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CHECK OUT THIS MONTH’S NEWS!

New year, new recruitment goals…!

That’s where PureKat Consultancy Ltd can help…

https://purekat.co.uk/why-choose-purekat/

We assist businesses to cut through the noise, untangle the tricky bits, and turn “we should really sort this out” into clear, practical action. No buzzword bingo. No overcomplicated nonsense. Just smart recruitment that actually makes sense.

Think of us as your calm, experienced voice in the room — the one that asks the right questions, challenges the right things, and helps you move forward with confidence (and maybe even enjoy the recruitment process).

As a fellow member of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, you have been selected to receive our “Buy 1 get 1 half price “January Offer” for you to redeem until June 2026.

https://purekat.co.uk/permanent-recruitment/

Permanent Placement Fee Quotation upon request 

There is no fee for the PureKat team to resource candidates for your consideration; we only invoice if our candidate secures the role, so it’s a free “try before you buy” service.

**Then for your 2nd permanent placement, we will offer you 50% on any recruitment package (offer expires in June 2026)** T&C Apply.

If you would like to discuss how PureKat Consultancy Ltd could support your business with finding suitable, skilled and top notch candidates within your industry, please feel free to contact our Operations Director, Daniel Dagley on 01603 567354 or email [email protected] today. 

Food Safety Week is an annual event organised by the Food Standards Agency – its starts on the 10th June and the theme this year is the Kitchen Check ( a copy of the leaflet is attached to this post)

RedCat will be blooging throughout the week- but we have devised a quiz which will be posted at www.redcat.gb.comon Monday and will be open to all to enter until the end of Friday 14th June

The prize is to win a ‘Food Safety Inspector’ type visit to your premises; one of the RedCat team will come along with our swabbing machine and check the cleanliness of your kitchen

But some Food Safety tips- linking to the key themes of Food Safety Week are

Cleaning Hands are one of the main ways germs are spread. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water before preparing and handling food, cooking and after touching the bin, going to the toilet, handling pets or handling raw food. Wash or change dish cloths, tea towels, sponges and oven gloves regularly and let them dry before you use them again. Dirty, damp cloths are the perfect place for bacteria to breed.

Our kit will be able to tell how clean your surfaces are; we also use an Ultra Violet Kit on our training courses to see just how good hand washing is

Avoiding Cross Contamination • Cross contamination occurs when harmful germs/bacteria are spread between food, surfaces and equipment. You can help to prevent this by removing clutter that you don’t need and cleaning worktops before and after food preparation. • Always use a chopping board. Wash the board and other utensils in hot, soapy water when you’ve finished using them and in between preparing raw food (meat, poultry, eggs, fish and raw vegetables) and ready-to-eat food. Better still, use a separate chopping board for each type of food.

Chilling • Make sure your fridge is set between 0 and 5 degrees, you can use a a fridge thermometer to check. This is to prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying to dangerous levels • Don’t overfill your fridge. This allows air to circulate and maintains the set temperature. • Store raw meat and poultry at the bottom of the fridge and properly wrap or cover it to avoid raw juices contaminating other foods.

Cooking food thoroughly • Cook food thoroughly until it is steaming hot in the middle. This will kill any harmful bacteria that may be present. You do not need a probe for this- check that the juices are clear and that there has been a colour change

This is particularly important with BBQ’s!

Understanding ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates • ‘Use by’ dates are typically found on perishable products (dairy, meat and fish) and are based on scientific testing to determine how long these foods will stay safe. After that date, food could be unsafe to eat even if it is correctly stored and looks and smells fine. • ‘Best before’ dates are used on foods that have a longer shelf life and tell us how long the food will be at its best. After that date it may be safe to eat, but its flavour and texture might have deteriorated. • The exception to this rule is eggs which have a ‘best before’ rather than a ‘use by’ date. Providing the eggs are cooked thoroughly, they can be eaten a day or two after their ‘best before’ date but not longer than this. • Check the ‘use by’ dates on the food in your fridge on a regular basis and be sure to use (eat, cook or freeze) food before its ‘use by’ to help you avoid throwing food away unnecessarily. • Once food with a ‘use-by’ date has been opened, follow any storage instructions such as ‘eat within two days of opening’.

