WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Do Charity bosses care more about their pay/status than they do about the individuals they are supposed to be helping? |
DIFD Secretary tells the international aid community to urgently stamp out sexual exploitation & abuse. Speaking at the first ever End Violence Solutions Summit in Stockholm, alongside Sweden’s PM Stefan Löfven and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Penny Mordaunt issued a call to action to the whole international development community to bring about an urgent culture change and exhibit the moral leadership & transparency required to protect the most vulnerable – or face losing the UK’s partnership and support. This follows Ms Mordaunt’s announcement earlier this week that the UK is taking urgent action to review safeguarding across all of its work and with all its partners. This includes introducing tough sanctions so that she can have absolute assurance that all partners are maintaining the high standards on safeguarding & protection that the UK requires. If your charity operates overseas the Charity Commission are looking for your feedback to help them improve our guidance. It has several key pieces of guidance & alerts that are important reading for charities that operate internationally, including the Compliance Toolkit. They are keen to assess whether their guidance meets your needs, is easy to follow and whether it helps charities working in high-risk areas or carrying out higher risk activities. |
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DIFD: Penny Mordaunt calls for action on sexual abuse within aid sector Charity Commission: Help improve guidance for charities working internationally Charity Commission statement on Oxfam DIFD: Penny Mordaunt speech at the End Violence Solutions Summit ScotGov: Minister writes to international NGOs Tackling sexual exploitation and abuse of children: Actions and commitments by UNICEF Charity Commission: Charity regulator sets out scope of statutory inquiry into Oxfam Charity Commission issues official warning over governance failures Let’s also ban excessive pay for charity bosses Have Hedge funds and ‘corporate raiders’ moved into the charity sector? |
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Get bonding! |
More parents are being encouraged to take up the offer of Shared Parental Leave in their baby’s first year, as the government launches a new advertising campaign to raise awareness of the opportunity. The workplace right for eligible parents allows them to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay after having a baby. They can take time off separately or they can be at home together for up to 6 months. Around 285,000 couples every year are eligible, but take up could be as low as 2% and around half of the general public are unaware that the option exists for parents. The campaign encourages parents to ‘Share the joy’ and will aim to reach them through digital website advertising, social media, adverts in train stations and on commuter routes. A new website will provide detailed information and guidance. It launches days after the government set out its Good Work Plan to deliver the pledge to not just protect but build on workers’ rights. This is a vital part of the government’s Industrial Strategy – a long-term plan to build a Britain fit for the future by helping businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK. |
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BEIS: New ‘Share the joy’ campaign promotes shared parental leave rights for parents Family-friendly employment rights fail female workers TUC: A quarter of new dads are missing out on paternity leave & pay TUC: Better paternity pay would help new dads spend more time with their children Government commits to drawing up new guidance to support working mothers of premature babies. TUC: UK in the relegation zone for decently-paid maternity leave in Europe Dads urged to consider Shared Parental Leave Parental leave: MEPs call for common rules to be better enforced TUC: Government must give new dads a right to more paid parental leave CAB: 3 in 5 self-employed parents taking less than a week off after baby is born Pregnancy is too often a significant ‘bump’ in a woman’s career path |
Otherwise hospital ‘bed-blocking’ remains high |
A national strategy for older people's housing is needed to bring together and improve policy in this area, the Communities & Local Government Committee concludes. The CLG Committee's report on Housing for Older People recommends that the wider availability of housing advice & information should be central to the strategy and the existing FirstStop Advice Service should be re-funded by the Government to provide an expanded national telephone advice service. The Committee calls on the Government to recognise the link between homes and health & social care in the forthcoming social care Green Paper. The Committee also recommends that the National Planning Policy Framework be amended to encourage the development of more housing for older people and that councils identify a target proportion of new housing to be developed for this purpose, as well as publishing a strategy which explains how they intend to meet the housing needs of older people in their area. |
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PC&PE: Housing for older people needs national strategy ~ LGA responds to Housing for Older People report ~ FirstStop Advice Service ~ LGA responds to BMJ report on homelessness Housing funding boost to make more homes accessible for elderly and disabled people across England NHS to join forces with major developers to build a healthy national future LGA: Almost 60p in every £1 of council tax could be spent on social care by 2020 LGA responds to Government announcement on funding proposals for supported housing LGA: Fire service funding needs to address increased 'elderly risk' factor LGA: Nation faces older people homelessness ‘time bomb’ – councils warn £4m to improve support for elderly & disabled people JRF: Great British Bungalow sell off: 1 in 4 forced council house sales could be bungalows |
Looking for good practice guidance to support you in your work? |
Patrick Duce, IGP Project Manager, outlines the A-Z of homelessness and where you can find the necessary tools & resources from Homeless Link. HL: The A-Z of homelessness resources |
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. Recent arrivals to the SME Supplier Locator service include:
Click here to find out more. |
