WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Reflecting the ‘skill needs of modern life’ |
Girlguiding South West England have partnered up with the NCSC and GCHQ to produce badges for activities in cyber skills. The new badges can be collected by those who complete activities from the new resource created by Girlguiding South West England and the National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ. The resource, called ‘On the net’, includes a range of activities for girls to complete within their units after which the badges can be collected. Staged with levels to cover all ages within Guiding, from Rainbows to Rangers, the activity pack is designed to increase awareness among young women of the need to stay safe online. In GCHQ’s centenary year, the resource incorporates aspects of the NCSC’s successful CyberFirst initiative, which has seen in excess of 24,000 young women engage in cyber security challenges. The new partnership is part of the ongoing efforts to engage a younger audience in cyber security and in particular increase awareness among women. Whether it be mobile phones, tablets or computers, people are online at a younger age, using connected devices on a daily basis, and the pack will help participants understand how the internet works and how devices talk to one another. |
Researched Links: |
NCSC and Girlguiding team up to create a new cyber resource Girlguiding SWE - SWEBOTS On the net Full Set of Badges Women were essential to the success of Bletchley Park Inevitably History repeats itself, as we ‘send’ our youth into ‘battle’ again |
Editor’s choice of other ICT items of note: |
techUK: A look into the Rural Connected Communities Project techUK: RUSI Research on ‘The UK Cyber Strategy - Challenges for the Next Phase GDS: What we’ve learned so far at our Sprint events and how to register for the next one ICO Blog: Cookies – what does ‘good’ look like? (new guidance on the use of cookies link) AXELOS: PRINCE2 in US universities: equipping graduates for the real world |
Technology can help, but are we quite sure when & how best to use it |
Blog posted by: Dr Pauline Whelan, Co-Director, CAMHS.Digital, 3 July 2019. Can people develop feelings towards a robot therapist that are equivalent to those developed towards a human therapist? Should we worry more about sharing our mental health data compared with our physical health data? Will digital technologies replace human clinicians? Should we embed Artificial Intelligence (AI) in clinical decision-making tools or would AI make bad, biased decisions about our healthcare? Is the importance of human contact lost from clinical encounters when new digital technologies are introduced (and does it matter if it is)? Such questions are often lumped together in a general panic about introducing digital innovation in healthcare. These and other questions are explored in Reform’s recent report on data-driven mental healthcare. The report talks us through the importance of using data to improve healthcare and helps us understand how #datasaveslives. It also shows that successful transformation relies on building trust with patients & practitioners. This can only be achieved through rigorous research and a team science approach. We need to work with people to explore the risks, benefits & challenges of digital health technologies and data sharing. What are the conditions that satisfy a social license for data sharing so that people feel safe to share their data for healthcare purposes? The Connected Health Cities programme ran Citizens’ Juries to explore how healthcare data could be used in a way that people found acceptable. Building trust & transparency around sharing health data is key. We need to use novel ways to explore with people how digital technologies can be usefully embedded in healthcare contexts. A large scale hospital simulation game, like enTRUSTed can be used to explore how digital tools and data analytics can be integrated into complex systems. This allows to brainstorm the digital possibilities across many areas, from process optimisation to patient-facing applications. One of the best ways to embed digital technologies into routine care is to do so in ongoing cycles of continuous improvement. This involves creating a ‘learning health system’ that can adapt as it is embedded into different healthcare contexts. This parallels the ‘agile’ approach adopted in software development, where the software develops through ongoing collaboration and iteration. |
Researched Links: |
Reform: Learning Health Systems - an Agile Team Science Approach Reform: Making The Right Choices: Using Data-driven Technology to transform Mental Healthcare Reform: Creating a Learning Mental Health System Using Data-driven Technology Right Care, at The Right Time - How data-driven tech can help bridge the access gap for MH Services DHSC: Physical activity helps children to deal with life’s challenges ScotGov: Improvements to psychosis services LGA: Councils seeing more than 560 child mental health cases every day Never ‘blindly’ rely on something you don’t understand Remember it’s YOUR personal data Not long before a new ‘batch’ set off to Uni. Not having perfect teeth or a toned body is normal! An often overlooked medical condition Another area where Local Government needs more funding! Does this help explain why they are too busy to ‘solve’ minor crimes? You have to be mentally well to ‘feel’ well |
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. |
‘Time to stop kicking the can down the road’! |
