8182posts
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Better policymaking environments
Serena Nϋsing from the UK's Policy Profession writes about how you can get involved with transforming policymaking.
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Bringing Common Platform to more criminal courts
Common Platform will go live in selected criminal courts in July and August.
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New trees and peat guidance: helping to inform where to establish trees, and where to restore peat
Neil Riddle is Forestry Commission's Head of Natural Environment. Here, he discusses our work with Natural England on the new trees and peat guidance.
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Care Home Open Week: why you should get involved
Hallmark Care Homes has proudly supported Care Home Open Week for many years and whilst they did their best to virtually open our doors last year to members of the local community, there is no comparison to meeting caring and committed teams in person. Find out more...
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New systems thinking products for Civil Servants
The Government Office for Science is excited to announce the publication of a new suite of systems thinking documents for civil servants. We have designed these to be accessible and relevant, with the aim of supporting better evidence-based policy making. …
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Five reasons why you should consider an apprenticeship
Apprenticeships are a brilliant option for people of all ages to launch their careers in a huge range of exciting industries or upskill at various levels. There are thousands of apprenticeship vacancies on offer, with more than 640 high-quality apprenticeships approved …
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Disaster risk finance
The ways in which actuarial skills can contribute to the complex area of disaster risk finance, is explored in this blog. GAD actuary Joanne Meusz talks about her role in a multi disciplinary team which developed disaster risk finance initiatives.
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Why we’re stopping the head of digital role 1 year on
James Reeve takes us through 12 months of progress and why everyone in our leadership team needs to lead for digital transformation – not just one person.
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My only guaranteed hot meal was my free school lunch
From part-time AO to thriving senior leader in the Civil Service, Vicky McGurk is living proof that you can overcome childhood struggles and make life a success. Interview: Lorraine McBride Born and raised in one of Blackburn’s poorest council estates, …
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Keep calm and call an AMHP
With so many recent challenges and experiences in the pandemic, Jason Brandon, Mental Health Social Work Lead at DHSC, can’t think of a more suitable title to this blog post, which describes the dignity and professionalism of the approved mental health professional (AMHP) workforce. It's National AMHP Day!
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Mindfulness and how it can help you and your pupils
We know that 1 in 10 people who fail their driving test say the main reason was because they were nervous on the day. In this blog post, San Harper explains how a mindfulness-based approach can help you support your pupils with managing their nerves.
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Can I buy CBD Oil (cannabidiol) for my pet?
The short answer is No. Hopefully after reading this article you’ll understand why - but all is not lost, read on and you’ll discover that there is a safer solution! So why can’t I just use the CBD products authorised …
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The COVID-19 Dashboard Moves to Weekly Updates
The Government’s Living with COVID-19 plan set out how the UK would transition from managing COVID-19 as an emergency response to living with the virus, whilst ensuring we retain the resilience and contingency capabilities to deal with the uncertainty around …
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Soil health: a UK-wide discussion
In this post, we'll share a summary of the second meeting of the UK Agriculture Partnership (UKAP). It was held at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise in Northern Ireland. The topic of the meeting was soil health.
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Trees – A natural way to help our waterways
Alexandra Jenks, Forestry Commission Woodland Officer for South East and London, shares how planting trees and creating woodland can help our waterways.
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Digital planning reform - an overview
The digital planning reform team in DLUHC have been working over the last couple of years to investigate how digital and data could improve on what we have now: saving time and money for both end-users and planning authorities, and better connecting the public to the issues and decisions made on their behalf.
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Factsheet: Blueprint for Campsfield House immigration removal centre
The Home Office has announced initial plans for a new Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in Oxfordshire.
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Excel at engagement and events in the post-pandemic world
DDaT’s Engagement and Strategic Adoption team share their tips for running an inclusive, hybrid event for a large organisation using DDaT Week as a case study.
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How FORUM will improve climate change forecasts
Imperial College London's Professor Helen Brindley explains how the ESA FORUM mission, contracted to Airbus, will improve the accuracy of climate change forecasts and help scientists see the Earth through new eyes.
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Defra Data Heroes: Meet our ‘digital-first’ library team
In the latest instalment from our Defra Data Heroes series, we hear from Sonja van Montfort, Defra’s Head Librarian, about how her team keeps colleagues across the Defra organisations informed through a range of print and online resources, and the vital work the team does to manage a unique library collection.
