General News
MoD: HMS Victory, the world's oldest commissioned warship, is to be returned to her former glory thanks to a 10-year restoration programme.
DCMS: Tourism & Heritage Minister John Penrose has laid a statutory instrument and explanatory memorandum in the Houses of Parliament which (subject to Parliamentary approval) will lead to the formal dissolution of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) in 2012.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency is reminding people to cook chicken livers thoroughly if making pate, to reduce the risk of food poisoning. New figures reveal that 90% of campylobacter outbreaks, the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, were linked to undercooked chicken liver pate.
MO: This November and the autumn have been the second warmest on record in the UK, provisional Met Office figures show.
DfT: Local authorities are being given greater control over how their roads appear on maps & satnav systems to help them to better direct traffic, Local Transport Minister Norman Baker has announced.
DCMS: More than 3,000 key 2012 staff and a host of senior Government ministers will took part in a major Olympic test exercise recently.
STFC: A new camera that willrevolutionise the field of submillimetre astronomy has been unveiled, which is far more sensitive & powerful than previous instruments and can map areas of the sky hundreds of times faster.
HMRC: Private tutors & coaches have less than a month left to tell HMRC about any tax that they owe.
DfE: From 2012, prospective head teachers will be able to take a new enhanced qualification to prepare them for the rigours of the job.
DWP: Pensioners will benefit from the biggest cash increase to their basic State Pension from April 2012 as it goes up by September’s Consumer Prices Index of 5.2% - an increase of £5.30 a week.
ESRC: Innovative software to help teachers stay at the forefront of the digital revolution in education has been developed by researchers.
FSA: Maysum has withdrawn certain batches of its chicken and vegetable samosas due to incorrect allergy labelling. The samosas contain sulphites, which aren't mentioned on the label. The Food Standards Agency has issued an Allergy Alert.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has been informed that Marks & Spencer Garlic and Coriander Butterfly Prawns have been sold without the presence of milk being declared in the allergy information panel..
ACE: Arts Council England’s new Strategic touring programme (to encourage collaboration between cultural organisationsso more people across England experience & are inspired by the arts) is now open for applications.
HMRC: Fashion houses are the latest targets of an HMRC campaign aimed at ending the exploitation of interns. .
DH: Over half a million extra staff will not need to pay any extra into their pensions next year, the Department of Health has announced following a recent consultation.
OFT: The OFT has provisionally decided to refer the market for privately funded healthcare services in the UK to the Competition Commission for further investigation, due to the result of a recent study.
MoD: The net additional cost of Operation ELLAMY - costs incurred by the Department on operations which would not otherwise be incurred - is estimated at £212m, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has announced.
CO: Over 500 businesses have applied for the Cabinet Office’s SME-friendly ‘G-Cloud framework’ and the deadline has been extended by almost 3 weeks to 19 December 2011 as a result. as a result.
ScotGov: To help improve future forecasts, scientists from the UK academic community and the Met Office are using specialist instruments to measure the winds, temperature & humidity, and cloud particles.
UNITE: The privatisation of maternity care in the Wirral is the ‘thin end of the wedge’ that could threaten the quality of care & the employment conditions of midwifery jobs, Unite, the union, has claimed., Unite, the union, has claimed.
ESRC: New research suggests that far from disengaging young people from real life, virtual worlds can provide unique environments that can help them learn & negotiate new situations.
TfL: Transport for London (TfL) has published its Festive Travel Guide to help Londoners & visitors travelling around the Capital between Christmas & New Year.
