Apr62017

Aston Martin contracts worth over £60m on offer to Welsh firms on Welsh Government’s Sell2Wales

Welsh Government
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It is the first time that private sector contracts have been advertised on Sell2Wales and will ensure Welsh SMEs have easy access to the raft of contracts being awarded by Aston Martin for work linked to the preparation and commencement of production at its new St Athan  site. 

Aston Martin contracts worth several million pounds have already been advertised on Sell2Wales for Phase I of work on the former MoD site, with Ammanford-based construction firm, TRJ being one of the main beneficiaries after securing the contract for phase 1 of Aston Martin’s initial work at St Athan. 

The First Minister made the announcement ahead of the official ceremony to mark the commencement of Phase II of works on the St Athan site. He said: 

“I am delighted to announce that we have now opened up our Sell2Wales procurement channel to Aston Martin. This is exciting news for Welsh business as it is the first time the channel has been used to award private sector contracts. 

“The move means that Welsh SMEs will now have easy access to the range of contracts being advertised by Aston Martin for work on the St Athan site and when combined with for example active supplier development from Business Wales could potentially mean over £60m of contracts coming to Wales. 

“Aston Martin is already having a positive influence on the economy of Wales with more than 40 Welsh workers already  employed at the Gaydon site and we know that many more job opportunities will follow before 2020. 

“The company’s move to St Athan is a major success story for Wales and I look forward to continuing to build on our working partnership with the company in order to bring maximum benefits to our economy and enhance our worldwide reputation.”

Dr. Andy Palmer, President and CEO of Aston Martin said: 

“We are delighted to have made another significant step forward on our St Athan journey, as we develop the former MOD site to our new manufacturing facility. Being able to use the Sell2Wales procurement channel has enabled us to promote the various contracts we have to a wider audience within Wales and beyond.”   

Economy Secretary, Ken Skates said: 

“I would like to congratulate Ammanford-based construction firm, TRJ on being the first Welsh company to win a contract linked to Aston Martin’s expansion into Wales. 

“The company’s success demonstrates that the economic benefits of Aston Martin’s decision to come to Wales will be felt right across Wales and not just in the Vale of Glamorgan.”

Owain Jones, Director of TRJ  said: 

“We are delighted to be the first Welsh company to be appointed by Aston Martin for work on  their St Athan site.  

“It is really  great news that Aston Martin is actively looking to engage with Welsh SMEs  and I am sure we will be the first of many Welsh companies to benefit from their  move to St Athan.”

Last year Aston Martin announced it had selected St Athan from 20 potential global locations it had been  considering for its second manufacturing facility as part of a £200M investment in new products and facilities.

The St Athan site is expected to employ 750 workers before 2020, with many more jobs in the local supply chain. It is estimated the move will bring economic benefits worth half a billion pounds to Wales. 

Apr62017

News story: Gender Pay Gap Reporting Goes Live

HM Government
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Thousands of employers will publish their gender pay gap figures for the first time from today, helping break the glass ceiling and create a more modern workforce.

The UK is one of the first countries in the world to require gender pay gap reporting and follows the government’s commitment to introduce the requirements at the last election. This is a key part of the government’s work to eliminate the gender pay gap.

Voluntary, private and public sector employers with 250 or more employees will be required to publish their figures by April 2018. The regulations will cover approximately 9,000 employers with over 15 million employees, representing nearly half of the UK’s workforce.

The UK gender pay gap is already at a record low of 18.1 per cent. These requirements will help employers to identify the gaps in their organisations and take action to close their gender pay gap.

Ensuring that women have the same opportunities as men to fulfil their potential in the workplace is a key part of building a country that works for everyone, as the Prime Minister made clear in her first speech outside Downing Street.

Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said:

We have more women in work, more women-led businesses than ever before and the highest proportion of women on the boards of our biggest companies. This has helped us to narrow the gender pay gap to a record 18.1 per cent – but we want to eliminate it completely.

Helping women to reach their full potential isn’t only the right thing to do, it makes good economic sense and is good for British business. I am proud that the UK is championing gender equality and now those employers that are leading the way will clearly stand out with these requirements.

The benefits of helping women to unlock their talents are huge – eliminating work-related gender gaps could add £150 billion to our annual GDP by 2025. That is an opportunity that neither Government nor businesses can afford to ignore.

As part of the new regulations, employers will be required to:

Publish their median gender pay gap figures

  • By identifying the wage of the middle earner, the median is the best representation of the ‘typical’ gender difference. Employers will be asked to use data from a ‘snapshot’ period in April to calculate this average.

Publish their mean gender pay gap figures

  • By taking into account the full earnings distribution, the mean takes into account the low and high earners in an organisation – this is particularly useful as women are often over-represented at the low earning extreme and men are over-represented at the high earning extreme.

Publish the proportion of men & women in each quartile of the pay structure.

  • This data will show the spread of male and female earners across an organisation, helping to show employers where women’s progress might be stalling so they can take action to support their career development.

Publish the gender pay gaps for any bonuses paid out during the year

  • As there is a significant issue around bonus payments in some sectors, employers will also have to publish the proportion of male and proportion of female employees that received a bonus during the year.

Employers will also be encouraged to publish an action plan alongside their figures, demonstrating the steps they will take to close the gender pay gap within their organisation.

The Government is working with leading employers who are exploring publishing their figures early.

