The UK labour market faces a “slow, painful contraction” with firms delaying recruitment of more staff, a key report suggests.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) predicted the jobs market would worsen in the medium term amid global economic “turmoil”.

Its quarterly survey of 1,000 employers found firms’ future hiring plans dwarfed by likely public sector losses.

It found employers adopting a “wait and see” policy towards the economy. This involved reduced recruitment as well as fewer redundancies.

The number of UK employers planning to outsource work overseas or hire migrant workers had also fallen substantially in the last three months, the survey found.

The CIPD said the employment situation could worsen if the eurozone crisis thrust the world back into recession.

CIPD public policy adviser Gerwyn Davies said: “The good news resulting from this lull in business activity is that fewer employers are looking to relocate abroad or make redundancies. The downside is that recruitment intentions are falling, which will make further rises in unemployment therefore seem inevitable given that public sector job losses are outpacing the predictions made by the Office for Budget Responsibility”.

Source: BBC News

New challenges, new gameplay, new Mario!

The world’s favourite plumber New challenges, new gameplay, new Mariois back with Super Mario 3D Land, fusing old school gaming with the modern Nintendo 3DS.

The BBc reports that as many as 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds could have free nursery places under a scheme planned to be rolled out in England.

Plans to give 15 hours of free “early education” a week to all two-year-olds from poor homes were announced last year but details have now been set out.

A pilot scheme, first started under Labour, is due to be extended nationwide from September 2013.

All three and four-year-olds are currently entitled to 15 hours of early education for 38 weeks a year. This can be in nursery schools and classes, children’s centres, day care nurseries, play groups, pre-schools and with accredited child minders.

Under the new plan, which is out for consultation, parents will be able to use their allocated time flexibly, between 07:00 and 19:00. So for example, they could have seven-hour slots for two days a week, to make it easier for them to work.

Source: BBC Education and Family News

A small number of children as young as 12 claimed they drank the equivalent of 19 glasses of wine a week when questioned for a health survey.

Research by the Independent Schools Health Education Unit suggested that 4% of those questioned aged 12 or 13 claimed they drank 28 units or more.

However, the overall trend in the survey of almost 84,000 youngsters was for fewer to be drinking and smoking.

The Government says it is cracking down on those who sell alcohol to children.

The data was collected from 1,100 primary and secondary schools across the UK, covering 83,724 youngsters between the ages of 10 and 15. They were asked more than 100 health-related behaviour questions on what they do at home, at school, and with their friends.

Dr David Regis from SHUE said the poll painted a mixed picture of young people’s attitudes to drink. “When we’re looking at the alcohol figures there’s good and bad news in there at the same time,” he told the BBC. “We’ve got an increasing number of pupils who are saying as far as they’re concerned, alcohol is not for them at all, so the number of teetotallers has been going up in recent years, but we’ve also seen those youngsters that do drink maybe more likely than ever to go over the top.”

A Department of Health spokesman said its drug strategy included measures to prevent alcohol misuse by young people. “Children under 15 shouldn’t be drinking at all,” he said.

Source BBC Family News

Watch as the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series comes to life in this live action commercial for Skyrim.

Ofsted has warned of “shortcomings” in the safeguarding of babies under the age of one.

The watchdog, drawing on the findings of serious case reviews, warns that the risks to babies from their parents’ lifestyles could be “underestimated”.

The report says it found repeated examples of a lack of attention to risks such as drug and alcohol misuse.

Ofsted chief Miriam Rosen said the report highlighted “potential gaps in protecting children”.

The report warns of the particular risk to this vulnerable age group of babies before their first birthday. It says that more than a third of serious case reviews between 2007 and 2011 related to babies below the age of one.

In particular the report raises concerns about a lack of attention to the risk factors in parents which could be a danger to their babies – such as alcohol, drugs and domestic violence – or where parents had a personal background which needed to be taken into account.

It says there were were repeated examples of a lack of response to such risks. Where parents are very young, it says that there has too often been inadequate support and that the parents might need to have been considered as “children in need in their own right”.

Source: BBC

Check out this awesome new Online Game From Disney

Free parenting classes are to be trialled for all parents with children aged five and under in three areas of England, children’s minister Sarah Teather has said.

They are intended for parents even if they are not struggling with raising children, she said.

About 50,000 parents in Middlesbrough, High Peak, and Camden will be offered vouchers for the classes from mid-2012.

The classes, provided by parenting experts, are likely to cover areas such as communication and listening skills, managing conflict and “strengthening positive relationships in the family”, as well as the importance of parents working as a team.

There will also be a stress on discipline, with “firm, fair and consistent approaches” encouraged and the importance of “boundaries” being set out for children. And there will be advice on appropriate play for children’s age and development.

Ms Teather said she wanted to get rid of the stigma over asking for help.

Source: BBC Family News

You often see reports about the so called poverty line which is often defined as a weekly income less than 60% of the national average (excluding the wealthiest members of society).

According to many commentators the proportion of the UK population defined as being in poverty, based on the forgoing rule, is roughly one in five. So what sort of weekly wages are we talking about that show those whose income is less than 60% of the national average?

A recent BBC article showed a list of incomes that are a rough guide to the so called poverty line. Below these stated incomes the Government classes you as being in ‘absolute poverty’.

Where do we draw the Poverty Line?

1. Single adult, no children: £165 per week.

2. Couple, no children: £248 per week.

3. Lone parent, 1 child: £215 per week.

4. Lone parent, 2 children: £264 per week.

5. Lone parent, 3 children: £314 per week.

6. Couple, 1 child: £297 per week.

7. Couple, 2 children: £347 per week.

8. Couple, 3 children: £396 per week.

Source: IFS, based on 2011