European Fast Stream

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Salary£24,501-£27,000Additional salary info£25-27k starting salary. Pension scheme and flexible working (plus childcare, crèche and sports facilities, depending on your department) ContractPermanentWorking hoursFull-timeClosing date31/10/2013 LocationGreater LondonFull location detailsLondon or possibly one of the devolved administrations This programme, lasting up to four years, offers you EU-related postings within the UK Civil Service and the chance of a five-month secondment to the European Commission in Brussels – all while enjoying continuous language training and an intensive induction course on the EU.

Nearly all UK government departments have a significant amount of EU business, so over the course of the programme you could be working on any one of a vast range of issues, from border control in the Home Office to sustainable fisheries in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The ultimate goal is for you either to specialise in EU issues in the UK Civil Service or for you to have a permanent career in the EU institutions. The key EU institutions are:

The European Commission, which proposes new legislation and supervises its legislationThe Council of Ministers, which decides on European initiatives and which comprises government ministers from each member stateThe European Parliament, which plays a key role in scrutinizing European legislation, and whose directly elected members represent all the citizens of the EU

Other EU institutions you could potentially work in include the External Action Service, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, and the European Central Bank.

The Fast Stream is the Civil Service’s graduate development programme. It is ranked among the top five Times Top 100 Graduate Employers – and with good reason. Preparing you for life as a senior leader in the Civil Service, the Fast Stream allows you to be part of solving the big issues and to have a real impact on the way the country is run.

During your time on the Fast Stream, you will move between contrasting roles and will typically gain some exposure to policy work as well as well as operational delivery. There are opportunities to work across the full range of government responsibilities, including education, health, the environment, the economy, transport, welfare, defence, justice, industry, and much more.

Whether you’re improving people’s employment prospects, widening access to public services, defending the country against natural disasters, or even shaping the future of the Civil Service itself, as a Fast Streamer you will always be taking the lead.

To become a European Fast Streamer, you’ll need a keen interest in the EU, and a desire to be involved in it and contribute personally to its success. You should have at least an A-C in either French or German at A-level (although we can accept people who speak French or German but do not have any qualifications). Your degree can be in any discipline provided its a minimum of 2:2.

Any

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European Finance Programme

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Bigger and healthier: European men grow 11cm in a century

Workers cross London Bridge, with Tower Bridge seen behind, during the morning rush hour in London September 30, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Paul Hackett

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Sun Sep 1, 2013 7:22pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The average height of European men grew by a surprising 11 centimeters from the early 1870s to 1980, reflecting significant improvements in health across the region, according to new research published on Monday.

Contrary to expectations, the study also found that average height accelerated in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression, when poverty, food rationing and hardship of war might have been expected to limit people's growth.

The swift advance may have been due to people deciding to have fewer children in this period, the researchers said, and smaller family size has previously been found to be linked to increasing average height.

"Increases in human stature are a key indicator of improvements in the average health of populations," said Timothy Hatton, a professor economics at Britain's University of Essex who led the study.

He said the evidence - which shows the average height of a European male growing from 167 cm to 178 cm in a little over a 100 years - suggests an environment of improving health and decreasing disease "is the single most important factor driving the increase in height".

The study, published online in the journal Oxford Economic Papers, analyzed data on average men's height at around the age of 21 from the 1870s up to around 1980 in 15 European countries.

The study only looked at men, the researchers said, because extensive historical data on women's heights is hard to come by.

For the most recent decades, the data on men were mainly taken from height-by-age surveys, while for the earlier years the analysis used data for the heights of military conscripts and recruits.

On average, men's height had grown by 11 centimeters (cm) in just over a century, the researchers found, but there were differences from country to country.

In Spain, for example, average male height rose by around 12 cm from just under 163 cm in 1871-1875 to just under 175 cm in 1971-5, while in Sweden, men's average height increased by 10 cm from just over 170 cm to almost 180 cm in the same period.

The researchers found that in many European countries - including Britain and Ireland, the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Germany - there was a "distinct quickening" in the pace of advance in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression.

"This is striking because the period largely predates the wide implementation of major breakthroughs in modern medicine and national health services," they wrote.

Hatton said one possible reason, alongside the decline in infant mortality, for the rapid growth of average male height in this period was that there was a strong downward trend in fertility at the time - and smaller family sizes have previously been found to be linked to increasing height.

Other height-boosting factors included higher per capita incomes, more sanitary housing and living conditions, better education about health and nutrition and better social services and health systems.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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