Download or read book Thirty third 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 2006-07-07 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-third report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 28 June 2006, including: consultation on fisheries management proposals, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book Thirty third Report of Session 2006 07 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. European Scrutiny Committee and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-third report of Session 2006-07 : Documents considered by the Committee on 25 July 2007, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book Thirty third 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 2013-03-11 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Twenty third 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 2006-04-11 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-third report of Session 2005-06 : Documents considered by the Committee on 29 March 2006, including, Promotion of clean road vehicles, report, together with formal Minutes

Download or read book Model Rules of Professional Conduct written by American Bar Association. House of Delegates and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Download or read book Managing Financial Resources to Deliver Better Public Services written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annually, central government spends some £558 billion, and this is forecast to increase to £678 billion by 2010-11. Strong and competent financial resources management is central to departments meeting their objectives cost effectively and delivering public services which represent value for money. Since the Committee's last report on this topic (HC 181, 25th report of session 2003-04, ISBN 9780215023636) the number of qualified finance directors with a seat on the departmental board has increased, enhancing the focus on financial performance at senior management level, but the lack of financial skills and awareness amongst non-finance staff remains a barrier to improving financial management more generally across government. Accruals-based accounting and budgeting systems are helping some departments identify under-utilised assets and dispose of those no longer required. Departments need to improve their forecasting capabilities to strengthen budgetary control and to avoid underspends not being identified early enough to reallocate resources to other priorities. Departments are continuing to spend less money than they forecast, particularly on capital projects, increasing the risk that resources are not being allocated across government in the most effective way. Few departmental boards are presented with accurate, timely and integrated financial and operational performance information to enable them to take sufficiently informed decisions on the use of resources and to review performance. Although the Treasury and Cabinet Office have a number of initiative to improve resource management, there is some way to go before financial management is fully embedded within departmental cultures.

Download or read book Reducing Passenger Rail Delays by Better Management of Incidents written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 53rd report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HCP 655, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215524973), and examines how the rail industry, led by the Department for Transport and Network Rail, manages incidents on the rail network, and how passengers are treated when delays occur. The Committee has set out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that Network Rail receives only half of its funding from the taxpayer but as a private sector company it is not directly accountable to Parliament, the Committee states the Department should strengthen the governance and accountability arrangements; that the Office of Rail Regulation should review and revise targets where appropriate to take account of changing conditions and challenges; the Committee states that the Department needs to play a more active role in bringing together the rail industry, emergency services and other stakeholders to improve incident management; and further that the Office of Rail Regulation should make sure mechanisms are in place so that the emergency services know who to contact during rail incidents; that passengers are not receiving the information they need during delays and are not always told how to claim compensation for delays. During the 2006-07 period over 1.2 billion passenger journeys were made in Great Britain on services that arrived on time almost nine times out of ten. The Department provided £3.4 billion to Network Rail and £1.7 billion to the train operating companies, whilst passengers paid some £5.1 billion in fares, with the NAO estimating that delays cost passengers £1 billion in terms of lost time. This report follows on from a National Audit Office report (HCP 308, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953053).

Download or read book Meeting Needs written by House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-10-30 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giving offenders opportunities to improve their basic and vocational skills can enhance their prospects of getting a job and is a major part of the Government's policy for reducing re-offending. In 2003, Ministers decided that the Learning and Skills Council (the LSC) should take over responsibility for a new Offenders' Learning and Skills Service which, after piloting, the LSC rolled out across England in July 2006. Delivering learning and skills to offenders is challenging, because the operational requirements of the Criminal Justice System takes priority, and because offenders often have other problems such as mental health difficulties and dependence on alcohol or drugs. Nevertheless, the new Service set out to overcome many of these longstanding problems. In practice it has not succeeded. The National Audit Office's examination of prisoners' learning records showed that there was not record of assessment for a quarter of prisoners. Learning plans are frequently deficient and not recording progress. Also, although enrolment is voluntary, more could be done to motivate offenders to take up opportunities. There is currently no core curriculum and inconsistencies make continuation difficult when prisoners transfer between prisons or into probation. The prison service and education providers are not working adequately together and there is insufficient research to allow informed changes. On the basis of the NAO report the Committee took evidence from the LSC, National Offender Management Service & the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Download or read book A Bill of Rights for the UK written by Great Britain. Parliament. Joint Committee on Human Rights 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: This report presents the Government's response to the Committee's 29th report (HL 165-I/HC 150-I, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780104013472). The Committee welcomes various aspects of the Government response but also has some substantive comments. It also notes that publication of the Government's Green Paper has been repeatedly delayed and recommends that it be published as soon as possible. The Government's reiteration of its commitment not to detract or resile from the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); and its acknowledgement that there would be scope for including in a new constitutional document a range of rights and responsibilities which go beyond those in the ECHR, are welcomed. The Committee is concerned to detect some equivocation in the Government's view about the Human Rights Act, particularly following the interview given by the Secretary of State for Justice in the Daily Mail on 10 December 2008. It also remains unclear about the relationship between rights and responsibilities envisaged by the Government in a Bill of Rights. Finally, the Committee recommends that the Government should follow Australia's example and appoint an independent committee to conduct a national consultation on the whole range of options for a Bill of Rights for the UK, ahead of parliamentary consideration of the bill itself.

