03/11/04 - Jeremy Corbin and Chris King’s Wolseley
31/10/04 - Whitbread employees look to donate half a million pounds
Employees of Whitbread, the UK’s leading leisure company, are to donate half a million pounds to UK based charities over the next 12 months following record take up of a recent payroll giving campaign across the country.
Run in conjunction with Charities Trust and Payroll Giving in Action (PGA), nearly 4,000 new Whitbread donors opted to join in the payroll giving scheme during an eight week campaign – a staggering 70 people signing up every day.
Whitbread now has more than 6,200 employees, nearly 10% of its entire workforce, pledging from a minimum of £1 from their weekly salary. While this may not sound like much, this means more than £50 per year per employee to charities of their choice – a significant sum. As part of the launch campaign, Whitbread is double matching and Charities Trust matching every first donation made, creating further funds for the charities which are most important to its workforce.
Angie Risley, head of HR at Whitbread said: "As one of the largest employers in the UK and as a company concerned for the communities in which we work, we believe it is our responsibility to promote these schemes. Our employees regularly participate in initiatives which we run – whether it’s supporting our charities of the year, or actively getting involved in massive recycling schemes. But they each have personal initiatives that they like to support. Payroll giving works for both our employees and for us, not to mention the charities we support."
"We wanted to show our employees that we value the charities they support by matching their donations, and this is a great way to do it. By making it easy for employees and providing them with direct information through the likes of Payroll Giving in Action and the Charities Trust so they can make an informed decision really drives results, both for the charities and for us."
The campaign revealed that people favour locally based UK charities wanting their donations to work close to home. Many also choose to support multiple charities, with almost half of Whitbread’s employees opting to donate to more than one charity. More than two out of every three of those donors chose to support either a cancer or children’s charity. The next most popular were animal charities. Women appeared to be the more generous sex, with slightly more (56%) opting to join in the payroll giving scheme than their male colleagues.
"Whitbread is setting the standard for promoting payroll giving to the whole of their workforce," said Heather Vasco, Deputy Chief Executive of Charities Trust. "This recent campaign has to be the most successful we’ve seen to date and it’s extremely satisfying to see such a fantastic response, especially from employees at all levels across the business. Company support for charities hasn’t increased as much as we would have liked in recent years but where it has been successful it has taken a real drive by employers, such as Whitbread, to harness employee support."
Government figures reveal that more than 5 million people from as many as 9,000 companies are signed up to a payroll-giving scheme but many firms fail to promote and encourage the schemes to their employees. While attitudes are beginning to change, only 2% of staff typically participate in payroll giving schemes in the UK.
Payroll giving is a flexible scheme that enables employees to make charitable donations straight from their gross salary allowing for immediate tax relief on the value of the donation. Payments can be made either as regular contributions or as a one off gift.
Gillian Watson, a payroll donor who works for Whitbread’s Beefeater restaurant said: "It’s good for a big company like Whitbread to show they care about the causes supported by its staff by triple matching all first donations. I know that the charity I nominated will benefit greatly."
25/10/04 - Benjys First UK Retailer to Stock Carbolite
Benjys, the nation’s best value sandwich chain has become the first major high street retailer to stock US No.1 selling low carb confectionery Carbolite as Britain’s appetite for Low Carb Products continues to grow. This is the first low carb chocolate to go on sale in the UK.The chocolate tasting product has been a craze like phenomenon in the United States, with over 10,000 Carbolite bars sold every minute. The full range consists of over 90 products and the move by Benjys means that British dieters will no longer have to make sacrifices when they decide to diet.
Benjys are launching the first three 28g chocolate bars; Carbolite Chocolate Crisp (1.3g net effect carbs), Carbolite Chocolate and Almond (0.2g net effect carbs), and Carbolite Milk Chocolate flavoured (0.3g net effect carbs) bars for only 95p.
It addresses the basic problem that to implement a successful low carb diet, people have to give up the fun products that taste good, such as ice cream, chocolate, and desserts by providing a credible great chocolate tasting alternative. Britain is already following the US trend of an explosive growth in the carb conscious consumer. In the UK the Atkins Diet book has sold 1.1million copies since it was published in 1999. The updated paperback version, released in January, is currently selling 120,000 a month.
Benjys has already acknowledged the need for better products to cater for this increase in consumer demand, they were recently the first retailer to develop and label an ‘Atkins Friendly’ range. The range includes choices from an Atkins-Friendly Breakfast with less than 15g of Carbohydrate per portion to chicken breasts, meat feasts and low carb fresh salads. Response from customers has been overwhelming, with an average of 100 e-mails a day received from customers thanking the company for taking what they see as a positive step.
20/10/04 - Liverpool to ban smoking
Liverpool has become the first city in the UK to ban smoking in public places following a decision by councillors.
They will have to petition Parliament by 27 November so that a smoke-free law for Liverpool can be considered in the next legislative session. The ban makes it illegal to smoke in restaurants, pubs, shops, offices and other enclosed workplaces.
The council says it will impose a fine of £1,000 on anyone breaching the law, which it wants passed within a year.
