GOV.UK blogs

Protecting the South Humber coastline

Mark Adams from the Partnerships and Strategic Overview coastal team talks about progress on strengthening flood defences in North East Lincolnshire. Last year our team began work on a three-year project to improve 4.5km of coastal defences between the Ports …

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks powers up nature recovery by backing Projects for Nature with £250,000

In this post, Justin Francis, the chairperson for Projects for Nature, shares an update on the second business to support Projects for Nature, and how this funding will help accelerate nature recovery.

RPA Annual Report and Accounts 2023-2024

RPA has now published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-24 which tells our story, outlines the objectives we've achieved and the challenges we've faced. It can be accessed here Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 The report …

Delivering at pace: introducing Common Tools as a Service

For the past few months, an MHCLG Digital team has been working on a new initiative called Common Tools as a Service (CTaaS), which is set to become an expanding area of MHCLG Digital. This blog talks about the progress and work that has emerged from MHCLG Digital’s previous experiences and lessons learned in building services at pace and scale.

Behind the scenes: how Environment Agency scientists are testing bathing water quality  

There are more than 450 designated bathing waters across England. The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring, improving, and maintaining water quality at all designated bathing waters. Importantly, designation also means that information is provided to the public to help …

Coverage of Ofwat’s £168m enforcement action against three water companies

Today we are looking at coverage of Ofwat’s announcement that it will be pursuing enforcement action against Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Northumbrian Water.

Events 101: Top Tips for Running Civil Service Events

A guest blog from James Grove, Events Manager, Operational Delivery Profession team Being an Event Manager in the Civil Service is quite unusual. I’m very lucky that I get to spend my time meeting people from across government and showcasing …

Introducing GOV.UK’s new publishing strategy

We’ve launched a new strategy for the GOV.UK Publishing Service. Learn how our plans will make it easier and quicker for us to publish content and help GOV.UK become multi-channel.

Dartmoor Land Use Management Group: appointment of a chair

In April, we published our response to the Independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor. We agreed with the recommendation to create a land use management group. I'm pleased to say that the position of chair has just been advertised. In this post, I'll share a short summary and provide links to learn more.

5 tips for managing your woodland this summer

Nature Recovery Advisor MacBradan Bones shares his tips on managing your woodland in summer.

From Whitechapel to the White House

When you make things open, you make things better. GDS Chief Executive Chris Bellamy and Chief of Staff Louise Harris, and cross-government colleagues, were invited by counterparts in Washington DC to have that conversation with a group of global digital leaders. Discover their key highlights in our latest blog post.

New Towns speculation

There has been inaccurate media reporting regarding the location of the Government’s proposed new towns and resulting concerns raised by local residents. As we made clear last week, the location of these New Towns has not been agreed. The Taskforce …

With a lot of help from our friends: assembling an England Peat Map

Contributors: Andrew Webb, Principal advisor, England Peat Map. Tom Hunt, Data engagement lead, England Peat Map. Sarah Parrott, Engagement and impact lead advisor, NCEA. Elizabeth Mitchell, Engagement and impact senior advisor, NCEA   How do you make a map of something that’s largely underground, …

When is results day 2024? GCSEs, A levels, T Levels and VTQs

In August, pupils in England will find out their results for GCSEs, A levels, T Levels and VTQ (vocational technical qualifications) exams.  Ahead of results day, schools, colleges and assessment centres should contact pupils directly to tell them how and …

Lack of government action could be leaving ineffective or out-of-date regulation on the statute books

The RPC has today published a summary table of the ratings in its opinions on post implementation reviews published over the past few years. This supplements the earlier publication of a summary of its opinions on impact assessments and seeks to enhance the transparency of the Better Regulation Framework.

GCSE 9–1 grades to uni places: What you need to know about 2024 exam results

Very soon more than 7 million results will be issued to students in England, including over 800,000 results for vocational and technical qualifications. Here are some important things to know about marking, grading and results.  When are 2024 results days?  …

Working for DIO in Germany

Hi, I'm Gareth Wilmot and I'm a Senior Estate Surveyor for DIO in Germany. This role is to provide estate surveying and estate management advice throughout Germany on behalf of the UK MOD. This includes land management for NATO Forward …

An update on SFI and our agri-environment schemes 

It's been a while since our last post. We’re glad to be back! Over the past month, we've been welcoming Defra's new ministerial team, who are fully committed to environmental land management schemes. We've been working with them to optimise our schemes and grants for farmers, food security and nature recovery. In this post, we’ll update you on the SFI rollout, provide links to new supplementary scheme guidance and share details on endorsed actions and capital items.

GOV.UK One Login: A Disclosure and Barring Service Success Story

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) were the first department to partner with GOV.UK One Login, find out about their experience with the programme in this blog.

