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 Brake, the road safety charity, has launched an exciting new competition to inspire young people to raise awareness and campaign for safer roads.
Brake’s Project24 competition, in partnership with Coop Insurance, asks 11-18 year-olds to create their own 24-second short film that raises awareness about a road safety subject of their choice.
The title ‘Project24’ was chosen as figures from the World Health Organization show 1.35 million people are killed on the roads each year – the equivalent of one person every 24 seconds [1].
Road crashes are now the eighth leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of death for people aged 5-29.
The contest is open to emergency service cadets. By registering, community leaders receive free resources including presentation slides, filming tips and fact sheets.
Young people across the UK are encouraged to enter Project24 by creating their own 24-second videos raising awareness of a road safety topic of their choice and the solutions available to make roads safer, or to inspire people to campaign for safe and healthy journeys.
Entries could include interviews, animations, poetry, artwork, music or anything else the young people feel like making – as long as it lasts no more than 24 seconds.
 Brake project24 students making film The best entries will be showcased by Brake through its website and social media channels across the globe. And winners will receive prizes for themselves and for their schools, including attendance at a special awards reception.
The final date for entries is 4pm on Friday 3 April 2020. Winners will be announced in May.
For more information visit www.brake.org.uk/project24 or email project24@brake.org.uk
 Community Impact Managers Bev Bertenshaw and Dave Brereton unloading the van Reporter: Stuart Littleford
A housing association has invested over £80,000 to combat poverty among its customers on low incomes and bring a discounted food service to their local communities.
First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) has partnered with Manchester-based food surplus redistribution charity, The Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT) to provide good quality food for a fraction of its usual price to their customers. The aim is to increase the amount of disposable income in their pockets, so they don’t have to choose between buying food, paying bills or buying other basics.
The affordable food service takes place every week at community centres in some of the most deprived areas in the borough. For just £7, customers’ shopping bags are filled with a minimum of £35 worth of items made up of quality fresh food and store cupboard staples from supermarkets. Those with larger families have the option to pay £14 for a double order and our Community Impact Team will also hand deliver shopping to customers whose health needs may make it difficult to attend.
The TBBT scheme launched at NEON Hub in the Greenacres area of the borough at the end of November 2019, quickly followed by a second hub at Sholver and Moorside Community Centre in January 2020. To date, people who have used the service have saved more than £10,000 between them. Over the next 12 months, they plan to expand the offer to at least three more locations in Oldham. Once it’s fully established, every week TBBT will be serving approximately 450 customers, saving them a collective total of almost £10,000 per week – that’s over half a million pounds a year.
 Customer Charlene Brennan As well as distributing much needed food, the scheme creates a useful point of contact for their customers to get help and advice. Charlene Brennan has been using the service at NEON since it launched last year when she was encouraged to attend by her Community Impact Advisor.
Charlene told GPSJ: “I turn up to The Bread and Butter Thing every week and it’s saving my household a big chunk of our income. The food is brilliant, the staff are nice and my son is eating more veg. The extra money is now helping me pay off some debts and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our family is a lot happier, we’re a lot more secure and I don’t feel like I’m going to lose everything anymore.”
Vinny Roche, FCH Chief Executive told GPSJ: “Our customers do their very best to get by but food poverty is on the rise in Oldham. At First Choice Homes, we’ve decided we can’t just sit back and let that happen. That’s why we’ve teamed up with TBBT to make a positive difference to our customers in greatest need. We’ve funded the partnership, aimed at getting the food service running five days a week, 52 weeks a year to a minimum of 450 of our customers every week. The results to date are fantastic and I’m excited to see what we can achieve in the future. The more of us joining the fight against poverty the better and if further partners would like to get on board to help us reach even more people in need, I encourage them to get in touch.”
Mark Game, TBBT Chief Executive added: “The financial savings for people using the service are significant, people eat better quality and a bigger variety of food, and we save tonnes of surplus edible food from going to waste. It’s a win/win solution for everyone and we’re looking forward to seeing our partnership develop in Oldham and improve the lives of more and more people.”
 The Chartered Institute of Journalists has condemned the government’s crass and immature bullying of journalists and warns that it needs to ‘grow up’ and show respect for media freedom.
Institute President, Janice Shillum, says: “Only authoritarian governments snarl at the media and retaliate against criticism with threats and petty restrictions. So it is of immense concern that Boris Johnson’s government is behaving this way towards its critics in the media. It is especially alarming when the Prime Minister is himself a journalist by profession and should know better.”
She adds: “These clumsy attempts at media manipulation and control are undignified and unbecoming in a country that likes to pride itself on setting high standards of democratic accountability. It is high time that the Prime Minister’s Chief Political Advisor, Dominic Cummings, and those responsible for the Government’s communications strategy, started showing more professionalism and better judgement in their dealings with the media.”
The Institute is the longest established professional association of journalists and has been tracking a growing pattern of harassment that varies from insults and boycotts to thinly veiled threats to curtail the security of BBC funding.
Recently Mr Cummings told an ITV news reporter that his questions in a live door-stepping encounter were inane. It would seem that the accusation of ‘inanity’ is becoming the government’s watchword in its treatment of professional media.”
The CIoJ points out the need for a healthy and respectful relationship between government and the media to underline the vital role that a free media plays as an essential pillar of democracy.
Wakefield Council regeneration and economic growth expert appointed to IED Board
Tom Stannard, Corporate Director for Regeneration and Economic Growth at Wakefield Council, has joined the Institute of Economic Development (IED) Board of Directors.
In a career spanning over 20 years Tom has worked in a variety of economic development, regeneration and policy roles in high-performing councils including Oldham Council in Greater Manchester, Blackburn with Darwen and the London Boroughs. He is also a former Deputy CEO of the UK Learning and Work Institute.
Having moved to his current position at Wakefield in 2018, Tom oversees delivery of the Council’s 2018-23 economic strategy for successful business, people and place. He is responsible for regeneration and economic growth services, including economy and skills; planning, transport and highways; environmental services; property; and arts, culture and leisure.
Tom is a Chartered Surveyor, and is also a Board Director at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and Deputy National Spokesperson for Economic Prosperity and Housing for SOLACE.
Drawing on his experience, Tom said he was looking forward to sharing his skills with the IED Board and its membership. “I have been an IED member for a number of years and I am keen to see us take a lead role on key issues facing the profession – particularly the climate emergency, labour market issues, and championing sustainable equitable economic growth,” he explained. “I have also seen the Institute develop considerably during that time. In particular, the CPD has really improved and is now a really strong offer. I am keen to add to this further with a broader range of expertise, as well as support membership growth and peer support as I have with SOLACE.”
Tom’s appointment to the IED Board was confirmed in December 2019 after he was elected by his peers. He added: “My aspiration is for the IED to be the voice of practical economic development work on the ground, be assertive on our position nationally and be bold on policy changes which affect us, including planning and sustainability. We should not assume that we have all the answers and we do not have to be isolated in our thinking. There is strength in collaboration with organisations such as CLES, SOLACE and other strategic partners.”
IED Chair Bev Hurley said: “The Board are delighted to welcome Tom and we are sure that his expertise in economic development, regeneration and skills will be of great value to the IED and its members.”
Scottish Government economic development expert joins IED Board
Jon Pickstone, Deputy Director of Regional Economic Development at The Scottish Government, has been elected to the Board of the Institute of Economic Development (IED), the UK’s leading independent professional body for economic development and regeneration practitioners working for local and regional communities.
Jon leads the division of The Scottish Government responsible for place-based economic growth. This includes sponsoring Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise; setting up the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency; City Region and Growth Deals; Regional Economic Partnerships; Scotland’s Centre for Regional Inclusive Growth; Community Wealth Building; Enterprise Areas; and Urban Policy and the Scottish Cities Alliance.
