Download or read book Second report of session 2012 13 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Twenty second Report of Session 2012 13 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-12-13 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thirty second Report of Session 2012 13 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-25 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book HC 284 Energy Generation in Wales Shale Gas written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Welsh Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shale gas represents an opportunity for Wales but it must not come at the expense of Wales's natural environment. Both the UK and Welsh Governments must consider environmental risks, including the traffic and noise caused by commercial shale gas operations as well as the visual impact and other environmental risks associated with fracking. The issue of treatment, transportation and disposal of wastewater is a growing concern: toxic and radioactive water must not be allowed to contaminate water courses. The Government forecasts that nearly 70% of the UK's gas supply will be imported by 2025. It is vital that the UK identifies new sources of gas if it is to safeguard the UK's security of supply. Shale gas production across the UK is currently at the exploratory stage and there is no good data yet on the amount of shale gas in Wales. Should considerable reserves of shale gas be present-as industry representatives predict-it could be a decade before a viable shale gas industry is created in Wales. The UK Government and the Welsh Government should work with commercial companies and others to provide a reliable range of estimates of shale gas available in Wales and assess the overall impact of shale gas supply on the level and mix of energy produced in Wales and the UK. The Welsh Government should also begin to consider how the employment opportunities presented by shale gas production could be maximised
Download or read book HC 1140 Local Transport Expenditure Who Decides written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transport infrastructure in some parts of the UK may get left behind under the new system to be used from next year (2015) to share out central government money for local major transport schemes. The Government has again changed the system for distributing money to local areas for major transport projects, with much more emphasis now on competition for funding. This will not necessarily help regions get a fairer share of transport funding and could make the situation worse. The Government's focus on using competition to bring in private sector funding for projects could disadvantage the regions, where there tends to be less private sector money available compared with London. Those Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) which are well organised and resourced will have an advantage in bidding for funds. Other areas may lose out as a result. In addition, with greater reliance on competitive bidding for funds, there will see more money wasted on failed bids. Strategically significant schemes such as access to ports must not get overlooked. The changes are set against a backdrop where far less money is spent on transport projects outside London than in the capital. Transport infrastructure spending is £2,500 per head in London compared with £5 per head in the north east. This inequality must change. The Committee calls for the new funding arrangements to be reviewed by the end of the next Parliament to ensure that they are efficient and effective in providing funding for the most urgent transport priorities.
Download or read book House of Commons Sessional Returns HC 1 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On cover and title page: House, committees of the whole House, general committees and select committees. On title page: Returns to orders of the House of Commons dated 14 May 2013 (the Chairman of Ways and Means)
Download or read book HC 348 The Green Deal Watching Brief Part 2 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Energy and Climate Change Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Green Deal was launched in January 2013 to help Britain's households and businesses make energy efficiency improvements. The Government has called it "a long-term and progressive programme. In December 2012, the Committee launched Green Deal: watching brief inquiry, to follow the Green Deal from its inception and monitor its debut on the UK market. In May 2013, the Committee published the Green Deal: watching brief report in which were outlined concerns about the lack of clarity regarding the outcomes that Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) expected from the Green Deal. Green Deal: watching brief (part 2) reviews the performance of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in the seven key areas outlined in the previous report, assess DECC's approach to evaluating and monitoring the performance of the Green Deal and ECO, and considers DECC's recent proposals to improve the Green Deal and reduce the cost of ECO. The report found that the Green Deal, rather than facilitating access to energy efficiency measures and creating momentum in the market, has caused frustration and confusion for both consumers and businesses in the supply chain. Only 4,000 Green Deal plans have so far been initiated. As a result, carbon savings through Green Deal finance have been negligible. Therefore the Government must re-evaluate its approach and set out a clear strategy to revive the failing scheme, as unless the package is made more attractive to a wider group of consumers, Green Deal finance is likely to remain unappealing to many.
