Business & growth

North West: Statistics published by BIS show that the most number of bids to the Regional Growth Fund came from the North West. A total of 89 bids were submitted to the fund from the region out of a total of 464.

Capital growth: A new local enterprise partnership to lead local growth for London’s firms was given the green light by Minister for Business, Mark Prisk and Decentralisation Minister, Greg Clark.

Higher education & research

Social Mobility: For the Ron Dearing lecture at Nottingham University, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts spoke of the challenges facing universities in recruiting the best and brightest students.

Space science collaboration: The UK and Russia have signed a joint statement in Moscow which puts in place an agreement for enhanced collaboration in space science research.

Technology Innovation Centres: Mr Willetts has commented on the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee Report on Technology Innovation Centres.

Regulation

Independent review: Prime Minister David Cameron has announced an independent review which will look at changing the current sickness absence system and reducing the £100 billion ill health costs the economy each year.

Skills

Time to Train: The right for employees to request time for training to improve their skills has been available to employees of large organisations with 250 or more employees since April 2010. Following a recent consultation covering a wide range of businesses and employee groups, Ministers are taking further time to examine the potential impact of the regulation on smaller firms.

Get involved

The department currently has 5 consultations open. These include:

• Toy safety
• Employed students and the accommodation offset
• Resolving workplace disputes