He previously led The Scottish Government’s economic engagement in London, having also held roles at the Department for International Trade, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Homes and Communities Agency.
A Fellow of the IED, Jon said he was delighted to join the Institute’s Board of Directors. “I have been an IED member since 2010 and originally did so to gain professional accreditation,” he explained. “Over the years, I have got to know others in the Institute and now I want to contribute further. It is a great opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and, as the only UK body devoted to economic development, we have an opportunity to provide a well-rounded professional offer for a range of practitioners.”
Jon added that a collaborative approach, including with other professional bodies, was essential. “The IED provides a platform to converse on the major long-term questions facing economic development around business, community and place,” he said. “It can help to ensure wider understanding of best practice economic development in Scotland, and likewise support The Scottish Government’s own focus on driving sustainable inclusive growth. The IED’s ability to offer practical and bespoke training, as well as general knowledge-sharing, can only help us all.”
IED Chair Bev Hurley said: “The Board are delighted to welcome Jon and we are sure that his expertise in economic development and regeneration within private practice, government agency and Whitehall experience will be of great value to the Institute and its members.”
Cushman & Wakefield commercial property champion takes place on IED Board
Ben Pretty, a partner at leading global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, has taken up his place on the Institute of Economic Development (IED) Board of Directors after being formally co-opted in December 2019.
Ben, who is based in Cushman & Wakefield’s Leeds regional office, has over 15 years’ consultancy experience, largely advising public and private sector organisations on property development, infrastructure, regeneration and economic development projects. He is a Chartered Surveyor and works mainly in the field of regeneration and economic development.
His appointment as a Partner last year means that Ben leads much of Cushman & Wakefield’s economic development and growth-based work nationally. Through this role, Ben advises Local Enterprise Partnerships, Combined Authorities and Local Authorities and developers on the development and appraisal of business cases to secure public sector investment in infrastructure and property schemes with a focus on commercial, residential and mixed-use schemes. He is also involved in making the case for investment in a number of large-scale infrastructure schemes and is currently involved in the regeneration of town centres through to the delivery of major residential schemes.
Speaking about his appointment to the IED Board, Ben said that he was relishing the challenge. “I have been involved in economic development since 2007 and an awful lot has changed during this time,” he explained. “I have always wanted the opportunity to have an influence on change in our sector, rather than sitting back and responding to changes, so when the chance to join the Board came up it was something I was keen to pursue. I have been a member of the IED for 10 years – and I have seen the Institute become more and more influential over the years – so I am looking forward to supporting the next phase of its journey.”
Like many economic development and regeneration professionals, Ben initially joined the IED to gain professional accreditation but has noticed a step-change in its overall value to members. “The IED is definitely more recognised as a body and a collective group of core individuals now, with more influence and say, and that has benefitted members through the representation of our interests,” he said. “I am excited about supporting further proactive engagement with members, whether that is through thought leadership, CPD or something entirely different, and ultimately enhance the brand, profile and reach of the IED as the leading professional body in the field of economic development. I see that engagement expanding to public and private sector professionals working in property, transport and skills in the broadest sense, with economic growth at the heart of it.”
Ben said that the growth of private sector organisations in the IED’s membership meant that further representation of those businesses was required. “Historically the IED has been a public sector membership body, with few private sector members on the Board, but that has changed,” he explained. “The USP that I bring is a voice in the private sector world, especially in terms of bringing together the private sector property world with the traditionally more public sector-led agenda of economic development. Around 70% of my work is in the public sector, so I also understand that side of our membership, and I will bring my private sector commercial edge and experience to the Board.”
Whilst recognising the challenges facing the sector, Ben highlighted the need for further collaboration between public and private sector to address these. “Yes there is currently economic and political uncertainty, but there is a significant opportunity for the public sector to step up and work more with the private sector to deliver mutual goals and objectives,” he said. “I am keen to drive things forward and leverage public-private working and partnerships.”
IED Chair Bev Hurley said: “The Board are delighted to welcome Ben and we are sure that his consultancy experience across the public and private sector, and expertise in property development, infrastructure, regeneration and economic development, will be of great value to the Institute and its members.”
Nottingham-based civil and electrical engineering firm McCann has committed to making its entire fleet of company cars all-electric by the year 2025 – after the business recently achieved ‘Go Ultra Low’ status.
McCann has already invested heavily in the future of its fleet of company cars over the previous 12 months – making 53% of its vehicles either electric hybrid or fully electric. Spearheading the fully electric car route are Carl Lancaster – Operations Director and Simon Gardiner – Director (Peter James Homes) who have both recently taken possession of the fully electric, Audi e-tron.
Six 7.2kw electric charging points have also been installed at McCann’s Nottingham head office at a cost of £50,000, with further investment in the next generation of 22kw charger units planned over the coming years to handle the growing fleet of electric hybrid and all-electric cars.
The company has now been recognised for its efforts by achieving ‘Go Ultra Low’ status and set itself the target of using plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) or all-electric vehicles by 2021, and then going all-electric across its fleet of company cars by the year 2025, significantly reducing its impact on the environment.
“Everyone now has a responsibility to help tackle climate change where possible, and we’re passionate about making our own commitment by investing in the future of transportation for the business and factoring this into both our short and long-term business plan,” says company MD, John McCann.
One of McCann’s current diesel cars typically emits between 140-180 Co2 g/km, whereas the Audi e-tron 55 Quattro, earmarked as the ‘car of the future’ for the business, emits 0 Co2 g/km emissions and will still cover a range of 245 miles from a single, full charge. A transition period is now in place for all company directors and management to move to all-electric vehicles by the year 2025.
“Not only does changing to all-electric cars reduce our environmental impact, it also brings with it cost-saving benefits,” adds John.
“Enough diesel to cover a 245 mile range would typically cost £44.60, whereas a fully charged electric car covering the same distance would cost the business £14.86,”
McCann is not only setting targets in relation to its fleet of company cars – all of the businesses HGVs and vans are now fully compliant with the latest Euro 6 emission regulations and will continue to adapt to the latest guidelines as technology evolves.
Paul King, McCann`s Fleet Manager, added, “The technology to make our company vans and HGVs run on electric is still a work-in-progress but as soon as this becomes widely available to the industry, we will definitely look at it as an option going forward. The hope is that one day our sector can be fully electric and eradicate the need for fossil fuels.”
For more information about McCann, visit www.mccann-ltd.co.uk.
 Sylvia Sage Reporter: Stuart Littleford
Over the past 18 months, House of Commons authorities have come under repeated fire for their lack of action to address bullying and harassment.
Dame Laura Cox, who authored a report in 2018 which laid bare the scale of the problem, criticised the slow pace of progress a year on from its publication.
She said: “Delay can only serve to increase frustration and hinder the restoring of trust and confidence of both House staff and members of the public alike.”
Her report was commissioned following a string of accusations of bullying and harassment against MPs, peers and other senior officials within Westminster.
Cox’s calls for an independent complaints system have been largely ignored.
The political and economic stalemate of 2019 may have been part of the problem. But we have now entered a new decade with a new government boasting a large majority and a mandate for change, so there is no longer any excuse.
So, what can leading figures in Westminster do to stamp out the ‘toxic’ working culture once and for all?
While a robust complaints process will undoubtedly help, it will not tackle the root causes of the problem. This will require a change in attitudes and working culture, which is a much longer process, but it is achievable if key steps are taken.
1. Education, education, education
Leading figures within Westminster need to educate themselves, all MPs, peers and staff on what constitutes inappropriate behaviour.
Harassment and bullying can be defined as conduct that makes someone feel intimidated or offended. Discrimination is “less favourable treatment of another person or persons”.
