7368posts
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MP Roundtable with the RPA: Dr Neil Hudson MP (Penrith and The Border)
We held our 14th MP Roundtable event on 2 December with Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border, at the Penrith Rugby Club. RPA Directors Sandy Kapila and Rozanne Kidd, and senior managers from RPA and Defra met with …
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Buying energy and energy efficiency goods and services
In this blog post, Dan Baker, Schools Commercial Team Category Lead, gives an overview of the DfE support available to help you buy energy and energy efficiency goods and services for your school.
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A hitchhiker’s guide to floating marine debris
Today we are looking at media coverage of our announcement on new research led by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and funded by Defra that sheds new light on invasive species ‘hitchhiking’ across the sea on floating marine debris.
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How we ran a 1 day design sprint to help users understand visa options
In this post designers share how they designed and ran a 1 day design sprint, and what they learned along the way.
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How much radioactive waste is there in the UK?
NDA National Waste Inventory Manager James Woodfield explains why it's so vital to catalogue all the UK's different kinds of radioactive waste.
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How we’re delivering equality, diversity and inclusion
Georgia Smith, Lead HR Business Partner at the Planning Inspectorate reflects on the recent release of Inspectorate diversity statistics.
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Improve your writing with this simple ABC
Working on projects for most government departments, at Design102, we see the most common issues – and understand how small changes can bring big improvements. This ABC covers the three most common issues in government writing and how to easily overcome them.
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Introducing You To...
Hi, I’m Elise and I’m an Organisational Capability Advisor within the RPA based in our Exeter office. I’ve worked at RPA since 2017, starting as a temporary staff member processing applications to the Basic Payments Scheme. I then went …
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A new accessibility strategy for the GOV.UK Design System
A design system can be tricky to make accessible, with its many parts and users. We’ve made an accessibility strategy to help increase our chance of success.
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Getting ready to regulate supported accommodation
We’re fast approaching the time when we can accept applications to register as supported accommodation providers. This is a whole new area of work for Ofsted, providing important regulatory safeguards for children. Over the last year, we’ve been busy getting ready – recruiting inspectors, developing our registration guidance (due to be published soon), and planning ahead for beginning inspections in 2024.
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Using robots to teach basic programming with North-East school students.
This post explores how HMRC is using robots to encourage school girls in the North East of England to think about coding and to develop their STEM or related skills.
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Dragons' Den Episode 1 Series 20
New year brings high hopes, exciting beginnings, and a gripping new series of Dragons Den. Welcome back to all our readers as we kick off series 20 with our five favourite investors. I can’t quite believe Dragons’ Den has reached …
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Helping exporters through joined up data
Using the Export Support Service to help exporters through joined up data.
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Improving Countryside Stewardship content on GOV.UK
The beginning of a new year is always an important time for the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme, and this is reflected in the number of farmers visiting the scheme pages on GOV.UK. At RPA, we know farmers don’t have the …
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The SI just got bigger: the recent expansion to the range of SI prefixes
By Richard Brown, Head of Metrology at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) The International System of Units (SI) is the only system of measurement units accepted worldwide. Its study, curation and development are at the heart of National Metrology Institutes’ …
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Avoiding the simple errors that cause delays
We’re seeing too many avoidable errors on applications, causing a bottleneck that is leading to weeks of delays on applications. Help us overcome this.
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Measuring our Justice Digital Story
The Justice Digital 2025 Strategy was published earlier this year to provide a common direction of how we transform our services and deliver great outcomes for our users. This is our vision, providing simpler, faster and better services for all …
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Introducing SFI Management Payments and changes to Countryside Stewardship rates
In this, the first blog post of the year, I’d like to share two updates with you and explain the rationale behind them. The first update is a change to Countryside Stewardship payment rates. The second is the introduction of the Sustainable Farming Incentive Management Payment.
