General News
FSA: Ella’s Kitchen is recalling pouches of its Stage 3 Seriously Comforting Cottage Pie with a Pinch of Cinnamon, with a 'best before' date of February 2013. There could be hardened cinnamon inside the product pouch, which could present a choking risk. The affected batch was supplied to Tesco stores only. The Food Standards Agency has issued a Product Recall Information Notice.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency is advising companies & individuals who have bought chemicals used for food production from a company called Mistral Laboratory Chemicals not to use them. The company, based in Antrim, Northern Ireland, sells products from its website and also through other sites such as eBay.
Press release & links
Press release & links
FSA: Musgrave Retail Partners GB is withdrawing all batches of its own-brand Supervalu Italian Bolognese Ravioli, which was only supplied to Budgens stores in the UK, because of inconsistent allergen labelling. The product contains celery, which isn’t listed in the allergy information box. If you’re allergic or intolerant to celery, don’t eat this product. The Food Standards Agency has issued an Allergy Alert.
FSA: From April 2012, Food Standards Agency staff will be taking over the role of dairy hygiene inspectors on farms in England & Wales, continuing the work of the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), which had previously undertaken this task on the FSA's behalf.
TKF: David Buck, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund has commented on the publication of the government’s alcohol strategy.
CQC: Following 2 consecutive consultations on the fees that it charges to health & social care providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced changes to its fee structure and the amounts that certain providers have to pay under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. These have been approved by the Secretary of State for Health.
NA: It is now easier than ever to search naturalisation records at The National Archives, following the successful completion of a cataloguing project.
MO: With the pollen season fast approaching, pollen forecasts are now available on the Met Office website. Throughout the season, Met Office forecasters will be working closely with the University of Worcester and Pollen UK to provide the most accurate pollen counts and pollen count forecasts for the UK.
IfL: The Institute for Learning will disburse fee grants to support more than 2,500 part-time teacher trainees entering their second year of initial teacher training (ITT) in September 2012. The fee grants are separate from the bursaries announced in February 2012, details of which were also included in the ministerial statement.
TUC: More than 1m low paid women could lose out on employer pension contributions after the government raised the new earnings threshold for pension auto-enrolment last week, says the TUC.
BIS: A new Foresight project investigating how identity may be affected by changes over the next 10 years has been announced by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser. The Future of Identity will investigate how changes in technology, geo-politics, demographics & economics over the next 10 years might affect notions of identity & subsequently impact on behaviour.
The project findings will have implications for a diverse range of policy areas including social inclusion, citizenship, political engagement, health &wellbeing and crime & security.
HMRC: HM Revenue & Customs has launched its new Tax Academy offering its trainee tax experts 2 professional degrees accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University.
As part of its drive towards increasing tax professionalism, HMRC staff will be able to work towards a certificate, foundation degree or an honours degree in Professional Studies in Taxation. The Association of Accounting Technicians will accredit the certificate course.
As part of its drive towards increasing tax professionalism, HMRC staff will be able to work towards a certificate, foundation degree or an honours degree in Professional Studies in Taxation. The Association of Accounting Technicians will accredit the certificate course.
UKOC: UK online centres are delighted to announce that, following their latest funding round, they can now announce a new list of 31 Community Hubs. The CH programme builds on the successes of the Community Capacity Building project and will see successful projects work in their local communities using technology to bring about social change.
Defra: If you could make small changes to your lifestyle to protect and ‘Love Your River’, would you do it? That is the question that is being asked of everyone following the launch of the ‘Love Your River’ campaign to raise public awareness about the link between the health of our rivers & water use.
HEFCE: The Higher Education Funding Council for England will allocate £5.3bn to 129 universities & higher education colleges and 186 directly funded further education colleges for the academic year 2012-13.
DWP: From 30 April 2012 people who are able to get back into the workplace will get Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance for a maximum of 12 months. This change will affect people in what is known as the Work Related Activity Group.
Claimants who have no access to money or support will be able to claim Income Related ESA. People who already been assessed for IR ESA will automatically have their benefit adjusted and for those who have not been assessed for IR ESA will be asked if they want to make a claim.
