European Movement uk

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European Movement UK

Formation 1949

Type Pressure group

Headquarters London

Location United Kingdom

Official languages English

President The Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP

Website www.euromove.org.uk

The European Movement UK is an independent pressure group in the United Kingdom which campaigns in support of greater European integration and for reform of the European Union. It is part of the European Movement International.

The current President of the European Movement UK is the Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP and the current chairman is Peter Luff. The organisation promotes a 'more democratic, effective and accountable' EU.

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History

The origins of the European Movement lie in the aftermath of the Second World War. More than eight hundred delegates from across Europe gathered in The Hague in May 1948, under the chairmanship of Sir Winston Churchill, to create a new international movement to promote European unity and prevent further wars between its members. The British section of the European Movement was founded a year later.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the European Movement put forward the arguments for the United Kingdom joining the European Economic Community, and campaigned in support of membership in the 1970s. During the UK's European Communities membership referendum in 1975, the organisation was involved within the 'Yes' campaign.

Other campaigns since then have included pressing for direct elections to the European Parliament in the 1970s and promoting the benefits of the single market in the run-up to 1992.

Social Security in Britain.

Department for Work and Pensions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Department for Work and Pensions

Logo of the Department for Work and Pensions

Department overview

Formed 2001

Preceding Department Department for Education and Skills

Department of Social Security

Jurisdiction United Kingdom

Headquarters London

Annual budget £174.3 billion (social security benefits), £7.6 billion (current) & £200 million (capital) in 2011-12 [1] [2]

Minister responsible Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Department executive Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary

Child agencies Jobcentre Plus

The Pension, Disability and Carers Service

Website

www.dwp.gov.uk

United Kingdom

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, a Cabinet position. The total annual budget of the DWP in 2011-12 is £151.6 billion, representing approximately 28% of total UK Government spending. The DWP spends a far greater share of national wealth than any other department in Britain, by a wide margin.Contents [hide]

1 Role

2 Ministers

3 Structure

4 Research

5 Devolution and parity

6 Cost

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

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Role

The department is responsible for welfare and pension policy.[3] Its key aims are "to help its customers become financially independent and to help reduce child poverty".[4]

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Ministers

The DWP Ministers are as follows:[5]Minister Rank Portfolio

The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP Secretary of State Overall responsibility

The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP Minister of State Employment

Steve Webb MP Minister of State Pensions

Maria Miller MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Disabled people

Lord Freud Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Welfare reform

Key Conservative

Liberal Democrat

The Permanent Secretary is Robert Devereux.

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Structure

The Department for Work and Pensions has two operational organisations:[6]

Jobcentre Plus helps people prepare for work and find appropriate employment and delivers working age benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance;

The Pension, Disability and Carers Service containing two sub-organisations, The Pension Service and Disability and Carers Service. The former pays the Basic State Pension and Pension Credit and provides information on related issues; the latter provides financial support to disabled people and their carers.

The department's public bodies include:[7]

the Health and Safety Executive

the Pensions Ombudsman

the Pensions Regulator

DWP buildings at Quarry Hill, Leeds (known locally as 'The Pink Palace' and 'The Kremlin')

DWP has corporate buildings in London, Leeds, Blackpool, Newcastle upon Tyne, Warrington and Sheffield. The two agencies, Jobcentre Plus and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service, operate through a network of around 1,000 Jobcentres, contact centres and benefit processing centres across the UK.

After the departure of John Suffolk as Government Chief Information Officer (CIO) in November 2010,[8] the current CIO of the Department for Work and Pensions, Joe Harley, was picked to replace him.[9]

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Research

The DWP is a major commissioner of external social science research, with the objective of providing the evidence base needed to inform departmental strategy, policy-making and delivery.[10] The DWP has developed and uses two micro-economic models, the Policy Simulation Model and Pensim2, to examine the effects of changes in policy. Datasets held include the LLMDB and the Family Resources Survey.

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Devolution and parity

Employment, health and safety, and social security policy are reserved matters in Scotland.[11]

Northern Ireland has parity with Great Britain in three areas:

social security

child support

pensions

Policy in these areas is technically devolved but, in practice, follows policy set by Parliament to provide consistency across the United Kingdom.[12] Employment and health and safety policy are fully devolved.

The DWP's main counterparts in Northern Ireland are:

the Department for Social Development (administers welfare policy)

the Department for Employment and Learning

the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (oversees the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland)

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Cost

The total annual budget of the DWP in 2011-12 is £151.6 billion, representing approximately 28% of total UK Government spending.[13] Of this sum, £12.5 billion is spent on Incapacity Benefit.[14] There are 2.6m individuals in the UK claiming Incapacity Benefit, approximately 8.5% of the total adult workforce in the United Kingdom of around 30.1m individuals.