THE HOT STORY

New UK government procurement rules to focus on job creation

The UK government is streamlining public procurement rules to make job creation and skills development the only social requirements for businesses competing to win Whitehall contracts. Ministers will ditch the requirement for companies to prove their green and progressive values - including net zero criteria - before they are awarded government contracts, and instead ask firms to prove they will help young people back into work. Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, said: “For too long, securing government contracts has been a tick-box exercise that fails to deliver the positive change that people feel in their pocket and see in the places they live . . . We are doing things differently. These new rules will ensure the £90bn that is spent each year through government contracts supports British jobs, skills and people in every postcode.”

Financial Times

The Guardian

LEGAL

Ryanair sued by pilots over holiday pay

Hundreds of Ryanair pilots are suing the airline for allegedly withholding holiday pay. The group claim, filed in London's Commercial Court, follows a Court of Appeal ruling that classified a Ryanair pilot as a worker rather than self-employed. Claims Compensation Group, the law firm representing the pilots, said that the ruling closed the door on the "agency defence in aviation." The firm argues that airline pilots who have been engaged through agencies are entitled to back-dated holiday pay and pension contributions, as well as other statutory protections.

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

Sailor loses sexism case against MoD

Emma Upton-Webb, a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy, has lost a discrimination case against the Ministry of Defence. She claimed a Navy policy which prevents servicewomen from taking fitness tests for two years post-childbirth was discriminatory and hindered her career progression after returning from maternity leave. However, Employment Judge Keith Richardson ruled that the policy was in place for safety reasons and did not constitute discrimination. Upton-Webb plans to appeal the tribunal's decision.

Daily Mail

REMOTE WORKING

Bank of England staff embrace overseas work

Over 1,000 Bank of England employees used the bank's overseas work policy last year. Around 5,500 staff are eligible to work from other countries for up to 40 days a year, in addition to a policy that offers them three days of remote work from home each week. Data shows that 1,040 employees worked abroad last year, doing so for an average of 12 days. A Bank spokesman said: "As an organisation with a significant international make-up, we recognise that colleagues may at times need to spend short periods overseas. Due to continued investment in modern technology and secure systems, staff are able to carry out their roles effectively while they are working remotely. The policy is subject to time limits and other conditions, including security-related restrictions, and staff are required to fulfil their usual duties and responsibilities professionally and effectively."

Daily Mail

The Times

ECONOMY

Borrowing boost could deliver investment

Ministers are exploring ways to increase borrowing within existing fiscal rules to fund billions of pounds of investment in infrastructure, housing and business support. The plan could unlock more than £9bn a year by 2031, with funding potentially channelled through institutions such as the National Wealth Fund, British Business Bank and National Housing Bank. The investment would aim to boost economic growth, support regional mayors, help deliver the government’s target of 1.5m homes and prevent high-growth UK companies from relocating overseas for funding. The plans would allow spending on infrastructure to be counted as assets against borrowing costs. Nick Ridpath, a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that although there was not an "unlimited pot of money" there was "some flexibility" to increase public sector investment.

The Times

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

National Grid commits £5m to training and skills for young people

The National Grid has announced plans for a £5m, five-year fund that will support up to 1,000 young people each year to take up training roles and develop the skills and qualifications needed for careers in the energy, construction and infrastructure sectors. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has welcomed the announcement, saying a "key part" of work to get more young people into training and work "is matching employers to young people to ensure they get the skills, technical knowledge and experience they need. National Grid's announcement is exactly the kind of response we want to see."

Daily Express

The I

INTERNATIONAL

Extreme heat costs world's poorest workers their health and wages

Extreme heat is reducing productivity and increasing illnesses, with one study finding rising temperatures could be costing informal workers the equivalent of 2% of their country's GDP annually. "Wage losses are only going to worsen as temperatures continue to rise," observes Ameena Kidwai, lead researcher at People's Courage International, a US-based nonprofit organisation aiming to strengthen informal workers' rights. "Workers are now putting in many more hours than they did before to complete the same amount of work." Kidwai said the organisation's survey of informal workers in five Asian cities found that tasks once completed in eight hours now take 10 to 12 hours during the hottest months, as workers slow down to cope with dangerous heat that is becoming a major occupational hazard. Researchers say an inability to recover is a defining feature of urban heat for informal workers such as construction labourers, street vendors and delivery riders.

Deutsche Welle (EN)

Employers move to make hiring AI-proof

Employers who are concerned about applicants using stolen or fabricated identities to boost their chances of getting a job are verifying applicants' identities throughout the hiring process by taking biometric scans of their faces and scrutinising email histories. More than a third of about 1,230 headhunters and hiring managers surveyed by hiring software firm Greenhouse say they now spend half their time filtering for “spam and junk” job applications. “Technologies are now being used that draw from well-tested, decades-old cybersecurity used in places like airports and voting and military and government applications to the ordinary business of applying to a job,” Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait said. Almost a quarter (23%) of US companies polled by background-check provider Checkr said hiring fraud had cost them more than $50,000 in the past year because of delayed projects, compliance issues and rehiring costs.

Bloomberg

Survey supports a better deal for PALM workers

A survey of more than 2,000 people has found that more than two-thirds support giving workers on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme the right to change jobs if they are underpaid. About 33,000 temporary migrant workers from the Pacific Islands and East Timor currently live in Australia to fill the local shortage of unskilled and low-skilled labour. Morgan Harrington, a research manager at the Australia Institute, which carried out the poll, said that although the PALM scheme ensures a minimum wage, businesses working alongside the programme can make deductions, including flights to Australia, visa costs, accommodation, and transportation of workers from their housed residence to the work site. "Once all of those deductions are made, PALM scheme workers can be left with very little in their pocket," Harrington said.

Yahoo News Australia

Oman says fake overseas job offers are increasingly used by human trafficking networks

Oman has said that fake overseas job offers are increasingly being used by human trafficking networks to exploit victims. Sheikh Khalifa Ali Al Harthy, Undersecretary of Oman's Foreign Ministry, highlighted the need for international cooperation to combat these evolving threats. He said that traffickers often use fraudulent recruitment ads to lure individuals into forced labour or cybercrime. Authorities are urging the public to verify job offers and report suspicious activities. The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which is observed each year on July 30, seeks to strengthen global efforts to prevent trafficking, protect victims and reinforce international cooperation against one of the fastest-evolving forms of organised crime.

TimesofOman

OTHER

New education secretary rejects 'one-size-fits-all' approach

New education secretary Lucy Powell has talked to the Guardian and the Times about her ambitions in the role, telling the former that she will act as "a tiger mum for all our kids - every single child that's in our education system achieving excellence, achieving what they can do." Powell says a "one-size-fits-all approach" that prioritises academic results and exams over technical subjects "simply doesn't suit all children" and has "become a straitjacket" for some. She describes the current figure of around 1m young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) as the "legacy" of reforms introduced by former Conservative education secretary Michael Gove, and says children "from poorer backgrounds with stubborn and entrenched disadvantage and those with special educational needs have been particularly let down. So too have those whose talents and skills lie beyond academia, in creative subjects, technical or skilled work or more practical application."

The Daily Telegraph

The Guardian

The Times

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