GOV.UK blogs

Being East & South East Asian in government project delivery: “It's important for project teams to be as diverse as possible”

Eileen Wong is a Senior Business Change Manager at HMRC and has spent over 19 years in the Civil Service, the majority of which has been in tax compliance roles but decided a change of career and profession was needed. She is also a co-chair of the Civil Service Race Forum’s East & South East Asian Working Group (CSRF ESEA WG). This group was set up in 2021 due to the rise of anti-Asian hate following Covid and aims to create safe spaces for colleagues to talk about these issues as well as forge a community of ESEA civil servants and allies in government.

Keeping communities and soldiers safe in Kenya

Out in Kenya DIO staff are responsible for the physical safety of the training areas, keeping both the public and the military safe. The team work on a variety of tasks together with the British Army, the Kenyan Defence Forces …

G6 Head of Climate Science Research and Domestic Policy Support

G6 Head of Climate Science Research and Domestic Policy Support (BEIS) I am looking for an enthusiastic scientist to work as a G6 in the friendly and supportive team Climate Science Team on key science issues to underpin the Government’s …

Helping tackle violence against women and girls

Tackling violence against women and girls and addressing the urgent need to improve criminal justice outcomes in cases of Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) are two Home Office and law enforcement priorities. The Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE) has been …

Beavers are now legally protected in England – the licensing regime explained

By Stephanie Bird-Halton - Director of National Delivery Protection of beavers and why it’s important On 1 October 2022 the legislation changed to protect wild-living beavers in England. Beavers are now listed in Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats …

The value of feedback: Part One - why you need to give and get it

In the first instalment of a two-part blog Lead Content Designer Leyla Kee-McParlin explains how feedback is essential to self-development, and explores how you can give and receive feedback in the most productive and sensitive ways.

How to boost your grant-making skills

Boost your skills with GGMF training to help you deliver your objectives in the second half of the financial year

What we mean when we talk about ‘mission-led innovation’

From its launch in 2017, ACE has described what it does as ‘mission-led innovation’. In this blog we’ll explore what we mean by ‘mission-led’ and how it informs the way we work.

Defra response to new research on crustacean mortality incident

There has been extensive coverage across national and regional media around the high number of crab and lobster deaths that occurred in the North East last year, following the publication of a new study. It has yet to be peer …

Paludiculture – the future of farming on peat soils?

On 27 August 2022, the Government announced a new £5m fund to promote the use of peatlands for sustainable farming [1] – the Paludiculture Exploration Fund (PEF), which seeks to unlock barriers to making commercial paludiculture a reality. In this …

Daily Mail and Independent coverage on Government tree planting targets

There is inaccurate coverage in the Daily Mail and Independent on Government’s tree planting targets.

Tackling Covid-19 using data-driven insights from wastewater analysis

The pandemic spurred interest in the potential of wastewater-based epidemiology as an early warning system for disease outbreaks. This blog looks at how ACE innovation supported work on a data-driven monitoring system.

A new early years blog

Today, we’ve launched a new early years blog, for everyone who works in the early years sector. We will use the new blog to help raise understanding of different types of early years and childcare providers, as well as bust …

Safe Management for Controlled Drugs

Did you know? Veterinary practice break-ins are more common than you might think. In many cases, controlled drugs (CDs) are stolen.  Drugs primarily intended for animal use can have significant and serious health effects on humans or can be fatal …

Maintaining and protecting woodlands on the UK Defence Training Estate

Woodland at Sennybridge [Copyright Finn Beales] Did you know we're right in the middle of Forest Week, and that the UK Defence Training Estate is made up of  20,000 hectares of woodland? To help celebrate Forest Week, Judith Peachey, Forestry …

The Importance of Black History Month to Apprentices

October is Black History Month and this year’s theme is ‘Time for Change: Action not Words’. As an arms’-length body developing apprenticeships and technical qualification for talented people around England, we want to make sure that we are supporting and …

Welcome to Ofsted's early years blog

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted's National Director Regulation and Social Care; Gill Jones, Deputy Director, Schools and Early Education; and Alex Magloire, our Deputy Director, Early Years Regulatory Practice, launch Ofsted's new early years blog.

Taking Futures from a programme to an integrated function in central government departments.

The DfE’s Central Analysis Division (CAD) and Strategy Unit (SU) built on a set piece Future Insights Programme, and upscaled and integrated futures-thinking into a central government department. This blog is drawn from Adam Martin and Patrick Lee’s June presentation …

A new direction for digital: looking back on the first year of CDDO

Megan Lee, Chief Executive, reflects on the first year of CDDO. Here, she outlines the crucial importance of communities and collaboration to deliver digital transformation at scale across government. Central to this transformation is the desire to achieve better outcomes for all.