Harassment and discrimination are illegal when conduct is severe enough to be considered intimidating, hostile or abusive, when it is a condition of employment and/or related to any of nine protected characteristics defined by the Equality Act 2010, which include gender, disability, age, race, religion and sexual orientation.
Offensive conduct, which should be defined in the HR or Dignity at Work policy, may include jokes, slurs, insults, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule, offensive pictures or interference with work.
It is important to note that it is the impact of the behaviour which is key, rather than the intent. A particular action might be considered harassment, even if the effect is unintended.
The House of Commons Standards Commissioner, Kathryn Stone, responsible for tackling the issue of harassment in Westminster, has suggested a new ‘behaviour code’, which would come with a range of sanctions to deal with those found to have abused staff or colleagues.
2. Build positive values
Once negative and destructive behaviours have been defined, MPs, peers and Westminster staff need to collaboratively define the positive values and behaviours which will support a happy, productive workplace.
This involves bringing teams together to agree on a set of shared values and desired behaviours they can work towards. This process needs to engage and involve everyone, at every level, to ensure that expectations are clear and that all staff are supportive of the resulting changes.
For ideas to flow, it is essential to create a safe, relaxed environment, removed from the day-to-day workplace, ideally with the help of an external facilitator to guide discussions and ensure that everyone is able to share their opinions. A consensus must be reached on what desirable values and behaviours will create a respectful working environment.
In this way, everyone can start to hold themselves and each other accountable to uphold these clearly defined positive values and live the associated behaviours.
3. Change from the top down
MPs are elected representatives. They need to lead by example. Politics is stressful and demanding, the work involving long hours. MPs and their staff are pulled in many different directions. When those at the top feel under pressure, they are too likely to pass this down, creating a knock-on effect which results in a toxic working environment at every level.
This is why culture change in Westminster must start at the top.
Rather than shy away from the criticism, MPs and senior staff should instead embrace it. They must examine their own values and behaviours, adjusting them to build a respectful workplace.
In high pressure environments, the line between ‘assertive’ and ‘aggressive’, or strong leadership and autocratic behaviour, can quickly get blurred. This is why MPs and other senior staff need to think about the impact of their behaviour.
This is particularly pertinent in modern diverse workplaces, where staff may have differing views on what constitutes respectful behaviour.
Problems often arise when senior staff are too caught up in their own work and pressures to take time for one vital behaviour – listening.
Feeling truly listened to makes everyone feel valued and respected, and keeps managers better informed about issues on the ground that need addressing.
Only by listening will MPs and others in Westminster ensure their decisions and behaviour make them the kind of role models their office – and the country – needs.
4. Enable defence
While better education on the issues should lead to a dramatic reduction in incidences of misconduct, Westminster must have robust complaints procedures in place to enable staff to speak out and defend themselves and others from inappropriate behaviour.
There need to be informal and formal steps that staff can take to raise concerns as early as possible, before any situation escalates.
An open-door policy that makes senior leaders available and approachable so that staff can talk to them when needed is a fundamental requirement.
If the issues cannot be dealt with informally, more formal steps must be taken to monitor and tackle the issue. This might mean keeping a written record of all actions and reporting the issue to a more senior figure or the HR team, who can then take appropriate action to clamp down on the behaviour.
The complaint must be properly investigated and all parties consulted in a sensitive and confidential manner, with appropriate support offered to the alleged victim.
Sometimes, dealing with workplace tensions is a case of educating the ‘bully’, who might be unaware of the damaging impact of their behaviour. However, managers must be prepared to take more stringent disciplinary action when necessary.
This is where Dame Laura Cox’s promised independent complaints system could make a big difference.
In combination with ongoing work to alter attitudes and “accepted behaviours”, an independent complaints system would help to facilitate genuine long-term sustainable culture change.
MPs and leaders in the House of Commons have a responsibility under the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 to ‘play their part in making society fairer by tackling discrimination and providing equality of opportunity for all.’[1]
Discrimination and harassment in Parliament is damaging to the victims and their colleagues, but also to the country as a whole. Dysfunctional cultures affect the ability of our members of government to serve their public.
The government’s ministries need to act as role models for the country.
Staff who feel valued and are treated with respect are far more likely to behave well towards those around them.
There is a large and growing body of research which provides evidence that boosting staff wellbeing will benefit their psychological and physical health and leave them feeling more energised, enthusiastic and motivated. This has a direct impact on their performance at work. In a happy workplace, everyone is a winner.
Tackling bullying and harassment in Westminster – by Sylvia Sage, programme director at Corporate Learning Solutions
[1] www.homeoffice.gov.uk/equalities/
 The Government wishes to see a future relationship based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals for the benefit of all our peoples. There is complete certainty that at the end of 2020 the process of transition to that relationship will be complete and that the UK will have recovered in full its economic and political independence. The Government remains committed in all circumstances to securing all those benefits for the whole of the UK and to strengthening our Union.
The question for the rest of 2020 is whether the UK and the EU can agree a deeper trading relationship on the lines of the free trade agreement the EU has with Canada, or whether the relationship will be based simply on the Withdrawal Agreement deal agreed in October 2019, including the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland. In either event the UK will be leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year and stakeholders should prepare for that reality.
The Government will work hard to achieve a balanced agreement that is in the interests of both sides, reflecting the wide range of shared interests. Any agreement must respect the sovereignty of both parties and the autonomy of our legal orders. It cannot therefore include any regulatory alignment, any jurisdiction for the CJEU over the UK’s laws, or any supranational control in any area, including the UK’s borders and immigration policy.
This points to a suite of agreements of which the main elements would be a comprehensive free trade agreement covering substantially all trade, an agreement on fisheries, and an agreement to cooperate in the area of internal security, together with a number of more technical agreements covering areas such as aviation or civil nuclear cooperation. These should all have governance and dispute settlement arrangements appropriate to a relationship of sovereign equals.
Future cooperation in other areas does not need to be managed through an international Treaty, still less through shared institutions. The UK will in future develop separate and independent policies in areas such as (but not limited to) the points-based immigration system, competition and subsidy policy, the environment, social policy, procurement, and data protection, maintaining high standards as we do so. Cooperation on foreign affairs and related issues is of course likely to be substantial, but does not in itself require a joint institutional framework.
In its negotiations with the EU, the Government will be acting on behalf of the UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories: the whole UK family.
The UK proposes to agree similar arrangements with the EFTA states.
Further information is set out below. Unless otherwise stated, it should be assumed that the UK’s aspiration and level of ambition is to reach agreement on provisions which are at least as good as those in the EU’s recent trade agreements, such as those with Canada or Japan.
 Evan Wienburg, By Evan Wienburg, co-founder and CEO of Truespeed
A new year is a time for renewal and resolutions. The UK government’s plans to invest billions in infrastructure transformation in the budget on March 11 and shape up the UK’s digital economy by accelerating the delivery of full fibre broadband across the country are undoubtedly full of good intentions. Specifically, the government has pledged £5bn to support the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband to the hardest to reach 20% of the country. We all agree that giving consumers the fast connectivity they need is critical to ensure UK plc is flexing its digital muscles post-Brexit. But in order to give the gift of gigabit broadband, it’s essential that alongside healthy competition between industry providers there is also appropriate collaboration to reduce duplication, wasteful overbuilding and disruption for consumers.
Sizing up the current situation
After December’s election, the new UK government outlined plans to accelerate access to full-fibre broadband connections to 96% of the UK’s homes and businesses. The latest research from regulator Ofcom revealed that the figure currently stands at a woeful 10%. According to OfCom’s Connected Nations 2019 survey, three million homes and businesses in the UK are able to obtain connections that can deliver download speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps). Given that 12 months earlier only 1.6 million households had access to full fibre broadband, this is encouraging but still indicative of a greater-than-ever gulf between the digital haves and have-nots. At other end of the scale, 155,000 UK properties are still unable to get a decent fixed broadband service.