Download or read book Assessing the value for money of OGCbuying solutions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OGCbuying.solutions is an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce and a trading fund. It was established in April 2001 to maximise the value for money obtained by government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services. Its operations focus on three areas: framework agreements, managed services and memoranda of undertaking. The agency reported value for money savings of £412 million in 2005-06, an increase of 71 per cent since 2003-04. Following on from a NAO report (HCP 103, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780102944037) published in December 2006, the Committee's report focuses on three main issues: creating a 'fit for purpose' organisation; increasing market share through smarter engagement with customers; and the role of OGCbuying.solutions in transforming government procurement.

Download or read book Making Grants Efficiently in the Culture Media and Sport Sector written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This inquiry took evidence from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (the Department), Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, English Heritage and Sport England on assessing the cost-efficiency of making grants; on supporting grant applicants; on sharing services and information; and on making applications on-line. In 2006-07, the nine principal grant-makers sponsored by the Department awarded grants of £1.8 billion, and spent £200 million on administering the grants and related activities. The grants ranged in size from £200 to many millions of pounds. The bodies held little information on the costs of their individual grant programmes and how these costs compare with others. The average cost of awarding £1 of grant across a sample of open application programmes in the sector ranged from three pence to 35 pence. Much of the variance in cost can be explained by the different objectives of the programmes and the needs of applicants. Grant-makers often receive applications which are incomplete or inaccurate. One way they could reduce the burden on grant applicants would be through inviting applications on-line. This would also help reduce the costs to grant-makers by reducing the amount of paper applications they have to process and the number of incomplete and ineligible applications. In the past, the Committee has recommended that the Department should take the lead in identifying the scope for savings by encouraging the organisations it funds to share accommodation and services. Little progress appears to be have made in this area. The Department has also done little to encourage benchmarking and the sharing of good practice across the sector.

Download or read book Monitoring the Government s Response to Human Rights Judgments written by Great Britain. Parliament. Joint Committee on Human Rights and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the Committee's second annual report monitoring the Government's response to human rights judgments in the European Court of Human Rights. The Committee criticises the Government for its failure to respond to many of its recommendations in its previous report (17th report session 2006-07, HL 128/HC 728, ISBN 9780104011065). The Committee believes the Government should take a consistent and transparent approach across departments to the way in which it responds to declarations of incompatibility and judgments fro the European Court, with the Ministry of Justice co-ordinating the response to adverse judgments. This report also examines a number of issues arising from outstanding judgments: access to artificial insemination for prisoners and their partners; controlling membership of trade union; prisoners' voting rights; investigations into cases involving the use of lethal force; security of tenure for gypsies and travellers, and the corporal punishment of children.

