briefings

Useful new guides from the Commons Library

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The House of Commons Library website contains a wealth of information which is of use not only to Members of Parliament and their staff, but are also accessible by members of the public.

The latest guides to be published are:

You can find more constituency casework guides here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-casework/

Helping tenants with damp and mouldy housing (England)

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The House of Commons Library has produced a new guide for MPs and their staff to help them to assist their constituents: ‘A short guide to tenants’ rights when living in damp and mouldy homes and Government action to address this issue.’

You can find the new House of Commons Library guide here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/helping-tenants-with-damp-and-mouldy-housing-england/

Constituency casework: help with energy bills for businesses, voluntary sector and public sector organisations

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The House of Commons Library has produced a briefing on help with energy bills for businesses, voluntary sector and public sector organisations.

This briefing provides information on support with energy bills for non-domestic customers, including businesses, public sector organisations and charities. It covers help with rising energy prices, and support to install energy-saving measures and low carbon technologies.

Other sources that answer frequent questions are provided, as well as links to other Library briefings, which cover some of the schemes in more detail. Where complex issues are raised it may be more appropriate to refer constituents to specialist bodies and organisations or to a solicitor if legal advice is sought. 

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9692/

Accessing Health Records – Commons Library Constituency Casework Briefing

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Information for anyone attempting to gain access their own, or somebody else’s, medical records.

Accessing health records is now always as simple as putting in a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 2018. Sometimes, other legislation also comes into play depending upon the circumstances.

Read the Commons Library Constituency Casework Briefing to find out more: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/accessing-health-records/

PolicyMogul

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PolicyMogul is rolling out a free political monitoring and research platform to all parliamentarians and staff
PolicyMogul is a political monitoring and research platform that helps MPs and their staff stay on top of political developments and avoid missing important information from constituents and others.

Many MPs and their staff are actively using the free service.

Please see further details here: https://w4mp.org/w4mp/w4mp-guides/researcher-extraordinaire/policymogul-a-free-political-monitoring-and-research-platform/

PolicyMogul – a free political monitoring and research platform

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PolicyMogul is rolling out a free political monitoring and research platform to all parliamentarians and staff

PolicyMogul is a political monitoring and research platform that helps MPs and their staff stay on top of political developments and avoid missing important information from constituents and others. 

Many MPs and their staff are actively using the free service. Learn more and access your account

This resource will help in the preparation of debates, meetings and constituency work, and includes up-to-the minute developments, tailored to your MP’s interests, such as:

  • Updates from government departments and all official sources
  • Extracts from Hansard
  • Material from the House of Commons Library
  • Consultations from the government and elsewhere
  • Tweets from other parliamentarians and political commentators
  • Policy asks and briefing material from charities and other organisations

Your account has already been prepared based on the known interests of all parliamentarians. By default you will receive a daily summary at 9am of all relevant news. The frequency and subject matter of alerts can be adjusted at any time.

You can access your account here

A short introduction to equality law – Commons Library Research Briefing

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This new briefing from the Commons Library provides an overview of equality law, summarising the main concepts and the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

You can find the full briefing here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9448/

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 consolidates most equality law into one Act. It prohibits conduct and creates duties in relation to ‘protected characteristics’. There are nine protected characteristics, listed in section 4 of the Act, ranging from age through to sexual orientation.

The Act prohibits direct and indirect discrimination, and harassment and victimisation. It also prohibits discrimination in relation to something arising from a person’s disability, and creates a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

The Act applies in various scenarios, including at work, in education and in relation to services and public functions.

Public authorities are subject to a Public Sector Equality Duty. The Duty means they must ‘have due regard’ to equality considerations when exercising public functions.

Except for in Northern Ireland, which has its own equality legislation, equality law is largely reserved to the the UK Parliament. The legal concepts in this briefing apply across England, Wales and Scotland.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission

The Equality and Human Rights Commission was established by the Equality Act 2006, with a duty to promote and encourage understanding of equality and human rights.

Individuals enforce their rights under the Equality Act 2010 before the courts. However, the Commission also has a range of powers at its disposal to enforce equality law at a more institutional level, and often strategically intervenes as a party to litigation if doing so could help develop equality law.