General News

Directgov: BBC TV comedy actors, Paul Henshall and Mark Benton, (stars of the BBC's I'm with Stupid), feature in a new video, available on Directgov.  The short downloadable film promotes a new mobile phone service for disabled Blue Badge holders, and their drivers.
 
Using their mobile phone Blue Badge holders can view parking bays, accessible toilets, petrol stations with service call and more, via an interactive map.  The new service even allows users to check the local council parking rules all via their mobile phones.
Press release ~ Demonstration video ~ Office for Disability Issues ~ Motability ~ Leonard Cheshire Disability ~ Blue Badge scheme ~ Blue Badge Map
 
PCS: PCS members at Manchester Disability Benefits Centre are fighting a decision to close the office by the end of the year.  Management say the lease of the building is due to end and, as it is one of the best performing offices, staff are wanted by Jobcentreplus to help cover the rise in unemployment. 
 
Whilst PCS recognises the pressures facing our members in Jobcentre Plus due to the current recession, the decision by management, nationally, to remove 1,100 PDCS staff from their current work and to close the Manchester DBC will unfairly penalise the most vulnerable in society.
Press release ~ Manchester Disability Benefits Centre ~ savemanchesterdbc website ~ No 10 petition
 
HA: With some coach firms planning for a particular busy summer, the Highways Agency is promoting its latest journey planning tools to help fleet managers and on-board crew check the road is clear ahead. The latest addition to a suite of services provides access to live traffic data from a web-enabled mobile phone.
 
The HA website is particularly suited to the coach tourism industry, allowing drivers to check conditions when taking a break or a co-driver or other crew member can safely check the route ahead during the journey, while the driver keeps his or her eyes on the road. By keying in http://www.highways.gov.uk/mobile crew members can get up to the minute details of any incidents or delays searchable by region, motorway or A-road.
Press release ~ AtlasPro
 
WAG: Environment Minister Jane Davidson has announced that the DyfiValley has been officially recognised as Wales’ only UNESCO Biosphere.  A Biosphere is a special area in which people work to balance the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.  They are nominated by national governments.
 
The unique status means the area joins the likes of Uluru in Australia and Mount Olympus in Greece.  There are 553 UNESCO Biosphere areas in the world, but the Dyfi is the only one in Wales and only the second in the whole of the UK.
Press release ~ UNESCO Biosphere ~ Dyfi Biosphere Partnership ~ WAG: Environment - protection and quality ~ WAG - Sustainable development
 
PCS: The Public & Commercial Services union (PCS) has responded with anger to the announcement by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) of up to 800 job losses over the next two years and a major restructuring of pay, reward, redundancy terms and other conditions of employment.  
 
The FSS, formerly an Executive Agency of the Home Office, but since 2005 a wholly owned Government Company (GovCo) in which Ministers act as the sole shareholder, are embarking upon a business transformation programme which will last until mid-2011.
 
 Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary, added: ‘The obsession with the market has led to tens of millions of pounds worth of work leaching away from the FSS, which was formerly a world leader in forensics and crime detection, to a small number of competitors whose sole purpose is profit rather than the needs of the public or victims of crime.  We will not countenance savage cuts now merely to make the FSS more attractive to private sector buyers in three years time’.
Press release ~ Forensic Science Service (FSS) ~ PCS
 
CWGC: Construction of the first new cemetery to be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 50 years has begun in northern France.  Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) MilitaryCemetery will provide a final individual resting place for up to 400 British & Australian soldiers who died at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.  Work on the new cemetery will be completed by December 2009 (See interactive map & virtual image).
 
Their recently discovered remains are now being recovered by a team of archaeological specialists from several mass graves nearby.  In addition to the primary aim of providing a fitting & final resting place for each soldier, it is hoped that DNA techniques may be able to identify some of those buried at Fromelles.  Families who believe their relatives may have lost their lives at Fromelles are urged to check the casualty lists.
Press release ~ Commonwealth War Graves Commission ~ Fromelles website ~ Australian Army - Fromelles ~ Oxford Archaeology ~ 1916 Battle of Fromelles ~ Casualty Lists
 
STFC: Techniques & instrumentation initially developed for ExoMars - Europe’s next robotic mission to Mars in 2016 - but now due to fly on a NASA mission in 2018, could also provide the answers to the globally pressing issue of energy supply.
 
A major study by the Imperial College London, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), aims to use this new technology as an inexpensive & efficient way to help process unconventional energy resources, potentially having an enormous impact on the UK and global economy.
 
Dr Liz Towns-Andrews, Director of Knowledge Exchange at STFC, which is funding the study through its Knowledge Exchange Follow on Fund award scheme, said: "The new research is a direct solution to our worsening energy supply crisis and is a great example of the seamless interaction of pure and applied science with engineering to solve real world environmental and commercial issues”.
Press release ~ Knowledge Exchange at STFC
 
LD: The latest official Local Authority data from Land Data reveals the national average price for an electronic local authority (LA) combined CON29R and LLC1 property search has reduced from £114 (March ’09) to £109 (April ’09), and the average electronic CON29R fee has reduced from £94 (March ’09) to £88 (April ’09).
 
The reduction in fee is a direct result of the new fee charging regimes introduced on 6 April 2009 which mean that both the LLC1 and CON29R search fees are now charged on a cost recovery model.  A full list of LA fees and NLIS turnaround times from April – June ’09 will be available from mid July.
Press release ~ Land Data

DH: A FREE, online lifestyle self-assessment service to help teenagers improve their health & wellbeing is being rolled out nationally by the Department of HealthNHS Teen LifeCheck uses an engaging & interactive quiz to offer health & lifestyle information to 12-15 year olds.
 
