The company currently employs 18 people at its head office in Eastgate House, Cardiff, with a further 17 members of staff in Edinburgh and London and has already attracted investment from Finance Wales.

The planned expansion, assisted by the Welsh Government, supports the company’s growth plans to increase sales by 40% over the next three years and double turnover by 2018. 

Incorporated in 2006 by co-founders Paul Newbury CTO and Stephan Briggs CEO, Yard provides a range of digital services such as analytics, data and insight, search engine optimisation, web design and build.

Web analytics is its key specialism and the company has provided analytical solutions to over 100 companies across the UK and Europe and created web products for Legal & General, British Gas and Sainsbury’s Bank, among others.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: 

“Supporting digital media businesses that can compete globally and attract inward investment to Wales is a sector priority. I am delighted Welsh Government support will ensure this expansion goes ahead in Wales and will help the company as it embarks on its new stage of growth.”

The additional staff will be responsible for developing new business and servicing new contracts the company has secured from Rank Group, Virgin Atlantic, and Camelot and support its strategic sales strategy for further business growth.

Paul Newbury said of the news: 

“We are delighted at Yard to receive this support from Welsh Government, which will allow us to drive forward with really ambitious growth plans and recruitment plans. By working with local universities and local industry, we can do our part to ensure that we help to grow inward investment into Wales as well as confirming Wales as a centre of excellence for analytical and digital skills.”

The business has grown year on year since its formation and is recognised as a leading technical marketing agency providing a growing number of global clients with niche digital products and services. Its impressive client list also includes J.P. Morgan, S4C, Rank Group, B&Q and Penguin Random House.

Yard has been responsible for creating a number of web based software products including CUBED, an advanced attribution modelling tool, and SiteTagger, a tag management solution. Tag management is a platform based method that enables marketing companies to connect, manage and unify their digital marketing applications such as web analytics, search engine marketing and advertising.

The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling held its 38^th Session in Budapest, Hungary, from 8 to 12 May 2017. The Session was attended by 47 Member countries, 1 Member Organisation and Observers from 11 international organisations.

Under UK law, local authorities and food business operators can call upon the Government Chemist to arbitrate technical disputes on analytical or interpretation issues in food analysis. Incorrect sampling, analysis or interpretation can lead to disputes, and it is therefore important that the Government Chemist contributes to and keeps informed of international Codex developments.

Selvarani Elahi, representing the UK Government Chemist, attended as part of the UK delegation together with colleagues from the Food Standards Agency and the Association of Public Analysts.

The meeting considered methods of analysis for Codex standards and testing in relation to international food trade. Participants discussed analytical methods for safety issues, including allergens, mycotoxins and metals, and food quality. Sampling plans, measurement uncertainty, equivalency of methods, method performance criteria for multi-component methods, criteria for biological methods to detect chemicals of concern and Codex general guidelines for sampling were also discussed in order to reach a global consensus on the best approaches to use.

The draft report of the meeting is available from the Codex Alimentarius website.

At a media
launch in London today, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, Jonathan
Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary and Angela Rayner, Shadow Education
Secretary, turned the spotlight on public services, arguing that this election
is vital for the future of the NHS and our schools.

Labour has
published research highlighting the threat to our schools and hospitals posed
by five more years of the Conservatives and have committed the party to
reversing years of Tory neglect.

New
analysis of the Tory threat has revealed that if the current rate of
deterioration under the Tories continues, by 2022 our health and education
services could be facing huge problems. It could mean:

In a Tory
NHS and social care system:

• 5.5 million people on waiting
  lists in England, 1.8 million more than at present.
•  Almost 1.5 million older and
  vulnerable people with unmet social care needs.

In a Tory
education system:

• 650,000 pupils crammed into
  primary classes of over 30.
• Families left almost £450 worse
  off per child as a result of the Tories’ plan to scrap free school meals for
  1.7 million children.

The choice
at the election is stark. The Tories have no plan to properly fund our public
services, pushing them further into crisis. Labour will take a different.
approach, we will rebuild our public services for the many by modest tax rises
for companies and the richest 5 per cent.

Labour will
build an NHS and social care system for the many:

• Labour will invest £37 billion
  in our NHS and take one million people off the waiting list by the end of the
  next Parliament.
• Labour will invest £8 billion
  in social care over the course of the next Parliament and lay the foundations
  of a National Care Service to integrate health and social care.

Labour will
build an education system for the many:

• Labour will cap class sizes at
  30 for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds.
• Labour will provide free school
  meals to all primary school children by removing VAT exemption on private
  school fees.

Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The
futures of our NHS and schools are at stake in this election.

“Over the
last seven years the Tories have starved the public services we rely on of
resources, running them down and pushing them into disrepair.

“Patients
are suffering ever longer waits and overcrowded wards; those who need care have
been left without it. Children are crammed into overcrowded and crumbling
classrooms. It has to change.

“Labour
will invest in our people, schools and hospitals. We will cut class sizes, take
a million people off the NHS waiting list and ensure people get the care they
deserve.

