6032posts
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Helping businesses comply with the Funerals Order
To ensure funeral directors and crematorium operators comply with the Funerals Order, we’ve published new guidance. We’re also now starting to take enforcement action to resolve compliance issues we’ve identified. The Funerals Order Anybody who has had to arrange a …
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NHSBSA Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) patients alpha assessment
Read the alpha report for the Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) patients from NHSBSA
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Dragons’ Den, Episode 4, Series 20
In this week’s episode we got to see a disco in the Den, business models of the future, partnerships popping up and firm rejections.
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Managing infections - don’t forget about the indoor air in your care home
As winter takes hold, it is tempting to try and keep residents warm and fuel costs lower by hunkering down until the weather gets warmer. But keeping all the windows and doors shut may not be the best idea: homes need ventilation and care homes are no different. Professor Cath Noakes and fellow experts give the reasons a good airing...
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Coverage of details on support for farmers who deliver food production and environmental action
Today, there has been widespread coverage on the front page of the Guardian, as well as in the Financial Times, BBC Online, the Independent, the Evening Standard, the Daily Telegraph the Daily Star, and trade coverage in Farmers Weekly, Horticulture …
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Low Pay Commission regional visits 2023 – Your chance to be heard
Low Pay Commissioners will be meeting workers and businesses across the UK, on six regional visits. This is your chance to let us know how you are affected by the minimum wage. If you want to participate, get in touch …
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Environmental land management schemes: details of actions and payments
We recently published more information on the rollout of our environmental land management schemes. It includes the full range of actions, payment rates and when they’ll be available. This post gives a scheme-by-scheme summary.
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Thinking of a career change? Switch to be a Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) professional
Four professionals reflect on how and why they changed career path and share top tips for making the switch
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Evaluation: the icing on the cake?
Why evaluation is an inseparable ingredient of great policy making. You may sometimes hear evaluation described as the ‘icing on the cake’. Some might say it is a ‘nice to have.’ In other words, once we’ve announced the shiny new …
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The MMO ramps up plans to further protect English marine sites
We’ve launched the next stage in our ambitious project to manage all fishing activities and protect valuable marine habitats in England’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2024. On 17 January 2023, we launched our Stage 2 formal consultation, to seek …
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The principles of delegated healthcare
The further embedding of delegated healthcare interventions in the care workforce represents the ongoing initiative to marry social care experience with clinical excellence to deliver enhanced, high quality and consistent care. Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, and Oonagh Smyth, CEO Skills for Care give an update.
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'What do I need to do to prepare for my early years inspection?'
We want practitioners to have the confidence and freedom to do what they do every day. Our inspectors are tasked with finding out what it is like for children to attend their setting not just on the day of the inspection but every day. Therefore, we ask providers not to do anything differently just for the inspection.
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How we ran a discovery for GOV.UK publishing permissions
We’re always looking to improve GOV.UK for users, including government publishers. Here is how we identified some of the next improvements to the publishing experience.
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British Sign Language Act: Improving how government communicates with the Deaf community
The British Sign Language Act 2022 requires the Government to report how departments in scope are using BSL when communicating with the public about policy and changes to the law.
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Apply now for the Forestry Apprenticeship 2023
Applications have opened for joining our Forestry Apprenticeship this September. Programme Manager Gareth offers advice for anyone considering applying and looks at how the current apprentices are getting on.
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Windrush Schemes Factsheet – December 2022
We are determined to put right the terrible injustices faced by some people from the Windrush generation and the wider Commonwealth, which happened under successive governments.
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Improving drought situation - but the work doesn't stop here
With above average rainfall in the last few months, and precautionary activity by water companies and abstractors, water levels are returning to normal across most of the country. Water storage reservoirs are rapidly refilling, and most river and groundwater levels …
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A blueprint for a better future: new Green Infrastructure advice
My connection with nature started when I was a small boy, aged 9, sat by a small pond no more than 10 feet across, watching sticklebacks swimming around in the weeds. As I sat there a kingfisher arrived and started …
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Shauna's journey
Working in the Probation Service can open up a lot of interesting opportunities. We talk to Shauna who joined us as a case administrator and now works in one of our key probation services officer roles. She specialises in working …
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Edwina Dunn: Reflections from the CDEI Advisory Board
I have long believed in the power of data to make a meaningful difference to people's lives. Working in the field for over 30 years, I have seen the ways in which data can be used as a powerful force …
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Watch: Getting the balance right between farming and nature
This is the third in a series of films exploring how environmental improvements and farming go hand in hand in the Lake District. Local farm facilitator Danny Teasdale talks with auctioneer and Managing Director of The Farmer Network, Adam Day, about the importance of building environmental solutions that fit with farmers’ businesses.
