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Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: European Union Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2007-11-02
Total Pages: 188
ISBN-13: 9780104011607
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Government is expected to respond to all reports from the Committee, within two months of publication The Committee then makes them available to the House and publishes them as required. This report makes 35 such responses available.
Author: Great Britain: Department for Education and Skills
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2007-05-17
Total Pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780101709224
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDated May 2007. With correction slip dated May 2007
Author: Richard Bacon
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2013-06-18
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 1849546169
DOWNLOAD EBOOKGovernment failure is affecting everyone. The single mum worried sick by a tax credit demand from HMRC to 'repay' thousands of pounds she never received; the family whose holiday was ruined because the Passport Office couldn't issue passports in time; the school that couldn't open at the start of term because CRB checks were being carried out by an organisation in meltdown; the farmers led to bankruptcy and even suicide by a Kafkaesque system for administering farm payments; and rail operators facing an uncertain future because the Department for Transport inadvertently landed the whole rail franchising system in chaos. Why is government getting it so wrong? Richard Bacon and Christopher Hope delve into the astonishing world of cock-ups and catastrophes and ponder why those at the top continue to fall short.
Author: Stationery Office (Great Britain)
Publisher:
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 564
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2009-06-10
Total Pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780215530622
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWith failure to meet its statutory obligation to end fuel poverty imminent, the Government should instigate an action plan as a matter of urgency to help the millions of UK households who remain in fuel poverty as a result of fuel price rises. This report (HCP 37, session 2008-09, ISBN 9780215530622) on Energy efficiency and fuel poverty from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee states, that the Winter Fuel Payment should be made taxable and stopped for those paying higher rate tax so that more money can be directed to fund bigger and better-targeted energy efficiency programmes aimed in the first instance at the fuel poor. To ensure more rapid improvement of the entire English housing stock, the range of current energy efficiency programmes should be consolidated into one comprehensive area-based programme to upgrade all homes and to be delivered by local authorities. The Committee wants the Government to: produce a detailed "road map" setting out how to deliver a national plan to make every home in England energy efficient to a minimum SAP level of 65 and to SAP 81 wherever practicable (SAP is the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings and uses a scale of 1 to 100, with a higher rating indicating a better level of energy efficiency); create a central budget into which energy companies pay their CERT contributions so that they can be pooled with money from other programmes, to fund a single consolidated comprehensive, area-based programme led by local authorities to deliver the national plan. The Committee also concludes that: resources for tackling fuel poverty are inadequate and getting worse. Warm Front, should see its budget increased rather than cut repeatedly and should now be extended to include all hard-to-treat properties. All schemes designed to help the fuel poor or improve energy efficiency would be better targeted if those organisations in charge of their delivery had better access to data on a range of variables including energy efficiency levels in homes, household incomes and fuel costs. The Department for Energy & Climate Change should survey current data needs and access arrangements as a matter of urgency.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2008-01-23
Total Pages: 28
ISBN-13: 9780215038326
DOWNLOAD EBOOKwork of the Committee In 2007 : First report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Administration Select Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 44
ISBN-13: 9780215514981
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis report considers various forms of user involvement in public services, from consultation with service users to stronger variants such as user control over service provision. It examines some of the arguments given for making public services more responsive: that it would be more democratic, that it would improve service levels and that it would be cost-effective. It also explores some of the potential implications of greater user involvement-for staff working in public services, for service users and for how public services are organised and evaluated. Involving public service users by allowing them to control or influence the way in which services are provided can improve service quality, make for more appropriate services and increase people's satisfaction with public services. It is, however, still early days for many of the stronger forms of user involvement, such as individual budgets in social care. Initial evidence about such initiatives seems promising, but there is a need for comprehensive and rigorous monitoring and evaluation, particularly regarding their cost-effectiveness. In addition, involving service users is not always appropriate. In some circumstances it could create inequalities of service, as well as being risky and expensive. In other situations people may simply be unwilling or unable to engage in this way. A key challenge for the Government and for public service providers will be to establish where user involvement is desirable, and in what form. Service providers also need to ensure that user involvement complements the contribution made by public service workers.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. European Union Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 290
ISBN-13: 9780104013700
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the 29th report of the European Union Committee from the 2007-08 session (HLP 183, ISBN 9780104013700) and looks at Europol (the European Police Office) and its efforts in coordinating the fight against serious and organised crime. Europol began in 1999 and will, by 2010 be established as an agency of the EU. The Council Decision bringing about this change in its constitution has made some amendments to its powers, working methods and governance, but in the Committee's view represents a missed opportunity. The Committee finds it is a matter of concern that four-fifths of the information exchanged by national liaison officers stationed at Europol is exchanged without actually going through Europol and is therefore not added to Europol's database. Member States are reluctant to share sensitive information. The Committee believes that Member States should station at Europol only officers and officials with a high security clearance. A success for Europol has been the analysis of information to help investigate particular caregories of crime and following the UK's influence in focusing on organised crime in particular. The Committee believes that other Member States need to be persuaded on the importance of planning for future threats. The Committee also believes that the existing structure for the governance and management of Europol could be enhanced by clarifying the respective duties of the Director and Management Board. Further, the Committee states that if the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, accountability of Europol to the European Parliament and national parliaments would improve.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: European Union Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2007-05-09
Total Pages: 104
ISBN-13: 9780104010617
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Prèm Treaty is an initiative by seven Member States to enhance cooperation in combating terrorism and serious cross-border crime. There is a move to incorporate it into EU law. As it can only be adopted unanimously, the Government is in a strong negotiating position and has already obtained agreement to delete a provision on "hot pursuit". The Committee recommend that they should also seek agreement on the estimated cost of incorporating the provisions. The Prèm Treaty is mainly concerned with the exchange of data, which raises questions of data protection. It is an opportunity to link the fight against crime with agreement on a Data Protection Framework Decision. This report looks at both the Prèm initiative and other related proposal that are genuine EU initiatives.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 178
ISBN-13: 9780215525758
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis report finds that, although the pig industry is highly competitive and is well known for being cyclical, the last ten years have seen a steady decline in the scale and productivity of the English pig industry and an increase in the pig meat imported into the UK to satisfy consumer demand. The lack of transparency in the supply chain leads farmers to form the view that they are not getting their fair share. UK pigs cost more to produce than their EU counterparts. The industry blames this on the effects of disease outbreaks, high feed prices, burdensome environmental regulations and the high cost of the introduction of new welfare standards of housing for pigs in 1999. Pig producers are rightly proud of their high welfare standards, but the Committee believes that they have not successfully promoted to the consumer the justification for the higher cost of English pig meat. Retailers and catering suppliers are responsible for ensuring that labelling of pig meat products is clear and unambiguous, but producers, animal welfare groups such as the RSPCA, and Government, have a role in making certain that consumers understand the difference between the standards of welfare in the various methods of pig production and ensuring that pig meat produced in the UK is of a high welfare standard. Defra must continue to: advise other Government departments and public bodies on the welfare standards of farm assurance schemes in order to encourage them to adopt a more innovative approach in public sector procurement of pig meat; liaise closely with the industry on its Health and Welfare Council; fund research into the pig-specific diseases which have severely impacted on the industry in recent years.
