WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Impacts on all parts of UK
The first TV campaign in the UK focused on child sexual exploitation launched last week with the message that ‘child sexual exploitation can happen to any young person, regardless of their gender or background’.  New research shows 93% of parents have heard of child sexual exploitation, but 29% know little about it and 36% believe it won’t affect their family.  A new TV advert & website (www.csethesigns.scot) show how conversations online can potentially lead to a young person placing themselves in danger and highlight how to spot the warning signs.
Researched Links:

ScotGov:  Child sexual exploitation

The more they ‘look’ the more they find!

Child sexual exploitation | NSPCC

Safeguarding Children & Young People from Sexual Exploitation

Children’s Commissioner:  Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs & Groups

Stay Safe: Minister launches new educational resource

WePROTECT summit tackles online child sexual exploitation on global scale

Media coverage of celebrity sex crimes has fuelled misunderstandings around abuse

New measures to keep children safe online at school and at home

Hundreds of schools sign up for first ever national safety tool

Internet experts share new techniques to battle online child sexual exploitation

Somehow the term ‘The Great & the Good’ no longer seems to be appropriate for our ‘Civic Leaders’

Would all the child abuse, sexual exploitation & poor patient care still go on if they were rewarded and not ‘punished’?

While being ‘relentless in our search for the truth’, we must be careful to highlight any good practices

Who better to ‘put the message over’

Tech companies & governments pledge to protect millions of children from sexual exploitation online – Unicef

More than 30 children in NI safeguarded in joint operation

The police service must reassess their approach to child protection - or risk failing a new generation of children

PM unveils tough new measures to tackle child sexual exploitation

We owe it to victims to act boldly and decisively

Child sexual exploitation the new “social norm” in some areas

Stopping cyber-bullying

UK and US launch taskforce to tackle child abuse

West Mercia Police has made improvements to how it protects children, however is still not performing well in some areas

Joint targeted area inspections to be launched this year

Police forces must ensure the improvements they have made in tackling domestic abuse are replicated in services to protect and support all vulnerable victims

LGA responds to Children's Commissioner Report on child sexual abuse within the family

IPCC calls for lessons to be learnt on grooming following murder of Breck Bednar

Tech industry fights online child sexual exploitation

Taxi drivers and bouncers could help tackle child sex abuse

Our vital stand against child sexual exploitation – Jane Cummings

AJC:  Bristol seminar - Reframing the commissioning of services for child sexual abuse – (29 February 2016)

 

The Fifth Annual Public Sector ICT Summit
1st March 2016, 09:30-16:30, Central London

Free to attend for Public Sector Delegates

With the Cabinet Office reportedly citing government’s IT contracts as “having not stood the test of time” what changes should we expect and prepare for from central government?

Discover the latest strategies by joining Stephen Foreshew-Cain, GDS at The Public Sector ICT Summit.

Reasons to get involved:

  • 85% of last year's delegates rated the 2015 summit content as good or higher
  • 200+ senior central government ICT professionals registered to attend this year
  • Discuss the Cabinet Office’s reported review into government strategy of IT contracts
 
Thank God they care and we must care for them
The Chief Nursing Officer for England marked Young Carers Awareness Day, which recognises more than 700,000 young people in the UK who provide care & support to family & friends.  As part of the Commitment to Carers NHS England has worked with young carers to make sure that their voices are directing the actions taken to promote awareness and help them make improvements across the NHS.
Researched Links:

Young Carers - Thank you for today

Carers Trust website

Commitment to Carers

Short film to raise awareness

£4.1m Lottery funds to reduce isolation across Scotland

NSPCC to encourage children and teenagers to share their care experiences

Help For Young Carers - carersuk.org

Young Carers Services - getconnected.org.uk

Young carers' rights - Care & support - NHS Choices

Babble - Carers Trust

Help & Support For Young Carers | The Children's Society

Financial support for young carers - Money Advice Service

Young Carers Toolkit

 
We cannot afford more diabetics
The Public Accounts Committee sets out new measures intended to improve treatment for diabetes patients and bolster prevention of the condition.  In its report, the Committee finds weaknesses in the approach of the DH and NHS England mean "the costs of diabetes to the NHS will continue to rise".  There remain "unacceptable variations in the take up of education programmes, delivery of recommended care processes, achievement of treatment standards and in outcomes for diabetes patients".
Researched Links:

PC&PE:  ‘Significant action’ needed now to combat diabetes

Make children exercise at school?

