More than 150 companies have now signed up to be a part of Highways England’s A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down upgrade past Stonehenge.The company launched the A303 Stonehenge business directory in December, extending an invite for small and medium-sized businesses to get involved in the transformational dualling scheme and tunnel project, and in less than two months a total of 161 companies are now registered – half of those from the Wiltshire locality. A virtual Meet the Buyer event was held on 21 January, in which more than 130 people heard from Highways England’s project team and preliminary works contractors…
Author: sme-admin
Construction work has started on an innovative scheme to improve Tilbury’s flood defences with the installation of new dual function flood lock gates. In a project of national importance, the existing port lock gates will be replaced with pioneering dual function lock gates, and the Environment Agency’s tidal barrier will be removed. This is a major joint project between the Environment Agency and The Port of Tilbury that will safeguard thousands of homes and businesses in the local area. Work started in January and is expected to last for 18 months with the new lock gates planned for installation in…
Highways England has awarded Jacobs the £162.5m Integration Partner contract which will see the company act as a catalyst for collaboration between Highways England and the Lower Thames Crossing’s three main works contracts responsible for delivering the most ambitious road scheme in a generation. The Lower Thames Crossing will improve journeys by almost doubling road capacity across the Thames east of London, with 14.3 miles of new road featuring two 2.6-mile-long tunnels. The scheme will help to unlock a wealth of economic benefits by supporting over 22,000 jobs during construction and creating better connections to the region’s ports, distribution hubs…
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…
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…