Research Briefing
Roads: HGV road user levy
This note provides information on the implementation of the HGV road user levy, to be introduced in the UK from 1 April 2014.
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Research Briefing
Unemployment by Constituency, March 2014
This paper contains labour market figures for parliamentary constituencies, as well as a summary of the latest national and regional statistics
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Research Briefing
Budget 2014: Background briefing
This note sets out the background to the 2014 Budget.
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Research Briefing
Mortgage Market Review
This note describes the proposed changes to the rules surrounding the granting of mortgages by lenders. The changes are intended to provide more protection for consumers and to reduce the chance of mortgage holders experiencing difficulty in paying off their debt. The mortgage industry however, argue that the rules are too strict and will dramatically reduce the chance of some sections of society being able to get the loan funding that they want.
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Research Briefing
What do young people do?
There are stark differences between the economic activity of people aged 16 to 24 in full-time education and those not in full-time education.
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Research Briefing
National Insurance Contributions Bill 2013-14 : Parliamentary scrutiny
The main purpose of the National Insurance Contributions Bill 2013-14 is to implement the new Employment Allowance - which allows businesses to claim up to £2,000 from their annual payment of NICs. The Bill also contains a number of miscellaneous measures announced in Budget 2013 relating to the scope of NICs. This note gives an overview of the Bill’s scrutiny to date. It is complemented by a Library Research paper prepared for its Second Reading debate (RP13/60, 20 November 2013).
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Research Briefing
Social imbalances and population flows to London
“The continued drift of the industrial population to London and the Home Counties constitutes a social, economic and strategical problem which demands immediate attention” – Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, 1940 A recent report by the Centre for Cities stated that while London’s strong economic performance should be
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Research Briefing
Employment is up again – or is it?
New statistics out today suggest that employment is up 193,000 and unemployment is down 125,000 compared to the previous quarter. Politicians and pollsters, journalists and even(!) House of Commons Library staff, repeat the figures without hesitation. But do the statistics really merit this faith, or is a bit more caution in order?
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Research Briefing
Unemployment by Constituency February 2014
This paper contains labour market figures for parliamentary constituencies, as well as a summary of the latest national and regional statistics.
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Research Briefing
No more Advanced Learning loans for apprentices after low take-up
There will be no more Advanced Learning loans for apprentices over 24, after only 695 were made since their introduction in April last year. According to the Skills Funding Statement 2013-16: It is clear that Loans are not the preferred funding route for employers or prospective Apprentices.
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Research Briefing
Low turnout in strike ballots
There have been a number of calls for more restrictive regulation of industrial action in response to the current London Underground strike; most prominently, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s call for minimum thresholds in strike ballots. Strike ballots currently require a simple majority of union members voting on the question of a strike to
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