BEST WESTERN Brook Hotel are looking to recruit a full time Receptionist in their Norwich Hotel, working 5 Reception shifts on a rota basis – early shifts are 7am to 3pm and late shifts are 3pm to 11pm, includes weekends.
Please apply if you have reception experience and a great customer care background.
Send your CV with covering email to sales@brookhotel.co.uk or by post to Sarah Jones, B.W. Brook Hotel, 2 Barnard Road, Norwich, NR5 9JB
Bidwells, one of the UK’s leading property consultancies, today announced the launch of Bidwells TV
The new channel, which is accessible via PCs, laptops, Tablets (such as iPads) and smart phones will feature every residential property marketed by Bidwells in their offices in Nprwich, Cambridge and Saffron Walden. Each featured property, whether for sale or to let, will be promoted via a tailored, high quality animated walk-through video.
Recent research conducted by Nielsen, a leading global information and measurement company, concluded that property marketing via online TV channels, is more effective than traditional advertising methods and the most compelling medium to show case property.
Commenting at the launch of Bidwells TV Marc Langdon, Bidwells said
“Online video walk-throughs allow potential buyers to view new homes without having to step outside their front door – or even on their smartphones – wherever and whenever they want.”
“This innovative way of marketing is particularly popular because it enables the seller to display particular features of the property, which may not always be easy with more traditional methods of marketing, such as newspaper advertising.”
” Bidwells TV will be an integral part of every property marketing campaign we implement – ie the campaign will comprise print ads, portal campaigns (such as Rightmove and Zoopla), digital marketing and now virtual tours on a dedicated channel. No competitor can match that potent mix”.
While more and more countries around the world try to emulate Silicon Valley-style digitally-fuelled economic success, it’s ironic that the free flow of data is increasingly problematic for the governments that run them. The ease with which the Internet moves information, sans frontiers, seems to emphasise the smallness of national government compared to the ‘bigness’ of data. Privacy, defamation, national security, taxation and, of course in the news at the moment, pornography, are the regular flashpoints between the big Internet brands and governments in a battle which pitches the freedom web users against the laws of the State they live in.
Transparency The negotiation between citizen and state is as old as humanity and historically has been resolved with revolution, execution, imprisonment and, thankfully, most often by legislation. However, the Internet is a new factor in the relationship – empowering citizens to make choices, (some good, some bad and some ghastly), independently of the laws of their land on an unprecedented scale. Not surprisingly governments try to assert the law when one of their citizens uses the Internet to do something that they consider ‘ghastly’ – the problem is that what the state considers ‘ghastly’ varies from country to country. In fact Google deals with so many requests to modify or block online material from governments around the world that it publishes a Transparency Report listing them all. As the search giant explains:
“Like other technology and communications companies, Google regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services or to review such content to determine if it should be removed for inconsistency with a product’s community policies. In this report, we disclose the number of requests we receive from each government in six-month periods with certain limitations.”
Fascinating Reading! And fascinating reading it is – the number of content removal requests from government agencies has doubled to close to 2,300 in the last three years with over 30% of the them being concerned with defamation compared to just 3% over adult content. The detail of requests by country is an insight into the sheer breadth of world’s diversity in terms of culture, values and laws … and the Internet’s border-traversing ability to trample all over them!
The kind of ‘micro-management’ offered by Google – taking requests, considering them and then sometimes removing the content – clearly frustrates governments. The UK Prime Minister’s is the latest political leader to take on the issue, focussing on blocking child pornography on which he has massive support. While the moral mandate is clearly there, what precise action should be taken is already proving problematic. When the rubber hits the road and national legislation comes up against the physical reality of that sprawling bundle of hardware and software we call the Internet, control is difficult. Behind the beguiling simplicity of the Cloud is an international patchwork of servers, data centres and networks that host and transport the content that users call up via their search box. Where these servers and data centres are located in the world and which borders the networks cross really does matter, not only because there’s some web-content that we want to block, but also because there is web-content that we want to protect.
Where is your data stored? For web-based businesses, the location of the data centre where your data is stored is a significant factor in how much tax you pay, what legal protection you have if someone tries to violate your copyright, and what level of control and ownership you have over your data. Clients of MigSolv’s colocation data centre in Norwich, for example, can rely on the strength of the UK legal systems, a stable tax rate and benign Government interference when it comes to freedom of speech and expression, all of which amounts to security. When they say that in the Cloud it doesn’t matter where your data’s stored, it’s simply not true – while it’s important that, (most), data moves freely, it’s vital that web businesses can rely on a stable, secure and fair legal environment for their data.