Of course there are many different performance classes of broadband. It seems obvious, but to ensure the network is future-proof and satisfying bandwidth needs for decades to come, full fibre broadband needs to mean just that – full fibre all the way to the front door, with no hint of copper in between. A few private sector infrastructure firms such as Truespeed are starting to offer a full fibre service to businesses that has the potential to offer speeds of up to 10Gbps – 10 times faster than the UK government’s 1Gbps-capable broadband goal.
The digital health benefits of full fibre
No one disputes that better connectivity is an essential part of UK plc’s regime to ensure it competes in the digital economy.
At one end of the digital divide, for many cities and urban areas, the additional investment in full fibre broadband is good news, enabling businesses to keep pace with digitisation and the cutting edge technology tools needed to thrive and grow.
At the other, in more rural areas, businesses have been stifled by a lack of connectivity. A recent survey we conducted with Somerset Chamber of Commerce revealed that the growth and development of local businesses are severely hampered by poor connectivity – echoed by rural businesses up and down the country contending with regular drop-outs and slow speeds.
But it’s not just a matter of bringing rural areas up to speed. Many of our towns and cities – particularly historic places bulging with listed buildings and narrow streets – have been seen as costly and challenging from a network build perspective and have suffered from slow, unreliable broadband connectivity as a result.
Boosting fibre uptake: balancing private vs public investment
Ofcom’s much anticipated review of the wholesale telecom market sets out a 4-point plan to supercharge the roll out of fibre broadband across the UK. In its Fixed Telecoms Market Review (FTMR), Ofcom puts pressure on national providers to encourage competition and add support for rural areas.
While the need for infrastructure investment and full fibre broadband for all – regardless of post code – is clear, Ofcom must ensure a fair and level playing field between private and part public-funded infrastructure providers.
A growing number of private providers such as Truespeed are already investing heavily and effectively in these broadband infrastructure builds and customers are benefiting from brilliant products and services in rural areas as well as in traditionally hard-to-connect historic cities.
Where these providers are already investing significant sums using private funds, it’s not only wasting taxpayers’ money but inappropriate and unfair that larger providers are using taxpayers’ money to fund overbuilding. A more efficient and effective use of funds would involve collaboration and working closely with national and smaller providers to lay the infrastructure in areas where no alternative provider is already ensconced.
Delivering on good intentions
The UK government’s full fibre investment plans are a positive boost for UK plc’s digital health and future. Consumers and businesses will reap the benefits if we strike a balance between healthy competition amongst incumbent infrastructure providers and innovative private players, and an intelligent approach to collaboration. By rejecting overbuild by infrastructure providers taking advantage of government subsidies in areas where there is already adequate full fibre provision, we can free up funds to invest in places bereft of broadband and deliver full fibre for all.
 Japanese knotweed is the problem that just keeps on growing. Described by the Environment Agency as “indisputably the UK’s most aggressive, destructive and invasive plant”, it’s now thought to affect 4- 5% of homes in the UK and the most conservative estimates put the cost of treatment at around £166 million each year.
As people become more informed about the risks associated with knotweed and its impact on property values, they are becoming bolder in pursuing encroachment cases through the courts. The growing number of successful legal cases in recent years relating to Japanese knotweed encroachment has sounded the alarm for those who fail to act to prevent the plant from spreading. They may find they are required to not only pay for treatment and legal expenses, but also to compensate the victim of encroachment for any diminution in the value of their home.
Local councils are at the coal face of the battle and can find themselves on both sides of the fence: simultaneously at risk of legal action as a landowner if knotweed on public land is left untreated, while also using Community Protection Notices and ASBO legislation to aid homeowners who are themselves victims of encroachment and who may find themselves unable to sell their property as a result.
A high-profile case in February 2017 saw two neighbouring homeowners successfully sue Network Rail for allowing Japanese knotweed to encroach onto their land, winning compensation for the cost of treatment as well as diminution of the value of their homes. Network Rail’s appeal in 2018 was quashed by the Court of Appeal. Also in 2018, in the first claim against a private homeowner heard in an open court, a couple in Cornwall successfully sued their neighbour for allowing knotweed to encroach onto their land.
 Environet UK Ltd – Copyright 2019 The vast majority of homeowners see their local council as being the first port of call in a row over Japanese knotweed encroachment. A survey carried out in 2019 by Environet UK and YouGov found that 42% of homeowners would contact their local council in the first instance if knotweed was at risk of encroaching onto their property.
This faith in the ability of local councils to help deal with the problem could be a result of a Bristol City Council’s successful use of ASBO legislation in December 2018 to prosecute a land owner who allowed Japanese knotweed to encroach into the gardens of seven neighbouring homes.They issued a CPN to the land owner who had failed to act to prevent the spread of the plant, then prosecuted them using ASBO legislation.
Whilst this blunt instrument should force action, it does not provide the affected homeowner any compensation for their losses, where a claim in civil nuisance would.
Awareness among the general public is growing, with 78% of UK adults now aware of the plant according to the latest research. Infestations are considerably easier and cheaper to treat if they are discovered early before they have a chance to take hold and spread, so vigilance by local residents is vital. A recent report by the Environmental Audit Committee called for a “citizen’s army of volunteers” to spot and stop invasive species before they become established, highlighting how people power can be harnessed to assist in the fight against Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS).
Local authorities keen to get on top of the problem have an opportunity to capitalise on this growing awareness and use it to help them build a local picture of the Japanese knotweed landscape using a new online heatmap, ‘Exposed’, that has been developed by Environet UK. Available for free to councils to host on their websites, the interactive tool could be of considerable benefit in the fight against knotweed, tracking infestations in the local area and encouraging the engagement of the local community in spotting and reporting new sightings.
Launched in early 2019 and already populated with thousands of infestations across the UK, Exposed is designed to build a local and national picture of the Japanese knotweed problem, with hotspots clearly marked in yellow and red. Users can enter their postcode to discover the number of known incidences of knotweed within a 4km radius of that location.
In addition to checking for sightings near where they live, the general public is encouraged to help populate the heatmap using the ‘Add Sighting’ feature and attaching a photograph of the plant so it can be verified by experts at Environet. Particular hotspots around the UK include Bolton, Bristol, South Wales and London, all of which are home to hundreds of infestations, but there are now very few parts of the UK which are completely untouched by Japanese knotweed.
As well as understanding the extent of the problem in their borough and creating a sense of collective responsibility, Exposed will also assist councils in their efforts to protect council-owned property and land that may be affected by Japanese knotweed, enabling them to act earlier to treat it before it becomes well established and more challenging to tackle.
Nic Seal said, “Local Authorities have a huge role to play in the fight against invasive plants, particularly Japanese knotweed which can cause significant damage to property and its value if left untreated.
“By adding Exposed to their armory, they can build awareness of Japanese knotweed in their local area and encourage people to be proactive in spotting and stopping the spread of the plant, potentially savings hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.”
Exposed is available free of charge to Local Authorities, including Borough and County Councils and there is no obligation to use Environet UK for treatment services. Interested parties should contact Environet UK for an iframe code by calling 01932 868 700 or emailing nic.seal@environetuk.com
The Chartered Institute of Journalists says the announcement of 450 job losses in BBC journalism will be a tragic blow to the profession.
The world’s longest established professional association for journalists says that British democracy cannot afford to lose this quantity of journalist expertise.
The Institute believes that the crisis in British journalism of contraction, exponential loss of professional journalism employment is not abating despite the recent Cairncross Review.
CIoJ President Janice Shillum said: “UK journalism has lost tens of thousands of jobs in the last fifteen years. So many newspaper closures and contraction of opportunity and coverage. This will be a tragic and devastating blow to the profession.”
