7367posts
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GAD engages at GIRO
GAD actuary Tejas Dholakia shares his experiences of participating in GIRO - a major actuarial conference on general insurance.
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The Paludiculture Exploration Fund invites you to explore the future of wet farming on peat soils
By Jim Milner - PEF Project Manager, Natural England and Jordan Champ - Senior Policy Advisor, Lowland Peat, Defra In our first blog post in September, we introduced paludiculture, a system of farming on rewetted peat soils. Paludiculture offers an …
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UK NSC public engagement on genome sequencing wins prestigious award
A public dialogue on the implications of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for newborn screening, commissioned by the UK NSC, has won the 2022 Market Research Society (MRS) award for public policy/social research.
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Using collective intelligence in government: a view from the Policy Profession Unit
We recently wrote about how Collective Intelligence tools can be applied to complex policy areas. This blog is the first in a series of guest posts from policy teams sharing their experiences of working with our Collective Intelligence Lab. We …
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Companies House reform: identity verification
At Companies House, we will be implementing a new identity verification process to help deter those wishing to start companies for illegal purposes. Find out how anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the UK will need to verify their identity to prove that they are who they claim to be.
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Designing services for the family court
Senior service designer, Leanne, explains what it’s like designing services within the family jurisdiction. This is the third in a series of blog posts from our User Experience and Insight team on how we make sure we design and deliver our digital services with the user at the forefront.
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Our apprenticeship journey so far
Apprenticeships are a great way to nurture talent and shape careers. We sat down with some of our latest recruits to find out more.
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Data Challenge 2023: the semi-finals
The latest CDDO blog covers the infamous Civil Service Data Challenge, which is open to all Civil Servants regardless of department, role or grade, seeking ideas on how government can better improve its use of data, with a prize of 50,000 and development support for the winning submission on offer.
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Disability History Month - Question and Answer with artist Christopher Samuel
Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics, often echoing facets of his own lived experience. Christopher’s works can be found in the Government Art Collection. The team from the Collection sat down …
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Flood risk management plans published
(Photo credit: Cumbria - Johnny Kidd, West Cumbria Rivers Trust) Over the last 3 years we have worked in partnership with lead local flood authorities and other partners to develop Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs). Today we have published …
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Creating new wetland habitats on the River Thame, Buckinghamshire
As we mark Biodiversity COP15, Hilary Phillips, Senior Project Officer for the River Thame Conservation Trust, explains how partnership working has transformed 32 hectares of floodplain grassland across two sites in Buckinghamshire into complex wetland habitats. At Eythrope on the …
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Making the GOV.UK Frontend typography scale more accessible
The GOV.UK Design System team plans to update the typography scale in the Design System making it better for users and service teams.
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Guardian coverage of the Natural Flood Management Programme report
Today we are looking at coverage in the Guardian of the new Environment Agency report which evaluates the impact of our national Natural Flood Management Programme.
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New career: how you can boost your skills and pay
Whether you are looking for a better job or wanting to advance in your current profession, a Skills Bootcamp can be a great way to boost your prospects. Skills Bootcamps are free and designed in partnership with local employers to …
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How we’re levelling up the accessibility of our digital services
Raising the baseline standard of accessibility of digital services across the board is a difficult job for a government department and for public bodies on the whole. Read on and find out what we are trying doing in this space.
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Hundreds of prison leavers to be offered new technologies as part of the Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge
Through the Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge, we invited small businesses to develop digital technologies that could help offenders steer clear of crime after leaving prison. Here's a glimpse at two of the pilots that launched last month.
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Some changes to the public sector digital accessibility regulations
The public sector digital accessibility regulations have changed. Find out more about what’s next for digital accessibility.
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Resetting our rivers – how taking them back to ‘stage zero’ could help nurture nature
Matt Parr works in Lincolnshire’s Fisheries, Biodiversity and Geomorphology team and has been with the Environment Agency for 10 years. Here, he explains how he’s working to restore the glory of local rivers by resetting them to their natural state, …
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Helping unpaid carers get vaccinated helps us all
With the winter upon us, it’s more important than ever to protect ourselves and those we care for against COVID-19 and flu and get vaccinated. But how do we increase take-up among unpaid carers, a critical and highly valued group of people? Emily Holzhausen OBE, Carers UK, considers what more we can all do.