The organisers behind the GoGoGorillas outdoor art trail that has captivated Norwich over the last few weeks are about to launch a programme of research. The aim of the research is to get feedback on the life-size art installations, while measuring the economic and social impact of the initiative and of course find out the most popular primates.
Local research agency, Zing Insights is partnering with the organisers to conduct the research and will be surveying residents and visitors to the city over the summer using their innovative interactive iPad research pods. Research will take place starting this weekend at Castle Mall (27-28 July), The Forum (8-9 Aug), Chapelfield (10-11 Aug), Norwich Station (3 Aug), M&S (5-6 Aug), John Lewis (17 Aug).
Jo Walther, Director of Zing Insights said “We hope the findings will show the benefits of projects like this, and will help support similar initiatives in the future. We urge residents and visitors to support us and give us their views”. Participants in the research will be entered into a number of prize draws to win GoGoGorilla merchandise worth over £100 including paint your own gorilla kits.
Zing Insights are working in collaboration with organisers Wild in Art and Break Charity. Charlie Langhorne, Director of Wild in Art said, “We are delighted with how the gorillas have been received. Visitor feedback is vital to enable us to enhance future events and we hope the results will demonstrate the positive impact GoGoGorillas! is having on the local community”.
Michael Rooney, Fundraising Manager of Break Charity said “As a locally based charity we are very pleased that some meaningful research can be undertaken, not only about the impact of the GoGoGorillas project itself, but also whether there has been an increase in the awareness of Break and the work we are involved in.”
Zing Insights Zing Insights is an award winning market research and insights consultancy run by a team of highly skilled research professionals with over 40 years experience of delivering world class business insights and specialism in day out experiences. Since launching in 2011, Zing have worked with an impressive list of clients including; Farnborough International Airshow, BBC Good Food Shows, Autosport International, Clotheshow Live, BBC Gardeners’ World Live, Taste of London, Banham Zoo and Norwich Cathedral. Zing were finalists for the EDP Business Award – Best New Business 2012 and are in the EDP Future50. Find out more at www.zinginsights.com
Wild in Art Wild in Art is the UK’s leader in the development, management and production of spectacular, mass-appeal public art events which engage the public through the creation of citywide trails of uniquely painted animal and other sculptures.
From ‘crashes’ of rhinos in Chester and São Paulo and prides of lions in Nairobi, to herds of Asian elephants in Melbourne, Wild in Art events have animated cities and enthralled people the world over, raising over £1.8m for charity partners along the way.
In 2013, you can find Wild in Art events in Colchester, Norwich, Southampton, Bristol and Torquay.Find out more at www.wildinart.co.uk
Break Charity Break, changing young lives, supporting children, young people and families:- • Young people in care and moving on • Children with disabilities • Families in need of support • Children at risk
For GoGoGorilla PR enquiries contact Jungle PR – Rachael Paddick, Kate Morfoot & Danielle Howard, Jungle PR tel ; 01362 694649
For further information on the work of Break, please contact Liz Richards, Senior Communications & Marketing Officer, email: liz.richards@break-charity.org, tel: 01603 670105, mobile: 07748 112709.
Break Head Office: Davison House, 1 Montague Road, Sheringham, Norfolk NR26 8WN, tel: 01263 822161 Registered Charity No. 286650 Follow GoGoGorillas on Twitter – @GoGoGorillas and Facebook gogogorillaswww.gogogorillas.co.uk
BEST (Business & Employability Skills Training) Initiative at the Iceni Academy
I would like to introduce myself as the Director of Business Innovation at the Iceni Academy in Methwold. As part of our academy’s drive for continuous improvement, my role has been developed to engage the business community with our curriculum to raise the aspirations and outcomes for all of our young people.
We wholeheartedly believe that engaging and maintaining external business links is invaluable in helping our pupils to develop essential employability skills and gain an insight into a range of career pathways before they leave us. We aim to equip all of our pupils with the essential skills required by local and national employers to make them ‘work ready’ and can only do this by working collaboratively with employers to identify and train our pupils in these skills.
I would therefore be extremely grateful if you could take the time to read the attached flier and consider working with us on one of the many programmes that we offer our pupils.
