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Entries wanted for £ 40,000 green business award
of up to £ 40,000 to as many as 18 small businesses across the UK . The judges are looking for viable business proposals that are innovative , commercially viable and that will lead to greenhouse-gas reduction .
The competition is open to UK firms that have been trading for at least three
Young ethnic minority women face career worries
Women of Pakistan , Bangladeshi and Caribbean origin are still being penalised in the workplace , a report suggests . The Equal Opportunities Commission ( EOC ) found that although 80-89 % of 16-year-olds from those ethnic groups wanted to work full-time they were up to four times more likely to be jobless . However the business organisation the CBI said too many restrict themselves by only going for jobs or careers where they can see women from a similar background already present . It said better careers advice and work experience was months and that have fewer than 250 employees . It is open to sole traders , partnerships and social enterprises .
The deadline for entries is midnight on Friday 10th November 2006 .
To enter visit
needed but it did not accept such discrimination existed . According to the EOC , in 2005 , 60 % of white girls attained at least five GCSEs grade A to C , compared with 59 % of girls of Bangladeshi descent ; 54 % of girls of Pakistani descent and 49 % of girls of Caribbean descent .
This compared with 50 % of white boys ; 33 % of boys of Caribbean descent , 43 % of boys of Pakistani descent and 47 % of boys of Bangladeshi descent .
New age law introduced from 1st October
A new ageism law comes into force on 1 October but research reveals that half of UK employees are unaware of it or that age discrimination will become illegal from then . More than four in 10 ( 41 %) of the 1,000 workers surveyed by the Employers Forum on Age ( EFA ) said they had worked somewhere where people doing the same job were managed differently depending on their age . Almost a third ( 31 %) said their employer had paid younger workers more than their older colleagues for doing the same role . More than a quarter ( 27 %) also said new recruits were employed because they were a similar age to their colleagues . The research also revealed that age stereotyping is very common among UK workers such as pay and promotion because of their age . PRIME is a national nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping people aged over 50 to set up in business . It holds events aimed at over 50s who are interested in going into business , as well as producing a newsletter . For further information visit www . primeinitiative . org . uk .
For a list of useful government bodies and support organisations for the over 50s visit www . direct . gov . uk
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Statistics 2005 published
The Small Business Service ( SBS ), an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry , has published Small and Medium-sized Enterprise ( SME ) Statistics for the UK for last year . At the start of 2005 , there were an estimated 4.3 million business enterprises in the UK , an increase of 59,000 ( 1.4 %) on the start of 2004 . Almost all of these enterprises ( 99.3 %) were small ( 0 to 49 employees ). Only 27,000 ( 0.6 %) were medium-sized ( 50 to 249 employees ) and 6,000 ( 0.1 %) were large ( 250 or more employees ). These figures include the private sector ( including public corporations and nationalised bodies ) but not Government and nonprofit organisations . engage ISSUE TWO 2006