• Research Briefing

    Internet regulation

    The practicalities of blocking and filtering harmful material on the internet have generated interest in a range of contexts: the misuse of social media during the August 2011 riots, child sexual abuse images and copyright infringement.

  • Research Briefing

    Tar sands

    Tar sands (oil sands) have potential to provide a significant fraction of future global oil demand but there are concerns, acknowledged in an EC Fuel Quality Directive, about their environmental impact, not least on greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Research Briefing

    Cloud computing

    The cloud is a reference to the internet, and cloud computing means relocating computer resources and activities on to the internet. This note considers the potential for cloud computing, its applications and risks.

  • Research Briefing

    Copyright online

    The online world and those who inhabit it throw up challenges to the legitimacy of copyright law and the methods and effectiveness of enforcing it.

  • Research Briefing

    Privacy

    The incorporation into UK law of the European Convention on Human Rights has led to the development of privacy law. This note summarises the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the recent controversies over the use of injunctions and super-injunctions.

  • Research Briefing

    BBC World Service

    The BBC World Service has a global audience of some 180 million people and is widely considered to be an important instrument of British “soft power”. This note provides background to ongoing parliamentary debates on recent decisions to cut the World Service’s budget and, in the longer term, to fund it by the licence fee.

  • Research Briefing

    Education Bill: Committee Stage Report

    This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Education Bill. It complements Research Paper 11/14, prepared for the Commons Second Reading debate, which examines the range of matters covered by the Bill. As originally presented, the Bill sought to make provision relating to the National Assembly for Wales’ framework powers. However, these clauses were removed from the Bill following the ‘yes’ vote in the Welsh Devolution Referendum. A Government amendment to clause 13 (reporting restrictions on alleged offences by teachers) was agreed to without a vote. This inserted new schedule 11B into the Education Act 2002, and was introduced to secure compliance with a European Electronic Commerce Directive. Several minor and technical Government amendments were also made to the Bill. The Opposition tabled many amendments, a considerable number of which were pressed to a division, but none was successful.

  • Research Briefing

    Education Bill [Bill 137 of 2010-11]

    This paper has been written for the House of Commons Second Reading debate on the Education Bill [Bill 137] on 8 February 2011. The Bill seeks to implement the legislative proposals in the Department for Education’s schools White Paper, 'The Importance of Teaching', and measures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills relating to skills and the reform of higher education funding. It is therefore a very wide-ranging Bill.

  • Research Briefing

    Data protection and the police

    The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), including its exemptions, applies to the police. Section 29 of the Act details the "crime and taxation" exemption which allows personal data either to be processed or withheld from the data subject for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

  • Research Briefing

    Identity Documents Bill: Committee Stage Report

    This is a report on the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Bill. It complements Research Paper 10/41, prepared for the Commons Second Reading. The Bill would abolish identity cards and delete the associated data from the National Identity Register. Existing ID card holders would not be compensated for the £30 paid – one of the issues that has attracted significant debate. The Bill would also retain measures to combat the production and possession of false identity documentation and allow for information sharing in connection with passport applications and determinations as to whether passports should be withdrawn. No amendments were made to the Bill during the Committee Stage.

  • Research Briefing

    Digital Economy Act 2010

    The Digital Economy Act 2010 received the Royal Assent on 8 April 2010 following accelerated debate in the House of Commons as part of the pre-election "wash-up". The present Government has confirmed that there are no plans to repeal any of the Act's provisions

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