• Research Briefing

    Bribery allegations and BAE Systems

    BAE Systems was accused of corruption, specifically making bribes, in regard to the Al Yamamah arms agreement with the Saudi Arabian Government. This was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following the leaking of a letter from the then Director of the SFO to the former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence. The SFO discontinued its inquiry in December 2006, citing the need to safeguard national and international security, a move which was supported by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. A legal challenge that the SFO's decision was unlawful was not successful. In addition to the allegations surrounding Al Yamamah, parallel SFO investigations were also conducted into a number of other BAE defence contracts in South Africa, Chile, the Czech Republic, Romania, Tanzania and Qatar. In February 2010, BAE Systems reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to plead guilty of conspiring to make false statements to the US Government in connection with certain regulatory filings and undertakings, including the Al Yamamah agreement as well as contracts with the Hungarian and Czech governments. In March 2010, BAE Systems pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance program, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It was given a $400 million fine and agreed to take measures in order to stay within US and foreign laws concerning corruption and the exports of arms. The company also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years to assess its compliance program and to make a series of reports to the company and the DoJ. This Standard Note is referred to in the Research Paper, The Bribery Bill (RP 10/19).

  • Research Briefing

    Grocery Market Ombudsman Bill [Bill 18 of 2009-10]

    The Bill would establish an independent ombudsman for the grocery market to oversee the operation of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. It would provide for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), within three months of the Bill's enactment, to establish the Office of the Grocery Market Ombudsman and a person as the Grocery Market Ombudsman. Although funded by the OFT, the Ombudsman would be independent of it and would investigate complaints or disputes referred by the OFT, retailers or suppliers. The Ombudsman's determination would be final and binding on all parties and they would have the power to impose monetary penalties and/or costs.

  • Research Briefing

    Bribery Bill [HL] Bill No 69

    The purpose of the Bill is to provide a modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences to equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery in the UK and abroad. It replaces old and fragmented legislation with a modern and consolidated bribery law. The Bill creates offences of offering, promising or giving of a bribe and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of a bribe either in the UK or abroad, in the public or private sectors. It also creates a discrete offence of bribery of a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business, and a new offence in relation to commercial organisations which fail to prevent a bribe being paid by those who perform services for or on behalf of the organisation.

  • Research Briefing

    London Underground PPP: background

    This note looks at contemporary assessments of the investment needed to upgrade the London Underground, some of the proposals consequently put forward to bring this about and the Labour Government’s final decision to fund future development with a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

  • Research Briefing

    Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill [Bill 17 of 2009-10]

    The Bill seeks to limit the amount that can be recovered by any commercial creditor of those countries designated as having unsustainable external debts. The legislation would restrict the activities of so-called 'vulture funds', which buy developing countries' sovereign debt at discounted prices, then seek to recover its value in full through the courts. It would limit successful claims to an internationally agreed level and apply equally to all commercial creditors. It would cover the 40 countries in the IMF/World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Debts incurred after the Bill's entry into force would be excluded.

  • Research Briefing

    Sustainable Communities Act 2007 (Amendment) Bill [Bill 21 of 2009-10]

    The Bill seeks to amend the 2007 Act by setting a deadline for the Secretary of State to initiate the next round of proposals for enhancing the sustainability of local communities from local authorities under the Act. It provides for regulations to be made specifying the rules for this process. These are also to cover parish council involvement and the role of local petitioning. There is also provision for greater flexibility in decision-making on proposals.

  • Research Briefing

    Shipping: UK policy

    This note gives a brief history of the british merchant fleet and outlines the policies of the Labour Government, including training and employment for seafarers.

  • Research Briefing

    Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Bill: Committee Stage Report

    This paper summarises the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Bill. In July 2009 the Government announced that it would legislate to ensure that tenants are given adequate notice to vacate their property if their landlord defaults on their mortgage. Over the summer of 2009, the Government consulted on legislative options to achieve this. On 3 December 2009, Dr Brian Iddon announced that he would introduce a Private Members' Bill to protect private tenants whose landlords default on their mortgage. The Bill has Government support.

  • Research Briefing

    Unemployment by constituency, January 2010

    This paper shows the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance recorded as resident in each constituency in the United Kingdom in January 2010, together with comparisons with the levels in January 2009 and January 1997. Residence-based unemployment rates are given for all 646 constituencies in the United Kingdom. It includes unemployment rates by constituency maps and an annual percentage change map, as well as a summary of the latest labour market data.

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