Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

Newswire – CIPD: The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), have launched the Government’s Common Best Practice Code for High-Quality Internships.  It is designed as a guideline for organisations seeking to ensure fair, open and high-quality internships as a means of improving social mobility and enabling organisations to access wider talent pools.

The event also launched Professions for Good (P4G), a group of professional bodies representing over 1m professionals worldwide from the human resources, legal, accountancy, property & engineering professions.  It aims to further understanding of the professions’ contribution to the UK economy & society and the importance of fair access to these professions to ensure the recruitment of top talent (regardless of background).
Press release ~ Common Best Practice Code for High-Quality Internships ~ Internships that work: A guide for employers
 
HMT: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Minister for the Cabinet Office have published a new Code for corporate governance which will apply to central government departments and will help enhance their transparency & accountability.
Press release & links
 
DH: A new resource to ‘support clinical commissioning groups in designing and purchasing high quality dementia services’ was launched last week by Care Services, Minister Paul Burstow. The dementia commissioning pack provides a set of tools & templates for health & local authority commissioners, helping them to design services that are suited to local needs and are cost effective.
 
It supports planning across the whole spectrum of dementia, from early diagnosis to end of life care, together with guidance on how to reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medication.
Press release ~ Dementia Commissioning Pack
 
Newswire – FRC: The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) and Auditing Practices Board (APB) of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have reconfirmed that the true & fair view remains of fundamental importance in both UK GAAP and IFRS.  A paper published for preparers & auditors explains the continuing primacy of the true and fair requirement and its relevance to preparers, those charged with governance and auditors.
Press release & links
 
EMA: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced new guidelines for the use of pioglitazone, which can be found in the medicines Actos, Glustin, Competact, Glubrava and Tandemact.  Actos is used along with diet & exercise to control blood glucose levels in adults with Type 2 diabetes.  The announcement follows recent studies which indicate a small increased risk of developing bladder cancer.
Press release & links
 
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has changed its precautionary advice to consumers following the recent outbreaks of E. coli O104:H4 in Germany and France linked to sprouted seeds. Consumers are advised to follow the on-pack instructions.  Caterers are also advised that they should source their supplies of sprouted seeds from producers that have recognised food safety and quality control systems in place.
Press release & links
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