Download or read book Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Taking Forward Decommissioning written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the 38th report from the Committee of Public Accounts (HCP 370, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215521668) on the subject of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The NAO produced a report on the same subject (HCP 238, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102951974). The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was established in April 2005 with the aim of decommissioning the UK's civil public sector nuclear sites. By December 2007, 14 of its 19 sites had already shut down and were being decommissioned, with parts of Sellafield being cleaned-up. The NDA discharges its responsibilities through contracts with licensed operators at each site. The sites are managed by site licensees, including preparation of decommissioning plans and performing and sub-contracting work. The licensees are owned by four parent bodies. The NDA aims to improve site performance by putting the right to be the parent body out to tender. There is uncertainty over the costs of decommissioning, with an estimate of £73 billion prepared in 2007, up 30% since 2003. The Committee accepts that the legacy of deferred decision making over a period of 50 years is in part responsible for the cost increases, but believes that some of the escalating costs should be avoidable, including short-term changes to the decommissioning programme and the scale of site support costs. Further, the NDA's work has been hampered by the uncertainty in the level of commercial income earned from ageing and unreliable facilities, with the NDA cutting, at short notice, the levels of funding it projected to provide in the 2007-08 period of decommissioning. This has imposed additional costs on the taxpayer, with the NDA providing £31.6 million to cover costs of early contract closure, staff training and redundancy.

Download or read book Work of the Committee in 2008 09 Second Report of Session 2009 10 Report Together with Formal Minutes and Written Evidence written by Great Britain. Parliament. Joint Committee on Human Rights and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A report that provides an overview of the Committee's work during the 2008-09 parliamentary session and draws attention to improvements to the human rights landscape in the UK which it has commended in reports during the year. It also mentions a number of continuing areas for concern.

Download or read book Management of Large Business Corporation Tax written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006-07, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (the Department) raised a total of £23.8 billion in Corporation Tax from large businesses. There are some 700 of these businesses, and in 2005-06, just 50 of them paid 67 per cent of the large business Corporation Tax, whilst 181 businesses paid none. Two-thirds of the tax comes from the banking, oil and gas and insurance sectors. Businesses pay little or no Corporation Tax because, for example, they have made a loss, or had losses in previous years, or they are using tax reliefs, or engaging in tax avoidance. In 2006-07, the Department's large business Corporation Tax enquiry programme raised nearly £2.7 billion. Many of these enquiries were poorly targeted, with nearly 60 per cent producing less than 1 per cent of the additional tax raised. The enquiries also take too long: in January 2008, 42 per cent of its enquiries were over two years old, and 10 per cent over four years old. In February 2007, based on initial review of tax returns from the previous 12 months, the Department estimated that the potential Corporation Tax at risk was £8.5 billion. The tax assessments are very complicated and there has been a widening gap between the skill set of large business tax staff and that of the Large Business Service. The Department is bringing in external recruits, including retired tax advisors, to help to train its staff and to deal with the more complicated technical work.

Download or read book Forty third 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 2011-10-31 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forty-third report of Session 2010-12 : Documents considered by the Committee on 19th October 2011, including the following recommendations for debate, protecting the financial interests of the EU; establishing a new Schengen evaluation mechanism; Schenge

Download or read book The Un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities written by and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities builds on existing human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The UN Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention stresses that it is not intended to create new rights, but "clarifies the obligations and legal duties of States to respect and ensure the equal enjoyment of all human rights by all persons with disabilities". Its purpose is to: "Promote, protect and ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity." The UK was among the first countries to sign the Convention on 30 March 2007. The findings of our recent inquiry on the rights of adults with learning disabilities showed that although UK law and policy on the treatment of adults with learning disabilities takes a human rights based approach, the day to day experiences of people with learning disabilities are not so positive. Ratification will send a strong signal to all people with disabilities in the UK, and abroad, that the Government takes equality and the protection of their human rights seriously. The Government first publicly stated that reservations to the Convention were being considered in its response to our Report on the treatment of adults with learning disabilities, in May 2008, more than a year after it signed the Convention. Despite the Committee's call for a full explanation of the government's views on the compatibility of domestic law with the Convention, the were then provided with little detail on the reservations being considered or the Government's approach to the process. The Committee considers that progress towards ratification of the Convention by the UK has so far lacked transparency and has unfortunately alienated disabled people and their organisations. This is unacceptable in the light of the clear Convention commitment which the Government intends to make to the involvement of disabled people in the development of policies and laws which affect them. This approach undermines the previous role that the UK Government has played in championing equality for disabled people and their leading role in negotiating the terms of the UNCRPD.