WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Secure Employee Authentication & Citizen Access to Public Services Essex Online Partnership (EOLP) is an amalgamation local district, borough and unitary councils, Essex County Council, Essex Police and Essex County Fire Services, all collaborating securely on ICT projects across Essex. EOLP was formed to work together to support the development of integrated and accessible local services to Essex citizens and businesses in ways that are convenient to them and to make each organisations become more efficient. Since the partnerships inception over £1.76M h as been saved across the enterprise . This short video case study presented by Ray Ware, IT Manager, Maldon District Council and EOLP Project Lead details how EOLP overcame the major challenge of bringing together 14 individual, potentially non-resilient, expensive authentication solutions into a central resilient authentication solution that could be used by all authorities whilst providing built-in scalability to roll out to citizens. |
‘Saving the Universe’ takes time and is very complicated |
The Public Accounts Committee highlights concerns over the roll-out of Universal Credit concluding the programme still has ‘a long way to go’. The Committee says it remains "disappointed by the persistent lack of clarity and evasive responses by the Department to our inquiries, particularly about the extent and impact of delays". The estimated completion date for the roll-out of the Universal Credit digital service is six months later compared to when the PAC examined the programme last year. |
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PC&PE: Universal Credit: New concerns over delays and lack of clarity CAB: Universal Credit ‘failing to live up to promise’ An alternative option for the Chancellor to ‘think about’? Facilitating a joined-up & cost effective welfare system Getting there, but must learn from its mistakes |
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. |
‘Dry’ but critically important subject |
The Investigatory Powers Bill risks undermining the UK’s strongly performing Tech sector because of uncertainty about the costs of complying with the new legislation, the Science and Technology Committee has warned. UK businesses must not be placed at a relative commercial disadvantage to overseas competitors by the proposed measures, according to the MPs, and the costs of implementing the additional data storing measures in the draft Bill should be fully met by Government. |
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PC&PE: Cost of Investigatory Powers Bill could undermine UK Tech sector Economist Leader Misrepresents Industry Concerns about IP Bill techUK Submits Written Evidence to Joint Investigatory Powers Bill Committee RUSI responds to the draft Investigatory Powers Bill Draft Investigatory Powers Bill Requires Careful Scrutiny - A Detailed Response techUK launches briefing papers on Investigatory Powers Bill techUK Response to 'A Question of Trust' by David Anderson QC |
HMRC ‘clean bowled’ by a ‘Googly’ |
The UK's tax deal with Google has created headlines and led to accusations of large multinational companies getting away with paying little or no tax, while small UK-based businesses and ordinary taxpayers are being taxed at a much higher level. A new paper from the ESRC-funded Institute for Fiscal Studies looks at how the current tax system seeks to tax corporate profits, and the problems that can arise. The paper highlights several key challenges with the tax system. |
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ESRC: Fair tax for big business IEA: EC's tax proposals are a missed opportunity FDA: Any Google tax settlement concerns lie with lawmakers, not tax officials, says HMRC union Forget the ‘Mansion Tax’; tax the big corporations where they sell goods Looking back one can see that tax collection (in some cases) is just like trying to carry live eels |
Who controls the capture & use of our data? |
Following the recent Data Protection Day, it seems like the perfect opportunity to announce the publication of the ICO’s revised Privacy notices code of practice for consultation. The ICO are very keen to get your feedback. This code of practice has not been revised for several years and as we all know, this is a long time in the digital world. The way personal data is used rapidly changes and the ICO has undertaken this review with that in mind. Ensuring that individuals have a clear understanding of what is done with their personal data is a fundamental point of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998. This code of practice has been written to show organisations how they can achieve this in a clear and engaging way. |
ICO: Revised code looks at privacy notices – (closes on 24 March 2016) |
Explore this offer |
Outdoors enthusiasts can build impressive collections of Ordnance Survey maps, but it often means they’re not using the most up-to-date maps to get outside & explore Britain. Up until 20 March 2016, OS is offering avid explorers the chance to return their old maps and receive money off new map purchases in return. |
OS encourages people to use up-to-date maps with their trade-in scheme – (offers ends 20 March 2016) |
They have lived through it! |
Severe flooding is now an expected feature of life in many parts of the UK and is the country’s most serious ‘natural’ hazard with more than 5m properties at risk. At least 16,000 homes have been flooded so far during the winter of 2015/6 (costing £5bn+. Children & young people are known to be acutely affected during & after floods. Understanding children’s perspectives is a vital part of the process of building resilience. A better understanding of how flooding & other disasters affect children & young people can inform more effective policy, enhance resilience and reduce the impact of future emergencies. The research project ‘Children, young people and flooding: recovery & resilience’ worked with 2 groups of flood-affected children & young people. The children developed Flood Manifestos and a 6 minute film, outlining their policy recommendations for more effective local & national flood prevention, mitigation & adaptation. |
ESRC: Flooding & resilience - the role of children and young people |
Are you & your team ‘practicing’ the NHS of the future? |
NHS England is calling on the healthcare science community to put forward nominations for this year’s annual Healthcare Science Awards. Details of the categories, entry forms and guidance on nomination is available on the NHS Networks website. Completed nomination forms should be returned to england.cso@nhs.net no later than 17 February 2016. |
NHS England call for 2016 Healthcare Science Award nominations |
It must be the season for awards |
The Social Investment Awards celebrate the businesses & people who are helping to solve problems in society. The awards aim to highlight the impact that social investment is having on communities & celebrate the UK’s world-leading social investors & enterprises. This is the 2nd year the awards have been held. The awards are free to enter and applications are open until 18 March 2016. |
Cabinet Office: Nominations open for Social Investment Awards |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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IFG: How to make the 'devolution revolution' work Wales Office: Let's concentrate on delivery not powers, says Wales Office Minister LGA responds to CLG committee devolution report ScotGov: Swinney – Billions in potential cuts are no 'molehill' |