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General News
BERR: Consumer Affairs Minister Gareth Thomas has issued an open letter to the independent garage sector calling on them to subscribe to the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair, which helps consumers to identify garages which are responsible & reliable businesses.
The code means that consumers can have confidence that participating garages adhere to high standards and will do their best to resolve complaints to customers' satisfaction if things go wrong. The code is currently working towards full OFT approval. To achieve this it will have to demonstrate that it is working effectively to protect consumers and that enough businesses are participating.
DH: Ten healthcare scientists from across England have been awarded research fellowships worth a total of over £1m for projects that will lead to improvements in patient care, Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), has announced.
The awards were the results of the first round of the new CSO Research Fellowship competition launched in September 2008 to support the development of research capacity in healthcare science in the NHS. The scheme is funded by the Department of Health and managed by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).
The successful projects include a range of healthcare science activities such as developing techniques to diagnose health conditions and improving patient care for cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular & respiratory disease. As well as supporting individual research programmes, the funding will support the postgraduate training needs of each research fellow.
TfL: Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has set out plans for an action-packed summer of cycling, designed to boost the numbers of people travelling by bike and pave the way for London's cycling revolution.
The popular Freewheel event (Sunday 20 September 2009), which attracted 50,000 people last year to cycle past London's iconic sites along a car-free route, will be made bigger & better, with an additional event bringing the concept to outer London, this year to the LB of Hounslow.
The popular Freewheel event (Sunday 20 September 2009), which attracted 50,000 people last year to cycle past London's iconic sites along a car-free route, will be made bigger & better, with an additional event bringing the concept to outer London, this year to the LB of Hounslow.
The Tour of Britain cycling race is returning to London and additionally Londoners of all ages are being challenged by the Mayor to get pedalling through a series of London 'cycle challenges', where workplaces & schools can compete based on the number of miles clocked up and the number of people they get cycling.
Press release ~ TfL - Cycling ~ London Freewheel ~ London Workplace Cycle Challenge (1 – 30 June 2009) ~ Schools cycle challenge (15 – 26 June 2009) ~ Cycle Training ~ 14 free cycle maps/guides ~ Bike Week (13 – 21 June 2009) ~ Tour of Britain
TfL: Transport for London (TfL) has published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) seeking expressions of interest from potential bidders for a new free morning newspaper distribution contract. The current 11 year contract held by Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Metro newspaper, concludes in March 2010.
This is the first stage in a competitive tender process for a new contract that will allow the concession holder to distribute free newspapers at approximately 250 Tube stations, up to 20 bus stations and a number of other locations across the TfL estate. It is expected that the new contract will be awarded in late 2009 for an approximate term of 7½ years.
STFC: Healthcare and the environment are just two of the many areas that will benefit from a new £145m research centre at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC’s) world-leading ISIS neutron source. After 5 years of construction, the new facility has opened its doors to a team of scientists from the STFC and Oxford University who are conducting the first experiment.
The joint team will carry out work expected to lead to significant advances in understanding the workings of everything from cell membranes to the practical chemistry of fabric conditioners.
Neutrons play a vital role in offering analysis techniques for research on subjects as varied as clean energy & the environment, pharmaceuticals and health care, through to nanotechnology, materials engineering and IT. Neutron beams at ISIS can be used like ‘super x-rays’ to study materials at the atomic level
Press release ~ Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC’s) ~ ISIS Second Target Station project ~ ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source
OFT: The Office of Fair Trading is today warning consumers about vehicle matching scams which cost UK consumers nearly £3m every year. Vehicle matching scams work by approaching consumers selling their cars and promising falsely to match them with definite buyers.
Typically, the seller is cold-called by phone once they have placed an advert in a magazine, on a website or in a newspaper. They are promised that a buyer exists for their vehicle but are required to pay a matcher's fee up front before the sale is completed. However in many cases there is no buyer, the contract with the vehicle matcher cannot be cancelled, and any money paid is lost.
There has been a concentration of these scam companies operating from around North London and Hertfordshire and several recent enforcement cases have been successfully brought against these rogue traders by trading standards.
