7666posts
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The innovation book club: great reads to give a hoot about!
What are the best books to read on innovation? We asked a range of leaders across the Civil Service for favourite literary recommendations to inspire innovative thinking, from popular guides to to inspirational novels, with a few videos and podcasts …
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RPA grants and rural payments
RPA offers a wide range of grants rural payments to farmers, businesses and local authorities. In this series about grants and the team that delivers them on the RPA blog we look at the grants available, using case studies …
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Civil Service Data Challenge shortlist announced
Find out more about the shortlisted entries for 2024’s Civil Service Data Challenge, the data competition designed to find a data-led solution to a technical or societal issue.
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One Big Thing 2023: putting the ‘big’ in big data!
The Civil Service launched One Big Thing on 4 September 2023, as a new annual initiative for civil servants to take shared action each year around a reform priority. Our theme for 2023 was data skills and we committed to …
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Our approach to Welsh language content and testing
For the past year, the Modernising Lasting Powers of Attorney (MLPA) team has considered its approach to the Welsh language. Here they share what they’ve learnt from testing Welsh content, and challenges they need to solve in the run-up to …
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Water transformation: source to sea.
Helen Wakeham, Director of Water Transformation at the Environment Agency delivered a keynote speech today (25 January) at the annual Coastal Futures Conference in London. Here, Helen shares her thoughts on the history and future of our estuarine, coastal, and …
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Looking at the future of remote hearings
Since the pandemic remote hearings have become an integral part of the justice system. Senior Service Manager, Claire Jukes, explains how we’re developing the remote hearings of the future.
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Introducing RegBox: using serious games in regulatory development
Today Policy Lab is introducing RegBox – a toolkit enabling policymakers to convene stakeholders and work together to make decisions affecting regulation, using serious games. The toolkit will consist of game patterns for different use cases, a collection of case …
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Coverage of additional local government funding announcement
There is widespread reporting of the additional local government funding announcement, proactively briefed by press office yesterday. The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Times, Independent, Evening Standard, PA, The Sun, Daily Mail, BBC, The Guardian, Politico and many regional outlets …
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How we are supporting students with their living costs
We know that many students are facing increased living costs and that is why we’ve made sure support is available through universities. Here is everything you need to know about what support is available to help students meet everyday costs …
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Protecting our diverse and valuable seabird species
Have you ever been asked to name a UK seabird on the spot? Seagulls probably come to mind first, right? Or maybe you think about those charismatic puffins or bustling ‘seabird cities’ of guillemots. We’re actually home to some of …
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How pathogen genomics could help us detect new health threats and improve vaccines
In this blog, we will explore the role of pathogen genomics in UK biosecurity and how we are developing our genomic systems to better protect public health in the UK.
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Privacy Attacks in Federated Learning
This post is part of a series on privacy-preserving federated learning. The series is a collaboration between CDEI and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Learn more and read all the posts published to date on the …
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Working in partnership to plan in-service evaluation of newborn screening for SMA
The UK NSC has held the inaugural meeting of the partnership board which will oversee the development of the in-service evaluation of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy in real world NHS services.
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Working with us: Become a senior trade remedies lawyer with the TRA
As we prepare to open applications for a Grade 6 senior trade remedies lawyer we asked senior lawyer, Matt Gass, to share his experiences of joining the TRA and what his highlights have been so far. I started with the …
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Watch: an SFI special from Oxford
Earlier this month, we attended both the Oxford Real Farming Conference and the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC). In this post, we share 2 videos. The first video is a session hosted by Jim Egan and Jonathan Baker on environmental land management and the agricultural transition. The second video features farmers John Geldard and Ben Taylor-Davies. John gives his opinion on the work of the team and Ben describes his experience of SFI and plans for his farm.
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Sign up to the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) Profession
Get to know the GSE We are a diverse cross-government group of around 10,000 members who are connected to science and engineering either by their role, skillset, or interests and are headed up by Professor Dame Angela McLean, the Government Chief …
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We’ve joined forces with MSC to stop illegal waste exports
Each year our illegal waste exports team in our National Enforcement Service stops between 200 and 450 containers full of waste that does not comply with waste export regulations, such as untreated and hazardous waste. In our blog last month, we …
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The Statutory Biodiversity Metric: what it means for biodiversity net gain and biodiversity measurement
This guest blog from Mike Burke, Natural England's Programme Director for Sustainable Development, talks through the development of the metric and what it means for BNG, alongside the implications for biodiversity measurement globally.
