7975posts
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5 easy ways to boost your child’s development
The more you chat, play and read with young children, the more you help develop their brain, and provide them with the skills they need for when they start school. Wherever you are, simply chatting back and forth, answering your …
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Natural England welcomes Oxford Farming Conference Announcements
Last week, Environment Secretary Steve Barclay gave a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference announcing the biggest upgrade to the UK farming schemes introduced by the Government since leaving the EU. (Suggested caption/introduction)
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Family hubs: Local support and advice for children and their families
Whether you’re a parent looking for help with infant feeding, developing your child’s early language skills, or mental health support, family hubs provide a range of useful services for families in one location. Family hubs are now open in 75 …
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Fisheries Enforcement 2023: A Year of Action and Collaboration
As we usher in a new year, it's an opportunity to look back at the Environment Agency's fisheries enforcement work in 2023. This year has been marked by concerted efforts from EA staff, innovative campaigns, and significant collaborations to combat illegal fishing and protect our fisheries.
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2024: The Year of the Space Entrepreneur
2024 is looking to be the year of the Space entrepreneur, and through the Fusion programme, the UK Space Agency, Entrepreneurial Spark and Exotopic will prime up to 20 of the UK’s most promising space entrepreneurs to make the most of this growth in the industry.
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Get to know the Regulatory Design and Governance Team
The Regulatory Design and Governance team have a unique role to review emerging regulations and feed into the design to ensure legislation works on the ground for our enforcement officers.
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Michael Gove launches new consultation to deliver Awaab’s Law
There has been widespread coverage in the media about the consultation published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, which sets out new plans to improve social housing standards and clamp down on rogue social landlords who fail …
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Low Pay Commission regional visits 2024 – 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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Watch: webinar on the farming offer in 2024
On Friday 26 January, we held a webinar for farmers. During the session, we went through the actions and payments available through our environmental land management schemes in 2024. This post includes a link to the recording.
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Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) - how procurement will change for some schools and trusts
Kevin Draisey is Head of Procurement Operations for Get help buying for schools, the DfE’s free supported buying service for schools and trusts. In this blog post, Kevin explains what Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) means for people who buy for schools and trusts, and how they can get ready for the changes ahead.
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2024 highlights and winter sights: the night sky in January
2024 hosts several fascinating night sky sights, from an early morning line up of the rocky planets to two partial lunar eclipses.
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Embedding a culture of innovation
In our previous article Building an Innovative Civil Service we talked about how innovation is fundamental to continually deliver value to the public. Innovation can be abstract and we want to highlight how important culture is in fostering psychological safety …
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DIO staff recognised with honours
Congratulations to the DIO staff who have recently been recognised with honours for their work! Leading the way was Tom Meadows, Deputy Head of Security Services Group (SSG) and Technical Director, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s …
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In numbers: How people used GOV.UK in 2023
GOV.UK’s most-viewed content gives us crucial guidance about what our users are looking for and how we can develop our services. From a historic Coronation to key tax updates and a new system of emergency alerts, here were some of 2023’s big moments.
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Introducing a Content Toolkit for Defence
We have teams creating great content for their users. How can we share their ways of working across Defence? The content toolkit is a collection of tools for you to create and manage user-centred content. It will help people …
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Load Monitoring Systems (LMS) are presented with their prestigious King's Award for Enterprise
At just seven years old, being honoured with the UK’s most prestigious business award in recognition of success in international trade is a monumental achievement and, for LMS, the timing coincides with another important landmark in our corporate journey writes …
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Supporting the tenanted sector in England
Tenant farmers are at the heart of the rural economy, managing a third of all farmland in England. To meet our food security and environmental objectives, we must make sure that all farmers, including tenant farmers, can access our schemes and build thriving farm businesses. In this post, we’ll explain how we are continuing to …
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Inside the criminal courts
Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes in our criminal courts? Find out about our new campaign 'Inside the Criminal Courts' which will see our colleagues share their own personal stories and experiences from working within justice.
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UK NSC expands its digital reach during 2023
There were nearly 290,000 separate visits to the UK NSC's 3 online platforms during 2023, reflecting the committee's ongoing commitment to continually improve its stakeholder engagement.
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Roundup of OPSS Vacancies
We’re undergoing an exciting period at the OPSS, and there’s never been a better time to join us.
