4047posts
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Update on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot
In July, we opened the applications window for farmers to join our Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot. In this post, Lisa Applin (Rural Payments Agency) and Tom Lewis (Future Farming and Countryside Programme) share the results of the application process, what the team learned and what they will do next.
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Emily Miles' stakeholder update - Help for millions with food allergies
FSA Chief Executive Emily Miles discusses a new allergen labelling law, known as Natasha's Law, and the launch of the UK Anaphylaxis Registry.
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What does the Health and Care Bill mean for NHS staff?
Health Secretary Sajid Javid reflects on how the proposals set out in the Health and Care Bill will make it easier for NHS staff to do their day-to-day jobs.
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The Photography Show: your questions answered
IPO Digital Communications Officer, Oliver Downey, recently attended The Photography Show at the NEC Birmingham alongside the team, where copyright was centre stage.
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Package of measures announced to support pig sector
There has been widespread coverage of the announcement of a package of measures to support the pig industry. This was widely covered in national, regional and trade media, including The Times, The Financial Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, the I …
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Proud to be – Black History Month 2021
October marks the month-long recognition of Black History Month and this year the theme is “proud to be”. As we focus on recognising the many important contributions that have been made by members of the black community, we also seek …
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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on handwashing
On Global Handwashing Day, Helen Heard shares the findings of a new report into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on handwashing attitudes and behaviours.
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How to recruit and retain great care staff
Staff recruitment and retention remain long-standing challenges for the care sector, with the coronavirus pandemic adding to the difficulties many providers face. Cygnet Healthcare's Fiona Oxley presents an uplifting and positive take on recruiting great colleagues - and keeping them.
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Why I decided to take the COVID-19 vaccine
"My name is Sofija Igonkina, from Latvia. I have been living in England for 15 years. I'm a nurse and I work in Evergreen nursing home in Hastings. I want to share my story about why I had the COVID-19 vaccine and why I'm going to get a booster jab this winter."
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A big day for DIO as new Head Office is officially opened
Some of us at DIO had a memorable morning yesterday with the official opening of our new head office by the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter. This has been a few years in the planning and …
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What is an academy and what are the benefits?
We want every school in the country to be part of a family of schools in a strong multi academy trust. But what are academies and what are the benefits of of this plan?
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Closing the Loop: dealing with the deluge
In the latest blog in our 'Closing the Loop' series, we take a look at what happened when a worldwide pandemic had an unexpected impact on our trade mark and design examination applications.
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Super courtrooms spearhead good multi-hander progress
The Manchester super courtroom – which opened its doors at the Crown Court last month – got underway with its first large trial last week, as HMCTS passed another significant milestone in recovering our ability to hear ‘multi-hander’ trials.
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Achieving policy excellence with Austin's Butterfly
Kate Lloyd from the Home Office writes about how the UK’s government might have acted differently in the case of the Windrush scandal.
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Understanding UK occupations
How we’ve enhanced our Standard Occupational Classification to help better understand the UK jobs market. The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is a framework used to classify occupations according to skill level and specialisation. It assigns all jobs a four-digit code …
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Reasonable Adjustments as part of World Sight Day [14 October]
How many of us are familiar with the process of getting reasonable adjustments at work? Or with what the term reasonable adjustments actually means? The term ‘reasonable’ is subjective in itself as what is reasonable to me may not be …
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Agent Update 89 has been published
Agent Update 89 is available now and contains the latest articles, updates, help and support for the entire agent community.
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A Service Standard for the Royal Navy
A service standard is a set of design principles to guide delivery teams in creating effective, digital services that provide a consistent experience for the end-user. Royal Navy delivery teams had been working to the Government Service Standard, however some …
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T Levels: Everything you need to know about the groundbreaking new technical equivalent to A levels
T Levels – the new technical post-16 qualification available in schools and colleges all over the country – may only have been around for one year, but already they are making a huge difference for those that study them.
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Reforming party funding arrangements
Lord Evans refelcts on recent commentary on the funding of political parties and the Committee's 2011 report.
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Helping prisoners turn their lives around: the vital role specialist production instructors play
Life inside a prison is about so much more than prisoners moving between their cells and communal areas, and prison officers locking and unlocking doors. There are a whole range of activities underway to help inmates prepare for their release …
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Financial support for smaller businesses
Raising finance is important in allowing a business to function. In particular, working capital enables the day-to-day operations of the business. The need for this finance was the main focus for all businesses during the pandemic, especially for the smaller ones.
