• Research Briefing

    Resignation, suspension and expulsion from the House of Lords

    This note sets out the current rules on membership of the House of Lords and the disqualification criteria. It then outlines recent developments which have caused interest in the ability of the House of Lords to suspend and expel its own Members, and the ability of members of the House of Lords to stand down. It considers the provisions included in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill as introduced, and the reactions to them, including some of the main arguments made during the second reading debate. It also sets out proposals which have been made for time-limited appointments to the House of Lords - so called 'term peerages".

  • Research Briefing

    Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-11: Commons Stages

    This Paper summarises all Commons stages of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-11. It supplements Research Paper 10/55 which was produced for the Bill’s Second Reading and replaces Standard Note 5697 'Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill: Progress of the Bill'. No major changes were made during the passage of the Bill in the Commons, but the text of the referendum question was altered and legislative provision was made for the combination of polls on 5 May 2011.

  • Research Briefing

    Terrorist Asset-Freezing Bill [HL] [Bill 102 of 2010-11]

    The UK is required by the UN to freeze the assets of persons who commit terrorist acts. In a case that raised “fundamental questions about the relationship between Parliament and the executive” the UK legislation that allowed the Treasury to freeze the assets of those suspected of involvement in terrorism was quashed by the UK Supreme Court in January 2010. The legislation was reinstated by temporary legislation immediately afterwards, but the Terrorist Asset-Freezing (Temporary Provisions) Act 2010 expires on 31 December 2010. This Bill seeks to replace that Act with a permanent legislative framework.

  • Research Briefing

    Sustainable Livestock Bill. Bill 5 of 2010-11 Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill. Bill 12 of 2010-11

    The Sustainable Livestock Bill aims to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production in the UK. It also aims to amend the way agricultural subsidies are used to make them more environmentally friendly. It includes a duty to give consideration to supporting sustainable practices and consumption through public procurement of livestock produce. The Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill would create a duty on the Secretary of State to prepare a Code for Sustainable Food to promote the procurement of healthy and sustainable food by public bodies. This could be made compulsory if uptake was not extensive enough.

  • Research Briefing

    Finance (No.2) Bill 2010

    The Finance (No.2) Bill contains a series of minor and technical measures, most of which were announced in the then Labour Government's March 2010 Budget. The enactment of these measures was delayed by the timing of the 2010 General Election. In its first Budget on 22 June, the Coalition Government announced it would introduce two Finance Bills in 2010: the first to be passed for the summer recess to implement its key priorities, the second to be introuced in the autumn to clear these inherited measures. This note sets out the chronology of these events and a checklist of the Bill's contents.

  • Research Briefing

    Franco-British Defence Co-operation

    The UK and France agreed a series of measures intended to enhance defence co-operation between both country's armed forces, including the signing of two new defence treaties, at the latest bilateral summit on 2 November 2010. The treaties have been labelled by a number of analysts as 'historic', in particular for the implications of co-operation in the nuclear sphere. This note provides a brief summary of historical UK-French defence co-operation, the main elements of the two new defence co-operation treaties and some initial reactions to the proposals that have been set out.

  • Research Briefing

    June Budget and Spending Review 2010: DLA and ESA changes

    The Coalition Government's June 2010 Budget announced that a new "objective medical assessment" would be introduced for Disability Living Allowance claims from 2013-14. The Spending Review on 20 October announced that that the DLA mobility component is to be withdrawn from people in care homes whose place is funded by a public body. The Spending Review also announced that, from April 2012, for those Employment and Support Allowance claimants assessed as eligible for the "Work Related Activity Group", contributory ESA would only be payable for up to one year.

  • Research Briefing

    Child Benefit for higher rate taxpayers

    At the Conservative Party Conference in October 2010 the Chancellor announced that from January 2013 Child Benefit would be withdrawn from families with a higher rate taxpayer. This note looks at the background to the announcement and at reactions to it. Revised proposals for a “High Income Child Benefit Charge” were presented in Budget 2012 under which Child Benefit would instead be clawed back from families where the highest earner had an income in excess of £50,000. Further details can be found in Library briefing SN06299, Child Benefit for higher income families.

  • Research Briefing

    Economic indicators, November 2010

    This Research Paper series summarises the main economic indicators currently available for the UK, along with comparisons with other major OECD countries. It includes articles entitled 'The outlook for the public finances' and 'Which sectors are driving the economic recovery?' [Articles:'The outlook for the public finances' and 'Which sectors are driving the economic recovery?']

  • Research Briefing

    The Browne Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance

    The purpose of this note is to provide an overview of the report of the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance (the Browne Review). The note highlights the report's proposals and includes analysis and responses to the report. This note follows on from two earlier notes on this topic: SN/SP/5695 Reform of higher education funding in England and SN/SP/4917 Review of higher education tuition fees.

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