Research Briefing
Nuclear power
On 21 October the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change announced that agreement had been reached with EDF to build the UK's first new nuclear power station since Sizewell B was commissioned in 1995.
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Research Briefing
Japan’s economy: from the “lost decade” to Abenomics
The effects of the sluggish growth in the 1990s ("the lost decade") are still being felt today in Japan's economy. A new government has embarked on a radical plan to revitalise the fortunes of the world’s third largest economy. These policies have become known as Abenomics, after the new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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Research Briefing
Introducing “Payment by Results” in Offender Rehabilitation and other reforms
The Ministry of Justice plans to allow organisations from the voluntary and private sectors to provide rehabilitation services in the community for low and medium risk offenders. New providers would be paid according to the reductions in re-offending they achieve. It is also legislating through the Offender Rehabilitation Bill to introduce and extend statutory supervision periods for short-sentence offenders. The Ministry of Justice says these and other proposals set out in the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation strategy document (published 9 May 2013) will help to reduce reoffending while continuing to protect the public.
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Research Briefing
Young Offenders: What Next
The problem of youth crime, and how best to respond to it, has attracted political attention for decades. More than 30 years ago, for example, the 1979 Conservative party manifesto promised to make more use of attendance centres for “hooligans” and to give a “short, sharp shock” to young offenders.
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Research Briefing
Pension Credit: assessed income periods
Background to the abolition of "assessed income periods" in Pension Credit announced in Spending Review 2013
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Research Briefing
Entrants to higher education
The number of students applying to university through UCAS has increased for many years. The main exceptions were when tuition fees were introduced (1998), ‘variable’ fees meant they were increased (2006) and when the cap on fees was lifted to £9,000 in England in 2012. In 2012 the number of applicants fell by around 47,000 (6.6%) and the number of acceptances by around 27,000 (5.5%). There were larger percentage falls among students who will be liable for higher fees; and the largest drop among older applicants (who could avoid higher fees by starting earlier) and students from the EU (who could avoid higher fees by studying elsewhere). Applications up to the end of June 2013 were 3.1% higher than in 2012. Acceptances to mid-September were 9% up.
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Research Briefing
UK withdrawal from Germany: the end of an era
British forces have been permanently stationed in Germany since 1945. The Government announced in 2010 as part of its Strategic Defence and Security Review that all 20,000 Service personnel will be withdrawn by 2020. This note provides a short overview of the withdrawal plans.
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Research Briefing
Qatar 2013
Qatar has the highest standard of living in the world and has been raising its international profile, not without controversy
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Research Briefing
Immigration Bill
The Immigration Bill would significantly reduce migrants’ rights of appeal; restrict access to services including private rented accommodation, bank accounts and NHS services by reference to immigration status; establish new arrangements for investigating sham marriages and examining persons departing the UK; and make various other changes related to immigration controls.
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Research Briefing
National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) – background
This note outlines the development of proposals for NEST (a national, low cost pension scheme aimed at low to moderate earners)
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Research Briefing
National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) – 2012 onwards
Looks at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), a low cost pension saving scheme, which started operations in July 2012
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Research Briefing
Unemployment by Constituency, October 2013
This paper contains labour market figures for parliamentary constituencies, as well as a summary of the latest national and regional statistics.
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Research Briefing
The African Union, Kenya and the International Criminal Court
At an extraordinary summit of the African Union on 11-12 October 2013, heads of state and government agreed that Kenya should send a letter to the UN Security Council requesting the deferral of the ICC’s ongoing proceedings against the President and Deputy President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, both of whom have been charged with crimes against humanity in the context of the post-election violence during 2007-08. Western governments face an acute dilemma. Until now, they have been strong supporters of the ICC’s work in Kenya. However, in recent years, Kenya has become an active regional player in combating Islamist terrorism and recently suffered a major attack by al-Shabaab on a shopping mall in Nairobi. If the UN Security Council were to defer the proceedings, this would be the first time that this has happened since the Court’s inception.
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Research Briefing
Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill: Progress of the Bill
This Note charts the progress of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill through Parliament. It complements Research Paper 13/51 prepared for the Commons Second Reading.
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Research Briefing
Nepal’s peace process: towards elections for a new Constituent Assembly
After 18 months of political uncertainty about the prospects for its apparently endless peace process, Nepal is due to hold elections for a new Constituent Assembly on 19 November. The original Constituent Assembly elected under the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement was dissolved in May 2012 having failed to agree a new Constitution. A break-away Maoist faction and a number of ethnically-based parties have pledged to boycott and disrupt the elections; this could bring them into direct confrontation with the army.
Total results (page 321 of 560)