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February 2006 |
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The advice often given to would-be presenters is that apologies should never be made during a presentation – privately afterwards if you must, but not during, and certainly never at the beginning. Does this advice hold true for editorials? I'm going to break the rules if it does – probably not for the first time. I am sorry that this issue of Members' Update is rather later than you would normally have received it. In mitigation (in other words I'm making excuses) there are two factors that have contributed to this.
First is that I'm now working from home about 90% of the time and only have a minimal presence in Britannia House. Pippa is still there answering the phone, dealing with your queries, updating publications and doing all the other jobs that an administrator-cum-PA does in an office – but the space is primarily occupied by the company that Pippa works for in the afternoons, The Accounting Bureau Ltd.
Second, just as I was putting the articles together last weekend (of 4/5 March), expecting to get it all done and dusted for Monday morning as usual, I went down with a bad cold – which then went to bronchitis. What with being surrounded by unpacked boxes and coughing and spluttering most of the time I gave up and hibernated for nearly a week.
Writing this editorial is always the last thing I do since I often react to what is eventually included (or left out). Getting towards the end means producing the "index" (which is more of a broad categorisation than a true index) and that needs to be spell-checked – before I send the final draft to the proof-reader (which is rather like tidying the house before the cleaner arrives). Doing that this time it struck me that we in this wonderful world of careers guidance (which includes information on almost anything you can think of) contains a large number of jargon terms and with every issue I add at least one word to the list of "I don't recognise this". There does not seem to be any authority for some of these hybrid words such a "coursework". Is it really one word? Please, "a reader", yes, you in Merseyside, set me right on this – and, while you're at it, is it "childcare" or "child care", "headteacher" or "head teacher", "lifeskills or "life skills"?
Were you on a desert island last month? If so you will have missed the high-profile media coverage given to the "gender pay gap" issue. Dawn and I have, deliberately as usual, tried hard to bring you both the official version as in a reference to the press release or other central government pronouncement and also comments on any less obvious facets of the issue. Finding these less obvious comments is Dawn's job – I just put it all together at the end of each month and try to ensure a balance. Sometimes, of course, we don't achieve our objective even with a high-profile issue. Which reminds me that I must ask readers in Northern Ireland what is going on in that part of the UK. We regularly look at and skim – no-one can actually read all the newspapers and journals – the Belfast Telegraph and each week for some time now Dawn has sent me a cryptic email which says something along the lines of "not even a sausage" or some such. Bear in mind that "absence of evidence" should not translate into "evidence of absence" but into "we have found no evidence of any activity in Northern Ireland in which readers in other parts of the UK would be interested". Was there any? Likewise did anything specific happen in Wales?
A G Watts (Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby)
Prior to the 1990s, the basic structures of career guidance services were broadly similar across the UK. But the marketisation of careers services that took place under the Conservative government in the mid-1990s went further in England than elsewhere. This helped to pave the way for the markedly different directions followed post-devolution, with England seeking horizontal integration of services for young people and adults respectively, whereas Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have emphasised vertical integration of career guidance services on an all-age basis. Some sectors have been affected less by devolution than others. It is suggested that the model adopted in England has already weakened the structures for career guidance provision, and is currently at risk of weakening them still further. The relative size of England means that these weaknesses could have ripple effects on the other home countries too – in relation to professional training and professional status, for example. Existing collaborative mechanisms need to be strengthened, and a culture of mutual learning enhanced, if the potential benefits of diversification are to be fostered and its potential risks avoided. (Original abstract)
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume
34 Number 1 (February 2006)
Cathy Howieson (Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh) and Sheila Semple (Centre for Studies in Enterprise, Career Development and Work, University of Strathclyde)
Devolution of powers to Scotland has accentuated pre-existing divergence from the rest of the UK with respect to education, training and career guidance provision. Scotland now has an all-age national careers service – Careers Scotland. It is suggested that it is unlikely that a national, publicly-funded careers agency would have been established in the absence of devolution. The article outlines the development of career guidance in Scotland over the last 25 years and how the pre-existing Scottish context and the new context of devolution have impacted upon it. The role of Careers Scotland and its relationship with other providers of career guidance in Scotland are examined. Other key issues considered include: the allocation of resources based on need; relationships with local authorities and schools; and training and professional identities in an increasingly diverse UK guidance context. (Original abstract)
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume
34 Number 1 (February 2006)
Moira McCarthy and Rob Millar (School of Psychology, University of Ulster)
The history of careers guidance in Northern Ireland has many similarities but also many differences from experiences in other parts of the UK. The Careers Service has remained within central government for the duration, and this has provided a degree of consistency in service provision over time. In line with the Department for Employment and Learning's Corporate Plan for 2005-2008, the new Careers Service for Northern Ireland will aspire to be an all-age guidance service. The development of careers education provision in the education sector is examined, as is the emergence of adult guidance as a province-wide provision. Issues considered include staffing, training, evaluation, targeting need, the merits and demerits of locating the Careers Service within the Civil Service, and potentially conflicting responsibilities to clients and to the employing department. (Original abstract)
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume
34 Number 1 (February 2006)
Mike Clark and John Talbot (School of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan)
Deregulation of the LEA Careers Service followed by the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 led, through consultation, to the establishment of a bi-lingual all-age career guidance service under the banner of Careers Wales. The article traces the history of career guidance in Wales from 1974, showing how it has taken a very different path to England, gaining a positive outcome from an independent review of Careers Wales in 2004 and an accolade from the OECD. Current strengths, especially the innovative use of technology, are explored, and challenges for the future are investigated, including the contributions of other guidance providers. Priority is currently being given to the development of common pan-Wales standards. The need for a stronger research culture is recognised. Most crucial of all, in the authors' opinion, is the maintenance of client entitlement in the face of financial restrictions. (Original abstract)
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume
34 Number 1 (February 2006)
An article on the BMJ Career Focus website offers tips on learning to play golf. Apparently, we should all learn, because "at some point in your career your boss will be a keen golfer". If you really want the advice (which, if you ask me, boils down to "take some lessons and buy some decent kit") then the article is here: http://tinyurl.com/q67dc
BMJ website 17 February
Update comment: "What's it to be then, Boss? Golf or Scrabble?" Dawn "Neither is fine by me, but isn't this trivialising career planning?" Hazel
M Rachel Mulvey (School of Psychology, University of East London)
This paper tackles three challenges: first, to sketch the history of career guidance provision in England over the last 25 years; second, to identify what the current structure of career guidance in England is; and finally, to analyse the key issues and challenges which career guidance in England now faces. Whilst its earlier history in this field was in step with the other constituent countries of the United Kingdom, the path taken by England in more recent times (notably the last decade) has diverged, this divergence being exacerbated by a relentless quest for target achievement. England now stands alone in eschewing an all-age guidance service. It is argued that the current situation in England is a fretwork of polarities across which policy is stretched, leading to tension and incoherence. (Original abstract)
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume
34 Number 1 (February 2006)
A code of practice on web accessibility is to be published on 8 March by the British Standards Institution. The publicly available specification (PAS) was commissioned by the Disability Rights Commission and is aimed at website commissioners and developers. PAS 78 – Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites could become a full British Standard in around two years.
E-Access Bulletin Issue 74 (February 2006)
More
information: http://tinyurl.com/zh6gn
Update comment: More information available next month on this.
An accessible version of the popular mathematical puzzle Sudoku, "Sudo-San", has been released by AudioGames.net. "Mentor" Grandmaster San guides players by speaking the contents of a row, column or square. The game also features optional background sounds and music which change gradually as the player progresses.
E-Access Bulletin Issue 74 (February 2006)
URL:
www.audiogames.net/sudosan
A new Disability Equality Partnership has been established to provide support to higher education institutions in promoting equality of opportunity for disabled students. The partnership, which comprises Action on Access (AoA), the Higher Education Academy and the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), will offer an integrated approach to widening participation, learning and teaching and the promotion of equal opportunities for disabled students.
