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WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
| Who you know, rather than What you know! |
| The Treasury Committee has published its 'Scrutiny of Appointments' report in the same week that Members of the Committee table an amendment to the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill. The amendment would give the Committee a veto over the appointment and dismissal of the Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority. |
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PC&PE: Many public appointments need more rigorous scrutiny, say MPs Centre for Public Appointments Apply for a public appointment - GOV.UK The Commissioner for Public Appointments Non-executive Appointments - NHS Trust Development Public Appointments - Women Making a Difference Public Appointments - Disability Action Alliance Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland PX: Reforming Public Appointments DiPA: Diversity in Public Appointments IfG calls for effective parliamentary veto over 'A-List' of public appointments Public appointment vacancies - nidirect |
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT is holding a conference to highlight the need for accessible online teaching resources for students with disabilities - to help ensure they can reach their full potential. The day-long event will focus on the issues faced by students who are often unable to utilise their IT skills because they’re either not able to use ‘conventional’ classroom facilities or because the online learning tools haven’t been designed or implemented correctly. The conference will examine these issues as well as engage students, IT professionals and academics in providing recommendations and solutions. A range of speakers will share their experience in creating inclusive educational environments. The focus will be on computing and information science and technology within higher and further education although the problems encountered by students with disabilities are endemic across education. Click here to find out more and to register. |
| Will the lights go out? |
| Following a detailed review, a package of reforms to the Capacity Market has been unveiled. They will improve the system used to secure reliable sources of electricity capacity, tackle decades of underinvestment and safeguard the future security of our energy supply for generations to come. |
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DECC: Reforms to Capacity Market to improve energy security for families & businesses – (techUK: DECC sets out carbon-cutting objectives in new 5-year plan PC&PE: Government must restore investor confidence in UK energy sector DECC: What the Government is doing to secure investment in clean, secure & affordable energy techUK: Bidding opens for shares of UK Green Investment Bank Ofgem: Adhir's view - What’s in store for the future retail energy market? |
| Because it’s personal we don’t talk about it much |
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Commissioning adult social care services through personal budgets & direct payments is an important way of giving care users more choice & control over their services. When implemented well they improve users’ quality of life. The Department of Health, however, requires a deeper understanding of the best ways to implement personalised commissioning, according to the National Audit Office. It found that some authorities have transformed their care & support processes to ration their resources fairly, share information about a broad range of local services, and monitor & manage spending on personal budgets efficiently, while others are finding personalising commissioning a challenge as they seek to save money, and are constrained in how they can personalise care by the need to reduce overall spending. |
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NAO: Personalised commissioning in adult social care NHS England: The power of partnerships LGA responds to NAO report on personalised commissioning in adult social care Some personal care problems can be resolved quickly & cheaply using common sense When it’s your own care it gets very personal Next Managing direct payments to pay for the care you need Age UK: Direct payments for social care: options for managing the cash Carers Trust: Advice & support on personal budgets & employing care staff |
| Is the NHS just too big to improve? |
| Some people who complain to the NHS are not getting the answers they desperately need meaning they are forced to bring their complaints to the Ombudsman service to get answers. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's latest snapshot of cases it has investigated includes cases about grieving parents and partners not being given answers as to why their loved ones died and mistakes not being admitted, which means that much needed service improvements are being delayed. |
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PHSO: People not given answers when they complain to NHS, latest ombudsman report reveals Yet again we find the NHS cannot investigate itself If you don’t ‘complain’ someone else may ‘suffer’ in a similar situation |
| SME Supplier Locator update... |
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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. |
| The birth of better services? |
| Maternity services have been invited to bid for money from a new Challenge Fund aimed at finding innovative ways to use patient feedback to improve services. Emails with full details have gone out to chief executives of all trusts inviting them to put in their bids to be among the 2 to 4 projects that will get funding for their initiative from the £195,000 available. The #MatExp Challenge Fund aims to explore innovative ways to make better use of patient insight to deliver improved services. It is not about further collections of data but about finding new ways to use the feedback that trusts are already collecting to generate change and add value for patients. |
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NHS England: New initiative aims to improve maternity services through patient feedback |
| Will MPs be given the freedom to change things? |
| The Burns Commission, set up to look at the Freedom of Information Act, has published its findings. The Commission makes 21 specific recommendations. It notes that whilst some of its recommendations require legislation, other improvements can be made without legislative change. |
| Life is already difficult enough for them |
| BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT is holding a conference to highlight the need for accessible online teaching resources for students with disabilities - to help ensure they can reach their full potential. The day-long event will focus on the issues faced by students who are often unable to utilise their IT skills because they’re either not able to use ‘conventional’ classroom facilities or because the online learning tools haven’t been designed or implemented correctly. |
| BCS Computing Conference Offers Help to Disabled Students ~ Please register by Monday 7 March, 2016 |
| Will we end up chipping UK residents to control access to government services & benefits? |
| Scotland’s top vet has urged dog owners not to leave it to the last minute to get their animal microchipped, ahead of new laws coming into force next month. From 6 April 2016, it will be compulsory for all dogs in Scotland to have a chip with their owners’ details registered and kept up to date in a database complying with certain conditions. |
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| Will this help the government integrate migrants? |
| A place-of-residence condition may be imposed on beneficiaries of subsidiary protection if they face greater integration difficulties than other non-EU citizens who are legally resident in the Member State that has granted such protection. |
| A taxing problem for thousands of people |
| The Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee recently published its report on the Draft Finance Bill 2016, and says forthcoming changes to the taxation of savings & dividends are complex, confusing and poorly communicated. |
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PC&PE: Most taxpayers unaware of important changes to the tax system |
| And it will be the English taxpayer who has to pay for setting it up & funding those ‘flexibilities’ |
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As set out in the Programme for Government, Scottish Ministers have already committed to the introduction of a Social Security Bill in the 2016-17 parliamentary session – that bill will establish a new Scottish social security agency to oversee the administration of devolved benefits worth £2.7bn. Through the Scotland Bill the Scottish Government will receive powers over 11 existing disability & caring benefits including Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Carers Allowance as well as control over funeral payments, Sure Start Maternity grants and cold weather & winter fuel payments. It will also receive the power to top-up & create new benefits through the Scotland Bill and will have several flexibilities to alter the way in which Universal Credit is paid by Department for Work and Pensions. |
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ScotGov: New benefits agency for Scotland Put aside speculation on Transition costs; Use ‘hindsight’ to foresee the ‘real’ issues ~ See also Editorial Commentary below |
| Editorial Commentary: Is the SNP threat of another Referendum realistic? |
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The SNP at Holyrood & Westminster have been (and still are) ‘making noises’ about Brexit leading to another Independence referendum (well within our ‘lifetime’), but one wonders if RUK (remember that terminology) should get very worked up about their announcements……. The sight of the FM launching her ‘remain-in’ campaign in London recently, followed by a SNP MP pontificating on the BBC Daily Politics programme to the effect that the PM would do better to stay out of Scotland and it’s ‘Remain in’ campaign, brought back memories of that highly successful Conservative General Election poster showing Ed Milliband in the SNP’s top pocket. Shades of vote to remain-in and be ‘ruled’ by the SNP! As for a financially viable independent Scotland, the ‘fiscal playing-field’ has changed dramatically since their independence referendum. RUK is in the process of finalising the legal processes with ScotGov on a Fiscal Framework Agreement that indicates the potential parlous state of Scotland as an independent country, following the collapse of the oil market. Just why do they need so much RUK taxpayers’ money to ensure ‘no detriment’? It is clear to many people (following the negotiations) that Scotland cannot ‘afford’ independence in the near & medium future, so is the SNP just bluffing about an early referendum? One also wonders why the SNP is so keen for the UK to be ‘ruled by Brussels’, when they object to Scotland being ‘ruled by Westminster’. It may make sense to ‘leave’ a union that imposes a nett annual UK contribution of £7bn+ (& rising), has an unemployment rate that is an average of twice the UK’s, a fiscal union that still threatens to implode, a decision process (which is increasingly being centralized – especially for the euro countries) that must take account of the views of 28 (& increasing) countries and a migration crisis spiralling out of control (not helped by massive disparities in national average wages and state benefits). It is quite another matter to leave a union which has a common currency, speaks the same language (but facilitates live ‘regional’ languages), is devolving powers and transfers significant sums of ‘aid’ from England to Scotland. Especially after Scotland had a ‘once in a lifetime’ vote less than 2 years ago! |
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ScotGov: First Minister makes keynote speech on Europe HMT: Historic new Scotland funding deal agreed ScotGov: Fiscal Framework Agreement IFG: Statement in response to Scotland fiscal framework announcement IPPR: Budget cuts a 'down payment' on significant spending challenge coming to Scotland by 2020 IFS: Full fiscal autonomy delayed? IFS: Spending cuts or tax increases would be needed to pay for Independence White Paper giveaways Oil fund possible from day one of independence NCA prevents significant rise in UK’s GDP-based contribution to EU IEA: EU policies threaten to cost Britain £9,265 per household How the Barnett formula is 'flawed' in favour of Scotland and NI |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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ScotGov: First Minister makes keynote speech on Europe The best of both worlds: the UK’s special status in a reformed European Union EU referendum: guidance for the Civil Service and special advisers FDA welcomes clear guidance from Cabinet Office on EU referendum The process for withdrawing from the European Union |
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More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
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