Making it easier to eat healthily

Ways to highlight problem

The potential ‘Return’ on this investment could be £bns

‘Side effects’ of diabetes can be life-threatening

The management of adult diabetes services in the NHS: progress review

Managing diabetes with mobile health: apply for business funding

Stricter blood glucose targets for people with diabetes

5m people at high risk of Type 2 diabetes

Helping children & adults manage diabetes: NICE publishes updated suite of guidelines

NICE draft guidance recommends integrated automatic glucose monitoring system for people with type 1 diabetes

Improving hospital care for people with diabetes

The Diabetes Prevention Programme is adopting innovation at scale

Fewer people dying from diabetes in Wales

Diabetes UK - NHS missing chances to improve diabetes care and save money as well as lives

 
Charities cannot ‘outsource’ their governance responsibilities
The Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) finds it is the failure of Trustees to fulfil their responsibilities which lies behind the causes of last summer’s charity fundraising scandals.
Researched Links:

PC&PE:  Trustees of charities must fulfil their responsibilities

Charity Commission:  Sarah Atkinson speech, Westminster Policy Forum

Charity should not begin with ‘mugging’ the elderly & frail

Government tells lobbying charities to ‘Put a sock in it’

ICO:  Outsourcing a task does not mean an end to an organisation's legal responsibility

 
SME Supplier Locator update...

UK Government and public sector spend with SME’s is continually on the increase and by 2020, it is the stated intent of Cabinet Office that £1 of every £3 spent on government contracts goes to SME’s. The past 5 years have seen government make a priority of getting money through its supply chain into the hands of SMEs, by both setting targets and introducing new procurement mechanisms.

Against this backdrop, the WiredGov Supplier Locator service has been developed specifically to embrace the SME Agenda and provide the ideal platform for SME’s to promote their services, solutions, accreditation and success stories directly to our ever increasing audience across all government and public sector verticals and Tier 1 suppliers.

Click here to find out more and view this week’s new arrivals to the SME Supplier Locator service. 

 
Diseases in remote land WILL spread
Deaths from Malaria could be nearly eliminated in the next 15 years thanks in part to a landmark £3bn funding commitment announced by the Chancellor and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Researched Links:

HMT:  £3bn pledge to help end Malaria deaths

DIFD:  The Ross Fund - Combatting the world's most serious diseases

Medical Research + Aid + ‘Political Will’ can work wonders

PC&PE:  ‘Ebola exposed weaknesses in UK's response to disease emergencies’

WHO/Unicef report: Malaria MDG target achieved amid sharp drop in cases & mortality, but 3bn people remain at risk

 
Is that journey really necessary?
PHE and the National Travel Health Network & Centre are advising pregnant women to consider delaying travel to countries with ongoing Zika virus outbreaks.

DH:  Zika virus: travel advice for pregnant women

 
Stay healthy over New Year
Travellers should be aware of the risk of avian flu when travelling to China for Chinese New Year.  Although the risk to UK residents travelling to the affected areas remains very low, anyone planning to visit China, Hong Kong SAR or Taiwan should minimise their exposure to birds.   PHE and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) also strongly recommend you see your GP, pharmacist or travel health clinic to check you are in date with any recommended vaccinations, receive appropriate malaria advice and discuss any other potential risks.
Researched Links:

DH:  Avian flu advice for travellers going to China

Avian influenza officially confirmed

Avian flu confirmed in Lancashire

Welsh poultry owners urged to be vigilant to avian influenza

FSA advice about avian (bird) flu

 
Whether 1 person or 6m, we must honour their memory

A consultation has been launched to seek views from those who may have been affected by an incident of overseas terror.  This follows an announcement in 2015 that the Government will create a new national memorial to remember British citizens who have lost their lives in acts of terrorism overseas.

Researched Links:

FCO:  Views sought on new memorial for victims of terror - (closes on 4 March 2016)

FCO:  Sir Eric Pickles marks Holocaust Memorial Day

ScotGov:  Lessons from Auschwitz Project

Wales Office:  “It is our duty to ensure the memory of the Holocaust never fades”

PC&PE:  Holocaust education: more teachers should be trained report finds

 
Pity she couldn’t backdate the ‘1% of annual turnover’ fine now in force 
Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon has told Tesco to introduce significant changes to practices & systems after finding it had seriously breached a legally-binding Groceries Supply Code of Practice to protect groceries suppliers.  She found that the retailer had acted unreasonably when delaying payments to suppliers, often for lengthy periods of time.
Researched Links:

Groceries Code Adjudicator:  Tesco breached Code

New powers for business groups to tackle late payment

Groceries Code Adjudicator formally established

 
Your reputation can be stolen or leaked away

Companies that fail to keep personal data safe risk long-lasting reputational damage that can impact on the future success of the business, according to the Information Commissioner.  ICO fines of up to £500,000 for breaching the DP Act are a powerful deterrent, but the negative impact created by media coverage of a penalty can have a greater impact than the fine itself.  His comments are backed up by a YouGov poll which shows that nearly 80% of people would think twice about giving their custom to an online company that had made headlines for failing to stop a data security breach. 

