Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service

The Riverside Centre is looking for volunteers from the community who would be interested in improving their knowledge of local wildlife by taking part in wildlife surveys. No previous knowledge is required as expert help will be on hand. However anyone with some identification skills will also be very welcome. The birds that we identify will go onto a list which will be used in considering how to manage the park for wildlife in the future.

For each survey there will be morning and afternoon sessions. Morning sessions will start at 10am, afternoon sessions at 1pm. Participants will be free to come out on one or both sessions and on as many of the surveys as they like. Surveys will be on 20th & 31st of January & 3rd & 16th of February 2012 . Teas, coffees and biscuits will be provided.

If you are interested in taking part please contact Roger on 01792 864194 or email riverside@arenapontardawe.com.

For directions go to www.arenapontardawe.com/riverside/directions

These surveys are funded by Environment Wales and the Riverside Project by the Big Lottery Fund

See flyer for further information on Riverside.

The return to work after the festive break is often very challenging for staff. A variety of factors, including Christmas debt, the cold weather, or the failure of New Year’s resolutions, combine to make this the toughest time of year to get up and go to work.

The Health at Work Advice Line Wales is a free and confidential service that provides small business managers and GPs in Wales with the expert advice they need to help and support staff and patients experiencing health issues in the workplace.

The Health at Work Advice Line Wales offers health at work advice over the telephone. All calls are confidential, advice is free and you can call at any time.

The line will be open 24 hours a day, with our qualified professionals available 9-5 on weekdays. Outside of these hours a call-back service will operate. If our advisors aren’t able to help you directly, they’ll put you in touch with someone who can.

What advice is available?

• Screening and surveillance for early signs of health related issues
• Advice on how deal with staff experiencing mental health conditions and distress
• Professional help on staff unable to work
• Sickness absence and attendance management
• Rehabilitation and medical intervention
• Lifestyle and well-being to maintain health

What are the benefits to employers?

• Keep valued and experienced staff
• Avoid unnecessary recruitment and training costs
• Reduce sick pay costs
• Keep the business productive
• Reduce costs of hiring temporary staff to cover absence
• Reduce pressure on other employees covering for a sick colleague

What are the benefits to employees?

• Improved mental and physical health and well-being
• A managed return to work can help recovery
• More pay in the pocket
• Less risk of long term absence, social exclusion and possibility of job loss

Managers can get information on all aspects of occupational health to support their staff, for example stress management and back pain at work.

Employees can be advised on such issues as how to manage their condition at work, getting back to work after illness and how to reduce the risk of long term absence.

Call now on 0800 107 0900 for advice and support to reduce the impact of sickness absence on the business you work for.

Free, confidential occupational health advice for small businesses in Wales.

For more information please visit www.healthyworkingwales.com

The King’s Fund will be live webcasting the main sessions from their Annual Conference 2011. This year’s conference will look beyond current debate about structures and reform to focus on how to improve the everyday business of delivering health and social care.

The conference will be held on Wednesday 23 November 2011 from 10am

To sign up to watch the live webcast and for further information see The King’s Fund website. 

New 10 week fitness classes are being set up in Port Talbot please see flyer for further information.

The November edition of the Regional Learning Partnership’s E-Bulletin is now available for download

The Health at Work Advice Line is a service which offers small businesses, organisations and their employers, in all sectors, with health at work advice over the telephone. The Advice Line offers free confidential and professional advice on any occupational, physical or mental health issue. GPs can also access the service for advice and support on issues affecting individual patients including the Statement of Fitness for Work (Fit Note).

The Line number is 0800 107 0900 and is open 24 hours a day with qualified professionals available between 9.00am and 5.00pm on weekdays. Outside of these hours, a call back service operates.

The Health at Work Advice Line is one of the services that is included in the Welsh Government’s workplace health programme \'Healthy Working Wales\'. The aim of Health Working Wales is to improve health at work; prevent people being made ill at work; retain or rehabilitate those made ill at work; and prevent the link between work related ill health and economic inactivity. Healthy Working Wales also contributes to the broader UK Health, Work and Well-being Strategy.

For further information on Connecting Learners – Learning Opportunities please see website.

The Enterprise in the Valleys Newsletter is now available on the website.

As some of you may be aware, the Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science has set up an independent Micro-Business Task and Finish Group, under the Chairmanship of Robert Lloyd-Griffiths, Director Wales, Institute of Directors, to provide her with advice and recommendations on the development and implementation of a Micro-Business Strategy for Wales.

More information about the remit and membership of that Group can be found here.

The group is currently gathering evidence to inform the development of the strategy and, as part of this evidence gathering phase, it has developed a short questionnaire for completion by those wishing to feed into the work in hand.

You may access, complete and submit the questionnaire here. And by typing in the following Password: J7fvhqyBxU. NB Please type the password as opposed to cutting and pasting. The Group would very much value your contribution to this survey, which will be open for responses until 31st October 2011.  Please feel free – indeed you are very much encouraged – to forward this message and to promulgate the availability of this survey within your own networks and to any other organisations, groups, stakeholders, businesses or individuals you feel may wish to contribute to this work.

Chwarae Teg are running a series of free workshops for women who want to find out more about being self-employed and starting a business. These informal but informative workshops will provide you with an opportunity to: Think whether self-employment is for you, Explore any business ideas you may have, and Meet your local business support advisor . We are running our workshops as follows:- 18th October 2011 Newport , 20th October 2011 Porthcawl , 2nd November 2011 Rhyl, 3rd November 2011 Llanrwst. If you would like to book a place please download a booking form and return to enterprise@chwaraeteg.com.  For more information please contact either: emma.pugh@cwharaeteg.com  (029 2047 8917) or Jane Nyhan, Jane.nyhan@chwaraeteg.com  (029 2047 8923).