David Haslam resigned his post as Branch Secretary on Monday 10th October 2005.

The Branch Committee unanimously voted in Keith Price as Branch Secretary until our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 22nd February 2006 with Paul Meaton as his Assistant Branch Secretary.  Neil Dixon has also left his post he was seconded to for Growth and Change.  We are in the process of replacing his post and hope that now this Branch can go from strength to strength

New laws have been introduced aimed at combating sexual harassment at work. In line with the European Equal Treatment Directive, UK legislation now says that women who are sexually harassed at work do not need to show that a man would have been treated differently. A traditional defence from employers in sexual harassment cases has always been that the men in the office were subject to the same behaviour.

Education secretary Ruth Kelly today announced a national audit of school dinners as part of a widespread transformation of both children's diets and their attitudes about food.

The audit, to begin next week, is a response to the recommendations of the school meal review panel, set up to investigate the quality of school dinners following TV chef Jamie Oliver's high-profile campaign. In a further development, exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is to review how cooking is taught in schools, in order to improve the culinary skills and knowledge of young people.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis welcomed the fact that the school meals service had finally "risen to the top of the political agenda". But he warned that there had to be a reverse in staff cuts in school kitchens and dining rooms, if the school meals revolution was to be successful.

Teaching assistants, catering staff, school secretaries and caretakers will be able to access new learning opportunities at work with the launch of a new online resource, skills4schools.org.uk The new website has been developed by UNISON, with financial support from the government's Union Learning Fund.

Unions have written to the deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, to formally reject new pension proposals for local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A letter jointly signed by UNISON, the GMB, the T&G, amicus, Ucatt and probation officers union Napo said the proposals tabled by the Employers Organisation are "worse" than the original changes laid down last year, which later revoked to aviod industrial action.