Working Brief Number 171 (February 2006)
More
information:
www.heacademy.ac.uk/news/20_3979.htm
Disabled people will have the chance to work directly with the government as part of a new Advisory Group set up to help establish a national forum representing the interests of disabled people in policy and services. A group of 12 people with direct experience of the issues facing disabled people has been appointed to an Advisory Group that will engage directly with the government. They will make recommendations over the next six months, helping to set up a national forum for disabled people.
DWP press release 27 February
More information:
www.officefordisability.gov.uk/
Yorkshire Bank is the first English bank to introduce talking cash machines to its branches, following successful trials of the technology. Talking ATMs enable vision-impaired customers to hear details of their accounts and transactions spoken through a standard set of headphones when plugged into a socket on the front of the machine. The new machines will be phased in as older equipment is replaced.
E-Access Bulletin Issue 74 (February 2006)
This report from the London School of Economics and Political Science argues that a lack of qualifications, training and experience, financial disincentives, inaccessible transport, and employers' perceptions are all barriers facing disabled people when they try to enter the jobs market. It is not just rates of job entry that are lower among disabled people, but rates of job retention as well. It is "prime" working-age disabled men who experience the least favourable labour market progression. The report argues that as attention among policy-makers is turning towards disabled people aged 50 years or more in government initiatives, these findings should sound a note of caution. At least in terms of labour market progression, it is disabled men aged 26 to 49 years and not older disabled men who fare least well.
Skills and Education Network Newsletter
Issue 45
(February 2006)
Labour market disadvantage amongst disabled people: a
longitudinal perspective (PDF 38pp)
http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/CASEpaper103.pdf
The DWP has updated its estimates which show there are over 10 million disabled people in Britain, including people with limiting longstanding illnesses, of which, 4.6 million are over State Pension Age and 700,000 are children. The annual spending power of disabled adults is unchanged and is still around £80 billion. Both estimates use data from the Family Resources Survey.
DWP press release 9 February
The Adult Learning Inspectorate has condemned the quality and provision of education for adults with learning difficulties. In its latest report, Greater expectations?, the ALI says that an endemic failure to keep track of where learners go, particularly when they drop out of learning, has inhibited the development of "defined pathways for learners to meaningful outcomes". The Inspectorate said that the poor level of provision is "most evident for those learners who are unlikely ever to be able to live independently". Bert Massie, Chair of the Disability Rights Commission, said that both educators and employers must "ratchet up" their expectations of disabled people. He said: "This is a wake-up call for the adult learning sector. Public money is being wasted because of a lazy fatalism about what disabled people can achieve."
Steve Hook, The TES FE Focus 3 March
Campaigners have criticised the government for failing to make its Welfare Reform Green Paper accessible to people with learning difficulties. The paper has not been issued in an easy-to-read format and the DWP admits that this version will "take a little while" to produce. The publication of Braille and large-print versions has also been delayed. A spokesperson for MENCAP said: "How are people supposed to respond to a consultation document they can't read?"
Community Care 9-15 February
The Learning for Living Consortium – led by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) – is to launch a comprehensive suite of guidance documents for anyone working with adults who have learning difficulties or disabilities and who are learning literacy, language and numeracy. The guidance documents, which include a set of eight accompanying DVDs, were developed through consultation with a variety of providers and practitioners in colleges, care settings, day centres, prisons and offender institutions, work-based learning and voluntary and community organisations. Listening to the learner has been one of the key principles underpinning the guidance because people are more likely to engage in learning if they can see what the benefits are and how it relates to their lives.
The complete Learning for Living suite of guidance will be launched at three events during March 2006 and will be available free from Department for Education and Skills Publications.
NIACE press release 2 March
Introducing the latest discussion paper from the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), its Chair Bert Massie said: "The inequality experienced by disabled people affects us all. It stands between this government and the ability to achieve its core ambitions for Britain. Our historic approach to disability has institutionalised low expectations. Just as disability is at the heart of dealing with the major challenges of today, it will have a huge part to play in shaping the future." The paper, Changing Britain For Good, sets out the DRC's ten priorities for action to tackle "the most deep-rooted and persistent sources of inequality facing people with impairments and long-term health conditions and thereby positively transforming the experience of disabled people in Britain for good." They are:
Disability Rights Commission 1 February
More
information:
www.drc.org.uk/disabilitydebate/more/ten_priorities/
Editor: Lillian Edwards
Price: £35
ISBN: 1-84113-451-1
Publisher: Hart Publishing
This book is a collection of essays by specialists in e-commerce and internet law, examining the legal ramifications of existing European electronic commerce statutes, with a focus on the UK. Part I examines various sections of the EU's Electronic Commerce Directive. Part II includes discussions of EC Electronic Money Directive 2000, VAT on Electronic Services Directive 2002/38/ED, Distance Selling Directive 1977, Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive 2002, Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice and Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000, and Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Appendices include the text of the legislation. The book is designed to meet the needs of legal practitioners, industry professionals, academics, and students.
Thanks to Wilson Web for this
A pressure group is urging the government to withhold contracts for the 77% of companies that ignore their legal duty to operate equality practices for people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities. Committed2Equality (C2E), an organisation set up to examine discrimination laws, said most companies paid lip service to the law, and the situation for many minorities seeking work is as bad as ever. Janet Lakhani, C2E's Chief Executive, argued: "With a government committed to increase employment for disadvantaged groups it is glaringly obvious; they should expect their suppliers to meet legal and statutory obligations. Supplying the public sector is big business. Over 330,000 businesses rely on income from either central or local government."
Duncan Campbell, The Guardian 17 February
Public sector purchasers should buy only from contractors that promote gender equality and meet equal pay requirements, according to recommendations from the Women at Work Commission. The Commission, headed by Baroness Prosser, said a requirement to promote equal pay "should be flagged up in contract documents to ensure it is built into contractors' plans".
Andrew Taylor, Employment Correspondent, The Financial Times 28 February
Ben Lupton, Manchester Metropolitan University
This article seeks to add to an understanding of why some men enter female-concentrated occupations (and why the majority do not). Drawing on the results of in-depth interviews with 27 men in a range of occupations, the author illustrates and interprets the complex and often contradictory ways in which men approach the notion of working in female-concentrated occupations. He examines the impact that this has on their occupational outcomes. The data suggest that different attitudes to female-concentrated work cannot in themselves explain men's presence there. Consequently the author explores, with particular reference to social class, the context in which attitudes around gender, work and occupational destinations are framed. He concludes that men's entry to female-concentrated occupations may best be approached, not as an issue of "masculinity", but as one of social mobility operating within a gendered labour market. (Original abstract)
Gender, Work and Organization
Volume 13 Issue 2
(March 2006)
Breaking down a gender-segregated labour market is crucial as it links directly to career prospects, promotional chances and pay differentials between men and women. There is increased recognition among major industrial organisations that with major technical advances combined with equality legislation there is no logical reason why occupations should remain stereotyped in this way. However, with well-documented reports citing sexual discrimination and long-standing barriers facing those who might be interested in atypical work, it becomes increasingly essential to understand why women and men would want to enter non-traditional fields of employment with all the various disadvantages associated with it. This report, by Valerie Dale, looks at the findings from a small-scale research study carried out by the Learning & Skills Council (LSC), Somerset, between April and July 2005. The research explored the motivation behind career choices.
LSC email update 25 February
Full report (PDF 40pp) http://tinyurl.com/lx9zx
In an article for the Guardian (28 February) Polly Toynbee criticises the Women and Work Commission report. Ms Toynbee argues that the report perpetuates a culture which blames the gender pay gap on women's lack of ambition, their unwillingness to be employed in a masculine job and their propensity to work part-time and give birth. She maintains that one of the most significant factors underpinning the pay gap is that the work traditionally viewed as "female" is not valued in the same way as "male" work. She writes: "A woman feeding, bathing and caring for hosts of frail old people in a nursing home is still paid much less than a man coasting his forklift truck round a warehouse. Women's work has always been undervalued because it is women's work. The tradition hardwired into pay structures is that women do what comes naturally, cooking, cleaning, caring: not worthy of bread-winning pay."
