7304posts
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Accessibility starts with an organisation’s culture
By Craig Abbott, head of accessibility, DWP Digital Accessibility has traditionally been seen as a technical problem to fix. It was usually just a skillset attached to other roles, such as Frontend Developer or Test Engineer. But things have changed. …
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Using legal software to submit digital applications
HM Land Registry’s work to become digital by default is not just about our services on the portal. Here we cover how legal software can help you submit digital applications.
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Watch: Farming in protected landscapes in the Lake District
In the second of our series of films from the Lake District, local farm facilitator Danny Teasdale took us to meet Jasmine Holliday. Jasmine is a Farming Officer in the Lake District National Park and she works on the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. In this video, Jasmine talks about the ambitions of the programme, which type of projects can get funding, and what works best in the Lake District National Park.
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The “battery-powered” partnerships of Nature recovery
Blog by Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England I’m writing this blog from COP 15 in Montreal where nations of the world have come together to discuss one of the most urgent issues of our age: how do we …
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Why Sir Patrick Vallance considers APHA an important asset to the UK
Hear from Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, as he recently joined APHA’s Chief Executive Officer, the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer and Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser at APHA’s headquarters at Weybridge to learn more about the importance of APHA’s scientific expertise and redevelopment, as the UK government’s primary capability for animal health science.
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Living with a Food Hypersensitivity in the UK - the costs and the impact on a person’s quality of life
Nicholas Daniel discusses findings from two research reports commissioned by the FSA which help understand the economic and societal costs of living with a Food Hypersensitivity.
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Hinkley Point C (HPC) Site Visit
Samina Khan, Deputy Director for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Department for International Trade (DIT) and Project Delivery Advisor, Kate Hall for the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), share their …
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Developing talent through apprenticeships
My name is Ian Tidmarsh and I'm Lead Business Analyst for Justice Digital - HMPPS. Business Analysts work in multi-disciplinary teams, alongside other digital professionals. We solve problems. We identify, analyse and look to understand different aspects of an organisation: …
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Restoring sealife in the Solent – a $5 million 5-year project
To mark COP15, Louise MacCallum, Solent Project Manager at Blue Marine Foundation, explains how the exciting multi-million-dollar ‘Solent Seascape Project’ will be the first of its kind in the UK to restore a seascape scale marine habitat (credit: Louise MacCallum). …
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Trout, tiles and tariffs: trade remedies matter to consumers too
As economic uncertainty rises, UK households grapple with a rising cost of living, whilst the consumer confidence index has fallen to record lows (Organisation for Economics Cooperation and Development, 2022). We’ve previously looked at the link between the UK’s economic …
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Hoping for a Montreal Moment at COP15
By Dr. Peter Brotherton, Director of Science, Natural England There can sometimes seem to be a lot of COPs. Periodic ‘Conferences of the Parties’ (COPs) are held for all the United Nation environmental conventions. In the UK, greatest prominence is …
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Elective recovery - media fact sheet
This fact sheet sets out the actions the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are taking to bring down waiting lists for non-urgent care including planned operations. Q: What is being done to tackle the Covid …
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The Commission for Countering Extremism hosts conference focused on tackling extremism in our communities
Last week, the Commission for Countering Extremism hosted its second conference of the year, convening experts from across academia, government and law enforcement. The subject under discussion was how best to tackle extremism in our communities. Speeches for the event …
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How we used co-design to create vet visits
Farmers, vets, industry representatives, and colleagues in government are shaping the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway together. The first step of the pathway is the Annual Health and Welfare Review. In this post, we share how we used co-design to create the yearly vet visits.
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Overcoming different ways of working to improve a public service
People who apply for teaching training have found that getting 2 references before submitting an application, can be a real barrier. Here, Frankie Roberto and Myles Jarvis go into more detail about how data, research and working more closely with policy colleagues has brought about a significant change.
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Secondment opportunities for competition and consumer lawyers
We are launching a new round of secondment opportunities for lawyers, to start on 20 March 2023.
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How to renew your driving licence online
DVLA’s Senior Customer Product & Service Manager, Lee Manchipp outlines the benefits and explains how easy it is to renew your driving licence online.
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A bold idea and a blank sheet of paper- Reflections of the Digital Innovation Campaign
The bold idea had been set out by Gina Gill, the MoJ’s Chief Digital and Information Officer - a Digital Innovation day… which became a week…which became a month, created for all staff across the MoJ to get involved in. …
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The Subsidy Advice Unit – ready for business
The Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) is preparing for launch in the New Year! Read Rachel’s blog to find out more about the SAU team and the unit’s role in the new UK subsidy control regime.