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Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee: Recruiting new members now!
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is pleased to announce that it is now recruiting new committee members for the Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC), a non-statutory, independent scientific advisory body. HSAC provides expert advice on how …
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DIO - Senior Blast Effects Engineer (SEO)
Do you want a job where every day is different? Does providing specialist construction advice about explosives, weapons, ballistics & counter terrorism sound exciting? If your answer is yes, then DIO is the place for you. Working for DIO and …
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Protection, prevention and peace of mind this winter
As people working in or with the care sector, we all want the best for residents, colleagues and the communities around us. Let’s give them even greater peace of mind by getting vaccinated for flu and COVID-19 and make this the safest, healthiest winter we can.
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User panel is key to success for the waste tracking service
Laura McNulty, from the Resources and Waste team, explains how users are helping to design a digital waste tracking service, and the benefits of creating a user panel.
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North West Wellbeing Winter Wonderland - It's time to put the focus back on you
We are excited to announce our first face to face wellbeing event of 2021 on Wednesday 17 November 2021 at the Radisson Blu Hotel Liverpool.
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What we talk about when we talk about biometrics…*
Technology using biometric data is progressing at a rapid pace. Finding the right balance between the privacy concerns and entitlements of the individual while harnessing new technology responsibly, accountably and proportionately is proving to be a significant challenge for policing today; tomorrow’s technology will make it even more so. Which is why there needs to be an informed and realistic response to the government’s idea of soaking up the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner functions within a data regulator’s role which is buried at the end of the DCMS’ ongoing broad consultation.
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Digital Business Analysis - Putting the Business into our Digital Services
I have to admit, the term ‘Business Analyst’ doesn’t sound particularly interesting. It’s not even very descriptive; my own parents don’t really understand what I do. Analyse the business, perhaps? Look at processes, write business cases, monitor value-add with KPIs …
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Establishing the Home Office User Research Ethics Board
The Home Office User Research Ethics Board protects the rights, safety, wellbeing and dignity of all participants and researchers involved in our research. This is how we do it.
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Partnership is king for positive progress
Lee Marrs, Intelligence Research Officer at the Environment Agency, discusses working with industry partners to prevent the illegal export of waste. Last month we took big strides towards our ambition to stop illegal export of waste to protect the environment …
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Baby Loss Awareness Week - Our stories so far
This year’s theme for Baby Loss Awareness Week - from 9 to 15 October - is wellbeing. Katie James-Manning and Helen Mallison, who were impacted by their experience in different ways, reflect on what personally helped them. KATIE’S STORY I’m …
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DVLA supporting women in STEM
To mark Ada Lovelace Day 2021, Natalie Jones and Nicola Porter share their experience of starting a career in STEM at DVLA.
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Farming Innovation Programme: applications open next week
Earlier this summer, we said that we would launch the first competitions of the new Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund in October. I'm pleased to say that we’re on track. The £17.5 million Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund is the first of 3 funds to launch in the new Farming Innovation Programme. Applications for a share of this funding will open Wednesday 20 October 2021.
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Celebrating women across the Civil Service on Ada Lovelace Day
Tuesday 12th October 2021 is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths. It originated as a pledge to write about someone we admire. Ada (1815-1852), daughter of the mathematician Lady …
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Save the date! Get Online Week returns for 2021
Save the date - it's time to talk about Digital Inclusion.
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Choosing a standard industrial classification (SIC) code for your company
Discover why we use standard industrial classification (SIC) codes, how to choose your code and what to do if you need to change it.
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Black History Month 2021: ‘Proud to be’ honours recipients
Join us on 25 October to hear stories from Honours recipients, and to mark Black History Month you'll also learn how you can help to make our Honours system even more representative of all communities across the UK.
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What are Institutes of Technology?
What are Institutes of Technology? Institutes of Technology, or IoTs for short, are one of the most exciting new developments in post-16 and adult education. They are collaborations between further education colleges, universities and local employers, all working together to …
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Why the new Space-Enabled and Geospatial DPS is good news
Yesterday the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) opened the Space-Enabled and Geospatial Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to buyers right across the public sector. The new DPS will make it easier for the public sector to procure access to a broad range …