Councillor Richard Oglethorpe, the city council's executive member of green issues, said more than 1,000 people died of illnesses related to passive smoking each year in Liverpool. He said a ban was supported by smokers and non-smokers alike. "Liverpool is the lung cancer capital of the United Kingdom. It's not a title we're proud of, it's one we want to get rid of," he said. "Most smokers want to give up and the place where they find it hardest to give up is when you go into a bar. "You've had a few drinks, everyone else is smoking so people tend to go back to their old ways. Introducing the smoking ban will help people give up."
He rejected claims that a ban, such as the one in force in Ireland, was part of a "nanny state" mentality, and insisted the aim was to protect the health of vulnerable workers. He had been "quietly confident" a majority of Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors would support the bill.
An official report by medical scientists, which emerged on Monday, found that breathing in secondhand smoke massively increased the risk of lung cancer and heart disease.
Campaigners said the report strengthened the case for a nationwide ban on smoking in public places.
17/10/04 - Call for a Spanish Eggs Ban
Spanish eggs carrying salmonella have been linked to 15 deaths and 6,000 cases of food poisoning in Britain.
Health chiefs issued an alert yesterday urging that babies, young children, the sick and the elderly should not eat eggs from Spain.
Many of the cases have been linked to Spanish eggs served at large catered events such as weddings, conferences and other social functions. But nearly 70per cent of people who fell ill said that they had eaten in restaurants, mainly Chinese takeaways and restaurants, the Health Protection Agency said. Most Spanish eggs are used in catering but some can be found on sale in small shops. Consumers are urged to look out for the "ES" stamp which is printed on all eggs from Spain.
The British Egg Industry Council called last night for an immediate ban on importing the eggs. The Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency have asked the European Commission to take up the matter with the Spanish authorities as a matter of urgency.
Britain has sent evidence of the continued presence of salmonella in Spanish eggs to Brussels. A Europe-wide ban could be imposed if Spain fails to take satisfactory action to remedy the problem.
Catering companies and consumers are also being warned about the risks to human health with some non-British eggs. The incidence of Salmonella enteritidis is much less in Scotland and experts believe that that is because fewer Spanish eggs are sold there.
The public warning comes after a two-year investigation into 80 outbreaks of salmonella linked to Spanish eggs. Dr Barry Evans, who led the investigation, said: "The continuing outbreaks of salmonella enteritidis show that the problem of the contamination of Spanish eggs has not been resolved and we are concerned that so many people have now been affected.
"Salmonella poisoning is an unpleasant illness and although most people make a full recovery, it can be extremely serious for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, babies or people in poor health."
Salmonella was not found in any egg sold under the British Lion brand and only 1.1per cent of British non-Lion brand eggs tested positive for salmonella compared with 5.6per cent of Spanish eggs sampled.
Health chiefs have now issued advice to limit the potential spread of salmonella. Spanish eggs must be thoroughly cooked before use and should not be used in any raw or lightly cooked foods. Home cooks and caterers are advised to wash and dry hands after touching any part of the eggs.
Importers and wholesalers have also been told to ensure that Spanish eggs that come in powder or large-scale liquid form are commercially treated to kill off the bacteria. Caterers are advised to use only pasteurised egg in raw or lightly cooked products, and not to use any damaged or dirty eggs.
Salmonella is the second- most-common cause of food poisoning after campylobacter and last year resulted in 14,887 cases in England and Wales. Various strains of the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis, which caused 9,757 cases from last year’s total, have been found in imported Spanish eggs.
Dr Judith Hilton, head of microbiological safety at the FSA, said: "Salmonella in UK eggs has been steadily decreasing but there is still a problem with some Spanish eggs. Since January 2004 these eggs have had to be marked ‘ES’ so that caterers and consumers know that they will need to take extra care if they use these eggs."
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13/10/04 - Outbreak of Salmonella Newport infection: association with the consumption of lettuce
Since September 2004, the Health Protection Agency Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens has confirmed 368 cases of Salmonella enterica serovar Newport infection in England and in Northern Ireland. Molecular typing performed on 122 of the isolates show that 109 of the strains are indistinguishable from each other and from 14 isolates confirmed by the Scottish Salmonella Reference Laboratory since the 13 September 2004.
At least 372 confirmed or suspected cases are being investigated locally in north east Lincolnshire (147), the West Midlands (95), Northern Ireland (113), and the Isle of Man (17), with a small number of cases occurring throughout other parts of England. All 14 confirmed cases are being investigated in Scotland. Most cases are aged between 20 and 40 years. Thirty-three hospital admissions (9% admission rate) have been reported. Available onset dates (N=295) range from 21 August to 25 September (figure). Food histories collected in England, the Isle of Man, and Northern Ireland have commonly implicated fast-food premises and take-away restaurants as a source of illness.
Case-control studies have been undertaken locally in north east Lincolnshire, the West Midlands and in Northern Ireland to try to identify the likely vehicle of infection within fast-food premises and take-away restaurants. In each, confirmed and suspected cases of S. Newport infection, interviewed as part of the study, were asked to identify controls who had eaten in fast-food/take-away restaurants at the same time, but who had not developed symptoms.
Extensive environmental investigations have been carried out and are continuing in an attempt to trace a common source. fghhjk
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