BIS: A new imperial glass size, measuring two thirds of a pint, is set to be introduced in pubs & clubs under proposals to change prescribed quantities of alcohol. The option of pouring a two-thirds measure follows calls from many members of the pub trade to allow them more flexibility in serving draught beer & cider, especially those with a higher alcohol content.
The proposal is contained in the Government’s response to the National Measurement Office’s Consultation on specified quantities – non pre-packages and food information, which also includes measures to:
* Deregulate specified quantities for unwrapped bread
* Deregulate specified quantities for unwrapped bread
* Deregulate wine servings of less than 75ml from the requirement to use specified quantities
* Replace the existing specified quantities for fortified wines with smaller sizes of 50ml & 70ml
* Bring the sale of Brandy into line with other spirits by requiring its sale in specified quantities of 25ml and 35ml
Press release ~ NMO: Plans for changes to the law on specified quantities for non-pre-packaged alcohol and unwrapped bread
HA: As part of its commitment to safe & reliable services for all road users, and to taking account of the needs of disabled customers, a new publication which sets out what the Agency is doing to improve our infrastructure for disabled road users is now available.
Following the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in 1995, the Agency has been reviewing & updating its design standards, introducing more inclusive design principles into its road improvement schemes. This includes features such as tactile paving, dropped kerbs and raised footways at bus stops to facilitate access to buses.
Press release ~ ‘Disability: Accessibility of the Strategic Road Network’ ~ HA: Disabled people ~ Assist UK ~ Motability
WAG: Recently, Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones visits Carmarthenshire to announce the accommodation businesses which have been successful in being included on the Visit Wales Gold Award List of accommodation for 2009/2010. The aim of the Gold Award is to recognise & reward outstanding quality, exceptional comfort & hospitality in the serviced accommodation sector in Wales.
Newswire – HCA: Around half of the 260,000 new homes projected to be built in England in 2009 & 2010 will be directly funded by the Homes and Communities Agency it was revealed recently. The Agency’s Corporate Plan, which covers the period April 2009 to March 2011, outlines how it will use £6.75bn of its budget to directly deliver 117,000 new homes, the vast majority of which will be for affordable rent or sale.
Through the Plan the HCA has pledged to focus on delivery using innovative approaches – such as the Public Land Initiative, new models of investment & private rental activity – and to maximise the scale & impact of its Programmes.
HO: Dancer Wacky Rymel, 16, will soon be holding free classes teaching robotic dance moves to young people on his Hackney estate. He won the chance after coming first in the Government-backed MTV competition 'Good 4 The Hood', which saw entries from more than 300 young people across the UK.
It is part of the Government's drive to prevent young people becoming involved in crime and empowering them to make a difference in their own communities. Wacky will now be provided with audio equipment, outfits and funding to hire a venue for the next six months with the help of MTV. He will then be given details of ways to get further funding and advice on applying so he can carry on his dance classes.
Press release ~ 'Good 4 The Hood' ~ Youth Crime Action Plan ~ Aiming High for Young People ~ Philip Lawrence Awards
MoD: The MoD is proud to announce that a Commanding Officer who served with the Welsh Guards was awarded a posthumous bravery medal last week. Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who was killed by an explosion in Afghanistan, has been awarded the Estonian Defence Forces Distinguished Service Decoration.
The award was presented by Chief of Defence of the Estonian Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Ants Laaneots in recognition of Lt Col Thorneloe’s bravery and the support that he provided to Estonian troops.
Defra: The planned coastal path at Weymouth will be introduced in time for spectators to enjoy the 2012 Olympic Games sailing events at Weymouth Bay. Natural England will be consulting with key stakeholders from 2010 on how the new path will be delivered. It is now planned for a section approximately 20km long to be opened by July 2012.
Press release ~ The South West Coast Path National Trail ~ South West Coast Path Association ~ Marine & Coastal Access Bill
MOD: 28 of the RAF’s Puma helicopters (which can each carry up to 16 infantrymen), will receive a £300m upgrade that will enhance performance & enable them to operate in the toughest & most demanding conditions.
The upgrade includes a £220m contract to equip the Puma fleet for at least 10 years’ further service, while new engines will give 35% more power & 25% better fuel-efficiency than the existing engines. Deliveries are due to start in 2011 and the first 14 aircraft are planned to be in service by the end of 2012.
TfL: Thousands of West Londoners will benefit from rail access to the capital's transport system, following Mayor Boris Johnson opening a new London Overground station at Imperial Wharf. The £7.8m ImperialWharf station provides residents in Hammersmith & Fulham, Chelsea and West Brompton with high frequency rail connections to the major transport interchanges of Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction.
The station, partially funded by Transport for London (TfL), features Oyster ticketing, a staffed ticket office, step-free access, CCTV and the latest security & information features. It is served by London Overground's new air-conditioned trains, which have increased capacity, walk-through carriages and driver-monitored CCTV for improved security. From 2011, it will be served by 4 London Overground trains per hour all day, every day. Southern trains also call at the station.
CCWater: Many households will now have received the second water bill of the year, and the Consumer Council for Water recommends customers take 10 minutes to look through what they are paying for and that charges for water & sewerage services are correct.
