Download or read book Seventeenth 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 2006-02-13 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeenth report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 1 February 2006, report, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book Seventh Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee Session 2005 06 written by Great Britain. Foreign and Commonwealth Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East Asia is a dynamic region, with half of the world's population, the world's fastest-growing economies and a wide spectrum of diverse cultures and political systems. The region has huge economic potential, but also has hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people, as well as a number of significant security risks and unresolved disputes. This publication sets out the Government's response to the report by the Foreign Affairs Committee (HCP 860-I, session 2005-06; ISBN 0215030516) on economic and political developments in the region, particularly in China, and the work of the Government to engage with the countries of East Asia and to promote UK interests.
Download or read book Twenty seventh 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 2006-05-09 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-seventh report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 3 May 2006,, report, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book Fifty seventh report of session 2010 12 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty-seventh report of Session 2010-12 : Documents considered by the Committee on 29 February 2012, including the following recommendations for debate, Financial services: market abuse; Procurement by public entities (draft reasoned opinion); Public proc
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 The English Pig Industry 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 2009 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report finds that, although the pig industry is highly competitive and is well known for being cyclical, the last ten years have seen a steady decline in the scale and productivity of the English pig industry and an increase in the pig meat imported into the UK to satisfy consumer demand. The lack of transparency in the supply chain leads farmers to form the view that they are not getting their fair share. UK pigs cost more to produce than their EU counterparts. The industry blames this on the effects of disease outbreaks, high feed prices, burdensome environmental regulations and the high cost of the introduction of new welfare standards of housing for pigs in 1999. Pig producers are rightly proud of their high welfare standards, but the Committee believes that they have not successfully promoted to the consumer the justification for the higher cost of English pig meat. Retailers and catering suppliers are responsible for ensuring that labelling of pig meat products is clear and unambiguous, but producers, animal welfare groups such as the RSPCA, and Government, have a role in making certain that consumers understand the difference between the standards of welfare in the various methods of pig production and ensuring that pig meat produced in the UK is of a high welfare standard. Defra must continue to: advise other Government departments and public bodies on the welfare standards of farm assurance schemes in order to encourage them to adopt a more innovative approach in public sector procurement of pig meat; liaise closely with the industry on its Health and Welfare Council; fund research into the pig-specific diseases which have severely impacted on the industry in recent years.
Download or read book Ofwat price review 2009 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 2009-07-22 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee calls on Defra to review Ofwat's entire remit so that the regulatory regime will keep pace with the changes set to follow from greater competition and the challenge posed by scarcer water resources. On the matter of surface water drainage, Ofwat should have intervened to ensure a more measured set price increases for this service were levied on sports clubs, churches and voluntary organisations by water companies in recent months. Ofwat and the Government should explore how the costs of highway drainage - currently born by water customers - could be shared with local taxpayers who benefit from the service. Uncertainties created by the Cave and Walker reviews (both of which reported during the current Price Review) along with changes to the regulatory regime proposed in the draft Flood and Water Management Bill may have hampered the ability of water companies to raise money on the capital markets in a manner likely to push up customer bills. Warning of water scarcity in the South and East of England, the Committee calls for the creation of a 'water efficiency obligation' to ensure the regulatory regime emphasises the need to preserve resources and to rewards customers who install efficiency measures. Other recommendations are made on the uneven regional impacts of investment in water infrastructure, the impacts of climate change, and the issue of transparency, from the price review process itself to how well Ofwat currently requires companies to demonstrate they undertake effective consultation with consumers during business planning.
Download or read book Passengers experiences of air travel written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-26 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air travel has expanded hugely over the past 25 years and in 2005 228 million passengers travelled through UK airports. This report looks at the passenger experience of air travel from purchasing a ticket to boarding the plane, including travel to and from the airport, check-in and security and complaint resolution. It finds that passengers are more frustrated and dissatisfied than ever. More choice has not led to more power, easier purchasing of tickets has not led to greater transparency, security queues are getting longer with rules becoming more convoluted, and consumer rights can be overwhelmed by legal complexity. The Committee look to the aviation industry to work towards a system whereby the passenger can buy a clearly priced ticket, drop off baggage and quickly proceed through security to board a plane staffed by well qualified, polite staff.
Download or read book Energy efficiency and fuel poverty 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 2009-06-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With failure to meet its statutory obligation to end fuel poverty imminent, the Government should instigate an action plan as a matter of urgency to help the millions of UK households who remain in fuel poverty as a result of fuel price rises. This report (HCP 37, session 2008-09, ISBN 9780215530622) on Energy efficiency and fuel poverty from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee states, that the Winter Fuel Payment should be made taxable and stopped for those paying higher rate tax so that more money can be directed to fund bigger and better-targeted energy efficiency programmes aimed in the first instance at the fuel poor. To ensure more rapid improvement of the entire English housing stock, the range of current energy efficiency programmes should be consolidated into one comprehensive area-based programme to upgrade all homes and to be delivered by local authorities. The Committee wants the Government to: produce a detailed "road map" setting out how to deliver a national plan to make every home in England energy efficient to a minimum SAP level of 65 and to SAP 81 wherever practicable (SAP is the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings and uses a scale of 1 to 100, with a higher rating indicating a better level of energy efficiency); create a central budget into which energy companies pay their CERT contributions so that they can be pooled with money from other programmes, to fund a single consolidated comprehensive, area-based programme led by local authorities to deliver the national plan. The Committee also concludes that: resources for tackling fuel poverty are inadequate and getting worse. Warm Front, should see its budget increased rather than cut repeatedly and should now be extended to include all hard-to-treat properties. All schemes designed to help the fuel poor or improve energy efficiency would be better targeted if those organisations in charge of their delivery had better access to data on a range of variables including energy efficiency levels in homes, household incomes and fuel costs. The Department for Energy & Climate Change should survey current data needs and access arrangements as a matter of urgency.