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Funding available for robotics and automation in farming
From 9 January 2023, farmers, growers and agritech businesses in England will be able to apply for funding to develop innovative ideas in the areas of robotics and automation. In this post, I’ll give an overview of the competition, dates for your diary and links for you to find out more.
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GAD engages at GIRO
GAD actuary Tejas Dholakia shares his experiences of participating in GIRO - a major actuarial conference on general insurance.
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The Paludiculture Exploration Fund invites you to explore the future of wet farming on peat soils
By Jim Milner - PEF Project Manager, Natural England and Jordan Champ - Senior Policy Advisor, Lowland Peat, Defra In our first blog post in September, we introduced paludiculture, a system of farming on rewetted peat soils. Paludiculture offers an …
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UK NSC public engagement on genome sequencing wins prestigious award
A public dialogue on the implications of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for newborn screening, commissioned by the UK NSC, has won the 2022 Market Research Society (MRS) award for public policy/social research.
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Using collective intelligence in government: a view from the Policy Profession Unit
We recently wrote about how Collective Intelligence tools can be applied to complex policy areas. This blog is the first in a series of guest posts from policy teams sharing their experiences of working with our Collective Intelligence Lab. We …
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Companies House reform: identity verification
At Companies House, we will be implementing a new identity verification process to help deter those wishing to start companies for illegal purposes. Find out how anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the UK will need to verify their identity to prove that they are who they claim to be.
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Designing services for the family court
Senior service designer, Leanne, explains what it’s like designing services within the family jurisdiction. This is the third in a series of blog posts from our User Experience and Insight team on how we make sure we design and deliver our digital services with the user at the forefront.
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Our apprenticeship journey so far
Apprenticeships are a great way to nurture talent and shape careers. We sat down with some of our latest recruits to find out more.
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Data Challenge 2023: the semi-finals
The latest CDDO blog covers the infamous Civil Service Data Challenge, which is open to all Civil Servants regardless of department, role or grade, seeking ideas on how government can better improve its use of data, with a prize of 50,000 and development support for the winning submission on offer.
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Disability History Month - Question and Answer with artist Christopher Samuel
Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics, often echoing facets of his own lived experience. Christopher’s works can be found in the Government Art Collection. The team from the Collection sat down …
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Flood risk management plans published
(Photo credit: Cumbria - Johnny Kidd, West Cumbria Rivers Trust) Over the last 3 years we have worked in partnership with lead local flood authorities and other partners to develop Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs). Today we have published …
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Creating new wetland habitats on the River Thame, Buckinghamshire
As we mark Biodiversity COP15, Hilary Phillips, Senior Project Officer for the River Thame Conservation Trust, explains how partnership working has transformed 32 hectares of floodplain grassland across two sites in Buckinghamshire into complex wetland habitats. At Eythrope on the …
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Making the GOV.UK Frontend typography scale more accessible
The GOV.UK Design System team plans to update the typography scale in the Design System making it better for users and service teams.
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Guardian coverage of the Natural Flood Management Programme report
Today we are looking at coverage in the Guardian of the new Environment Agency report which evaluates the impact of our national Natural Flood Management Programme.
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New career: how you can boost your skills and pay
Whether you are looking for a better job or wanting to advance in your current profession, a Skills Bootcamp can be a great way to boost your prospects. Skills Bootcamps are free and designed in partnership with local employers to …
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How we’re levelling up the accessibility of our digital services
Raising the baseline standard of accessibility of digital services across the board is a difficult job for a government department and for public bodies on the whole. Read on and find out what we are trying doing in this space.
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Hundreds of prison leavers to be offered new technologies as part of the Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge
Through the Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge, we invited small businesses to develop digital technologies that could help offenders steer clear of crime after leaving prison. Here's a glimpse at two of the pilots that launched last month.
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Some changes to the public sector digital accessibility regulations
The public sector digital accessibility regulations have changed. Find out more about what’s next for digital accessibility.
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Resetting our rivers – how taking them back to ‘stage zero’ could help nurture nature
Matt Parr works in Lincolnshire’s Fisheries, Biodiversity and Geomorphology team and has been with the Environment Agency for 10 years. Here, he explains how he’s working to restore the glory of local rivers by resetting them to their natural state, …
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Helping unpaid carers get vaccinated helps us all
With the winter upon us, it’s more important than ever to protect ourselves and those we care for against COVID-19 and flu and get vaccinated. But how do we increase take-up among unpaid carers, a critical and highly valued group of people? Emily Holzhausen OBE, Carers UK, considers what more we can all do.
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Veterans get say in first official UK survey
The very first UK-wide official survey for veterans and their families is now under way. For another six weeks, veterans across the country can have their say and help to shape the future of veteran services. Funded and commissioned by …