By carefully reading through your water bill, you may find ways to save. For example, if you have a soakaway which drains rainwater into the ground rather than into the public sewerage system, you can apply to your local sewerage company to have surface water drainage charges removed. This could typically save around £30 each year. If you have a septic tank you should not be paying sewerage charges.
It may also be worth taking time to visit the CCWater’s website to see if you could save money by having a water meter fitted. The water meter bill calculator on the website can help you work out how much you might pay on a metered charge.
OGC: The Office of Government Commerce’s (OGC) Contract Database now carries 400 cost effective deals, an increase of 60% over the year. It allows purchasers to make significant cost & time savings, as the contracts included are aggregated and have, where appropriate, already been competitively tendered in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), an increase of 60% over the year.
It allows purchasers to make significant cost & time savings, as the contracts included are aggregated and have, where appropriate, already been competitively tendered in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).
The 400th deal on the Database is for technology that assists contracting authorities to achieve voltage optimisation improvements
Press release ~ Contracts Database ~ Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)
Press release ~ Contracts Database ~ Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)
FSA: Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar has officially launched a project, in partnership with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), to encourage school children to eat healthily and live a more balanced lifestyle. The project, called Something to Chew On, uses Manchester United players to teach primary school children about being healthy.
The Manchester United Foundation has received the funding to develop the project over 3 years and will work in partnership with the FSA, local & regional healthy schools teams, and local authorities. Each school in which the Foundation delivers Something to Chew On will receive a full teacher resource pack, so that the project will be sustainable for future pupils. It will be rolled out across Manchester, Trafford & Salford with a view to going national next year.
TfL: London Underground (LU) has welcomed the RMT leadership’s decision to abandon the completely unnecessary threat of a 1-day strike on the Victoria line over changed working patterns for drivers. LU met with the union recently to clarify the working arrangements, which the RMT had claimed would lead to an increase in workload. Following that meeting, the union has accepted that no drivers will work longer hours and has signed up to the same working patterns accepted with ASLEF last week.
ScotGov: Scotland's premier development programme for teachers has been given a boost following the launch of the revised Standard for Chartered Teacher. After a consultation period, the Standard has been refocused to ensure it highlights key leadership skills and better natural progression from the Standard for Full Registration that all teachers work towards during the first year of teaching.
The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers has launched a new Code of Practice on the Role of the Chartered Teacher. This Code compliments the revised Standard for Chartered Teacher by giving illustrative examples of the professional actions outlined in the Standard.
Press release ~ ScotGov: Leadership and professional development ~ General Teaching Council for Scotland - The Standard for Chartered Teacher
SE: Sport England and Facebook have announced a new partnership that will ‘transform the way sports bodies engage with participants as they deliver a lasting Olympic legacy of one million people playing more sport’. The new partnership, which is intended to help national governing bodies (NGBs) to reach out beyond their traditional club structures, was launched at a mass table tennis event in London, organised through Facebook.
Central to this new way of working is the new Facebook ‘Sport Hub’ which enables NGBs to engage with over 20m people who use Facebook in the UK. The ‘Hub’ looks & feels like a Facebook fan page, but offers a range of new applications, enabling NGBs to organise & market grassroots sports events. Facebook users are able to challenge other people in their area to compete against them – whether in a squash match or a running race – and then share the results with their Facebook friends & networks.
Students & young people who use Facebook are the first to benefit though a pilot scheme run by British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) and 6 sports: Table tennis - Squash & racketball - Badminton - Judo - Athletics - Volleyball.
FSA: James T Blakeman and Co. Ltd. has withdrawn some of its sausages because they contain wheat (gluten) & sulphites that are not mentioned on the label. The product is a possible health risk for anyone who is allergic or sensitive to wheat, gluten or sulphites. The Agency has issued an Allergy Alert and if you are allergic or intolerant to wheat, gluten or sulphites you are advised not to eat this product.
You can get details of all the latest allergy alerts as soon as they're issued by getting the details sent as an SMS text message direct to your mobile phone. To sign up to this free service, simply send the text message 'START ALLERGY' to the number 62372.
Press release ~ Blakemans withdraws Thin Natural Pork Sausages & Thin Pork Collagen Sausages due to undeclared wheat gluten & sulphites ~ Allergy UK ~ Anaphylaxis Campaign ~ James T Blakeman & Co Ltd ~ FSA: Food allergy and intolerance
FSA: Sainsbury’s has recalled its Sainsbury's Chicken & Creamy Basil Pasta, because some packs have been wrongly packaged and may contain King Prawn Linguini. This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to shellfish. The Agency has issued an Allergy Alert. If you are allergic to shellfish you are advised not to eat this product.
Press release ~ Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd recalls its Chicken and Creamy Basil Pasta due to incorrect allergen labelling information ~ Allergy UK ~ Anaphylaxis Campaign ~ Sainsbury's ~ FSA: Food allergy and intolerance
CO: Last year a pledge was made to scrap the mandatory retirement age for all Civil Service staff below the most senior levels. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, has now promised to remove it for everyone in the Senior Civil Service as well. From April 2010, all staff who wish to carry on working after 65 will be able to do so.
