8083posts
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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.
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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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.
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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’.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 …
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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 …
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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’.
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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.
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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.
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Websites need to be accessible to be inclusive
Making inclusion happen by helping the public sector identify and fix accessibility issues.
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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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.
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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 …
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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 …
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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.
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What inspires you? How to encourage your creative spark
With the pandemic changing the way we work, we asked everyone at Design102 about creativity – what motivates us, how we stay creative and where we look for inspiration. Learn our tips and tricks for keeping that creative spark alive.
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Our commitment to environmental protections
Following recent media speculation on the future of farming policy in England, we know that you may have some questions about our work. We’ve published a post on Defra's media blog which sets out our response and position.
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National Inclusion Week – how we’re making Sellafield Ltd more inclusive
Employees who feel able to bring their whole selves to work, better business decisions thanks to diversity of thinking, and a business better able to attract and retain talent for the long term… just some of the benefits of a more inclusive workplace. As we celebrate the start of National Inclusion Week, here are some …
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Global Data Landscape - Sharing insights with New Zealand
As data architects across government, you are interested in both enterprise and technical principles and particularly continuous improvement, so as Chief Data Officer for the Office For National Statistics (ONS), I wanted to share some, hopefully relevant and useful, insights …
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Thank you, Ma’am: DIO’s behind-the-scenes contributions to HM The Queen’s funeral
After the sad news of the death of HM The Queen, the eyes of the nation and the world turned to the ceremonial elements that follow the death of a monarch, culminating in a state funeral. The Armed Forces were …
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Same difference: the two sides of the same internship coin
In National Inclusion Week, two young professionals, Zach Shiels and Elora Parocki, who recently spent time in Defra through different internship schemes, reflect on their experiences and the things they learned.
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A new and improved framework for hiring supply teachers and other temporary staff
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has launched a new and improved version of its agency supply framework. Tom Harper is the Supply Teachers Category Manager at CCS. In this blog post, Tom will highlight the improvements to the framework and how you can access it.