The Week, 12 July 2019

15 Jul 2019 02:52 PM

Blog posted by: Eleonora Harwich, 12 July 2019.

Reformer of The Week

Rt Hon Theresa May MP for announcing the creation of the Office for Tackling Injustices, which will hold the Government to account in its progress on dealing with inequality and unfairness.  

Quotes of The Week

“Deep-seated societal injustice requires a long-term focus and cannot be eliminated overnight.”

Theresa May MP, Prime Minister, on Friday.

“By working closely with … tech companies, big and small, we can ensure that the millions of users looking for health information every day can get simple, validated advice at the touch of a button or voice command.”

Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX, on Wednesday.

Good Week For

Combatting misinformation in healthcare
On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that a voice assisted technology would be used to direct searches on health information to the NHS’s website.  This would combat misinformation in healthcare.

Grade inflation
Also on Wednesday, it was reported that grade inflation continues to increase, rising by 80 per cent since 2010-11. Reform published a report on this issue last year.

Tackling economic crime
On Friday, the HM Treasury and Home Office announced a new Economic Crime Plan to combat fraud, money laundering, bribery and corruption.

Bad Week For

Universal Credit
On Monday, it was revealed that a loophole in the online Universal Credit system has allowed for the proliferation of fraudulent claims.

Recruitment in disadvantaged schools
On Wednesday, new research found that state schools in the most deprived areas struggle to fill teacher vacancies. One in five teachers said that nothing would persuade them to apply for a job in a low-performing school.

Entreprise zones
On Thursday, it was reported that the Government’s Entreprise Zones policy, which was meant to improve economic growth and job creation, has failed to deliver on its promises. It has created three-quarters less jobs than planned.

Reform's Week

Imogen Farhan, Researcher at Reform, wrote a blog on why the NHS needs to get the basics right before realising the 'digital revolution' in mental healthcare.

Claudia Martinez, Research Manager at Reform, authored a blog on Finland’s approach to public service co-creation.

Eleonora Harwich, Director of Research at Reform, was quoted in a Bloomberg Opinion piece on Amazon and NHS England joining forces to help patients get information about illnesses via Amazon's Alexa.

Reform held a roundtable event on Thursday with Andrew Elliot, Deputy Director of Data Protection and Digital Identity, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on ‘data protection and security: how can the government protect people online?’.

Luke Heselwood, Senior Research at Reform, and Imogen Farhan presented the findings of Reform's report 'Preventing youth homelessness: an assessment of local approaches' at the Homeless Link Policy Forum.

Eleonora Harwich spoke at a Westminster Health Forum panel event on 'Addressing barriers to innovation and developing health technologies - regulation, workforce engagement and meeting user need'.

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