General News

Defra: The Carbon Trust and Defra have announced that they will be working with BSI British Standards to co-sponsor the development of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for the measurement of the embodied greenhouse gases (GHGs) in products and services.

The aim of the work is to develop an agreed method for measuring embodied GHG emissions which can be applied across a wide range of product & service categories and their supply chains to enable companies to measure the GHG related impacts of their products and reduce them.
Press release ~ Carbon Trust ~ BSI British Standards ~ Publicly Available Specification (PAS)

Defra: Funding of over £1.6m has been awarded by Defra to projects across the country to help farmers improve farm animal health and welfare. Following an application process, 27 different projects have received funding for a variety of farm health planning events & initiatives including farmer training, advice workshops and the development of farm health planning 'champions'.

Farm health planning means undertaking a range of measures to proactively manage disease risk on-farm. This involves good disease record keeping; identifying existing health problems on-farm & prioritising control measures for these; developing action plans for specific problems; and assessing whether measures have been effective & reviewing health plans where necessary.
Press release ~ Farm Health Planning ~ HSE – Farm Safe

DfT: Transport Minister Gillian Merron has given final approval to the proposed London Gateway Port at Shellhaven, Thurrock, in the Thames estuary, following agreement between the Port promoters, P&O (part of Dubai Ports World) and local planning & highway authorities to ensure that the impact of the full development on the local area highway network is adequately catered for.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has, in addition, granted planning permission for the adjacent London Gateway logistics & commercial centre and Business Park on the Shellhaven site.

London Gateway port, when fully developed, will comprise up to seven container vessel berths and a ro-ro facility along 2.7km of quayside on the site of the former Shell oil refinery at Shellhaven in the borough of Thurrock, Essex.  The planned adjoining commercial and logistics centre will utilise the rest of the landside, brownfield site of the decommissioned oil refinery.
Press release ~ London Gateway (Shell Haven) Inquiry ~ PLA - London Gateway PortPortswatch: London Gateway (Shell Haven) ~ DfT Minded view letter ~ Environmental impacts of the London Gateway development ~

LL-UK: Lifelong Learning UK have announced that a new alliance aimed at bringing employers and colleges closer together to deliver more economically valuable skills has been launched, bringing together employers, college principals & executives from the AoC, the Sector Skills Councils & the Sector Skills Development Agency, which supports & funds the SSCs. 

It is the first time the demand and supply sides of education & training have come together in this way to construct & deliver learning and qualifications relevant to the world of work.  The move has been sparked by the Leitch Review of Skills which called for the UK government to commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020.
Press release ~ Leitch Review of Skills ~ Lifelong Learning UK ~ Association of Colleges (AoC) ~ Sector Skills Development Agency ~ Sector Skills Councils

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