UK News

One of the best labour markets in the world - Browne

Mar 17: Speaking on Budget day, Des Browne welcomed figures showing more
people in work, fewer people unemployed and more vacancies. He said:

"The UK has one of the best labour markets in the world, with the
highest employment and lowest unemployment of the major world
economies. Employment is high across the country: every region has
an employment rate above the EU average."

"The continued strength of the UK economy under this government means
the number of people in work has hit a new record high. We are close
to achieving our ambition of three quarters of working age people in
jobs."

The latest labour market statistics show the improvement in
employment continues. In November-January 2004 there were 121
thousand more people in work than in the previous quarter and 262
thousand more than a year ago. There are now 28.27 million people in
work in the UK, the highest figure ever recorded. The employment
rate is 74.8 per cent, up from 74.6 per cent a year ago.

"Unemployment is at its lowest for nearly thirty years. The even
better news is that with the number of new vacancies continuing to
grow, we can help more people realise their aspiration of returning
to work," Des Browne continued.

The internationally recognised ILO measure of unemployment fell by 33
thousand this quarter, to 1.44 million. The number of unemployed
claimants is 885,000, down 6,600 in February. Both these figures are
the lowest since 1975.

"With unemployment historically low, we still face some big
challenges. Even in today's strong labour market, many of those who
remain out of work have stopped looking for a job and become
economically inactive. We are doing better than many other countries
in tackling this problem. Through Jobcentre Plus, we are helping
more and more people overcome the barriers that have prevented them
looking for and taking up work." -Keralamonitor.com

More women neighbourhood wardens needed - Cooper

Mar 17: Women Neighbourhood Wardens from around the country were praised
today by Yvette Cooper, Minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister. She was speaking at a two-day ODPM-funded conference in
London, designed to encourage more women into the vocation.

Neighbourhood wardens are the friendly-face of regeneration, working
to improve quality of life in their communities by engaging with
residents and local agencies to resolve problems such as anti-social
behaviour, graffiti and litter.

Southwark Council, who co-hosted the conference with ODPM, is not
only extending wardens across the borough, but has a good
representation of women in the team, including 38 per cent of its
wardens and a female scheme manager.

Yvette Cooper said:
"Women Neighbourhood Wardens are making a real difference in local
areas. But there just aren't enough of them. I want to see more
women coming forward to make their communities safer and better
places to live."

Yvette Cooper highlighted research based on 84 warden schemes, which
shows facts about the numbers of wardens:
* Women still only represent 29 per cent of wardens in these schemes,
less than one in three;
* But the number of women wardens is increasing;
* There are now 89 women wardens in the evaluation schemes, compared
to 64 at the beginning of the research period.

The Minister also highlighted the reasons why recruiting more women
is beneficial to warden schemes:
* They are more likely to prioritise community-orientated activities
and work with hard-to-reach groups, such as young mothers, minority
ethnic groups, truants and victims of substance abuse;
* Women wardens also make working with victims of crime a priority -
88% of schemes with women wardens visit crime victims, compared to
53% of schemes without women;
* They are also more likely to: work across different age groups,
strengthen the voice of residents and build links between residents
and service agencies;
* Schemes with more female wardens tend to have a greater mix in
terms of gender, age and ethnicity.

The 300 delegates at today's conference heard from colleagues' own
personal experiences.

Amanda Broomhall from the Swindon scheme became a warden when she was
a single mother of two young children, living on income support. She
wanted to make a difference to the community in which her children
were growing up. Amanda Broomhall told the conference:

"Swindon advertised part-time warden positions with family friendly
hours for the estate where I lived. When I was appointed, I found
the other wardens were of all ages and backgrounds, but with one
thing in common - we all wanted to make a difference.

"Swindon has recognised that women are valuable asset to the
Neighbourhood Warden movement, and we are proud to say that we now
outnumber the men in our scheme."

Also attending the conference, were a mother and daughter from the
Safer Merthyr Tydfil wardens scheme. Faye Griffiths did work
experience at the scheme, had her people skills noticed and decided
that wardening was the job for her. Her mother Diane had previously
worked with the disabled and also in a call centre, and decided to
retrain as a warden after seeing how satisfying Faye found her work.
Now Faye's younger sister Kayleigh is planning to become a junior
warden when the scheme is launched in Merthyr this summer.

Diane Griffiths said:
"Both residents and wardens get satisfaction from having us on the
estates. We enjoy our work and our friendly, outgoing approach is
what people want to see in their community." -Keralamonitor.com

Lord Whitty launches Horticulture centres of excellence

Mar 17: The first of two agreements which create new centres of excellence
for horticulture research in the UK was signed today by Defra
Minister Larry Whitty.

Following a restructuring of Horticulture Research International
(HRI), from 1 April HRI will operate as two independent organisations
- Warwick-HRI, part of the University of Warwick, and East Malling
Research in Kent.

Defra is investing over £50million in the new organisations which
includes:

* £36.2 million for Warwick-HRI over eight years for research and
development

* £1.3 million for Warwick-HRI over five years to maintain the
Vegetable Gene Bank at Wellesbourne

* £12.3 million for East Malling Research over six years for research
and development.

Lord Whitty today signed an agreement establishing East Malling
Research, and will sign the agreement for Warwick HRI on 19 March.