If you have any questions or queries then please do not hesitate to contact me or one of my team via email: best@iceniacademy.org.uk or telephone during term time on 01366 728333.
We look forward to working in partnership with you to improve outcomes for the workforce of the future.
Mrs Denise Skeels Director of Business Innovation Iceni Academy Methwold
We have a conference suite available today now if anyone needs it, fully air conditioned, natural daylight, a dedicated host and as much food and drink as you would like brought to you throughout the day. Norwich Conference Venue – BEST WESTERN Brook Hotel
As the world celebrates the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s baby son, the latest Royal Baby and third in line to the throne, he enters a very different world to that of his parents. The new Prince’s father was born 31 years ago into a very different age. In 1982 when Prince William was born, the mobile telephone had not yet become commercially available. It was not until 1983 that the first commercially available mobile telephone was sold. Today there are over 6 billion mobile phones around the world with more than 1 mobile phone for every person in the population of many countries.
As news of the Royal Baby’s birth spreads around the world, it is ‘trending’ on Twitter and news of the birth was learned quicker by Twitter users than by any other method. Twitter was only invented in 2006, the same year that the Prince’s father, Prince William graduated from Sandhurst watched by his future wife, Catherine Middleton. His parents were already dating at the time, but would not marry for another 5 years when the wedding would be watched by viewers of over 100 million streams over the Internet in 188 countries!
When the new Prince’s father was 9 years old, Sir Tim Berners-Lee posted the first web page to what is known as the World Wide Web. Last December there were estimated to be 634 million web sites on the World Wide Web and over 2.4 billion users. Assuming that the usage of the Internet and the World Wide Web continues at a similar rate to that which it has done for the last few years, by the time that the Royal Baby is just one year old, there will probably be in the order of 810 million websites and near to 3 billion users.
So why is all of this important? And why am I reading this on a page from a data centre company? It is simply this. Data centres are the foundation of the digital age. Without data centres the world would starve, and without data centres UK Plc would be bust within a day. These may sound like outrageous claims, but think about it … no data centres = no plane travel, no ship travel, no train travel, no car travel. No data centres = no financial transactions, no stock exchanges, no banking system, no money, no credit cards. No data centres = the world stops!
Yet, despite the fact that data centres are the foundation of the digital age, they are the critical infrastructure that the entire modern day world relies upon, if one asks most people what a data centre is, they don’t know. Most politicians certainly don’t know, most people don’t know, most business leaders only have a vague idea, yet this is the fundamental infrastructure upon which not just one fragile new born baby relies, but all of us – every single one – need data centres as much today as we need water, electricity and food, because without them we would be unable to produce and distribute water, or manage our electricity, or produce and distribute disease free crops of food for us to eat. Isn’t it about time we all learned a little more about the things that are keeping us alive?
There is a huge amount still to be done in developing, producing and distributing vital food, water and medicines and data centres are a part of the critical infrastructure that is needed in order to make this happen. Data centres won’t save the world, they won’t fix all of the world’s ills, but they are essential to world ‘operation’ today and will be even more so in the future.
As we welcome the Royal Baby into the world as the newest member of our Royal Family, we must remember that he has been born into the digital age and nothing that happens in his lifetime will be more important than ensuring that the critical infrastructure that is the foundation of the digital age is there, operational and available to whenever it is needed to support all of the new challenges that the world will face.
Our data centre is always on and we will do everything within our power to ensure that it remains that way. If the world continues to evolve at the pace that it has since his mother and father were born, the data centre will be even more critical in the future than it is today.
Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their son! We welcome the new Prince into an exciting new world where the digital infrastructure will be an integral part of his growing up and future adult life.
Want to help spread the word and help others to understand what is the basis of the digital world we live in? Go on … Tweet this article and spread the word to those who, as yet, haven’t quite learned what a data centre does! You read this on the World Wide Web, using the Internet to access it and you almost certainly learned of the birth of the Royal Baby via the Internet in some way. All that relied entirely on the data centres that are its foundation!
Bigfork were appointed by Norwich based, electrical contractors Phase 3 to improve their online presence and design an effective new website. As a fast growing company they needed a website that was appealing and focused on the company’s key benefits and services. You can see the full story here.