To help them preserve their ‘reputations’, the ICO has launched a self-assessment tool that will ‘help SMEs to assess their compliance with the DP Act’.  The toolkit provides handy links to relevant guidance & further information, and will generate a rating based on responses.

Researched Links:

ICO:  Your reputation is at risk if you don’t keep data safe, ICO warns

ICO launches new data protection self-assessment tool for SMEs

10 years of DP Day – 10 years of ICO annual reports

ICO:  ‘Room for improvement in sales & lettings agents’ data handling’

Less haste, more care, fewer fines

Top IT data security threats revealed & what organisations must do to stop them

NHS must care for patients AND their confidential medical records

Information Commissioner repeats call for stronger sentences for data thieves

ICO fines Telegraph Media Group for election day email campaign

ICO issues fines totalling £170,000 to cold call blocking companies

ICO fines nationwide money lender The Money Shop £180,000

ICO launches investigation into firms sharing sensitive data

ICO fines insurance firm after hacked card details used for fraud

 
Syria is only one of the countries where Unicef needs funds
The latest figures on the Syria crisis, included in Unicef’s Humanitarian Action for Children report, show that over 4.3m Syrians have now fled the country, equivalent to almost 20% of the country’s population.  More than 13.5m people, including 6m children, who have remained inside Syria, are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. These staggering figures are equivalent to the entire population of Greater London & Manchester being forced to flee the UK. 
Researched Links:

Unicef appeals for £806m for Syria crisis response: alarming figures highlight extent of humanitarian crisis – (Unicef launches £1.96bn humanitarian appeal for children

Unicef appeals for US $62m to save the lives of children affected by crises in East Asia and the Pacific

 

 More contributions to the EU constitutional debate

More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims;

Researched Links:

Electoral Commission to open registration for EU Referendum campaigners

Civitas: The Single Market has benefited non-members more than Britain and other founding signatories

CBI President on EU reform and the referendum

ScotGov:  EU ‘crucial’ for Scottish farming

Migration Watch UK:  British exit from the EU could reduce net migration by 100,000

PC&PE:  Reasoned Opinion on European Parliament electoral reform recommended by Committee

Wales Office:  Wales & Europe in an uncertain world’

Fair Taxation: EC presents new measures against corporate tax avoidance

 

 More contributions to the UK constitutional debate

More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims;

Researched Links:

ScotGov:  Options to thwart UK TU bill considered

WAG:  “Vote down flawed, damaging & divisive Bill” urges Minister

Let's concentrate on delivery not powers, says Wales Office Minister

Wales Office:  The devolution of power to Wales

 
Please choose from the links below to view individual sections of interest:

We're very pleased to be able to announce the 2016 Guardian Public Leaders editorial board. We have a wide cross-section of members this year, coming from all parts of public services, including the Student Loans Company, Stirling council, the NSPCC, Manchester Credit Union, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Academi Wales and more.
Ahead of Time to Talk Day, which aims to get the nation talking about mental health, we want to hear about the conversations you've had with colleagues that have helped you. Have you chatted to someone at work after feeling down or going through a tough time? Contact tamsin.rutter@theguardian.com.

Also on the network
The loss of libraries is another surefire way to entrench inequality

The loss of libraries is another surefire way to entrench inequality
Mary O'Hara still has her first library card from west Belfast. Every time she hears of a closure it hits a nerve

Cuts are hitting UK firefighters where it matters most: training to fight fires

Cuts are hitting UK firefighters where it matters most: training to fight fires
Fire chiefs being forced to tighten budgets are making tough decisions that could have deadly consequences

Public servant: my letter to the public
I wish I could do more to protect your loved ones in mental health crisis

I wish I could do more to protect your loved ones in mental health crisis
Sometimes it takes me weeks to find a hospital bed for seriously mentally ill people – it’s terrifying

This series aims to give a voice to the staff behind public services hit by mounting cuts and rising demand, and so often denigrated by the press, politicians and public. If you would like to write an article for the series, contact tamsin.rutter@theguardian.com.
News in brief
• Women still denied fair share of top jobs in civil service worldwide
• Firms and councils may be fined for unattended weekend roadworks
• Northern cities head list of UK's low-wage, high-welfare economies
• Civil service is UK's biggest employer of "elite" apprentices
• The most potent figure in British politics: an interview with Jeremy Heywood
• Mental health crisis takes huge and increasing share of police time
• Fire and police chiefs in role swap as government pushes for collaboration