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Google reveals $1bn UK data centre it says will create jobs and ‘boost growth of AI’ | Business News

Google has started construction on a new $1bn (£789m) data centre in the UK, it has been revealed.

The announcement was made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been meeting company bosses as part of a bid to “champion British excellence in tech”.

The new facility is to be located on a 33-acre site at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, purchased by Google in October 2020.

The Alphabet-owned company said the centre would boost the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and “help ensure reliable digital services to Google Cloud customers and Google users in the UK”.

It also revealed that heat generated from the facility would be saved to benefit homes and other businesses in the local community.

Google employs 7,000 people in the UK and said the data centre would add to that figure, initially due to the construction process.

Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer, said: “The Waltham Cross data centre represents our latest investment in the UK and the wider digital economy at large.

“This investment builds upon our Saint Giles and Kings Cross office developments, our multi-year research collaboration agreement with the University of Cambridge, and the Grace Hopper subsea cable that connects the UK with the United States and Spain.

“This new data centre will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the UK while creating construction and technical jobs for the local community.

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What did you Google in 2023?

“Together with the UK government, we are working to make AI more helpful and accessible for people and organisations across the country.”

Mr Hunt said of the investment: “From business conducted online to advancements in healthcare, every growing economy relies on data centres.

“Our country is no different and this major $1bn investment from Google is a huge vote of confidence in Britain as the largest tech economy in Europe, bringing with it good jobs and the infrastructure we need to support the industries of the future.”

The announcement was made just a day after Google boss Sundar Pichai told employees in an internal memo to expect more job cuts during 2024.

A year ago, plans for 12,000 global job losses were revealed, amounting to 6% of its workforce.

According to The Verge, which first reported on the communication, the company’s 182,000 staff were told the lay-offs would not be as severe.

The new data centre builds on other recent tech wins for the UK.

Microsoft and Google Logo
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Microsoft and Google are the investment leaders in the AI sphere

Microsoft confirmed plans for a £2.5bn data centre in late November after overcoming UK regulatory hurdles in its £55bn takeover of Activision Blizzard.

Commenting on the latest deal, Ben Barringer, technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said there were signs the government’s message that the UK was open for business, particularly in the AI sphere, was getting through.

But he added: “Relations between the government and big tech have been rocky in recent years with the protracted approval of Microsoft’s merger with Activision and Meta downsizing its UK footprint souring relations.

“Looking at the bigger picture for Google, this investment is somewhat a drop in the ocean and simply represents prudent business.

“The cost of this data centre is around a thirtieth of their annual capital expenditure and with approximately 30 data centres already constructed globally, it isn’t exactly going to move the needle for them by adding another.

“Furthermore, it is unlikely that post-construction many jobs will be created. Data centres do not require scores of employees to run them, and given Google is a very lean business, it will be looking to make its operation as efficient as possible.”

Domestic abuse victims put at risk after data breaches revealed their locations to alleged abusers | UK News

Domestic abuse victims have been put at risk after data breaches meant their locations were disclosed to their alleged abusers, the UK Information Commissioner has said.

The breaches have taken place at organisations including a law firm, a housing association, an NHS trust, a police service, a government department and local councils.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued reprimands to seven organisations for data breaches affecting domestic abuse victims since June 2022, with four of those cases related to inappropriate disclosure of the victim’s safe address to alleged perpetrators.

In one case, a family had to be immediately moved to emergency accommodation.

In another, an organisation gave the home address of two adopted children to their birth father, who was in prison on three counts of raping their mother.

Organisations had also revealed the identities of women seeking information about their partners to those partners.

There was also a breach in which an unredacted assessment report about children at risk of harm was sent to their mother’s ex-partners.

The people they trusted exposed them to further risk

John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, has called on organisations to handle personal information properly to avoid putting vulnerable people at further risk.

Mr Edwards said: “These families reached out for help to escape unimaginable violence, to protect them from harm and to seek support to move forward from dangerous situations. But the very people that they trusted to help, exposed them to further risk.”

