General News
FDA: In response to the recent lead story in the Telegraph - headed 'Worst civil servants to be sacked' - which states that "staff are allowed to get away with poor performance", FDA Deputy General Secretary Dave Penman said:
"We have yet to see details of the proposed white paper on civil service reform. The civil service already has rigorous performance management processes, including for the senior civil service a forced ranking approach to appraisal and a revision of these procedures, which was introduced only last month.
"As Francis Maude has said, it is simply a myth that civil servants can't be sacked or that it more difficult to sack individuals who underperform in the civil service than it is anywhere else…………
FSA: Sainsbury's has recalled one batch of its own-brand Basic Tea Cakes. The batch may contain small pieces of plastic caused by a manufacturing fault. If you’ve bought the product don’t eat it. The Food Standards Agency has issued a Product Recall Information Notice.
TfL: During Games time Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail will be providing free walking maps at 11 mainline stations and a number of major venue & east London stations. The easy-to-read maps show walking routes from mainline railway stations and their nearest London Underground stations.
In addition, TfL is supporting Recyclebank's re:route app, launched earlier this month, which encourages people to walk & cycle more in London by rewarding green behaviour with points that can be redeemed against a wide range of offers & discounts from Recyclebank partners (including Marks & Spencer, Planet Organic and Champneys). Alongside the rewards, re:route also alerts people to the number of calories that they have burnt and the amount of CO2 they have saved for each journey.
TfL: Londoners & visitors to the city can now get their hands on a ‘collectable limited edition’ Diamond Jubilee Oyster card. The cards became available last week from London Underground stations in Zone 1 and at Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 & T4, and TfL Travel Information Centres. TfL has produced 250,000 of the limited edition Oyster cards, featuring a portrait of The Queen, marking 60 years of Her reign.
TfL: The construction of London's newest transport link reached another milestone last week as all 34 cabins of the Emirates Air Line took off for their inaugural load testing flight. This extensive testing programme is part of a series of rigorous safety trials and follows last month's completion of the Emirates Air Line's 3 towers with cabling extended across the river.
The cabins will travel across 1.1km of cable, gliding 90 metres above the Thames with weights representing the maximum number of passengers before the Emirates Air Line opens for passenger service in summer 2012.
The new river crossing has the capacity to carry up to 2,500 people per hour in each direction - the equivalent of 30 buses per hour, as well as creating a direct link between the O2 & ExCeL and an additional interchange between the Jubilee line & Docklands Light Railway.
The new river crossing has the capacity to carry up to 2,500 people per hour in each direction - the equivalent of 30 buses per hour, as well as creating a direct link between the O2 & ExCeL and an additional interchange between the Jubilee line & Docklands Light Railway.
TUC: Shareholders may have been giving the thumbs down to boardroom pay & bonuses in greater numbers recently, but the government needs to do more than simply make investors' voting decisions binding if directors' pay is to be set at more realistic levels in future, the TUC has said.
In its recent submission to the government's consultation on shareholder voting rights, the TUC says that allowing workers to sit on companies' pay committees would introduce a touch of the real world to the process of setting top pay.
IPCC: The Independent Police Complaints Commission was advised last week that former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) commander Ali Dizaei has been dismissed without notice. Deborah Glass, IPCC Deputy Chair said: “Ali Dizaei’s dismissal from the Metropolitan Police Service was the right and inevitable outcome following his conviction, a second time, for serious criminal offences. There is no place in the police for corrupt officers and they have no business wielding the powers of a police officer in our communities’.
MoD: Extra funding of £400,000 will be provided for the Big White Wall online mental wellbeing service which provides support for UK Service personnel, veterans & their families, 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.
TfL: Vital repair work to the Hammersmith Flyover will be completed on 30 May 2012, allowing the structure to be fully reopened to all traffic well ahead of the London 2012 Games. TfL will return to the structure during 2013 to strengthen the remaining spans.
HA: As the Olympic Torch relay gets underway, the Highways Agency is calling on road users to help tackle roadside litter and ensure that England’s motorways & major roads provide safe and pleasant journeys during the summer of the Olympic & Paralympic Games.
DfT: Passengers in South Yorkshire will be the first in the country to benefit from flexible new Tram Trains that will make their journeys easier & more convenient. Transport Minister Norman Baker has given the green light to a £58m pilot scheme to run revolutionary Tram Trains on both rail & tram networks, making them ideal for the 8 mile non-stop journeys of no more than 25 minutes between, suburb & city centres from Sheffield to Rotherham.
Press release & links
Press release & links
UKOC: Last Saturday, 19 May 2012, saw the start of the Olympic torch's journey around the UK, and at UK online centres they are planning lots of fun activities to help you encourage as many people as possible to get online for the first time to enjoy the games.
In the meantime, if you want to see how close the Olympic torch is coming to your centre, check out the fantastic map. And why not have a look at the Olympic Athlete's Hub, an online community bringing together the social media sites of hundreds of participating athletes from all over the world?
MoD: A wounded Royal Navy medic who saved the lives of 4 colleagues after they were seriously injured in Afghanistan by a grenade attack in 2011 received a Military Cross this week from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Despite shrapnel wounds to his leg & face, Medical Assistant (MA) Liam O'Grady ran across open ground while grenades were exploding around him to drag his stricken patrol sergeant to safety.
BIS: The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has launched this year’s Cracking Ideas competition and is inviting children across the country to use their creativity to invent a special space-themed gizmo or gadget. 12 regional finalists in different age-groups will be named Britain's youngest innovators, from which 3 national winners will be crowned Cracking Ideas champions for 2013. The competition runs until 30 April 201.
Unite: Health visitors & community nurses are ‘horrified’ by the 58% hike in the fee to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Unite, the union, said last week that this was ‘another tax’ on hard-pressed & dedicated community nurses already hit by a 2-year pay freeze, a steep increase in pension contributions and facing the prospect of regional pay.
Unite’s lead professional officer, Obi Amadi said: “Our members are horrified by this proposed 58 per cent rise from £76 to £120-a-year – a fee they must pay, if they wish to practice their profession. Our members resent having to pick up the bill for the failings of the NMC – which have been highlighted by two independent reviews saying how dysfunctional the organisation is”.
ACE: Arts Council England recently announced the 173 successful applicants to its £30m Catalyst Arts: capacity building and match funding scheme, which aims to make arts organisations more sustainable, resilient & innovative by increasing their fundraising potential and attracting new money to invest in additional artistic work. It acts as challenge funding to support additional arts activity.
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