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/fob8m
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), a new body to put equality at the heart of modern Britain, received the go-ahead when the Equality Act gained Royal Assent. The CEHR will be created by merging the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission from October 2007 and the Commission for Racial Equality from 2009. The CEHR will work with partners to find new, more effective ways to give everyone in society the chance to achieve their full potential. Improved advice and information through the single CEHR will also be available to businesses.
HRLook Daily News, 17 February
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has launched a three-month consultation on the Gender Equality Duty. The Gender Equality Duty will come into force in April 2007 and is a key component of the DTI's Equality Bill. The Duty will require public bodies to eliminate sex discrimination and promote equality throughout their services, policies, and employment and recruitment practices – responding to the sometimes different needs of men and women. The new law therefore has the potential to transform public services – including health care, transport and education – and help close the pay gap between women and men. From an employment perspective, the new law will require public bodies to collect a broader range of information about equal pay, sexual harassment, occupational segregation, fair promotion and development opportunities and family-friendly working arrangements – and take action to address the issues found. This should lead to more efficient and effective public services.
The online consultation will run from 15 February to 15 May 2006. A series of regional events will also be held between February and March, to explain the detail and implications of the legislation and to enable discussion and feedback. The EOC is also looking for organisations and networks willing to promote the consultation process to their members and invite them to participate, via email bulletins, websites, newsletters or promoting the consultation at events.
EOC press release 14 February
More details: www.eoc.org.uk/genderduty
The Women and Work Commission is right to reject compulsory equal pay audits and to focus instead on the complex web of issues that contribute to the persistent gender pay gap, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Equal pay audits alone will not reduce disparities between men and women in the workplace. It is only when employers explore the underlying issues that processes can be improved and fairness achieved, the Institute argues. Dianah Worman, CIPD Diversity Adviser, comments: "Legislation is often seen as the main lever for change with reference to discrimination in the workplace but those arguing for compulsory pay audits need to recognise that it is not always the answer. It can often lead to lowest common denominator solutions to complex problems. Legislation alone will not change culture and attitudes, and is likely to lead to a minimalist, box-ticking approach that does not tackle the underlying problem or provide true fairness for women at work."
CIPD press release 27 February
Linda Miller (Institute for Employment Studies) and Rowena Hayward (Halfway Houses Primary School, UK)
This paper reports data from a questionnaire-based UK study that examined occupational sex-role stereotypes, perceived occupational gender segregation, job knowledge and job preferences of male and female pupils aged 14-18. Both boys and girls perceived the majority of the jobs as being gender-segregated. Girls perceived jobs as being more gender-segregated than did males, but boys stereotyped jobs more than did girls. Both males and females preferred jobs that they saw as stereotypically gender-appropriate and dominated by their own sex. However, for females, this association between job preference and perceived stereotyping/ segregation decreased with age, while for males, it remained constant across the age groups. Females claimed more knowledge about jobs they preferred, but for males there was no association between job preference and job knowledge.
Journal of Education and Work
Volume 19 Number 1
(February 2006)
Wide-ranging action to tackle the culture that creates job segregation and leaves women lagging behind men in the pay stakes is proposed in a report published by the Women and Work Commission. Shaping a Fairer Future sets out 40 practical recommendations to tackle job segregation and the gender pay gap which still exists despite 30 years of Equal Pay legislation. Proposals include setting up a national World of Work programme to improve vocational training, provide work taster days for primary school pupils and use work experience to encourage girls to think about non-traditional jobs as well as promote apprenticeships for women, especially in sectors with skill shortages. The Commission calls on the government to:
A range of companies has been recruited to develop and deliver programmes to promote quality part-time jobs and progress women employees.
DTI press notice 27 February
Shaping a Fairer Future (PDF 149pp) http://tinyurl.com/khpr7
Claire Smetherham, Cardiff University School of Social Sciences
This article focuses on the relationship between credentials and the occupational structure, drawing on quantitative research data from a study of UK graduates with first-class honours degrees. Within a knowledge-driven economy, in the UK it is commonly assumed that university graduates with the highest credentials will receive the best employment opportunities and be better rewarded in the labour market, regardless of characteristics such as gender or educational biography. The data are used to evaluate such assumptions. While graduates with firsts are to some extent shown to be at a positional advantage within the labour market, when their outcomes are compared to those with 2.2 degrees, the article also highlights a significant degree of variation among the labour market outcomes of those with firsts. In particular, there are important gender differences among those with firsts which cannot be explained by the credential alone. (Original abstract)
Journal of Education and Work
Volume 19 Number 1
(February 2006)
The Sector Skills Council Information, Advice and Guidance Project provides the Skills for Business network with an opportunity to position SSCs at the forefront of sectoral IAG services. The SSC IAG Project will:
SSDA Involve Issue 118 (7 February)
For more information about the project, contact Ann
Mason, Project Manager
tel: 020 7520 5491
email:
annm@skillset.org
Labour market figures published on 15 February, along with DWP benefit statistics published last month, show that:
DWP press release 15 February
Nicola Gilpin, Matthew Henty, Sara Lemos, Jonathan Portes and Chris
Bullen
DWP working paper number 29
ISBN: 1-84123-986-0
February
2006
The UK granted free movement of workers to nationals of the A10 countries following the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in May 2004. This paper describes the key features of migration to the UK since accession and evaluates the impact of migrant flows from these new EU Member States on the UK labour market. Between January and December 2005 claimant unemployment in the UK rose by over 90,000 and it has been suggested that part of the explanation for this rise is the inflow of migrants from the new EU Member States. The authors found no discernible statistical evidence to suggest that migration has been a contributor to the rise in claimant unemployment in the UK. The evidence presented in this paper supports the view that, overall, the economic impact of migration from the new EU Member States has been modest, but broadly positive, reflecting the flexibility and speed of adjustment of the UK labour market.
A hard copy of this report can be obtained by contacting
Paul Noakes, Social Research Division, Department for Work and Pensions,
4th Floor, Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT
email:
Paul.Noakes@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
It is also (PDF 70pp) at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/wp29.pdf
DWP press release 28 February
"Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams."
Mary Ellen Kelly
NUS Cymru has launched a campaign to involve more minority groups in education. Introducing the campaign, NUS Cymru's Women's Officer, Bethan Thomas, said: "There are too many groups in society which are actively discriminated against. … The aim of the campaign is to highlight the work being done by students' groups across Wales to embrace diversity and to say loud and clear that diversity is not a bad thing and that it should be embraced as a force for good."
The Western Mail 16 February
Commenting on the Women and Work Commission report, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The scale of the continuing inequality between men and women at work still has the power to shock. [This] report presents a real programme of action that challenges government, employers and unions to take further action to close the gap. Of course we are disappointed that the Commission could not agree on mandatory pay audits in the private sector, but that should not obscure the positive policies that now go forward with strong endorsement by this broadly based Commission."
TUC press release 27 February
Figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency reveal that the growth in the number of part-time academic staff has outstripped the rise of full-time staff. The number of part-time academic staff in UK universities rose by 2.8%, while full-timers were up by 2.6%. The figures also show that the proportion of women in academe rose slightly, to 40.9%, compared with 40% in 2003-04. However, the majority of senior academics such as professors and heads of department were male. Just 15% (or 2,095) of the 13,230 total were women.
Chris Johnston, The Guardian 20 February
A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research warns that women who have children earlier in life forgo hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost earnings and "seriously harm" their career prospects. However, the report also indicates that women who delay having children until they are in their thirties are damaging the economy. It suggests that low fertility rates and an ageing population mean that taxation will have to rise to keep public spending at current levels.
Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor, The Sunday Telegraph 19 February
Update comment: This seems like a "no win" situation.