He called on organisations to handle personal information properly and stressed that “getting the basics right is simple” through training, double checking records and contact details and restricting access to information.

A lack of staff training and failing to have robust procedures in place to handle personal information safely were among the various reasons for the breaches.

Mr Edwards continued: “This is a pattern that must stop. Organisations should be doing everything necessary to protect the personal information in their care.

“The reprimands issued in the past year make clear that mistakes were made and that organisations must resolve the issues that lead to these breaches in the first place.”

He added: “Protecting the information rights of victims of domestic abuse is a priority area for my office, and we will be providing further support and advice to help keep people safe.”

Read more:
Domestic abuse victim shares image of ‘horrific’ injuries
Domestic abusers to be tagged after leaving prison

‘A data breach can be a matter of life or death’

Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said: “It takes a huge amount of bravery for victims and survivors of domestic abuse to come forward, and many go to extreme lengths to protect themselves from the perpetrator. To then be exposed to further harm due to poor data handling is a serious setback.

“That seven organisations have breached victims’ data in the past two years, with some sharing their address with the perpetrator, is extremely dangerous. For victims of domestic abuse, a data breach can be a matter of life or death.”

Kelly Andrews, the chief executive of Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid, said: “In the most serious cases lives are at risk.

“We encourage organisations to read the guidance and ensure staff are trained in handling confidential and sensitive data to better protect victims and prevent further harm.”

The ICO revised its approach to public sector enforcement last year. It aims to reduce the impact of fines on the public by working more closely with the public sector, encouraging compliance with data protection law to prevent harms before they happen.

The reprimands give instructions to the organisations on how to improve their data protection practices.

PSNI data breach: Two men arrested under Terrorism Act in investigation over ‘linked criminality’ | UK News

Two men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act by officers investigating the breach of data from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The suspects are aged 21 and 22 and were held following a “search in the Portadown area on Saturday”, the PSNI said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It added: “The arrests are part of our investigation into criminality linked to the freedom of information data breach.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Grocery price inflation falls for fifth month in a row, retail data suggests | Business News

Grocery price inflation has eased for the fifth month in a row – as the cost of some staples come down.

Closely watched data from Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks supermarket sales and bills, found that while the expense of a food shop is still higher than last year, the pace of price rises has been slowing down this summer.

Its researchers reported a grocery price inflation rate of 12.7% in the four weeks to 6 August – a 2.2 percentage point drop from the month before.

Kantar said a fall in the cost of some staples was a factor. It said shoppers paid £1.50 for four pints of milk last month, down from £1.69 in March.

The average cost of a litre of sunflower oil is now said to be £2.19 – 22 pence less than in the spring.

Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt, said: “The latest slowdown in price rises is the second sharpest monthly fall since we started monitoring grocery inflation in this way back in 2008.

“Prices are still up year on year across every supermarket shelf, but consumers will have been relieved to see the cost of some staple goods starting to edge down compared with earlier in 2023.”

He said the average increase in households’ weekly grocery shop is £5.13, when compared with last year.

Researchers also found that the recent wet weather across much of the UK had an impact on supermarkets’ figures in July.

Sales of ice cream and Halloumi were down around 30% – while purchases of soft drinks fell by nearly a fifth.

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However sales of soup – traditionally seen as a winter warmer product – were up 16% year-on-year.

Kantar said the gloomy weather was also likely to have contributed to a drop in footfall, which was down for the first time in 18 months as people made 320,000 fewer trips to supermarkets compared to a year ago.

Overall take-home grocery sales rose by 6.5% in the four weeks to 6 August, down from 10.4% in the previous period.

But researchers said other supermarkets may soon benefit from the collapse of Wilko, which went into administration last week.

The chain’s 400 stores remain open – for now – but its long-term future is in doubt.

“Wilko is a popular choice for many shoppers with 7.6 million households visiting its stores to buy groceries in the last year,” said Mr McKevitt.

