our forces for predicted expeditionary operations, and on their effects on the core budget in future years. DE & S' performance in procuring longer-term equipment declined significantly in 2007-08. The forecast costs for the 20 largest defence projects increased by £205 million and the forecast delays increased by some 100 months in the year. The improvements promised by both the long-standing application of the principles of 'smart procurement' and the more recent formation of the DE & S organisation appear not to have materialised. The FRES (Future Rapid Effect System) programme has been a fiasco, being poorly conceived and managed from the outset. The Committee condemns the failure to date to publish an updated version of the Defence Industrial Strategy and considers that its continuing absence increases the risk that the UK Defence Industrial Base will not be able to meet the future requirements of our Armed Forces. Finally, the UK's future military capability depends on the investment made today in Research and Development. Sufficient funding for defence research needs to be ring-fenced and the MoD must recognise the very high priority of research and reverse the recent cut in research spending.

Download or read book Department for Education and Skills departmental report 2007 written by Great Britain: Department for Education and Skills and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05-17 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dated May 2007. With correction slip dated May 2007

Download or read book Legislative competence orders in council written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Welsh Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-05 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the National Assembly of Wales has limited law-making powers, they can be enhanced, given Parliamentary consent, by a new procedure known as Legislative Competence Order in Council. This sits alongside a procedure where Acts of Parliament may prescribe matters on which the National Assembly may legislate within areas (known as "Fields") for which it has responsibility. In this report the Committee examine the new procedure. Although it welcomes the chance to be involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny of draft Orders, it is worried about the potential work load and think there could be merit in ad hoc committees set up to examine each proposed Legislative Competence Order. There is also a concern that Matters added by provisions in Bills of a general nature will not have the same degree of scrutiny as legislative Competence Orders.

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 Flooding 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 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The floods that occurred across several areas of the country in June and July 2007 were on a scale not seen for sixty years. Thirteen people lost their lives; thousands of people lost either their electricity, water supply or both; and 44,600 homes were flooded. Some £3 billion worth of damage was caused, and 7,100 businesses were flooded. The 2007 floods revealed that most organisations-including Government-have focussed on river and coastal flooding, and much less so on surface water and groundwater flooding. But two thirds of the summer 2007 flooding was caused by surface water flooding, often after intense heavy rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems. No organisation currently has responsibility for surface water flooding, at either the national or local level. The Committee believes local authorities, advised by the Environment Agency, should be given a statutory duty for surface water drainage in their area. Only allowing paving over of front gardens with porous materials, and the development of sustainable drainage systems (SUDs) are supported. The announced increase in expenditure on flood risk management from £600 million in 2007-08 to £800 million by 2010-11 looks inadequate to cope with both the traditional and new risks the country faces. The summer floods exposed the vulnerability of the nation's critical infrastructure to flooding. The Government should re-examine the current statutory duties on utilities in relation to emergency planning. A specific duty should be placed on utilities to ensure their critical assets are protected from flooding and that they have adequate business continuity plans in the event of a flood. The Government must implement the findings of the current Pitt Review into the floods in a robust and transparent manner.

Download or read book Implementation of the Nitrates Directive in England 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 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Communities adopted the Nitrates Directive on 12 December 1991 with the objective of reducing water pollution caused or induced by nitrates from agricultural sources and preventing further such pollution. It requires member states to designate as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones areas of land that drain into polluted waters and to set up action programmes in these zones. Nitrate pollution can also increase eutrophication, reduce biodiversity and affect the recreational value of water. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates that the cost of treating nitrates in drinking water between 2005 and 2010 will be £288 million in capital expenditure and £6 million a year in operating costs. Defra issued a consultation document on the Directive in 2007, and its proposed changes reflect the fact that the European Commission does not think the Directive was properly implemented in England. The proposals would have a significant impact on some 195,500 farmers in the affected areas, requiring them to alter practices for storing and spreading livestock manure and for applying chemical fertiliser. The Committee finds insufficient evidence to assess how effective the current action programme has been in reducing nitrate pollution in England. It welcomes some of Defra's proposals but has concerns about others. The proposed new action plan will place a considerable financial burden on livestock and dairy farmers, and Defra should make representations to the Treasury on the need for support in the form of tax relief for the construction of slurry storage facilities.

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 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 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.

Download or read book The work of the committee in 2007 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 2008-01-23 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work of the Committee In 2007 : Third report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book The Work of the Committee in Session 2008 09 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: work of the Committee in Session 2008-09 : Second report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal Minutes