MoD training comes under scrutiny this month
The ALI (Adult Learning Inspectorate) will begin an inspection of Ministry of Defence training this month. This will include training offered to new recruits, and will initially focus on duty of care and welfare issues. The announcement came in June, after a report into the deaths of four recruits at the Deepcut barracks in Surrey concluded they had committed suicide. The ALI said it had created a confidential e-mail service on its website for any existing or previous members of the Armed Forces, or their families, to pass on information about initial training within the Army, Navy or Air Force. The e-mail will go directly to the leading inspector, who will follow up each complaint or query in confidence. www.ali.gov.uk
Health and safety must be included in education
Integrating occupational safety and health (OSH) into school and university education is key to reducing the high incidence of work-related accidents and illnesses in the EU, especially among young staff, says a report by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. According to the report, Mainstreaming Occupational Safety and Health into Education, employees aged 18 to 24, are 50 per cent more likely to have an accident than the average staff member in industrialised countries. One of the main problems, says the report, is that most adolescents enter the labour market with very little knowledge of the risks, let alone any education on preventive measures. To help policy-makers and practitioners resolve this shortfall, the report analyses how different EU countries have successfully integrated OSH into different levels of the education system, from primary schools up to universities and specialist vocational colleges. It also provides a strategic framework, including a ‘road map’, to achieve this. http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/reports/313/en/index.htm
GP training budget will not be reduced in Wales
The British Medical Association’s GP Committee for Wales (GPC Wales), the Welsh Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Department for Post Graduate Studies for Wales have jointly welcomed the Welsh Assembly’s assurances that there would be no reductions in the GP registrar training budget for Wales during this financial year. Dr Andrew Dearden, chairman of GPC Wales, said: “In England over the past few months, there has been much concern about reductions to the future budgets for GP training, resulting in many places reducing and even stopping the recruitment of new doctors to be trained as GPs. With the current shortage of GPs, it is good to see that the Assembly continues to place such a high priority on the training of new GPs here in Wales.” www.bma.org.uk
Learning centre boosts chance of promotion
Workers in Hertfordshire have the opportunity to boost their chances of promotion at work thanks to a new learning centre. The Hertfordshire Trade Union Learning Centre, based in Watford, is the first in the UK not to be situated at a workplace or college, and the first to be wholly owned and run by trade unions. The centre has opted for flexible opening hours to give local employees the best chance of taking advantage of the facilities, with late-night opening on Thursday nights and weekend access on Saturday mornings. Union members from the county who have been trained as learning representatives will work at the centre identifying the training needs of their colleagues and advising on courses tailored to improve their skills in a range of disciplines, including computer skills, writing and numeracy. Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: “The new centre offers all local employees the chance to improve their skills and enhance their lives.”
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