He added: “Wilko’s rivals will be keeping a close eye on its fortunes in the coming days and weeks as they look to draw some of its shoppers through their doors.”

Kantar’s research comes ahead of new official inflation figures, which are due to be released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday morning.

Last month it reported a bigger-than-expected drop in the rate to 7.9% in the year up to June.

The Bank of England then decided to raise interest rates for the 14th time in a row to 5.25% as part of attempts to bring inflation back down to its target of 2%.

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Economy more ‘resilient’ than expected

Inflation is expected to fall again this week, although experts believe it is unlikely the Bank will achieve its target this year.

The Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, also said last week that food prices may never fall back to the level they were before the war in Ukraine began.

Separate figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) earlier this month also suggested food price inflation has been falling in recent months, with the cost of some staples coming down.

But it warned the trend may not continue smoothly this year because there were “dark clouds on the horizon”.

The BRC said this included the potential impact on prices of Russia’s decision to pull out of a deal to allow the safe export of grain from Ukraine, as well as a ban by the Indian government on the export of some types of rice.

Cost of living: Grocery inflation hits new record high of 17.1%, data shows | Business News

UK grocery inflation continued to climb during February to reach a new record high of 17.1%, according to closely-watched industry data.

Kantar Worldpanel reported that the increase over the past 12 months meant that families faced a potential £811 annual rise in the cost of their regular shopping basket.

It had been hoped that a decline in the pace of grocery prices during December would mark a turning point in that element of the cost of living crisis.

But Kantar later revealed that temporary Christmas discounting had been largely responsible, as the big four chains fight to maintain market share amid the challenge posed by discounters and other cheaper rivals.

Its latest report showed that while all of the major stores, with the exception of Morrisons, had expanded sales during the 12 weeks to 19 February, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland had grown their market shares at their expense.

The lure of cheaper own-label groceries saw Aldi achieve a record market share of 9.4% over the period, Kantar said.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have expanded their own value offerings given the shift in consumer behaviour driven by the wider cost of living crisis.

Food, along with the cost of many other everyday products, has become more expensive largely due to the surge in energy prices seen since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The war can also be blamed for many commodity costs, such as wheat, rising markedly.

While the main rate of inflation has eased from its 11.1% peak seen in October last year, food and other grocery costs have been a major factor behind the CPI measure remaining stubbornly above 10%.

Unilever, which is behind a host of everyday products including Marmite and Magnum ice creams, has been among manufacturers warning that price increases are yet to end.

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Unilever boss warns of more price hikes to come

Producers – just one element of a complicated supply chain – are still grappling rising energy bills and other costs.

It also remains to be seen whether the shortage of salad items, which has forced most supermarkets to limit sales, will become a significant inflationary headwind ahead.

Kantar said that the issue came outside of its reporting window but that it expected to reveal a hit when its next report is published.

Its head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt, said: “Shoppers have been facing sustained price rises for some time now and this February marks a full year since monthly grocery inflation climbed above 4%.

“This is having a big impact on people’s lives.

“Our latest research shows that grocery price inflation is the second most important financial issue for the public behind energy costs, with two-thirds of people concerned by food and drink prices, above public sector strikes and climate change.

“One quarter say they’re struggling financially, versus one in five this time last year.

“The numbers speak for themselves.”

UK to stop publishing COVID modelling data after nearly three years | UK News

After almost three years, the UK Health Security Agency will stop publishing COVID modelling data next month.

The increasingly sporadic updates on the virus’s R number will cease from 6 January, with it deemed “no longer necessary” thanks to vaccines and therapeutics.

COVID’s reproductive rate, which referred to the number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to, debuted back in May 2020 and was published weekly during the peak of the pandemic.

Along with the daily case and death numbers, it helped give the public an idea of how prevalent the virus was.

Since April 2021, the R number only referred to England rather than the UK as a whole – and since April 2022, it has been updated fortnightly instead of every week.