Download or read book Communicating Climate Science HC 254 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Science and Technology and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-02 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government is failing to clearly and effectively communicate climate science to the public. There is little evidence of co-ordination amongst Government, government agencies and public bodies on communicating climate science, despite various policies at national and regional level to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The mandate to act on climate can only be maintained if the electorate are convinced that the Government is acting on the basis of strong scientific evidence. Ministers therefore need to do more to demonstrate that is the case and consistently reflect the Government approach in all their communications, especially with the media. The report also criticises the BBC for its reporting on the issue. It points out that BBC News teams continue to make mistakes in their coverage of climate science by giving opinions and scientific fact the same weight. The BBC is called to develop clear editorial guidelines for all commentators and presenters on the facts of climate that should be used to challenge statements, from either side of the climate policy debate, that stray too far from the scientific facts. It is important that climate science is presented separately from any subsequent policy response. Government should work with the learned societies and national academies to develop a source of information on climate science that is discrete from policy delivery, comprehensible to the general public and responsive to both current developments and uncertainties in the science
Download or read book Putting Passengers First Disruption at Gatwick Christmas Eve 2013 HC 956 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-11 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Far better contingency planning and preparedness must be put in place by UK airports, and by the airlines that use them, to prevent the kind of chaos that unfolded at Gatwick Airport on Christmas Eve 2013. The problems that unfolded were not new and the whole event should be a wake-up call for airports across the UK to improve their operational resilience. Airports must ensure that their contingency planning is good enough to ensure that future disruption will be met with well-drilled arrangements that are familiar to airport operators, airlines, and other contractors, and which put passenger interests first. If our largest airports cannot demonstrate they can do this then the Civil Aviation Authority must act. Passengers must also be promptly reimbursed for the extra costs they face as a consequence of disruption. The Committee welcomed a key conclusion from Gatwick's own review of the events on Christmas Eve that the airport should appoint passenger champions at each of its terminals. Similar arrangements should also be put in place at other major UK airports. Further recommendations include that airports should: develop (in consultation with airlines) much clearer operational protocols and guidance on the threshold conditions that will trigger the cancellation or postponement of flights; negotiate robust agreements with airlines (which carry formal responsibility for passenger welfare) for reclaiming the costs of looking after passengers during periods of disruption. Government should also push for amendments to a proposed new EU regulation on passenger compensation to include electronic means of alert and information dissemination
Download or read book House of Commons Health Committee 2013 Accountability Hearing with Monitor HC 841 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This year's inquiry into the work of Monitor concludes that the model of care provided by the health and care system is not changing quickly enough with the result that pressures continue to build, threatening the financial stability of individual providers, and therefore the quality of care provided The pressures are likely to be particularly marked in the acute sector as plans are prepared and implemented to achieve the resource transfer required by the introduction of the Better Care Fund from April 2015. Continuing this theme, the Committee argues that as the NHS financial situation tightens, the challenge for Monitor in supporting trusts in financial difficulty is likely to increase. The MPs emphasise the importance of addressing pressures within individual providers in the context of the local health economy. The requirement for major change in the care model can only be delivered if individual providers, and Monitor as their regulator, look beyond preserving existing structures and address the need to develop different structures to meet changing needs. The Committee also expresses concern that Monitor has not done enough to reform the system of tariff payments for providers, arguing that the current tariff arrangements often create perverse incentives for providers and inhibit necessary service change. It recommends that Monitor and NHS England should initiate a formal joint process for a prioritised review of the NHS tariff arrangements with the objective of identifying and eliminating perverse incentives and introducing new tariff structures which incentivise necessary service change
Download or read book 2013 Accountability Hearing with the General Medical Council HC 897 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-02 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GMC's fitness to practise successfully produces outcomes that protect patients from sub-standard doctors but failures to communicate the reasons for decisions and poor investigative practices have undermined a small number on investigations. The GMC should review its fitness to practice procedures to prevent such mistake. The Committee also found that while it is still too early to judge whether revalidation has been effective there is a worrying approach to the oversight of revalidation. Each designated body has a responsible officer for revalidating their medical staff, but the degree to which the responsible officer will be held to account is unclear. It is imperative that the GMC clarifies the personal responsibility and accountability of responsible officers. There is also concern over the number of responsible officers available to oversee the revalidation of doctors working in primary care. GPs are revalidated not by their own employers but by one of the 27 NHS England local area teams that oversees Clinical Commissioning Groups in England. Just 27 responsible officers will be tasked with overseeing revalidation for approximately 45,0000 GPs in England. The Government's intention had been to give the GMC the power to allow it to appeal decisions made by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in 2014 by using a mechanism in secondary legislation called a section 60 order. The Government now plans to introduce the reform in primary legislation as part of a proposed Law Commission Bill thus meeting with even further delay
