General News

Land Registry: Switching off unused office equipment at Land Registry’s Swansea Office helped them win an award & reduce their carbon footprint by 1.5 tonnes in a one-month period, the equivalent emissions of a return flight from Cardiff to Tenerife.

All Land Registry offices across & took part in a weeklong exercise to reduce their energy consumption, and the Swansea Office, based at Ty Bryn Glas in High Street, registered the biggest reduction – a whole 28%. Land Registry Wales Office, also based in Swansea, came a close second, with 27%.

The reduction was partly due to a concerted effort to switch off unused machines, such as computer monitors and photocopiers. But the office had also installed voltage optimisation technology from energy efficiency specialists Power Perfector. In simple terms the technology reduces the voltage coming into the building without compromising the safety or efficient working of the electrical items within.

Press release ~ Land Registry ~ Power Perfector ~ Rushcliffe Borough Council – Power Perfector ~ Nort h Yorkshire County Council

OGC: The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has unveiled a Government Procurement Graduate Scheme that aims to bring up to 13 high-calibre business graduates into government procurement roles by the autumn.

The successful graduates will be put through an accelerated two-year development programme, which will include procurement placements in a range of government departments. Seven departments are supporting the scheme including HM Revenue & Customs and the NHS Purchasing & Supply Agency.

The Reform of the Government Procurement Service is a key component of the Transforming Government Procurement report, which sets targets to raise skills, raise departmental capability, scrutinise procurement projects and improve collaboration on procurement across government.
Press release ~ Graduate Scheme website ~ OGC - Procurement ~ Procurement vacanciesTransforming Government Procurement ~ Government Procurement Service ~ Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) ~ NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency ~

TfL: The Mayor of London is launching a major new campaign (started on Monday 16 AprilOyster cards on a first come, first served basis to new customers. Those who apply will not have to pay the usual £3 deposit. across a range of publications), which will include giving away

As part of the promotion, 100,000 Oyster cards will now be given away through national, local & community press adverts, targeted at London's communities where Oyster take-up is lower. The intention is to encourage all Londoners, particularly those on a low income, to use an Oyster card, which provides the cheapest way of travelling on London's public transport system.
Press release ~ Oyster website

NA: The National Archives has announced that Scotland Online will partner the government’s official archive in the forthcoming project to put the 1911 census for & online. The 1911 census is huge - it currently occupies 2 kilometres of shelving at The National Archives.

Comprising over eight million householder schedules and a further 38,000 enumerators´ summary books, it details information relating to approximately 35 million people then living in and . Once digitised, the census will take up an equally large ½ a petabyte of computer memory (1,024 terabytes and each terabyte is a thousand gigabytes).

From 3 January 2012 the public will have full access to the entire 1911 census, including the information not accessible in 2009. Researchers anywhere in the world will be able to search across the fields of the census by name, address or The National Archives reference and download high-resolution digital images.
Press release ~ National Archives 1911 Census ~ Previous census recordsScotland Online ~ Domesday Book ~ The National Archives of Scotland ~

ESRC: The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the British Academy (BA)Middle East. have announced the results of the new joint scheme to fund Visiting Fellowships from South Asia and the

The aim of the Visiting Fellowships is to attract early-career researchers particularly from South Asia and the Middle East to collaborate on research. In total 19 fellowships, which will be a minimum of two months in duration, have been awarded, 12 from the Middle East and 7 from South Asia. It is also hoped that through these Visiting Fellowships longer term plans for collaborative research could be developed.

Research areas to be focused on by the Visiting Fellows are diverse covering topics such as:

Press release ~ ESRC / BA Visiting Fellowships for South Asia and the Middle East ~ ESRC Society Today ~ British Academy (BA)

HC: The private and voluntary healthcare sector is to get a 15% overall cut in regulatory fees for the 2007/2008 financial year, the Healthcare Commission has announced, because it is reducing the total number of independent providers it inspects. It inspected 80% of providers in 2006/2007, compared to 100% in 2005/2006 and will continue to make further significant reductions this year, but all providers will still have to submit an annual self-assessment.

To further reduce the cost of regulation in future years, the Commission is now piloting two initiatives with private doctors and beauty salons. If successful, these will be rolled out to other provider groups.

The first charges private doctors an annual fee based on the assumption that no inspection is needed. As part of the pilot, the provider group is subject to a daily charge for any inspections needed.

The second pilot calculates fees at a corporate level rather than per location for certain types of private doctors and beauty salons.

Press release ~ Healthcare Commission - Independent healthcare (private and voluntary) ~ Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) ~ NHS Quality Improvement Scotland ~ Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW)

CEL: The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) has announced the establishment of annual awards to recognise & celebrate the work of organisations & individuals leading the learner voice agenda. The awards will be for individual learners & groups of learners, college practitioners, senior managers and provider organisations. Nominations will close on 11 May 2007.

Kat Fletcher, CEL’s leadership of learners strategic co-ordinator and former NUS president, said: "Every year, thousands of learners take on roles such as student governor, apprentice representative or student union officer. These awards will raise the profile of the important work they do, and will inspire others”.
Press release ~ Leaflet about awards ~ Post-conference website for the Leading Learners conference January 2007 ~ Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL)

ESRC: The real culprit for the collapse of Rover Group was a misconceived attempt to emulate Japanese production methods that pre-dated ownership by the German car giant, a new book shows.

Based on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the book - The Myth of Japanese Efficiency by Dan Coffey - says the “just-in-time” supply system at Rover; destroyed its manufacturing flexibility, increased its production costs and fuelled hostility within its factories towards its marketing plans.

The analysis of the collapse of Rover Group is one of many findings in a provocative book that challenges the commonly held view that Japanese car manufacturers pioneered a “lean & flexible” production model. Japanese producers were in fact laggards rather than leaders in the development of flexible assembly, which should instead be seen as an innovation in 1950s .
Press release ~ The Myth Of Japanese Efficiency ~ ESRC Society Today ~ Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University ~ National Skills Academy for Manufacturing ~ DTI – Manufacturing Forum ~ Auto motive Skills

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