7435posts
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There’s still time to get free business advice
The Farming Resilience Fund offers free, tailored business support to help farmers and land managers plan during the early years of the agricultural transition. With over 100 actions available through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) a range of grants to explore and with the advice offer ending in early 2025, now is a good time to talk to an adviser and plan for the future.
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Introducing you to...
Hi, I’m Nicole Villani and I’ve been working as a summer intern with RPA’s Grants Service team, based in Nottingham. I got the nine-week role as part of the Civil Service’s summer internship programme, after completing an internship in the …
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Finding Resolution: Inside the Small Claims Mediation Service
Our latest podcast episode explores the Small Claims Mediation Service and how it is supporting users to help speed up their claims and avoid the potential stress of going to court.
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Is agroforestry right for your farm? New funding to help plan and establish agroforestry systems
Agroforestry Development Manager Jim O'Neill explains the benefits of agroforestry and the support and funding available.
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Deputy Prime Minister visits Stoke-On-Trent in Light of Recent Violent Disorder
The Deputy Prime Minister visited Stoke-On-Trent yesterday (13 August) where she heard first-hand from those who were impacted by recent violent disorder. There has been coverage of the visit in BBC News online, Stoke-On-Trent Live and on BBC Midlands. Coverage …
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Combining AI and content design to extract insights from service assessment reports
How do we make sure that a Large Language Model (LLM) understands a task, and completes it as accurately as possible? If you’ve experimented yourself, or read the advice of major LLM providers (such as these guides from Anthropic, Google, …
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Surveying fish on the River Stour
My name is Dan Hayter and I work for the Environment Agency in East Anglia. Part of my job involves monitoring the number of fish we have in our rivers and one way I do this is through fish surveys. …
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Unrest highlights value of charity kindness and voice in national life
The toxicity unfolding online and on our streets over recent weeks has been shocking and disturbing. The events have demonstrated how easily vocal minorities can exploit division and incite violence. But my belief in the strength of our communities, and …
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A day in the life of a peatland contractor
In this post, Jonny Bainbridge, owner of an agri-environmental contracting business, shares a day in the life of a peatland contractor.
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Providing good experiences for children with complex needs
***Update: we have also released a podcast on this topic*** In January, we published a new research report on children with complex needs in children’s homes. The report was based on a national survey of local authorities and children’s home …
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What we're working on: improving our digital services
Gordon Thomson, DVSA's Head of Vehicle Testing, explains the work we’re doing to improve our digital services in the latest what we're working on blog post.
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Understanding the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 Annual Declaration
As the year progresses, we are reminding Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement holders to submit their annual declaration. What is the Annual Declaration? The annual declaration is how SFI agreement holders confirm that they have delivered against their agreement …
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Training to be a Programme Facilitator
The programme facilitator role involves working with groups of offenders who are completing mandatory courses as part of their probation conditions. We spoke with two programme facilitators, Simone and Craig who bring different experiences of the role. Simone joined the …
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An introduction to the NUAR Data Model
The National Underground Asset Register presents a standardised view of pipes and cables to support safe and efficient excavation works. That view is underpinned by a data model based on a new international standard. Dr Neil Brammall, NUAR Product Owner, describes that data model and plans for sharing it.
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Future-proofing the ResilienceDirect service by migrating to public cloud
Cabinet Office Digital (CO Digital) has teamed up with the Resilience Directorate to transform the online event and emergency response service ResilienceDirect. ResilienceDirect plays a key role in coordinating the planning, response and recovery services across multiple agencies during national …
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From casualty evacuations to historic ruins: ready for anything in Belize
Facilitating military training anywhere in the world is an important job. The primary role of DIO (Belize) Range Control, Wardens and Tracker teams is providing a safe place to train and working with exercising units to ensure that military training …
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Government to double water bill compensation for poor customer service
Today we are looking at coverage of government plans to double reimbursement payments for water company customers when their basic services are impacted.
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How to 'Get Started' using GOV.UK Forms - experiences of the Content team at the DVSA
In this guest blog post, Thomas Williams and John Ploughman, from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) share their experience of being private beta partners and getting started with GOV.UK Forms.
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Results day 2024: What's next after picking up your A level, T level and VTQ results?
It can feel like there’s a lot riding on A Level, T Level and Vocational Technical Qualifications (VTQ) results day but if you don’t get your predicted grades, don’t worry - it doesn’t mean that your education journey stops here. …
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Restoration of Coastal Grazing Marsh in Essex
My name is Nicola and I work as a Catchment Co-ordinator in the East Anglia Environment Programme team. I work across Essex from the River Colne to the Mardyke including our extensive coastline. A key aspect of my job is …
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Grade 7 Senior Private Secretary to the Chief Scientific Adviser
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the department focused on delivering economic growth for the UK. DBT supports businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. Job description As Senior Private Secretary (SPS), …
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Meteors galore and a planetary conjunction: the night sky in August 2024
This month brings one of the best meteor showers of the year, an opportunity to see a conjunction of Mars and Jupiter and the chance to see our Moon pass in front of Saturn.
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Quarterly homelessness statistics
Yesterday the Department published its quarterly homelessness statistics from Jan-March 2024 showing record numbers of households, including those with children, in temporary accommodation. There have been several pieces of national coverage including The Mirror, The Guardian and The Times reporting …
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Royal Society Pairing Scheme 2024
This year, The Royal Society Pairing Scheme took place in March and provided policymakers and research scientists an opportunity to experience a different working environment. To do this, 30 research scientists each year are paired with UK parliamentarians and civil …
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Clarifying the Facts: Tagging of hedgehogs and licensing requirements
There has been some misinformation on social media recently regarding the tagging of hedgehogs to enable identification of individuals. This blog post from Natural England aims to set the record straight and provide clarity on this important issue. Background Marking …
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Services Week 2024 in review
Services Week, the annual event series run by the Government Digital and Data community for people working in the UK public sector, grew in reach again this year. An estimated 5,000 participants took part in Services Week 2024, over 62 …
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How working in cycles and rhythms of nature reflects in our Product Lifecycle framework
Find out about ‘sunsetting’ and ‘clearing the decks’ of our digital services
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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.
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5 tips for managing your woodland this summer
Nature Recovery Advisor MacBradan Bones shares his tips on managing your woodland in summer.
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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.
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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 …
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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, …