April showers dampen high street trade
If you thought April was a quiet month for retail business, you were not alone.
UK retail sales fell to their lowest level in a decade during April, reported the British Retail Consortium.
Trade worsened across the board with total sales falling from 4 per cent in March to 2.6 per cent in April.
'April was a tough month for retailers and while the drop is partly exaggerated by the comparison with April 2004, when Easter fell, the like for like figure is the worst on record since 1995,' said BRC director general Kevin Hawkins.
'Some stores enjoyed stronger sales on warmer days,' he continued, 'but this was short-lived and sales in most sectors suffered. A slowing housing market, pre-election economic uncertainty and the continuing threat of interest rate rises dominated consumer confidence in April.'
GOC makes decision on CET controversy In the end it took a matter of a few minutes. The CET wrangle, which was one of the talking points of Optrafair, has been concluded with a ruling from the GOC at a specially convened telephone conference.
The meeting, which took place at 8am on Monday, followed discussion via the GOC's education committee a few days earlier. However, the early-bird telephone conference did not alter the draft rules reported in optician last week (News, page 5 'Monday is D-Day for CET points decision').
As expected, Monday's meeting resulted in agreement that 24 general CET points, and 12 'specialist' CET points, achieved between January 1 2004 and June 30 2005 can be carried forward from the voluntary scheme into the inaugural statutory period of the CET programme which runs until December 31 2006. The CET rules will start on July 1.
Peter Coe, GOC registrar, told optician that the Council had learnt from the controversy.
'At Optrafair there were community optoms and DOs who had genuinely misinterpreted what was to happen,' he said. 'I think what we've achieved for them is best.
'I also think the outcome has showed we were flexible and heard the concerns.'
Coe also praised the methods used by the GOC to reach its conclusion, especially the cost-effective virtual meeting which saved the Council thousands of pounds. The quadrate of 19 GOC members, who were involved in Monday's virtual meeting, also made the rules in the following subjects, all which will start on June 30:
Fitness to practise
Registration
Registration appeals
Injury or disease of the eye and contact lens (qualification)
Committee constitution
The Rules, which are available in full on the GOC's website www.optical.org are not formally constituted until they have been at the Privy Council for three weeks prior to signature, and have been forwarded from the Privy Council to Parliament, for a further three weeks.
david.challinor@ rbi.co.uk
HEADLINE: Six points for Drasdo Day
Half a dozen CET points are available at a special day of lectures taking place in Wales on Wednesday May 18.
Cardiff University's School of Optometry & Vision Science is hosting the day in honour of Professor Neville Drasdo's contribution to the profession.
Professor Drasdo is a specialist in electrophysiological research, and the 'Festschrift' is being sponsored by five UK optical instrument companies.
The lectures will be given in the University's Redwood Building and will include a keynote address from Robert Hess, professor and director of research at the Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
The lecture series has been divided into four parts - optics and psychophysics, psychophysical and applied investigations, clinical issues, and cortical imaging and visual electrophysiology.
A celebratory dinner will take place at the university's Aberdare Hall.
Hewitt at the head of new health team
As optician went to press it remained unclear what roles new health secretary Patricia Hewitt would assign to her immediate colleagues at the DoH.
However, it appears that Rosie Winterton will remain responsible for ophthalmic matters at present, following her involvement with the eye care pathways programme last year.
Australian-born Hewitt, who succeeded John Reid in Tony Blair's post-election reshuffle, spent last month attempting to salvage something for MG Rover workers before she was moved from the Department of Trade and Industry at the weekend.
Hewitt's political rise began when as the opposition's press officer, she helped write Neil Kinnock's famous speech which saw off Labour's Militant tendancy. Prior to her 2001 appointment as secretary of state at the DTI, she had a special interest in small businesses within the Department.
In another development, Jane Kennedy joins Rosie Winterton as minister of state at the DoH. The Liverpool Wavertree MP was involved in the local government struggles in Merseyside during the 1980s.
Latterly she played a part in the Northern Ireland Office before becoming minister for work at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Lord Warner completes the new-look DoH team.
Specsavers shortlisted in IT awards
Specsavers Optical Group has reached the shortlist in the annual prestigious European Retail Solutions Awards.
The Guernsey-based business is up against competition from Dixons and IBM in the supply chain excellence category. Other optometry-related companies involved in other shortlists are Asda (best use of technology for employee development) and Tesco (most innovative use of in-store technology).
The awards presentation will take place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on June 7, the opening night of the Retail Solutions exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham.
The show, which is now in its 25th year, attracted 600 guests in 2004.
Earlier this year Specsavers triumphed at optician's own awards as optical chain of the year. The multiple also won Retail Week's marketing campaign of the year for a second year running.