HC 877 - Pre-appointment Hearing with the Government's Preferred Candidate for the Post of Houing Ombudsman
HC 877 - Pre-appointment Hearing with the Government's Preferred Candidate for the Post of Houing Ombudsman

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 0215080904

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On 16 December 2014 the Committee held a pre-appointment hearing with the Government's preferred canditate for the post of Housing Ombudsman, Denise Fowler. On the basis of the evidence provided at this hearing, the Committee concluded that she is a very suitable candidate for the post. In the Commitee view, however, to be independent of central government she cannot remain a civil servant and she should resign form the Civil Service before taking up the post. The Housing Ombudsman administers the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The purpose of the Scheme is for tenants and other individuals to have complaints about members investigated by a Housing Ombudsman. The Scheme states that the role of the Ombudsman is to resolve disputes involving members of the Scheme, including making awards of compensation or other remedies when appropriate, as well as to support effective landlord-tenent dispute resolution by others.

HC 821 - The Work Of The Communitites And Local Government Committee Since 2010
HC 821 - The Work Of The Communitites And Local Government Committee Since 2010

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 69

ISBN-13: 0215084535

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The purpose of the report is to distil experience from this parliament and to assist the new committee in the next parliament. It considers how the Committee approached its work, the way it has used research and how this might be strengthened, and its own assessment of performance against the core tasks set by the Liaison Committee. It then suggests some matters the new committee might consider examining in the next Parliament. These include both 'unfinished business', topics the Committee looked at over the Parliament to which the successors might wish to return, and new developments, which the Committee considers will emerge as major issues over the next five years.

HC 964 - Private Rented Sector: The Evidence From Banning Letting Agents' Fees in Scotland
HC 964 - Private Rented Sector: The Evidence From Banning Letting Agents' Fees in Scotland

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 25

ISBN-13: 0215084276

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This report follows up one issue left from the Committee's 2013 report on the Private Rented Sector (HCP 50, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780215060730): whether or not England should follow Scotland and introduce a ban on letting agents charging fees to tenants other than rents and refundable deposits. The change in Scotland had only been made in November 2012 and when the Committee reported in July 2013 views on its impact were speculative and varied widely. The Committee therefore decided to wait two years from its introduction and seek hard evidence on the impact of the change in Scotland. The Committee sought evidence from a number of organisations representing tenants, agents and landlords in Scotland and have examined relevant published reports. The Committee concludes that the evidence available is not strong enough to reach a view on the impact of the ban on fees in Scotland. In addition, the issues around fees that were raised in the original inquiry are more broadly based than simply fees to tenants, as they affect the overall role of agents in the market and the transparency of that market. The Committee therefore call on the Department for Communities and Local Government to commission a comprehensive impact assessment of the effects of the introduction of a ban on agents' fees in England.

HC 262 - Community Rights
HC 262 - Community Rights

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 0215081242

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The Government's policy of empowering people through Community Rights to save local assets from closure, build community housing, take over local authority services and bring public land back into use has in its first two years had mixed results. The Rights - to Bid, to Build, to Challenge and to Reclaim Land - have generated some successes, with a small number of community groups being able, for example, to use the Community Right to Bid to stop valued local assets such as the local pub being sold for redevelopment. But limitations have also been exposed. The Community Right to Build is too complicated; the Community Right to Challenge, which triggers a tendering exercise to run a local service, risks damaging relations between communities and local government and is a gamble for groups wanting to run a local service as they may be outbid; and the Community Right to Reclaim Land has hardly been used. The Committee wants to see the Rights improved so that local people have more say over what happens to the land, buildings and services in their area. The Government should: enhance the Community Right to Bid by increasing from six to nine months the time people have to bid to buy a local asset; make it easier to remove or restrict the "permitted development" exemption from planning control when an asset has been listed as having Community Value; and make an asset's status as an Asset of Community Value a material consideration in all but minor planning applications.

HC 1114 - Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham: Ofsted and Further Government Issues
HC 1114 - Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham: Ofsted and Further Government Issues

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13: 0215084152

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This report follows up our November 2014 report on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and covers two matters: the role of Ofsted and Louise Casey's inspection report on Rotherham. It is clear that the inspection arrangements that Ofsted had in place from 2007, when it became responsible for inspecting children's services at Rotherham, failed to detect either the evidence, or the knowledge within the council, of large-scale child sexual exploitation. The structured inspection method used at that time to inspect local authorities' children's services was designed by Ofsted and did not focus on child sexual exploitation. The result was a lack of intelligence and understanding in Ofsted's handling of Rotherham. Child sexual exploitation was missed as was the superficiality of Rotherham's response to inspection findings and its dysfunction. The Committee found Louise Casey's report on her inspection of Rotherham to be penetrating and instructive. It not only confirmed the dreadful findings in the Jay Report but, what was worse, revealed that Rotherham Council was in denial about child sexual exploitation.

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture (Academic Edition)
The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture (Academic Edition)

Author: Senate Select Committee On Intelligence

Publisher: Melville House

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 820

ISBN-13: 1612198473

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The study edition of book the Los Angeles Times called, "The most extensive review of U.S. intelligence-gathering tactics in generations." This is the complete Executive Summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the CIA's interrogation and detention programs -- a.k.a., The Torture Report. Based on over six million pages of secret CIA documents, the report details a covert program of secret prisons, prisoner deaths, interrogation practices, and cooperation with other foreign and domestic agencies, as well as the CIA's efforts to hide the details of the program from the White House, the Department of Justice, the Congress, and the American people. Over five years in the making, it is presented here exactly as redacted and released by the United States government on December 9, 2014, with an introduction by Daniel J. Jones, who led the Senate investigation. This special edition includes: • Large, easy-to-read format. • Almost 3,000 notes formatted as footnotes, exactly as they appeared in the original report. This allows readers to see obscured or clarifying details as they read the main text. • An introduction by Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones who led the investigation and wrote the report for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a forward by the head of that committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Urban Stormwater Management in the United States
Urban Stormwater Management in the United States

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 0309125391

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The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.

Survey Methods and Practices
Survey Methods and Practices

Author: Statistics Canada

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13:

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This publication shows readers how to design and conduct a census or sample survey. It explains basic survey concepts and provides information on how to create efficient and high quality surveys. It is aimed at those involved in planning, conducting or managing a survey and at students of survey design courses. This book contains the following information: formulating the survey objectives and design a questionnaire; things to consider when designing a survey (choosing between a sample or a census, defining the survey population, choosing which survey frame to use, possible sources of survey error); determining the sample size, allocate the sample across strata and select the sample; appropriate uses of survey data and methods of point and variance estimation in data analysis; data dissemination and disclosure control; using administrative data, particularly during the design and estimation phases; choosing a collection method (self-enumeration, personal interview or telephone interview, computer-assisted versus paper-based questionnaires); organizing and conducting data collection operations; processing data (all data handling activities between collection and estimation) and using quality control and quality assurance measures to minimize and control errors during various survey steps; and planning and managing a survey. This publication also includes a case study that illustrates the steps in developing a household survey, using the methods and principles presented in the book.

Traffic Congestion
Traffic Congestion

Author: Alberto Bull

Publisher: Santiago, Chile : United Nations, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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