WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
The WGPlus editorial team is now signing off for its Christmas break with Seasonal Greetings to all our readers. Our first offering for 2016 will be published w/c January 11th. |
Following the Spending Review, the need for local authorities to spend smarter is once again under the spotlight. This timely survey report highlights the fact that whilst the adoption of e-invoicing in the UK public sector is gathering pace, with studies showing that the use of this technology can deliver substantial savings. This latest survey, carried out in association with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Local Government Association, and the UK National e-Invoicing Forum highlights how an increasing number of organisations across the UK local government are adopting e-invoicing. The survey respondents represent a broad cross-section of senior managers and practitioners across local government, housing associations, fire and rescue, and police. Click here to download your free copy of the survey report. |
Let’s hope that they don’t build them on a floodplain |
Didcot in Oxfordshire and North Essex will be home to new communities that between them are set to provide up to 50,000 new homes, supported by new infrastructure, supported with £1.1m of new funding. The proposals, which have been supported by local leaders, include plans for an additional 15,000 homes by 2031 in Greater Didcot Garden Town and new Garden Communities in North Essex with up to 35,000 new homes. The money will fund initial work that will enable high quality homes, new transport improvements, good schools, jobs & community amenities to be delivered in a strategic and sustainable way. |
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CLG: New garden towns to create thousands of new homes Telegraph: £200m flagship scheme could see new homes built on floodplains Demos: Hand Housing Back to Communities to Solve Building Crisis The rooms / buildings & gardens also need to be of a decent size A ‘Green Policy’ that many people would vote for (as long as it was ‘NIMBY’) Garden Cities - Town & Country Planning Association The Guardian: Britain's housing crisis: are garden cities the answer |
Of course if the NHS wasn’t so successful in extending our lives there wouldn’t be such a care / funding problem! |
In a new paper for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Kristian Niemietz gives a systematic overview of the NHS’s failures, inadequacies & structural problems. Through the paper he charts problems including a lack of patient choice & transparency in spending, the absence of reserves to pay for our ageing population, a failure to harness innovative technologies and the dominance of political short-termism. |
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IEA : Political short-termism trumping best practice in the NHS NHS England: A digital NHS for everyone – Tim Kelsey and Martha Lane Fox NIB: Martha Lane Fox sets out her digital proposals for the NHS LGA responds to age UK report on online services for older people |
Yet again we find the NHS cannot investigate itself |
Nearly 75% of hospital investigations into complaints about avoidable harm & death claimed there were no failings in the care given, despite the PHSO’s investigations of the same incidents uncovering serious failings. Inadequate hospital investigations are leaving distraught patients & families without answers and delaying much-needed service improvements. Hospitals are not investigating serious incidents properly because they often do not gather enough evidence, use inconsistent methods and do not look at the evidence closely enough to find out what went wrong and why. |
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Patients Association response to PHSO report into patient complaints Cover-ups in ‘bad practice’ lead to repeated mistakes in NHS treatments Getting there, but must learn from its mistakes Actions of Faceless Bureaucrats can have devastating impacts on individuals & their families APPG for Patient Safety hears how culture change in the NHS is vital to ensuring patient safety |
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Perhaps they could ask the PHSO to run some sessions on ‘learning from mistakes’? |
The national Better Care Support Team has commissioned Primary Care Commissioning (PCC) to run a series of regional events. The events are an opportunity for regional teams to share their learning & successes, including any challenges they have overcome, and to learn from others. Through facilitated sessions, teams will be provided with access to solutions & examples of what works to take away and apply in their local areas. |
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NHS England: Better Care Events for learning & sharing success LGA responds to care sector letter on adult social care Government trying to stop ‘re-inventing the wheel’ |
Some terrorists don’t need guns & bombs |
Transport & energy companies will have to ensure that the digital infrastructure that they use to deliver essential services, such as traffic control or electricity & management, is robust enough to withstand cyber-attacks, under new rules. Online marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, search engines and clouds will also be required to ensure that their infrastructure is secure. |
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MEPs close deal with Council on first ever EU rules on cybersecurity Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure - GOV.UK UK cyber security a top priority for UK Government Chancellor's speech to GCHQ on cyber security New initiative to protect the UK's critical national infrastructure Biggest ever cyber security exercise in Europe Not all terrorist threats involve violence Nuclear power plants are at serious risk of cyber attacks - BT IEEE: Protecting the Grid: Staying Ahead of Cyber Attacks to PMUs |
So ‘Tens of Thousands’ is the right policy! |
The government's ambition to create a high-wage, low-welfare economy is being undermined by large-scale immigration into the UK, a report by the cross-party think tank Civitas shows. It also demonstrates how rapid population growth due to high immigration will not deliver a higher standard of living: GDP would grow, but the impact on GDP per capita, if any, would be tiny. Economic gains from high immigration come mainly from its impact on the age profile of the population - but that these must be set against the costs in terms of infrastructure requirements. The benefits could be achieved with as few as 50,000 immigrants net a year. |
Civitas: Drive for high-wage economy is undermined by large-scale immigration |
They don’t need Aid, they just need ‘red tape free’ trade |
Nigeria’s booming informal trade is costly for society, business & government, yet a critical opportunity exists to formalize such trade and drive more sustainable & less volatile growth, argues a new report from Chatham House. According to one estimate, informal activity accounts for up to 64% of Nigeria’s GDP. |
Chatham House: By enabling formal trade, Nigeria can unleash its vast potential |
Tell it how it was / perhaps still is! |
Interviews with over 30 former government ministers, including Vince Cable, Liam Fox, Caroline Spelman and Andrew Mitchell, have been published by the Institute for Government. Ministers Reflect records the personal reflections of each ex-minster on what it takes to be effective in office, and the challenges they faced. |
IFG: Former ministers give candid interviews about being in office |
After all these years they still don’t realise? |
The police must better understand honour-based violence, forced marriage & female genital mutilation in order to provide victims with the best possible service and encourage those affected to come forward, a report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has found. |
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Spirit of De Gaulle revived with EU ‘Non’ |
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EU News: Letter on the issue of a UK in/out referendum |
They cannot be helped if they cannot be located |
An Ordnance Survey software pilot has helped save lives, so say the Community First Responders (CFRs) who used it. |
Ordnance Survey: Finding the right address: a matter of life or death |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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ScotGov: Parliament asked to withhold Bill Audit Scotland: Good progress being made with implementing Scotland’s new devolved financial powers |