WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
|
Older people are often the most vulnerable |
To combat the rise of fraud & online crime affecting older people, Age UK has launched a new fraud prevention & victim support pilot programme in partnership with Action Fraud. |
Researched Links: |
Action Fraud: New pilot programme to combat scams targeting older Londoners with Age UK Scam warning issued as company targeting the elderly is shut down FSCS warns consumers about scam website Firm fined £350,000 for making record 146m nuisance calls Keep yourself safe – how to spot the signs of common scams Ban on pension cold calling will protect people from losing their life savings, says Citizens Advice Misleading missed delivery cards posted through letterboxes City of London Police collaborate with Microsoft to tackle computer software service fraud Inside the mind of a scammer: FCA reveals the tactics investment fraudsters use to deceive over 55s A third of over 75s targeted by investment scams, as FCA urges consumers to take the time to check |
Will it actually ‘work’? |
New legislation to cap poor value energy tariffs and save consumers money has been introduced to Parliament. The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill will put in place a requirement on the independent regulator, Ofgem, to cap energy tariffs until 2020. It will mean an absolute cap can be set on poor value tariffs, protecting the 11m households in England, Wales & Scotland who are currently on a standard variable or other default energy tariff and who are not protected by existing price caps. |
Researched Links: |
BEIS: Government introduces new legislation to cap poor value energy tariffs in time for next winter BEIS: Domestic Gas & Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill Government’s energy price cap bill is “good news for consumers”, says Citizens Advice Ofgem: Record number of customers with small and medium sized suppliers |
Can you trust them? |
Choosing adult social care in England is one of the biggest sources of stress compared to other key life events, according to a survey of 1,000 people carried out for the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The findings come as the quality regulator is raising public awareness about how its inspection findings can help support people in making these important decisions. The survey findings reveal that 70% adults who were responsible for choosing care in a care home or at home – either for themselves or a loved one – over the last three years have found it more stressful than choosing their child’s nursery or school, or a venue for their wedding or civil partnership. |
Researched Links: |
CQC: Choosing care is one of life’s most stressful experiences but trusted information can help, finds CQC ~ LGA responds to CQC survey which finds choosing care one of most stressful experiences ~ Almost like a ‘Death tax’! Living longer is something we ‘dream’ of, but the reality may not be what we anticipated More difficult than trying to find ‘Good’ local school Be careful and make a timely claim While the debate on zero-hour contracts is still on-going, there is no excuse for this practice! |
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. |
This weather is not the time to be homeless |
The Homelessness Code of Guidance highlights the importance of co-production and partnership working to preventing & relieving homelessness. Under the Homelessness Reduction Act (from 03 April 2018) local housing authorities will be required to provide additional support to all people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The number of people sleeping rough in England has increased by 73% over the last 3 years and is predicted to rise by 76% in the next decade. Shelter has calculated that in England 268,330 people are either rough sleeping, single people in hostels, households owed the statutory duty by a local authority or homeless households being accommodated by social services. As the cross-party MPs of the Public Accounts Committee reported, the extent of homelessness across England is a national crisis. |
Researched Links: |
Homeless Link: Working together to prevent homelessness HL: Record number of rough sleeper alerts sent in 24-hour period HL: Women’s Hidden Homelessness Looking for good practice guidance to support you in your work? We need to encourage & support ‘good’ landlords |
They need more money! |
Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s Transport spokesman, responded to a poll of drivers by the AA on the condition of roads LGA responds to AA poll of drivers on the condition of roads |
Will the banks try to recoup the money? |
The FCA has published its final policy statement on new rules for the credit card market. It estimates the changes will save consumers between £310m & £1.3bn p.a. in lower interest charges. |
But do they expect English taxpayers to subsidise their plans? |
The Welsh Government has outlined plans to introduce an emergency bill to protect devolution. |
Researched Links: |
WAG: New law proposed to protect Welsh devolution Editorial commentary; Who pays for the additional administrative organisations? WAG could get £300m from Barnett formula by abolishing ‘freebees’ Editorial Comment: Just a means of getting more money from England? |
They need the money! |
GeoPlace has launched a new service to work with councils to provide a targeted report on properties missing from their business rates registers. |
Researched Links: |
GeoPlace launches new service to help councils find and keep business rates NSG underpins lane rental scheme to bust congestion Connecting data for better outcomes 5 Surprising ways addresses are making a difference in Great Britain |
Confirming identity in a property transaction |
In January 2018 HMLR updated Practice Guide 67, which explains who needs to confirm their identity for a property transaction and in which circumstances they need to do this. The update focuses on how to complete the ‘confirmation of identity panels’ in their application forms and provides additional clarity where an attorney (someone legally appointed to act on someone else’s behalf) is involved in a transaction. The guide now clarifies that details for each party (for example the seller, buyer, and buyer’s lender) must be listed in separate boxes in the identity sections of our application forms. See section 5.1: Confirmation of identity of the guide for full details. |
Researched Links: |
HM Land Registry: Identity requirements for property transactions |
Data is the foundation of international trade & security |
