Other UK News In Brief

£50m Funding Package For Next Wave Of Rural Broadband

Homes and businesses across Wiltshire, Norfolk and Devon & Somerset will have access to superfast broadband connections as part of the Government’s drive to connect rural areas. Each area will receive a multi-million pound package, part of the Government’s £530m fund earmarked to support the roll-out of superfast broadband to areas that the market alone will not reach, adding to the existing superfast broadband pilots. “This is great news for people in these areas,” said Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. He added: “Other councils will soon have the chance to bid for a nationwide funding programme as part of our plan for virtually every community in the UK to have access to superfast broadband.” These new areas will be allocated a share of the £50m funding package and will also receive financial support from their local authorities and private investors. Local authorities and their delivery partners were invited to bid for a slice of the £530m funding allocated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in October’s Comprehensive Spending Review. It is anticipated that a further 18 local authorities and their delivery partners who bidded for a slice of £530m allocated by the Chancellor in Comprehensive Spending Review will receive funding during the current Parliament as their proposals evolve.

Asylum Improvement Project Publishes Progress Report

The UK Border Agency has published a report on progress made by the asylum improvement project. The project was set up to explore new ways to speed up the processing of asylum applications. The report outlines the progress made so far on 25 elements of the project and explains the next steps for asylum reform. The impact of all 25 elements of the project will be assessed over the coming months, as part of the next phase of asylum reform.

Spring Rainfall Shows Big Contrasts Across The UK

Provisional Met Office climate figures for spring 2011 indicate that rainfall amounts across the UK have varied widely from north and west to south and east. Even though further rain is expected across much of the country before the season ends, parts of the east and south are likely to be heading towards their driest spring on record. These records date back more than 100 years to 1910. For statistical purposes, the meteorological spring is the combined months of March, April and May and provisional figures are from 1 March to 25 May. The driest region has been East Anglia, where rainfall amounts show that only 17mm of rain has fallen, just 13% of the long term spring average which is 134.9mm. However, at the opposite of the country, parts of north and west Scotland have had a wet season, with Argyll recording 538.6mm of rain, well above the long term average of 422.0mm.

(BMcN)