Research Briefing
Railways: light rail schemes
This note looks at the policies of successive governments towards light rail and provides information about reports that have been published about the same over the past eight years.
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Research Briefing
Civil Aviation Bill
This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons on the Civil Aviation Bill, scheduled for 30 January 2012
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Research Briefing
Initial proposals for new constituency boundaries: Wales
The number of parliamentary constituencies in Wales will fall from 40 to 30 as part of the current boundary review. Provisional proposals for the new seats were published by the Boundary Commission for Wales on 11 January 2012. This note looks at the extent to which proposed constituencies can be identified with existing seats and which existing constituencies would be most affected by the proposals. The proposals for Wales are also compared with the initial proposals from the Boundary Commissions for England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, published in September and October 2011.
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Research Briefing
Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Bill
This Bill attempts to update, clarify and consolidate existing law and guidance about what insurance companies might reasonably expect their customers to tell them when they apply for insurance.
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Research Briefing
Oil embargo on Iran and the threat to the Straits of Hormuz
EU countries are preparing to impose a new round of sanctions on Iran, to include an embargo on the import of oil. The US has also enacted new legislation which will target the Iranian central bank and make oil trading more difficult for Iran. Iran has responded with some threatening comments about closing the Straits of Hormuz, leading to a rise in the oil price. It has also signalled that it is open to re-starting talks. This note details these developments and gives some samples of recent expert commentary.
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Research Briefing
Unemployment by Constituency, January 2012
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
London Underground after the PPP, 2007-
This note looks at the management of London Underground since 2007, covering the collapse of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the transfer of control of the Underground to Transport for London (TfL).
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Research Briefing
The West Lothian question
This note explores the concept of the 'West Lothian Question' in the light of the devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1999.
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Research Briefing
Government proposals to change the consumer landscape
The purpose of this note is to consider in detail the current system of consumer protection and enforcement under the Government’s new consumer landscape.
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Research Briefing
The Tobin tax : earlier debates
The American economist James Tobin first made the suggestion for a tax on currency transactions to dissuade short term currency speculation in the 1970s. Recently the idea of a more general 'Tobin-like' tax on financial transactions has been discussed, in the wake of the global financial crisis, and the desire to recover the considerable costs of public bailouts given to this sector. This note gives some historical background to the issue, while a second note (SN06184) looks at recent developments.
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Research Briefing
Daylight Saving Bill: Committee Stage Report
This is a report on the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Daylight Saving Bill.
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Research Briefing
Economic Indicators, January 2012
This Research Paper series summarises the main economic indicators currently available for the UK, along with comparisons with other major OECD countries.
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Research Briefing
Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary representation
This standard note provides a summary of the main recommendations of the Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary representation which published its final report in January 2010.
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Research Briefing
Local Government Finance Bill 2010-12
This Research Paper has been prepared for the second reading of the Local Government Finance Bill 2010-12. The Local Government Finance Bill has been carried over into the 2012-13 session as Bill 4 of 2012/13. The Bill had completed its Committee Stage before the end of the 2010-12 Session and will have its remaining stages on 21 May 2012. Research Paper 12/14 considers the proceedings on the Bill before it was carried over.
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Research Briefing
Durban Climate Conference
This note covers run up and outcome of the UN climate change conference that took place in Durban between 28 November and 11 December 2011.
Total results (page 361 of 558)