Using leftovers safely Using up leftovers can be a good way of making a meal go further. • If you are going to store leftovers in the fridge, cool leftovers as quickly as possible (ideally within 90 minutes) cover them well, get them in the fridge and eat them up within two days. • If you are going to freeze them, cool them before putting them in your freezer, to minimise temperature fluctuation in the freezer. Once foods are in the freezer, they can be safely stored there forever – but the quality will deteriorate so it’s best to eat them within three months. • Make sure you defrost leftovers properly first. Defrost them in the fridge, or in the microwave if you intend to cook them straightaway. • Eat leftovers within 24 hours of defrosting and do not refreeze. The only exception to this is if you are defrosting raw food, such as meat or poultry, once you have cooked this it can be refrozen. • Cook leftovers until steaming hot throughout. • Don’t reheat leftovers more than once.

If you would like to enter our quiz or if you have any Food Safety Questions- then do please contact us

Rapidly-evolving energy production technology services company Proserv has secured two major contract wins worth in excess of £15 million for work in the North Sea, further strengthening the company’s market-leading position in the subsea controls and communications field.

The first deal is with TAQA for the control of subsea wells approximately 16.5km from the Tern platform in the Cladhan field. Proserv will implement a system to control three subsea wells as part of a significant development project for the company. Using Proserv’s proprietary Open Communications Controller (OCC) technology, the system will provide a high-speed network capable of communication speeds up to 1.3Mbps.

The second contract award is with another leading operator and also involves work to control the subsea wells. Proserv will use a cutting-edge system, which will control a number of wells and manifolds. This features a fibre-optic communications system using Proserv’s Open Communications Hub (OCH) technology for fully transparent communications and high-speed data monitoring from the subsea multi-phase flow meters and control modules.

Proserv’s facility in Great Yarmouth will be the focal point for both contracts with all the manufacturing work taking place in the Norfolk town.

Commenting on the recent award wins, David Lamont, Proserv’s chief executive officer, said: “Both contract wins reflect Proserv’s industry-leading position and strong track record for delivering high-value integrated technology systems on time and within budget.

“Proserv’s fast-growing suite of technologies have been developed based on the company’s ‘ingeniously simple’ philosophy and are underpinned by the company’s international talent pool of technical and engineering expertise which has expanded considerably through organic growth and strategic acquisition.

“As a result, Proserv continues to expand both globally and particularly in the North Sea where our strong and expanding client base is testament to our levels of technology and service. We look forward to working with two leading operators in the region.”

In 2012, Proserv made two high-profile acquisitions which not only bolstered its capabilities but saw its global headcount increase by more than 600 people to over 1,600.

Proserv specialises in exploration & production, drilling, and infrastructure technical solutions and services to the global energy industry. The company operates worldwide from 30 sites in 6 geographical regions namely North UK & Africa, South UK & Europe, Scandinavia, the Americas, Middle East & North Africa and the Far East & Australia.

The education and development of engineering technicians is critical for the success of the UK.

Mott MacDonald Ltd in partnership with TEN Group invites you to an Advance Apprenticeship in Civil EngineeringLaunch Event to demonstrate the business case for a partnership approach as well as explaining the opportunities available, particularly to employers.

When: Tuesday 18th June 2013 10.30am – 12 noon.

Where: St Andrews House, St Andrews Street, Norwich. NR2 4TP.

Who should attend this meeting?

The meeting is being held specifically to inform the construction industry about how employing technical apprentices in Civil Engineering can be of benefit and how participation can be measured as a return on capital investment.

Reasons to attend this meeting

Embedding the opportunity for a professional qualification in the academic course and supporting this through work-based learning will be shown to promote employee self-confidence and lead to motivated and productive employees who understand your business and ways of working.

Colleges are increasingly beginning to

understand why simply offering traditional courses no longer meets employer expectations. Case studies from successful employer consortia already established in England will illustrate how added value can be successfully integrated into course structures and how advent of the new Technical Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering, is an exciting initiative and how companies can benefit from Government funding to support training costs.

