8477posts
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Introducing Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare grants
Next month, a new grant for hen housing will be available to laying hen and pullet farmers in England with flocks of 1,000 birds or more. We've just published the guidance for the grant on GOV.UK. In this post we’ll share an overview of the grant and a link to the guidance.
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Coverage of the Farm to Fork Summit at Downing Street
Following a package of new measures announced by the Prime Minister at the Farm to Fork summit, there has been widespread coverage across broadcast, national and trade media.
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DIO supports behind the scenes at the Ten Tors in Dartmoor
As the Training Safety Officer for Dartmoor I cover the Dartmoor Training Area from our office in Okehampton Camp. We've just finished supporting the Ten Tors; one of the busiest weekends in the Dartmoor Training Area's calendar. The teams and …
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Inaccurate coverage of Environment Agency investigation at Lake Windermere
Today we are looking at inaccurate coverage of the Environment Agency’s involvement in a pollution incident at Bowness-on-Windermere.
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Nature Returns - Interim Report
By Mike Morecroft, Deputy Director, Climate Change Science We’ve just published an interim report on the Nature Returns programme today (15 May 2024), our flagship £17m programme to build the evidence for nature-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. …
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Design in the Senior Civil Service
Jen shares her journey and tips on getting into design at SCS level, and reflects on the challenges and opportunities in the role.
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Wet weather and temporary adjustments to agri-environment agreements
Heavy rainfall has a devastating and long-term impact on farming. This disruption not only affects livelihoods but also has wider implications for food security and the economy too. We're introducing temporary adjustments and easements within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the SFI Pilot, Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES) to support farmers and land …
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Funding available for nutrient management solutions
Through the £15 million Nutrient Management competition, we’re offering funding to develop solutions which address the challenges related to nutrient management in soils and water associated with agricultural livestock and crop production. In this post, I'll share links to the guidance so you can prepare for the competition opening on 29 May.
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Where we are now with FMPs?
Wondering what stage each of the Defra led FMPs are at? Here's an update.
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An exercise with the Portuguese Navy? Algarve it a go!
One of the two Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron (RNGS) patrol vessels has completed her maiden over the horizon deployment to Portugal to take part in Exercise ALLGARVEX-24. After a slightly bumpy transit through the Strait of Gibraltar, HMS CUTLASS (CTLS) …
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Homeward Bound Part 2
It rained in Antarctica, and ice that is thousands of years old is melting – my journey to Antarctica In this blog we check back in with Harriet Teare, a GSE member from MHRA, who embarked upon the Homeward Bound …
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A new interactive website for our National Character Area profiles
By Sally Marshall, Principal Landscape Adviser, Natural England Today (14 May 2024) we are excited to be launching a new interactive website for England’s National Character Areas (NCAs). This latest chapter in the long history of NCAs makes the valued …
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Anne’s ethical principles forged in tandem careers
UK NSC's clinical ethicist members has tandem passions in work and leisure.
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Understanding the new Digital and Technology Spend controls
The new get approval to spend service has launched, find out more about how we’ve made the spend controls process easier and more effective for government organisations.
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We Are Strategic Command with Jason A'Court
Learn about the crucial role that the Risk and Performance Team in Strategic Command ensure informed decisions are made. Interviewer: Can you tell us about the work that you and your team deliver? Jason: My team and I analyse …
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What are FMPs and how are they prepared
This post gives a background on where FMPs have come from, what they are and how they are developed.
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A whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing: Part 1
Two mental health leads talk about how they work alongside the senior leadership team to develop a whole school approach, to supporting mental health and wellbeing at school.
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Welcome to the Fisheries Management Plans blog!
Hello, and welcome to the Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) blog! The blog is run by the FMP team and is the place you can find all news and updates about FMPs. We’ve been busy over the last couple of years …
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Secretary of State interview on Long Term Plan for Housing
Housing Secretary Michael Gove was interviewed by Martha Kearney as part of a BBC Radio 4 Today Programme series on housing which aired on Saturday, 11 May, where he set out how the Long Term Plan for Housing will deliver …
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Into the Woods: Spring Bluebells
Introducing "Into the woods" our new blog series where staff members share their adventures in England's woodlands. Join us this month to look at spring bluebells at Marbury Country Park.
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Improving Data in the Criminal Justice System
Data plays a crucial role in enhancing decision-making within the Criminal Justice System (CJS). The CJS Data Improvement Programme, led by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, addresses the challenges of fragmented data across various organisations by fostering a unified approach to data management. By leveraging innovative tools like Splink for data linking, …
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Coverage of the 27 new bathing water designations across England
There has been widespread coverage of the government’s announcement that 27 new bathing water sites will be designated across England. Coverage includes BBC, ITV, The Guardian, The Telegraph, iNews, The Times and Daily Mail.