She added: “A strong, diverse and significant BBC journalistic operation across all media platforms, at international, national, regional and local level is absolutely vital.”
She said: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of the BBC licence fee and the politics of highly paid ‘names’ and underpaid women journalists, this scale of loss will be damaging to the industry and to a public service broadcaster that upholds standards, funds journalism training and is accountable to those who fund it.”
The BBC remains the most admired broadcaster world-wide and a reliable source of domestic and world news. The BBC’s news division has already endured several previous rounds of swingeing cuts, at local, regional and network level.
The Institute fears there is much less flesh on the bone than there was 10 years ago. Every round of cuts has impacted both breadth and depth of coverage. This one will be devastating and disastrous in every way.
President Janice Shillum said: “We must all keep campaigning to find solutions to reverse the endless loss of journalists’ jobs and the resulting damage to good journalism which underpins our democracy. Parliament, government as well as the industry must accept they have a duty to secure a better future.”
Speakers from Amazon, INTEL and Pfizer are set to meet with Welsh innovators this March at an event which promises to reveal the near future technologies that will transform frontline health and social care in Wales and beyond.
‘Tomorrow’s Health 2020’, a major conference organised by Life Sciences Hub Wales, will see health and social care pioneers, industry experts and academia join forces to explore how collaborations in Wales will bring to life new revolutions in healthcare. Discussions will include explorations of how artificial intelligence and cloud computing will transform the care that we and future generations receive.
 Amazon, Intel and Pfizer are just some of the global names that will join the event on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 March in Llandudno. They will be joined by Welsh life science experts who represent an industry that employs more than 11,000 people and is valued to be contributing over £2 billion a year to our economy.
Keynote speakers will include Head of Healthcare, UK and International Public Sector at Amazon Web Services, John Davies, and the Senior Technical Specialist at Intel, Costas Stylianou, who will reveal how digital innovation and artificial intelligence are revolutionising health and social care services.
The event will also provide delegates with a great opportunity to hear from the managing directors of two of the world’s leading healthcare and biopharmaceutical companies – Ben Osborn of Pfizer (UK), and Richard Erwin from Roche (UK).
As people continue to live longer than ever before, the subject of ‘healthy ageing’, which looks at how people can maintain a high quality of life as they grow older, will be another key topic to go under the microscope.
Speaking ahead of Tomorrow’s Health 2020, Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, said: “Technology plays a vital and exciting role in our long-term collaborative vision for health and social care in Wales, A Healthier Wales. It is increasingly important that together we unlock new ways of delivering health and social care to meet the growing demand.
“Wales is already home to a thriving life sciences sector and this conference is a great opportunity to hear about developments in healthcare technology and innovation. It is equally important that as part of this conference new partnerships are developed, that are economically successful and delivering sustainable health and care benefits to the people of Wales.”
With an exciting line up of speakers, interactive sessions, workshops and exhibitors, those attending will have the opportunity to meet people working within the sector to hear first-hand about the everyday problems they face that require innovative solutions. They’ll also be able to get advice on how to bring their innovations and ideas to life with sessions on securing funding and engaging with NHS Wales.
The aim is to encourage partnerships between industry and academia to bring economic growth, sustainable employment and health benefits to the nation.
Cari-Anne Quinn, CEO at Life Sciences Hub Wales: “We have a strong life sciences industry in Wales and the sector presents a unique opportunity for significant growth across our economy. The number of companies in Wales is already a fifth higher than the UK average per capita, and we are recognised worldwide for successes in fields ranging from digital advancements and medical technology to regenerative medicine and neuroscience.
“As well as bringing economic benefits, collaborations throughout the sector are also making a real difference to the health and wellbeing of people in Wales. However, there’s still so much more that can be achieved.
“Tomorrow’s Health 2020 will provide the platform to bring together health, social care, academia and industry, in the spirit of collaboration, to accelerate Welsh healthcare advancements and drive forward a better future healthcare for Wales and beyond.”
Tickets to the inaugural event are complimentary with limited spaces available. To register your place or for more information about the conference, speakers and programme announcements, visit: tomorrowshealth.wales
 CIoJ President-Elect Professor Tim Crook The Chartered Institute of Journalists welcomes the historical development to permit the broadcasting of sentencing in criminal trials in England and Wales.
The initiative has been supported by the justice secretary, Robert Buckland QC, and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon.
The Institute has consistently campaigned for more open justice and improved media coverage of the legal system.
Institute President-Elect Professor Tim Crook was the UK’s first broadcast legal affairs correspondent and reported trials at the Central Criminal Court for 15 years.
He said: “This will substantially improve public understanding of the criminal justice system at a time when reporting coverage has diminished through newspaper closures and job losses.”
He added: “A progressive minded new generation of senior judiciary and enlightened campaigning by the journalism industry have negotiated this brilliant breakthrough.”
The first crown court broadcasts are expected to take place in April or May after legislation has been passed.
Professor Crook disagreed that televising sentencing could become some kind of “spectator sport.”
He said the public would be able to “fully understand the seriousness and solemnity of such occasions and the professionalism and quality of the people who work in our criminal courts.”
 Sascha Giese, Head Geek™, SolarWinds By Sascha Giese, Head Geek™ at SolarWinds
For even the most sensible among us, the word “automation” still strikes an uncertain, often fearful chord. Conditioned by the kind of rhetoric conveyed in movies like “The Matrix,” “The Terminator,” and “I, Robot,” the fear—even among the most seasoned IT professionals—of our jobs being affected by automation isn’t entirely unjustified. Particularly in the public sector, where budgets are increasingly restricted, this anxiety is understandable. However, there are two guaranteed ways to overcome this anxiety: a change in perspective and a willingness to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Align Automation to Your Purpose
In most cases, anxiety around the implementation of automation in organisations originates from fear over being incapable of fulfilling your purpose. For IT operations, automation heralds a day when we won’t need people to run maintenance, manage resources, or troubleshoot issues—when the fundamentals of ops no longer require a human to operate them. Developers may have an advantage over IT ops because they’ve been automating things from day one. But when a machine or an application starts to take over the job they do well, it can be damaging to professional pride and self-worth, no matter how confident you are.
It changes, however, when you look closer at the purpose of both disciplines. A public sector technology professional’s real job isn’t to patch servers or manage clouds. At its core, it involves finding efficient and elegant technical solutions to help the organisation do things better. In this way, one could argue tech pros do their jobs better when they embrace automation: using ticket histories to identify recurring technical issues, devising scripts or workflows to automatically take care of them, and using the extra breathing space to get down to the root of the problem so it never happens again.
For developers, this purpose should be even more obvious. No developer or coder ever went into programming wishing they could spend 80% of their time working through meaningless code changes with no guidance. A developer’s true purpose is to create—to come up with new ideas and turn them into viable products or services beneficial to both end users and the bottom line. Automating the tasks in the way of that, no matter how much time or effort developers have spent learning to do them, can only help accomplish this core drive.
In other words, the best fix for automation anxiety is to get back to basics: for developers and tech pros alike to remember why they do what they do, instead of worrying about not being able to do it anymore. With a refreshed perspective, however, comes some challenges—namely, where to invest their energies in an automated world, and put this technology to the best use for the general public.
Combat Automation Fear by Spending Time With People
Though it might seem counterintuitive, as automation increasingly makes its way into IT environments, developers and other IT professionals will have to spend more time working directly with other people. For some, that’s potentially a greater source of anxiety than having robots render you redundant. But by doing so, they can better fulfil their professional purpose, and perhaps even find some unexpected sources of personal fulfilment.
