Monday, 24th January 2011 | By Ray Martin
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
A new report, published today by Foresight, the Government’s futures think tank, argues for fundamental change to the global food system, and beyond if a rapidly expanding global population is to be fed over the next 40 years.
The Foresight project Global Food and Farming Futures has examined how a rapidly expanding global population can be fed in a healthy and sustainable way. Multiple threats are converging on the food system, including changes in the climate, competition for resources such as water supply and energy, and changing consumption patterns provide considerable challenges to sustaining the world’s food supply.
Professor Sir John Beddington, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Foresight programme, said:
The Foresight study shows that the food system is already failing in at least two ways. Firstly, it is unsustainable, with resources being used faster than they can be naturally replenished. Secondly, a billion people are going hungry with another billion people suffering from hidden hunger, whilst a billion people are over-consuming.
The project has helped to identify a wide range of possible actions that can meet the challenges facing food and farming, both now and in the future.â€
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Friday, 21st January 2011 | By Ray Martin
Roffrey Park report sees decline in positive perceptions of function – Claire Churchard
There has been a marked decline in managers perception of the value and influence of HR in the last year, leading to renewed calls for the function to justify its existence, a new research report has said.
Results from Roffey Park Institute’s Management Agenda Report 2011 showed a marked fall in the number of line managers who recognised HR’s influence on the business, from 69 per cent in the 2010 research to 56 per cent this year. The number of line managers who agreed that HR adds value to the business also dropped, from 68 per cent last year to 59 per cent.
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Thursday, 6th January 2011 | By Ray Martin
IT giant teams up with Portsmouth to train Lean Sigma black belts
A masters degree at Hewlett-Packard (HP), developed with Portsmouth Business School, is proving a success and helping the firm to retain top talent.
The IT giant currently has 21 employees at the halfway point in its 18-month Strategic Quality Management MSc programme, which is undertaken alongside workers day jobs.
The feedback from people already in the MSc is incredibly positive, said Maurice Fitzgerald, HP’s vice-president of customer experience and strategy, EMEA, who initiated the new centralised training approach.
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Monday, 3rd January 2011 | By Ray Martin
Government report by Infrastructure UK (IUK) today sets out a blueprint to save up to three billion a year on building and maintaining infrastructure.
Treasury Ministers welcomed the plan saying it could promote growth by freeing up more money for infrastructure investment, as well as helping keep water, gas and electricity bill costs down for consumers by reducing costs for utility companies.
The report outlines how costs of building and maintaining energy, transport, waste and flood defence infrastructure projects can be reduced by at least 15%. With between £15 and £20 billion being spent each year, this equates to savings of between two and three billion a year – between £20 billion and £30 billion over the next decade.
The savings in delivery cost would be achieved by Government working with industry to improve procurement, raise productivity, simplify processes and promote innovation and better industry integration.
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