News in brief - September 1

31 Aug 06
Prospect union members at the Ministry of Defence have begun a ballot over industrial action...

01 September 2006

Prospect union members at the Ministry of Defence have begun a ballot over industrial action – likely to be a work-to-rule — over plans to relocate thousands of jobs from Whitehall to the Southwest. PCS members at the department are also balloting on action short of a strike.

A figure in our report on the NHS financial forecast for 2006/07 ('DoH raids “soft targets” to cut deficits', August 18-31) was incorrect. The forecast underlying recovery between 2005/06 and 2006/07 is forecast as £685m, not £62m. The figure reported by Public Finance did not take account of a £622m deduction to the NHS's resource allocation, which the Department of Health has now confirmed it has levied as part of its Resource Accounting and Budgeting regime.

London's drivers incurred six million fines for parking and other traffic violations in the year to April 2006, a rise of 4% on the previous year, according to figures from the Association of London Government. The borough of Westminster issued the most tickets, and Camden clamped the most vehicles.

Health workers in Northern Ireland suffered more than 5,000 attacks in the past year, according to the British Medical Association. 'Urgent action is needed to halt this totally unacceptable situation,' said Dr Brian Pattinson of the BMA NI council.

Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary, the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and the Raigmore in Inverness have failed to score top marks under rigorous new hygiene standards, according to the first report on the standards by the NHS in Scotland.

PFsep2006

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