For developers, it’s simple: find out what people—including colleagues and the general public—want. As automation takes over the drudgery of maintaining and fixing code, coders have a responsibility to use their newfound time to better understand the needs, objectives, and habits of those who use their creations. Most people would agree talking to other individuals isn’t always easy, but it remains the only clear way to know what’s working and what’s not, and to use this knowledge to develop apps to better serve those people.
The new challenge for tech pros is to communicate better—to tell a more convincing and compelling narrative about the value they can bring to their organisation. To a certain extent, this means translating technical metrics into a language non-technical people can understand, and showcasing the solutions, especially those involving automation management, in the same language. For tech pros, whose language of fluency is technical jargon, speaking to less technical people may prove a challenge. The more they can do this, the more IT leads will find themselves gaining the support of business leaders and being given a seat at the table on matters of future technology direction in the public sector.
It’s understandable to be nervous about increasing automation in organisations. People often assume more automation means fewer jobs for humans, but this is rarely the case. To combat the fear of automated IT, tech pros should remember why they do their job—the public sector relies on dedicated workers making sure public services run effectively 24/7, and IT teams should keep this purpose in mind when approaching new automation strategies. Working in harmony with technology is the surest way to drive the public sector forward and continue to provide the care and support the country needs.
 Kingston Council has agreed to recommission its children’s services to Achieving for Children until 2026, following a decision at Children’s and Adults’ Care and Education Committee yesterday.
After considering various options, members of the committee agreed the preferred option was to extend the current contract for another five years, through a joint arrangement with Richmond Council. The extension will include the reconsideration of governance arrangements.
This decision is also dependent on the outcome of Richmond Council’s Education and Children’s Committee scheduled for 17 December 2019. Members will be considering the same options, with the recommendation to extend the current contract.
Achieving for Children (AfC), a community interest company, was established jointly in 2014 by Kingston and Richmond Councils to provide their children’s services. In August 2017, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead became a co-owner of the company, which now provides children’s services across all three boroughs.
The company has been nationally recognised and continues to deliver excellent services for the councils it works with since its launch.
Sarah Ireland, Kingston Council’s Director of Corporate & Commercial, said:
“AfC has achieved a huge amount since it formed in 2014. We look forward to continuing to work with them for the next five years to provide children, young people and families in Kingston with the very best possible opportunities and support so that they can live safe and happy lives.
“Over the last few years AfC has worked with the council to deliver excellent services in a very challenging financial environment. We are seeing a huge growth in the need for children’s services, particularly for support and education for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). They have worked extremely hard to provide education and support across Kingston despite there not being enough money available to meet the SEND needs in the dedicated schools grant.
“Working with AfC we will continue to transform the way we deliver our children’s services and achieve excellent outcomes for Kingston’s children and young people.”
 MOBILANE – LivePanel at the Nursery in London N Family Club is a group of early years nurseries with a brand new nursery concept in four spaces across London. Offering day care to children aged three months to five years, the facilities create a family feel and offer support to parents, grandparents and carers in an ever-more fragmented community in a city environment.
Nurture and Nature in unison
The London Fields nursery opened in June 2019. As the doors opened and the first children took their first N Family steps, they were greeted by a beautiful living wall, courtesy of Oasis Plants and the Mobilane LivePanel. Installed on the roof level of the nursery, the 13 square metre LivePanel extends the roof garden’s nautical natural theme and is planted with Pachysandra, Carex Morrowii, Carex Ice Dance, Hedera Helix White Wonder and Euonymus Fortunei. This infusion of grasses, climbers, colour, foliage and form draws varied interest from its young patrons. The children are encouraged at play to take notice of the plants, to spot when they need a little care and to learn about plant science, growth and nature.
A healthy, clean air environment
Maximising green elements in an otherwise grey urban environment, the LivePanel plants are also working hard on improving the air quality. Renowned for their pollution-busting qualities, the leaf cover not only forms a naturally beautiful wall of colour but is busy removing harmful particulates from the air in this intensely busy city environment. The nursery maximises the children’s outdoor time, weather permitting, with sessions taking place alongside the living wall up to three times a day. At the start of a child’s educational journey, this area is the backbone of a healthy living environment at the Club where reading, socialising, exploring, playing and learning in the fresh air is a vital element of a child’s development and preparation for school.
Flourish and grow
“We are thrilled with the LivePanel living wall, as are the children.” explains Paige Francis, Operations Manager at N Family Club. “The children particularly enjoy playtime alongside the living wall. They take time out to see how it is growing and show great interest in its development. The plant choice of grasses, climbers and different colour leaves creates a beautiful backdrop to their daily activities. We’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how quickly it has established and we’ve been impressed with how much it has already started to flourish and grow – we’ve had plenty of positive comments from parents and visitors too!”.
To find out more about N Family Clubs in the London area and to see the LivePanel wall in action, please visit the N Family Club website.
Installed and planted by Oasis Plants.
A range of works and 234m2 modular data centre design and build completed for Thurrock County Council, which will serve its 170,000 thousand residents.
Secure I.T. Environments Ltd, one of the UK’s leading design and build companies of modular and containerised data centres including refurbishment of existing data centres, has announced today the handover its latest data centre project to Thurrock County Council. The new 234m2 data centre, will provide a new energy and space efficient home for an IT infrastructure serving 170,000 residents across over 160km2.
 Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments The data centre was required as the operational location and IT systems had reached end of life. This led to a critical timeline to ensure handover for the new facility was achieved on time and within budget. The project was split into two phases, the first comprising the design, build and testing (including acceptance testing) of the new data centre, the evaluation of existing critical and essential power, and decommissioning of the existing ICT infrastructure. Phase two is an on-going five-year programme of planned preventative and reactive maintenance, including emergency call-out services.
The new data centre room includes Resilient Data Centre energy efficient air-conditioning in N+1 configuration, Riello MPW UPS, a built-in 65KVA generator, 840U of server space, raised access flooring, environmental monitoring, biometric access control, CCTV and Novec fire suppression. The project also included all ground works and connection to existing electricity supplies and back-up generators located on other parts of the site.
Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments, added “We have worked hard for over a decade to ensure that customers can trust our name when it comes to the delivery and maintenance of their data centres. For the public sector in particular, where people rely hourly on access to council services, we take great pride in being a part of councils achieving their digital vision.”
 About Secure I.T. Environments Ltd
Secure I.T. Environments Ltd is a UK company specialising in the design and build of energy efficient internal/external secure modular data centres, containerised data centres and its infrastructure. The company has established an enviable relationship with its clients based on trust and mutual respect by working as a team with the client and its project team.
The company offers a “Total Solutions Package” to the private, healthcare, education and government sectors, as well as co-hosting companies in the UK and offshore, by way of design, implementation and installation management services for projects from small stand-alone computer rooms to large public sector contracts and co-hosting locations. All rooms are designed to meet the latest test standards, now regarded as the benchmark standard for modular rooms being installed throughout the UK and Europe.
Secure I.T. Environments’ primary aim is to ensure that clients’ critical infrastructure components are protected against all external threats in a suitably protected modular room or Modcel containerised environment. To this end the company has established long-standing partnerships with its manufacturers, who are at the forefront of R&D, to ensure the highest level of physical protection and energy efficiency is maintained.
• Contract will include up to 2 million MiPermit digital permits per year
• Introduces MiPermit innovation to leading UK Smart City
Chipside, a provider of parking and traffic management IT to more than 160 UK local authorities, is delighted to announce it has been awarded a contract with Bristol City Council for MiPermit digital permits. The contract will enable Bristol City Council to deploy up to two million digital permits per year through Chipside’s MiPermit system – enabling city residents and visitors to buy, manage and renew permits electronically.
 Paul Moorby, Founder and CEO of Chipside Paul Moorby, Founder and CEO of Chipside, comments; “We are delighted to win a contract with Bristol City Council. It will not only strengthen MiPermit’s position in the South West as the premier digital permits brand, but also give us the ground space to contribute innovative technology to an already-celebrated connected city”.
