WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
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Is Brexit chaos partly explained by reasons why Government projects usually overrun in cost & time? |
A blog from AXELOS provides useful guidance on how to get management ‘buy-in’ and help ensure smooth progress. It’s not uncommon for project managers to have a degree of trepidation about project boards. The board, after all, is a holding-to-account session, where the project manager presents progress – or, sometimes has to justify the lack of it. Boards can be confrontational, they always require a lot of work generating the reports, however they can be enjoyable. There are things you can do, that help to make things go more smoothly. Here are 3 steps to an enjoyable project board: 1. Communicate 2. Know your stuff Make sure you are on top of your delivery, your data, your reporting. No one, the client included, wants to be in a project board where you are fumbling around for the information, or presenting the wrong data. 3. Broker in advance If, or rather, when, there are contentious issues, broker an agreement in advance. Don’t seek to use the board as the negotiating panel if you can avoid it. If the project manager hasn’t worked the room in advance, hasn’t consulted with stakeholders, I guarantee something will emerge to trip them up. |
Researched Links: |
AXELOS: How to enjoy your project board - (Readers can mentally substitute PM for project manager and Parliament for project board with regards to Brexit). |
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We all know ‘joined-up care’ must happen to ‘save’ the NHS! |
An NHS programme in Somerset has helped patients avoid 7,500 nights in hospital and freed up at least £2m for other services. Somerset’s pioneering ‘Homefirst’ scheme offers patients who are healthy enough (& their families) tailored help to finish therapy at home, with personalised care reducing stays in hospital by up to ten days. Described by health leaders as ‘a common sense approach’, Homefirst is delivered by specialist teams of staff who have been given additional training in a range of care techniques, so they can do more with patients once they are home, to help them regain independence faster. The NHS’ long term plan, unveiled this week, set out how care will be increasingly integrated across communities, with different health services, councils & other agencies working together to provide faster, more convenient and more joined-up care within each community. In Somerset, instead of waiting to complete assessments, such as walking the ward, in a busy unfamiliar place, people for whom it’s safe to do so can be discharged home at the right time and get support for important tasks, based on their home and enabling a quicker and happier recovery. The team see patients on the wards at both Somerset’s acute hospitals, involving families about when a patient is ready to go home and liaise with medical & nursing staff to ensure patients are comfortable & happy that they can be discharged safely. Tim Baverstock, who led the scheme for Somerset County Council, yesterday said: ….. “previously paperwork and assessments could have meant waiting weeks. But while the patient waits their mobility and independence reduces and causes frustration – a person over 80 who spends 10 days in hospital loses 10 per cent of muscle mass equivalent to 10 years of ageing.” |
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NHS England: Patients avoid 7,500 nights in hospital with ‘tailored’ home help scheme NAO: NHS financial sustainability |
A smarter way to ‘fund’ the NHS |
UK businesses can apply for funding to develop technologies, products & processes that could offer better outcomes for patients. Through the Biomedical Catalyst - a partnership between Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council - there is up to £10m available to UK businesses to:
Projects in the competition can be in any life science sector or discipline, including:
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Innovate UK: Take on the biggest healthcare challenges - apply for funding Benefiting the NHS & potential UK exports With medical staff costs continually rising, we need other alternatives An example of why the NHS has to continually ‘invest’ in research / pilot schemes |
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. Against this ambitious 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. |
Editorial commentary; Lest we forget the direction the EU is travelling in! |
In all the recent media ‘froth’ one area for discussion has been virtually ignored – that of the direction the EU has moved & is continuing to ‘travel’ in. None of the politicians, ex-politicians (including Tony ‘responsible for the Iraq war’ Blair) and political pundits are critically discussing & analysing just how that would impact on the UK if we remain bound by its rules. Last week the EC quietly announced their desire (and they normally get what they want - eventually) for a transition to qualified majority voting (QMV) on EU Tax policy, which currently requires unanimity among Member States. In the Communication, the EC asks that EU leaders, the European Parliament and other stakeholders assess the possibility of a gradual, four-step progression towards decision-making based on QMV as set out below (see factsheet for full details): The Communication suggests that Member States decide swiftly to converge on a decision to develop Steps 1 & 2 and (on the face of it) their proposal(s) seem fairly logical. The EC claims, the use of QMV under Step 3 would help to modernise already harmonised EU rules such as VAT and excise duty rules (thus frustrating forever the UK’s desire to zero rate sanitary products for example?). Step 4 would allow a shift to QMV for major tax projects, such as the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) and a new system for the taxation of the digital economy. While the UK might agree the need for the latter, would we still have any voice in the decision-making process by then? More importantly both the UK and Ireland could ‘kiss goodbye’ to changing their corporation tax levels in response to market forces. Surely with Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, etc. all currently having tax rates of 25%+, the QMV process would inevitably force the rate to rise in the UK. Tax rates in Europe - Wikipedia The Communication suggests that Member States consider developing Steps 3 & 4 by the end of 2025. Action in the areas outlined would be possible under the so-called ‘passerelle clause' (Article 48(7) TEU) in the EU Treaties which allows for a shift to qualified majority voting and the ordinary legislative procedure under certain circumstances. No EU Treaty change is necessary. |
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Roadmap to a ‘Fiscally’ United Europe Even though the proposed FTT will have the greatest impact on the UK Postscript: Readers following the ‘struggle’ as to who controls future decisions about Brexit negotiation policy should find a new Policy Exchange report of interest (PX: The Contest to “Take Control” of Brexit and also an offering from Briefings for Brexit (B4B: Now for a Free Trade Deal ) |
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