We have designed a welcome pack for new charity trustees. This pack can also be used by existing trustees to refresh knowledge and skills.

A new welcome pack is available for charity trustees which focuses on the main duties of the role.

It provides essential information to help you understand governance basics, financial filing requirements and how the Charity Commission can offer support. It also suggests practical steps that can be taken to carry out trustee duties effectively.

From today (30 April) the pack will be emailed to all new trustees who register their email address with us. You can sign into our change charity details service and add email addresses for trustees.

We tested the content of the welcome pack with many stakeholders from across the charity sector. The feedback told us the content would be useful for existing trustees, so we have made it publically available on our website to use as refresher training.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the testing of this pack. We aim to continually improve our content based on your feedback .

Published 30 April 2018

Thank you for your feedback

Image of a class 315 unit similar to those involved in the incident (Photo by PeterSkuce on Wikimedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons)

At around 22:09 hrs on 8 April 2018, a passenger train was stopped after passing a signal at danger. When it restarted, it proceeded towards a junction over which another train was passing, approximately 400 metres ahead of it.

We have undertaken a preliminary examination into the circumstances surrounding this incident. Having assessed the evidence which has been gathered to date, we have decided to publish a safety digest.

The safety digest will be made available on our website in the next few weeks.

Published 30 April 2018

This merger is likely to be subject to review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

In major mergers, it is typical for the companies to engage in ‘pre-notification’ discussions with the CMA to ensure they are supplying the information it will require before a formal investigation can begin. These discussions can last for a number of weeks. Once the CMA’s formal investigation begins, an initial, ‘Phase 1’ review then runs for up to 40 working days.

During a Phase 1 review, the CMA would assess whether the deal could reduce competition and choice for shoppers. After this first phase, the merger could be cleared or, if a potential reduction in competition is identified, it would be referred for an in-depth, Phase 2 investigation lasting up to 24 weeks – unless the merging parties offered immediate proposals to address any competition concerns identified.

Companies can also request to ‘fast track’ the referral of merger cases to Phase 2.

A Phase 2 investigation can result in a merger being cleared, prohibited, or allowed to proceed subject to ‘remedies’ such as the sale of parts of one or both businesses.

More information on the CMA’s approach to mergers can be found here.

More than 800 guests attended the reception, including high-ranking national and provincial government officials, legislators from different political parties, businessmen, diplomats, academics, artists, sportsmen, journalists, and members of the civil society.

British Ambassador Mark Kent gave a speech in which he highlighted that “the presence of so many leading figures from Argentina’s political, economic, social and cultural life reflects the enormous progress achieved in bilateral relations in recent times”.

At the end of the speech, he offered a toast to the President and the people of the Argentine Republic, and to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. A band of the Argentine Air Force played the Argentine and the British national anthems, and then offered a brief performance in the Residence’s gardens.

The event was supported by UK companies, all of which had plenty of opportunity to display their products and services and offer various examples of British excellence.

The Queen celebrates her birthday twice a year: on the anniversary of the day she was born, 21 April, and then on the third Saturday in June which is the date of the official celebration, marked by the ceremony of “Trooping the Colour.”

Photos available in the Flickr gallery

New support to help parents improve their children’s early language and literacy skills at home before they start school have been announced today (30 April) by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

Two schemes will build the confidence of parents to support their children in language and reading at an early stage. This has been shown to help close the so-called ‘word gap’ – the gap in communication skills between disadvantaged children and their peers when they start school.

A new £5million scheme will be run by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to trial projects to provide practical tools and advice to parents so they can help their children learn new words through simple steps like reading and singing nursery rhymes.

Alongside this, an £8.5million programme has opened for local authorities to fund projects to improve early language and literacy development for disadvantaged children.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:

This Government wants every child to have the best start in life which means mastering the basics of speaking, reading and writing at an early age. It is important that parents and families can feel confident about supporting their children so they can start school with the appropriate level of language and social skills.

This new support will help parents with early language learning at home by giving them practical advice on activities like reading and learning the alphabet which are so important in making sure no child is left behind.

Through the hard work of teachers and the government’s reforms, academic standards are rising with 1.9 million more children in schools rated good or outstanding than in 2010 and the attainment gap is narrowing in both primary and secondary school. English children are also rising up the international literacy league tables from an early age, helping to make Britain a country fit for the future.

Despite this progress, too many children arrive at school struggling with language and social skills, putting them at a disadvantage when they begin their formal education and making it harder for them to master the fundamentals of reading that other children take for granted.

Over the past 40 years, the amount of time parents spend on development activities, such as playing and reading with their children has risen from 23 minutes per day to 80 minutes, but research shows that three year olds from certain backgrounds are 37 percentage points less likely to be read to every day than their peers.

The EEF will trial projects in the north of England, looking at what works best in improving children’s communication skills at home before they begin school, a key part of the government’s ambition to give every child the best start in life.

The projects aim to give parents and carers the tools to widen children’s language, vocabulary and social skills in the pre-school years to tackle the ‘word gap’ that exists between disadvantaged children and their better off peers at age five, and there is evidence that shows this has a long term effect on educational outcomes.

First announced in the government’s social mobility action plan Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential, published in December, these measures target support in areas that need it the most – ensuring equality of opportunity for children and young people and laying the foundations to give them an excellent education.

Sir Kevan Collins, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

Parents care very much about the future of their children, whatever their background or wherever they come from. But it can sometimes be difficult to get them involved in their child’s learning and we know little about how to do this well.

By testing different ways of tackling issues like the early years ‘word gap’, this new fund will give us much needed information about how we can give parents the tools they need to give their child the very best start in life.

In a separate drive to aid social mobility, the government has also committed £8.5million to a new Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme with the Local Government Association, which will see councils working together to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children.

Councillor Roy Perry, Vice Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:

We are very pleased that the Government has announced funding for a new LGA peer review programme of sector-led support which will share and promote good practice and knowledge across councils.

Councils are absolutely determined to make sure that children get the best start in life. This is why we need to close ‘the word gap’ in the early years, by focussing on key early language and literacy skills, so that all children can begin school ready to thrive.