A new report from the Sector Skills Development Agency warns that traditional jobs that have underpinned the livelihoods of generations of skilled working-class people are moving closer to extinction. The report forecasts that an additional 1.3 million jobs will be generated by 2014, with women expected to benefit most from the increases. However, the Working Futures report cautions that there will be a stark divide between "old" jobs such as factory work and "new" posts in the consumer sector. Other findings include:
Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent, The Independent 23 February
According to calculations made by the TES, women who work in secondary schools earn an average of £17 a week more than their female counterparts in business. Women working in primary schools can expect to earn around the same as those doing a comparable job in the private sector. However, male teachers in both primary and secondary schools earn considerably less than their private sector equivalents. Male secondary school teachers fare the worst, with a pay difference of £78 a week, while primary teachers can expect to earn £65 less a week. Teaching unions argue that the figures demonstrate that salaries need to increase substantially before men will be persuaded to enter the profession.
Jon Slater, The TES 24 February
Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that the total number of female academics rose by 4.9% from 2003-04 to 2004-05, compared with an increase of only 1.2% in the number of male academics. The biggest increase was at senior lecturer and senior researcher level, where women's numbers climbed from 5,815 to 6,480. The number of female professors rose from 1,815 to 2,055.
Tony Tysome, The THES 24 February
"Be careful of your thoughts; they may become words at any moment."
Ira Gassen
The Commission for Racial Equality has been asked to intervene to ensure that black and Asian teachers get a fair deal on pay. Statistics released to the National Union of Teachers reveal that white British teachers are far more likely than other ethnic groups to pass a pay threshold that brings substantial increases in wages. Fewer than one in 20 white teachers who applied to cross the threshold in 2004 were rejected. This compares with one in five teachers of Bangladeshi and black African origin and one in ten teachers of Pakistani, Indian and black Caribbean origin. The NUT said that schools have "a case to answer in relation to unlawful discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity".
Jon Slater, The TES 3 March
The Commission for Racial Equality has warned university heads that they must recruit more black students after "racial bias" was found in admissions. While Trevor Phillips, Chair of the CRE, rules out admission quotas to enforce diversity, he wants to encourage universities to take "positive action". A CRE spokesperson said: "We plan to investigate the issue of segregation in higher education in more detail, taking into account race as well as class and also the impact of the changing university landscape. We are urging universities to be inventive in how they engage and support (ethnic minority) students. There are also pockets of successful ethnic minority students that do well but cannot get into specific universities. So why are they not getting in?"
David Leppard, The Sunday Times 5 February
Black pupils' exam results have improved at a faster rate than any other ethnic group in the past two years, according to figures published by the ONS. Black Caribbean pupils posted a 6% rise in the numbers getting at least five A* to C grade GCSE passes to 41.7%. For black Africans, the rise was five points to 48.3%. The performance of white pupils improved at the slowest rate, 2.8% against an overall average of three.
Richard Garner, Education Editor, The Independent 2 March
A survey of 600 working mothers published by Tommy's, the baby charity, shows that 33% said they felt discriminated against at work after returning from maternity leave. A further 11% said they had been demoted or given "low-profile" work. The charity's Pregnancy Accreditation Programme, an advisory service, encourages a healthy and happy working relationship between employers and pregnant employees.
Penny Wark, The Times 27 February
ISBN: 9-26403-587-7
price: £16
This report, from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, helps establish a new agenda for age-friendly employment policies and practices. It sets out the policy challenges presented by rapidly ageing labour forces in OECD countries and draws out the main lessons learned from the OECD's series of country reviews on Ageing and Employment policies. Among other issues, it discusses how to remove work disincentives and increase choice in the work-retirement decision, improve employability of older workers, and change employer attitudes and practices.
DELSA Newsletter Issue 2 (17 January)
The DELSA Newsletter contains a detailed breakdown of
the research.
It can be downloaded (PDF 12pp) from
http://tinyurl.com/7rj5t
Published by OECD: www.oecdbookshop.org
Trevor Jones, Monder Ram (Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship, De Montfort University) and Paul Edwards (Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick)
Based on detailed case histories of South Asian workers and their co-ethnic employers in the West Midlands clothing and catering industries, this paper examines the use of illegal immigrant labour in small ethnic minority firms and attempts to tease out its implications for the migrants themselves, their employers and the broader national interest. The authors begin with a review of the recent literature on the structural changes, principally the confluence of globalisation and post-industrialism, which have generated a seemingly unstoppable flow of labour migration; and the official state policies that have forced much of it underground. The case histories are among countless local expressions of this clash between economic and political imperatives, a clash which effectively criminalises employers and workers for providing a positive economic and social contribution to the wider good. In the present case, it is only by employing immigrant labour that struggling entrepreneurs can survive in hyper-competitive sectors of the economy and the stark choice is between official tolerance of law-breaking or driving many of these enterprises to the wall. (Original abstract)
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development
Volume
18 Number 2 (March 2006)
"Perpetual devotion to your business is sustained only by perpetual neglect of many other things."
Robert Louis Stevenson
"The ant is knowing and wise, but he doesn't know enough to take a vacation."
Clarence Day
Disability campaigners have warned that a government scheme to provide communication aids to children with disabilities will end in March this year, and that nothing has been planned for its replacement. The DfES's Communication Aids Project was set up to supplement local authority funding by providing additional equipment, such as voice output communication aids, to school-aged children with communication difficulties. Responsibility for provision will now lie with children's trusts. Roger Berry, MP for Kingswood in Bristol, has tabled an early day motion calling on the government to establish a statutory right to communication equipment and for adequate funding to be ring-fenced "so that every person with a communication impairment in the UK can speak for themselves".
Zero2Nineteen Bulletin 14 February
The British Library, the Royal National Institute for the Blind and the open rights movement have told MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG) how Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems make life harder by preventing consumers from exercising their fair-use rights. Representatives said that DRM makes it difficult for libraries to permit members of the public to duplicate sections of an electronic publication, and illegal for a visually impaired person to convert material to use with adaptive technologies or software. Suw Charman, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, argued: "DRM limits the ability to enjoy legally purchased material, and punishes behaviour widely seen as normal. It will simply criminalise more people, but do nothing to change behaviour, because people will still think it's fair and reasonable."
Graham Wearden, ZDNet UK
via ITProPortal Update
newsletter 7 February
Computer giant IBM hopes to take advantage of the growing interest in information management, pledging to invest $1 billion over the next three years in related projects. The investment will see a closer alignment of IBM's middleware and consulting divisions as it addresses the convergence of search, database and collaboration software – a market which is estimated to be worth $69 billion globally by 2009. "The value of information can't be realised if it's not managed and delivered to the right people, business applications and processes," said Steve Mills, Senior Vice President of IBM software. Businesses can currently use a wide range of solutions to tackle data held in different formats, but they really need a "holistic approach" if they are to turn all corporate data into valuable information, he added.
Diana Walker, Infoconomy Weekly Bulletin, 17 February
HM Revenue & Customs is hiring £1,000-a-day management consultants to carry out tasks performed by its own staff for just £120 a day. An insider claims that between 70 and 80 consultants are being hired to work as business analysts in Information Management Solutions, the new title for HMRC's IT department. The source said: "Under Gershon's manpower cuts we are not allowed to hire staff, but the work's still there and it's got to be done …. So it gets done by consultants who get paid between £700 and £1,000 a day."
Robert Watts, The Sunday Telegraph 26 February
An email discussion list, JISC-repositories, has been set up on JISCmail by the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) Digital Repositories Programme support team. The list is intended to be used for "the discussion of any aspect of international repository activity, including cross-domain repository technologies and policies, plus any other repository-related issues".
Info@UK Number 59 (February 2006)
Email list: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/jisc-repositories.html
The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor finds no increase in the levels of people setting up or running new business in the UK. The proportion of adults classed as entrepreneurs in the UK remained at 6.2% in 2005. This compares to 12.4% in the US which rose from 11.3% in 2005. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor warns that fear of failure could be undermining progress in making Britain more entrepreneurial
Miranda Green, The Financial Times 15 February
According to a report from the London Development Agency, the number of businesses closing in London in 2004-05 outstripped the number of start-ups for the first time since the early 1990s. However, the LDA argues that London's low rate of employment growth is more worrying. The employment rate has increased by just 0.4% over the current economic cycle, compared with a national rise of 3.2%.
