General News
PCS: The Public and Commercial Services union has criticised the Ministry of Defence's decision to privatise its IT systems, in light of a National Audit Office report published recently. The report highlights serious problems that have blighted the MoD’s Defence Information Infrastructure programme (DII), the costs of which have rocketed from £5bn to £7.1bn.
In 2005, a 10-year contract with three phases was given to the ATLAS consortium led by EDS, with more than 1,000 civil servants transferring to the private sector. But the first phase is now 18 months late – including new software which doesn’t work – and due to the extra costs, the MoD has had to postpone the third phase because of concerns about affordability. It has also recently been announced that ATLAS plans to make hundreds of staff, who were transferred to work on DII, redundant.
Press release ~ Public and Commercial Services ~ Ministry of Defence: The Defence Information Infrastructure ~ Executive Summary
WAG: People in Wales will now be able to join the Organ Donor Register when they visit their local pharmacy as part of the Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One campaign. To mark Transplant Week, registration leaflets & dispensers were delivered to all 719 pharmacies in Wales including high street retailers & independent stores.
As part of the campaign’s latest drive to make it even easier for those who want to help to join the Register, leaflets, dispensers and posters have also been delivered to more than 600 GP surgeries, opticians and dentistry practices across Wales.
Press release ~ Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One campaign ~
ESRC: The University of Birmingham will lead a new Third Sector Research Centre dedicated to analysing the impact of the sector's activities. Working in partnership with the University of Southampton and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and The Barrow Cadbury Trust. This world class centre will receive a total joint investment of £10.25m over the next 5 years.
Supporting the work of the Third Sector Research Centre will be two capacity building clusters (CBCs), led by the University of Middlesex and the University of Lincoln, with the CBC in Middlesex focusing specifically on social enterprises. The CBCs will provide both the next generation of high quality researchers and be a resource for the sector.
The clusters will provide activities such as studentships, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Third Sector placements and an innovative voucher scheme designed to allow Third Sector organisations to “buy in” academic expertise.
Press release ~ Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) ~ Office of the Third Sector (OTS) ~ The Barrow Cadbury Trust ~ Third Sector research ~ Cabinet Office Research and Statistics
HEFCE: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has provided Anglia Ruskin University and Harper Adams University College with a total of more than £11m that will enable them to provide new services to businesses, as part of HEFCE's employer engagement strategy, which it has developed in response to government priorities for achieving a more highly skilled workforce following the Leitch Review of Skills.
Anglia Ruskin University receives £5.6m over 3 years to assist in the creation of the Higher Skills @ Work programme, a dedicated, specialist unit that will address the need for degree-level skills training for people in workplaces local to the university and nationwide.
Harper Adams University College receives £4m to set up the Rural Employer Engagement Development Network (REEDNET), a scheme to provide CPD courses for employers in the land-based sector in collaboration with the Royal Agricultural College and the Landex group of specialist land-based colleges.
Press release ~ HEFCE's employer engagement strategy ~
HO: Tough new visa regimes could be introduced for 11 countries following the first global review of who needs a visa to come to the UK, the Home Office has announced. The Visa Waiver Test reviewed all non European countries against a set of strict criteria to determine the level of risk they pose to the UK in terms of illegal immigration, crime and security, to help decide where the new regime may be required.
The results of the test showed a strong case for introducing visa regimes for 11 countries. These are: Bolivia; Botswana; Brazil; Lesotho; Malaysia; Mauritius; Namibia; South Africa; Swaziland; Trinidad & Tobago; and Venezuela. These countries have a combined population of over 300 million - nearly 5% of the world's population. This means that Britain's visa net could be widened to cover around 80% of the world's population.
The Government will introduce visa requirements for short-term visitors from these countries unless they significantly reduce the risk they pose to the UK by the end of the year. This means visitors from these countries would need to apply for a six-month visa, and provide their fingerprints, before travelling to the UK.
Aquarius: Aquarius and Drug Concern announce merger. Drug Concern is a local agency which operates in Birmingham & Sandwell and has worked since 1994 with people who are affected by or worried about someone else’s drug use. A full section on Drug Concern and the services they offer is currently under construction and will soon appear on the Aquarius website.
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