6994posts
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How the Holiday Activity and Food Programme is helping our communities
Next week marks the start of the 2021 winter Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) for children and young people across the country. We speak to Jamie Noble, Head of Community at Rotherham United Community Sports Trust, on the provision …
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Factsheet: Provisional Police Funding Settlement 2022/23
The Home Office has published the provisional police funding settlement for 2022/23.
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Tools for climate policy: 1) co-design in parallel to COP26
We are sharing a short blog series on different methodologies that Policy Lab has experimented with in the context of action to address climate change. This, the first blog, describes a policy co-design process we ran last month at the Design Council’s Design for Planet conference coinciding with COP26.
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The Met Office’s Weather Forecasting Expertise Saves Christmas
Every year the Met Office provides a Santa Tracker to help people know where Santa is and help Santa get all his deliveries done on time. This is an innovative use of Met Office weather data that helps with Santa’s …
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APHA at the heart of the biggest ever outbreak of bird flu in GB
The bird ‘flu risk to the UK has resulted in APHA confirming a record high number of cases this winter season. We have a major emergency impacting all corners of the UK: learn how we have ramped up to meet the demand and support swift control plus what you can do to help slow the spread of this disease.
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Meet one of our Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot applicants
Farmers like Charlie are joining the pilot to help us make sure the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme works in practice.
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A heartfelt thank you
"The words ‘thank you’ do not seem enough to express my gratitude for the incredible work you have all done to keep residents, colleagues and communities safe, both as individuals and teams, throughout 2021. They are, however, deeply heartfelt" says Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, Deborah Sturdy in this Christmas message to the care workforce.
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AS and A level results in the autumn 2021 series
Today (16 December 2021) is results day for the autumn 2021 series for AS and A levels in England (GCSE results days are in January and February). We recognise the ongoing disruption that students continue to face, and pay tribute …
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What you need to know about daily testing for COVID-19 contacts
We have said that being in school and early years settings is vital for protecting young people’s education. We have set out the ways we are protecting education and regular testing is a key mitigation to ensure children do not …
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First new and improved maintenance contract comes into force
Today is a day many people in DIO have been working towards for several years. It is the start of a new contract to provide what are called ‘hard’ facilities management services to some of the MOD Built Estate. These …
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The Farming Investment Fund: more notice, more information and a new opportunity ahead
Last month, we launched the Farming Investment Fund. It included the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund and the Water Management theme of the Farming Transformation Fund. Since the launch, we’ve had regular conversations to hear your views our approach. We want to make improvements as we go. In this post, I’ll share what we heard and what we’re doing to make things better as a result.
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Future Farming Podcast: the Farming Investment Fund
In the latest episode of the Future Farming podcast, Programme Director Janet Hughes talks to the policy lead for the Farming Investment Fund, Sarah Evered. Listen to find out how the team designed the fund, what we've learned and what's coming next.
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Join the user research panel for GDS products and services
We’re launching a new way for civil and public servants to help us iterate the Government Digital Service’s digital products and services.
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Hen harrier monitoring, tagging and satellite tracking – latest data published
For many years Natural England has been involved with monitoring, tagging and satellite tracking hen harriers. To date, more than 60 individual birds have been tagged by Natural England, helping to determine their fortunes and inform our wider hen harrier …
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‘Business as usual’ for mandating Sustainable ICT
Chris Howes reflects on the work of Defra’s Digital, Data and Technology Services (DDTS) team, and the wider cross-government community, to make ICT/Digital sustainability part of business-as-usual activities.
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How we’re supporting students with their mental health
Going to university is a fun and exciting time for most students – but it comes with unique challenges and stresses and can be extremely difficult for many who choose to go.
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Five ways we’re protecting education
Being in school and early years settings is vital for protecting young people’s education and preventing pupils from falling behind. It’s also really important that children are able to be among their peers and teachers for both their mental health …
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How getting a booster will help protect education
The new Omicron COVID-19 variant is spreading fast. Anyone who is unvaccinated or who hasn’t had their booster is at even greater risk from COVID-19 and more serious illness.
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Fisheries catch limits agreed and licencing discussions conclude
UK secures £190m worth of fishing opportunities for fishing industry
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Improving the governance of taxonomies for UK government data
The Office for National Statistics’ Classifications Team in partnership with the Data Standards Authority (DSA) have created a Taxonomy Oversight Group (TOG), which is made up of a community of cross-government and public sector experts to address the lack of …
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A Christmas message from FSA Chair Susan Jebb and CEO Emily Miles
Warm greetings to you from us, the FSA Board, and all our colleagues at the FSA.
