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Southport
scientist takes her science to Parliament
MISS Lydia Murray, 26, a
PhD student at Glasgow University, hailing from Southport,
Merseyside, is attending Parliament next week to present her science
to a range of politicians and a panel of expert judges, as part of
SET for Britain on Monday, 12 March 2012.
Lydia’s poster on research about 'How mutations in a gene called
Collagen 4 can cause haemorrhagic stroke' will be judged against
dozens of other scientists’ research in the only national
competition of its kind.
Lydia was shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to appear in
Parliament on Monday.
On presenting her science in Parliament, she said:- "Cutting
edge scientific research is very important and exciting, yet sadly
the general public is often misinformed or completely unaware of the
excellent discoveries being made around the UK.
This event is a unique opportunity for scientists like me to present
and discuss our work with MPs and fellow researchers from all
different areas of science.
I applied to SET for Britain because I passionately believe that
research should be accessed, understood, challenged and enjoyed by
everyone, and I also wish to learn more about how Parliament
currently views and deals with scientific advances.
Therefore, I am both pleased and honored to have been invited
along."
Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific
Committee, said:- "This annual competition is an important
date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an
opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young
researchers.
These early career scientists are the architects of our future and
SET for Britain is politicians’ best opportunity to meet them and
understand their work."
Lydia’s research has been entered into the Biology session of the
competition, which will end in a gold, silver and bronze
prize-giving ceremony.
Judged by leading academics, the gold medallist receives £3,000,
while silver and bronze receive £2,000 and £1,000 respectively.
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee run the event in
collaboration with The Royal Academy of Engineering, The Institute
of Physics, the Society of Biology, The Royal Society of Chemistry,
the Physiological Society, the Wellcome Trust and the Society of
Chemical Industry, with financial support from BP, Airbus/EADS, The
Institution of Engineering and Technology, AgChem Access, Oxford
Instruments, IBMS and GE Hitachi.
Online sellers offered chance to
settle tax bills
PEOPLE trading on the
internet who haven’t paid all the tax they owe have been offered the
opportunity to come forward and pay up under an HM Revenue & Customs
(HMRC) campaign. Under the time-limited opportunity, the
e-Markets Disclosure Facility, online marketplace traders can pay
the tax they owe and benefit from lower penalties available to those
who come forward, rather than wait for HMRC to catch up with them.
Marian Wilson, head of HMRC Campaigns, said:- "This campaign
is part of a wider HMRC initiative to provide support and guidance
to the public on tax evasion and is aimed at people using online
marketplaces to buy and sell goods as a trade or business and who
fail to pay the tax owed. Those who only sell a few items and who
are not traders are unlikely to be liable to pay tax on what they
sell and will not be targeted by this campaign. Our aim is to make
it easy for online traders to contact us and make a full disclosure
of income, thereby putting their affairs in order."
Under the opportunity, online marketplace traders can come forward
at any time between 14 March and 14 June to tell HMRC that they want
to take part. They then have until 14 September 2012, to give
details of the tax owed and arrange for full payment, including any
interest and penalty due. If they make a full disclosure of what
they owe before 14 September 2012, some will receive no penalty at
all, with most receiving a penalty of no more than 10% of the tax
owed. After that date, using information pulled together from many
different data sources, HMRC will investigate those who have failed
to respond. The department has recruited additional investigators
and will pursue those who have failed to declare their earnings and
pay up. Penalties of up to 100% of the tax owed or even a criminal
investigation could follow.
To take part:-
► People must register with HMRC to
"notify" that they plan to make a voluntary tax disclosure
by 14 June 2012.
► They then have until 14 September 2012,
to tell HMRC about tax due and make arrangements to pay any tax
interest and penalties owed. This is called:- "making a
disclosure."
How do they do this?
► From 14 March 2012,
online by completing a
notification form.
► Phone HMRC on:- 0845 601 2944. A
dedicated team is available to give information.
A YouTube video is available giving guidance to people wondering
whether their buying and selling on an e-market place
website can be seen as trading.