Download or read book Seventh Report of Session 2005 06 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. European Scrutiny Committee and published by . This book was released on 2005-11-08 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventh report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 26 October 2005, including: Energy efficiency; Health and consumer protection 2007-13, report, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book Mobility Scooters written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the light of anecdotal accounts of accidents involving the vehicles, but little hard evidence, MPs urge the Government to collect better data on the use of scooters as well as incidents and injuries where they are involved. To develop sound policy, we need a comprehensive evidence base detailing the number and nature of incidents involving mobility scooters on the UK's pavements and roads. Only by doing so, will issues such as the legal status of mobility scooters, the appropriateness of proficiency tests and the rights of users to take the vehicles on public transport be adequately addressed. The Committee's report notes that the Department for Transport has launched a consultation on many of these issues, but is concerned that after a similar review in 2005, Ministers failed to act on many of its findings. With a growing number of mobility scooter users on the UK's pavements and roads, the MPs call on the Government to take decisive action where necessary.
Download or read book East Asia written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-08-13 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East Asia : Seventh report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence
Download or read book The draft Local Transport Bill and the Transport Innovation Fund written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-08-03 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The draft Local Transport Bill consists of a package of measures intended to promote stronger joint working between local authorities and bus operators, to support the introduction of local road pricing schemes and to enable changes to be made to local transport governance. This report follows the structure of the draft Bill. Although the remarks are related to specific clauses some of the recommendations have a more general application. Included with the report is consideration of the Transport Innovation Fund, which is closely linked to congestion and the draft Bill. The Committee is however unhappy that at the end of their inquiry the Secretary of State announced further consultation on parts of the Bill related to the powers and status of the traffic commissioners on reform of the Bus Service Operators' Grant and transitional arrangements for quality contract schemes.
Download or read book The major road network written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating HC 533, session 2008-09
Download or read book Bovine 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 2006-03-15 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bovine TB : Badger culling, sixth report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence
Download or read book Parliaments and the European Court of Human Rights written by Alice Donald and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-18 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European system of human rights protection faces institutional and political pressures which threaten its very survival. These institional pressures stem from the backlog of applications before the European Court of Human Rights, the large number of its judgments that remain unimplemented, and the political pressures that arise from sustained attacks on the Court's legitimacy and authority, notably from politicians and jurists in the United Kingdom. This book addresses the theme which lies at the heart of these pressures: the role of national parliaments in the implementation of judgments of the Court. It combines theoretical and empirical insights into the role of parliaments in securing domestic compliance with the Court's decisions, and provides detailed investigation of five European states with differing records of human rights compliance and parliamentary mobilisation: Ukraine, Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. How far are parliaments engaged in implementation, and how far should they be? Do parliaments advance or hinder human rights compliance? Is it ever justifiable for parliaments to defy judgments of the Court? And how significant is the role played by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe? Drawing on the fields of international law, international relations, political science, and political philosophy, the book argues that adverse human rights judgments not only confer obligations on parliamentarians but also create opportunities for them to develop influential interpretations of human rights and enhance their own democratic legitimacy. It makes an authoritative contribution to debate about the future of the European and other supranational human rights mechanisms and the broader relationship between democracy, human rights, and legitimate authority.
Download or read book The London Underground and the public private partnership agreements written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-25 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report from the Transport Committee, examines London Underground and the Public-Private Partnership Agreements. The Government originally announced proposals for modernising the London Underground network system via Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreements in 1998. Three contracts were drawn up with: (i) Tube Lines for the maintenance and renewal of the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern Lines; (ii) with Metronet Rail BVC for the maintenance and renewal of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria & Waterloo & City Lines; (iii) with Metronet Rail SSL, responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the "sub-surface lines": the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan & East London Lines. These PPP Agreements, 30 years in duration, were arrangements to maintain, renew and upgrade parts of London Underground by private sector infrastructure companies (Infracos), whilst London Underground is responsible for services to customers. The PPP Agreements also set out a performance-related incentive and penalty scheme to remunerate the Infracos for the improvements they make to the network. In May 2007, Metronet admitted an overspend of £1 billion and was refused access to loan facilities by the banks. It then made a reference to the PPP Arbiter, which in turn triggered an Extraordinary Review (which occurs when extra costs are incurred above the level allowed for the bid). Metronet put in a bid for £551m but the PPP Arbiter provisionally concluded that a sum of £121m was appropriate. Metronet subsequently went into administration on 18 July 2007. The report sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: contracts that were supposed to deliver 35 station upgrades, in fact delivered only 14, 40% of the requirement; stations that were supposed to cost Metronet SSL £2m, cost £7.5m, with only 65% of schedule track renewal accomplished; the Committee criticises the consequences of the imposition of PPP on Transport for London, as a "lamentable state of affairs", with the future of most of London Underground's upgrade and maintenance work in doubt; the Committee states, that the Government should remember the failure of Metronet before it considers entering similar arrangements; that the Government should publish a candid analysis of the events preceding Metronet's collapse and its consequences; the Committee believe that the PPP model was flawed and probably inferior to traditional public-sector management; that the Government needs to prioritise transparency and clarity to taxpayers and ensure that any future contracts result in clear accountability.