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Join a new training pilot to help you manage your contracts and maximise your budget
Charlene Pink is an Innovation Lead at the Department for Education and is currently working on a project which aims to give those who buy for their school the knowledge, skills and confidence to do so as effectively as they can. In this blog post, Charlene highlights a new training pilot which launches in February 2023.
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Digital accounts for vehicle testing customers – taking a user centred approach
Listening to what our users say is a key part of making the service successful. User researcher for the Commercial Vehicle Services project, Arriyana Chundavadra, shares what user research is and what we've learnt.
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Lifesaving defibrillator deliveries begin for all schools that need one
Oliver King died aged just 12 years old when he suffered a cardiac arrest while taking part in a swimming race in 2012. There is clear evidence showing that defibrillators drastically increase the chance of survival from a cardiac arrest …
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My journey as an international working at HMRC
About me Hi, I’m Prerna - I would like to share my experiences as an international working for HMRC. I moved to the UK from India in 2017 with my husband. In India, I worked as an Interior Designer for …
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Coverage of plans to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme
Today we are looking at coverage of our announcement of the next steps for our Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers.
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Slurry Infrastructure grant: time to apply
At the end of this month, the first round of the Slurry Infrastructure grant will close for applications. So, if you haven’t yet applied, now is the time to. In this post, I’ll give you a recap of the grant and the process to apply before the 31 January.
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How we let GOV.UK Notify users set their own branding
Find out how the Notify team made it quicker and easier for services to add the right logo to their emails and letters.
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Around the world in 28 days for Active Wellbeing
New Year, but could it be a whole new you? Matt Bazeley says it’s time to kickstart Active Wellbeing Month to get moving and recapture your mojo! Active Wellbeing is back for its fifth year, helping civil servants make positive …
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Reporting on septic tanks in Cornwall
There has been inaccurate coverage about issues of septic tank storage in Cornwall. It includes claims that the Environment Agency (EA) has changed the rules on firms being able to spread waste from septic tanks on land. This is not the …
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How has the increase in economic inactivity affected low-paying occupations?
Why is employment still lower than it was three years ago? Total employment in the UK fell following the pandemic and still has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The red line in the figure below shows that in August 2022, …
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Removing gsi-family domains from the public sector
Public sector organisations are no longer using gsi-family domains and therefore they are scheduled for removal by the beginning of April. Read this post to find out more.
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Rotherham Local Authority "School Attendance Matters Pathway"
Background Prior to the launch of the Early Help Service in 2016, there was a standalone Education Welfare Service (EWS). The EWS carried out enforcement using Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) when leave of absences was taken during term time and further …
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Dragons’ Den, Episode 3, Series 20
This week's Dragons' Den was packed full of entrepreneurial flavour. Here we take a look at how the Dragons were fired up by a range of homemade chutneys and inspired by the seed of an idea that will get us all gardening...with a difference!
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Switching to a design career in my forties
I have always loved art and design, but following this passion as a career didn’t seem possible until I joined the Ministry of Justice. Since 2021, I have been re-training as a designer, having previously worked as a Business Support …
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A resolution to restore our natural world in 2023
Blog by Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England January is a time for new beginnings and new resolutions to drive self-improvement, and that applies to nations just as much as individuals. In Canada last month almost 200 countries at …
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Slamming the gates on reoffending
How a new recruit Tassie Ghilani took an evidence based approach to improve the life chances of prison leavers Tassir Ghilani joined the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in June 2021 via the Going Forward in Employment scheme. It improves life …
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National Crime Agency help tackle child abuse
NCA top Civil Service Awards Productive Partnerships category in for their valuable tooling to help identify, locate and protect vulnerable victims of sexual abuse. National Crime Agency (NCA) officers’ close collaboration with BAE Systems is protecting children around the world …
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How the new DDaT Academy is helping to build our talent pipeline of business analysts
Since the ONS DDaT academy was launched 6 months ago, we've used a variety of approaches to attract new talent to the organisation. We had a great response when building our business analysis talent pipeline.
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Updating your property details correctly
Kevin Pound, Head of Valuation Assurance at the Valuation Office Agency, explains how to avoid making a mistake when updating details about your property.