WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
The definition of a Cashless Council or Local Authority is one where all cash transactions have been removed completely from the transactional payments workflow. A number of Local Authorities across the UK have trialled cashless systems across different areas such for catering, parking and payments with limited adoption and success but the London Borough of Brent is the UK's first genuine Cashless Local Authority as a result of the initial design and launch of a number of social disbursement prepaid card programmes. Once other council departments realised the savings and efficiencies being made, they launched incremental programmes including payroll, petty cash and guardianship accounts. The Council finally decided to replace all cash payments in and out with electronic solutions – delivering powerful cost savings and revenue returns for the Council. Click here to find out more and download the full Brent CC success story. |
4th time lucky? |
Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) has published a report saying ‘there should be no British airstrikes in Syria without a coherent international strategy to both defeat ISIL and end the Syrian civil war’. The Committee finds that the benefits of extending British involvement in Coalition airstrikes in Syria are more than outweighed by the risks of legal ambiguity, political chaos on the ground in Syria, military irrelevance, and diplomatic costs. FAC is not persuaded by the Government’s efforts to treat ISIL & the Syrian civil war as separate issues, and considers that the focus on the extension of airstrikes against ISIL in Syria is a distraction from the much bigger & more important task of finding a resolution to conflict in Syria, which is itself a main cause of ISIL’s rise. |
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PC&PE: Extension of offensive British military operations to Syria report published Better intelligence & more strategic input needed in MOD decision making RUSI: Should the UK bomb Daesh in Syria? Arguments for Military Intervention in Syria Arguments against Military Intervention in Syria Military Action in Syria: Plucking Legal Justifications out of Thin Air Syria - A Collision Course for Intervention Conflicts, instability uproot over 4.5m children in 5 countries: Unicef |
Diplomats not just military intervention must be part of long-term solutions |
To remedy the growing imbalance between its spending on defence, development & diplomacy, the UK government must reverse cuts to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s budget. In the long term, the UK should commit to increase spending on the UK's overall diplomatic effort to 0.2% of GDP. |
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RUSI - Strengthening Britain’s Voice in the World Unfortunately, isolationism will not provide a ‘safe & secure future for the UK Lords Soft Power Committee releases 'Persuasion & Power' report Remember how reducing defence forces in the Falklands proved costly in terms of both money & lives Keeping our ‘seat at the top table’ cannot be done just with force of arms |
‘Reassurance’ is essential part of support |
Communities Secretary Greg Clark has urged more councils to contact their local branch of the Alzheimer’s Society and offer training to their staff to help the society reach 4m Dementia Friends by 2020. There are already over 1.3m Dementia Friends across England – part of the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions and transform the way the nation thinks, talks & acts about the condition. |
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CLG: Greg Clark calls on councils to support Dementia Friends |
Click here to find out how to register your company with the Supplier Locator. |
They need all the help they can get |
With one month to go until launch date, the government has confirmed the 5 simple steps first time buyers need to follow to claim their government bonus from the Help to Buy: ISA. |
HMT: 1 month to go to the Help to Buy: ISA government bonus – are you ready to save for yours? |
The ‘Law’ needs to reflect the times |
A scoping report issued by the Law Commission is recommending reforms that would:
Law Commission: Offences against the person – modernising the law on violence |
It’s not just GCHQ looking at your communications |
CESG has released new guidance for Secure Voice Technology. Voice data is subject to a number of key threats:
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‘Catch & inspire them young’ |
Code Club has announced it is joining forces with the Raspberry Pi Foundation(RPF) to help many more young people learn how to build their ideas with code. The RPF is the UK-based charity behind the low-cost, high performance computers. Since launching their first product in February 2012, it has sold over 7m computers, and all profits are directed to the RPF's charitable goal of ‘putting the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world’. |
Export Week, 9-13 November 2015 |
Export finance advisers are available for businesses wanting to increase their international business or at the start of their export journey. Across export week there will be a varied series of events all over the UK. Export finance advisers will be at many of these events, and can provide guidance on overcoming financial barriers to exporting. They also introduce exporters & businesses with export potential to finance providers, credit insurers, insurance brokers, trade support bodies & sources of government support |
UK Export Finance: Get advice from UK Export Finance during Export Week, 9-13 November 2015 |
Qualifications are necessary, but experience is critical |
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has launched its Foundation Certificate in User Experience (UX), working with UX professionals to ensure a robust certification that reflects the skills needed in industry. The Certificate is aligned to SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age) and the syllabus is based around the ISO 9241-210 standard - the international standard for human-centred design of interactive systems. |
‘Without fear or favour’ |
The Crown Prosecution Service has been fined £200,000 by the ICO after laptops containing videos of police interviews were stolen from a private film studio. The interviews were with 43 victims & witnesses. They involved 31 investigations, nearly all of which were ongoing and of a violent or sexual nature. Some of the interviews related to historical allegations against a high-profile individual. |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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