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The power of plankton: Advancing our understanding of the role and value of plankton as marine natural capital
In this new Marine Science blog, scientists from Cefas, the University of Plymouth, and Environment Agency discuss new research by the Pelagic Natural Capital project (PelCap), which is helping to monitor the impact of human activities on plankton health in …
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Citizenship: community, equality and liberty
Guest blogger, Simon Duffy, has made a significant contribution to work on self-directed support, personal budgets and putting people in control. Citizenship and inclusion are the cornerstones of social work. Making sure we are working with people with learning disabilities to achieve positive outcomes is imperative.
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Spotlight on new actions: agroforestry and improvements to our trees and woodland offer
The Agricultural Transition Plan update includes the full range of new and updated Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) actions and the payment rates available in 2024. In this post, we focus on the new agroforestry actions and include improvements to the Countryside Stewardship (CS) offer for trees and woodlands.
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Sharing an insight into the work of our Immigration and Asylum tribunals in Scotland
Our team at Glasgow Tribunals Centre recently welcomed students from The University of Edinburgh and The University of Glasgow for some real world experience of our tribunals.
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Introducing the Digital Readiness Check for government
The Central Digital and Data Office has developed a set of key principles and questions to work through when developing policy or legislation, read more about the Digital Readiness Check in our latest blog.
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Financial Times interview with the chair of the Electoral Commission on Voter ID
An article in the Financial Times today reports on comments made by the Chair of the Electoral Commission, John Pullinger, that the government’s Voter ID scheme could disenfranchise groups at this year’s general election and that it is ‘more of …
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Biodiversity Net Gain - what are the exemptions?
In this blog, we provide more details on which developments are exempt from BNG. The list of exemptions is narrow and focused, keeping the policy ambitious, whilst being proportionate and deliverable for developers and local planning authorities.
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The Rural Payments Agency Podcast: Episode 8
Welcome to the eighth episode of The RPA Podcast. In our latest episode, Danielle Bragg from the RPA Grants Service Team discusses the range of grants currently available to farmers, as well as some new opportunities on the horizon. We …
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RPA Podcast – Episode 8 – Transcript and Executive Summary
Executive Summary Item 1: Danielle Bragg, from the RPA Grants Service Team, runs us through all the grants available to farmers, under the Farming Investment Fund. The Farming Investment Fund offers funding for equipment, technology, and infrastructure that improves farm …
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Post Office Horizon - an accountability failure
Bringing in a new IT system to modernise a seriously outdated system is never as straightforward as one hopes. But the catastrophic impact of the Horizon system at the Post Office and the subsequent handling of the problems asks major …
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New to post-completion? Get ahead with top tips for complete and correct applications
Ten short videos show you how to avoid more than 20 of the most common requisitions.
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Get ready for changes to UK company law
We’re aiming to introduce the first set of changes brought in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March 2024. Here’s what you need to know.
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Realising the potential of Military Spouses and Partners in the Civil Service
Military spouses and partners can experience real impact on their lives and those of their families during or after military life. We want to make sure that being a military spouse or partner does not create a barrier to a …
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Inside the largest global AI ‘hack’
While the UK’s AI Safety Summit was in motion in November, the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) collaborated with PwC and Microsoft to run the Generative Artificial Intelligence Government Hackathon. We recently published an update to the 2022-25 roadmap …
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Commander British Forces Commendations for No2 Overseas Squadron (Gibraltar)
CBF Commendations for No2 Overseas Squadron Last week, the No2 Overseas (Gibraltar) Squadron (Sqn) assumed they were turning up to a normal Thursday evening session. What they were unaware of, was that Commander British Forces (CBF), Commodore Tom Guy, was …
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Time to press the accelerator on the road to Nature recovery
Tony Juniper CBE As we take stock of the year just passed and look ahead to the challenges facing us in 2024, we can pause briefly to celebrate gains recently made toward securing Nature’s recovery. From a Natural England perspective, …
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How joining a school business professional network could help you with buying for your school
In the latest Buying for Schools blog post, network Chair Frances Rowland explains how the ABLE network supports school business professionals, and why you should consider joining a network if you’re not a member already.
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Building the first policy campus beyond Whitehall
A new government campus will help Sheffield become a powerhouse for policy making and talent development, in line with the Capability and Place missions as part of A Modern Civil Service. In June, the Government’s first policy campus launched in …
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We Are Strategic Command with Redwan Ahmed
In our latest article, Redwan Ahmed, Business Analyst within our Portfolio Office talks about his mission to make a positive difference through innovation and collaboration. Interviewer: Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role? Redwan: I’m Redwan Ahmed …
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Artificial Intelligence: introducing our series of online courses on generative AI
Discover how to harness the power of generative Artificial Intelligence tools with CDDO's new online courses on Government Campus.
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East Anglia’s work protecting eels
Dan Hayter, a fisheries specialist, explains how eels historically became critically endangered and what the Environment Agency are doing to protect this species.