Dr Nick Watkins, chairman of the health agency’s epidemiology modelling review group, said COVID would still be monitored but only similarly to common illnesses like flu.

Modelling data may be reintroduced if the situation calls for it, such as if a new variant of concern is identified.

COVID data will still be available from the Office for National Statistics.

Hospital flu cases up 10 times on last year amid ‘tripledemic’ warning, NHS England data shows | UK News

Ten times more people are in hospital with flu than this time last year, latest figures show.

There were an average of 344 patients a day with flu in hospital last week, compared with the 31 seen at the beginning of December last year, according to data released by NHS England.

It comes amid pressures on staffing too, with new figures showing nearly 360,000 NHS staff were absent from work last week through illness or self-isolating due to COVID.

Around 19 in 20 general and acute beds were taken up – 80% for adult critical care, NHS England’s first weekly winter update also showed.

More than 13,000 (13,179) beds a day were taken up last week by patients who no longer needed one – this is up a quarter compared to the first week of December last year (10,510).

It follows a warning from NHS leaders that it is facing the threat of a “tripledemic” of COVID, flu and record demand on urgent and emergency services.

Sky News has been told there are concerns over the number of paediatric ICU beds available in some parts of the country.

The latest data shows last Thursday there were as few as 33 spare beds available in England – that’s lower than at any point last winter.

While the exact figures might change slightly over the next two weeks, NHS England has confirmed there is higher PICU (paediatric intensive care unit) occupancy this month compared with previous years.

Read more:
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Flu season is here – and hitting the youngest and elderly hardest

Flu season is here and the warning about crippling winter pressure on the NHS is starting to come true.

We monitor what happens with flu in the southern hemisphere to try and predict what impact the virus will have on us when winter comes. It hit Australia hard and early and that could be repeated here in the next few months.

Already hundreds of NHS beds in England were taken up by patients with flu every day over the last week, according to the latest data. An average of 344 patients a day with flu were in hospital last week. That’s more than ten times the number seen at the beginning of December last year.

Flu hits the youngest and elderly hardest. It is especially dangerous for children with underlying health conditions. Children’s doctors say “paediatric winter” has started.

November is when RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) cases spike. It is a common winter virus but social distancing during the pandemic means it has not circulated widely over the past two years. That also means young children have not been exposed to these winter respiratory viruses before.

As RSV cases start to decline towards the end of November flu cases start to rise.

Paediatricians are really worried about a shortage of intensive care beds for very sick children.

A senior consultant told me: “There have been hardly any PICU (paediatric intensive care unit) beds in the south of the UK for the last few days and children are waiting sometimes more than 24 hours in the EDs?

“The situation for children is awful but no one seems to be mentioning it. Whereas for adults it is always made clear how awful it is. It is probably as bad if not worse for children.”

The Paediatric Critical Care Society told Sky News: “Many PICUs are at, or over, their staffed bed capacity. This situation is likely to continue, or even worsen, over the coming months.”

They said staff shortages, and an increasing number of complex patients are impacting capacity.

Some hospitals are operating on a one in one out policy with patients being moved to other trusts or being treated in the community to help alleviate the pressure, however, it said all children who need to be treated in hospital are receiving the appropriate treatment.

Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told Sky News “We are concerned to hear reports of PICU bed shortages in parts of the country. We know paediatric teams are exceptionally busy this winter as a result of ever rising demand and staffing issues.”

Nurses across the UK have voted to strike in the first ever national action over a pay dispute
Image:
File pic

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said the NHS is likely to experience its “most challenging winter ever” this year, adding the threat of a “tripledemic” is very real.

“It has never been more important to get protected against the viruses ahead of winter,” he said.

NHS England launched its annual 111 campaign today – urging people to use its online service to reduce “record” demand on accident and emergency (A&E) departments.

People should still call 999 and go to A&E when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk, it said.

