6567posts
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The benefits of joining the Home Office Data Profession
What career and learning support do our Data Scientists enjoy at the Home Office? Sophie Stewart explains.
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Allonby Bay Coastal Connections Project: exploring and celebrating our coastal heritage
Our vision at Natural England, is of thriving nature for people and planet. Our aim is for everyone is able to enjoy nature’s benefits and act for the environment, wherever they live. We want to support people in recognising the …
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OFSI publishes details of frozen asset reporting for financial year 2022-23
On 14 December 2023, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published its Annual Review for the financial year 2022 to 2023 containing reporting on assets frozen under UK financial sanctions regulations. This blog explains more about the two separate reporting …
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Opportunity, diversity, and our Shadow Executive Board
At the conclusion of Disability History Month, Stephen Jenkins, Rich Stanley, and Laurie Doyle reflect on the value of a key staff forum which encourages inclusivity and diversity, and which has provided each of them with a vital learning and development opportunity.
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The Advanced British Standard: Everything you need to know
The Prime Minister has announced plans to develop a new qualification framework called the Advanced British Standard for 16 to 18-year-olds which will bring together the best of A levels and T levels into a single qualification framework. The Advanced …
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Meet the Modern Civil Service: Ravi Chand
Hello! Welcome to the second interview in the Meet the Modern Civil Service series. The aim of this series is to showcase the people in the civil service who are innovating change, whether that be through being a learning champion, …
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Safe, efficient, and trusted digital navigation for mariners
The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has recently begun working with international partners on a compliant digital solution for mariners requiring non-ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and information System) navigation.
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Introducing the Smaller Abattoir Fund
A sustainable network of smaller abattoirs is an important part of the food supply chain. They support food security and maintain a competitive route to the market for a wide range of meat products. In this post, we’ll share the details of a grant designed to support this part of the sector.
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Government ‘minded to’ escalate intervention at Nottingham City Council
Today the Minister for Local Government has announced that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up is ‘minded to’ escalate the current intervention at Nottingham City Council and appoint commissioners, due to serious concerns around the authority’s finances and governance. …
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Next round of Large R&D Partnerships competition on the way
On 15 January, we’ll open another round of the Large R&D Partnerships competition. Part of the Farming Innovation Programme, this competition offers a share of £7.8 million to farmers, growers and foresters in England to take forward ideas that improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and move the sector towards net zero. Together with our delivery partners Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), we published the competition guidance today.
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Working with HMRC to shut down illegal waste exports
There are many types of waste crimes committed by those who think there is a quick buck to be made from illegally handling waste. One of those crime types is the illegal export of waste from our shores to places …
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We Are Strategic Command with Brigadier Richard Carter
Brigadier Richard Carter talks about the indispensable role of Defence Digital in enabling communication and operations across Defence. Interviewer: How does Defence Digital support operations across Defence? Brigadier Carter: Without Defence Digital, communication across Defence, including emails and command and …
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Dartmoor – next steps from the Independent Review
By Dave Slater, Natural England Regional Director for the South West The Independent Review of Protected Site Management on Dartmoor has been published today and makes a number of recommendations on the future of Dartmoor. We welcome this review and …
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Final round of Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 to deliver more homes
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced today that councils across England will be able to bid for a share of the final round of the £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund 2. This latest round will …
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Coverage of Fisheries negotiations 2023
Annual fisheries negotiations took place between the UK, EU and Norway this autumn, where catch levels were agreed for over 80 important stocks including northern shelf cod and North Sea saithe.
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Supporting students to understand the justice system
Earlier this year, law students from the University of West London joined courts in our south east region to gain an insight into the court system across our different jurisdictions.
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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 16 September 2024. Since its launch in June 2018, over 50 secondees from over 20 law firms have taken part in the programme and we are …
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Improving Farm Productivity grants: get ready for Round 2
In a few weeks’ time, you will once again have the opportunity to apply for an Improving Farm Productivity grant. The grant pays for capital items including robotic, automatic and solar equipment that improve farm and horticulture productivity. To help you prepare, we’ve published guidance on GOV.UK. In this post, I’ll share an overview of the grant, the changes we've made following Round 1 and link to the guidance.
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Chief executive's stakeholder message - Supporting innovation
Since Brexit, the FSA has been responsible for making recommendations to ministers on the authorisation of new regulated food and feed products coming onto the UK market.
