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General News
RNI: The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry began its full Hearings on Tuesday 15 April 2008. The Inquiry has gathered tens of thousands of documents relating to its investigation from a wide variety of sources. More than 350 people have been invited to provide witness statements and live witness evidence is not expected to begin before the week of 28 April 2008.
The Full Participants in the Inquiry are Rosemary Nelson's family and other organisations; the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the police officers who conducted the original murder investigation, the Northern Ireland Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Security Service.
A team of former police officers, headed by Robert Ayling (formerly Acting Chief Constable of Kent) was asked to prepare a report on whether the investigation of Rosemary Nelson's murder was conducted with due diligence. The team examined thousands of documents generated during the original murder investigation and Mr Ayling's finished report has been submitted to the Inquiry.
Press release ~ The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry ~ Rosemary Nelson ~ Date set for Rosemary Nelson inquiry - The Guardian
UK OC: A new partnership between the NHS Choices and UK online centres seeks to increase awareness of the range of information available, and support people without IT access or surfing skills to get to grips with both computers and the NHS Choices site.
More than 300 UK online centres will form a network of NHS Choices Community Champions, led by a flagship centre in each region. Over the next 12 months, they aim to reach more than 150,000 people, and drive both understanding & use of the NHS Choices website.
WAG: First Minister Rhodri Morgan recently toured Amazon’s enormous new logistics centre in Swansea Bay, which will create 1,000 new jobs this year with a further 1,700 full and part-time over the next five years. The facility is roughly the size of 10 football pitches and is the largest of their four UK centres – the others being in Glenmrothes and Gourock in Scotland and Milton Keynes in England.
ACE: It’s going to be a fantastic summer for carnival lovers and hip hop fans thanks to two new grants from Arts Council England, South East, announced last week.
Rising Styles - previously known as Brighton Hip Hop Festival - are set to receive a £25,000 windfall and Brighton Carnival is celebrating the news of a £40,700 cash boost. Both awards mean the Brighton-based arts organisations will be bringing the city streets to life with a buzz of sound, colour and energy this July.
STFC: Scientists and engineers from around the world met in Australia recently to ‘kick off’ the preparatory phase for the biggest project ever undertaken in radio astronomy. The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing facility and will probe some of the biggest questions in the Universe, including searching for earth-like planets and potential life, looking at the first objects in the Universe, testing theories of gravity and examining the mystery of dark energy.
The SKA has been identified by the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) in its 2006 Roadmap for research infrastructures of pan-European relevance. The corresponding Preparatory Phase project, called PrepSKA, will now pave the way for the SKA, with a three year programme to draw together international efforts from around the world to finalise a detailed, costed technical design and to develop the governance and legal framework for the project.
The UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is the co-ordinator for PrepSKA and has appointed Professor Phil Diamond of the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics to lead this activity, which starts in April 2008 and runs until 2011.
Press release ~ About STFC ~ Jodrell Bank observatory: SKA ~ Square Kilometre Array (SKA) ~ European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) ~ SKA brochure
FA: Fellow’s Associates (FA) claims that citizens across Shropshire will see significant improvements in housing benefit and council tax services, designed to radically improve benefits take-up for the area’s most vulnerable communities and reach out to those who may be missing out on their entitlement.
Under a 7-year agreement with Northgate Information Solutions, Shropshire citizens will benefit from:
* the use of self-service systems, enabling people to make full applications online and send in the evidence that is required to assess claims
* a faster benefits assessment process, through enabling staff to conduct assessments in people’s homes
* faster & more efficient responses to enquiries, with staff able to view customer status and transaction history in detail
* the use of mobile & SMS services to better reach out to the community and target those most in need
