Politics

100 jobs boost for Swansea with Welsh Government support

The company is creating the new roles in order to meet its commitment to answering 90 per cent of its customers’ calls in the UK by  spring 2017.

The new recruits will work at BT Tower in Swansea where an additional floor will be refurbished and refitted to accommodate the new business that could have been housed at other BT centres in the UK which have available capacity. BT already employs around 500 people at BT Tower in Swansea. 

The move is backed by business finance from the Welsh Government to support the capital investment and new jobs and helped ensure the expansion went ahead in Swansea. 

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: 

“BT’s importance to the Welsh economy is reflected in its anchor company status. It has a significant presence in Wales employing more than 3,890 people here and spends around £284m with suppliers in Wales every year.

“BT has already created a significant number of new jobs across Wales recently and I am delighted to support this significant expansion that will now go ahead in Swansea. It builds on their highly successful existing operation in the city and will create a range of new jobs and employment opportunities.”

Alwen Williams, regional director for BT Cymru Wales, said “We are completely changing the way we serve our customers in order to boost our service levels.”

“We are going to answer 90 per cent of our customers’ calls in the UK by Spring 2017, and that means we need to take on great people to fill these extra roles.

“BT is already a major employer in Swansea and these new roles reflect our commitment to the city and the skills and quality of our workforce.

“We’re also rolling-out our new ultrafast broadband technology in Swansea that will see the city enjoying some of the very fastest fibre broadband speeds available in the UK.”

Successful applicants will be answering calls and helping customers from across the UK, providing them with technical and billing advice and top class customer service.

The company has added around 500 UK and Ireland contact centre roles in BT Consumer, with around 900 to be filled by April 2017

Details of the new roles and how to apply can be found at http://btcareers.manpower.co.uk/ (external link). The interview process will include online tests, assessment centres and interviews so the best possible candidates can be matched to the roles.

A recent employee satisfaction survey showed the Swansea centre had the distinction of being the BT Consumer site with the most engaged workforce in Wales and the South West England region.

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Welsh Government • •

Statement from Jeremy Corbyn ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UK

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party,  speaking ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UK, said:

“When Theresa May meets the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow, she has let it be known she will tell him that building settlements on occupied Palestinian land “undermines trust”.

“That is simply not good enough. The Israeli government’s decision to build 3,000 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal under international law and a threat to peace and international security.

“It undermines still further the prospect of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, about which the Netanyahu government is increasingly contemptuous. 

“Fifty years after the United Nations demanded Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in the 1967 war and 70 years after the UN voted for the creation of a Palestinian state, the British government must act in support of peace and justice in the Middle East conflict. 

“Theresa May must make clear to the Israeli Prime Minister that the British government will stand unequivocally behind the rights of the Palestinian people, along with the many who support them in Israel, as well as human rights and justice across the region. 

“She must also demand an assurance from the Israeli Prime Minister that the improper interference by the Israeli embassy in British democratic politics exposed last month will not be repeated.”

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Labour • • •

These disappointing proposals fall far short of what is needed – Healey

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP, responding to the government’s announcement on renting, said:

“These disappointing proposals fall far short of what is needed.

“Government figures show that affordable housebuilding has fallen to the lowest level in 24 years, with the number of homes being built for social rent now at the lowest level since records began.

“Ministers continue to do next to nothing to help people who rent from a private landlord and have consistently blocked Labour’s attempts to change the law to control costs and give renters security.

“Ministers even voted down Labour’s efforts to ensure that private rented homes were simply fit for human habitation.

“After seven years of failure on housing, renters deserve better than this.”

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Labour • • •

Privatised rail has left us with a fragmented and inefficient network that drives up costs and under delivers – McDonald

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, commenting on a report by the Commons Transport Select Committee, said:

“Privatised rail has left us with a fragmented and inefficient network that drives up costs and under delivers.

“A railway works best as an integrated network but privatisation and franchising have meant breaking it up to create opportunities for companies to extract a profit, resulting in costly inefficiencies. For example, hundreds of people are employed full time on the railway to argue about which company is responsible for delays.

“It’s not just that money which should be used to improve services or keep fares down is syphoned off or wasted, we have a confusing fare structure and services are disjointed and difficult to use for passengers.

“The current system is broken. It is time for our railways to be run under public ownership, in the public interest as an integrated national asset with affordable fares for all and long-term investment in the railway network.”

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Labour • • •

News story: New powers to crack down on laser attacks

People shining laser pens to distract pilots, train and bus drivers could face fines of thousands of pounds or a jail sentence under stronger new powers designed to protect the public.

Shining lasers at any transport operator will become an offence under new legislation. This new law will make it even safer for aircraft travel as well as passengers using buses, taxis and trains both now and in the future.

Currently, it is an offence to shine lasers at pilots and offenders could face fines of up to £2,500. But police do not have the powers to effectively tackle and investigate the inappropriate use of laser devices against aircraft, trains, buses and other forms of transport. One of the current laws means that police have to prove a person endangered the aircraft when committing the offence of shining a laser, whereas the new law will mean that police will only have to prove the offence of shining the laser.

Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling said:

Shining a laser pointer at pilots or drivers is incredibly dangerous and could have fatal consequences. Whilst we know laser pens can be fun and many users have good intentions, some are not aware of the risks of dazzling drivers or pilots putting public safety at risk. That’s why we want to take the common sense approach to strengthen our laws to protect the public from those who are unaware of the dangers or even worse, intentionally want to cause harm. This kind of dangerous behaviour risks lives and must be stopped.

There are around 1,500 laser attacks on aircraft every year in the UK and we know there have been similar attacks on trains and buses. What I am announcing today (5 February 2017) are plans to give the police effective powers to investigate and bring those who misuse lasers to justice.

The powers and penalties for the offence will be outlined in upcoming legislation.

Steve Landells, Flight Safety Specialist at the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said:

BALPA welcomes this move to tighten the law on lasers. Any move to give the police and authorities more powers to tackle this real and growing threat to flight safety is a good thing, and we are pleased that the government has included action on lasers in this bill”.

The first laser attack on an aircraft was reported in 2004 with over 200 attacks reported per year by 2008. Since 2011, there have been approximately 1,500 attacks per year on aircraft.

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HM Government • • •