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Project Simplify: Keeping it simple
Project Simplify supports an Innovative Civil Service which is focused on rewarding and encouraging our staff to find innovative solutions to problems in order to deliver better outcomes for the public. Since the Machinery of Government change to create the …
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New area added to licensing scheme to protect great crested newts and promote sustainable development
Natural England has launched a new licensing scheme in Hertfordshire to help conserve local populations of great crested newts, while promoting sustainable development. Since Natural England launched District Level Licensing (DLL) in 2019, the scheme has expanded to cover 21 …
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Girdling at Bullens Wood – a management technique to thin trees
Hugh Dorrington has been involved in tree supply and woodland planting since 1980. In this blog, he discusses his experience with girdling at Bullens Wood.
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COP28: Government confirms Supermarket essentials will no longer be linked to illegal deforestation
Today we are looking at media coverage of the announcements the government made on Nature Day at COP28.
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Unlimited financial penalties for environmental offences will mean “polluters always pay.”
Companies who breach their environmental permits now face unlimited financial penalties following major changes to Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs).
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How we protect the UK from vector-borne diseases
In this blog post, we take a look at the current status of vector-borne diseases in the UK, as well as the vital work being carried out by our specialist entomology team to assess, understand and address the health threats that mosquitoes and ticks pose.
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How does climate change threaten our health? From flooding to wildfires
The Health Effects of Climate Change report summarises the latest science on health threats from climate change in the UK. Since the last report in 2012, both the evidence and the risks have greatly escalated. Read 11 key takeaways in our latest post.
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Apply now for grant to support private investment in nature
At the end of November, we shared details of a grant designed to help farmers attract private investment into nature. We said we’d blog again when it was time to apply and we’re pleased to say that from today, you can. This post includes a link for you to watch a recording of our webinar on the grant.
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Testing our approach to faster, sustainable services
HM Land Registry has been testing one approach to automation, involving firms giving assurance on the information in their applications. Roger Holdom discusses the key lessons from this pilot.
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30 by 30: a boost for nature recovery
Written by James Markwick Principal Adviser, Biodiversity Policy After a year of extreme weather events in which many climate records were broken, world leaders met in Dubai to discuss tackling climate change at COP28, with the hope of keeping alive …
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GMP & GDP Certificates: Validity Period Extended
Following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency declared by WHO in May 2023[1], on-site GMP and GDP inspections were restarted after being postponed or carried out remotely during the pandemic. A number of postponed inspections still need to …
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GSE Leadership Values Toolkit
The GSE Leadership Values Toolkit is designed to equip aspiring leaders in the fields of science and engineering with the essential knowledge, skills, and tools required to excel in leadership roles. Whether you are a seasoned professional seeking to enhance …
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Government takes a step forward for marine nature recovery
By Jonathan Burney, Director of Marine Strategy and Government Advice The Government have released their response to the public consultation on the principles of Marine Net Gain (MNG). This exciting, emerging area of marine policy offers opportunity to accelerate marine …
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Windrush Schemes Factsheet – October 2023
We are determined to put right the terrible injustices faced by some people from the Windrush generation and the wider Commonwealth, which happened under successive governments. The Windrush Scheme ensures members of the Windrush generation can get the documentation they need to …
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Support for rough sleepers in London
There has been coverage in local press on rough sleeping and homelessness in London, following the launch of the Mayor of London’s first rough sleeping charter yesterday. It is reported that the Mayor called rough sleeping a “national crisis” …
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Tech Ethics: Shaping service standards for the future
On 22 March 2023, the Future of Life Institute published a letter calling on AI labs to immediately pause training AI systems that were more powerful than GPT-4. To date, there have been 33,709 signatories. Why? Because of the widespread …
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Changing the GOV.UK proposition: supporting our strategy for growth
We've made new updates to the policy that defines what should and shouldn't go on GOV.UK. Here's what we're doing and why.
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Inflationary benefits, inflationary risks
2023 started with inflation at highs last seen in the early 1990s. While inflation has been falling it remains above the Bank of England’s target. In this blog we consider the drivers behind inflation, why those drivers may lead to more volatility than we experienced throughout the 2000s, and the risk posed by deflation.
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Meteor showers and winter stars: the night sky in December
This month brings the solstice on 21 December marking the start of winter, and one of the most prolific meteor showers in the calendar - the Geminids.
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The '1 Atlantic Square Model' to building an inclusive office community
A guest blog from the Glasgow Community Management team. Building and nurturing a thriving, inclusive community in offices, campuses and hubs across the UK is an essential part of attracting and retaining local talent, while creating an inspiring and collaborative …
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Nicola's return to the probation service
Nicola's return to the Probation Service The Probation Service is encouraging qualified probation officers who have left the Service to consider returning and to check out the flexible working and great benefits on offer to those working in these important roles. …