House of Lords written statement – made at on 25 November 2013.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
My Rt. Hon Friend the Minister of State for Universities and Science (David Willetts) has made the following statement
The European Competitiveness Council will take place in Brussels on 2—
The Internal Market and Industry substantive agenda items on
Four “Any Other Business” points will be discussed: information from the Presidency on the Collective Rights Management Directive; information from the Presidency on the European Patent and the Unified Patent Court; information from the Commission on the General Block Exemption Regulation; and information from the Greek delegation regarding the work programme for the upcoming Presidency.
The substantive space items for day two will be: general approach on the regulation establishing the Copernicus Programme and repealing Regulation (EU) No 911/2010; and progress report on establishing a Space Surveillance and Tracking support programme.
The substantive research items for day two will be: general approach on Commission proposals to establish public-public partnerships with Member States for the joint implementation of national research programmes; political agreement on amending the Council Decision establishing the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy; general approach on Commission proposals for Joint Technological Initiatives; and a policy debate on public sector innovation.
The Government objectives for the Council are to:
• Ensure that the general approach on the electric invoicing in public procurement is consistent with the Government’s negotiating position;• Support the objectives of the Trade Mark reforms to improve the well functioning system so that it delivers even better solutions for users;• Support the directive for rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of competition law and ensure that the mandate is consistent with UK priorities; • Endorse the conclusions on the industrial policy, single market policy and better regulation;• Ensure that the regulation establishing the Copernicus Programme and Repealing (EU) No. 911/2010 is agreed without further modification. • Secure political agreement on the ITER proposal which will enable Euratom to make the European contribution to costs of ITER construction over 2014-2020.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
