Westminster & the UK Government
The office and functions of the Prime Minister – “The office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has evolved over three centuries and is rarely found in statute. “It is impossible to point to a single point in history when the post was created,” observed the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in 2014, “or even a decision to create it.”
Professor Kevin Theakston and Dr Timothy Heppell have observed that there is “no constitutional definition of the British Prime Minister’s role or any authoritative specification of the office’s functions, powers and responsibilities”. The Cabinet Manual simply notes that the Prime Minister is the head of the UK Government but possesses “few statutory functions”.”
Ticket resales – “This briefing paper outlines the current regulation of the secondary ticketing market. It also considers recent initiatives to tighten regulation of this sector.
The online resale of tickets (known as the ‘secondary ticketing market’) applies to recreational, sporting or cultural events in the UK. Secondary ticketing, especially pricing, is a subject that attracts much public interest. Recently, there have been various investigations of this sector resulting in some enforcement activity.”
What is NATO? – “The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed in 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington. The treaty created an alliance of ten European and two North American states – the UK, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. It was formed to ensure their collective security and preservation and intended to counter the perceived threat from the then Soviet Union.”
Scottish Parliament & Government
Public participation in the Scottish Parliament: Understanding the core principles of deliberative democracy and a creating a framework for measuring impact – “This report is the result of a SPICe academic fellowship in which Dr Ruth Lightbody, Glasgow Caledonian University, responds to one of the recommendations from the 2022 Citizens’ Panel on Public Participation in the Scottish Parliament, that the organisation ?Build a strong evidence base for deliberative democracy to determine its effectiveness and develop a framework for measuring impact?. The work sets out core principles and a practice framework with several recommendations for the Parliament, and has been carried out in partnership with both the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) and the Scottish Parliament’s Participation and Communities Team (PACT).”
Housing affordability study: Findings report – “A qualitative research study exploring experiences and understanding of housing affordability among social housing and private rental tenants in Scotland”
Self-harm strategy development: qualitative evidence – “Understanding the prevalence of self-harm, as well as demographic patterns and trends is important. However, equally important is understanding the range of meanings and functions that self-harm plays in the lives of people who self-harm, and how it is explained and understood by them.
Using a meta-ethnographic approach to better understand diverse lived experiences of self-harm, this review addresses gaps in current understanding of self-harm, offers a nuanced exploration of the experiences of those who self-harm, and aims to situate lived experience of self-harm within intersecting socio-economic and cultural contexts.”
European Union
Public awareness and trust in European statistics – “In this Eurobarometer survey, respondents were asked questions about their attitudes towards statistics and data, in general, and were asked questions to test their knowledge of Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union). About seven in ten respondents (69%) have heard of Eurostat and, out of those, about two thirds trust statistics and data provided by Eurostat and agreed with the statement that Eurostat provides impartial statistics and data that are objective and independent.”
Expansion of BRICS: A quest for greater global influence? – “On 1 January 2024, BRICS – the intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – admitted four new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The group’s decision to open the door to new members was taken at its Johannesburg summit in August 2023, sparking a debate about its growing international influence. According to estimates, BRICS+, as the organisation has been informally called since its expansion, now accounts for 37.3 % of world GDP, or more than half as much as the EU (14.5 %). However, besides an increase in economic power the new members could bring potential conflicts (Saudi Arabia/Iran or Egypt/Ethiopia) into the group, making the reaching of consensus on common political positions more difficult.”
President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address – “On 7 March 2024, the President of the United States (US), Joe Biden, used his State of the Union (SOTU) address to a joint session of the 118th US Congress (2023 2024) to start his re election campaign in earnest. Biden has been trailing Donald Trump, his only remaining Republican challenger in the presidential race, in polls in six swing states that Biden won in 2020 and where several thousand voters are expected to decide the outcome of the US elections on 5 November 2024. The SOTU was an opportunity for the President to tout his achievements and set out his vision for a second term in stark contrast to that of Trump, whom he referred to as his ‘predecessor’ rather than by name. With his age seen by many as a liability, Biden’s performance seemed more relevant than the substance of his speech, and was widely perceived as a forceful demonstration of his readiness to fight.”
Official Statistics
Experimental estimates of green jobs, UK: 2024 – “Experimental estimates of green jobs using the industry, occupation and firm approaches. These are official statistics in development.”
Consumer price inflation basket of goods and services: 2024 – “The “shopping baskets” of items used in compiling the various measures of consumer price inflation are reviewed annually. The items in the baskets change so that the measures are up to date and representative of consumer spending patterns.”
The healthcare workforce across the UK: 2024 – “A summary of the cross-UK comparability of official direct NHS employment statistics and other relevant data sources, including non-official data, on specific healthcare professionals across the UK.”
If you’d like to know more about official publications just get in touch with us at the Maps, Official Publications and Statistics Unit Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (closed 12pm to 1pm). We can be contacted by email at library-mapsandop@glasgow.ac.uk
Categories: Library
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