Download or read book House of Commons Health Committee Post Legislative Scrutiny of the Mental Health Act 2007 HC 584 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-08-14 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the Health Committee, more needs to be done to protect the interests of patients who rely on mental health services. The Committee has undertaken a review of the 2007 Mental Health Act (ISBN 9780105412076). Many psychiatric wards are over capacity and there is huge pressure on beds, nevertheless, the Committee was shocked to learn that there is evidence that patients who need hospital treatment are being sectioned unnecessarily in order to access a bed. This represents a serious violation of patient's basic rights and it is never acceptable for patients to be subjected to compulsory detention unless it is clinically necessary. The 2007 Act contained important provisions which introduced Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). These orders allow for patients to be treated in the community whilst still being subject to recall to hospital if their condition deteriorates. The Committee is also concerned that pressure on hospital beds may be driving increased use of CTOs. MPs also examined the function of Independent Mental Health Advocates who help patients take advantage of their rights whilst in hospital. The Committee is in no doubt that a patient's primary advocate should be their clinician and independent advocates, ultimately, provide an important, but supplementary, service
Download or read book HC 845 Impact Of Physical Activity And Diet On Health written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diet, obesity, and physical activity all have important impacts on health. For too long however, physical activity has been seen merely in the light of its benefits in tackling obesity. A core message from this inquiry is the compelling evidence that physical activity in its own right has huge health benefits totally independent of a person's weight. The importance of this - regardless of weight, age, gender or other factors - needs to be clearly communicated. Interventions focused on encouraging individuals to change their behaviour with regard to diet and physical activity need to be underpinned by broader, population-level measures. Whilst both are important, population-level interventions have the advantage of impacting on far greater numbers than could ever benefit from individual interventions. The Committee recommends that the next Government prioritises prevention, health promotion and early intervention to tackle the health inequalities and avoidable harm resulting from poor diet and physical inactivity. The Committee regards it as inexplicable and unacceptable that the NHS is now spending more on bariatric surgery for obesity than on a national roll-out of intensive lifestyle intervention programmes that were first shown to cut obesity and prevent diabetes over a decade ago. All tiers of weight management services should be universally available and individual clinicians should use every opportunity to help their patients to recognise and address the problems caused by obesity and poor diet, and to promote the benefits of physical activity.
Download or read book House of Commons Health Committee Appointment of the Chair of Monitor HC 744 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 2010 Dr David Bennett was appointed as interim Chief Executive of Monitor and then as Chair in March 2011. He was appointed permanent Chief Executive of Monitor with effect from 1 November 2012, while remaining as Chair pending a new appointment. On 10 October 2013, the Secretary of State proposed to appoint Dominic Dodd as Chair of Monitor. Dr Bennett has filled the roles of both Chair and Chief Executive - effectively Executive Chair - and has led Monitor through the whole process of change brought about by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. He has both shaped and interpreted the role that Monitor now plays in the system which makes the transition to another individual taking on the Chair an especially difficult one. On this basis the Committee did not endorse Mr Dodd's appointment
Download or read book HC 954 Legacy Report written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Liaison Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book HC 713 Smaller Airports written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smaller airports are economic and social enablers. They facilitate vital national and international connections for people and businesses in the UK. The Committee found that Air Passenger Duty (APD) is the principal threat to the smaller airports sector. APD cannot be amended to support people, businesses and regional economies because of the operation of European competition law, while proposals to devolve it to the regions would serve only to spread a patchwork of market distortions across the UK. It was disappointing that the concerns the Committee raised about APD in their First Report of Session 2013-14 on Aviation strategy were ignored by the Treasury. The Committee urges Transport Ministers to pursue those recommendations and the important concerns raised by smaller airports with the Treasury. The Airports Commission will publish its final report on expanding hub airport capacity in the south-east shortly after the general election. The whole country will only be able to share the economic benefits if airlines secure slots to provide services to UK airports outside London. The DfT needs to assess how new slots might be allocated and whether slots could be ring-fenced for domestic services
Download or read book HC 257 Investing In The Railway written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Transport Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Transport Committee welcomes record investment committed to the 'classic' rail network but calls for greater regional balance in spending. Network Rail must also regain the confidence of passengers following recent disruption. The Committee calls for the Government to take responsibility for rolling stock, to address general shortages and ensure there will be sufficient trains to run on newly-electrified lines. The Committee also concluded: (i) Record levels of funding show a welcome commitment to ’classic' rail but this should be set in a longer-term strategic plan for the rail network, which ties into a wider transport strategy; (ii) The overrunning Christmas engineering works were unacceptable; (iii) Network Rail must have adequate contingency plans. They must also work with Passenger Focus and train operating companies to improve communication with passengers when engineering works fail; (iv) In the light of the change of status of Network Rail the ORR must reconsider whether fining a public sector body remains an effective means for the regulator to exert control; (v) Greater transparency is essential around rail spending. Criteria used to allocate spending should be published.