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The new round of Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund opens today
We’re pleased to announce that the latest round of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund has opened today for applications. The fund helps groups of farmers and landowners in England work together to deliver environmental benefits for their local area. By …
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How a passion for sustainability put me on the world stage
In the run up to COP26 GAD actuary Sara Ronayne was seconded to support HM Treasury's Private Finance Hub. In this blog she shares her experiences and reflections.
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Updating the GOV.UK homepage
We’ve made design changes to the GOV.UK homepage to improve its accessibility and make it a better user experience for the millions of people that visit it every week.
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Not so equal: Is excluding au pairs from the minimum wage still the right thing to do?
This year, the Low Pay Commission was asked to investigate the use of the ‘domestic worker exemption’. Our full response to this is included in our 2021 report, published last week. This exemption, which we have now recommended removing, was …
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Our plan to green up the government estate
What will your future office look like? Although we can’t promise virtual reality meeting rooms and holographic colleagues just yet, we’re making great strides in our quest for a Net Zero government estate. Like every major employer, with offices and …
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2021: A year in NHSX service assessments
In 2021, the NHSX assurance team ran 31 assessment activities. Read more about our assessments and improvements to our service assessment process.
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Podcast – Think digital, act human: the Get help with technology service
How did the critical Get help with technology service come about? Rachel Hope, Deputy director for Teacher services, and Shaf Gunton, Programme delivery manager, talk to Adaobi Ifeachor about the complexities and obstacles they faced and what's next for this essential service.
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What social care reform could and should mean for people with dementia
Social care is vital for people with dementia. Alzheimer’s Society has been calling for social care reform for a long time and welcomed the opportunity to participate in two South West roundtable events, arranged by the Department of Health and Social Care, to discuss what they and other care sector organisations want to see from this process.
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How schools are managing attendance effectively
Schools across the country have developed a range of approaches to support regular attendance amongst their pupils and drive down rates of persistent absence. In this blog post, schools who have had success in increasing attendance rates share what works for them.
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Introducing our new MyScience Videos
The Government Science & Engineering (GSE) Profession are proud to launch our new four-part video series entitled MyScience. The MyScience videos highlight the variety of science and engineering skills, the diverse roles in government, and the highlights of our members. We believe it is important to show the …
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Veterans get record £3.3m from charity
A charity has defied the Covid slump to award a record £3.3million in grants to British veterans in need, according to its latest annual figures. The Veterans’ Foundation (VF), a registered charity based in Edinburgh, helped more than 130 …
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Rescon 4.0: user research conference
The 4th Annual ResCon (user research conference) was held on 12 and 13 October this year. Over 100 professional user researchers came together virtually to hear from a number of external speakers. Making Reconnections This year’s theme for the …
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Global reflections on international inspection transformation: ICMRA remote inspections
A link to the newly published ICMRA paper, which provides a valuable insight into how global regulators have managed regulatory oversight, inspections and assessments during the pandemic to support both the COVID-19 response, and also ‘business as usual’ GMP and GCP inspections.
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Unlocking the value of location data
Location data is a fundamental part of our lives. So why do so many struggle to value it and what is the Geospatial Commission doing to resolve this challenge?
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Swans and flamingos
Climate change is at the fore of sustainable finance which can be thought of as the integration of environmental, social and governance factors into lending and investment. This blog investigates the challenges around these issues.
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Severn Trent Water fined £1.5m for sewage discharges
Today’s blog looks at coverage of the Environment Agency’s prosecution of Severn Trent Water for illegal sewage discharges
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How apprenticeships inspire great opportunities
The Civil Service recognises the value of apprenticeships to nurture talent and help new recruits get started. Below, three apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds tell how their apprenticeships in different industries opened new doors. Jack’s Story Jack Tennant from Knottingley, West …
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Fly-tipping annual statistics in England
Today we are looking at media coverage of Defra’s 2020/21 fly-tipping statistics.
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Modernising lasting powers of attorney consultation – what happens next?
The Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) consultation on modernising lasting powers of attorney closed on 13 October 2021, after being open for public response for 12 weeks. Over 300 responses were received through the online hub, direct via email and through …