Miranda Green, The Financial Times 8 February
e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT, telecommunications and contact centres, has launched a quarterly newsletter aimed specifically at the business community. Business and IT Skills is targeted at everyone with an interest in IT skills and aims to provide "a stimulating, wide-ranging look at relevant research, trends, government matters and e-skills UK programmes designed to support employers".
SSDA Involve Issue 118 (7 February)
To view the first issue and to subscribe, visit
www.e-skills.com/Newscentre/Newsletters/1517
This report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aims to review scams as a specific topic within the consumer policy of the OECD; identify areas of best practice from campaigns that had succeeded in changing consumer behaviour; and provide resulting practical guidance on running anti-scam campaigns. The research for and preparation of this report were conducted by the UK Central Office of Information (COI) with input from the Committee on Consumer Policy. Key findings include:
OECD December 2005
Full report (PDF 37pp) http://tinyurl.com/ez3wt
Government regulations have cost British business £50 billion since Labour came to power, billions more than the Treasury expects to collect in corporation tax this year. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) based on official figures shows that the burden to business of complying with workplace, consumer protection and environmental regulations has reached £10 billion a year. Even if no new regulations are passed over the next five years, the total red tape burden since Labour came to power will hit £100 billion by 2011. New rules governing everything from the use of ladders, to night club bouncers and vibrating plant equipment added £3 billion of regulatory costs last year. Jim Murphy, the Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, defended the government's record. He argued that the BCC's report excluded the "essential public protections" that regulations had provided.
Richard Tyler Enterprise Editor
Update comment: Hang about. The report doesn't criticise the regulations which provide protection for the public (the managers and owners in businesses are part of "the public"); it directly criticises the cost to employers, particularly the smaller ones, of implementing the new rules.
The government's new White Paper on health seems to suggest that patients should be offered more choice. However, visiting the doctor or phoning the police is simply not like shopping, according to people questioned for a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which found that most of us reject the trend towards treating everyone as "consumers". The study concluded that we see public services as different from the market-place and value their "public-ness". Professor John Clarke, leader of the project and lecturer at the Open University, said: "When people approach health, police or social agencies, they do not always know what they want. They hope to meet staff who will respect them and help them make important decisions."
ESRC press release 6 February
Update comment: We already know that self-service is not the answer for many people in the careers guidance arena – now it appears that this new "choice for consumers" (i.e. make up your own mind about what to do and who to approach) is not the answer for health or security services either.
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E B White
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks about changing themselves."
John Randolph
A third cohort of 14- and 15-year-olds will be given the chance to join the Young Apprenticeships Programme in September 2006. Skills Minister Phil Hope has announced that the programme will offer 3,500 additional pupil places and will involve several new sectors – construction, food and drink manufacturing, hairdressing, and retail. There will also be opportunities in Science and the Electricity Industry.
Apprentice Newsletter Issue 15 (February 2006)
More information: www.vocationallearning.org.uk/YoungApprenticeships/
A Learning and Skills Development Agency study of the vocational use of language reveals that many employers are rejecting British applicants because of their "appalling" foreign language skills. The survey found that employers who have an international operation prefer to select candidates whose first language is other than English. Respondents cited incorrectly placed orders and communication gaffes as being most common amongst British job-seekers. However, the survey also reveals that employers are reluctant to provide language training for their employees, and argue that they "should not be compensating for the schools failing to teach them". Moreover, work-based training providers, many of whom describe modern language skills as valuable or even essential, do not incorporate language learning in their provision. Providers say that there is no room for such learning in the already "packed" apprenticeship syllabus.
Joe Clancy, TES FE Focus 17 February
Almost two in three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English – the worst record in Europe – a survey for the European Commission has found. Sixty-two per cent of respondents from the United Kingdom admit they cannot speak any language other than their mother tongue. This compared with an average of 44% across the EU and just 1% in Luxembourg, the top-ranking country. The survey also confirmed that English was the most widely spoken foreign language throughout Europe, with 51% of EU citizens able to hold a conversation in English, including the 13% for whom it was their mother tongue.
Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent, The Independent, 23 February
"If you are planning for one year, plant rice. If you are planning for 10 years, plant trees. If you are planning for 100 years, plant people."
Chinese proverb
Bad management by firms and public bodies is a key factor behind Britain's poor productivity performance, but is being paid too little attention by the government, a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claims. The CIPD report, Smart Work: people, productivity and performance, argues that the focus on investment, innovation and skills has failed to raise Britain's rate of productivity growth. It calls on the government to adopt policies which are based on improving management practices in order to raise the country's productivity. Key elements of such a "Smart Work" agenda could include:
Scheherazade Daneshkhu, Economics Correspondent, Financial Times 20 February
Full report (PDF 37pp) http://tinyurl.com/ndm24
GCSE and A-level coursework is being sold on eBay for as little as £1.50, fuelling fears that teenagers are buying work to pass off as their own. Pupils can choose from hundreds of scripts posted on the internet auction site by students aiming to profit from their old school work. The trade has led to renewed demands that ministers scrap coursework, which counts for up to 60% of the total marks in some qualifications.
Julie Henry, Education Correspondent The Sunday Telegraph, 26 February
"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more."
A Lou Vickery
The QCA has presented teachers with new guidelines on how to detect GCSE and A-level coursework cheating. However, teachers argue that the leaflet, Authenticating Coursework: a teacher's guide, fails to determine what counts as "acceptable help". The guidance warns that teachers who accept plagiarised work may face a malpractice charge, but offers no guidance on the "tipping point" where the level of help offered constitutes malpractice.
Warwick Mansell, The TES 3 March
According to a recent report by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), two-thirds of parents help their children with GCSE coursework. In an article for the Telegraph (8 February) Professor Frank Furedi warns that some parents do far more than help, which creates more problems than it solves. Professor Furedi says that some parents cannot draw a line between helpful encouragement and writing the project themselves. However, he argues that the QCA must also bear some of the blame. The report encourages parents to discuss the project with their child, and offer constructive criticism as well as guidance on information sources. Moreover, he accuses schools of manipulating parents into becoming their child's "unpaid teacher" and the government of insinuating that the performance of the child is "intimately linked to how much support he or she gets at home". He says: "Once homework becomes an informal instrument for assessing parental behaviour, anxious fathers and mothers find it difficult to draw the line between helping and cheating."
The United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been accused of wrongly advising poor countries to enact tougher copyright laws than required by international treaties. Consumers International argued that the copyright advice given by WIPO is "thoroughly inadequate", and does not seem to include information about permitted exemptions and flexibilities. This makes access to copyright publications prohibitively expensive for many countries. A spokesperson for WIPO said that the agency gives countries a range of options they are "free to follow, adapt or ignore".
Frances Williams, The Financial Times 21 February
The city of Bath is to pilot a city-wide wireless computing network. The Cityware project will use wireless networks, Bluetooth and Near Field Communication to turn the city centre into a "pervasive" computing zone where users have access to computer services wherever they are and at all times.
E-Gov Monitor Weekly Issue 203 (27 February)
Internet firms are trying to stop spammers by charging to deliver e-mail messages. Both AOL and Yahoo have announced plans to charge fees of up to one cent (US) per message to those that sign up for the service. Paying the fees means that messages will not go through spam filters, are guaranteed to arrive and will bear a stamp of authenticity. The service is intended to tackle spam by making it expensive to send messages. It will be available within the next few months.