The Government Equalities Office has also launched its new campaign page where employers can access resources, case studies and publish their gender pay gap figures.

The new gender pay gap mandatory reporting requirements are part of wider work the Government is doing to support women in the workplace. This includes £5 million to increase returnships, offering 30 hours of free childcare, and introducing shared parental leave and new rights to request flexible working. There is also extensive cross-Government work to get more women into the top jobs at the UK’s biggest companies and to get more girls taking STEM subjects at school.

Apr52017

Remarks by Federica Mogherini at a joint press point with the German Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel on the

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Check against delivery!

Together with Sigmar [Gabriel, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs] we thought that it was a good occasion – the fact that we have so many ministers here today in Brussels for the Syria Conference [Brussels Conference “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”] – to have also a short but important moment to gather some of them and focus on our common response to one of the most terrible humanitarian situations the world is facing in the Horn of Africa with the need to coordinate our response and increase the level of reaction of the international community.

In particular the Horn of Africa region is in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, with a situation that is particularly critical in Somalia and Sudan, but millions are also suffering in Kenya and Ethiopia, not to mention other countries in the region.

There are two overlapping humanitarian crises, both of them man-made and we tackled both levels of this. One triggered by conflict, leading to wide-scale displacement of people; and the other one driven by climate conditions, with severe droughts having contributed to food insecurity in several countries in the region. The two together pose a very serious threat – also to the security of the region and the overall stability of entire regions and societies.

We exchanged not only our assessments but also decided to scale up our already ongoing assistance. We call for more partners worldwide to provide much needed humanitarian assistance for the several millions already suffering famine or being at risk of suffering it. The European Union on its side has decided recently to add to the ongoing humanitarian assistance for facing the drought in the Horn of Africa an additional support of €165 million.

I was visiting Addis Abeba just recently and had the chance to discuss this with authorities locally but also with the African Union Commission, as we want to partner as much as possible with our African friends there but also with the wider international community.

And I would like to thank Sigmar Gabriel [the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs] for taking this initiative today in Brussels and obviously we will continue to work closely together with Germany and with others – EU member states and non-member states – to make sure that this doesn’t turn into a major catastrophe in the coming months.

Apr52017

Labour commits to free school meals for all primary school children

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Tomorrow (Thursday 6th April), Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
Labour Party, and Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, will
commit the next Labour Government to providing free school meals for all
primary school children.

Labour will fund the policy by
introducing VAT on private school fees. Labour’s policy will benefit the
educational attainment and health of all children while ending a subsidy to the
privileged few.

Research confirmed by the National
Centre for Social Research and the Institute for
Fiscal Studies has shown offering universal access to
free school meals improves educational attainment through improvements in
pupils’ productivity, enabling primary school pupils to advance by around two
months on average.

The provision of free school meals also
has been proven to improve the health of pupils through better nutrition – with
over 90 percent of pupils eating a school lunch consuming food or drink
containing vegetables or fruit (including fruit juice) compared with only 58
percent of pupils who eat packed lunches.

At the launch event in Lancashire,
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will say:

“No child in the UK should go hungry at
school. By charging VAT on private schools fees, Labour will make sure all
primary school children, no matter what their background, get a healthy meal at
school.

“The next Labour Government will
provide all primary school children with a free school meal, invest in our
schools, and make sure no child is held back because of their background.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, will say:

“The Government’s cuts to the school
budget are making school meals worse and limiting the number of children that
can be fed. This decision affects the educational attainment and health of
pupils.

“While the Conservatives offer tax giveaways to their billionaire friends, they
are cutting the schools budget and threatening the health and futures of all
our children by denying children the basic right of a healthy lunch at school.
By investing in our education system and providing free school meals for every
primary school child, we will remove the stigma attached to free school meals,
and improve health and attainment for all children.“

Apr52017

Labour commits to free school meals for all primary school children

image_pdfimage_print

Tomorrow (Thursday 6th April), Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
Labour Party, and Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, will
commit the next Labour Government to providing free school meals for all
primary school children.

Labour will fund the policy by
introducing VAT on private school fees. Labour’s policy will benefit the
educational attainment and health of all children while ending a subsidy to the
privileged few.

Research confirmed by the National
Centre for Social Research and the Institute for
Fiscal Studies has shown offering universal access to
free school meals improves educational attainment through improvements in
pupils’ productivity, enabling primary school pupils to advance by around two
months on average.

The provision of free school meals also
has been proven to improve the health of pupils through better nutrition – with
over 90 percent of pupils eating a school lunch consuming food or drink
containing vegetables or fruit (including fruit juice) compared with only 58
percent of pupils who eat packed lunches.

At the launch event in Lancashire,
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will say:

“No child in the UK should go hungry at
school. By charging VAT on private schools fees, Labour will make sure all
primary school children, no matter what their background, get a healthy meal at
school.

“The next Labour Government will
provide all primary school children with a free school meal, invest in our
schools, and make sure no child is held back because of their background.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, will say:

“The Government’s cuts to the school
budget are making school meals worse and limiting the number of children that
can be fed. This decision affects the educational attainment and health of
pupils.

“While the Conservatives offer tax giveaways to their billionaire friends, they
are cutting the schools budget and threatening the health and futures of all
our children by denying children the basic right of a healthy lunch at school.
By investing in our education system and providing free school meals for every
primary school child, we will remove the stigma attached to free school meals,
and improve health and attainment for all children.“