General News
DH: Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced that the Department had agreed with NHS Employers, UNISON (but not Unite) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) a proposed three-year pay package for all NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) staff - including nurses, midwives and Allied Health Professionals - which will now be subject to consultation by members of all the trade unions covered by AfC. The Government is also accepting in full the recommendations of the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review body for 2008/09.
The proposed package includes:
* acceptance in full of the 2008/09 NHS Pay Review Body's recommendations for a 2.75% pay rise for nurses and other healthcare professionals from 1 April 2008
* 2.4% headline award in 2009/10
* 2.25% headline award in 2010/11
LDA: Participants of a training programme helped steward the Torch Relay recently as one of their colleagues from Newham carried the Olympic flame over Tower Bridge. 44 Personal Best students offered information and helped direct crowds.
Personal Best is run by the London Development Agency and the Learning & Skills Council to help some of the city's most disadvantaged to improve their job prospects. Based on the programme's success at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, it uses the excitement of the 2012 Games to promote training for an accredited volunteering qualification, while also offering them support into further volunteering, training or work.
Personal Best graduates will be guaranteed an interview to become a volunteer at Games time. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games has a target of taking 10% of Games-time volunteers from the national programme. Recruitment for the Games time volunteer programme will begin in 2010.
Press release ~ London Employment and Skills Taskforce for 2012 (LEST) - Personal Best Programme ~ London Development Agency ~ Learning and Skills Council
STFC: The Research Councils UK (RCUK) are inviting outline proposals from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) either individually or in consortia with others and business for Science Bridges Awards. Closing date for outline proposals is 4:00pm on Thursday 15 May 2008.
The Sainsbury Review of the UK Government’s S&I Policies (The Race to the Top) concluded that the first US Science Bridges had ‘helped to develop entrepreneurial skills amongst researchers and supported the commercial development of technology and expertise in spin-outs’.
Ofwat: The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) has published its proposals to fine Severn Trent Water 3% of its turnover - a total of £35.8m - for deliberately providing false information to the regulator and providing a poor service to its customers.
MoD: The MoD has extended additional legal protection to ten shipwrecks, which are the final resting places of more than 750 people to ensure the sites are safe from disturbance from divers. Designation as a protected place allows the site to be visited by divers on a 'look but don't touch or enter' basis.
Any physical disturbance of the wreck would require prior licensing by the MoD. The ten new designations will come into effect on 1 May 2008, adding to the existing 48 shipwrecks which are already designated.
Press release ~ Contemporary British Government Policy on Wrecks ~ Friends of War Memorials - Maritime
DH: Businesses in six areas across the country are to benefit from NHS advice & support to improve the physical, mental and social well-being of their staff. The six new demonstration projects located in Merseyside, East London, West Yorkshire, the North East, Devon and Worcestershire will share £11m of capital funding to provide better quality occupational health services (OH) for local businesses.
The announcement follows Dame Carol Black's report 'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow', which showed that work can be good for health, reversing the harmful effects of long-term unemployment and prolonged sickness absence. The funding will be managed by NHS Plus, a network of NHS OH departments across England, supplying quality services to non-NHS employers.
Press release ~ NHS Plus ~ Dame Carol Black's report 'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow' ~ The Association of Group Occupational Health Services ~ HSE – Managing sickness & absence from work ~ HSE – case study ~ Managing sickness absence in the public sector ~
QCA: Ofqual has ‘opened its doors for business’. The new regulator will act as the independent guardian of standards & quality across the exams system. It is designed to ensure that children, young people and adult learners get the results their work deserves and that their qualifications count now and in the future.
Ofqual is an operationally independent part of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). On 2 April 2008 Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, announced that the government intended to legislate to make Ofqual a separate statutory authority reporting directly to Parliament.
DH: Twelve new Biomedical Research Units for the new NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) will focus on ‘translational research’ that will take advances in basic medical research out of the laboratory and into the hospital clinic – hopefully meaning that patients will benefit more quickly from new scientific breakthroughs.
The Units will work in major areas of ill-health and clinical need that have traditionally received relatively limited amounts of research funding: heart disease; deafness & hearing problems; gastrointestinal & liver disease; musculoskeletal disease (including arthritis); nutrition (including obesity) and respiratory disease (including asthma).
DWP: The online Blue Badge map service, which makes it much easier for disabled people to find places to park, has now been improved. The map on the Directgov website originally covering 64 cities & large towns. A further 37 have now been added and by the end of April the total will reach 119.
Users can search by postcode or town/area name for designated Blue Badge parking bays, parking bays that fall on red routes in London, as well as accessible stations, toilets and petrol stations. Blue Badge holders can also find out more about rules for street parking, including time restrictions and any special notices.
Press release ~ About the Blue Badge map ~ Office for Disability Issues – Current consultation on scheme (closes on 17 April 2008) ~ Rob Smith’s review of the Blue Badge Scheme ~ Revised local authority guidance on the Blue Badge Scheme ~ DfT Blue Badge web page ~ Directgov Blue Badge web page ~ Blue Badge Network ~ DfT - Measures to tackle abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme ~ Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) ~ UK Commission for Integrated Transport ~ Related news item
C-NLIS: The Council for the NationalLand and Property Information Service (C-NLIS) hasannounced it is renaming the company. The new name - Land Data - was created as a name & brand which is easily recognisable to the company’s stakeholders.
Alex Fraser CEO, Land Data, said: “Market research showed us there was confusion between the brand names C-NLIS and NLIS, the NationalLand Information Service which delivers electronic property search services, which we manage”.
FCO: A new national helpline for victims of forced marriage and honour-based violence, part-funded by the Forced Marriage Unit, has been launched by Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker. The 'Honour Network', run by the charity Karma Nirvana is a dedicated forced marriage and honour-based violence helpline, staffed by survivors offering emotional and practical support.
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act will be implemented in the autumn. Courts will be able to make orders to prevent forced marriages and protect victims. Guidelines produced by the Forced Marriage Unit in co-operation with other Government departments, for groups working with forced marriage victims, including the police, social services, health and education professionals will be placed on a statutory footing.
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