BBC News Online 7 February
In an article for The Financial Times (22 February), Ian Cook argues that RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and other modern technologies constitute a threat to our right to privacy. He believes that the "tracking" facility offered by the RFID chip, as well as CCTV cameras, satellite-based road-pricing and global imaging technologies, mean that citizens in the UK are amongst the most "surveilled" in the world. Add these to the fact that most people carry mobile phones which can be used to pinpoint our location, track us and listen to our conversations; that our ISPs can now be compelled to pass our details to security services; that the NHS is in the process of compiling a centralised database of our medical histories; that we have one of the world's largest DNA databases; and that we are to become subject to biometric identification, and the sheer scale of intrusion that we face on a daily basis becomes all too clear. Mr Cook writes: "Just as a stage magician deftly directs your attention toward one hand so that you don't see what his other one is doing, we have been led to debate the right "balance" between liberty and security. The implication being that we cannot have more of one without having less of the other. With each loss of privacy we are told the information will be used only in extremis in the national interest. … It's time we woke up to how far our civil rights are being eroded and started debating all this openly."
A warning and some advice from Bob Rankin: "A few months ago I met with a group of internet professionals, all of us sporting laptops with wireless connections. One attendee put up a slide on the overhead showing logins and passwords from a dozen other attendees. Needless to say, many jaws dropped open. Learn how to surf safely on a wireless connection, whether you're in a public place or your home."
Tourbus, Volume 11 Number 42 (28 February)
URL: http://askbobrankin.com/is_public_wifi_access_safe.html
BT has suspended a new SMS service amid fears it might breach data protection laws. The service – BT SMS Self Service – enables customers to text BT to see when their phone bill was last paid or to find progress on a fault. However, a design fault meant that users were also able to access the details of other BT customers. In response to concerns raised by the Information Commissioner's Office, BT has decided to temporarily halt part of the service. Customers will still be able to use the service if they enter their account number as well as their phone number.
Tim Richardson, The Register
ITProPortal Security Update newsletter 7 February
Computer viruses are the single biggest cause of security problems for UK businesses, a survey by the Department of Trade and Industry shows. The study found almost 50% of the biggest security breaches suffered by companies in the last two years were due to infection by malicious programs. However, the survey also revealed that the number of firms caught out by viruses had fallen by almost one-third since the last time the study was done in 2004. Better use of anti-virus protection and raised awareness among users are among the reasons cited for the decrease.
BBC News Online 1 March
Advice from Bob Rankin on "the good, the bad and the crumbly aspects of web browser cookies", including advice on whether to turn them off. He also debunks the rumour circulating the internet that the Google cookie is actually spyware.
Tourbus Volume 11 Number 38 (7 February)
URL: http://askbobrankin.com/eat_your_cookies.html
"Metadata, a term created by the fusion of an ancient Greek prefix with a Latin word, has come to mean `information about information' when used in technology and database contexts. The Greek meta means behind, hidden or after, and refers to something in the background or not obviously visible, yet still present. Data, the Latin term, is factual information used for calculating, reasoning or measuring."
J D Biersdorfer, New York Times Circuits 16 February
Late-night drinkers in Yeovil will soon have to submit to biometric finger scans before being allowed into clubs and pubs. Licensees at late-night premises will ask customers to register their details, allow themselves to be photographed and have their fingers scanned. Entry to the premises will depend on registration.
Steven Morris, The Guardian 10 February
The Home Secretary has postponed plans to make ID cards compulsory. Charles Clarke published proposed amendments to the Identity Cards Bill, which will mean that there will now have to be a separate Act of Parliament before the cards can be made compulsory. Mr Clarke had intended to introduce the cards on a voluntary basis first, with a view to making them compulsory later. Under the original legislation that would have only required a simple vote by MPs.
Andrew Grice, Political Editor, The Independent 10 February
The first identity cards will not be introduced until 2009, a year later than expected, the minister in charge of the scheme has announced. Home Office Minister Andy Burnham said that "the timetable has slipped because the parliamentary process has taken longer than we thought it would". He said: "We very much want to build [this scheme] incrementally. It's absolutely not a question of flicking a switch and then ordering everyone to turn up tomorrow at the enrolment centre."
Jimmy Burns, The Financial Times 15 February
According to a report from the Daycare Trust, the cost of a full-time nursery place in England has risen by 27% in the past five years, despite government efforts to make childcare affordable. The report shows that a typical weekly nursery bill for a child under two is now £142, nearly a third of the average weekly income of £431, and £32 more than five years ago. Moreover, parents in the South-East can pay up to £21,000 a year for full-time care.
Polly Curtis, The Guardian 8 February
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes has unveiled a £250 million plan to subsidise wages in private- and public-sector nurseries as an incentive to increase the number of childminders with degrees. Nurseries and other childcare facilities will be able to apply for up to £16,000 over a two-year period starting in April to help them employ graduate workers and improve staff training. Up to £52 million has also been put aside to design new qualifications, pay university fees and supply cover for staff who wish to train for a degree. In return nursery bosses must promise to cap full-time fees to £175 a week. Ms Hughes said the plan was designed "to improve provision without penalising parents".
Polly Curtis, The Guardian 14 February
"Some things have to be believed to be seen."
Ralph Hodgson, US poet (1871-1962)
New research published by the Nuffield Review reveals that universities are "dismayed" by the poor levels of literacy and numeracy among school-leavers. University tutors say that many entrants to higher education have been poorly prepared for independent study and expect to be "spoon-fed" by lecturers. They argue that school-leavers lack basic skills in grammar and have "a fear of numbers". Respondents also said that the modular nature of A-levels and AS-levels generates a kind of "assessment burnout". This has led students to believe that if something is not being assessed, it is not important, and that it is only important for the purposes of the test.
Donald MacLeod, The Guardian 9 February
Nuffield Review Higher Education Focus Groups Preliminary Report (PDF 26pp) http://tinyurl.com/cmker
A quarter of student nurses in Britain quit their training courses before they qualify, according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. In some courses, leaving rates were as high as 50% but as low as 7% in others. The average attrition across diploma and degree courses was 24.8%, compared with a government figure of 14%. These figures, obtained by the journal Nursing Standard, indicate that the cost to the NHS is around £57 million a year.
Sam Lister, The Times 15 February
More than 350,000 men and women are leaving Britain to live and work abroad every year, a rise of 30% in 10 years. The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, indicate that some professions are more adversely affected than other, with nursing being particularly hard hit.
Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent, The Independent 18 February
Update comment: Reading these two articles together would lead one to think that a significant number of those who complete their training in nursing are likely to take their qualification and leave the UK.
The latest Report on Jobs survey, published by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG, signals that overall demand for staff has expanded at the strongest rate in 11 months in January, supporting further robust growth of staff placements. Average wages and salaries continue to rise sharply.
HRLook Daily News 8 February
In an article for the Guardian (15 February), Donald MacLeod examines what the UCAS figures mean for universities and students, and assesses the impact of any future rise in fees.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has indicated that it may fund Money Doctors to give higher education students financial advice. The scheme has already been piloted at Roehampton University, where is proved to be successful. Established with money under the FSA's national strategy for financial capability initiative, the Money Doctors service provides sessions for students in how to improve their budget skills and understanding of money. Students can also receive individual help from advisers on personal financial problems.
Debbie Andalo, The Guardian 10 February
Student groups have expressed "outrage" after the government confirmed it would not provide financial support from the 2006-07 academic year for any student who has already benefited from state financial support to study for a degree. This means that anyone falling into this category will not be permitted a loan to defer fee payment, nor will they be eligible for maintenance grants or loans while they study. Included in this category are students who had previously dropped out. They will have their support denied for each year of study they previously completed. It is hoped that those who completed foundation degrees or higher national diplomas will not be affected. Julian Nicholds, Vice-President for education at the National Union of Students, said that increased fees were already making it difficult for students to manage. "It is therefore outrageous to expect those students who have studied previously to pay £3,000 fees upfront without any sort of financial support, or with support but for only part of the duration of their course," he said.
Phil Baty, The THES 3 March
Figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that there has been a growth in demand for places at post-1992 universities. While traditional universities reported declining demand, applications to some modern universities rose by 50%. Leeds Metropolitan University, where fees are lower than at most universities at £2,000, saw an 8.3% rise in applications, bucking an overall UK decline of 3.4%.