As an industry we have forgotten

that Technical Apprenticeship courses offer the possibility of leading to the highest levels of professional attainment and are a valid alternative to full-time university education. This conference will enable you to give advice on the choices, based on robust evidence and will show how the Institute of Civil Engineers has acted as a catalyst for change and can be a major contributor to the relevance and quality of vocational courses.

As the construction market is rapidly changing through commercial and technical developments, for example BIM, the Technicians will be at the forefront of this change, allowing your companies to be aware of new developments and enabling your existing staff to learn through these young and enthusiastic construction students.

To book your free place or for more information contact:

Laura Howes

Marketing and Business Development Co-ordinator

Mott MacDonald Ltd

T: +44(0)1603 226703

E: [email protected]

Cozens-Hardy LLP is pleased to announce that Caroline Linsdell has joined its business team as an Associate, specialising in commercial property law.

Mrs Linsdell, who was educated locally and attended the UEA, has over 25 years commercial property experience. She has dealt with all aspects of property-based transactions, including secured lending, site acquisitions, commercial development and commercial leases (acting for both landlord and tenant). Mrs Linsdell is on the Ethical Property Foundation Register of Property Professionals.

Said Mrs Linsdell:

“I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to join Cozens-Hardy’s business team. The firm has a longstanding reputation for high quality work and I am pleased to be able to bring to the firm my property experience gained from working for a wide variety of clients, ranging from PLCs and Local Authorities to developers and private individuals. Throughout my career I have always believed that the need to provide pro-active advice is of paramount importance and this echoes the ethos of Cozens-Hardy.”

Added Chris Groves, Senior Partner:

“Property work has long been a core of Cozens-Hardy’s legal services to local businesses, so we are very pleased that Caroline has joined us, bringing her extensive local knowledge and specialist skills. Caroline is a great addition to our team and benefit to our business clients.”

– Ends –

For further information please contact: Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and [email protected]

React’slatest two recruits to join them are bringing some youthful flair and enthusiasm to the family run business.

Its 15 years since React Computer Partnership, who have a branch in Beccles, began trading from the dining room table of one of the Director’s homes. Since that time the company has moved into substantial premises at Deben Mill Business Centre to accommodate their expanding team of IT professionals. Their latest two recruits to join them are bringing some youthful flair and enthusiasm to the family run business.

Ed Osborne joined the React Computer Partnership team having previously worked with an IT training organisation developing and providing training courses for their clients. Richard Pledger one of the React partners explains how his move to React came about ” Ed was keen to develop his IT networking skills and was keen to join a company offering support services in this area. With our continued growth, despite the global economy, we needed another support engineer to bolster our support department, ensuring we could maintain the excellent levels of customer service we offer. Therefore React was the perfect match for Ed.”

Alex Davies originally joined React as an Administration apprentice on a six month course. However it was soon clear his real passion and skills lay within the more technical aspect of IT systems and support. Richard says “I’m happy to say due to the increase in contracted customers over the past 12 months we were able to accommodate Alex in a new role and so he has now been taken on as a full time apprentice embarking in a certified Microsoft Apprenticeship Course.

React Computer Partnership are Norfolk and Suffolk Chamber members and are a business IT support company with offices in Woodbridge, Beccles and St Neots who have built a reputation throughout East Anglia for providing professional IT support services. They have been finalists for the past two years in the Outstanding Customer Service category of the Anglian Business Awards and this year they are finalists again in two more categories. They work with many types of business, especially on the manufacturing side, ensuring businesses have a reliable and efficient IT system to increase their productivity and speed the flow of work around their offices and warehouses using electronic document storage and management.

Richard concluded ‘We’ve had some really good feedback already about Alex and Ed from React customers and with their youthful outlook and dedicated approach we are confident we can achieve even greater customer satisfaction this year.” www.reactcp.co.uk

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to spend 7 days being dazzled by the bright lights of New York City. In between eating hamburgers the size of your head, learning the less than straight forward subway system, and slowly cooking in the 35 degree heat, I was able to squeeze in a brief visit to the Google offices. Now, I am not sure you can just turn up at Google, knock on the door and wander in, it’s probably a bit more complicated than that, but due to my girlfriend’s brother being gainfully employed by the internet behemoth, I was allowed to be a brief, but very impressed, guest.

