• Research Briefing

    Income tax and Members’ expenses

    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

    Post Office Card Account

    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

    Progress of the Public Bodies Bill [HL] 2010-11

    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

    Education Bill: Committee Stage Report

    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

    Energy Bill [HL]

    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

    Economic Indicators, May 2011

    This Research Paper series summarises the main economic indicators currently available for the UK, along with comparisons with other major OECD countries. The ONS’s first estimate of Q1 2011 GDP showed that the economy grew by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter. Growth in Q1 came from the manufacturing sector (up by 1.1%) and the services sector (up by 0.9%). However, overall GDP growth was reined in by a steep decline in construction output (down by 4.7%). The Q1 outturn followed a 0.5% decline in GDP in Q4 2010 when bad weather was blamed for the contraction in activity. Taking the two quarters together, economic output remained unchanged over the six month period October 2010-March 2011.

Total results (page 377 of 560)