As part of the Government’s ongoing programme of employment law reform, the recently enacted Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 introduces a range of measures aimed at encouraging the early settlement of workplace disputes without recourse to an employment tribunal. One of the provisions under the Act, in force from 29 July 2013, is that evidence of settlement offers made by employers to an employee pre-termination will be inadmissible in a subsequent claim for unfair dismissal.
This new provision is intended to circumvent the existing rules for “without prejudice” conversations, evidence of which are inadmissible in subsequent proceedings only if there is a pre-existing dispute with the employee. The existence of such a dispute can be difficult to prove, and the risk of making an offer of settlement where no dispute exists is that the employee may resign and bring a claim for constructive unfair dismissal, using evidence of the discussion in support of their claim.
Pre-termination negotiations
Under the new rules, employers will be able to put forward suggestions for the early termination of employment without any existing dispute with the employee, avoiding the need to follow a full procedure (such as a capability or disciplinary procedure), unless settlement terms cannot be agreed. Such discussions will not generally be admissible as evidence in an ordinary claim for unfair dismissal.
However, this exclusion does not apply in claims of unfair dismissal if the reason is one of the automatically unfair reasons (such as trade union membership or activities, related to health and safety or pregnancy and maternity). The exclusion will also not apply to claims of discrimination, meaning that evidence of such discussions will be admissible in such claims.
Settlement offers can be made either in writing or verbally and employees must be given a reasonable time to respond (Acas suggests a minimum period of 10 days). The agreed terms must then be recorded in a “settlement agreement” (the new term for compromise agreements). If the employer acts in a discriminatory or “improper” way when making an offer of settlement, evidence of the offer will become admissible in tribunal proceedings.
Code of Practice
Acas has issued a new statutory Code of Practice on Settlement Agreements, which provides a brief explanation of the new law relating to settlement agreements, some basic guidance on reaching a settlement agreement and guidance on what would amount to “improper behaviour” on the part of the employer, resulting in evidence of the negotiations becoming admissible in evidence.
To accompany the Code, there will also be non-statutory guidance, which is due to be published by Acas at the end of July. The non-statutory guidance will include factors for both employers and employees to consider when negotiating a financial settlement, as well as template letters and a model settlement agreement.
Practical risks
Whilst these new rules may go some way to assist employers in holding difficult conversations with employees, removing the need in appropriate cases to follow, for example, a lengthy and time consuming performance-management process, there will be risks in attempting such a conversation in any situation where an allegation of discrimination may arise. For example, if an individual’s poor performance is related to a disability, the individual may seek to use evidence of the conversation in a subsequent claim for disability discrimination.
It will also fall to the courts and tribunals to establish the tests for determining what amounts to “unreasonable behaviour” on the part of the employer, and the consequences of such behaviour.
It is too early to predict whether the new provisions for “pre-termination negotiations” will be of any practical assistance in bringing the employment relationship to a mutually-agreed end. In the meantime, employers should be cautious in entering into such negotiations without a proper assessment of the potential risks of doing so.
Employment law experts from Steeles Law will be examining this topic in more detail, together with other issues relating to the termination of employment, in the forthcoming HR Forum which is taking place at Dunston Hall on 11 September 2013, from 2pm.
Trainee Solicitor Laura Tanguay and Associate Solicitor Jean Parkinson comment on the proposed injunction to prevent nuisance and annoyance.
The Government’s plans to create Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (“IPNAs”) have been featured in the news recently, raising concerns that (to quote the Telegraph) “Children could get in trouble with the law simply for being ‘annoying'”. However. what is this new weapon in the armory and is it, as some believe, just in essence an ASBO by another name?
What are IPNAs?
IPNAs, along with a number of other potential measures, have been introduced by section 1 of the new Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill 2013 – 2014 (“the Bill”). Further to being debated at its second reading last month, the Bill is currently being considered by the House of Commons.
The aim of an IPNA is likely to be familiar to most people, in that it seeks primarily to stop the engagement or threat of engagement in “conduct capable of causing nuisance of annoyance to any person”. It is capable of being granted against anyone aged 10 or over and, perhaps surprisingly, can be granted for an unlimited duration.
Whilst there are those who will suggest that this is simply a new name for an old remedy, there are some subtle differences between an IPNA and the soon to be replaced ASBO. Perhaps most importantly is the fact that the wording serves to widen the parameters within which an order could be granted. Unlike an ASBO, the IPNA does not restrict itself to the “act” of nuisance or annoyance: section 1 of the Bill provides that an IPNA can be granted if it is proved on the balance of probabilities that the person has engaged, or threatens to engage, in conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person.
