29th January, 2001 - Elections for CC

Elections for CC
Nominations open today Monday, 29th January 2001 to start the elections to the PCG Consultative Council (CC). Nominations are open until 28th February and sixteen (16) seats are available. A full election timetable is available:

Here

The CC is responsible for the management of PCG and the new Council will appoint the new Board of Directors. Candidates are invited to nominate themselves to stand now. Nominees require 10 seconders before actual voting starts 28th February onwards. Full details of the nomination procedure can be found:

Here

Portal success stories
With around 1,000 searches / day currently being run on the Portal, reports of the first work being secured via the recently launched business to business board are filtering through. Many of the businesses registered have been contacted about work � please ensure your �availability� status is kept up to date.

You can register your company:

Here

To date ,we know that Perl programmers, network project engineers and web-designers have all secured business to business work contracts via the Portal. We are also encouraging members to inform their client contacts of the availability of the Portal as a free source of �can do� contractors. Clients can access the public Portal:

Here

JR update
PCG�s submission and collection of evidence for the Judicial Review was completed and delivered. Everything has been submitted on time.

Thanks to all concerned.

The hearing is scheduled for March 13-15, 2001 in the High Court in London.

Forum Link (having problems?? have you read this...)

Legal help-line � coming soon!
Starting 1st February, PCG is revising the operation of the legal help-line. Under the forthcoming proposals, simple questions will be answered with up to 20 minutes of free legal advice available.

This service starts 1st Feb. � see website and next week�s newsletter.

Contract Review Service
A second major improvement of PCG services is also due soon. An on-line automated contract review service will be launched very soon, with the aim of helping members quickly understand the status of a given contract and help them seek further advice.

Watch this space!

Oil and Gas meeting in Aberdeen
A delegation of PCG officials, including employment law specialist Tony Askham from Bond Pearce, travelled to Aberdeen last week to give a presentation to the Grampian and Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce. The event, which was arranged in conjunction with the Aberdeen Working Party of the PCG, attracted more than 150 delegates, including some of the major hitters in the Oil and Gas sector�already several have followed up asking for meetings with PCG members in Aberdeen

Here

REGIONAL NEWS
For some time, PCG members have arranged a variety of regional events � activities include getting together to lobby a local MP; combined letter writing to the press; attending conferences and meetings or in some cases just getting together for a drink and a meal.

While most of these events are publicised within the PCG�s members� forum � we are hoping that, by introducing a regular Regional News section in the newsletters, more people will be join in �Real Life Meetings�

Anyone with any items they wish to promote in the their regions, please email me [email protected] with REGIONS in the subject matter, details of the event and a name and email contact point/or phone number for further information.

Forum Link (having problems?? have you read this...)

PCG in Peterborough (Wisbech) exhibition
PCG members including Steve Allan and IanW (Watkins) are promoting the use of independent contractors � and PCG members in particular - at an IT Fair in Wisbech organised by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce. The PCG stand will be at the Fair Tuesday 30th from 10am-6pm, at Venture Court, Boleness Rd, Wisbech.

Further details from Steve Allan � 07710 891778

Thames Valley �Chapter� drinks
Anyone living around the Thames Valley area is invited to meet fellow PCGers in the evening of February 8 in The Ship in central Wokingham. (10 mins from Station, close to Peach Street)

Further details from Andrew Banks: [email protected]

PCG Shop
PCG badges - which can help with identification problems at regional meetings � and PCG T-shirts are available from the PCG Shop.

Forum Link (having problems?? have you read this...)

Susie Hughes (Head of Executive Services)

This newsletter is published by the Professional Contractors Group. Some links in the newsletter will take you into the password-protected members' area of the PCG website. If you have forgotten your password, contact password access. To view the Forum links in this newsletter, you must be first logged into the Forum. Further details available here.