“Tuberculosis is currently at its highest level in the UK for 30 years and it’s essential that we take action to tackle its continued rise. Pre-entry screening, followed by treatment where necessary, will help to prevent the risk of TB in the UK and will also save lives.

‘Removing screening facilities at airports will save the taxpayer £25 million over ten years and further NHS savings will be made by preventing the importation and spread of TB in the UK,” he said.

Recent figures showed that there were over 9,000 new cases of TB in the UK in 2011, a five per cent increase on 2010. The programme is targeted at migrants after research showed non-UK born people accounted for three quarters of all new TB cases diagnosed – 20 times higher than in the UK born population.

The UK border agency will build on existing pre-screening undertaken by international partners including the USA, Canada and Australia. The costs of screening and subsequent treatment will be met by those people applying to come into the UK.

Unite national officer Roger Maddison said “Ford faces the very real prospect of the first strike since the 1970s. Unite will not stand by and allow Ford to create a two tier workforce on pay and pensions. We urge Ford to return to the negotiating table if it wants to avoid this dispute.

“We fiercely oppose the closure of Ford’s final salary scheme to new entrants. This is the thin end of the wedge. Ultimately we believe Ford will try to close the entire scheme.

The sites being balloted include Manufacturing engine/stamping and diesel design centre at Dagenham; Manufacturing engine plant, Bridgend; Transmission plant at Halewood; Parts distribution centre at Daventry; Transit assembly plant at Southampton; Ford of Britain HQ at Warley; and Design and technical centre, Dunton, Basildon.

New applicant volumes rose 26% in the three months to March this year, compared to the same period in 2011. The number of sales (subject to contract) were up by 42% in Q1 2012 compared to 2011, while activity in the £5m+ bracket has been particularly buoyant, up 93% over the same period. But supply has once again failed to keep pace, with new instructions up by just 12%. The problem is even more pronounced in the £5m+ bracket, with new instructions down by 11%. These positive indicators have contributed to prices rising in March by a further 1.1%, the highest rate since May 2011, when prices increased by 1.4%.

Prime central London property prices have been rising strongly for three years, on the back of foreign demand and London’s status as a safe haven for investors. The strongest rises in Q1 were seen in the £1m to £2.5m price band (+3.2%) and the sub-£1m band (+3.1%), while the £10m+ bracket saw the smallest rises (+1.5%). Among the areas to see the fastest price growth were Marylebone (+7%), South Bank (+3.5%) and Knightsbridge (+3.4%). Apartment prices have risen more than house prices (+3% and +2.5% respectively).

The Low Pay Commission was established following the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to advise the Government on the National Minimum Wage. It is made up of representatives from all sides of industry.

Chair of the LPC David Norgrove said “We welcome the Government’s acceptance of our recommendations on the rates for the National Minimum Wage. The Commission was again unanimous, despite all the economic uncertainties and the different pressures on low-paid workers and businesses. We believe we have struck the right balance between the needs of these workers and the challenges faced by employers.”

It was also announced today that David Norgrove has been reappointed as Chair of the LPC. His reappointment was made under the terms of the Code of Practice and other guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. He will serve a second spell as Chair for a further term of four years from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2016.

The appointment will require a commitment on average of two days a month and will include chairing monthly meetings in London, Commission Visits and representing the Commission. Remuneration is on the basis of a daily rate of £523.11, which is currently unclaimed by David Norgrove.

The CMA will be independent of Government and constituted as a Non Ministerial Department (NMD). The CMA’s CEO and Board will be accountable directly to Parliament and the CMA will be required to consult on its planned work and set out at the end of the year how it has performed.

The CMA will have a primary duty to promote effective competition in markets, across the UK economy and for the benefit of consumers. This includes responsibility for merger regulation, market investigations, cartel and antitrust cases, as well as a number of functions with respect to the regulated utilities.

Business Minister Norman Lamb said “We want to see a simpler, more streamlined structure so that a single competition authority can provide strong leadership and improve the speed and quality of decisions for business. Above all competition drives prices down and quality up, which benefits consumers and improves UK productivity and growth.”

The Government will legislate for the establishment of a CMA Board responsible for overall governance, strategy and performance.

The board will be required to publish rules and guidance describing its procedures and decision-making, to ensure clear roles, openness and transparency.

The Swiss Embassy in Islamabad was informed this morning by the Pakistani authorities of this latest development. The two Swiss citizens were taken by helicopter from the Miranshah region to Peshawar and later to Islamabad.

