GOV.UK blogs

Our Technical Cloud Community is blooming

Our cross-government Cloud community is helping us make the right decisions about Cloud: Which Cloud? Private or Public? Managed service? Infrastructure as code? In this blog Phil Chatterton, Chief Enterprise Architect shares his thoughts on what next.

Launch of the new GOV.UK Prototype Kit

The new version of the Kit makes creating and updating prototypes of government services easier for all users, particularly those getting started with the Kit.

Join D2S Today: Public Beta Launch

The Defence DevSecOps Service (D2S) is here to provide our users with a streamlined and accelerated software delivery experience. The service spans across people, practices and platforms and is designed to deliver a shorter time to market and promote greater …

Coverage from the Save Britain’s Rivers campaign

There has been inaccurate coverage in the i this weekend following the launch of their Save Britain’s Rivers campaign. The headline claim on Saturday that only 6% of Britain’s rivers are on course to be healthy by 2027 is completely …

Coverage on water company fines for pollution

As part of The Times Clean It Up campaign there are claims that water companies could “escape higher fines” for spilling sewage into rivers and seas. This is not the case. We have been clear that all options – including …

Refreshed deputy standards

[English] - [Cymraeg] A refreshed set of standards has been published to help all court appointed deputies in delivering their duties.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot: learning together

Farmers across England are helping us to test the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) through the SFI pilot. In this post, I’ll share a snapshot of what we’ve learned from pilot participants through on-farm and large-scale, regional face-to-face events.

How active demonstrators are challenging the norm at Sellafield

We know ‘what’ needs to be done to deliver our purpose of creating a clean and safe environment for future generations at Sellafield but working out the ‘how’ can be challenging as we tackle buildings that were never designed with decommissioning in mind. That’s where our active demonstrator programme comes in.

Mind Your Head – Supporting the Farm Safety Foundation

This week we’re sharing information about the Mind Your Head campaign, on behalf of Yellow Wellies, Farm Safety Foundation.  The Farm Safety Foundation is the charity leading the campaign to raise awareness of protecting the physical and mental wellbeing of …

Government response to the Times’ Clean It Up Campaign

The Times has launched its Clean It Up campaign which calls for more action to tackle water pollution. We welcome the awareness it will raise of this critically important issue and scrutiny on the work being taken to tackle it.

Coverage of payments to farmers following the UK's exit from the EU

Looking at inaccurate coverage in today’s Observer on payments to farmers following the UK’s exit from the EU.

Experiencing AWS re:Invent 2022!

Dean Lewis shares his experience at AWS re Invent 2022 - a sneak peak into all the sessions with some great insights.

A Year in Data Protection!

Glen Hymers shares the importance of Data Protection and his time at CO Digital building the Data Protection team and establishing its importance across the government

Skills for life - not just for grant making

GGMF looks after your professional development and career, setting you up with skills for life, from apprentices right through to directors

Fishing industry nets new funding to train the next generation

There has been coverage in outlets including Business Live, the Yorkshire Post, Press and Journal and Fishing Daily following our announcement on the winners of the first round of the £100 million UK Seafood Fund’s Skills and Training scheme. Winning …

An inside view on apprenticeships at DIO

Did you know DIO has 101 apprentices working and learning in 13 fields, from project delivery to finance and property to human resources? We’re committed to continuing to offer high quality apprenticeships for new and existing staff, and will be …

Apprenticeships in the pensions industry

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2023, we want to introduce you to some of the amazing individuals taking an apprenticeship in the pensions industry. Since IfATE launched five years ago, there are now over 650 apprenticeships available to train people …

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Women have played a crucial role in science for as long as humans have been on earth. From the earliest use of herbs in healing, to the discovery of the structure of DNA[1], women scientists have always been pioneers. However, …

Information dashboard offers new snapshot of veterans

A new dashboard showing information about the veteran community is now publicly available. The veterans data dashboard, from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, has statistics in areas such as population, housing, mental health and employment. It will provide a snapshot …

The science behind our carbon offsetting

Jenny Connell has worked in the Environment Agency for 15 years. She is a Senior Specialist in the Environment Agency’s net zero team – and here, she gives an insight into the science behind the EA’s carbon offsetting strategy to mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science

MyNavy 2022: New features, award wins & preparation for an even bigger 2023

What an incredible year 2022 was for the MyNavy team. We scaled to 40,000 users, developed 14 new features, expanded outside of the Royal Navy and continued to deliver against our goal of supporting all personnel in living the best …

Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023 at the FSA

Ahead of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we hear from some of the many women in the FSA who use science every day to keep food safe, on how they got into STEM.