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Veterans get say in first official UK survey
The very first UK-wide official survey for veterans and their families is now under way. For another six weeks, veterans across the country can have their say and help to shape the future of veteran services. Funded and commissioned by …
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Summer Interns - Communications, it’s not all digital
Introduction Every summer we welcome a number of students from diverse backgrounds into our Summer Diversity Internship Programme (SDIP) and this year, unlike for the last two years, we were able to meet them in person in our offices. This …
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Watch: Sustainable farming in the Lake District
In this film, local farm facilitator Danny Teasdale explains how environmental improvements go hand in hand with food production in the Lake District.
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Coverage of the Chief Medical Officer’s air pollution annual report
Today we are looking at media coverage of the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report on air pollution.
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Better information about qualifications – what would help you?
You can share your views to help shape the future of qualifications information on Ofqual's Register.
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An update on the first round of Landscape Recovery projects
In summer, we announced the 22 projects chosen for the first round of Landscape Recovery. We initially said we would recruit up to 15 projects, but we were so impressed with the quality of applications that we ended up extending this to 22. In this post, I’ll share more about the projects, including how they were assessed and selected.
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Positive dementia care: a win for staff and residents
Looking for a meaningful career where you’ll be able to make a real difference to people’s lives every single day? Whether you’re new to care or you’ve got years of experience, this blog from a care home manager of homes specialising in dementia care is an inspiration.
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#DIGITAL ASBESTOS
How surveillance sensitive are you? When it comes to public space surveillance it’s an important question if you happen to live in what is one of the world’s most watched democracies. And it’s even more important now that the government …
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Sharing user-centred design lessons learnt at the Home Office
We’ve learnt a lot of lessons on how to build a successful user-centred design community. We want to share those with you.
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Want to work with the Digital Markets Unit?
The digital markets are continuously growing and the Digital Markets Unit is looking for bright, inquisitive new individuals to join the team.
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When is a clinical trial halt not a clinical trial halt?
As the regulator, the safety of those volunteering to participate in clinical trials is our first priority, and our oversight of trial conduct is informed by trial sponsors efficiently notifying us of safety issues during the conduct of their trial. …
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OBR forecasts and trade remedies: what’s the link?
On 17 November the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economic forecasts were released alongside the government’s Autumn Statement. The OBR – an executive and non-departmental public body – conducts independent analysis to assess whether the government is likely to meet …
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New partnership-based approach to RPA site visits and mapping improvements: Round-up
During November we have published a series of blogs focussing on the RPA’s new partnership-based approach to site visits and the improvements made to RPA’s geospatial mapping process. You can find below a summary of the content with links to …
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Improving how users search for local information on GOV.UK
We simplified our address finding system using the Ordnance Survey’s Places API. Here’s how we did it and the impact it’s had on GOV.UK and its users.
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Strep A and scarlet fever – what are they and what are the symptoms? Information for parents, schools, colleges and early years providers
We are seeing an increased number of cases of Group A streptococcus (Strep A) compared to normal at this time of year. There is no evidence that a new strain is circulating and the increase is most likely related to …
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What the Butler saw: Britain and the Abadan Crisis, 1950-51
In March 1962 a secret report landed on the desks of senior officials in the Foreign Office. Written by Foreign Office Historian Rohan Butler it was a forensic and critical account of the loss in 1951 of Britain’s single biggest …
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Weevils to the rescue! How a beetle could help win the fight against invasive plants
Trevor Renals is the senior technical advisor on invasive species for the Environment Agency. He started his career working on Japanese knotweed management in his native Cornwall, which led to an interest in biological control solutions, using co-evolved natural …
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Inspecting the initial stages of the early career framework and national professional qualifications
Recruiting, training and retaining high-quality teachers and leaders is fundamentally important. It forms the foundation for giving pupils the very best experience in education. In March, we published our new framework for inspecting lead providers of the early career framework …
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From Roadmap to Reality: Insights from Industry on Advancing AI Assurance
As set out in the Government’s National AI Strategy, the UK aims to establish the most trusted and pro-innovation system for AI governance in the world. A key component of getting this light-touch and pro-innovation governance right, is delivering on …
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Volunteering: Part one - trees and canals
To mark international volunteering day, Defra’s user centred design (UCD) team talk about what inspired them to take part in volunteering days and how they went. This is our first instalment of a two-part blog on volunteering.
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Food supply and food security
Today we are looking at media coverage of NFU comments on food supply and security.