Jessica Shepherd, The THES 17 February
University applications have fallen faster than the government feared following the introduction of top-up fees this year. Figures released by UCAS show an overall fall of around 4%. Ministers had anticipated a 2% decrease, following an 8% surge of applications last year. Scotland and Wales, where different fee arrangements apply, do not appear to have suffered a fall in applications this year.
Donald MacLeod, The Guardian 10 February
Writing in the Guardian (8 February), Kevin Hawkins, Director General of the British Retail Consortium, argues that increases to the minimum wage have "badly hit" retailers. He states: "The successive above-inflation increases that have been imposed over the past three years, amounting to over 20%, have forced many, including large multiples and department stores, to set their introductory rates at the minimum level; and employment within the industry is now being affected. … Margins in all sizes of retailers are under pressure from falling prices and rising fixed costs. Future above-inflation increases in the minimum wage will only add to this."
A good education is not a necessary prerequisite to becoming a successful entrepreneur, according to a survey of British business-owners conducted by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The RBS study shows that the average UK small business owner left school at age 16 and nearly one in five has no educational qualifications. Other findings include:
Chamber Online 6 February
A study published by the British Council suggests that the global dominance of the English language now poses a "major threat" to the UK's international standing. The study argues that, while the importance of English has historically brought economic and cultural benefit to Britain, the advantage traditionally enjoyed by UK citizens is disappearing. The report's author, David Graddol, says that there are now around two billion people who speak English, a trend which may signal the "end of English as a foreign language". He warns: "This trend has major implications for the UK where many people do not speak another language with any great proficiency. When we are in competition economically, educationally or culturally, conversing in English alone is no longer enough."
Matthew Taylor, Education Correspondent, The Guardian 15 February
English Next (PDF 132pp) http://tinyurl.com/qzwum
A senior academic at Imperial College London has produced statistical proof which indicates that British students are more likely to make spelling and grammatical errors than their overseas peers. Bernard Lamb used a standard statistical tool on a sample of 650 British and overseas students. He discovered that those whose mother tongue was English were more likely to have a poorer grasp of the language than those for whom English was a second language. Common errors included confusing weather and whether, effect and affect, their, there and they're. Dr Lamb said: "How are these students going to spell complicated names, such as Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly), when they make errors such as confusing words and placing apostrophes incorrectly?"
Jessica Shepherd, The THES 3 March
Children will be able to sit national curriculum tests in their home language for the first time this year. Schools will be able to use translators to help pupils struggling with English to take science and maths tests for 11-year-olds. The pupils will be able to answer questions in their home tongue.
Richard Garner, Education Editor, The Independent 11 February
A pioneering project in a London secondary school to teach pupils in their own languages is to be abandoned by the school's new head. Joan McVittie, the new head at White Hart Lane School in Tottenham, is seeking governor support for ending the bilingual approach after the experiment failed to show any improvement in exam results. Mrs McVittie argued that the pupils would be "better prepared for adult life in the UK" if lessons were in English.
Richard Garner, Education Editor, The Independent 22 February
The University of Central Lancashire has launched a three-year degree course in British Sign Language (BSL), which academics claim is the first of its kind in the UK. The first intake will begin their studies this September. A spokesperson for the university said that the course is unique because it offers undergraduates the opportunity to study sign language in the same way as any other modern language.
Debbie Andalo, The Guardian 9 February
Geoffrey Bilder
Trust, authority, and reputation are central to scholarly publishing, but the trust model of the internet is almost antithetical to the trust model of academia. Publishers have been so preoccupied with the brute mechanics of moving content to the online world that they have virtually ignored the challenge that the internet trust model poses to the scholarly publisher. Publishers can learn much about approaches to handling internet trust from the actions of major online players outside the publishing industry. Publishers should also benefit from watching the trust models that are being experimented with in the nascent realm of social software applications. Publishers once led the way in establishing the apparatus of trust during the transition from manuscript to print culture in early modern Europe. Ultimately, publishers should again take the lead in helping to establish new mechanisms of trust in what could reasonably be described as "the early modern internet". (Original abstract)
Journal of Electronic Publishing
Volume 9 Number 1
(Winter 2006)
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0009.101
This report shows that globalisation is failing the world's poorest as their share of the benefits of growth plummet, and accelerating climate change hurts the poorest most. The report, the first in the New Economics Foundation's (NEF) Re-Thinking Poverty series, reveals that the share of benefits from global economic growth reaching the world's poorest people is actually shrinking, while they continue to bear an unfair share of the costs. New figures show that growth was less effective at passing on benefits to the poorest in the 1990s than it was even in the 1980s – the so-called "lost decade for development" – and an age of rising climate chaos will worsen their prospects. The report says that the notion that global economic growth is the only way of reducing poverty for the world's poorest people is the self-serving rhetoric of those who already enjoy the greatest share of world income. Its authors argue that to achieve real progress we need to change the way we think about and discuss economic issues, and break out of the confines of mainstream economic thinking. We also need a shift in power relations, both globally and nationally, to move power from developed countries, élites and commercial interests to the majority of the world's population, the poor.
NEF Newsletter February 2006
Full report (PDF 32pp) http://tinyurl.com/jgdgx
Harriet Harman, Minister for Constitutional Affairs, has made a speech to the Hansard Society in which she links elements of social exclusion to democratic injustices. She highlights figures compiled by the DCA which show that:
Ms Harman said that there is a "deep and worrying irony" in the fact that "those citizens who have the greatest dependence on the state are exactly the people who are least likely to be registered and the least likely to vote".
Working Brief Number 171 (February 2006)
The Prime Minister has announced the appointment of a new Cabinet Minister to combat social exclusion. Tony Blair rejected claims that the social exclusion phrase is simply a "Middle England-friendly" way of addressing the issue of poverty. He said that social exclusion is about more than just income and poverty, and "includes the cycle of exclusion of the poorest from essential services and from society". It is anticipated that the new post will also take over aspects of the Respect agenda.
Patrick Wintour, The Guardian 21 February
When people say that politics is not relevant and that young people are disengaged from political issues, or when some say we are all too small or insignificant to make a difference, we can reply: look at the Make Poverty History campaign. Yet here in Britain, we cannot with credibility call for an end to world poverty if we cannot take the necessary actions – and build a political consensus – to end child poverty here in our own backyard. It is a source of great shame to us all – a scar across Britain's soul – that between the 1970s and 1990s the proportion of children in relative low-income households more than doubled to over four million.
Ed Balls, Benefits Volume 14 Number 1 (February 2006)
"Look at these cows and remember that the greatest scientists in the world have never discovered how to make grass into milk."
Michael Pupin
The Information Commissioner's Office has published a good practice note to help professionals, including teachers, social workers and doctors, understand how best to comply with the Data Protection Act when recording professional opinions. "The Data Protection Act gives everyone a right to see information that is held about them including any opinions," said David Smith, Deputy Information Commissioner. "Professionals need to be aware of this and understand what action is required when an individual challenges one of their opinions." In general terms, says the note, the record should make clear that it is an opinion, and detail who gave it and when. The opinion should be accurate and up to date. It cannot be challenged for inaccuracy under the Data Protection Act simply because it is different from an opinion held by someone else, but factual information contained within it can be challenged. The record should be structured so that it can show any challenges to the opinion, and it should be adequate and relevant – basically containing enough information to allow the opinion to be correctly interpreted. The more sensitive an opinion, the more explanation or evidence may be needed. Finally, a policy should be in place detailing how long and for what reasons the opinions should be retained.
OUT-LAW News 28 February
Ronald Schoenmaeckers and Irena Kotowska
ISBN: 9-28715-901-7
Price: 17 Euros
Population ageing is a global phenomenon which affects European countries in particular, putting increased pressure on the financial sustainability of current European social systems. This is a prominent, high-profile aspect of European societies arising from structural changes in fertility and mortality. Faced with the shrinking working-age population, policy-makers are, or soon will be, facing the need to review their policies towards older workers. Policies should be developed to improve the employment prospects of older workers and create a favourable environment and institutional framework for active ageing. To be effective, the concept of active ageing should be accompanied by a set of comprehensive measures in the areas of education, social policy, pension reform, employment and the working environment. This volume reviews the major demographic challenges posed by population ageing and its impact on policies in areas including health, employment, public expenditure and social relationships.
