Research Briefing
School funding: annual settlements under the Coalition Government
This note provides a summary of some of the key changes made in each of the annual school budget setting rounds under the current Government.
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Research Briefing
Schools: GCSE English grading issues
This note provides a brief summary of the key events surrounding the issue of the GCSE results in English for students, following the publication of results on 23 August 2012.
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Research Briefing
Social Care (Local Sufficiency) and Identification of Carers Bill
This Private Members' Bill would impose a duty on local authorities to ensure there were sufficient social care services for carers and disabled people, and require health bodies, schools, and further and higher education insitutions to identify carers.
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Research Briefing
The Supporting People programme
This paper sets out the Supporting People policy, intended to fund services to help vulnerable people live independently and first introduced by the Labour Government in April 2003. Initially a ring fenced grant to local authorities of £1.8 billion, it was estimated in 2009 that the net financial benefits of the programme were £3.41 billion.
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Research Briefing
Use of non-geographic telephone numbers (e.g. 0845) by the NHS and GPs’ practices
Under current rules, NHS bodies and GPs’ practices are not prohibited from using non-geographic phone numbers, such as 0845 numbers, although the Department of Health has issued guidance about their use.
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Research Briefing
Viral “Breadwinner” hoax email alleging abuse of fostering allowances
A number of MPs have contacted the Library concerning an e-mail that constituents have forwarded alleging abuse of the fostering system in order to benefit from the allowances available. The e-mail in question is not based in fact, and is a hoax. This short note explains the many errors in the “Breadwinner” email, and notes that an almost identical US version is also in circulation, which seems to be the source of the version discussed in this note.
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Research Briefing
Fostering – long-term, emergency, temporary and private placements; and care orders
This note provides information on the different types of fostering arrangements available, and the arrangements for taking a child into care.
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Research Briefing
Police pay and conditions: Winsor Review
In October 2010, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced the “most comprehensive review of police pay and conditions in more than 30 years”. The independent review covering England and Wales was led to Tom Winsor, the former Rail Regulator. In March 2011, Mr Winsor published his first report, which “covered short-term improvements to remuneration and terms and conditions”.
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Research Briefing
Employment Law Review – workplace disputes
Following the Coalition agreement to review employment law, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced the “Employment Law Review” in January 2011, the first strand of which was a consultation on workplace disputes. This Note considers that consultation and the background to it, and the Government’s intentions as set out in its response to the consultation published in November 2011
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Research Briefing
The Equality Act 2010 and positive action
This note considers the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 that allow positive action in respect of employment – it should be noted that positive discrimination continues to be illegal in most cases.
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Research Briefing
Welfare Reform Bill: Universal Credit provisions
The Welfare Reform Bill provides for the introduction of a 'Universal Credit' to replace a range of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits for people of working age, starting from 2013. The Bill follows the November 2010 White Paper, Universal Credit: welfare that works, which set out the Government’s proposals for reforming welfare to improve work incentives, simplify the benefits system and tackle administrative complexity.
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Research Briefing
Welfare Reform Bill: reform of disability benefits, Housing Benefit, and other measures
This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons. For information on the provision in the Bill relating to the introduction of Universal Credit, please see the complementary Library Research Paper, 11/24. Besides Universal Credit, the Bill proposes a number of other significant welfare reforms, including replacement of the current Disability Living Allowance, restriction of Housing Benefit entitlement to social housing tenants whose accommodation is larger than they need, time-limiting the payment of contributory Employment and Support Allowance to twelve months, and capping the total amount of benefit that can be claimed.
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Research Briefing
Keydata Investment Services in administration
Keydata Investment Services was placed into administration by the Financial Services Authority in June 2009. The administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, found a number of serious issues at the company, one of which was that many products sold as ISAs were in fact ineligible for tax-free saving status. More seriously, they subsequently found that income on certain investment products had not been paid in recent months, and, in the case of one type of investment, they had been unable to satisfy themselves as to the safe custody of the underlying assets", and suggested that "the assets have been liquidated and may have been misappropriated".
Total results (page 7 of 9)