The HoL Economic Affairs Committee has published its report - Social care funding: time to end a national scandal. The report recommends that the Government immediately spends £8bn to restore social care to acceptable standards and then introduces free personal care over a period of 5 years. The Committee found that publicly funded social care support is shrinking, as diminishing budgets have forced local authorities to limit the numbers of people who receive public funding. Funding is £700m lower than 2010/11 in real terms, despite continuing increases in the numbers of people who need care. More than 400,000 people have fallen out of the means test, which has not increased with inflation since 2010. Social care funding is unfair; “The whole system is riddled with unfairness. Someone with dementia can pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care, while someone with cancer receives it for free”. In addition, national funding for social care is distributed unequally across local authorities. The funding shortfall has meant local authorities are paying care providers a far lower rate for local authority-funded care recipients than self-funded care recipients, and those care providers with a high proportion of local authority-funded care recipients are struggling to survive. To address unfairness in the system the Committee proposes bringing the entitlement for social care closer to the NHS by introducing free personal care, which would include help with washing, dressing or cooking. Those in care homes would still pay for their accommodation & assistance with less critical needs like housework or shopping. Those receiving care in their own homes would not have to pay accommodation costs, which may encourage care users to seek essential help with personal care early. This model would cost £7bn per year according to the Health Foundation and the King’s Fund, only £2bn more than the Government’s 2017 "cap and floor" proposal. |
Researched Links: |
PC&PE: Act now on social care crisis, Lords report tells Government LGA responds to Healthwatch England report on dementia care LGA: Councils set Government 10-week deadline to publish much-delayed social care green paper DHSC: Experts to help UK champion ageing society opportunities DHSC: How local & national government can work together to improve health & care Integration is the key to cost effective and improved health & care services Like ‘Bind Weed’ this issue keeps coming back and only a ‘Root & Branch’ approach will address it Innovation Agency: Start small and develop robust ICT solutions that really deliver benefits 1 + 1 equals 3 in beneficial outcomes Living longer is something we ‘dream’ of, but the reality may not be what we anticipated Is the answer to raise taxes on everyone during their working life? Care at home is not only preferred, its more cost effective as well Editorial Commentary; Health & Social Care funding |
Editor’s choice of other Health, Social care & Homelessness related items of note: |
NHS England: New ways of working to free up doctors as part of the NHS Long Term Plan NHS England: England’s top midwife warns ‘tens of thousands’ still smoking during pregnancy NHS Health Scotland: Delivering a new standard of weight management service for everyone WAG: Military veterans urged to sign up for priority NHS treatment in Wales Innovation Agency: Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service is on the pulse of stroke prevention NICE: Keep homes well ventilated when cooking & cleaning to prevent ill health |
Editor’s choice of other Business / Commercial items of note: |
BEIS: Ingenious innovations to help transform UK farming NIC: Ensuring resilience in a highly renewable energy mix PC&PE: Govt. must embrace modern methods of construction or risk missing 300,000 homebuilding target Companies House: Changes to our late filing penalties manual UK Space Agency: Scottish supercomputer satellites launched into orbit Ofcom confirms new rules for business networks NEPO supplier gives local children hands-on experience of a dairy farm CMA launches digital markets strategy FCA proposes ban on sale of crypto-derivatives to retail consumers CBI: Business backs UK to be world leader in internet regulation but proposals 'fall short' TUC: Government must change the law to stop sexual harassment at work |
Editor’s choice of other Policy & General items of note: |
MoD: Bioprocessing waste into reusable products LGA: One in three councils fear funding for legal duties will run out within three years Electoral Commission welcomes proposals to reform the annual electoral registration canvass Civil Service: Collective leadership – making it happen Sport England: New 10 Minute Shake Ups to Make Activity Fun DIFD: New UK aid support to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria 10DS: First ever marriage review to free-up dream wedding venues HO: Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme open for applications HMRC: Make summer childcare costs easier with Tax-Free Childcare HMRC: Renew your tax credits by 31 July – it’s too important to forget Defra: Nature garden takes children on a ‘journey of the senses’ DfE: Society-wide mission to boost early literacy and communication DfT: Idling drivers could face higher fines under new government crackdown DfT: Life-saving fund opens for bids ScotGov: School holiday meals for children MoJ: 'Claudia’s law’ to lift families of missing people out of legal limbo Sentencing Council: New definitive guidelines for arson and criminal damage offences published Reform: Must a Judge be Human? PC&PE: Plague of potholes - Long-term funding settlement essential to local roads maintenance POST: Compostable Food Packaging Member States' compliance with EU law in 2018: efforts are paying off, but improvements still needed |
|
Still a ‘hot topic’, with widely spread views, for those who put fingers to keyboard in order to ‘share their views’: |
Researched Links: |
DExEU: The government and The National Archives prepare for EU exit MHCLG: EU Exit Local Government Delivery Board: June 2019 update ESMA issues opinions on product intervention measures by Sweden, France and the UK WAG: Is your business ready for no deal? If not, you’re running out of time LGA: Millions in rural England risk being 'left behind' post-Brexit, councils warn techUK: Countdown to Brexit: Money, money, money OE: A ‘Merkel-Macron deal’? Europe reacts to the Council’s nominations for EU leadership B4B: The Dreary Internal Politics eating away at Honda: reported from Japan B4B: Six ways we can be sure Boris is serious |
- General News, Charities & Third Sector
- Health, Social Care and Homelessness
- National & Devolved Policy Statements & Initiatives, Legislation / Legal
- Reports and Other Publications not listed in other sections
- EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
- ICT and Data Management / Security
- Business and Other Briefings / News – (Government Funding Opportunities)
- Forthcoming Events