Lord Whitty said:

"This will provide a secure platform for research and development to
benefit the UK horticulture industry. HRI can now look forward to a
stable future, and concentrate on what it does best - delivering high
quality science for the benefit of the horticulture industry and
others. The new HRI will be better placed to exploit new
opportunities, forge new alliances, and respond to the needs of
industry." -Keralamonitor.com

MOD awards MBDA £36 million Rapier support contract

Mar 17: The Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) has awarded MBDA a five year
contract to manage all the support services for the Rapier mobile air
defence system, in service with both the Army and Royal Air Force.

Rapier Field Standard C (FSC) provides Low Level Air Defence over the
battlefield. The system consists of a launcher with eight
ready-to-fire missiles and an electro-optical tracker. An all-weather
system and highly resistant to electronic countermeasures, Rapier FSC
is capable of engaging enemy aircraft and cruise missiles: each fire
unit can cover an Air Defence Area of approximately 100km square.

Under the terms of the contract, MBDA will look after all the
repairable and consumable Rapier FSC system assets, with
responsibility for the total management, warehousing, distribution
and replenishment of all stocks. MBDA will also be responsible for
delivery to the UK mainland and to airheads when deployed overseas,
together with the calibration and maintenance of all second-line test
equipment.

Major General Mike Huntley DLO Director General for Equipment Support
(Land), said:

"The Rapier support contract will enable the DLO to obtain best value
for taxpayers. This contract will assure support to both the Army and
RAF of what is widely considered one of the best air defence systems
in the world, through making best use of industry's strengths." -Keralamonitor.com

One million names behind charity aims

Mar 17: The Charity Commission today announced a further development in its
drive to provide more information on the Register of charities. From
1 April this year, charity details on the online Register will start
to include the names of charities' trustees. Although this will be
the first time this information has been available on the web it has
previously been publicly available to anyone viewing the Central
Register files. There are over a million charity trustees in England
and Wales and this move follows consultation with the sector in
2001-2.

Some charities have yet to provide us with this information but we
hope to eventually have comprehensive trustee details for most
charities. Some types of charities, such as Women's Refuges, have
permission from the Commission not to have their trustees' details
included, and this exclusion will continue.

The Commission's Director of Operations, Simon Gillespie said:

"There are over 200,000 searches to the online Register every month,
and we know how important it is to make information about charities
available. This is another step towards greater openness and
transparency for charities, enabling the general public to identify
who is running a particular charity." -Keralamonitor.com

 

Beckett welcomes sustainable budget

Mar 17: Today's Budget from Chancellor Gordon Brown boosts Defra's central
aim of sustainable development by balancing economic growth, social
progress and protection of the environment.

Key announcements include:

* An opportunity for new industries to opt into the climate change
agreement scheme.

* A package of measures to promote household energy-efficiency
including a reduced rate of VAT for ground source heat pumps; and
incentives for the private rented sector to invest in energy
efficiency.

* An increase in general fuel duty rates from September so as to
incentivise the early introduction of sulphur free fuels.

* Three year certainty for duty rates on low carbon alternative fuels
such as biofuels and road fuel gases.

* A commitment to consult on support measures for biofuels such as
enhanced capital allowances, an input tax and a biofuels obligation.

* Plans to introduce lorry road user charging confirmed.

Welcoming these measures, Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said:

"The Chancellor has delivered a sustainable Budget which is good news
for the environment, the economy and everyone's quality of life. It
gives an across-the-board boost for our ambitious agenda of tackling
climate change through national and international action.

"We welcome the Chancellor's commitment to consult on the Barker
Review to see how it can be used, including to safeguard the
environment." -Keralamonitor.com

£100 budget boost for over 70s

Mar 17: Britain's over 70s are to enjoy a cash boost of an extra £100 this
year. All households with someone aged 70 or over will receive £100
in addition to any other entitlement they are already receiving.

The announcement was made recognising that for many pensioners their
Council Tax bill can take up a large percentage of a fixed income.

The new money is on top of the Winter Fuel Payment where households
with someone 70 or over will get a total of £300 (including £200
winter fuel allowance) and every household in the country with a
pensioner 80 or over will get £400 (including the enhanced £300
winter fuel payment that they will receive).

It was also announced that pensioners who apply for Pension Credit
after October will have their entitlement fully backdated for up to
12 months. Backdating was previously planned to be restricted to
three months from October this year.

Secretary of State Andrew Smith said:

"This budget builds on the Government's commitment to tackle
pensioner poverty and provide our pensioners with additional security
and peace of mind. We know that the recent council tax increases have
strained pensioners' finances in those authorities that have chosen
to levy big rises. So the extra £100 for the over 70s will make a big
difference.

"With the Pension Credit reforms, over a million pensioners are
entitled to extra Council Tax benefit and as it is rolled out we are
ensuring that many pensioners are getting help paying their Council
Tax bills for the first time.

"I am delighted that we will extend the period of backdating for
eligible Pension Credit applications to twelve months. It underpins
our desire to ensure no pensioner misses out on the help available to
them."

Alongside these measures, it was announced that employers providing
access to pensions information and advice to employees worth up to
£150 per person per year, will now be able to do so tax free.

Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks said:

"This new tax break gives an important new incentive for employers to
provide pensions advice for their staff. The workplace is the key
route for information and advice on pensions and we announced pilots
last month that will test how we can use it most effectively. We will
be working with employers and the financial services industry to take
these forward. -Keralamonitor.com