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Care Home Open Week: expect the unexpected
Social care is a deeply important and critical part of society. However, it faces a huge uphill battle in being seen and understood as the vital service it truly is. This month’s Care Home Open Week can play a part in raising wider awareness of its value.
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Developing a lifelong love of physical activity
Deputy Headteacher, Neil McAvoy is Deputy Headteacher talks about his experience of embedding physical activity in every school day.
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What’s it like being a business analyst in BEIS Digital?
The BEIS business analyst team explains what business analysts do in BEIS Digital, and why they can really help projects understand the problem they are trying to solve.
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How we are working with the United Nations to protect children’s rights
Every five years, the United Nations (often known as the UN) ask us to report on our progress to make sure we’re looking after the people and children we represent. This is to see what we’re doing to promote children’s …
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Chair's stakeholder update - The launch of Our Food: An annual review of food standards across the UK
Our Chair, Professor Susan Jebb, introduces Our Food: An annual review of food standards across the UK. This is a comprehensive report of food standards in the UK that the FSA has published with Food Standards Scotland.
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A history of trade remedies in the UK: from alarm clocks to ironing boards
What do mechanical alarm clocks, ladies’ raincoats, butter, rainbow trout and ironing boards have in common? The answer: trade remedies, i.e. duties on imports of these goods into the UK. UK trade remedies after EU exit The UK’s Trade Remedies …
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Impressions of DIO to date
As I’m now a couple of months in to my tenure as DIO’s Chief Executive, following the retirement of Graham Dalton, I thought it was high time I introduce myself. I started my career as a civil engineer before joining …
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Staying Safe During Summer
As Summer approaches, we look forward to travelling, taking holidays, attending events and enjoying more time outdoors. There are some simple things we can all do to stay safe throughout summer and to keep illness at bay as we enjoy the longer days and better weather.
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Government Action on Water Quality
Today (Saturday 25 June) the Telegraph has published an opinion piece on the importance of water quality to public health, written by: Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty; Chair of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd; and Ofwat Chair, Jonson Cox.
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"I am determined to ensure that every single child has access to a world-class musical education": Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi on music in schools
The Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has written about his determination that all pupils should get a world leading music education in our schools. Music is one of the greatest joys in life. Whether you prefer to listen through your headphones …
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How we are helping children stay active through sport and PE
Being active can have a hugely positive impact on both our physical and mental health. That’s why we have announced crucial funding to help children take up and benefit from new sports and activities. Here’s everything you need to know …
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Everything you need to know about music in schools
Learning about music and having the opportunity to play musical instruments and make music together is a vital part of a rich and rounded education. It has also been proven that music plays a key role in brain development. This …
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Automatically produce best practice spreadsheets
Learn how to create good practice accessible spreadsheets as part of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines using gptables. Learn about how we developed in the open.
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NHSE/I Standards Directory alpha assessment
Read the alpha assessment report for the Standards Directory from NHS England and NHS Improvement.
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Introduction to digital experimentation in HMRC
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion", W. Edwards Deming I’m Yvie Tracey, the Product Manager on the HMRC Experimentation team and I work alongside Manjot Jaswal, our Quantitative User Researcher and Tim Bryan, our Senior Front End …
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Red Kite chicks in England bound for Spain in reintroduction project
There has been extensive media coverage today in broadcast and print highlighting a Natural England partnership project to translocate red kites from England to Spain as part of a reintroduction scheme to help conserve the species in Spain, including on …
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What the Schools Bill means for academies
Academies are a key part of the school system. They are schools that are Government funded but not controlled by local authorities (councils). Standalone academies benefit from significant autonomy over how they work while multi-academy trusts are groups of …
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Pride Month and social work's essential role
As a lesbian, I always enjoy the visibility that Pride Month brings to those of us who are LGBTQ+ and the support it provides for our communities, families, friends and networks. As a social worker, it reminds me how vital it is for social work practice to protect and promote the human rights of everyone.
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15 years of technological advances since the 2007 floods
June and July 2007. The most severe and widespread inland flooding we have seen since 1947 with more than 55,000 properties flooded, mainly across Yorkshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Many more lost essential services such as …
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Conservation comes full circle - Natural England licenses translocation of red kites to aid conservation efforts in Spain.
By John Holmes, Operations Director The most successful species reintroduction to England ever - the red kite - has come full circle this year, with Natural England licensing the translocation of red kites back to Spain to help bolster low …