The Magic of Heathland Summers: Nightjars, Nature Recovery, and the Future of our Landscapes

Victoria Hawkins, Heathland Connections Nature Recovery Project Senior Advisor, Natural England. Heathland Connections is an inspiring Nature Recovery Project and I feel fortunate to spend the best part of my day working on it. In this post, I want to …

River vegetation management in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire - reducing flood risk

Abigail Ovenden, Asset Management Engagement Advisor, looks at how the Environment Agency reduces flood risk in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire by cutting vegetation. Environment Agency teams (and contractors on our behalf) manage vegetation and weed growth along 2,210 kilometres of Main …

GP Pay Award

On Monday 29th July, the Department of Health and Social Care accepted the recommendation of the independent pay review body for doctors and dentists to uplift GP pay by 6%. Here is what it will mean for GP’s pay: What …

Life as a new user researcher

Read about one of our colleague's journey into the career of User Research.

Meet the Modern Civil Service: Alexandra Whiteley, Head of Events

Alexandra Whiteley, Head of Events, Cabinet Office, spoke with Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe from the Civil Service Strategy Unit, about what A Modern Civil Service means to her, as well as how large-scale events like Civil Service Live benefit the Civil Service. …

The Chief Scientist Report: 2023

Professor Sallie Bailey, Chief Scientist at Natural England, tells us about the publication of Natural England’s sixth Chief Scientist Report   This Report, the sixth in the series, focusses on the impact our work has and – crucially - how …

Who’s eligible for the 2024 COVID-19 vaccine, or ‘Autumn Booster’?

A summary of who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or autumn booster in 2024. Current vaccines provide good protection against severe disease and hospitalisation, with protection lasting for around 4 months.

A first step towards evaluating the impacts of the UK’s trade remedies

Today we have published a research report prepared by Grant Thornton UK LLP (Grant Thornton) for the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA). This report explores the toolkit of methodology options that we could use in our evaluation to measure the impacts of …

Selling woodland or peatland carbon: could it be right for you?

Did you know that if you plant a new woodland or restore peatland, you could sell the carbon benefits? When it comes to carbon, UK buyers are leading the way – so the time to get involved is now.

Revitalising the Hamble Brook: A new wetland haven in Buckinghamshire

New life has been breathed into Buckinghamshire’s Hamble Brook by a substantial wetland site spanning 2,500 square metres. This work, led by the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, further extends the largest scheme of its kind involving the Environment Agency, and …

Working with the Zambia Workers' Compensation Fund

GAD supports the Zambia Workers' Compensation Fund through its actuarial valuation of the Fund every 3 years. In this blog we look at what this involves - such as a valuation of liabilities and assets, and an assessment of contribution rates employers pay.

Debunking 5 product management myths

Megha Jain, Head of Product, applies her superpowers to bust 5 myths surrounding the product-centric approach in IT infrastructure and operations.

Expert taskforce to be at the forefront of new towns vision

This week the Deputy Prime Minister set out the Government’s plans for New Towns. There has been extensive national and regional coverage about this, including The Guardian, Sky News, The Independent, Manchester Evening News, and Yorkshire Post. The Housing Minister …

Bringing new life to Hull’s urban waters

Hull is a city that has long been defined by its relationship with water. Environment Programme Project Manager, Dan Jagucki, talks about an innovative project to bring new life into Hull’s urban waterways. Hundreds of years ago the city and …

Celebrating Marine Protected Areas Awareness Day

As we celebrate Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Awareness Day, it's fitting that we reflect on the importance of MPAs, the role we play in manging those in English waters and the support we provide internationally to the UK Overseas Territories …

Exploring the use of artificial intelligence to streamline the planning process

Planning documents often contain vast amounts of valuable information, but accessing and using this data can be challenging. Artificial intelligence offers a potentially promising solution to extract key information and insights, and this post talks about how the Digital Planning Programme is exploring the use of artificial intelligence to streamline the planning process.

More than you think - how we organise Design System Day

Design System Day 2024 will showcase the breadth of design systems work across our community. Join us as we explore the unsung heroes of the design system.

Ensuring nuclear reactor designs meet high standards of environmental protection

The Environment Agency’s New Reactors Assessment Team is carrying out assessments of three small modular reactor nuclear power station designs. Andrew Pynn, Senior Advisor for the project, summarises what we have been doing on two of the projects and why. …

The #PowerofPossibility

On Earth Overshoot Day Matt Bradley explores how we must consider not only the carbon impact of our solutions, products, and services, but also their true planetary effects. Balancing the books: Earth Overshoot Day unpacked Governments and societies worldwide aspire …

Our plan to get Britain Building again

Yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister launched the new National Planning Policy Framework which will increase housing targets to get Britain building again. We will also begin work today on a generation of new towns. The Deputy Prime Minister has appointed …

Roundup of OPSS Vacancies

We’re undergoing an exciting period at the OPSS, and there’s never been a better time to join us.

Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!

We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business, and Trade. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.