General News

STFC: A new neutron super-microscope that will help pave the way for new high-tech materials is under construction at ISIS, the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) world-leading neutron & muon source in Oxfordshire.

The new microscope, called Larmor, will be at the forefront of materials science for engineering, food, health & the natural environment.  For example, knowledge gained could play an important role in the development of new high-tech materials for electronic equipment, or in speeding up charging speeds of lithium-ion batteries in electronic vehicles. 
Press release & links
 
DCMS: A one-off capital grant scheme worth £1.1m has been made available for listed places of worship until April 2013.  The Church of England and the National Churches Trust will distribute the funds.
Press release & links
 
EH: More than 15,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have been made freely accessible online to the public for the first time.  

Britain from Above, a new website launched by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland & Wales, features some of the oldest & most valuable images of the Aerofilms Collection, a unique & important archive of over 1m aerial photographs taken between 1919 & 2006.
Press release & links
 
DHJunior doctors will spend a minimum of 4 working days shadowing the job that they will be taking up from this summer. The first few weeks of employment for medical graduates can not only be stressful, but are also associated with increased risk for patients & NHS employers.  

The Department of Health has asked Medical Education England for advice on enabling junior doctors to make the transition from student to doctor & employee in the safest way possible. 
 
According to research supported by Dr Foster Intelligence in 2009, people admitted to English hospitals in an emergency on the first Wednesday in August have, on average, a 6% higher mortality rate than people admitted on the previous Wednesday.
Press release & links
 
TfL: From last week, London Tramlink passengers will benefit from a 50% increase in services on the busiest part of the network, as the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, launched a new London Tramlink service through Croydon's town centre.
Press release & links
 
TfL: Transport for London’s Temporary Road Changes planning tool has been updated to include LOCOG's local parking & traffic management plans around Games venues and how roads around race routes will be affected during Road Events. 
Press release & links
 
HL: In a speech last week, PM, David Cameron, questioned whether all young people under the age of 25 should be eligible for Housing Benefit. Matt Harrison, Interim Chief Executive of the umbrella body for 500 homelessness charities, Homeless Link, has responded.
Press release & links
 
TfL: Transport for London has introduced a brand new night bus route to improve bus services in the Mill Hill, Watford Way and Hendon Way areas. The N113 entered service on 30 June and follows requests from passengers & local residents for improved links to & from central London. 
Press release & links
 
EHRC: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has outlined plans for its future operating model & structure.  It has launched a staff consultation on proposals to reduce its workforce to 150 posts. 

The proposals aim to meet the challenges posed by reduced resources, including the Government’s decision that the Commission will no longer provide a helpline function and the need to deliver the Commission’s 3 year strategic plan which was laid before parliament in April this year.
Press release & links ~ PCS union: Equality staff face being forced out of jobs by privatisation
 
TNA: As part of the Archives Awareness campaign, the Cadbury Research Library has launched an exhibition to commemorate Olympic Games throughout the 20th century.  

The 'Olympic Memories' exhibition explores the first London Olympic Games in 1908 and the capital's post-war 'austerity Games' in 1948, as well as the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany.  It draws on original photographs & collections from extensive Sports & Athletics Collections held at the University of Birmingham.
Press release & links
 
STFC: The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the UK’s Government Office for Science have agreed to strengthen the countries’ collaborative efforts to protect critical infrastructure from the impacts of space weather.
Press release & links
 
WAG: The First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, has visited the site of the worst mining disaster in British history to launch a major appeal for the first ever Welsh National Mining Memorial. In total 440 men & boys were killed in 1913 following a huge explosion at the Universal Colliery site in Senghenydd.  The disaster affected the lives of almost every household in the Aber Valley and sent shockwaves around the world.
Press release & links
 
DECC: A joint public inquiry will be held into 2 applications for onshore windfarms in Powys, mid-Wales.  These refer to applications made by Vattenfall for the Llanbadarn Fynydd scheme (59.5 MW), and RWE npower renewables for the Carnedd Wen scheme (130-250 MW), for development consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.
Press release & links
 
DCMS: Young people from across the country came together to explore heritage & identity at the recent UNESCO Youth Summit 2012. The youth delegates, aged 13 to 17, won the chance to represent Britain’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites following a nationwide competition.
Press release & links
 
NHS ConfedNHS Confederation response to decision to consider placing South London Healthcare Trust in administration
Press release ~ TKF comment ~ Patients Association responds to financial crisis in Healthcare NHS Trust
 
STFC: The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Met Office and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), have together embarked on a project to design & build a next-generation weather forecasting model for the UK.

By the end of the decade, scientists will be using supercomputers that are thousands of times faster than any of today’s systems.  Known as ‘exascale’ supercomputers they will contain millions of processors capable of performing a million trillion calculations per second. 
 
Harnessing the power of these computers for weather & climate prediction could mean much more accurate forecasts that will help us to live more easily with episodes of severe weather and also to adapt to climate change, maintaining UK leadership in environmental prediction.
Press release & links
 
FSAFrozen Value is withdrawing various ice cream products as they contain nuts, peanuts or sulphites that aren’t listed on the label.  This is in addition to the previous withdrawal of Picard Chocolate & Pistachio Cones. If you’re allergic to nuts, sulphites or peanuts, do not eat these products.  The Food Standards Agency has issued an Allergy Alert..
Press release & links
 
ICO: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a statement in response to the publication of the Open Data White Paper.
Press release ~ Open Data White Paper ~ CO: New data releases mark an era of open data
Free, Secure, Compliant UK Public Sector IT Recycling Service