An autumn of digital learning brings development opportunities for civil servants

CDDO’s Head of Digital Learning and Frameworks outlines an incredible lineup of upskilling events for the Autumn of Digital Learning, which ranges from an Innovation Masterclass to a series of live webinars in which all things digital, data and technology are workshopped.

What’s next for the Central Digital and Data Office?

Mike Potter, newly appointed Chief Digital Officer, shares his enthusiasm for working in digital, data and technology in government. Mike reiterates his admiration for the profession, and pride at working on front line digital services that have the potential to improve outcomes for all UK citizens.

How we’re making teacher training better and more accessible

Children learn best with brilliant teachers at the front of the classroom. That’s why teacher training is so important. We’re creating an excellent teacher development system and transforming the support teachers receive at every stage of their career – all …

Making it easier for schools to choose supply teachers

We want to make choosing a supply teacher easier for schools so we held a design sprint, produced a prototype and then tested it with school staff. Courtney Brtightwell tells us how it went.

Our ‘effective delivery’ principle in action: Updating a scientific e-licensing service

How our technical teams are taking a service design approach to ‘effective delivery’.

What I’ve learned as a user researcher in BEIS

If you're new to user research in government, find out what helped our user researchers get started.

UK NSC recommends introduction of targeted lung cancer screening

The UK NSC has recommended that the 4 UK nations should move towards implementing a targeted national lung cancer screening programme, integrated with smoking cessation services.

How Crimestoppers works with the Environment Agency to fight waste crime

Crimestoppers is an independent charity that gives people the power to speak up to stop crime, 100% anonymously. Anyone can contact us 24/7, 365 days a year, online and by phone.

Return to university – what you should know this autumn term

The new university term started for most students this month. Whether you are a fresher or a returning student, we have pulled together answers to some of the important topics that you might have wondered about as you head into …

How has COVID affected Trade Remedies?

Two years since the onset of COVID-19 (COVID), we are starting to understand the impact it has had on the world economy. But what about its impact on the world of trade remedies?  The arrival of COVID in 2020 upended …

Digital by default 

Automation is at the heart of our plans to develop efficient and resilient land registry services. By 30 November 2022, all applications coming to HM Land Registry, other than first registrations, can be lodged digitally. HM Land Registry will be ‘digital by default’.  

Preparing our courts to support Deaf jurors

British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters can now support deaf jurors in our deliberation rooms. Find out how we prepared for it.

Introducing the planning data platform

Data is at the heart of the DLUHC Digital Planning team’s mission to modernise England's planning system. The team’s planning data platform has moved into the beta phase, and is now available on planning.data.gov.uk.

Websites need to be accessible to be inclusive

Making inclusion happen by helping the public sector identify and fix accessibility issues.

Organ donation is the best gift of life

To mark NHS Organ Donation Week (26 September to 2 October), civil servant Alex Taylor shares his journey and the challenges as he awaits a kidney transplant. Living through a global pandemic has brought home how fragile and important our …

What can innovation bring to place-based policymaking?

Over the summer we visited Imagination Lancaster for a Design in Place Based Policy Workshop with inspiring colleagues from government and academia. We looked at what is meant by place-based policy, the types of tools and methods that could be used in designing policies for different places and the potential to work in partnership to innovate in place-based policymaking.

DVSA rider policy specialist talks about the Enhanced Rider Scheme

DVSA's rider policy team are continuously improving the Enhanced Rider Scheme (ERS) to make it even more customisable for riders.

In this blog post, Jody Whitfield, Rider Policy Specialist, tells you more about the success we've had in Wales with new modules and getting more people through ERS.

New law change allows more flexibility for healthcare professionals completing DVLA medical questionnaires

Dr Nick Jenkins, Senior DVLA Doctor outlines the benefits for healthcare professionals being allowed to fill in DVLA medical questionnaires.

Harry's story: How Autsome ideas are bettering our world

Harry is an Autsome Advocate. The advocates are a great bunch of neurodiverse children and young people based in North East Essex who give their views on health, education and social issues which affect their daily lives of autistic children …

Nearly 10 million people tuned into a map of a queue!

As Head of Digital Communications at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Andrew Simpson’s team came up with the livestream funeral queue tracker that drew almost 10 million views on YouTube. Interview: Lorraine McBride In a world …

Regulatory Policy Committee issues 2022 Corporate Report

Stephen Gibson, RPC Chair, highlights key points from the analysis of RPC opinions set out in our 2022 Corporate Report.