• Research Briefing

    Young offenders and juvenile justice in Sweden

    This note has been written by the research service of the Riksdag. It briefly describes the extent and nature of juvenile crime in Sweden. The current system of sanctions for young offenders and the risks of recidivism are then dealt with in somewhat greater depth.

  • Research Briefing

    School Report Cards

    The Government plans to develop a new approach to school accountability that includes a School Report Card (SRC). The idea is that the SRC will provide a short summary of a school's performance, published at least annually, so that it will be easier for parents to understand the information available. This Standard Note provides background on the SRC proposals, and relates to England only.

  • Research Briefing

    Competition and the banking crisis

    This note sets out to: provide information on state aid rules and assistance to the financial sector; explain some of the competition concerns relating to the banking crisis; and set out briefly the powers of the competition authorities to address such concerns.

  • Research Briefing

    Dismissals for long term sickness absence

    Members are often approached by constituents who have been dismissed from their jobs because they have been off sick for a long time. The legality of such dismissals would be judged on the individual merits of each case, but this note provides an indication of the factors which might be taken in to account.

  • Research Briefing

    Sources of historical statistics

    Details of online sources of historical statistics across all subject areas other than the economy. These sources are either long-term time series or snapshots of a range of data from a specific point in the past.They allow comparisons between the present day and the start of data collection and any intervening period and give an understanding of patterns -have trends been smooth, random, cyclical etc? Snapshots cover a wider range of data and help us make more general comparisons between 'then' and 'now'. Most of the series go back to around the 1920s or earlier. . This note does not include links to economic data or anything to do with family history.

  • Research Briefing

    Ethiopia in the run-up to May 2010 elections

    The 2005 federal and regional elections in Ethiopia produced a major political crisis. Now the electoral wheel has turned and observers are waiting to see whether the May 2010 elections will be less turbulent. This note provides a brief historical and social survey of Ethiopia. It then looks at the political situation in Ethiopia since 2005. It concludes with a short update on the state of the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute.

  • Research Briefing

    Fiscal Responsibility Bill (Bill 13 of 2009-10)

    The Bill imposes a number of obligations on the Treasury to reduce government borrowing and debt. It allows the Treasury to impose further duties by order and requires that such an order be made for the period after 2015/16. The Bill requires the Treasury to report on progress towards, and compliance with, these obligations in future Budgets and Pre-Budget Reports.

  • Research Briefing

    Crime and Security Bill. Bill 3 2009-10.

    The Bill would amend the law governing the taking, retention and destruction of fingerprints and DNA data from persons arrested for, charged with or convicted of criminal offences. It would reduce the requirements on the police to record information following a stop and search. It would introduce new 'go' orders for suspected perpetrators of domestic violence, which could mean excluding them from their homes in order to protect the victim. The Bill would also, in effect, extend new injunctions for gang-related violence to 14-18 year olds, and require courts to issue a Parenting Order where a child under 16 had breached an Anti-social Behaviour Order. It would require wheel clamping companies to be licensed, and create a new offence of possessing an authorised mobile phone in a prison. It also creates a new offence of preventing a person under 18 from gaining unauthorised access to air weapons.

  • Research Briefing

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    Turkey's charismatic Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip ErdoÃ??an, has had some impressive achievements, both domestically and in the international sphere, but has also been a controversial figure particularly for his attitude towards religion and for his sometimes intemperate outbursts. This note looks at ErdoÃ??an's personal and professional profile in an attempt to unmask the new path of Turkey from Kemalist-elitist to 'Non-threatening Muslim'/mass politics.