Ever since the two hostages were kidnapped, the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad has been in regular contact with the local authorities and with its other partners in the area, stated a release. The responsible authorities in Switzerland were in contact with the families of the two hostages and supported them during this difficult situation.

The FDFA had set up an interdepartmental task force which coordinated the activities of the various services responsible – the Federal Office of Police fedpol, the Federal Intelligence Service, and the cantonal police forces of Bern and Aargau. The Head of the Crisis Management Centre of the FDFA, Ambassador Christian Dussey, was in charge of this task force.

The new cyber team will provide HMRC with a better awareness of the nature of the threat by using specialist forensic tools to exploit intelligence. Giving expert advice on keeping HMRC services secure, they will provide technical expertise to our criminal investigators and present real-time intelligence to our operational risk and security teams.

David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary, said “As more and more of HMRC’s systems move online, cyber criminals will look to exploit any opportunity to attack the repayment system. HMRC is getting ahead of the curve – taking forward what it is already doing in a better way. In the last year alone, customers reported over 200k bogus emails purporting to come from HMRC and, as a result, HMRC shut down close to 1,000 bogus websites.”

UK has spent £917m to review investment to tackle tax evasion, avoidance and fraud from 2011/12 and aims to raise an additional £7bn each year by 2014/15, and funding from the national Cyber Security Programme.

As well as the creation of the specialist cyber crime team, HMRC says that it will be deploying more technology to stop criminal behaviour in real time.

HMRC’s successful counter-fraud activity includes creation of simple but effective dedicated reporting channels to report the attempted hijack or misuse of passwords or credentials; shutting down bogus websites, claiming to belong to HMRC; working with other government departments, law enforcement agencies and commercial organizations to reduce and tackle the threat from cyber crime across the public and private sector; Working closely with high-risk customer groups, such as tax agents, and the publication of security guidance pages on HMRC website; and criminal investigation of organized crime groups using cyber crime techniques.

The British Government has already announced a Prohibited Zone will be established above Central London from 14 July 2012 to 15 August 2012 as a security measure to protect Games’ venues.

CAA defines large flying model as weighing 7 kilo grams or above. They will also be subject to more minor restrictions during the Paralympic Games from 16 August 2012 – 12 September 2012.

A joint committee of MPs and peers who are part of the UK’s National Security Strategy (NSS) recommended that government of Prime Minister David Cameron needs to prepare plans to deal urgently with the potential collapse of the euro area, noting that if this scenario occurs than Britain will be in capable of defending itself.

As per the report, the continuation of the global economic crisis will necessitate the European allies to reduce the size of military spending. It warned that the Euro collapse will raise the numbers of migrant Europeans among the members of the EU, which will bring political and social disorders. The report noted that it could impact Britain on the international level.

The chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee and Secretary of State Margaret Beckett said Britain needed public debate about the future and the aspirations of the country and realistic view of the government’s preparations given its ability to spend.

However, euro majors like Germany and France have publicly given their commitment to Euro. An interim forecast on 23 February stated that the euro area is in mild recession with signs of stabilisation. Modest growth is predicted to return in the second half of the year.

Commission Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn had said “Although growth has stalled, we are seeing signs of stabilisation in the European economy. Economic sentiment is still at low levels, but stress in financial markets is easing. Many of the steps that were essential to deliver financial stability and to establish the conditions for more sustainable growth and job creation have now been taken. With decisive action, we can turn the corner and move from stabilisation to boosting growth and jobs.”

The bonds will be different from stability bonds, also known as Eurobonds, that are issued by the EU to finance budget deficits. European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide loans and guarantees for projects to offset part of the risk of private investment, making them more attractive to institutional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds.

MEPs are expected to vote on the pilot project proposal in April and it will still have to be approved by the full plenary in the months after that. If all goes well, the pilot scheme could still start 2012 summer.

Swedish Social-Democrat Göran Färm, who is responsible for steering the proposal through Parliament points out to the multiplier effect EU support could have. “€1 from EU budget could mobilise €15–20 from pension funds and other private investors,” he said.

The EU will contribute €230 million to the pilot scheme to cover part of the risk the EIB is taking to finance five to ten eligible projects in transport, energy and broadband. This is expected to attract additional investment of up to €4.6 billion.

The opposition comes from Czech MEP Ivo Strej?ek, whose political group European Conservatives and Reformists Group warned that project bonds are using EU funds to lever even more debts for national governments, and encouraging investments that would need to be underwritten by taxpayers’ money.