Amongst all the reports of a credit crisis, a crisis in banking, a crisis in high street finances and other Defcom2-type warnings, there is yet another crisis lurking in the background that has greater long-term implications for the future of UK PLC – a skills crisis Lord Leitch’s 2006 final report into the ‘Review of Skills’, commissioned by the government in 2004, acknowledged that there is a problem

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) has been seen as one of the most important packages of government proposals in over a decade Included in that package were some very positive moves for renewable energy, which could equate to a big increase in ‘green-collar’ jobs – particularly renewable energy jobs, nuclear jobs and other careers in the UK’s energy industries

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) delivered recently could herald a new era of co-operation between the Government and the construction industry The PBR announced that £3billion worth of investment that was due to be carried out in 2010-11 is to be brought forward – news that has been welcomed by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) caused shockwaves throughout UK PLC and has been heralded as one of the most extraordinary packages of measures presented by a Chancellor in a long time It seems that the government really does understand just how serious things are outside the hallowed halls of Parliament and has reacted accordingly, giving the country an economic shot in the arm with a plethora of measures, all designed to pull the country out of recession as quickly as possible

Despite the doom-laden economic picture of a worldwide economy in meltdown, our love affair with oil has not been diminished In fact, the oil and gas industry is one of the biggest growth industries globally, and the race to find more reserves of black gold continues 24 hours a day