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Your business data and how we protect business confidentiality
Data drives decision-making for international trade and business decisions. It is the lubricant that oils the wheels of trade and fuels the core of the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA). At the same time, we’ve previously written about transparency being imperative …
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Capital Grants 2023
Since we posted this blog on 5th January we have listened to feedback from farmers and landowners and have now amended the scope of the updated payment rates to allow more farmers to benefit from the higher rates. Changes to …
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Putting BATUS to bed: how we prepare the British Army’s Canada estate for the winter
The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Canada is home to one of the largest training estates that the British Army operates on, and it is used to deliver some of the most complex and testing training exercises that …
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’Get comfortable with being uncomfortable’ - FSA in NI’s Boardroom Apprentice reflects on her first few months
FSA in Northern Ireland’s Boardroom Apprentice Judith Hanvey shares her latest update.
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Positive voices: myth busting and living with HIV
To mark this year’s World AIDS Day, the Insolvency Service’s LGBT+ Network welcomed speakers from the Terrence Higgins Trust to share with staff their experiences of living with HIV.
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The evidence we collect during revaluation
Alan Colston is our Chief Valuer and Head of Surveying Profession. He explains how the evidence collected during Revaluation 2023 compares to previous revaluations.
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UK Space Agency: Education and Outreach Officer - HEO
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and provides technical advice on the government’s space strategy, supporting the UK space sector to deliver the government’s vision. This is an opportunity …
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Coverage on the impact of avian flu on free range egg rules
There has been speculative coverage in the Telegraph and Guardian today on potential changes to free-range egg rules in response to bird flu outbreaks. We are experiencing our largest ever outbreak of avian influenza and housing measures remain in force …
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When do schools go back after the Christmas break?
By now, schools in England will have broken up and closed for the Christmas Holidays. With multiple bank holidays over the holiday season, here’s everything you need to know about when your child goes back to school in the New …
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New powers introduced to crack down on illegal tree felling
Today we are looking at media coverage of Defra’s announcement on measures to tackle illegal tree felling.
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Coverage on water targets and River Basin Management Plans
There has been coverage following the Environment Agency’s publication of updated River Basin Management Plans for England, which incorrectly claims that the target for Good status of England’s water bodies has moved back to 2063.
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£8.5m for fight against veteran homelessness
More than £8.5million of funding has been announced to ensure no veteran should sleep rough this Christmas and veteran homelessness is ended in 2023. The funding will deliver services in more than 900 housing units in England, where specialist help …
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Expand your global reach with a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
Being awarded with The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in both 2019 and 2022 has helped Coltraco Ultrasonics expand their global reach. Coltraco Ultrasonics achieved their second Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2022 as a …
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Podcast – Think digital, act human: some insight for people applying to be a senior civil servant
Former colleagues, Jack Collier and Emma Stace, talk candidly about their experience of applying for and working in senior roles.
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Top of the Blogs - 2022
It’s that time of year again when we can finally unveil the Civil Service’s most popular blog posts of 2022. Time to reveal all! As we prepare to clear our inbox and set that out-of-office message before the Christmas break, …
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A fresh approach to service assessments
It’s fair to say that some people don't like service assessments because they take up a lot of time and preparation. In this post, Reema Fardous explains how her team took a new approach to assessments, which also made them more accessible.
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Making carers visible
At Cygnet Health Care we were excited to recently launch our first ever Carers Passport. It is important to us to improve the experience for carers looking after adults with mental health and learning disabilities.
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DVLA Code Challenge 2022 - celebrating STEM skills across Wales
We recently hosted our 7th annual Code Challenge, providing 7 to 18-year-olds the opportunity to develop their STEM skills and win fantastic tech equipment prizes for their schools. STEM lead, Mark Jones, tells us more about the event.
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Increased fishing opportunities worth £750 million agreed for 2023
Today we look at coverage after the UK reached an agreement with the EU to secure over £280 million of fishing opportunities for the UK fishing industry.
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A message for the festive season from Deborah Sturdy
Strength through adversity It’s been another eventful, challenging, but productive year, a year in which adult social care colleagues have continued to deliver amazing care and support right across the country. In a constantly changing world, your compassion, skills and …
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Visiting the secret state: Margaret Thatcher and Intelligence
An early task of any new Prime Minister is to familiarise themselves with the UK's intelligence agencies – the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Security Service (MI5). Yet, for all the interest they may have …
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Developing a user research community to improve our digital services
Find out how our user research team work together to share best practice and help teams to design and deliver user-centred services. This is the fourth and final blog post in a series from our user-centred design team on how we ensure we design services with the user at the forefront.