WIREDGOV

Information Commissioner reminds political parties they must comply with the law ahead of General Election.

The Information Commissioner has sent a letter to the political parties in relation to the use of data in political campaigning.

She wrote:  “People expect their personal information to be used in line with law, and where that doesn’t happen in digital campaigning, there’s a danger that public trust and confidence in the broader democracy process is damaged.” ….

A dedicated election hub for parties and campaigns has also been created on the ICO website, along with an updated ‘Be Data Aware’ campaign for the public telling them their rights when their personal information is used for political purposes.

The ICO carried out data protection audits on a number of political parties … and  … they have been able to use some of the initial findings from these audits to improve our understanding of the data aspects of emerging campaigning techniques and current practice in political parties.  We have used this knowledge to help inform our recently published draft framework code of practice for the use of personal information in political campaigning. This draft framework provides guidance on the practical application of data protection and electronic marketing laws to political campaigning practices……..

Using technology to transform the way you teach.

The proportion of UK universities achieving Cyber Essentials certification has almost trebled in a year.

The figures show an increase from 14% to 40% over the past year in UK universities achieving Cyber Essentials, a certification scheme run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ.

Cyber Essentials is the NCSC’s government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common online threats, such as phishing campaigns. Organisations must achieve certain industry-approved security requirements to gain certification.

The rise in universities gaining Cyber Essentials was revealed in the latest annual Cyber Security Posture Survey from JISC, an organisation which works to highlight the importance and potential of digital technologies for UK education and research.  The NCSC works closely with the academic sector to improve its security practices and to help protect education establishments from cyber threats.

Socitm looks at Transforming rural public services through technology.

With rural areas of the country having fewer people per square mile, this means increased costs for the delivery of public services.  This offers rural authorities some particularly good reasons to use technology; whether by making better or different use of something already available, or trialling & installing new technology.

Tony Summers, CEO, Socitm Advisory;  It puts more of an emphasis on the use of technology to make the working lives of those in rural areas more effective.

Longer travel distances mean rural authorities can benefit more than urban ones by allowing mobile staff to work remotely.  Tony recalls work at East Sussex County Council, where social workers were sometimes faced with two-hour round trips from clients’ home to enter data at the office in Lewes: “Removing the need for an individual to have to travel backwards and forwards to record the output from a case hearing was a phenomenal saving.”

Who is making it work?

• Mapping Shropshire’s social care
• Networking Norfolk

Thriving at Work – Civil Service update Blog posted by: Antonia Williams, 5 November 2019 – Categories: A great place to work, Health & Wellbeing.

We are two years on from the Thriving at Work review of how employers can better support all employees, including those with poor mental health, to remain in and thrive at work. 

The Civil Service was the first major employer to commit to implementing all its recommendations to create a culture of health & wellbeing.  Having just returned from maternity leave to my role as Director of Mental Health, Dementia & Disabilities, at the DHSC, it’s great to see mental health and wellbeing receiving such prominence across government departments.

All departments have health & wellbeing on their agendas and are accountable for mental health support in the workplace.  The Civil Service will fully meet the Thriving at Work standards by April 2020. This will not be the end of our journey, but a continuation of a new way of working on the delivery of our mental health at work commitment……

Sharing personal stories has changed the culture and made it easier to talk about mental health.  However, managers need the tools and confidence to identify workplace stressors and support people when they are struggling.  Civil Service departments are publishing their achievements on disability, mental health and wellbeing on their departmental pages on GOV.UK and the full blog provides a selection.

Massive spending often seems to lead to massive waste, due to poor management.

Political pressures and staff turnover can significantly impact the Government’s ability to successfully deliver major infrastructure projects, finds an interim report published.  Government annual spending on high-profile construction and defence infrastructure projects runs into the £bns, and although these are often projected to provide considerable taxpayer returns in the future, effective project design and delivery is vital if these forecasts are to be realised.

In an interim report published ahead of the dissolution of Parliament, PACAC outlines key themes raised so far during its inquiry and recommends that a successor Committee continues investigating these issues in the future.