Bristol topped Navigant Consulting’s UK Smart Cities list in 2017 and beat Barcelona, Dubai and New York to win the Smart City Award (Judges’ Choice) at the GSMA’s 2018 Global Mobile Awards (The GLOMOs). The award provided global recognition on how Bristol has raised the bar on defining the Smart City of the future. With central government funding from the Smart Cities Agenda, the city’s ‘Bristol is Open’ initiative now offers innovators a testbed to develop disruptive solutions to city challenges.
“The diversity of the issues tackled through smart city technology is an indication of the potential of connected public services to improve residents’ lives,” continues Paul Moorby. “I look forward to introducing our MiPermit technology to the city and seeing the system’s capabilities and efficiencies positively impact Bristol’s residents and visitors to the city.”
IED Annual Conference 2019
The Challenge of Change – economic strategies for a new era – Wednesday 4th December 2019 – BMA House, London
Exploring ways to deliver inclusive and sustainable growth and more effective place management will be the focus of discussion at the Institute of Economic Development (IED) Annual Conference 2019, which is being held at BMA House in London next week.
The 4th December conference, titled The Challenge of Change – economic strategies for a new era, will bring together around 200 sector leaders and economic development and regeneration practitioners representing local and regional communities. Key topics on the agenda are growth versus sustainability; inclusive growth; international trade and investment; local industrial strategies; and wellness and place.
Amongst the highlights is an opening keynote from Rt Hon The Lord Kerslake, President of the Local Government Association and Chair of The UK2070 Commission, The Centre for Public Scrutiny and Peabody; which follows opening remarks from IED Chair Bev Hurley.
Other keynote speakers are The Baroness Valentine, Chair of Heathrow Southern Rail and Director of Place at Business in the Community, who will be speaking on ‘Regenerating seaside towns and communities’; and Professor Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, who will be reflecting on ‘How the UK can match European success’. There is also a keynote panel discussion on ‘The future of underperforming towns’, featuring Professor Cathy Parker, Chair of the Institute of Place Management; Sir Howard Bernstein, Strategic Advisor at Deloitte and Chair and Patron of the IED; and Professor Henry Overman from LSE.
This year’s IED Annual Conference, which will again incorporate the IED Annual Awards ceremony, is sponsored by Lichfields, Pegasus Group and Warwick Economics & Development; AECOM, Emsi UK and Local Government Chronicle; Grant Thornton, SignedUp Skills and the Social Value Engine.
IED Executive Director Nigel Wilcock said: “Predictably the ‘rhetoric’ building up to the General Election has touched on left-behind UK regions and how best to address those areas of the country which, for structural economic reasons, have fallen behind in terms of income and employment and struggled to find a new raison d’etre.
“The focus of this year’s IED Annual Conference could therefore not be better, as we explore issues around growth and place and the role of economic development. Purely from a structural perspective, the situation is a mess and it is small wonder economic development has failed to deliver in so many places. Our message to the incoming government is simple: the landscape needs to be simplified, there needs to be certainty of funding over the medium term and whatever is selected as an approach it needs to be in place for the long term.
“We would like to thank our speakers, sponsors and partners for their support in making the IED Annual Conference the ‘must-attend’ event that it is for anyone with an interest in economic development and regeneration issues.”
Full details of the conference, organised by Regen Events, can be found here: www.regenevents.com/ied/conferenceAgenda.php
Sustainability: is it time to view economic development through a different lens?
The General Election campaign has been positioned, by many commentators and politicians from across the spectrum, as an opportunity for renewal and refresh. A chance to seize the economic opportunities that lie beyond the seemingly immoveable barrier that is Brexit.
However, for those who have worked with and within government for a long time, or those who are a close study of economic development know, the reality is often more vanilla. The destination rarely changes, even if the method of getting there might be subtly different.
Will it be different this time and do economic development professionals within local and regional government have an opportunity to be at the forefront of that change? The answer is yes, providing we are willing and capable of seeing beyond the narrow view that growth needs to remain the panacea of sub-regional economic policy.
I can’t count how many times I have come across – or even been involved in drafting – an economic strategy and felt that both the ambition it sets out, or the tools which will be used to deliver it, could apply to most places in the UK.
Granted the challenges faced across many sub-regional economies are broadly similar, especially across the North which continues to be dominated by low skill levels and structural underfunding in infrastructure. But that does not mean that the way we choose to approach them must be the same. It can be different, it can be more locally-driven, and it can also help us address our most fundamental challenge of this generation. That is the need to move towards a more sustainable economic future. It is not growth at all costs, nor is growth the best measure of the success of a place.
The professional and political debate is catching up with this new reality, but perhaps not quick enough. It is time the economic development profession took a lead and began to shape the agenda. We need a new paradigm for sub-national economic development. One which addresses three key issues around growth, inclusion and sustainability, but redefines the primary lens through which everything else is viewed.
We have a choice. We can seek to continue to try (and largely fail) to balance the three, or as has been the case for many years, view inclusion and sustainability through the lens of growth. The way we approach these three factors will be defined by which one you start with. If we continue to view growth as the principle lens, inclusion and sustainability will be retrofitted around the need to achieve growth.
Barring a few isolated examples, I suggest that has largely failed as an approach to sub-national economic policy. Jobs get created, but people fail to fully benefit. Roads get built to unlock ‘growth’, and the quid pro quo is to try to minimise the impact on our natural capital.
It is time to view economic development differently. If we begin to shape future industrial strategy at a sub-national level by first looking at it through the sustainability lens, then we begin to see an opportunity for renewal and refresh. It opens the potential to address those universal social and economic challenges in a different way and could also provide a new framework for local communities to begin to take a greater sense of control and ownership through a redefined approach to devolution.
There is a growing movement which proposes redefining industrial policy through a ‘green revolution’ which also seeks to address rising inequality. This has particularly been championed in the UK by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES). As the NEF defines it, it is about creating a new generation of jobs in the industries and infrastructure we need to tackle the climate crisis and taking a new approach to running our economy that guarantees decent work, greater ownership and economic democracy, with a central purpose of putting people and planet first.
Its distractors will say that some places, which lag in job creation, investment or employment, simply do not have the luxury of taking this view. They argue that the focus should be on more growth and more jobs first and foremost. After all, you can’t have inclusive growth without growth. However, in many cases the meaning of what inclusive growth is has been lost, or at best has been played lip-service to.
I would argue that addressing regional inequalities is entirely complementary and consistent with adopting a new set of social and economic reforms. If you bring people with you.
There is every reason that the sub-national government structures we currently have in place can lead the charge, thereby avoiding years of unnecessary naval-gazing and questions over economic spatial geography which blighted the end of the Regional Development Agencies and the introduction of Local Enterprise Partnerships and Combined Authorities.
If a proper and long-term devolution settlement is agreed by government, there is no reason why these sub-regional bodies cannot shape themselves as genuine agents of change. They should, by their very raision d’etre, be mission-orientated organisations focused on the ‘grand challenges’ we face. They have it in their gift to move beyond narrow and outdated thematic norms and redefine cost-benefit models which enable a broader view on the merits of public investment. By taking this strategic leadership role, it will complement the work of local authority partners who are best placed to drive, from the bottom up, a focus on community wealth-building.
This is what the approach to growth and inclusion could be if we looked at them through the lens of sustainability. This is genuinely the opportunity for renewal and refresh in our approach to economic development. This is genuine change. The upcoming election will show whether we have the leadership in place to achieve it.
