29 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Basildon Council has signed a long-term contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services to maintain and repair the local authority’s housing stock and corporate buildings.   The £300 million-plus contract integrates all of Basildon Council’s major repair and maintenance services “to enable a more efficient, customer-focused service for residents and a single point of contact for the council”.   The new contract is expected to deliver “significant long-term savings for the authority with estimated savings of around £2 million per annum”.   The contract starts on 1 July 2016 and will continue for up to 15 years.   Under the terms of the contract, Morgan Sindall is to carry out repairs, maintenance and planned improvement works to the council’s housing stock as well as undertaking gas servicing, repairs and boiler renewals to 10,000 domestic gas heating systems.   Morgan Sindall will also carry out repairs and maintenance works to the council’s non-residential properties, including the Towngate Theatre, Basildon Centre and local community halls, under this contract.   In addition to providing improved services to residents, the council has placed a high emphasis on enabling employment opportunities for local people whilst ensuring the partnership with Morgan Sindall will continue to support the community by providing sustainable legacy projects.   One such project is the creation of a social enterprise that will help deliver external redecorations and estate improvement works. The social enterprise will work in conjunction with local college PROCAT and Jobcentre Plus to target long-term unemployed residents and help recruit the right trainees, who will be trained and mentored by Morgan Sindall engineers and staff.   The social enterprise will be a not-for-profit organisation and any surplus will be reinvested back into the business or the local community.   The contract will also provide up to 30 apprenticeship opportunities at any one time and work to improve employability by offering CV writing courses and interview training through local workshops.   “The length of this contract will not only enable us to provide long-term employment opportunities for local people, but also ensure we continue to develop new and smarter ways of delivering our services. We look forward to working with Basildon Council and its residents over the next 15 years.” Source link

Ascendancy Water has announced it will become the billing software provider for Castle Waters customers, after it successfully completed MOSL’s market entry acceptance testing. Equivalent testing on Ascendancy’s Edge software has already been completed with the Central Market Agency – MOSL’s equivalent in Scotland – to allow the company to bill Castle’s existing Scottish customers. The consultancy and software provider, which focuses entirely on the competitive water market, started billing all Portsmouth region non-household customers earlier this year. It will soon start billing for all Thames region business customers as well. Ascendancy provides billing and pricing software for a number of retailers in Scotland. The new version of its software has now been proven to integrate with both English and Scottish markets, allowing for customers to be provided with consolidated billing across the Anglo-Scottish area. Ascendancy Water managing director Charles Vincent said: “We are really proud to have successfully completed market entry testing with our Edge product. “A huge amount of work has gone into developing a billing solution for Castle that is specific to the water industry and overcomes some of the historical billing issues that customers have experienced in the past.” Source link

11 March 2016 | Jamie Harris A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that only a third of large organisations currently conduct any analysis on the pay of men and women. The figure is just 28 per cent for all employers within the survey, which questioned more than 1,000 employers and HR professionals. Only 7 per cent of large organisations (more than 250 employees) plan to conduct any analysis over the next 12 months, with almost half saying they will not. Forty-six per cent were unsure, which the CIPD suggests reflects the uncertainty over government legislation. The government’s consultation on gender pay reporting closes today, and legislation is expected to come into force later this year. The consultation sought views on how best to increase transparency on gender pay differences. Dianah Worman, diversity adviser for the CIPD, said: “The survey findings demonstrate the need for employers to act expeditiously to be able to deliver what will be expected of them, or risk damaging their public reputations as progressive employers of female talent and undermine their competitiveness in attracting and retaining it. “Overall, the CIPD believes the government proposals on the regulations, which are based on extensive consultations, are on the right track. We welcome the additional focus on publishing information on the bonus gap and quartile salary bands, which will give more detailed insights to employers on where and how pronounced gender pay differentials exist and what needs to be done to address them.” Source link

APHC issues Legionella warning following hospice death Published:  02 August, 2016 The Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC) is emphasising the importance of implementing the correct measures for the control of Legionella following the death of a patient from Legionnaire’s disease at a Sydenham-based hospice. Having been admitted to St. Christopher’s Hospice on 9 July 2012, the man was taken to a nearby hospital on 12 August where he died five days later of Legionnaires’ disease. It was later found he had contracted during his time at the hospice. An orderly worker also contracted Legionnaires’ disease in December 2012 while carrying out her duties at the hospice and spent 18 days in a coma before making a full recovery, Southwark Crown Court heard. HSE inspector Matt Raine said: “The risks of Legionella are well known in the healthcare industry. St Christopher’s Hospice had implemented some measures in an attempt to control Legionella, however, they failed to appoint a competent person to manage the risk of Legionella in the hospice’s hot and cold water system. “The failures in the management of Legionella led to conditions in the hot and cold water system that favoured the proliferation of Legionellae. It was entirely foreseeable that there would be risk of contracting Legionnaires’ disease for patients and employees working at this hospice.” Graeme Dryden, head of technical at APHC added: “This case is another tragic example of a death that in all likelihood could have been prevented simply through the appointment of a competent person to manage Legionella risk in a public building. Our APHC Legionella Risk Assessment and Disinfection Course trains installers in techniques to minimise Legionella bacteria growth, perform a risk assessment associated with hot and cold water systems and informs them of safe disinfection methods so that deaths such as those of the St. Christopher’s Hospice patient can be prevented.”  Source link

Energy suppliers are looking to offer special tariffs for electric vehicle (EV) owners as demand for EVs increases in the UK. Ovo Energy said it is “absolutely looking at tariff propositions for EV drivers”, while big six suppliers EDF, Scottish Power and Npower are joined by independent supplier First Utility in saying they are “monitoring the EV market closely.” The comments follow Tesla’s UK and Ireland country director Georg Ell saying he is “engaged in conversations with an energy supplier” to try and convince them to offer a tariff for EV drivers who inevitably consumer more energy at home by charging their vehicles. It was reported by edie.net that he said energy suppliers need to “speed up with the transition.” However independent supplier Ecotricity already offers an annual discount on its own Green Electricity tariff of £40 a year for EV drivers, a discount equivalent to at least 1,000 “free miles” a year. Both big six suppliers Npower and British Gas introduced a special EV tariff in 2011 in anticipation of the growing EV market, but were forced to scrap them on the introduction of the four tariff cap in 2014. The competition and markets authority has proposed scrapping the cap in its provisional remedies, which would allow energy suppliers to reintroduce specialised tariffs. Source link