This Personnel Today news round-up includes:
- Construction industry deaths report delayed
- Jobs market glimmer of hope
- Coffee Republic goes bust
- Diageo jobs threat could kill Scotch industry
- Talent map launched to help employers in Northern Ireland
Construction industry deaths report delayed
A long-awaited report into deaths in the construction industry has been delayed at the 11th hour, according to construction union Ucatt.
Ucatt claims that the report will recommend the extension of the Gangmasters’ Licensing Act to cover construction, as well as the introduction of statutory directors’ duties, which would make company bosses responsible if a worker was killed as a result of safety breaches.
Despite Ucatt’s reports of a delay, the DWP itself insisted that the report’s publication was “imminent”.
Jobs market glimmer of hope
The rate of decline in Britain’s jobs market continued to ease in June, with permanent placements falling at their slowest rate for more than a year, a survey has revealed.
The index tracking placements of temporary staff rose 4.8 points to 44.9 in June – also a record jump and indicating the slowest pace of decline since September.
However, the report warned it was too early to talk of a recovery in the jobs market. One reason for improvement, it cited, could be that firms were asking staff to work shorter hours for less pay to safeguard their jobs.
Coffee Republic goes bust
British Coffee shop chain Coffee Republic has gone bust and administrators KPMG have warned there will be ‘inevitable job losses’ at the firm.
The group has 153 directly employed staff, with 127 at 20 group-operated outlets. There are 187 Coffee-Republic branded cafes in total in the UK and overseas, including 70 franchises, and a further 97 concessions in cinemas, retail outlets and hotels.
KMPG hopes to sell some of the company’s profitable franchises and outlets on.
Diageo jobs threat could kill Scotch industry
Des Browne, the MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, claimed yesterday that if the industry is allowed to “break the link between Johnnie Walker and its roots in Kilmarnock” he could “confidently predict that we will see within my lifetime the breaking of the link between Scotch whisky and Scotland itself”.
Senior politicians from the four main parties joined forces to step up the fight against the drinks giant’s plans.
Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said the plans could be the “thin end of the wedge”.
Talent map launched to help employers in Northern Ireland
The talent-map site and its associated online tools are designed to help employers navigate the maze of education, employment and skills programmes across the UK to find the publicly funded help and support they need.
The web tool searches education, employment and skills-related sites and returns the most relevant information to the user. It has been developed with employers for employers, supported by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and a coalition of partners including representatives from business organisations and government.
It will start by searching around 100 main sites, with more being added as time goes on.
