I’m the same – I like anything that goes out from Gowrings to be professional That was my secretarial training Derek minutes his own

I’m the same – I like anything that goes out from Gowrings to be professional That was my secretarial training Derek minutes his own meetings, and I type up his notes He writes in pencil and has tiny handwriting. It took me a few years, but now I can decipher it – I think I could read it backwards.He likes most sport, but football is number one. He’s a Reading FC season ticket holder and has supported them for years, like his father before him. Derek takes his younger son with him and on Mondays I get a full account of the match. Unfortunately, I don’t like football! But Gowrings shares an executive box at Reading, so I have to be aware of who’s playing and when.Out here in Berkshire, where Gowrings started, our head office is a rambling 18th century mansion house that we share with the food services division. We have lovely working conditions except that at night you have to go round and make sure all the windows and doors are locked, rather like at home. It takes about half an hour to close up the huge wooden shutters, so you don’t get out of here in a hurry!Interview by Penny Cottee.

London Underground’s biggest union is today expected to reveal an overwhelming vote in favour of industrial action, threatening the capital with fresh transport chaos later this month. London Underground’s biggest union is today expected to reveal an overwhelming vote in favour of industrial action, threatening the capital with fresh transport chaos later this month.
Leaders of the RMT union are due to call a series of 24-hour stoppages after talks with management ended yesterday without an agreement.Union officials said there had been a massive vote in favour of strikes in a long-running dispute over safety and over demands for job security under the public-private partnership (PPP) planned by the Government.It is understoodTreasury officials yesterday met Bob Kiley, London’s transport commissioner, in an attempt to resolve a dispute over the future of the system. At the heart of the dispute is Mr Kiley’s insistence that the network should be run by a unified management structure. The transport commissioner has threatened legal action if London Underground fails to meet his demands.The first ballot conducted by the RMT – which showed a nine to one majority in favour of walkouts – was declared null and void by the High Court. As a consequence, the union was unable to join a 24-hour strike by the train drivers’ union Aslef, which brought much of London to a standstill on 5 February.Bob Crow, the assistant general secretary of RMT, said he was confident the new vote among 7,500 workers, would show a similar or higher margin in favour of industrial action.Mr Crow said the resolve of his members had been strengthened by revelations that officials had warned London Underground about safety under the PPP.

“The Health and Safety Executive has confirmed the fears that safety on the Tube is deteriorating daily.The unions deny management assertions that the campaign is directed against the PPP. Management has tried to settle the dispute by establishing a joint body, which would include unions, to investigate safety matters.. Low-paid parents whose youngsters are looked after at home while they work are to be given help with their childcare bills, the Government announced yesterday. Low-paid parents whose youngsters are looked after at home while they work are to be given help with their childcare bills, the Government announced yesterday.
Parents on working families tax credit can currently claim up to £200 a week towards childcare costs – but only if their youngsters are placed in a nursery or with a childminder.Stephen Byers, the Trade and Industry Secretary, told the Commons that he would close the loophole that excludes from the scheme the cost of caring for children at home.Parents of disabled children and those who need to have their children looked after at home because of their antisocial working hours, such as nurses on shifts, are denied the exemption.Mr Byers said: “This restriction poses particular problems, especially for parents who work irregular hours. I heard this at first hand when I recently discussed this with a group of mothers in Bolton.”A number of them were nurses who graphically described to me the difficulties they had with providing quality child care whilst working irregular hours. They said support for childcare costs in their own home would be a significant advance.

It would also benefit families who have a child with a disability.”Under the scheme, parents claiming working families tax credit can claim back 70 per cent of their childcare costs up to a limit of £135 for one child or £200 for two or more children.A DTI spokeswoman said the extension of the scheme would apply to only those parents whose children were looked after by registered child-minders or nannies.The Governmment will today launch a £4m campaign – including national newspaper advertisements and prime-time television advertisements – to raise awareness of workers’ statutory entitlement to four weeks’ annual leave. It follows concern that many employees are still not claiming the right.Meanwhile, lawyers reacted angrily yesterday to proposals to abolish their restrictive practices, which for centuries have been used to protect the legal markets from open competition.In a 143-page report the Office of Fair Trading recommended a series of radical changes to the supply of legal service in what promises to be the toughest examination the legal profession has ever faced.Stephen Byers took the first step to accepting the proposed reforms. He told MPs that the Government would scrap laws under which professions can apply to be excluded from competition laws. That allows professional bodies, including lawyers, accountants and architects, to draw up codes of conduct which shield them from controls on other professions and businesses.But it is the attack on the system of Queen’s Counsel by the director general of Fair Trading which has most enraged barristers. The director general, John Vickers, said the Government, in its recent attempt to reform the QC appointment system, had failed to tackle the issue of whether a title should be conferred that enhanced earning power and a competitive position.The Bar Council, which represents 8,000 barristers in England and Wales, accused Mr Vickers of misapplying market forces to a profession whose responsibilities were protecting people’s rights and upholding justice.The chairman of the Bar Council, Roy Amlot QC, said: “We would have to question its conclusions in almost every respect. People are more than just consumers, they are citizens who require the protection of a strong framework for justice, including an independent legal profession.”. The Conservatives were accused of “pantomime politics” last night after Ann Widdecombe led a parliamentary sit-in to delay passage of the Government’s Criminal Justice and Police Bill.