Colleagues from across the organisation share their experiences & involvement in the ICO's ongoing contributions to the upholding of information rights across the globe. |
Flying to the ‘rescue’ |
NDA R&D funds have helped two UK businesses develop a small drone that will measure radiation levels at Japan's damaged Fukushima power plant. The lightweight RISER drone uses lasers to self-navigate deep inside hazardous facilities where GPS signals cannot reach, and has already been used successfully at Sellafield. RISER carries a sophisticated radiation detection & mapping system which has been collecting vital information about conditions in the remaining Windscale Pile chimney. More than 60 years after the 1957 fire, the chimney remains highly contaminated. Using remotely operated equipment is the only way to establish how the chimney can be cleaned out and finally dismantled |
Researched Links: |
Promise of a healthier future |
The 100,000 Genomes Project was launched in 2012 and has now reached the halfway mark – sequencing 50,000 human genomes from 40,000 patients with cancer or rare diseases. DH&SC: Genome sequencing project reaches the halfway mark |
Editorial commentary; Why don’t we extrapolate what the future spending plans of the EU might cost us? |
Much has been made of the latest Treasury Brexit scenario costings and how much worse off we ‘will’ be by 2030 & beyond. However, as well as ignoring the offset of the probable benefits of increases in UK trade with the rest of the world over that time period, the costings made no mention of what increased contributions to the EU we would need to make by 2030. Surely if the Treasury could ‘guestimate’ the likely impact on the UK’s GDP of the various probable scenarios reached with the EU, they could also estimate (with the same degree of (in)-accuracy) the impact of the EC’s proposed new policies on our net contribution to the EU over the same period? While obviously the next EU budget period has not been agreed yet, we do know some of the proposals for new/increased areas expenditure and the fact that several Balkan countries could well have joined the EU by 2030 with all that implies in EU ‘grants that will be paid annually to them, as they will not be net contributors for many years. So using similar ‘guesstimating’ methods as those used by the Treasury, what will our net contribution be to a more ‘federalised’ and enlarged EU by 2030 – £15bn, £20bn, £25bn per year? If you think those figures are on the high side, just consider whether we would still be ‘allowed’ to keep our rebate by 2030 (£4bn in 2016, which would take us to approx. £14bn on 2016’s figures). Invitation letter by President Donald Tusk ahead of their informal meeting on 23 February ~ Future EU budget: Undermining Cohesion Policy risks undermining Europe's future ~ Defence procurement: EC opens infringement procedures against 5 Member States ~ Council recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area ~ 2018 EU budget: jobs, investments, migration challenge and security ~ The Future of EU Finances: the 7th report on economic, social and territorial cohesion ~ 2018 EU budget ~ Defence: MEPs urge member states to show political will and join forces ~ Future financing of the EU and draft budgetary opinions for Spain and Lithuania ~ EU enlargement: The next seven - BBC News Returning to the recent Treasury forecasts, a very different view was put forward last year by PWC, which included the following extract: •The UK could be the fastest growing economy in the G7 to 2050, with average annual growth of 1.9% •Remaining open to talented workers and developing successful trade links with fast-growing emerging economies will be critical to realising the UK’s long-term growth potential •The EU27’s share of world GDP could fall to below 10% by 2050, with France out of the top 10 and Italy out of the top 20 In addition the Adam Smith Institute said last week; "A comprehensive free trade deal with the USA could open up a market of 323m to our world-beating financial services, high-quality food, legal services and cars – while driving down costs for consumers here. Corbyn might be getting all in a flap about chlorine chicken in an FTA but EU institutions like the European Food Safety Authority he so lauded have said it was safe to eat time after time. Throwing away the chance for trade deals with the USA by hamstringing the UK to a customs union with the EU would be like buying a chicken burger, throwing out the meat, and eating the wrapping." Finally, new research from the Centre for Business Research (CBR) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School questions the accuracy of measurements of the impact of Brexit on the UK economy undertaken by the Treasury and by other official and academic bodies, during and after the Referendum. The new paper, “How the economics profession got it wrong on Brexit”, predicts that the decision to take the UK out of the European Union will only have a small negative impact on economic growth over the coming years, and is likely to have a minor impact on living standards. These conclusions contrast with the large negative impacts predicted by others and particularly by the Treasury. |
Researched Links: |
Treasury economic modelling is flawed say economists from the Centre for Business Research (CBR) Open Europe: Why would the EU agree to Labour’s customs union proposal? IEA: Remaining in customs union would be a huge missed opportunity WAG: FM in the US and Canada to boost trade with Wales’ most important business partner CBI: Successful Brexit means deeper trade ties with China One notes that the Commonwealth population is over 5 times the size of a post Brexit EU! Open Europe: Nothing to declare - A plan for UK-EU trade outside the Customs Union ~ Civitas: British business need have little to fear from EU tariff barriers Would WTO tariffs really be such a ‘cliff edge’ for Brexit? Editorial commentary; Some ‘more positive’ aspects of Brexit Remember Y2K (or Millennium Bug) foresaw the end of the electronic age Some ‘more balanced’ Brexit commentary from Think Tank ‘Open Europe’ |
|
More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims; |
Researched Links: |
DfT: Welsh rail services set to be devolved following historic agreement |
- General News
- Health, Social Care and Homelessness
- Policy Statements and Initiatives
- Consultations
- Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
- General Reports and Other Publications
- Legislation / Legal
- EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
- Charity and Voluntary Sector
- ICT and Data Management / Security
- Business and Other Briefings
- Industry News
- Forthcoming Event