WIREDGOV

On International Day of Women & Girls in Science, efforts to address gender imbalance in cyber-security continue as just 11% of global cyber workforce are women

Nearly 12,000 young women participated in the National Cyber Security Centre’s (a part of GCHQ) CyberFirst Girls 2019 competition, with the top 10 teams moving forward (over 3,350 teams participated) to the final of CyberFirst Girls in Edinburgh in March 2019. 

11,802 schoolgirls aged 12-13 have participated in this year’s competition – a 162% increase compared to last year’s edition.  As an added incentive for all competitors, the NCSC is offering around 600 free places on specially commissioned 4-day CyberFirst Defenders courses in April & May 2019.  These courses will be ‘all girls’ and a mix of residential & non-residential at locations across the UK.

According to new research, less than half of people in the UK set their social media to private.

Yet, more than a third (36%) of people reported being concerned that images & information taken from their social media could be used against them.

The King's Fund responds to the Topol review into technology and the health care workforce,

Technology underpins some of the most ambitious targets in the NHS long-term plan so it is vital that staff are able to use digital tools and understand the data they generate.  The Topol review makes a number of welcome recommendations to create a digitally-savvy workforce with the knowledge and flexibility to embrace emerging technologies.

'At a time when staff have never been more stretched, technology has an important role to play in making life easier for over-burdened nurses, doctors and other staff, freeing them up to focus on supporting patients.  As well as training staff to use technology, new systems should be designed to reduce the daily pressures facing NHS workers.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson outlined the global role of the UK’s Armed Forces and defence industry after leaving the EU and beyond in a speech at RUSI recently

He acknowledged that the UK faces a world of competing powers, hostile states and stateless ideologies, who are happy to operate in a ‘grey zone’ between war & peace.  He claimed it is crucial that Britain’s Armed Forces & defence infrastructure are ready to meet these challenges and do not stand still as the world moves forward, making a raft of announcements to support that goal.

To support this aspiration, the Defence Secretary announced new strategic assets that will allow Britain to meet the global challenges the future might hold.  Two new Littoral Strike Groups are to be created. Complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters, one would be based to the East of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and one based to the West of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic.

Two news stories/themes have appeared in the press recently;

• When should elderly people  be ‘forced’ to stop driving
• Lack of funding for ‘outside conurbation’ bus services

The first news story is a bit of a perennial and usually ‘surfaces’ when an ‘elderly’ driver presses the wrong pedal and the car shots forwards / backwards with unfortunate consequences, or ‘just doesn’t see’ something and hits it.  The most recent occurrence of the latter allegedly concerning Prince Phillip.

For him the longer term consequences are fairly minor as a personal protection officer will usually be available to drive him around on public roads, but what happens to those drivers who are not in his situation and do not live in a conurbation with good public transport systems and relatively cheap locally-based taxis which function 06:00 – 23:30?

This brings us to the second news story; ‘Nearly half of all bus routes in England currently receive partial or complete subsidies from councils and are under threat, the Local Government Association warns.

Councils in England face an overall funding gap that is expected to exceed £5bn by 2020.  Faced with ongoing & significant funding pressures, the LGA said councils will struggle to maintain current subsidies for bus routes across the country.

This could leave our most vulnerable residents isolated and unsupported, as well as cause increased congestion and poorer air quality in local communities.  Council leaders are warning that cherished bus services and routes will continue to fall unless councils are given the powers and funding to protect them’.

The London Freedom Pass is wonderful as most of the recipients live within a short walk of FREE regular bus services which run to underground stations, which provide FREE services most of the day. 

However live just 1mile outside the M25 and you could find that one’s Free older person's bus pass is useless after 20:00 (for example) as there is no bus service to travel to a tube station just 3 miles away!

The combined loss of driving licences from a blanket ban on elderly drivers (irrespective of their ability to still drive safely) and the cutting of bus services (even further than they have been already) could sound the ‘death knell of non-conurbation living’.