Research Briefing
The US government has asserted that by killing Osama bin Laden on 1 May 2011, justice has been done. Its view is that the killing was clearly lawful. But the nature, timing and location of the killing have raised various questions under international law. The killing also has possible implications for future policies towards al-Qaeda as well as Libya and other countries.
Research Briefing
Housing: construction defects. By Wendy Wilson. SN/SP/2030. This note outlines assistance available for owners of homes that are of a defective construction type.
Research Briefing
This note sets out the background to and extent of the provisions that applied to Members’ allowances administered by the House. It gives details of the changes proposed in the Budget, and enacted in the Finance (No 2) Act 2010.
Research Briefing
This Note looks the European Commission's "Strategy for the effective implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights". It also considers government and parliament views of the Charter.
Research Briefing
The Post Office Card Account (POCA) was launched in April 2003. In January 2006, it became apparent that the DWP would not be renewing the contract with Post Office Ltd, all but signalling an end to the POCA in its current form. The DWP subsequently undertook a procurement exercise for a successor to the POCA - the Government Card Account Banking Service. In a statement to the House on 13 November 2008, the Government decided to cancel the procurement exercise and award the new contract to Post Office Ltd to run initially from April 2010 and March 2015.
Research Briefing
This note looks at the political system in Afghanistan in the wake of the 2010 parliamentary elections and the moves towards reintegration and a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.
Research Briefing
This Paper examines the progress of the Bill during its House of Commons Committee Stage. Further detail on the Bill is available in Research Paper 11/17, prepared for the Second Reading of the Bill.
Research Briefing
This note briefly sets out the outcome of the review of public bodies before providing information on the progress of the Bill in the Lords so far. There is a Library Standard Note SN/PC/5609, Quangos, which sets out the background to the bill and general information about the 'quango debate'.
Research Briefing
Drawing on two recent studies of the country, this note briefly discusses two ways of understanding the trajectory and character of Pakistan
Research Briefing
This Note looks at trends in funding within the arts sector from 1997 to the present.
Research Briefing
This article provides statistics on the 2011/12 New Homes Bonus scheme grants. Approximately £200m has been allocated to local authorities through the scheme in its first year.
Research Briefing
This is an account of the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Education Bill. It complements Research Paper 11/14, prepared for the Commons Second Reading debate, which examines the range of matters covered by the Bill. As originally presented, the Bill sought to make provision relating to the National Assembly for Wales’ framework powers. However, these clauses were removed from the Bill following the ‘yes’ vote in the Welsh Devolution Referendum. A Government amendment to clause 13 (reporting restrictions on alleged offences by teachers) was agreed to without a vote. This inserted new schedule 11B into the Education Act 2002, and was introduced to secure compliance with a European Electronic Commerce Directive. Several minor and technical Government amendments were also made to the Bill. The Opposition tabled many amendments, a considerable number of which were pressed to a division, but none was successful.
Research Briefing
This briefing on the Energy Bill has been prepared for the Second Reading Debate in the House of Commons. The flagship policy in the Bill is the “Green Deal”, a scheme whereby homes would be given finance upfront to make energy efficiency improvements, which would then be paid for by energy bill savings. The Bill would also set up a new obligation on energy companies to help certain groups of consumers with saving energy, who need extra support. The Bill also introduces a range of other measures designed to improve energy efficiency; such as facilitating the roll-out of smart meters, widening access to energy performance certificates and making information on energy bills clearer. The Bill also provides measures designed to help improve energy security, to encourage low carbon generation and to grant additional powers to the Coal Authority to charge for certain services.
Research Briefing
In July 2010 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 did not breach international law. The legal scope of the Opinion is extremely narrow, but its political implications could be very wide.
Research Briefing
This Note looks at some of the criticism of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular the procedure for selecting and electing judges to the Court, the quality and experience of those judges and proposals for reforming the selection criteria and method of appointment.
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