Research Briefing Archives

Research Briefing

Universal Credit roll-out: Autumn/Winter 2017

Wednesday, 15 November, 2017

Universal Credit aims to replace six working-age benefits. The Government is now rolling out the Full Service, under which everyone eligible can claim UC no matter their circumstances. Once the Full Service is launched in an area both the number and range of people claiming UC is likely to grow quickly. At the end of September 2017 there were 101 jobcentres running the Full Service. Between October 2017 and January 2018, 134 more jobcentres will launch the Full Service. That will add 150,000 more people to the UC caseload – a 25% increase, and an overall rise from 8% to 10% of the final 7 million people expected to be eligible.
Research Briefing

People claiming unemployment benefits by constituency, October 2017

Wednesday, 15 November, 2017

This paper provides figures for the number of people claiming unemployment benefits (the “claimant count”) by parliamentary constituency, as well as a summary of the latest labour market statistics for the UK as a whole.
Research Briefing

Northern Ireland Budget Bill

Monday, 13 November, 2017

The House of Commons is scheduled to take all stages of the Northern Ireland Budget Bill 2017-19 on 13 November 2017. This Paper looks at the background surrounding the absence of an Executive in Northern Ireland, and at the Bill itself.
- Research Briefing
- Devolution
Research Briefing

Local Housing Allowance and the social rented sector

Monday, 13 November, 2017

This Commons Library briefing paper provides background on the 2015 Government's intention to apply Local Housing Allowance rates to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit in the social rented sector. On 25 October 2017, the Prime Minister said that this change would not go ahead as previously planned.
Research Briefing

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: Retained EU law

Friday, 10 November, 2017

This briefing paper has been prepared for day 2, scheduled to take place on 15 November, of the Committee Stage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (EUW Bill) in the House of Commons.
Research Briefing

Implementation of the national funding formula for schools in England

Friday, 10 November, 2017

This briefing paper looks at the implementation of the Government's reforms to school funding from 2018, including the introduction of a new National Funding Formula (NFF) for schools. The plans were confirmed in September 2017, with some important modifications.
- Research Briefing
- Schools
Research Briefing

UK trade: a deficit in goods but a surplus in services

Thursday, 09 November, 2017

The publication of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Pink Book last week, detailing the UK’s balance of payments, shows us which countries the UK traded with in 2016. Here we examine the UK’s trade in 2016 in light of recent historic trends, as well as the geographical pattern of UK trade. An ongoing pattern
- Research Briefing
- Economic situation
Research Briefing

Flights of fancy: the truth about the ‘staircase tax’

Thursday, 09 November, 2017

In August 2017 a number of articles appeared criticising a development dubbed the ‘staircase tax’. The BBC reported: …business rates in England and Wales are being set depending on how many rooms are being used and how they are linked. Those with more than one office linked by a communal lift, corridors or stairs are
- Research Briefing
- Tax
Research Briefing

The aerospace industry: statistics and policy

Wednesday, 08 November, 2017

This note analyses key statistics and presents details of how Government policy supports the industry.
Research Briefing

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: Supremacy and the Court of Justice

Wednesday, 08 November, 2017

This Commons Library briefing paper has been prepared for days 1 and 3 of the Committee Stage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (EUW Bill) in the House of Commons. It addresses clauses 5 and 6 of the Bill which together provide instructions to the courts on the status and interpretation of retained EU law (the new category of law which clauses 2, 3 and 4 of the EUW Bill would create).
Research Briefing

Tobacco control policy overview

Wednesday, 08 November, 2017

The Government’s new tobacco control plan was published in 2017, and seeks to reduce smoking overall and target this inequality in smoking rates. The ambitions in the plans include reducing smoking in adults, young people and pregnant women, ensuring a parity of esteem for those with mental health problems, and supporting evidence based use of innovative technologies to reduce smoking, such as e-cigarettes (now the most popular method for quitting smoking in England ).
Research Briefing

Brexit: 7 sites you should bookmark

Monday, 06 November, 2017

There is no shortage of information on Brexit. We publish a lot of it ourselves. Navigating through it all is harder though, which is why we have picked our top seven sites you should bookmark to help fight the information overload. The links below will guide you through documents, papers and analysis on Brexit and
- Research Briefing
- EU law and treaties
Research Briefing

Why have interest rates been raised? And what’s the impact?

Thursday, 02 November, 2017

The Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time in a decade today, raising its main rate by 0.25%-points to 0.5%. What are the reasons behind the rise and what does it mean for the economy and for households? How much have rates gone up by? The Bank of England, via its nine-member
- Research Briefing
- Economic situation
Economic updates,Research Briefing

Economic update: Inflation at a five year high

Wednesday, 01 November, 2017

In the final full month before the 2017 Autumn Budget, published data showed a slight acceleration in GDP growth while inflation reached its highest level in over five years. Real average earnings continued to fall, although new data showed earnings were increasing above inflation for the lowest-paid employees. Growth continued at a similar rate to
Research Briefing

Brexit: 58 sectors analysed

Wednesday, 01 November, 2017

The Government has confirmed that it has produced analyses of 58 sectors of the economy in the context of Brexit. A Written Ministerial Statement published on the 7 November 2017 stated that: The sectoral analysis is a wide mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis, contained in a range of documents developed at different times since the
- Research Briefing
- Economic situation

Total results (page 294 of 641)