Smart crime fighting |
New mobile fingerprinting technology will allow frontline officers across the country to use their smartphones to identify people in less than a minute – saving police time & reducing costs. |
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Home Office: Police trial new Home Office mobile fingerprint technology HO: New technology revealed to help fight terrorist content online |
‘Criminal neglect’ of public’s safety? |
HMICFRS has published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in North Yorkshire Police, which found that the force records around 80% of crimes reported to it. |
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HMICFRS: North Yorkshire Police not properly recording 1 in 5 crimes – (HMICFRS: Durham Constabulary’s crime recording has improved and is victim-focused HMICFRS: Too many crimes going unrecorded by Thames Valley Police Rise in hate crime reporting: we must do all we can to discourage hate attacks |
Applying the ‘KISS principle’ |
Ofgem is launching a trial in the coming weeks of a simplified collective switch aimed at consumers on the worst deals who have not switched for more than 3 years. In Ofgem’s trial, around 50,000 of a large supplier’s disengaged customers will be offered a better deal which the consumer partner appointed to organise the collective switch has negotiated. Unlike other collective switches, these customers will not need to enter their existing tariff details for their personal savings from switching to be calculated, making it easier to take part. Depending on the outcome of the trial, Ofgem could roll out simplified collective switches for more customers. |
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Despite digital technology creation of input material is still a critical skill |
SQA has published a new collection of creative writing, produced by students from across Scotland who have completed English courses over the past year. SQA publishes Write Times 2: a celebration of our candidates' brilliant writing |
Front line trauma care |
The Defence & Security Accelerator held an event in Bristol on 01/02/2018 to provide information on the regenerative medicine at the front line themed competition. The information pack is now available. Suppliers who attend the event heard presentations about the regenerative medicine at the front line themed competition which seeks to make a real difference by saving lives and reducing disabilities. The competition is looking for proposals for regenerative technologies that can be applied very early after severe, traumatic injury resulting from combat or acts of terrorism. Recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan saw step changes in trauma care that led to great improvements in survival following blast or ballistic trauma. This has meant, however, that people survive with increasingly life-changing injuries. Our belief is that the very early use of approaches in regenerative medicine, one of the UK Government’s 8 great technologies, has the potential to further revolutionise front line trauma care to save lives and to improve the quality of life for survivors. Up to £500,000 is available for phase 1 of this themed competition and at least a further £500,000 will be available for phase 2. This competition closes at midday on 11 April 2018. |
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Dstl: Accelerator Innovation Network Event: Regenerative medicine at the front line Aviation medics push limits to protect RAF aircrews New research shows need for emergency responders to carry blood Commando medics ready for contingency operations Life in the world's busiest trauma hospital RAF nurse flies with lifesaving team in Afghanistan New Life Saving Equipment for Frontline Medics Keeping cool on the front line MoD medics get latest blood transfusion technology on operations |
Is one more vulnerable when in love? |
Dstl asked their neuroscientists to explain the science of love on Valentine’s Day; Love triangles or the triangles of love? |
Editorial commentary; Some ‘more positive’ aspects of Brexit |
The media tends to concentrate on the possible ‘downside’ of Brexit, but how often do they highlight the potential upside? EU legislation currently regulates food & drink labelling, meaning the UK Government can only make recommendations to industry. In 2013, the Department of Health introduced a voluntary traffic light scheme, but the LGA said they are only displayed on two thirds of products sold in the UK. Councils, which have responsibility for public health, say the traffic light system should become a legal requirement for all products once EU laws are transferred into British law after Brexit. Meanwhile. overseas sales of UK food & drink continued to soar last year, with record exports of over £22bn demonstrating a clear desire for British taste, quality & high standards around the world. UK food & drink businesses are now selling their products to 217 markets – with sales of milk & cream increasing by 61%, salmon by 23% and pork by 14%. This growing hunger for UK produce reveals the huge opportunities for producers & manufacturers as the UK prepares to leave the EU. The US remains the largest market outside of the EU – worth £2.3bn last year and rising 3% from the previous year. One also wonders why we always hear about the international trade over Republic of Ireland – NI border but not about RoI’s international trade via Welsh ports. Before ‘playing hardball’ over the RoI – NI border issue perhaps the RoI (& and EU negotiators) ought to consider what would happen to their economy without an agreement over the RoI – Wales border as 80% of goods carried in Irish registered HGVs between the RoI and Europe pass through Welsh ports. In 2016, 524,000 lorries passed through major Welsh ports to and from the Irish Republic. Could the successful US – Canada hi-tech border controls system provide the answer for not just the RoI – UK borders, but also the other UK – EU trade ‘borders’? |
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LGA: use Brexit to make traffic light food & drink labelling mandatory Defra: Food & drink export sales soar in Brexit boost IEA: UK has much to gain and little to fear from trade deal with US PX: The case for unilateral free trade WAG: FM meets the Taoiseach to discuss trade post-Brexit Could Canada's hi-tech border controls provide the answer to Britain's .. Canada to launch new border security app that could go global - CBC.ca |
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