The UK Government has today, Monday 1st February, signed a deal for a further 40 million doses of Valneva’s promising vaccine candidate. The deal takes the total number of Valneva vaccines to 100 million and means that the UK has now secured early access to over 400 million total doses of vaccines for 2021 and 2022. The 100 million doses of Valneva vaccine will be manufactured at Valneva’s site in West Lothian, Scotland, supporting 100 highly-skilled jobs. The decision to purchase 40 million extra doses is based on the UK’s strategy to take a wide approach, using different technologies and…
Author: sme-admin
A Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) co-ordinated global review of randomly selected websites has so far found that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading consumers. The International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) hosts an annual sweep of websites, which gives consumer authorities across the world the opportunity to target fraudulent, deceptive or unfair conduct online. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) led the latest sweep, focusing on misleading environmental claims for the first time. This comes as the CMA’s own investigation into misleading environmental claims is ongoing, to better understand…
Leading UK business advisory firm, FRP Advisory, has helped in supporting the future of aerospace manufacturing in the South West having organised the sale of a group of supply chain businesses out of administration. Andrew Sheridan and Jonathan Dunn, Partner and Director in the Restructuring Advisory team, were appointed Joint Administrators of AVPE Investments Ltd, and of Avon Valley Precision Engineering Limited and Redcliffe Precision Limited. Headquartered in Bitton, Bristol, AVPE Investments Ltd acted as parent company to aerospace component manufacturers, Avon Valley Precision Engineering, and Redcliffe Precision and to AVPE Durham, an engineering business with a broader sector focus.…
New £1000 cash support for businesses to help with the cost of providing a traineeship. Employers can now apply for a £1000 cash boost to help them take on new trainees, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Gillian Keegan has announced today (27 January). The new scheme will support young people to gain the skills and experience they need from the very start, helping them to get a job, an apprenticeship, or pursue further study. The cash boost – which is available until 31 July 2021 – will help businesses with the cost of providing a high-quality work placement for a trainee. This includes…
Magnox has launched a new apprentice recruitment programme to support the skills needed for our nuclear decommissioning agenda. The apprenticeships, at differing levels and in disciplines varying from health physics, procurement and supply chain to engineering design, will be based across our business. The programme follows on from a similar recruitment campaign to bring apprentices into the business in 2020. The new opportunities are open to people of any age, and combine formal learning and workplace learning. Mandy Walker, Magnox Learning and Development Manager, said, “This is a great opportunity to engage and inspire the next generation within the nuclear…
Although remote education is helping to plug the learning gap during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from Ofsted has found that the engagement and motivation of pupils remains a significant challenge for schools providing remote education, as well as parents. Published today, Ofsted’s in-depth study on remote education finds that many schools are doing a good job of mitigating children’s learning loss. But keeping pupils motivated remains a challenge, despite schools having made strides in their remote learning offers. Nearly half of parents who responded to Ofsted’s survey said that keeping their child focused on studying was a top concern, along…
More than 120,000 jobs for 16 to 24 year olds have now been created through the government’s flagship Kickstart Scheme. Ministers are now urging even more employers to get involved and have made it even easier for them to join. The scheme, which has been underway since September, is helping to put young people who have been some of the hardest hit by the economic impact of the pandemic, on the first rung of their career ladder. The start dates for these jobs vary but will all begin this year. The government has made it even simpler for employers of…
With the arrival of snow on Sunday morning some of the animals at Cotswold Wildlife Park were having much fun. The snow was welcomed by a few of the species, including the Red Pandas, Camels and Wolverine who would normally come from colder climates. Even the Capybaras seemed to enjoy it, despite their relatives coming from South America. Chris Kibbey, Assistant Animal Manager at Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “Although we are currently closed, keepers are still working daily to ensure all the animals are well cared for”. Head Keeper Mark Godwin’s children, Henry and Mollie, made a snow Rhino and he…
Record numbers of hauliers declined to move goods from France into Britain in the second week of January whilst those that did raised their prices significantly. According to data from German software firm Transporeon, which monitors transportation prices and movement rates, prices to transport goods from France to the UK rose by more than 50% in the second week of January, compared with the third quarter in 2020. Meanwhile rejection rates increased by 168%. This compares to a 102% jump recorded by Transporean in the first week of January. The report uses the third quarter of 2020 as a comparator…
The office for national Statistics is reporting that Young people and those on the lowest incomes who were furloughed are more likely to have felt the impact of the coronavirus. Estimates of personal and economic well-being in Great Britain, from March 2020 to December 2020, showed people under 30 years and those with household incomes under £10,000 were around 40% and 60% respectively more likely to be furloughed than the general population. Young people and those on the lowest incomes were as likely to be impacted in this second phase, during November, as they were in the first lockdown. There…