“By
contrast another five years of the Tories would be disastrous for our public
services. At the rate we’re going we could see 5.5 million people on the
English waiting list and 1.5 million older people with unmet care needs. And
young people and their families face the prospect of more overcrowding in
schools and having to pick up the bill for the Tories’ unfair plan to scrap
free school meals for hundreds of thousands of children.

“On June 8^th there’s only one party that will improve
our public services for the many not the few, that’s the Labour Party.”

Notes to editors:

• Please find link to Labour’s full analysis on threat to our schools and hospitals posed by five more years of the Conservatives: http://www.labour.org.uk/atrisk 

“The long wait is almost over. This weekend will see Cardiff host the greatest sporting event of 2017, the UEFA Champions League Final. The final is  the culmination of months of planning that has been  focussed on ensuring visitors from across the world are safe, well looked after and afforded a fantastic Welsh welcome as they enjoy the occasion.   

“With around 200,000 additional visitors expected in Cardiff over 1-4 June, 2,500 members of the media and an estimated global live TV audience of 200 million, few events can match the Champions League Final for size and scope. The challenges that come with being the smallest city ever to host such an event should not be underestimated, not least in ensuring that every aspect of the infrastructure and transport network is primed  to best serve South Wales and it’s many visitors. 

“The weekend will see additional trains providing capacity for up to 60,000 passengers,  with partners from across the UK helping ensure increased rail capacity and frequency. 

“There will be over 1250 coaches, an additional temporary terminal at Cardiff airport helping welcome up to 10,000 air charter passengers to Wales and  the Eastern Bay link road which will open to coaches. There will also be a number of park and ride/walks in full operation, the newest of which, in Llanwern, will add 4,000 additional spaces. 

“These are amongst the many, many measures in place to support what will be the busiest ever weekend on our transport network. For those travelling in and around Cardiff, please leave plenty of time and carefully consider all available modes of transport to avoid disruption.” 

30 May 2017

Caroline Lucas, Green Party co-leader, today staged an emergency intervention into the General Election campaign to highlight how the environment has been ignored in the national debate so far.

Caroline’s full speech to Parliament Square (check against delivery):

Good morning everyone – and thanks so much for coming down here this morning.

We’re here to talk about the environment – a topic that has been sorely missing from the General Election campaign so far.

For those of us in the environment movement, the lack of attention doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Despite “the environment” actually meaning the air that we breathe, the water we drink, and the food that we eat: it’s rarely talked about in British politics.

It appears that for some, the environment is a secondary concern – something to be considered once we fix (so-called) more important issues.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Our prosperity depends on the natural world.

It is the ultimate source of everything we make and use – from food and materials, to the air we breathe.

But it is in crisis.

2016 was the hottest year on record – and the targets set in the historic Paris Agreement will be breached within years unless we act fast.

40,000 premature deaths a year are attributable to air pollution, and thousands of children breath in toxic nitrous oxide fumes on their way to school every day.

Our wildlife and nature are in crisis too: 60% of UK species are in long-term decline, whilst 15% are at risk of extinction.

These are just some of the many environmental challenges we face – and they will all be exacerbated by the ‘red tape bonfire’ that looks set to follow an extreme and dirty Brexit.

Despite these monumental challenges, there is virtually no discussion of them at all in the general election campaign.

So, today, I have written to Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to ask them an important question:

Where is your commitment to the environment?

We need to get the natural world back to the heart of this election – not least because of the current approach to it.

Theresa May’s Conservative party have been taking donations from big oil, whilst forcing fracking on communities across the UK.

And despite it being a public health emergency, the Tory manifesto mentioned air pollution only once.

Is that really acceptable that after seven years of being dragged through the courts the Government still has no action plan on air quality?

There’s not much point in talking about a strong and stable leadership, if we don’t have a strong and stable environment.

As for the Labour Party, it has been heartening to see it adopt a more ambitious agenda on climate change.

But it is simply not possible to tackle the climate crisis whilst continuing to support the fossil fuel industry to the tune of £6bn each year.

Or handing out £37bn of taxpayers money to Hinkley Point C – in the full knowledge that wind and solar are now the cheapest way to generate electricity.

That the environment has received such scant attention from both Labour and the Tory’s in this election is a shameful and reckless dereliction of the duty they have –  not only to the planet-  but to future generations, to whom we leave the natural world

Over the last seven years, I’m proud that the Green Party has led the charge in Parliament for environmental protections and action on climate change – and, quite simply, a prosperous, thriving future will be green – or not at all.

From a new Green Investment and Innovation Centre to a new Environment Act, the Green Party has the ideas and policies to create a prosperous, confident and caring Britain.

We sincerely hope that Jeremy and Theresa will respond to our call today, and make sure that in these final days before June 8th: the environment gets the air-time, column inches, and, crucially, the political importance that it deserves.

We sincerely hope that Jeremy and Theresa will respond to our call today, and make sure that in these final days before June 8th: the environment gets the air-time, column inches, and, crucially, the political importance that it deserves.

ENDS.

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