The building was fairly dignified, without any over the top trumpeting about the big G being in residence, no flashing HD video screens announced that it was present, we are still some way off of Bladerunner it seems. The registration process to enter was fairly relaxed but emphasised that security was definitely taking place, as we submitted to being photographed and signed in, as far as I am aware they did not take any DNA for provision to PRISM, but who knows… After a short wait our host arrived and whisked us off into the cavernous confines of #76, 9th Avenue. Google only occupy a couple of floors of this enormous site, but that appears to be plenty. We were guided up through an area where employees children can lounge around, write on the walls and play with lego, and then into the main office itself. Everything was very spacious and bright, mostly in open plan with only a few specific offices laid out. It was at this point that we got to see first-hand just how nice Google is to employees, and the fairly informal basis on which teams worked together. Everyone was friendly and laid back. It seemed a bit quiet though. It was about lunch time and our host started to lead us up to the canteen. On the way through we saw that employees had free reign to decorate their work areas, and that there were special rooms where people could take a break. People would wander up and say hi and be delightfully polite. There was a top quality collection of board games dotted around, seemingly for people to just grab and play when not fixing bugs in the latest version of Google Docs. Heaven!

And then we arrived in the canteen. It was quite the thing, a vast arena with hordes of cooks and serving staff, open plan and with several types of cuisine on offer, from the IT nerd friendly cheese burger or pizza slice to the Japanese cuisine there to suit those sophisticated New Yorkers with more complex palates. I had a cheese burger. All the food was free, and the room was bursting, I suppose that was why it was so quiet downstairs. We sat with a few employees and learned a little about how life was at Google. After lunch our time was drawing to a close and we were showed a few other rooms, including a library with a quiet room hidden behind a bookshelf that you had to rotate to get access to, and some bizarre themed meeting rooms, one featuring a bath full of foam toys. No water though. Perhaps some of this was a bit over the top and, frankly, loopy, but plenty of it was endearing and you could certainly see why people are falling over themselves to work there.

And so we descended in the lift and wandered out into the noisy real world again, with exploring to do. Well worth the visit!

Andy Malcolm is a Level 2 Service Desk Professional at Breakwater IT. Breakwater provide IT Support, IT Consultancy and Business Telecoms Solutions to the East Anglia region.

Call now on 01603 709300

If you need your website to be more effective then setting clear and easy objectives is the key to success. However you may not know where to start or have the time to carry out in depth research into the subject.

Don’t worry our new PDF download “The Bigfork Guide to Setting Website Objectives” has been written to help businesses and organisations do this in easy steps. Clearly written and without confusing jargon the PDF shows you how to set measurable goals into your website. The end result will be a website that contributes to your business and you will be able to prove it.

Download “The Bigfork Guide to Setting Website Objectives” PDF here.

Bigfork – we make websites stand out

t-01603 513080

www.bigfork.co.uk

Trainee Solicitor Marija Markovic considers the impending changes and the impact on the civil litigation process.

In 2010 Lord Justice Jackson published his report dealing with the issue of disproportionate costs in civil litigation. He said: “In some areas of civil litigation costs are disproportionate and impede access to justice. I therefore propose a coherent package of interlocking reforms, designed to control costs and promote access to justice.”

Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations were taken on board and evidenced in Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). The Act received royal assent in May 2012 and is to be implemented in April 2013.

There are certain changes within the recommendations that affect many matters that we deal with on a daily basis in the dispute resolution team at Steeles Law. Such changes include:

• Non Recoverability of Success Fees
• Introduction of Damage Based Agreements
• Non Recoverability of After the Event Insurance premiums
• General Damages Increased by 10%

Non Recoverability of Success Fees

Under s44 of LASPO, other than for mesothelioma claims, success fees under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) will no longer be recovered from the losing party. Currently, the winning party’s legal representatives are able to enjoy an uplift of up to 100% on their costs as a success fee. However, post 1 April 2013, the winning party will pay the success fee from the damages awarded to him/her. To replace the current CFA arrangements, Damage Based Agreements are proposed instead.