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Lowest-cost groceries have become 17% more expensive in the past year, ONS data finds | Business News

The price of low cost everyday grocery items has increased 17% in the 12 months to September, data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has shown, more than the average rate of food and drink inflation.

The figures, based on web-scraped supermarket data for 30 everyday grocery items, showed the cost of items had already increased 7% in the year up to April.

Some items increased by more than the 17% yearly rate. Vegetable oil has increased 65% in price, pasta 60% and tea 46%.

The increase in low-cost food is greater than the overall rate of inflation for food and drink that was released by the ONS last week. That rate stood at 14.5%.

Some items did reduce in price.

The largest price decrease recorded was fruit orange juice with which fell 9%. Beef mince also fell 7% in price.

While announcing the data the ONS cautioned that it had been produced using new, innovative methods and as a result was less robust than official statistics.

For half of the 30 sampled items monitored, the average lowest price, across the retailers, increased at a faster rate than the latest available official consumer price inflation measure for food and non-alcoholic beverages, the ONS said.

But it added that caution should be taken when comparing with the official measure of food and drink inflation as it contains many more than the 30 items used in this analysis and different methodology.

For example, items may not always be available instore or online, which is reflected in the data collected, so the analysis can be sensitive to product availability and the specific products that are being substituted.

Huge increase in raw sewage released into UK waterways and sea, data reveals | Climate News

Water companies have pumped raw sewage into Britain’s seas and rivers for more than nine million hours since 2016, new data suggests.

The figure is an increase of 2,553% over five years, according to the Labour Party’s analysis of Environment Agency (EA) data, released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Between 2016 and 2021 water companies discharged sewage into waterways and the sea for a total of 9,427,355 hours, the equivalent of 1,076 years.

It comes as the EA issued warnings to holidaymakers to avoid dozens of beaches across England and Wales this week.

Untreated sewage water was spotted pouring into the sea near Bexhill, East Sussex on Wednesday.

On Saturday, the red flags were removed, meaning the water was officially deemed safe to bathe in.

The beach, however, was near-deserted.

Bexhill-on-sea resident Rachel Streeter
Image:
Bexhill-on-Sea resident Rachel Streeter

‘Filthy, murky, stinks’

Residents of Bexhill told Sky News they find what they describe as “regular sewage dumps” along the coast “devastating”.

Rachel Streeter moved to Bexhill-on-Sea in 2007 to enjoy wild swimming and the beach.

She described seeing faeces floating in the water on swims.

“It’s filthy, murky, and it stinks. Flies actually fly above the surface of the water as well as the sewage. It’s quite obvious,” she said.

Rachel says her friends and family have all become sick after swimming.

Her 79-year-old mother went for a swim last week and fell ill with “a severe bacterial infection”.

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Businesses say they are being affected by it too.

Cliff Meadon, who runs canoeing and kayaking business Epic Life, and says he has lost “thousands” over the last two years due to sewage dumps.

“We’ve had to cancel sessions. We’ve been on the water with groups when we’ve had to come in as the sewage comes out. We’ve seen it,” he said.

In Hastings people were advised not to swim due to a pollution risk this week.

Beaches in Normans Bay as well as Bexhill were closed but have now reopened.

Bexhill-on-sea

‘Heavily diluted’

The sewage dumps were blamed on heavy rainfall.

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: “This week’s heavy rain has fallen on to dry ground that can’t absorb surface run-off, meaning that more rain than usual has overwhelmed our network.

“This led to some overflows – which are used to protect homes, schools, businesses and hospitals from flooding – spilling excess water into the sea.

“These discharges are heavily diluted.

“We are dedicated to significantly reducing storm overflows and are running innovative pilot schemes across the region to reduce the amount of rainfall entering our combined sewers by 2030.”

The Environment Agency declined to comment.

Southern Water was fined £90 million last year for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to more than 6,000 unpermitted sewage discharges.

The discharges were carried out between 2010 and 2015.

Southern argued the sewage dumping had not been deliberate, and after the case said the company was committed to transformation, transparency and cultural change.