An interview with Kristofer McGhee, General Counsel at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

An interview with Kristofer McGhee, General Counsel at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education  Kristofer, General Counsel at IfATE, is a solicitor and senior civil servant leading IfATE’s legal and governance functions and supporting the organisation to deliver its objectives in …

Dragons’ Den, Series 20 Episode 6

From pre-loved fashion to a retractable dog safety gate, the deal hungry multi-millionaires had plenty to sink their teeth into this week.

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week

Discover more about the knowledge and experience a range of Digital, Data and Technology colleagues have gained through apprenticeship schemes.

Commissioner for Countering Extremism on the Independent Review of Prevent

The Independent Review of Prevent, written by William Shawcross, is a vital contribution to the nation’s ongoing attempts to combat extremism and terrorism. Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The recommendations arising from the Independent Review …

National Apprenticeship Week: What does an apprenticeship at the TRA look like?

This National Apprenticeship Week, we are reflecting on how apprenticeships can help individuals develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career. Apprenticeships provide on-the-job training alongside studying, allowing individuals to gain essential workplace skills to aid their career …

Conducting ethical internal research

As User Researchers, we champion user-centred approaches, and our work can be internal or external facing. As part of being user-centred, we have a duty to protect our participants’ data, as well as their wellbeing and safety; this applies whether they are members of the public or other civil servants and staff. In this blog, you’ll read about the steps you yourself can take to make sure you’re researching with internal participants in an ethical way.

New round of Farming Equipment and Technology Fund grants opening soon  

The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund  is part of the Farming Investment Fund. It offers grants for specific items of equipment to increase productivity, boost environmental sustainability and improve animal health and welfare. Today, we published the full list of items available through the fund. In this post, I’ll explain what is available, when you can apply for a grant and provide links for you to find out more. 

Ofsted's webinars for schools - spring season

Lee Owston and Jonathan Keay invite you to hear directly from Ofsted on school inspection policy.

What does policymaking look like?

Professor Paul Cairney from University of Stirling writes about different ways to visualise the policymaking process.

Bridging the gap – from hospital to home

Hayley Robertshire is a senior manager working in residential and nursing care in the north east of England. Here, she shares her thoughts on how care colleagues can provide solutions to hospital discharge pressures and support admission avoidance strategies

Considering a flexible approach to providing driving tests

Earlier in the year we shared our plans with you to  investigate ways we could create a modern, flexible and efficient driving test service. One that is less dependent on fixed driving test centres, and takes advantage of new technology. DVSA's Head of Driver Transformation John Selbey, shares some more details with you about the trials and the thinking behind them.

Race equality at Companies House

To reinforce the commitments we’ve made around equality, diversity and inclusion, Companies House is a signatory of the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. In doing this we committed to improving racial equality in the workplace. Find out more.

Chief Executive’s message to stakeholders - The horsemeat crisis ten years on

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the horsemeat crisis.

Samarkand celebrate their Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade

In 2016 it was clear to entrepreneurs and co-founders David Hampstead and Simon Smiley that international brands were not capturing the full market opportunity in China. Together, they set out to build a business that would close the cultural, commercial, …

The night sky in February

This month provides a great chance to see a comet and watch Venus and Jupiter appear to move towards each other.

From growing up watching PMQs to supporting the delivery of government's major projects

This week marks National Apprenticeship Week 2023 (NAW23). At the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), we wanted to celebrate the brilliant and inspiring apprentices across government, by hearing from one of our own, Luke Cryan (Project Futures Team) as he …

Climate and health security: Looking ahead to 2023

The start of each year is a time where we recall the previous year and anticipate the year ahead, and there’s much to reflect on.

For climate scientists, there’s no doubt that 2022 was remarkable.

National Apprenticeship Week 2023: introducing some of IfATE's apprentice network

This week is National Apprenticeship Week 2023. To celebrate, we want to introduce some of IfATE's own apprentices, who are part of a newly formed apprentice network within the organisation. Following the latest apprentice panel survey, six recommendations were made, …