General News
HO: The National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) linked more than 350 guns with crimes in its first year of operation. The service helps police forces to solve crimes in which guns have been used, identify the minority of individuals who import & supply guns illegally and track down people who are illegally converting or adapting them.
Police forces and other law enforcement agencies can submit ballistic material to one of the NABIS regional centres. NABIS is then able link ballistic items to previous crimes 7 incidents within 48 hours, enabling police to establish crucial links within the initial hours of an investigation.
Press release ~ National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) ~ Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme (TKAP)
Newswire – HMPS: A film created by De Montfort University (DMU) students to help new prisoners settle in when they arrive at HMP Leicester has been recognised as a pioneering project. Volunteers on HMP Leicester's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) commissioned the video to try to raise prisoners' awareness of the IMB and explain how they can help them during their sentence.
The video is used as part of the prisoners' induction when they first arrive. It shows talking heads including prisoners, staff and IMB volunteers explaining how the IMB can help them to raise concerns about their experiences in prison and to ensure that prisoners & staff are cared for with decency & respect.
ScotGov: A team of volunteers' efforts to keep services moving through the difficult weather conditions has been praised. The Community Off-Road Transport Action Group (COTAG) in Moray has been providing logistical support to Meals on Wheels deliveries, NHS Grampian nurses and Moray Council gritters during the recent severe weather.
The COTAG provides 4x4 vehicle response support in times of need to the emergency services, local authorities and charitable groups in the North-East Scotland area.
Press release ~ Community Off-Road Transport Action Group (COTAG) ~ Information and advice on getting through the cold spell
MoD: A bullet riddled mosque in Sangin has been repaired & kitted out with brand new washing facilities and a school building by British troops working with the Afghan National Army. The restoration of the Mosque shows local people that the Afghan National Security Force and ISAF are there to help and demonstrates that the government can improve their lives, something that the insurgents cannot of offer.
PCS: Confirmation, by her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that it was pressing ahead with plans to axe 130 offices earmarked for closure, drew an angry response from the PCS union last week, who warned that services to the public & businesses would suffer and that jobs would be lost.
The confirmation of the closures across the UK could see up to 1,700 experienced & skilled staff forced out of a job and are part of HMRC’s plans to cut 25,000 jobs and close over 200 offices by 2011. Over 20,000 jobs have already gone since 2006. Over the same time the percentage of uncollected tax written off as ‘doubtful to be collected’ has risen from 23% in 2006 to 40% in 2009, meaning that HMRC have effectively written off £11 billion of tax for 2008/09. See also NAO item in ‘In the News’ section.
FDA: Individuals & businesses in the South East of England would be grossly disadvantaged by proposals to close the 5 HM Land Registry offices in South-East England, the FDA has claimed (the FDA is the union representing senior managers and professionals in the civil service).
The Land Registry's 'accelerated transformation programme' which is currently out for consultation, would see offices in Croydon, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Stevenage & Tunbridge Wells close, leaving a huge swathe of the country without any coverage. The FDA is urging members of the public to respond to the public consultation on the closures before the 29 January 2010 deadline.
PCS: Over a 100 MPs from across the main parties have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) expressing deep concern about unilateral changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme the PCS union said recently. The EDM (251), supported by 105 MPs including former ministers, urges the government to re-examine the ‘disappointing and unfair proposals’ which will see staff robbed of their entitlements if they are forced out of their jobs and could lead to the government cutting jobs on the cheap.
ScotGov: Stockbridge couple Andrew and Allyson Naperotic, parents of Caelan Ross, were last week handed one of the Scotland's first 'Red Books' - the new Personal Child Health Record introduced for babies born throughout Scotland from 1 January 2010. The book is used by parents to keep a handy record of their child's health, with details such as immunisations, growth patterns and details of routine reviews.
The book replaces a series of different local versions with a single national edition and includes another first for Scotland - World Health Organisation growth charts developed for use in the UK by a Scottish academic, which use breastfed and not bottle-fed babies' growth as the norm.
DSTL: The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Ministry of Defence civilian scientists, which has an estimated 20% of the UK’s juniper bushes at its Porton Down site near Salisbury, has started a project to grow thousands of new juniper bushes to preserve this native plant.
Juniper is one of only three native British conifers and was one of the first plant species to re-colonise Britain after the last ice age. Its aromatic berries are often used in cooking and for making gin. The project includes collecting berries, checking seed fertility, processing seeds and storing for planting later in the year. Some of the seeds will then be sown on the Porton Down range and protected during germination using cages to keep rabbits and voles away.
NA: South America may not be instantly associated with Wales, however documents at The National Archives in Kew reveal an unusual story of the Welsh in Patagonia. To tie in with the Archive Awareness Campaign theme, Take Flight, The NA is hosting a special talk using material from the archives to highlight migration of the Welsh to Patagonia over a century ago.
In 1865 a group of Welsh emigrants left Liverpool on the tea clipper Mimosa bound for the New World to establish a Welsh speaking colony in the valley of the Chubut River in Patagonia, Argentina. After initial hardships, including lack of vegetation & food, they successfully established their colony literally called, Y Wladfa or ‘The Colony’ which is still a thriving community today.
Press release ~ Archive Awareness Campaign ~ National Council on Archives ~ Museums, Libraries and Archives Council ~ National Archives ~ Bara Brith on the pampas: The Welsh in Patagonia
DWP: Free phone calls for most people using their mobiles to claim benefits & pensions have been announced by the Department of Work and Pensions. Currently 12% of UK households use only mobile phones and do not have a land line. Currently people calling 0800 numbers from mobile phone providers are charged for these calls.
The Department has now reached agreement with O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone to end charges to their customers for mobile calls to around 70 of its 0800 numbers. These numbers are used by people making initial claims for benefit & pensions and to request emergency payments, such as crisis loans.
DfT: Chiltern Railways are to be granted an extension to their rail franchise in return for making £250m of improvements, which could see a new main line from London Marylebone to Oxford established. The scheme will cut rail journey times along the busy M40 corridor, making rail more competitive with road travel.
Average journey times from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone will be cut more than 20%, from 2h 08m to 1h 40m. Commuting times from Banbury & Bicester will reduce to less than an hour and there will be faster trains from the M40 park & ride hubs at Warwick Parkway (J15) and Haddenham & Thame Parkway (J7).
FSA: Food safety authorities in Australia & New Zealand informed the Food Standards Agency last year about high levels of iodine in a soya drink called 'Bonsoy', which some people use as an alternative to milk. The FSA has now issued an update on what is happening.
Following the notification, the FSA investigated the distribution of Bonsoy Soya drink in the UK and notified the main importer (as well as the retail distributors) of this product and have advised them to withdraw the product from sale.
The distributors have confirmed that all existing stocks of the drink have been quarantined & recalled from customers. Tests carried out on various batches of the product have shown high levels of iodine and therefore it is assumed that all batches of Bonsoy have high levels of iodine.
MLA: The new 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto is compiled entirely from visitors’ comments. This year families have made it clear – they don’t want interactive to mean passively pushing buttons. They want to finger real fossils, dress up, and get messy.
Families can sit in front of a computer screen or play on a Wii at home. Museums should be different. They have the thrill of the real. The demand for better hands-on, interactive exhibits is just one point in the 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto - 20 ways to make a museum family friendly.
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