7932posts
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Coverage of Fisheries negotiations 2023
Annual fisheries negotiations took place between the UK, EU and Norway this autumn, where catch levels were agreed for over 80 important stocks including northern shelf cod and North Sea saithe.
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Supporting students to understand the justice system
Earlier this year, law students from the University of West London joined courts in our south east region to gain an insight into the court system across our different jurisdictions.
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Secondment opportunities for competition and consumer lawyers
We are launching a new round of secondment opportunities for lawyers, to start on 16 September 2024. Since its launch in June 2018, over 50 secondees from over 20 law firms have taken part in the programme and we are …
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Chief executive's stakeholder message - Supporting innovation
Since Brexit, the FSA has been responsible for making recommendations to ministers on the authorisation of new regulated food and feed products coming onto the UK market.
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Project Simplify: Keeping it simple
Project Simplify supports an Innovative Civil Service which is focused on rewarding and encouraging our staff to find innovative solutions to problems in order to deliver better outcomes for the public. Since the Machinery of Government change to create the …
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New area added to licensing scheme to protect great crested newts and promote sustainable development
Natural England has launched a new licensing scheme in Hertfordshire to help conserve local populations of great crested newts, while promoting sustainable development. Since Natural England launched District Level Licensing (DLL) in 2019, the scheme has expanded to cover 21 …
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Girdling at Bullens Wood – a management technique to thin trees
Hugh Dorrington has been involved in tree supply and woodland planting since 1980. In this blog, he discusses his experience with girdling at Bullens Wood.
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COP28: Government confirms Supermarket essentials will no longer be linked to illegal deforestation
Today we are looking at media coverage of the announcements the government made on Nature Day at COP28.
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Unlimited financial penalties for environmental offences will mean “polluters always pay.”
Companies who breach their environmental permits now face unlimited financial penalties following major changes to Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs).
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How does climate change threaten our health? From flooding to wildfires
The Health Effects of Climate Change report summarises the latest science on health threats from climate change in the UK. Since the last report in 2012, both the evidence and the risks have greatly escalated. Read 11 key takeaways in our latest post.
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Testing our approach to faster, sustainable services
HM Land Registry has been testing one approach to automation, involving firms giving assurance on the information in their applications. Roger Holdom discusses the key lessons from this pilot.
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30 by 30: a boost for nature recovery
Written by James Markwick Principal Adviser, Biodiversity Policy After a year of extreme weather events in which many climate records were broken, world leaders met in Dubai to discuss tackling climate change at COP28, with the hope of keeping alive …
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GMP & GDP Certificates: Validity Period Extended
Following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency declared by WHO in May 2023[1], on-site GMP and GDP inspections were restarted after being postponed or carried out remotely during the pandemic. A number of postponed inspections still need to …
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GSE Leadership Values Toolkit
The GSE Leadership Values Toolkit is designed to equip aspiring leaders in the fields of science and engineering with the essential knowledge, skills, and tools required to excel in leadership roles. Whether you are a seasoned professional seeking to enhance …
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Government takes a step forward for marine nature recovery
By Jonathan Burney, Director of Marine Strategy and Government Advice The Government have released their response to the public consultation on the principles of Marine Net Gain (MNG). This exciting, emerging area of marine policy offers opportunity to accelerate marine …
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Windrush Schemes Factsheet – October 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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Support for rough sleepers in London
There has been coverage in local press on rough sleeping and homelessness in London, following the launch of the Mayor of London’s first rough sleeping charter yesterday. It is reported that the Mayor called rough sleeping a “national crisis” …
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Tech Ethics: Shaping service standards for the future
On 22 March 2023, the Future of Life Institute published a letter calling on AI labs to immediately pause training AI systems that were more powerful than GPT-4. To date, there have been 33,709 signatories. Why? Because of the widespread …
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Changing the GOV.UK proposition: supporting our strategy for growth
We've made new updates to the policy that defines what should and shouldn't go on GOV.UK. Here's what we're doing and why.
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Inflationary benefits, inflationary risks
2023 started with inflation at highs last seen in the early 1990s. While inflation has been falling it remains above the Bank of England’s target. In this blog we consider the drivers behind inflation, why those drivers may lead to more volatility than we experienced throughout the 2000s, and the risk posed by deflation.
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Meteor showers and winter stars: the night sky in December
This month brings the solstice on 21 December marking the start of winter, and one of the most prolific meteor showers in the calendar - the Geminids.