DCMS: 12 talented amateur gardeners from across the UK will be hoping to ‘win gold’ as the public vote for the ‘RHS Olympic ParkGreat
For the next month the public will be able to vote for the design that they would like to see on the park during & after the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. The winning garden will showcase one of the UK’s favourite pastimes and commemorate the Much Wenlock Olympian Society in Shropshire, whose games inspired Pierre de Coubertin to found the modern Olympic movement.
Press release ~ The RHS Olympic Park Great British Garden Competition ~ Much Wenlock Olympian Society
ACE: Arts Council England’s Sustain programme, which is helping arts organisations continue to maintain artistic excellence during the recession, will close to new applications on 9 October 2009. Sustain, which is investing an extra £40m in the arts over the next 2 years, has already made 52 awards worth more than £17m and is likely to have awarded all the funds by November 2009.
PCS: The PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union)has criticised proposals by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to remove up to 134 UK civil servants serving as management officers in UK embassies around the globe and replace them with staff recruited locally. Management officers are responsible for the oversight of embassy staffing, finances, property and security. Localisation of staff is planned in approximately 50 countries, including Iran, Iraq, Russia, China and Nigeria.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "If the FCO want to make savings they should be looking at the £60m they spent on consultants last year”.
HO: Following a pricing review, the government agency has agreed to reduce the fee charged for a Standard Disclosure from £31 to £26. The change will come into effect from 1 October 2009. It has been made possible due to an expected increase in the volume of disclosure applications being processed as the new Vetting and Barring Scheme comes into place from 12 October 2009. Checks for volunteers will continue to be free of charge.
LLUK: Did you know that thanks to the work of more than 260,000 professionals working in further education in England almost 3m people have improved their literacy & numeracy skills? Or that, because of these same people, apprenticeships are available in 180 different careers across 80 sectors?
A major campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the invaluable role the FE sector plays. Lifelong Learning UK has developed the FE Works campaign on behalf of the FE Reputation Strategy Group.
DfT: Commuters travelling into London from Harrow, Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire are to benefit from an extra 1,300 seats on 5 new peak time services. The Government has agreed funding with London Midland to operate the extra services from December 2009 boosting services for passengers commuting to the capital from Watford Junction, Bushey, Milton Keynes, Bletchley and Harrow & Wealdstone.
London Midland has also agreed to renew automatic ticket barriers and increase their number on Platforms 8-11 at London Euston by December 2010, reducing queues that build when trains arrive at these platforms during the morning peak.
STFC: The Herschel Space Observatory has produced spectacular new images of interstellar material in our galaxy, using the UK-led SPIRE camera in tandem with Herschel’s other camera, PACS. The new pictures, made during the first trial run with the two instruments operating at the same time, have unveiled a small part of our Milky Way Galaxy as we have never seen it before and bode well for one of Herschel’s main scientific projects, which is to survey large areas of the galaxy.
Large areas of the Milky Way will be systematically surveyed by Herschel, helping astronomers to unravel the mysteries of star formation in a way that has never been previously possible. With the 2 instruments operating at the same time, the observations can be made with great efficiency.
Press release ~ 3-colour composite image made from the SPIRE observations ~ 2-colour composite image made from the PACS observations ~ 5-colour composite image of a 2 x 2 degree area in the plane of our Galaxy, combining the PACS and SPIRE observations (Credit: ESA) ~ ESA’s Herschel satellite ~ ESA’s Planck ~ STFC
ScotGov: Patients across Scotland could soon see a consultant over webcam and have their symptoms assessed electronically. People in rural Aberdeenshire and Orkney, for example, can use video links at their local GP surgery or community hospital to see doctors at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. As well as chatting in real time, a range of medical devices, including blood pressure cuffs & glucose monitors, can be used in the consultation and a diagnosis given.
Now, a nationwide hi-tech drive will be enabled by the integration of the Scottish Centre for Telehealth (SCT) into NHS 24, the health board which runs Scotland's national health helpline & website. The SCT will transfer to NHS 24 on 1 April 2010.
Press release ~ Health and Community Care ~ Scottish Centre for Telehealth (SCT) ~ Scottish Telestroke Network ~ Paediatric Telemedicine Network ~ NHS 24
MLA: A scheme designed to build learning partnerships between museums, archives and bodies that run undergraduate & postgraduate teacher training courses is open for grant applications. The Initial Teacher Education (ITE) grants programme is a professional development programme, supported by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) that aims to embed the use of museums & archives into the practice of teachers, at the beginning of their professional careers.
Based around an audience of children & young people, the scheme is designed so that museum & archive staff can benefit from the ideas & expertise the teachers bring to the projects. Expression of Interest forms should be submitted to the MLA by 16 October 2009 and final applications must be submitted by 16 November 2009.
Newswire – CABE: CABE Space is offering up to 8 people the opportunity to learn how well-designed spaces can benefit communities through the 2010 CABE Space design skills scholarships. The scholarships have been set up to boost design awareness in professions that create & manage urban public space. Applications for 2010 scholarships close on 13 November 2009. To apply visit www.cabe.org.uk/scholarships.
