PCG Newsletter 05/06 - 16 February 2006

IN THIS ISSUE

• PCG hosts Genesis meeting at House of Commons

• Freelancer of the Year Awards

• IR35 online questionnaire

• New Affiliate members

• Ashridge VLRC

• Regional meetings

• Contract opportunities for members

• Advertisements 

PCG hosts Genesis meeting at House of Commons

The Genesis Initiative's first event of 2006 was hosted by PCG at the House of Commons last week. The breakfast meeting was attended by 35 members and guests, including several parliamentarians from both Houses.

Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise, Mark Prisk MP, led a round-table discussion in which he commented upon the relationship between business and government. Read more ...

Freelancer of the Year Awards

The winners of Xchangeteam’s Freelancer of the Year Awards 2005 have been announced at a ceremony in London. As one of the three judges, PCG chairman Simon Juden joined Xchangeteam chief executive Emma Brierley and Paratus Communications director Dominic Shales in congratulating the winners. Read more ...                

IR35 online questionnaire

If you are unsure the about how good your contracts are in relation to IR35, you can complete PCG's new online questionnaire to assess the likelihood of your contract being IR35 "caught".

New Affiliate members

PCG is pleased to welcome new Affiliate members:

·     D J Colom & Co is a specialist firm of chartered accountants based in North Finchley, London, offering services to computer consultants and "one-man" service companies.

·     Networks Inc is based in Milton Keynes and provides specialist training for Cisco Certified Network Engineer (CCNA) qualifications.

Ashridge VLRC

One of the additional benefits to which PCGPlus members are entitled is access to the Ashridge Virtual Learning Resource Centre (VLRC). Ashridge is a leading international business school, and its VLRC offers access via the web to a wealth of materials, including 54 of Ashridge's highly regarded learning guides, which cover a broad range of business and management competencies. Read more ...

·     Mining the Ashridge jewels

Regional meetings

Regional meetings, traditionally known on the forums as "RLMs", encourage members to socialise, network and discuss PCG issues. These meetings are open to all members, and in many cases non-members are welcome to come along too.

If you would like to attend or propose regional meetings, please post to the relevant thread on the RLM forum, or email the local co-ordinator.

·     Sheffield - Tuesday 21 February 2006 19.30
"Freelancing unplugged" - a simple networking/social event at Bar Matrix, Charter Square, Sheffield. No need to pre-register.

·     Blackburn - Thursday 23 February 2006 20.00
First meeting of the Greater Manchester and Lancashire regional group. The Postal Order, 15 Darwen Street, Blackburn BB2 2BY. Email gml-region@pcg.org.uk
Read about all eight meetings planned from 23 February to 13 April.

·     Farnborough - Wednesday 1 March 2006 19.30
Prince of Wales, Farnborough. Email farnborough@pcg.org.uk

Slough - Wednesday 1 March 2006 18.30
Regional networking event "Meet PCG" with speakers Simon Juden, PCG chairman, and Julian Gilbert from Wealth Matters. A buffet will be served after the formal agenda. Non-members welcome.

Contract opportunities for members

For information about the latest job, project, contract and work opportunities, see PCG's Commercial and Members' Commercial forums. The Commercial forum may be accessed by Affiliate members, and PCG welcomes postings by agencies. If you are willing to have your commercial post published in the fortnightly newsletter, please include the words "newsletter OK". Current opportunities include:

MS Visual Studio developer

Rockwell Control Logix PLC programmer - Reading area

Telecoms billing administrator - City

·     Market data administrator - City

·     C#/SQL/Office developer - home-based for Hertfordshire client

·     C#, ASP.Net, MS Sql Server developer - home-based for US end-client

·     ASP/SQL/VB6 developer - Hertfordshire

·     Performance management consultant - Scotland

·     C++ developer - Galway, Eire

·     Sybase SQL developer - Frankfurt

·     ESRI Arc GIS trainer - South Coast

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UB7 0JE

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