Research Briefing
On the 21 February 2017, the Government published a Draft Spaceflight Bill to "provide for the creation of a regulatory framework to enable commercial spaceflight activities to be carried out from spaceports in the United Kingdom".
Research Briefing
The Northern Ireland Assembly elections on 2 March 2017 took place just 301 days from the previous elections. The resignation of the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, on 9 January 2017 set in train a sequence of statutory provisions that has led to an early election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Research Briefing
An update on the military campaign in Iraq and Syria is available in CBP8011, Syria and Iraq: update June 2017. This document will no longer be updated but serves as a useful summary of the military campaign against ISIS to March 2017.
Research Briefing
This paper provides background statistics on prisons and courts in England and Wales ahead of the Second Reading of the Prisons and Courts Bill 2016-17. Commons Library Briefing Paper SN04334: Prison Population Statistics (currently being updated) explores prison population data for England and Wales in more depth and includes data for the rest of the UK.
Research Briefing
This note examines the VAT treatment of sports clubs - in the context of the change made in UK VAT law in 1994 to exempt from VAT certain sport supplies, and subsequent debate as to how these rules have affected golf clubs.
Research Briefing
This House of Commons Library briefing paper provides an overview of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and details the changes to the Work Related Activity Component that will be introduced from April 2017. The paper also includes information on the mitigating support announced by the Government.
Research Briefing
In September 2016 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Damian Green reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to make “no new cuts” to social security and tax credits. In any case, April 2017 will be a time of considerable change irrespective of what Chancellor Philip Hammond announces in next week’s Budget. A number of welfare changes
Research Briefing
Analysis of the latest UK and international economic indicators
Research Briefing
The Spring Budget is this Wednesday. How are the economy and public finances performing? And what might we expect to hear from the Chancellor? What’s the economic situation? Growth in the UK economy during the second half of 2016 continued unaffected by the EU referendum result. In 2016 as a whole, GDP growth was 1.8%. Consumers’
Research Briefing
The briefing sets out the background to Spring Budget 2017 which will take place on Wednesday 8 March 2017. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances on the same day.
Research Briefing
This note explains current moves to provide a mechanism for using unclaimed financial assets for charitable purposes, outlines the scale of the issue and provides advice on how constituents can check to see if they can reclaim any 'lost' assets. A more complete account of the issue can be found in Library Research Paper 08/73 which was produced for the passage of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill, in 2008.
Research Briefing
This paper explains the policy background to and contents and purpose of the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill 2016-17 (HC Bill 143). The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 22 February 2017. It is scheduled to receive Second Reading on 6 March.
Research Briefing
This Commons Library briefing paper describes various initiatives aimed at growing the self-build and custom build housing sectors. Both self-build and custom build provide routes into home ownership for individuals and groups who want to play a role in developing their own homes. The paper covers England only.
Research Briefing
Honours awarded today are mostly part of the Order of the British Empire, which was established in 1917. Almost from the beginning there was controversy about who should receive honours and suggestions of impropriety, particularly in the award of honours for political service. This briefing provides an introduction to the various types of honours. It sets out the recent revival of the award of honours for parliamentary and political service. It also explains how an honour may be removed and summarises reviews of the system.
Research Briefing
This Commons library briefing gives an introduction to International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on the 8th of March. It examines a variety of indicators for women’s equality both in the UK and internationally.
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