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The '1 Atlantic Square Model' to building an inclusive office community
A guest blog from the Glasgow Community Management team. Building and nurturing a thriving, inclusive community in offices, campuses and hubs across the UK is an essential part of attracting and retaining local talent, while creating an inspiring and collaborative …
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Nicola's return to the probation service
Nicola's return to the Probation Service The Probation Service is encouraging qualified probation officers who have left the Service to consider returning and to check out the flexible working and great benefits on offer to those working in these important roles. …
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Expanding the concept of 'blue carbon’: Cefas science on coastal ecosystems and their role in tackling climate change
The importance of mangroves and other blue carbon ecosystems in mitigating the impacts of climate change is once again high on the agenda at this year’s Nature, Land-use, and Oceans Day at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai. …
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Why woodland management is key to nature recovery
Kate Tobin, our Nature Recovery Policy Advisor, talks about the importance of managing our woodlands to support nature recovery and increase wider benefits.
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GSE takes a trip down Science Street
On November 8, the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) Profession was invited to attend a ‘science street’ lunchtime event at the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Buxton Laboratory. The health and safety lab is set on a 550-acre site and …
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The UK-US Blog Series on Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning: Introduction
This post is the first in a series on privacy-preserving federated learning. The series is a collaboration between CDEI and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Advances in machine learning and AI, fuelled by large-scale data availability …
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Coverage of High Street Accelerators announcement
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has launched a new High Street Accelerators pilot, providing ten high streets across England with a share of £7 million. The programme was a key commitment in the government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action …
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Farming regulation from the new year
As part of the agricultural transition away from the European Union (EU), we’re committed to delivering a better regulation system for farming. At the moment, farmers who receive payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and some other agri-environment schemes must meet minimum standards to receive those payments. This is known as cross compliance. Cross …
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Opening the doors to charity trusteeship
During Trustees Week, I hosted a roundtable for some of the charity sector’s younger trustees. The Commission is keen to demystify trusteeship, enabling more people to get involved and give back to society – and the roundtable was a great …
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Showcasing HM Land Registry’s Welsh language services
On Welsh Language Rights Day, our Head of the Welsh Language Services Eleri Sparnon Jones explains how you can use your Welsh with HM Land Registry.
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Creating a lasting legacy of accessible woodlands and forests
As the Woodland Access Implementation Plan is published Alison Hallas, Woodland Access Advisor at the Forestry Commission, sets out why public access to woodlands is so important.
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Top tips on setting up a Knowledge Asset Management Strategy
Author: Rachel Egan, Deputy Director, GOTT Last week, leaders and innovators from across the public sector gathered to discuss how we can unlock the potential of our Knowledge Assets (KAs). I chaired a panel that included Lucy Caffery from National …
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Livestock and grassland webinar follow up
On Monday 20 November, we held a webinar for livestock and grassland farmers. If you missed the webinar, don't worry. In this post, I'll share a link to the recording. I'll also include the top questions farmers put to us and a summary of the offer for those farm types.
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Funding for councils
Today, there has been coverage in the media reporting that councils across the country are facing financial difficulties. We recognise that there are pressures across the sector, and that there is a need to provide stability to council finances. We …
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Data and digitalisation - powering the UK’s major government projects
Source: Shutterstock In a world of scarce resources, tight deadlines and limited budgets, being as productive and efficient as possible is key to delivering value for citizens - the use of data and digital tools is essential in this. IPA …
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Winter COVID-19 and flu vaccinations - still time to book online
As the deadline for closure of the online booking service for COVID-19 and flu vaccinations looms on 14 December, highly respected GP and National Clinical Director, Dr Adrian Hayter, explains the merits of health and care colleagues keeping their vaccinations up to date as we get deeper into winter.
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Internships with the Regulated Industry team – Dharanija’s story.
In the final blog in our internship series, Dharanija, an MSc Computer Science student from the University of Nottingham explains how interning has helped them in the next step on their career path.
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Encouraging motorists to view their MOT certificate online
In our latest blog post, Chris Price shares more details about how testers can reduce the amount of paper they use, what DVSA will be doing to encourage this move to paperless, as well as how this contributes to DVSA’s strategic plan to 2025.
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Watch Bodbury Farm: our experience accessing free business advice
Through the Farming Resilience Fund, farmers and land managers who receive BPS payments can access free, independent business advice. In this film, we travel to Shropshire to meet rare breed pig farmers Sarah and Byron Odell. Together with their adviser Karen Fisher, they describe their business objectives and the advice they were given.