HMRC will also hold an online Twitter Q&A on the e-Markets
Disclosure Facility on 28 March. Details will be published in
advance on HMRC’s Twitter account at:- HMRCgovuk. So far more
than £500m has been raised by HMRC from voluntary disclosures, and a
further £105m from follow-up activity. Previous campaigns have
targeted offshore investments, medical professionals, plumbers and
VAT defaulters. |
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SCHOOL LEAVERS’
CAREER SUPPORT SERVICES FACE MELTDOWN ON MERSEYSIDE
UNISON North West condemns proposals by
Merseyside Local Authorities to make cuts in the region of 55% and
over at a time when 1 in 5 young people are unemployed:-
"Government actions have wiped out existing careers provision in
England and plans for the future service delivered by schools are
unfunded and unclear. A £200m pa saving has been made by Department
for Education (DFE) even though thousands of young people in years
9, 10 and 11 have been left without advice this year and next. Local
Authorities, due to financial pressures, have made massive cuts in
careers services provision in both 2010/11 and 2011/12. About 4,000
staff have been made redundant already and a further 4,000 are at
risk over next year. Advice centres and services have closed. This
is before a new careers service has been designed and before the
passage of the current Education Bill which transfers commissioning
responsibility from Local authorities to schools for September 2012.
In many cases this could contravene the current statutory minimum
service levels expected." said UNISON.
UNISON research has revealed that of 144 local authorities that only
15 will maintain what the researchers termed as a "substantial"
universal careers service.
They identified 12 councils as making
extreme cuts to Connexions services and at least 49 as reducing or
removing the universal careers element of the Connexions service.
At
least 105 councils have reduced staffing levels and 50 have closed
Connexions centres.
"Tens of thousands of young people effectively have no access to
'face to face' career guidance services and in some Local
Authorities, no service is being provided at all. Current 14 to 19
pupils will, without doubt, be the least informed about their future
career options in a generation, at a time when the Government has
radically changed the education and training environment by;
abolishing the Education Maintenance Allowance and the Future Jobs
Fund, raising HE tuition fees, reducing the number of HE / FE places
An important message for parents of children currently in Year 10 or
Year 11: for the year 2011/12 career guidance services will be a
geographical lottery. In some areas young people leaving compulsory
education will have no access to independent, expert career guidance
at all." added UNISON in a press release.
Andrew McGregor, UNISON lead steward for Connexions in the North
West argued:- "The threat of a lost generation of young people
looms large. The dangers this poses to our society as a whole are
huge – unemployment, poorer health, higher crime and social
breakdown. At the same time as many local authorities are decimating
the Careers and Connexions Service, unemployment among 16-25 year
olds has reached record levels, with more than a million young
people struggling to find work. Just when they need it most,
hundreds of thousands of young people across England will have
either very limited, or even no access to ‘face-to-face’ career
guidance. Unless Ministers intervene, the class of 2011/12 will be
the least informed about their career options."
Police work hard
to dive down crime
MERSEYSIDE Police officers
have been working hard with their colleagues in Lancashire, Greater
Manchester and Cheshire in an operation to combat burglary in across
the region. Main routes across Merseyside were "locked down"
by mobile automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) in an attempt to
deny criminals the use of the region's roads.
Inspector Phil Ross, who co-ordinated the Merseyside activity said:-
"The operation included us talking to burglary suspects as well as
visiting second hand shops to make sure owners had not been sold any
stolen goods. As well as targeting offenders, Wednesday's operation
gave us the opportunity to urge residents to secure their homes.
People have every right to feel safe in their own homes and ensuring
that windows and doors are locked properly could make them less
likely to become victims."
During the operation, in Merseyside:-
154 vehicles were stopped
11 vehicles were seized
62 searches were undertaken
22 people were arrested
12 fixed penalty notices were issued
300 cannabis plants were seized
Inspector Ross continued:- "Wednesday, 7 March 2012's
operation was a great success and we will continue to work with our
colleagues in neighbouring forces to reduce the number of burglaries
across the North West."
Anyone with information about burglary can contact Merseyside Police
on 101 or Crimestoppers on:- 0800 555 111.
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