Mark Lynam is a Board Member of the Institute of Economic Development, and Director of Transport, Housing and Infrastructure in Sheffield City Region’s Executive Team. On 4th December 2019 the IED is hosting its Annual Conference 2019, ‘The Challenge of Change – economic strategies for a new era’
 Professor Jim Hall By Professor Jim Hall, Chair of DAFNI Governance Board
A new tool, set to transform research, planning and policymaking around infrastructure in the UK and beyond, is now in alpha testing.
DAFNI 1.0 from the Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) takes a significant step forward this autumn as its platform moves into alpha testing with users in eight UK universities. The platform is designed to allow a more cohesive picture of the UK’s infrastructure needs, possibilities and policies to be developed.
The result of over £1m of hardware investment and two years’ development, DAFNI 1.0 is designed to create a cohesive picture for infrastructure needs, possibilities and policies. It is already advancing research and allowing users to run models more quickly, through greater compute capacity and at greater scale and level of detail than has previously been possible.
DAFNI 1.0 has already improved the time it takes to run complex models, meaning it can be used for short-term decision-making as well as long-term planning, saving valuable researcher and computing time.
Much more than a team of developers and massive compute power, DAFNI 1.0 is underpinned by groups across industry, government and academia, and is actively seeking further collaborations. The support of the community that conducts infrastructure research and their active participation in DAFNI 1.0’s dynamic evolution ensures models driven by academia help validate and inform policy and new infrastructure developments.
We’re already working with organisations including the National Infrastructure Commission, the Alan Turing Institute, the Department for Transport, Oxfordshire County Council, the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC), the University of Oxford, Southampton University and Leeds University.
A number of pilots have run on the DAFNI platform across the last year, with the models now live, including:
- The Digital Communications Model – The implications of roll-out of 5G mobile networks across the UK
- The Agent-based Housing Model – How different factors affect the UK’s housing prices and market forces
- Automated Demand-forecasting Model for New Local Railway Stations – Forecasting demand and identifying the best locations for new local railway stations
- Population Estimation and Scenario Projection Model – Mapping the UK population in terms of future growth, migration and household structures
Transport Scotland is currently evaluating DAFNI’s demand-forecasting model with a view to using it to rapidly generate forecasts of passenger trips at potential new stations under a range of future scenarios; thereby informing decisions on infrastructure requirements, efficient build and spend and most appropriate station location.
The model in its entirety can be linked to other models in DAFNI 1.0, and DAFNI 1.0’s user-friendly interface means that researchers can take a view on interconnected infrastructure networks and derive an integrated vision on infrastructure provision.
DAFNI consists of five key parts:
- National Infrastructure Database (NID) This is an increasingly large library of datasets (already over 600) – some of which DAFNI holds, some of which DAFNI facilitates access to. Metadata tags are incorporated to make searching the database easier.
- National Infrastructure Modelling Service (NIMS) This is split into two main parts – the national modelling catalogue; and the workflow section, where you can drag and drop different models to link with each other to provide a “system-of-systems” approach to modelling and analysis. The aim is to democratise access to models whilst allowing modellers to set permissions on who can use their work.
- National Infrastructure Cloud Environment (NICE) Users can make use of the high-processing computing power behind DAFNI 1.0 to develop and increase the speed of their models, which may involve hundreds of gigabytes and much more. DAFNI 1.0 uses best practices in industry, such as hybrid cloud and onsite investment.
- National Infrastructure Visualisation Suite (NIVS) Modellers can use GPUs and CPUs to create 3D renders and 2D plots to tell effective and meaningful stories through visualisations.
- Data Security Service (DSS) This provides security assurances to those providing the data. Data is looked after in a secure and controlled fashion, based on industry best practices.
As one of our collaborators, Nick Cook, Senior Analyst at Tessella, explains, “DAFNI 1.0 lowers the barrier to entry for research, as users don’t need to procure expensive IT infrastructure, set up their own cloud environment or store data. It enshrines provenance and traceability and allows for reuse of workflows and models for wider community to engage with.”
Key facts about DAFNI 1.0
- 50,000 lines of code already in the platform
- Platform runs on Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) compute power, which hosts around 40 petabytes of data
- 20 programming languages used
- 20 independent services combining to create the platform
- At the time of writing this article has 600+ datasets and the list is growing steadily
The alpha launch swiftly follows the DAFNI Conference, which was held at the Royal Society in London in June 2019 with an audience of around 200 delegates from government, industry and academia. Watch the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZA1UAcGZCw .
Web: www.dafni.ac.uk Email: info@dafni.ac.uk
 AMI Conversational Artificial Intelligence Solution Transforms Services for Citizens
Britannic Technologies, specialists in voice communications, systems integration and managed services, has deployed AMI, a conversational AI solution into Stockport Council’s contact centre to improve customer experience. AMI has enabled the council to reduce the cost of customer response in the contact centre by 95%, compared to other communication methods such as telephone calls, emails and live web chat. For a council that receives thousands of enquiries a week the potential savings are huge.
However, it is not just about the cost-savings for Stockport Council. Their priority is about improving the customer experience. Stockport Council is modernising the way people access council services, using digital technologies to meet 21st century expectations of customer service and deliver routine services more efficiently. They are committed to human centred design, putting the needs of the people who will be using the service first, rather than the business goals or technical solutions.
Councillor Kate Butler, Cabinet Member for Citizen Focus and Engagement says, “We are redesigning the way we deliver our services, based on the needs of the people who will be using them. We are significantly improving the customer experience by embracing all the opportunities digital solutions bring, including online self-service.”
For the past few years Stockport Council had been offering Contact Centre operated web chat for users who are online and need help, but they were looking for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution that could operate on a 24/7 basis and handle as many contacts from citizens as possible. The aim was to transfer low level enquiries to an AI solution and focus their contact centre agent support on customers who are vulnerable or have complex circumstances.
Britannic worked closely with Stockport Council through Discovery workshops to understand their needs in depth and what technology they had in place ensuring that it could be integrated into existing operations and infrastructure. They reviewed the areas where AMI could be used, where it could automate interactions and how it could help improve customer service. To assist the learning process Ami was initially focussed on environment, council tax, bins and recycling, roads and footpaths.
“In each area we studied the customers’ journeys, looking at ways that we could make it easier for them to use. The chat is so simple; they ask AMI what they are looking for and it will present them with the information they require or guide them to a relevant page or the correct form on our website. If the enquiry is too complex, then it will hand over to a contact centre agent,” says Alison Blount, Head of Revenues, Benefits and IAG.
Jonathan Sharp, Director, Britannic Technologies states, “Stockport Council has used digital transformation strategies to re-engineer business processes and modernise the workplace. They engage with customers to examine the journey they take, looking at every touchpoint with the aim to make is as seamless as possible for the users. They also look at how the processes work and flow together as an entirety rather than an isolated project.
“Through analysing the conversations with AMI, they can continue to learn about and identify improvements to the customer journeys for each service – any gaps in her learning indicate there’s a need to revisit the web content.”
As well as extending the hours when online support is available, there are no limits on how many chats Ami can handle at one time, so citizens are no longer having to wait for their queries to be answered. Now with the AMI solution 61% of enquiries are being resolved, while just 19% of chats are being routed to an agent because they are too complex for AMI to deal with.
“We selected Britannic as they understand the requirements of digital transformation solutions for the public sector, and they are accredited by the procurement frameworks. The fact that AMI can automatically update with any changes in our website, can handle unlimited conversations and we can also analyse the chats to make improvements definitely make it stand out from the competition,” says Blount.
If you are free on the 14th November then please join us at our annual summit for business leaders, at Mercedes Benz World, in Weybridge, to see AMI in action and find out about Workplace Modernisation.
www.btlnet.co.uk/events/convergence-summit-2019
To the Ami page.
www.btlnet.co.uk/solutions/contact-centre/contextual-apps-and-ai
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