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Maintaining quality early years provision in the face of workforce challenges
We know that many of you in the early years sector continue to face significant challenges, especially around recruiting and keeping well-qualified staff. In this blog, we will highlight: some of the ways these workforce challenges are evident when we …
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Launching the Deepfake Detection Challenge: a collaborative effort against digital deception
The Deepfake Detection Challenge Briefing, marking the official launch of the Challenge Statements outlining the current critical issues which need resolving, featured real-life case studies illustrating the challenges deepfakes pose across government sectors and insights from industry experts.
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Social care nursing at the heart of International Nurses Day 2024
Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, Deborah Sturdy: "I’ve been in this profession for decades, but only in recent years has the wider world begun to realise the full range, experience and contribution social care nursing colleagues bring to the health and wellbeing of our communities."
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How NWS is making sure the right waste, is in the right place with safe, sustainable and cost effective solutions
Chris Macey, Service Lead for Treatment and Conditioning Services at Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), speaks about how his team is safely diverting huge quantities of nuclear waste away from permanent disposal at the UK’s Low Level Waste (LLW) Repository in …
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We Are Strategic Command with Sarah Hudson
To celebrate International Nurses Day, CPONN Sarah shares how her role as Lessons and Clinical Data Manager brings the best possible care to the frontlines. Interviewer: Can you tell us about your current role and responsibilities within the military? Sarah: …
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We Are Strategic Command with Jules Després
To celebrate International Nurses Day, Captain Jules Després reflects on his nursing career and the most rewarding part of being the Chief Nursing Officer for Defence. Interviewer: Could you introduce yourself and explain a little about your role? Captain Jules …
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Coverage of successful government legal challenge against freeholder Grey GR
There has been coverage in BBC News Online, Inside Housing, Essex Live, Property Week and The Comet following the news that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has won a landmark legal challenge against freeholder Grey GR - …
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Whooping cough: One mother's story of love, loss and action
Whooping cough cases (also known as the '100 day cough') are rising sharply across England. Between January and March 2024 there have sadly been 5 infant deaths. Vaccination is the best protection. In this blog post, Catherine Hughes, Founding Director at The Immunisation Foundation of Australia, shares the story of her son Riley Hughes and …
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Behind the scenes of justice – my experience as a juror
As we near the end of Juror Appreciation Week we hear from Jemima, who recently served on a jury. She explains more about her experience and how she saw justice in action outside of her normal day job.
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Bluetongue virus risk set out for the year ahead
This week, the Animal and Plant Health Agency published its latest risk assessment of bluetongue virus entering Great Britain during 2024. It confirmed a very high probability of a new introduction of bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) into GB livestock …
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Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme expects to enable around 3,700 homes and help nature recovery in Dorset
In October last year we provided reassurance that Natural England will not only continue to deliver the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme but seek to accelerate and widen it. That hard work has brought us to our next major milestone – launching …
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Changes to permitted development rights
We want to make it easier for farmers to strengthen their businesses. To that end, several changes to permitted development rights are coming into effect from 21 May.
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Keeping pupils active to support their wellbeing
CEO of The Consortium Trust, Andrew Aalders-Dunthorne shares insight about the Trust’s active and outdoor based curriculum.
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Working in partnership to enhance approaches to surface water risk management
In recent years, record rainfall events nationally and internationally have served to underline the threat of surface water flooding, particularly to our cities and urban areas, writes Caroline Douglass, Environment Agency Executive Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management. Examples …
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Missing the Point(er)
Email security policy for the UK Government has been fairly consistent for a while, so we were pleased when Google and Yahoo decided to tighten their email authentication requirements that align closely to our own guidance. One element that stands …
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Coverage of Defra’s Response to Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain
There has been widespread media coverage following our announcement of new measures to address labour shortages in the food supply chain. The news was reported by publications including The Telegraph, Farmers Guardian, Farmers Weekly, Horticulture Week, The Grocer and Farming UK.
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Inaccurate claims in the OEP Report reviewing the implementation of River Basin Management Planning in England
Today the Office for Environmental Protection published a report on legal targets to improve water health. The report claims that report claims that “the EA has calculated a cost of £51 billion to achieve the targets… but there is only confirmed funding of £6.2 billion up to 2027”. This is incorrect. In October 2023, the …
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Les Allamby's early reflections of SSAC...the second time around!
I never had a misspent youth. As a student I spent my Saturday mornings volunteering on a Durham market stall containing (then) DHSS[1] leaflets, answering basic queries and offering appointments for more complex issues. Not knowing what I wanted to …