• Research Briefing

    Local Authorities (Overview and Scrutiny) Bill 2009-10: Committee Stage Report

    This is a report of the Committee Stage of the Bill. It complements Research Paper 10/09, which gives more detail on the provisions of the Bill. The Bill strengthens local government overview and scrutiny committee powers in relation to partner organisations, so that they could potentially cover a greater range of external authorities. The Bill has Government support and was not amended in Committee.

  • Research Briefing

    Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Bill [HL] [Bill No. 79 of 2009-10]

    The purpose of the Bill is to amend existing legislation governing the relationship between insurers and claimants, with specific regard to 'third parties', to make it easier and less expensive to claim compensation from insolvent defendants. Current legislation dictates that claimants must establish an insolvent defendant's liability before bringing a separate claim against their insurer. The Bill would enable claimants to sue the insolvent defendant's insurer directly, without having to sue the wrongdoer first. The Bill's provisions are largely uncontroversial, and have widespread support from the majority of stakeholders.

  • Research Briefing

    Reform of the House of Commons: Decisions taken on 22 February and 4 March 2010

    On 22 February 2010 the House of Commons held a general debate on the report of the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons, Rebuilding the House. This Note outlines the motions, that were based on recommendations in the Committee's report, that the House agreed to on 22 February and also on 4 March 2010, when those motions objected to on 22 February were put to the House again with selected amendments.

  • Research Briefing

    Bribery allegations and BAE Systems

    BAE Systems was accused of corruption, specifically making bribes, in regard to the Al Yamamah arms agreement with the Saudi Arabian Government. This was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following the leaking of a letter from the then Director of the SFO to the former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence. The SFO discontinued its inquiry in December 2006, citing the need to safeguard national and international security, a move which was supported by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. A legal challenge that the SFO's decision was unlawful was not successful. In addition to the allegations surrounding Al Yamamah, parallel SFO investigations were also conducted into a number of other BAE defence contracts in South Africa, Chile, the Czech Republic, Romania, Tanzania and Qatar. In February 2010, BAE Systems reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to plead guilty of conspiring to make false statements to the US Government in connection with certain regulatory filings and undertakings, including the Al Yamamah agreement as well as contracts with the Hungarian and Czech governments. In March 2010, BAE Systems pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance program, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It was given a $400 million fine and agreed to take measures in order to stay within US and foreign laws concerning corruption and the exports of arms. The company also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years to assess its compliance program and to make a series of reports to the company and the DoJ. This Standard Note is referred to in the Research Paper, The Bribery Bill (RP 10/19).

  • Research Briefing

    Councillors and Council Control: 1979-2009

    The following note looks at the number of councillors by party in Great Britain since 1979. In 2009 there were around 4,700 fewer councillors in Great Britain than in 1979. This is as a result of numerous changes to the structure of local authorities, particularly the introduction of unitary authorities in Wales and Scotland in 1995, when the number of councillors fell by 1,605. In 2009 the Conservatives are 5,270 councillors better off compared to 1996 when they had 4,276 councillors. Labour has less than half the number of councillors compared to 1996 (11,000). The Conservatives have also seen a gradual increase in the number of councils it controlled in England since 1998 when they had 24 compared to 209 in 2009. Labour on the other hand had seen a steady decrease since 1998 when they controlled 140 councils to the current level of 37 councils in 2009.

  • Research Briefing

    Grocery Market Ombudsman Bill [Bill 18 of 2009-10]

    The Bill would establish an independent ombudsman for the grocery market to oversee the operation of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. It would provide for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), within three months of the Bill's enactment, to establish the Office of the Grocery Market Ombudsman and a person as the Grocery Market Ombudsman. Although funded by the OFT, the Ombudsman would be independent of it and would investigate complaints or disputes referred by the OFT, retailers or suppliers. The Ombudsman's determination would be final and binding on all parties and they would have the power to impose monetary penalties and/or costs.

  • Research Briefing

    Bribery Bill [HL] Bill No 69

    The purpose of the Bill is to provide a modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences to equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery in the UK and abroad. It replaces old and fragmented legislation with a modern and consolidated bribery law. The Bill creates offences of offering, promising or giving of a bribe and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of a bribe either in the UK or abroad, in the public or private sectors. It also creates a discrete offence of bribery of a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business, and a new offence in relation to commercial organisations which fail to prevent a bribe being paid by those who perform services for or on behalf of the organisation.

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