As drafted, this means that at one end of a broad spectrum, a court could grant an IPNA against a 10 year old child who may in the future engage in conduct that is annoying to any person. ‘Nuisance’ or ‘annoyance’ have not otherwise been defined in the Bill and no examples of conduct that would reach this threshold have been provided.
Consequences of breaching an IPNA
Part 5 of the Bill sets out new grounds for absolute possession of secure tenancies (i.e. the eviction of tenants from their council homes). Clause 84A(1) states that a court must make an order for possession in the event that it is satisfied that any of a number of conditions have been met.
One of these conditions is when “a person residing in or visiting the dwelling-house” is in breach of an IPNA.
Therefore, if a 10 year old is in breach of his or her IPNA, this could lead to the eviction of an entire family from their council home. Equally, similar to the housing provisions under ground 2 to Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1985, the responsibility extends to the behaviour of visitors to the property, and the IPNA is therefore wider in its implication than the ASBO in this regard.
Voices of concern
Last month the Public Bill Committee heard representations from JUSTICE, an independent law reform and human rights organisation, who voiced several concerns about the new Bill.
JUSTICE aver that the criminal standard of proof should apply to legal findings about whether or not anti-social behaviour is likely (i.e. it should be beyond reasonable doubt rather than on the balance of probabilities).
The organisation were also of the opinion that the ‘nuisance and annoyance’ threshold was much too low, and suggested that it be replaced with the ‘harassment, alarm or distress’ test which is currently used in other legislation. There have also been suggestions put forward that the use of these orders may be used inappropriately to essentially criminalise young children.
Comment
What remains certain is that anti-social behaviour continues to be a problem which needs to be tackled; whether IPNAs can provide the solution will only be determined following the passage of time. They will arguably continue to be seen by some as a very draconian measure – not least because they can be granted indefinitely (or for a period of up to 12 months in the case of under 18s) and because it appears that there is no safeguard of reasonableness which you would usually expect to see in legislation of this kind. Advocates for action on anti-social behaviour, however, are likely to take the view that this type of sanction is exactly what is needed to enable the judiciary to provide a short, sharp shock to those guilty of anti-social behaviour.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article, please contact Laura Tanguay or Jean Parkinson.
NFC tracking can assure businesses with the ‘what, where and when’ in a number of scenarios. It’s the obvious choice for companies needing to get the bigger picture on staff check-ins, inventory whereabouts and many more real-life work scenarios.
Any system that lets you in on a real reflection of what is happening within your business will reward you handsomely in saved staff expenses and wasted man hours. In order to thrive in troubled times, anything that helps to identify areas for improvement is worth a closer look.
So what’s NFC all about and how can it tell you what you need to know, when you’re nowhere near your business?
NFC can be simply explained and you’ll have seen it work most likely in your local supermarket with the barcode system.
Think of NFC (Near Field Communication) as a programmable, tiny chip that talks to your phone. Put your phone (or any phone) over the chip and the phone will carry out the action it has been programmed to do.
This means an app on the software developers phone tells the chip to what you want it do – store information, open a programme, access some software etc. Whenever this NFC chip, and the user’s phone come in contact, the chip carries out that action.
With NFC tracking, the software is set to record the details of every check in. Reports can be gathered giving information on individual worker’s activities. You can find who has competed what activities, the time of the round, the routes, the actions and so much more besides.
NFC tracking gives you the 360 degree view you need to get the complete picture on all activities and more accurate information equals better control.
It can help:
• highlight problem areas and help plan a more streamlined approach • see actions in real time • breakdown individual activities • gather data for a range of reports
NFC is the emerging big brother of QR codes and set to grow. Why’s it so simple? Why does it make such sound business sense?
From your workers’ point of view it is simplicity. No more time sheets. It’s a paperless system, recording to a remote database. Wherever they are, and whenever they check in, the information is stored ready for an approved administrator to access. Any system that cuts down on effort and energy and merely requires a ‘tap’ has the mobile user’s vote.
And for you – the business owner? No more wasted £’s paying staff who don’t attend. Reports you can send your client as proof of attendance. It makes the checking in and out of venues, areas, people and articles a breeze.
Got something you need to track? NFC is the solution.
To see how NFC tracking can work for your business please view our NFC section here