Press release ~ OFT ~ Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group ~ UK European Consumer Centre ~ European Consumer Centre, Dublin ~ Consumer Direct – Vehicle matching
TfL: Commenting on RMT leadership’s proposed strike action, LU Chief Operating Officer, Howard Collins, said: "The RMT leadership has failed to engage in any meaningful talks on pay, instead submitting a wildly unrealistic claim - demanding a five per cent pay rise for fewer hours in the middle of a recession. On jobs, the RMT leadership knows full well we are seeking to end the duplication of back office jobs and that no front line staff will be affected”.
London Underground has offered staff a deal of a 1% pay increase in year one of a new deal, with increases of RPI + 0.5% in years two to five.
According to TfL, the RMT leadership has said that a pay increase of anything less than 5% would be ‘simply unacceptable’. Amongst other things, RMT has also demanded a reduction in working hours without loss of pay and improved travel facilities.
MSC: The operation to finally remove the remaining section of the 'MSC Napoli' is now underway. Earlier this year the salvor, Global Response Maritime, successfully positioned 12 lifting chains under the wreck and is now making preparations to lift the remaining hull section to the surface for demolition & recycling.
It is anticipated that the wreck will be removed from the site by the end of August 2009. A temporary exclusion zone (TEZ) of 500 metres around the wreck remains in place.
Press release ~ MSC Napoli incident - The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s response ~ Maritime and Coastguard Agency ~ Secretary of State's Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention (SOSREP) ~ Local Inquiry
WAG: Welsh scientists are working on an exciting & highly innovative research project to turn grass into a green transport fuel. The £1m ‘Grassohol’ research project aims to develop commercially & economically viable processes to make ethanol from perennial ryegrass – the most commonly sown grass in the UK which is normally used for grazing or silage.
Ryegrasses with high extractable sugar contents will be utilised in the project, which will examine the best methods of extracting & fermenting the sugar and of maximising yields & rates of ethanol production. The dried residue after fermentation & distillation is rich in protein and has the potential to be converted into animal feed.
One hectare of grassland could produce up to 4,500 litres of ethanol and it is envisaged that local refineries could be established on farms at a similar scale of production to wine co-operatives. In Wales, 1.04m hectares - 62% of the available land - is permanent grassland providing a readily available resource that can be harvested over a long season.
Ryegrasses are commonly grown with white clover which fixes nitrogen into the soil and acts as a natural fertiliser. This lowers production costs as well as reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with fertiliser manufacture.
Press release ~ Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University ~ Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research ~ Aber Instruments ~ Wynnstay Group ~ Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) programme ~ WAG – Environmental Research programme ~ Environment Research Programme
TfL: Victoria Coach Station has become the first organisation in the transport sector to achieve the Government's Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard. The standard recognises excellence in customer service and the Coach Station was assessed against a wide range of criteria including customer satisfaction, complaint resolution and the professionalism of staff.
The Coach Station received particular commendation for the way it handles complaints, which the assessor said indicated 'a dedication to getting things right for the customer.'
CSE replaces the former Charter Mark scheme, which the Coach Station has held since 1994. CSE is awarded for 3 years and annual follow-up checks will ensure standards are being maintained and improvements put in place where possible.
MoD: The MoD has announced that hundreds of councils right across the country will raise a flag in June to support Britain's first ever Armed Forces Day. In addition to more than 450 local authorities, over 2,000 members of the public, businesses & schools will also fly official Armed Forces Day flags to join the celebrations to honour Britain's Armed Forces - past, present and future.
The specially designed flags, based on the Union Jack, will be raised together, in ceremonies across the country at 10.30am on Monday 22 June. This will mark the beginning of a week of events leading up to Armed Forces Day on Saturday 27 June. Purchases of the AFD flag include a donation of £1 to the Forces Children's Trust, a charity devoted to helping dependent children who have lost a parent who was serving with the Armed Forces.
The centrepiece of the inaugural annual AFD will be an event at the historic dockyard at Chatham, Kent, where there will be fly-pasts by the Red Arrows & veterans of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, military displays, and celebration parades. Members of the public will also have the chance to try their hand at a whole host of activities, from assault courses to digger driving.
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