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Power of Attorney stories: Zoe
[English] - [Cymraeg] A lasting power of attorney (LPA) allows you to nominate someone you trust, known as an attorney, to step in if you lack the mental capacity to make certain decisions yourself. They are legal documents that cover …
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Coverage of UK farming schemes upgrades and plans to consult on food labelling
Blog on the coverage of our announcement on the biggest upgrades to UK farming schemes introduced by the Government since Britain left the EU.
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Defra group digital and data transformation strategy: how we’re planning to digitally transform our services
Sarah Hoy, Deputy Director for Digital Transformation, tells us how our new Digital and Data Strategy will change the way we design, build, and run digital services in the future.
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Space for our future: UK Space Conference focuses on closing the UK space sector’s skills gap
The UK Space Conference is the premier, biennial event for the UK space sector. This year it took place from 21 to 23 November in Belfast, and showcased a raft of initiatives linking the space industry to the UK's next generation of talent.
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Dragons' Den IP Blog - Series 21 Episode 1
The Dragons are back! Episode 1 of the new BBC Dragons’ Den series has got off to an inspiring start. Unusually, every one of the intrepid entrepreneurs walked away with an offer. Read our latest Dragons’ Den IP Blog to find out more about the IP behind the inventions…
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Free courses and qualification for adults to boost their skills
Whether you’re starting your first job, looking to change career, or want to boost your skillset, we’re investing in training programmes that can help you get where you want to go. There are thousands of free courses available to young …
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Windrush Schemes Factsheet – November 2023
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. The Windrush Scheme ensures members of the Windrush generation can get the documentation they need to …
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Energy efficiency drive for historic homes
There has been coverage in the media of plans published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to remove barriers and drive energy efficiency in historic homes, cutting energy bills for households across the country. 'Adapting Historic Homes …
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FCDO Research Advisory Group: Apply to become an expert member
The role The FCDO’s Research Advisory Group provides strategic guidance, rapid insights, and independent challenge to help achieve the FCDO’s ambitious global research and development objectives. The FCDO is expanding the group and invites applications from senior experts from academia or industry for 4 additional …
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Environmental land management in 2024: details of actions and payments
Today we published an update to the Agricultural Transition Plan on GOV.UK. It includes our progress, priorities and plans for the coming years. In this post, I'll share a summary of the update which includes details of scheme payment rates, premium payments, new actions and plans for a single application service.
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Embracing challenges: a reflective journey in exams administration
Nicki Hlousek, exams manager at Newcastle College, reflects on his experience as an exams officer and shares tips on how to be successful in the role. It has been quite a ride since my last blog back in April 2023, …
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How to improve your child’s school attendance and where to get support
This article has been updated on 29 February 2024 to reflect the latest information. For most pupils, the best place to be is in school, surrounded by the support of their friends and teachers. This is important not just for your child’s …
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Inaccurate coverage on our farming budget
The Guardian has today published a piece claiming the government has broken its promise to English farmers by failing to spend the promised £2.4 billion a year on agriculture between 2021 and 2023.
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A new year and a new challenge for Companies House
Louise Smyth, Registrar of Companies for England and Wales, reflects on her highlights from 2023 and shares more information about what 2024 will look like for Companies House.
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UK Government action in 2023 to stop the boats
Tackling Illegal migration Illegal Working raids – Immigration enforcement raids up 68%. Successes include targeting the food delivery sector, conducting more than 250 enforcement visits and 380 arrests involving food delivery drivers in 2023, supported by a new agreement with …
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When can I apply for 15 hours free childcare?
We’re expanding free government-funded childcare so that thousands more parents won’t have to choose between a career and a family. Currently, parents who work and earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage, and earn …
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The King's New Year Honours list 2024: honours for contributions to education, skills and children’s social care
Over 90 Brits from across the country have been recognised in the King’s New Year Honours for their contribution to education, skills and children’s social care. Foster carers, campaigners, educators and fundraisers have been awarded an OBE, MBE, DBE, …
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Celebrating our successes
Chief Digital & Information Officer, Richard Corbridge reflects on his time in post so far and highlights some of our key successes this year.
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Year in review: What DIO has achieved in 2023
It’s been a busy year for us at DIO. From supporting the Coronation of King Charles III to supplying more than 20,000kg of turkey to Armed Forces personnel over Christmas, our teams have been working hard to help our Armed …
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Coverage of electrical waste recycling plans
Today we are looking at coverage following the launch of our electrical waste recycling consultation.