Hosted entirely online, it guides young people through a set of completely confidential, simple multiple choice questions and then gives them tailored advice on how they can set goals to improve their lifestyles.  It is non-judgmental, totally confidential and no identifying data is kept.
 
NHS Teen LifeCheck is one of three NHS LifeCheck services.  NHS Early Years LifeCheck, aimed at parents and carers of 5 - 8 month old babies and NHS Mid-life LifeCheck, aimed at 45-60 year olds, are being rolled out nationally later this year.
Press release ~ NHS Teen LifeCheck ~ NHS Early Years & Mid-life LifeCheck
 
STFC: Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving our chances of finding alien life outside our solar system.
 
The past two decades have witnessed the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets (planets beyond our solar system).  Ambitious missions, ground and space based, are already being planned for the next decades, and the discovery of Earth-like planets is only a matter of time.  Once these planets are found, techniques like transmission spectra will be invaluable to their further exploration.
Press release ~ Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) ~ Science and Technology Facilities Council ~ British National Space Centre
 
PCS: The PCS union has condemned the British Council's announcement that it intends to cut up to 500 jobs over the next 2 years and consider ‘offshoring’ work to India. In a message to staff, the BC, which promotes Britain overseas, announced that it intends to reduce its staff by up to 40% over the next two years.
 
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary said: “It comes as a surprise that the British Council, whose remit is to promote Britain abroad, is even considering offshoring jobs.  These proposed job losses, if not resisted, will add to the already rising unemployment figures and do nothing to help economic recovery.”
Press release ~ British Council ~ PCS
 
HA: The Highways Agency is advising road users planning to use the A43 in Northamptonshire during the weekend of the British Grand Prix to plan their journey and keep up to date with the latest road conditions. Last year approximately 47,000 vehicles travelled to the circuit over the three days of racing with similar numbers expected for the 2009 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
 
To help improve traffic flow the Highways Agency will be closing the A43 to through traffic between Brackley and Towcester.  Road users heading for the Grand Prix will be directed along one-way systems, which will be reversed as traffic leaves the event.
Press release ~ British Grand Prix Inter Agency Group – Advice for 2009
 
Socitm: Figures from the Socitm Website Takeup service, subscribed to by more than half of all county councils show that on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th June, web traffic to county council websites was more than double that of the Friday and Saturday of the previous week.

A survey by Socitm Insight, publishers of the annual Better connected report on council website quality, looked at websites of county councils and new unitaries where elections had been held to see how the results were being reported.

The survey found many Councils included some form of interactive map, summary tables & charts or other graphics to allow visitors to follow the results as they happened and to access a summary in various forms. Some councils provided TV style graphics including ‘virtual council chambers’ filling up with figures in party colours as the results came in.
Press release ~ Socitm Website Takeup service
 
CRC: Stuart Burgess, Chair of the Commission for Rural Communities and the Government's Rural Advocate, has been visiting Cumbria with the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) to find out more about the Rural Wheels initiative - a shared taxi scheme - that provides subsidised travel for rural communities.
 
CfIT will be launching a campaign supporting their report calling for Government to announce & fund a large-scale shared taxi project, ‘TaxiPlus’.
Press release ~ Rural Wheels ~ CfIT:  New Approach to Rural Public Transport (and supporting documentation)
 
LR: From 1 October 2009, Land Registry offices in Birkenhead which currently operate from 2 sites, will be replaced by a single office to be known as Land Registry, Birkenhead Office.  The new office will administer the areas now covered by the Old Market House and Rosebrae Court offices.
 
The new office will operate from the existing premises at Rosebrae Court. All paper applications & correspondence to be received after 30 September 2009 should be sent to the new Birkenhead Office at Rosebrae Court, unless a written agreement is in place between the registrar and the applicant as to delivery elsewhere.  The customer information centre for Birkenhead Office will be located at Rosebrae Court.
 
Practice Guide 51 - Areas served by Land Registry offices is being revised and a new edition will be published on 1 October 2009.
Press release ~ Land registry ~ Current Practice Guide 51 - Areas served by Land Registry offices
 
SESport England plans to invest £480m in 46 sports over the next 4 years to deliver grassroots sporting opportunities and a lasting Olympic & Paralympic legacy of 1m people playing more sport. The overall amount invested directly into NGBs has increased and responsibility for delivery has been placed in the hands of each governing body, with clear targets agreed on a sport-by-sport basis.
Press release ~ Summary of headline outcomes for funded Governing Bodies 2009/13 ~ Sport England’s Active People Survey 2 ~ Inclusive Fitness Initiative ~ National Sports Foundation ~ Sport and the Disabled ~ Federation of Disability Sports Organisations ~ Sport England – Children and Young People ~ Youth Sport Trust ~ County Sports Partnerships ~ School Sport ~ Planning for Sport
 
NA: Census records of the 2.4m people recorded as living in Wales on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 are now available to search & download. Records for the whole of England are already available, with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as naval and overseas military records, to be made available over the coming months.
Press release ~ 1911.co.uk
 
FDA: The independent review of pay arrangements for senior civil servants in Northern Ireland announced recently by Finance Minister Nigel Dodds, has been welcomed by the FDA, the union that represents senior managers and professionals in the Civil Service.

Jonathan Baume, FDA General Secretary, said:  “The current system, which prioritises non-pensionable, performance-related bonuses over reasonable cost-of-living increases, was introduced to save the Government money and suppress pay levels.  We now have a situation where the UK Government’s own evidence suggests that similar roles outside of the civil service are paid up to twice as much”.
Press release ~ FDA
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story