Published by Council of Europe Publishing, Palais de
l'Europe, 67075 Strasbourg Cedex, France
tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 81
email: publishing@coe.int
Council of Europe email update 1 February
A prominent Labour MP has urged the government to do more to involve community and voluntary groups in designing e-government systems. Margaret Moran, Chair of the Parliament and Industry IT group, said that too many online services are designed from the top down and are "failing to achieve a transformation in delivery". She called for a bottom-up approach to design, with more citizen involvement, online consultation and user feedback.
Government Computing
Volume 20 Issue 2 (February
2006)
The government's public service reform agenda is "forcing large swathes of the community sector to the brink of collapse", research published by a leading umbrella organisation suggests. The British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres (BASSAC) argues that the government's move away from grants towards a "contract culture" compromises the independence of organisations previously rooted in local neighbourhoods. Ben Hughes, Chief Executive of BASSAC, said: "The move away from grant funding is reducing the type of work that community organisations are able to carry out and instead they are increasingly becoming service delivery agents designed to fulfil the government's target-driven priorities."
New Start Hotnews 8 February
The budget of the Central Office of Information – the government's advertising agency – has tripled since 1997, to £334 million. Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, criticised the agency for spending millions of pounds on "stating the obvious". Examples include the television commercial warning of the risks of undercooking the Christmas turkey and the leaflet reminding holidaymakers to keep out of the midday sun. Mr Elliott says: "It has become a massive gravy train. A few decades ago, the government restricted its advertising to road safety advice and public notices. Now, as it has expanded its remit to include `nanny state' advertising, the budget has ballooned and taxpayers are worse off."
Steven Swinford, The Sunday Times 5 February
The Department for Trade and Industry tripled its spending on office temps last year. The DTI spent £24.1 million, despite being required to cut employee costs as part of the Gershon Review's civil service efficiency targets.
Robert Watts, The Sunday Telegraph 5 February
Business remains deeply sceptical about the government's ability to hit its £21.5 billion Gershon efficiency targets, according to a survey conducted by the CBI. The survey findings show that 90% of firms lack confidence in the government's ability to switch spending from the back office to the frontline. This reveals a hardening of opinion since last year, when 86% of companies lacked confidence. The number saying they are not at all confident has risen sharply, with 56% expressing this view compared with 37% last year. The CBI has called on the government to accelerate efforts to involve the private sector in delivering "shared services".
HRLook Daily News 20 February
Several UK state-sector organisations are setting up their own "wikis" – user-alterable reference sites – but with stronger safeguards than those of progenitor Wikipedia. Examples include:
S A Mathieson, The Guardian 22 February
Two new reports from the Society of IT Managers (SOCITM) demonstrate how local councils are changing the way they deliver services to citizens and business. The first report, Modern public services: challenge of transformation, sets out how councils are changing and the reasons for change as well as why, sometimes, the process of change does not succeed. The second report, Modern public services: transformation in practice, looks at the impact of change using a new model for transformation and how this has been impacted by the local e-government agenda. It shows that 58% of councils have implemented change by taking a new approach to service provision, and more than one-third have done so to improve the experience for their citizens.
E-Gov Monitor Weekly Issue 201 (13 February)
Both reports are available at a cost of £95 + VAT
each or £175 + VAT if bought together
They can be ordered from
www.socitm.gov.uk
There is also a 4pp executive briefing available on the SOCITM
website
A YouGov poll suggests that the public is largely uninterested in greater choice for public services. Although Cabinet Office Minister Jim Murphy argued that increased choice is "the route to securing greater social mobility", the poll indicates that the public want "well-funded and convenient services, rather than a choice of providers". Mr Murphy said: "The argument is often made that poorer families should not have or don't want choice. It is almost as if they are not to be trusted to make the correct decision and that the state should simply provide an improving uniformity."
Patrick Wintour, Chief Political Correspondent, The Guardian 2 February
According to figures compiled for a Qualifications and Curriculum Authority report, hundreds of students are retaking their mathematics A-levels three times or more, in an effort to improve their grades. Two of the most popular exams were taken at least twice by more than half of the entrants. Indeed, one entrant sat a statistics exam six times. Tony Gardiner, former President of the Mathematical Association, commented: "Retakes are a curse. Universities should be allowed to make their offers based on the score that [students] get on their first attempt."
Warwick Mansell, The TES 10 February
Secondary schools in England are spending almost two and a half times as much on exam fees as they are on books. A TES study analysing how schools in England spend their budgets shows that secondaries spent £197 million on exam fees in 2004/05, compared with just £80 million on books. Graham Taylor, Director of Educational Publishing at the Publishers' Association, said that it was of great concern that schools "spend more on testing than giving pupils the reading material to help them pass".
Michael Shaw, The TES 24 February
Camelot, the National Lottery operator, has developed two courses in Lottery retail skills. Newsagent's and convenience stores' staff will be able to take Level 2 or Level 3 qualifications in "enhanced product understanding" of Camelot's offerings, including the main Lottery draw, Thunderball and scratch card games. The courses also include customer care, communication and "enhanced selling techniques".
Joseph Lee, The TES FE Focus 3 March
Update comment: The lurid headline is really not worthy of the TES – nor is it accurate. This is learning about selling National Lottery products and is a vocational qualification not an A-level.
Unqualified social care staff working in children's homes, adoption and fostering agencies and outreach services could be obliged to gain at least an NVQ Level 2 qualification following registration with the General Social Care Council under proposals published by the social care regulatory body. Having registered all qualified social workers, the GSCC is now looking to register all domiciliary and residential care workers in a bid to further raise standards and to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm caused by unsuitable workers.
Zero2Nineteen Bulletin 21 February
A survey commissioned by the DfES reveals that, almost two decades after they were first introduced, National Vocational Qualifications remain a mystery to many employers. The survey showed that just 45% of companies had any "useful understanding" of the qualifications. One in 20 employers said that they would avoid employing a candidate who held NVQs. The Association of Colleges (AoC) argued that the results demonstrate the extent to which employers are failing to invest in the skills of their workforce. John Brennan, the AoC's Chief Executive, commented: "It is astonishing that so few employers have taken the trouble to acquaint themselves with a range of qualifications built at public expense to their expressed requirements."
Joseph Lee, The TES FE Focus 3 March
Sjur Bergan and Andrejs Rauhvargers
ISBN10: 9-28715-903-3
ISBN13: 9789-28715-903-8
Price: 17 Euros + 10% postage
The third volume of the Council of Europe higher education series brings together, in a single tome, the Council of Europe's legal standards for the recognition of qualifications, developed jointly with UNESCO. It makes the current European legal standards readily available for credential evaluators and others who make recognition decisions and for policy-makers and others interested in recognition issues. The introductory article provides the background for these legal texts, puts them into context and provides a more accessible explanation of their significance. It is, however, no substitute for reading the convention itself and its subsidiary texts.
"If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?"
Linda Ellerbee
A compulsory minimum level of vocational qualifications is unlikely to lead to improved standards in skilled professions such as plumbing, electrical engineering, and care homes, according to workplace experts Croner. The advice follows City & Guilds' persistence for such industries to become licensed in order to improve standards. Croner's view is that vocational qualifications are not a full indication of employees' or contactors' abilities as they do not take into account experience and aptitude for the job, and are therefore not sufficient to "guarantee" a standard of workmanship. On-the-job training and industry experience, as well as structured training programmes, are essential to ensure work is carried out as safely and professionally as possible.
HRLook Daily News 21 February
Employers have revealed that the number one priority when selecting a candidate is solid and relevant experience, according to the latest poll carried out by staffing services company, Select Appointments. Of the 700 employers polled, 40% identified experience as being the most important factor. This was closely followed by 35% of employers who were more interested in