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General News
FCS: More than 1,200 retail depositors at the Heritable and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander banks are a step closer to compensation with the news that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has sent out compensation claim forms now to individual savers who did not transfer to ING Direct. The Scheme will send forms to about 2,000 business account holders early this week.
Anyone with an account with Heritable or Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, who thinks they may be entitled to claim, but who did not receive an application form by Thursday 23 October should ring the FSCS Customer Services Team on 020 7892 7300.
As well as the compensation to which eligible depositors are entitled from FSCS, depositors may be entitled to HM Treasury supplemental payments for those whose balances exceed the FSCS’s £50,000 limit.
WAG: A ‘Turnaround project’ in Pontypridd, aimed at helping young people in the South Wales Valleys overcome substance misuse so that they are able to participate in mainstream education, training and employment’ has been praised by Social Justice Minister Dr Brian Gibbons.
Dr Gibbons said the project was an example of the type of support service for substance misusers that WAG was hoping to build upon following the launch of its 10-year plan to reduce the harm caused by drugs & alcohol.
Press release ~ 'Turnaround' project longitudinal survey ~ 10-year plan to reduce the harm caused by drugs and alcohol ~ CfBT Education Trust ~ WAG – Substance Misuse
NA: The UK incoming passenger lists for 1878 to 1960 (series BT 26) have been launched online by Ancestry.co.uk. Digitised in partnership with The National Archives, the records contain information on both immigrants and tourists who arrived in the UK by boat before the onset of commercial flights.
The passenger lists are for people arriving in the United Kingdom from ports outside of Europe and the Mediterranean and may include: name of passenger, their birth date or age, port of departure, port of arrival, date of arrival and vessel name. It is free to search the website, but there is a charge for viewing the full entry and downloading images of the passenger lists.
Defra: Emergency measures to prevent further introductions of the Citrus Longhorn Beetle to the UK have been approved, reflecting conclusions agreed by the Standing Committee on Plant Health. The measures include restrictions on the import of a wide range of plants from countries where the beetle is known to be present. It was first identified in Britain in August 2008.
The measures will come into force when they have been adopted by the European Commission, most likely in November. To speed up the introduction of these measures in the UK, an amendment to the Plant Health (England) Order 2005 has been approved and will come into force on 10 November 2008.
HA: The Highways Agency has made its traffic data available to Google(tm) for use within their brand new Google Maps(tm) traffic feature. It overlays a colour-coded layer of the average speeds on England's motorways and major 'A' road network onto the existing Google Map(tm) facility with different colours indicating the current speed of traffic.
The data, provided by the Agency's National Traffic Control Centre in Birmingham, is also used to populate the Highways Agency's own Traffic England website, on which drivers can see current & predicted driving conditions, view what is currently being displayed on electronic motorway signs and even tell the average speed between any two junctions on the motorway network.
WAG: Every one of the 150 staff who lost their jobs in Swansea last month when the XL package holiday operator collapsed suddenly has already been offered work by new employers. Assembly Government Officials, the West Wales Association of Communications Centres and Job Centre Plus organised a special Jobs Fair little more than a week after XL's administration was announced.
Defra: New international measures to protect more than 70 of the world's migratory birds of prey and owls have been agreed. A joint initiative by Britain and the United Arab Emirates, has secured an agreement by over twenty countries signed in Abu Dhabi to protect migratory birds of prey and owls found in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Human activity has led to the decline in migratory bird of prey and owl species, with 50% of the world's species under threat from habitat loss & degradation, persecution, accidental killing and climate change. Many of these birds have an important cultural role for communities across the world, are an important part of the world's biodiversity and can provide economic benefits (for example through tourism).
Press release ~ Memorandum of Understanding ~ United Nations Convention on Migratory Species ~ RSPB – Birds of Prey ~ Bowland Project ~ Hen Harrier Recovery in England ~ EC Birds Directive ~ National Birds of Prey centre
ESRC: The Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) officially opened last week at the University of Birmingham. The TSRC will be led by Professor Pete Alcock of the UoB, in a joint venture with the University of Southampton, where Professor John Mohan will Deputy Director. The funding of £10.25m over the next five years will come from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and The Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Supporting the work of the TSRC will be two capacity building clusters (CBCs), led by the University of Middlesex and Lincoln University, with the CBC in Middlesex focusing specifically on social enterprises.
Press release ~ Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) ~ ESRC Society Today ~ Charitable Giving and Philanthropy Research Centre ~ National Council for Voluntary Organisations
MoD: Health workers who provide outstanding care for the Armed Forces have been recognised in a ceremony attended by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the RoyalHospitalChelsea. The inaugural Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards highlighted exceptional individuals and teams from across the UK working in fields such as deployed healthcare, care of veterans, mental health, education and training & innovation.
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall presented trophies to the winners, including a special Lifetime Achievement Award to the remaining members of the nursing team, 'The Flying Nightingales' who operated out of RAF Down Ampney during World War II. Tasked with bringing wounded soldiers back from Europe on Dakotas, altogether they brought back more than 100,000 casualties, many of who would not have survived but for the bravery and selflessness of the nursing orderlies.
