News Category
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Kofi Annan congratulates MAG
CMM managing director, Graham Allen, is among a group of volunteers working with mine clearance charity, MAG, to have received a letter of thanks from Kofi Annan. In an open letter, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations acknowledged the charity's 25th anniversary as follows: I applaud the progress and commitment of MAG over the last 25 years. The work of organizations like MAG is invaluable and I wish you every success and send ...
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New consumer watchdog launched
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been launched today as the UK’s primary competition and consumer agency. Bringing together the Competition Commission with the competition and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading, the CMA has a range of new responsibilities and powers to ensure it meets its mission of making markets work well for consumers, businesses and the economy. These include tighter timetables for investigations, a stronger role in ensuring competition in regulated ...
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Over 4 million UK jobs depend on exports to EU
New research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) shows that in 2011 (latest available figures) 4.2 million jobs, or 13.3% of the UK workforce, were associated with exports to the European Union. Within this 4.2 million, around 3.1 million UK jobs were directly supported by exports to the EU in 2011 and 1.1 million jobs were indirectly supported – i.e. through spending income earned from exports. Total income associated with demand from EU exports ...
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CMM continues to support landmine clearance
CMM managing director Graham Allen's work with landmine charity, MAG, has resulted in a substantial donation following a recent talk to Catenian and Probus Club members who followed up with a £2,000 donation. MAG fundraising officer, Ingrid Turner, emailed Graham to say: "This is a testament to the fantastic talks you give so I can’t thank you enough for that!" Graham continues his work for MAG and as anyone who has visited his office will be aware, ...
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Hull chosen for Siemens’ offshore wind plant
Siemens is investing £160 million in new offshore wind farm production facilities in Hull. Rotor blades and turbines of the 6-megawatt class will be produced at the site in a joint venture with UK partner, Associated British Ports. According to Michael Suess, member of the managing board of Siemens AG: "The offshore wind market in Great Britain has high growth rates, with an even greater potential for the future. "Wind power capacity has doubled here within two years, ...
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Charges to be scrapped for self-builders & small developments
The Government is proposing to end certain charges that can add substantial costs for people wanting to build their own homes, or developers looking to build a small number of properties. Some councils have been applying Section 106 charges in such cases making some types of development unviable, such as a £32,000 charge for a self-build three-bedroom house in the New Forest and a £20,000 charge to build two modest sized homes in Andover. The charges, which ...
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Offshore wind industry helped to lower costs
Four businesses have been awarded over £4 million to spur on innovation in lowering the costs of generating offshore wind energy, Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, has announced. Grants have been made to 2-B Energy, High Voltage Partial Discharge Ltd, SgurrControl Ltd and Ocean Resource Ltd as part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s competition to support research and development into offshore wind power. The winning projects will use the funding to steam-line ...
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New measures on housing standards
The Government has launched plans aimed at making it easier and cheaper to build homes. Currently, developers can face a myriad of different standards to implement each time they build new homes and Communities Minister, Stephen Williams, believes the system is complicated, confusing and ripe for reform. The new measures will reduce 100 standards to fewer than 10 and bring down the numbers of pages of guidance from 1,000 to fewer than 100, thereby saving councils and ...
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Early aphid activity forecast
Cereal and oilseed rape aphids are likely to fly considerably earlier this year, according to the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA). The forecast is based on data from a national suction trap network and long-term weather data. With the temperature in January and February considerably higher than the long-term average across the country, HGCA reckons first aphid flights are likely be two to four weeks earlier than average. From next month, the Authority says it will be ...
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Confidence in the UK banking system stabilising
Consumer confidence in the UK's banking system is stabilising, according to new research from Ernst & Young. Confidence in banks decreased in both 2011 and 2012. But in 2013 confidence began to stabilise - 52% of consumers said their level of confidence had not changed; 37% said their confidence decreased; and 11% said confidence increased – broadly double the percentage who said their confidence increased in 2011. Despite this, banks are still struggling to build brand loyalty. ...
