The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has announced the appointment of Peter Cheese as its new Chief Executive.

Mr Cheese has global business experience and expertise in the field of HR having had a long career with Accenture, where he was global managing partner, responsible for the talent and organisation performance consulting practice.

An expert in talent, organisational performance and HR strategy and transformation, since leaving Accenture in 2009 Mr Cheese has pursued a portfolio of board level business interests, academic work, public policy engagement, consulting and platform speaking work.

The minister for employment last week welcomed further signs of improvement to the labour market.

New figures published by the Office for National Statistics show another rise in employment, up 105,000 to 29.23 million (ILO measure). Employment has now been rising since last autumn. This is complemented by another fall in unemployment, down by 45,000 on the quarter, to 2.63 million.

The latest Insight Paper from property analytics business Hometrack takes an in-depth look at the new build housing market. Its analysis compares the new build landscape of 2006/7 – at its peak – with that of today and looks at the challenges faced by developers in adding to supply.

By breaking down private housing starts by type and size, the findings show how developers have adapted - both by product mix and geography - to meet demand from buyers with existing equity.

HSBC Expat today announces the official launch of its annual Expat Explorer Survey. With a new look and feel for 2012, this year’s Expat Explorer survey marks the fifth year of the global survey for expats.

2011 saw nearly 3,400 expats participate from over 100 countries across the globe to have their say about their experiences working and living overseas. This year, HSBC Expat is calling for expats everywhere to take part in the survey to ensure that their current country of residence features in the league tables published on the interactive online tool.

Italian University Politecnico di Milano, ranked as one of the world’s top 50 higher education establishments, announced that starting from 2014, most of its courses will be taught in English.

This is an historical decision: for the first time, one of Italy’s leading public universities has decided to adopt English as the main language.

Twitter now has 10 million active UK users, according to figures released this week by the microblogging network.

The figures also show that Twitter has 140 million worldwide users, with the UK as the fourth biggest user after the US, Japan and Brazil and the UK.

As the Eurozone prepares for the possibility of a Greek exit from the common currency, Germany, the continent’s strongest economy, has become the favourite destination for those Europeans who are feeling the pinch of the sovereign debt crisis.

On Tuesday May 15, Greek parties have failed to agree on the formation of a coalition government that would ensure compliance with the EU and IMF bailout agreement, which, until now has been the only factor keeping the country within the Eurozone.

Global serviced apartment provider SACO has opened a new collection of apartments in London, increasing the number of its own-operated London locations to fourteen.

Red Lion Court just off of Fleet Street is the company’s second serviced apartment location in the area, which provides an ideal city-break base for business travellers.

Four in 10 house hunters would be willing to pay more for a home if someone trustworthy and quiet was living next door, according to a survey by FindaProperty.com.

The average premium we would be prepared to pay is 7% - £15,321 on a typical home – but one in 30 of us would pay an extra 20% or nearly £44,000.

Property prices have increased 105 fold during the Queen’s 60-year reign and 16 times since the Silver Jubilee in 1977, according to new research from estate and letting agent Hamptons International.

At a time when the nation is gearing up for a weekend of street parties and celebration, the Hamptons International research analysed the cost of a home in 1952, 1977 and 2012.