Damage Based Agreements (DBAs)

Also known as “Contingency Fees”, DBAs are very similar to CFAs in that the legal representative is only paid if the client wins his/her case. If the client loses, the legal representative receives nothing. Under a DBA, the client is obliged to pay to the legal representative a pre-agreed percentage of the damages he/she is awarded. Upon success, the client’s representatives are still able to recover their costs from the opposing party in the first instance. In cases where the amount recovered from the opponents is not the total amount to which the legal representatives are entitled under the DBA, they may then recover from the client the difference between the agreed percentage under the DBA and the amount recovered from the opposing party.

For example, if the client and representative enter into a DBA with an agreed fee of 25%, and the client receives £10,000 in damages, the representatives will then be entitled to £2,500. However, if the losing party has paid £2,000 to the representatives in respect of costs, the client will then “top up” that amount by £500, meaning the total amount paid to the representatives is £2,500.

There are limits as to the amount a legal representative can recover under a DBA:

• There will be a 25% cap on the amount of damages that can be taken as the legal representative’s fee in personal injury cases (excluding damages for future care and loss)
• There is an existing cap of 35% for damages in employment tribunal cases
• There will be a cap of 50% for all other cases under a DBA in civil litigation

Non Recoverability of After the Event Insurance (ATE) premiums

The purpose of ATE is to cover the opponent’s legal costs in the event that the client loses the case. In the event of success for the client, the losing opponent currently has to pay the insurance premium. As with success fees, with effect from 1 April 2013, the client will be liable to pay the ATE premium from the damages he/she receives upon success.

It is important to note that CFAs and ATE policies entered into before the implementation date of 1 April 2013 remain unchanged.

General Damages Increased by 10%

The above reforms appear to be one-sided and of greater disadvantage to the claimant than the defendant. To balance this, the government has introduced an increase of 10% on general damages in respect of the following:

• Pain, suffering and loss of amenity in respect of personal injury
• Nuisance
• Defamation
• All other torts which cause suffering, inconvenience or distress to individuals

The extra 10% is designed to allow for premiums and fees payable by the claimant, so that the damages the claimant actually receives upon success are not reduced too considerably. An example of this can be found in the first case to embrace the reform, Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039.

Comments

As is shown, compared with the current framework, it seems the reforms are of a greater disadvantage to the claimant than the defendant. The claimant is responsible for paying the success fee and ATE premium, both of which can be significant amounts. Depending on the case, an increase of 10% to general damages may not be sufficient to cover these costs.

It is also important to consider the wider implications. If a claimant’s claim has a strong prospect of success, the claimant may choose not to purchase ATE in order to avoid having to pay the premium, thus having an adverse effect on insurers. It may mean insurers having to lower their premiums to continue to operate within the civil litigation arena.

For legal representatives, the absence of the 100% uplift on success fees may not be a favoured part of the reform. However, despite not being as lucrative, the availability of DBAs at least provides a replacement mechanism to reward representatives for the success of claims.

Currently, claimants are able to pursue the “give it a go” attitude with “no win no fee” – they have nothing to lose. This can lead to costly litigation. The reform is likely to provide a mechanism for preventing the spiralling of costs in some cases when a CFA is involved. For those that have strong and genuine grounds for a claim, the avenue is there for them to pursue it but for those that wish to try their luck, as of 1 April 2013, it will be worthy of careful consideration.

