Fact Service June 2012

Issue 26 (28/06/2012) - Higher apprenticeships set to take off; Risk of the very small in nanotechnology; Sickness leave and holiday ruling; Civil service 'reforms'; Reform of collective redundancy rules; Pay settlements

Issue 25 (21/06/2012) Average earnings data provide no joy; 'Vindictive' Duncan Smith to hit strikers; Unemployment down on main count; Inflation falls to lowest level for 29 months; Long-term trends for youth unemployment

Issue 24 (14/06/2012) Manufacturing malaise needs recovery plan; New official inflation figure proposed; Mandatory slave labour expanded; Executive pay booms as Cable bottles it; Nationalised bank's attack on pensions; Diesel fumes linked to cancer; Bribes over new pensions outlawed

Issue 23 (07/06/2012) From silver to gold - the rise in inequality; Takeover activity at a low level; Prof blows whistle on whistleblowing change; Worldwide violations of trade union rights; Manufacturers dismiss no-fault dismissal; Unions call for end to needlestick horror; Sickness absence falls

Issue 26

Higher apprenticeships set to take off (352 words)

Apprenticeships to train people to become commercial airline pilots, lawyers, accountants and engineers have been announced by business secretary ...
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Risks of the very small in nanotechnology (422 words)

There are serious gaps in our awareness of the potential risks involved in handling nanomaterials at work, and serious shortcomings in the way that ...
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Sickness leave and holiday ruling (302 words)

Employees who become ill while on annual paid leave will be allowed to retake this time off, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed following ...
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Civil service ‘reforms’ (474 words)

Reforms that will contribute to total job losses in the civil service of about 24% or over 100,000 jobs by 2015 are backed by civil servants ...
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Reform of collective redundancy rules (590 words)

Norman Lamb, the employment relations minister, has announced a three-month consultation on the government’s proposals to reform the rules for ...
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Pay settlements (95 words)

Settlements from the Labour Research Department’s Payline database continue to show a rise of 3.0%. This has been the midpoint (median) for ...
Open access

Issue 25

Average earnings data provide no joy (561 words)

Average earnings growth remains at a low level compared with inflation, figures from the Office for National Statistics. ...
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‘Vindictive’ Duncan Smith to hit strikers (283 words)

Top-up benefit payments for low-paid workers who go on strike will stop from next year as part of the introduction of the government’s new ...
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Unemployment down on main count (688 words)

Unemployment was moving in two directions in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. ...
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Inflation falls to lowest level for 29 months (426 words)

Inflation fell on both main measures in May, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows. ...
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Long-terms trends for youth unemployment (204 words)

Youth unemployment showed a welcome fall in the latest official unemployment figures, but a recent TUC analysis shows the long-term trend has been up. ...
Open access

Issue 24

Manufacturing malaise needs recovery plan (509 words)

Manufacturing output posted a surprise fall in April, official figures show. ...
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New official inflation figure proposed (346 words)

The official statisticians have announced a consultation over the creation of a version of the Consumer Prices Index that includes housing costs, to ...
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Mandatory slave labour expanded (311 words)

The government has announced a £5 million expansion of the Mandatory Work Activity scheme, requiring more jobseekers to do a month’s full time ...
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Executive pay booms as Cable bottles it (358 words)

Britain’s blue-chip bosses saw their pay rise by 10% in 2011, while their staff got just 1%. ...
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Nationalised bank’s attack on pensions (196 words)

Unions are outraged over plans from the nationalised bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), for its pension scheme. ...
Open access

Diesel fumes linked to cancer (154 words)

Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organisation says. ...
Open access

Bribes over new pensions outlawed (156 words)

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has reminded employers about the laws related to inducing staff to opt out of retirement savings post-auto-enrolment. ...
Open access

Issue 23

From silver to gold — the rise in inequality (244 words)

The influential think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies has produced a briefing note on ways in which economic life has changed in the UK between ...
Open access

Takeover activity at a low level (395 words)

Merger and acquisition activity involving UK companies remains low, according to the Office for National Statistics. ...
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Prof blows whistle on whistleblowing change (498 words)

The coalition government has been accused by an employment law expert of bringing in an amendment to the law on whistleblowing “by the back ...
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Worldwide violations of trade union rights (478 words)

The situation faced by trade unionists across the world grew steadily worse in 2011, according to the annual survey of trade union rights violations ...
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Manufacturers dismiss no-fault dismissal (309 words)

Britain’s manufacturers have called on the coalition government to dump its controversial plans for compensated no-fault dismissal. ...
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Unions call for end to needlestick horror (301 words)

The government should end the horror caused to NHS nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and other health workers by sharps injuries as soon as ...
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Sickness absence falls (183 words)

A total of 131 million days were lost because of sickness absence in the UK during 2011, a 4% fall on the 2010 figure of 137 million and down more ...
Open access