.gif)
General Reports and Other Publications
CRC: The Commission for Rural Communities are pleased to support the publication of Nice work if you can get it: Achieving a sustainable solution to low pay and in-work poverty, published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Low pay & in-work poverty are persistent features in some rural labour markets. In-work poverty is increasing and this report highlights a need to address the prevalence of low skilled, low paid jobs in rural areas.
Press release ~
ScotGov: A new map highlighting 'hot spots', where confirmed poisoning of birds of prey has taken place over the last five years in Scotland, has been published. The Government-verified map marks agreement among Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW), Scotland's partner organisations on the size & general location of the problem of poisonings.
Led by PAW Scotland members RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA), the new map was compiled using data held by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA). The final result displays the number & frequency of confirmed poisoning incidents over the past 5 years.
Press release ~ Map: Birds of Prey incidents reported in Scotland in 2004-2008 ~ Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW) ~ RSPB Scotland ~ Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) ~ Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA) ~ National Birds of Prey centre
MoD: The Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) is a major IT programme which the Mod claims is already delivering benefits to the UK's front-line troops and to the wider Ministry of Defence (MoD). It is one of the largest IT projects in Europe and will provide a single, secure and coherent computer infrastructure across the whole of Defence while maintaining essential operational continuity.
The MoD claims that a new Public Accounts Committee report acknowledges that the performance of the DII programme has improved. However, rapid improvement to the current 4,300 terminals a month rollout will be needed if the Department’s latest deadlines are to be met.
The PCS union who have 16,000 members in the MoD welcomed the PAC report by the, which they claim heavily criticises the MoD's £7bn DII project and which they say highlights concerns previously identified by PCS that DII suffered from bad planning from the start and was now 18 months behind schedule with programme costs having already overrun by £182m.
It also pointed out that ATLAS, led by EDS, had delivered less than half of the software designed to run on the new system and that MoD staff were dissatisfied with the new system. The report also highlighted that the delays in implementing DII had increased the risks that one of the MoD’s legacy systems could fail and also pointed to concerns over the security aspects of DII and the MoD’s record on data loss.
Press release ~ Public Accounts Committee: Defence Information Infrastructure ~ NAO: Delivering Successful IT-Enabled Business Change ~ Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) ~ Computer Weekly article about delays ~ PCS press release
ScotGov: The Scottish Government has published its response to the Council of Economic Advisers' (CEA) First Annual Report. First Minister Alex Salmond said that one of the recommendations, borrowing powers for the Scottish Parliament alongside the Government's six point economic recovery plan, would help Scotland emerge from the economic downturn stronger and more competitive.
Press release ~ Council of Economic Advisers' (CEA) ~ First Annual report ~ Government response ~ The Scottish Economic Recovery Programme
OFT: The OFT has published the evaluation report of its consumer education toolkit 'Skilled to Go', whichwas launched in June 2008 and which aims to help adult learners develop consumer skills such as writing a letter of complaint, buying goods such as a mobile phone, and calculating discounts on products.
‘Skilled to Go' offers learning resources for teachers in the form of activities such as games, quizzes, listening & video activities, a range of tactile materials as well as comprehensive teacher notes and background consumer information.
Almost half of further education colleges in the UK have now signed up to use 'Skilled to Go' on the OFT website, and the toolkit is now being used in secondary schools in Scotland. The toolkit is free to users and is designed to increase the consumer confidence and knowledge of learners.