Employers inthe East of Englandare stepping up recruitment of temporary staff, despite new government regulations that have boosted the cost of employment. According to a survey carried out by specialist recruitment company, Pure Resourcing Solutions, 85 per cent of employers recruited more or similar levels of temporary workers during 2012 compared with the previous year. Almost all employers questioned said that the Agency Workers Regulations introduced in October 2011 would not affect their volume of temporary recruitment, nor the length of time they recruit for. The regulations give temporary workers the same basic employment and working conditions as permanent staff, and it had been feared that this would put employers off employing temps for more than 12 weeks, after which the main elements of the regulations kick in. The survey, carried out across East Anglia, found that the main reasons organisations recruit temporary staff are for special projects or to cover maternity leave. However, other important reasons to engage temporary staff include: sickness cover or as an interim solution while a permanent appointment is being made. Anyone thinking of temporary employment should be aware that the two most prized qualities are special expertise and the ability to work in a team. This Eastern region data from Pure is more bullish than a similar national survey carried out by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation late last year. “We are delighted to find that employers in our specialist sectors of professional support are not being put off recruiting temporary workers”, said Gill Buchanan, Director of Pure Resourcing Solutions, “However, we acknowledge that sectors such as manufacturing may be experiencing a greater effect. Temps are a highly flexible and cost effective way of acquiring expertise quickly, and today’s organisations need to be able to react faster than ever before.” “Employer legislation continues to evolve”, adds Gill. “Many responsible employers will already have processes in place.” Other new regulation which businesses need to be aware of and which will start to affect businesses of all sizes include a requirement to automatically enrol workers onto a pension scheme. Pure Resourcing Solutions carries out regular surveys into employment issues across the East Anglia region.

Copies of the full survey findings are available from Anna Hill, Marketing Manager at the company.

MigSolv, (Migration Solutions), has been awarded PCI DSS accreditation through external audit of its systems for security and compliance. PCI DSS is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and is a standard that all organisations, including online retailers, must follow when storing, processing and transmitting their customer’s credit card data. Customers of any colocation provider who transact credit cards should ensure that the provider has PCI DSS accreditation as, otherwise, they could fall foul of the standard.

There are two ways in which accreditation can be obtained; this first is to self assess, i.e. state that you have looked at your own systems and are comfortable that you are compliant, the second is to be assessed by a third party auditor who will issue an ‘Attestation of Compliance’ if they deem you to be compliant. Whilst many colocation providers choose the simpler, self assessment route, MigSolv considered the matter of security of such importance that they elected for third party audit. MigSolv MD, Alex Rabbetts, said, “At MigSolv we take security very seriously indeed. Whilst it would be much easier to simply say ‘we comply’ and hope for the best, we think the security of our customers, and that of their customers, to be of sufficient importance that we wanted to provide the comfort that we have been audited by others and it isn’t just us saying ‘we’re compliant’, it is a professional auditor that is saying,’MigSolv is compliant’. We believe this is a much stronger statement for our customers to rely on.”

Tim Holman, CEO of Qualified Security Assessors 2-sec said, “Migration Solutions have demonstrated they take information security seriously and have exceeded the security requirements laid down by PCI DSS during their recent Level 1 Service Provider audit.“

Following receipt of the Attestation of Compliance, MigSolv further submitted an application for registration on the Visa Merchant Agent website. This is an important step as Visa Europe state clearly on their website that: ‘With effect from 31 December 2012, Visa Europe acquiring members must ensure that their merchants use only merchant agents that are registered by Visa Europe and listed on www.visamerchantagentslist.com‘. They further state, ‘If a merchant or retailer has engaged you to provide services that involve processing, storing or transmitting cardholder data, (directly or indirectly), then you are a merchant agent.’ This clearly puts colocation in the frame. MigSolv has subsequently been listed on the Visa Merchant Agent list and is one of only two companies that is listed as colocation and having been externally audited for Level 1 PCI DSS compliance.

David Manning, Operations Director at MigSolv said, “Our PCI DSS compliance, combined with our listing as a Visa Merchant Agent, makes a very strong statement to our customers. Customers that are subject to the PCI DSS standard really only have two choices, one of the two externally audited Level 1 colocation companies listed with Visa Europe, or a risk – I know which route I would prefer!“

About MigSolv MigSolv, (Migration Solutions), is Europe’s leading independent specialist Data Centre Consultancy. Independent of any vendor, MigSolv offers informed, unbiased advice on all aspects of data centre design, operation and migration. Uniquely, MigSolv also operates its own, state-of-the-art, data centre in Norwich meaning that its consultancy is based on real, up-to-date, data centre operational experience and knowledge.

For more information please visit: www.migsolv.com Contact: Alex Rabbetts, Managing Director, 0845 251 2255, [email protected]