This briefing paper explains the status of directly-elected mayors in English and Welsh local government, and the routes to establishing them, including the use of local referendums. It also includes an up-to-date list of elected mayors and statistics on previous referendums.
Find the briefing here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05000/
The Commons Library has published a new research briefing looking at online scams. In addition to looking at the scale of the problem, it considers the different types of scams, who are the targeted victims, and what is being done to combat them.
You can find it here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9214/
The Commons Library has published a new research briefing looking at the results of the local elections that took place in England on 6 May 2021.
You can find it here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9228/
This Commons Library briefing paper provides general information about how the law applies to cohabitants, the number of cohabiting couples, and about the Law Commission’s proposals for reform.
Although cohabitating couples do have legal protection in several areas, such as under the law relating to domestic abuse, cohabitation gives no general legal status to a couple, unlike marriage and civil partnership from which many legal rights and responsibilities flow. Many people are unaware this is the case.
This briefing provides information about the number of cohabiting couples, how the law applies to them, the Law Commission’s proposals for reform, and other calls for reform.
You can find the briefing here: “Common law marriage” and cohabitation
The Commons Library has produced a Universal Credit reading list covering the new benefit from its development more than a decade ago through to April 2020.
What is the Privy Council?
The Privy Council is an advisory body to the Monarch; its members are known as Privy Counsellors. It is one of the oldest parts of the UK’s constitutional arrangements, with its origins dating back to at least the thirteenth century.
Find out more in this Commons Library Research Briefing which looks at the role and powers of the Privy Council: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7460/
The House of Commons Library has produced a downloadable file listing all GP practices located in each UK constituency, based on data from NHS Digital, ISD Scotland and NHS Wales.
You can find it here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7293/
This House of Commons Library Research Briefing considers the debate about who is responsible for paying for fire safety works on blocks of flats in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. It covers progress in implementing the Government decision to fund remediation work for affected blocks with ACM cladding in the social and private sectors. In March 2020, a £1 billion Building Safety Fund was announced to fund the removal of unsafe non-ACM cladding on high-rise blocks in the social and private sectors. Ongoing issues include the adequacy of the funding available and how historic defects, such as a lack of fire stopping measures, will be paid for.
This House of Commons Library Briefing provides a short overview of early years funding in England since the introduction of the new national early years funding formula from 2017-18.
Cash remains a key payment method for more vulnerable people, but its wider use is in decline, accelerated by the pandemic. How will Government and industry protect access to cash?
Read the House of Commons Library Briefing here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9054/