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KnowBe4 launches a no-cost resource kit to help organisations fight the staggering impact of ransomware
 KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, announced the release of a resource kit for IT managers as part of a month-long effort in July to increase awareness of ransomware, its many forms and methods used by cyber criminals to extort funds. Some of the resources for download include a Ransomware Master Class, Ransomware Rescue Manual, infographics, posters, digital signage and more.
Ransomware is a type of malicious attack where attackers encrypt an organisation’s data and demand payment to restore access. This has evolved to include the exfiltration and threatened exposure of valuable information, compounding the extortion. This is one of the many ways bad actors take advantage of the human element in cybersecurity, which is involved in 82% of cyber attacks according to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report.
Globally, ransomware costs are escalating from a reported $325 million loss in 2015 to a potential of $265 billion in 2031, making it one of the most predominate and dangerous forms of cyberattacks. In 2021, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a record number of 847,376 reported complaints with potential losses exceeding $6.9 billion. This has led to multiple warnings by government agencies, including the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) heralding ransomware as a prime threat.
“There is no question ransomware attacks will continue to be a major threat to organisations,” says Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “IT teams face a critical challenge, as technology alone is not enough to prevent attacks. Humans are an easy target via phishing and other forms of social engineering and continue to dominate as a primary source of infection. A vital addition to the security stack is to strengthen users as a last line of defence.”
To download the KnowBe4 Ransomware Awareness Month Resource Kit, visit www.knowbe4.com/ransomware-resource-kit?hs_preview=jWLYMIeR-76301550774
- The Enforcement Conduct Board, the new oversight body for the enforcement sector, has announced the appointment of four new Board members, following the announcement of Catherine Brown as Chair in March
- The new Board members include a former Vice-Chair of the Money Advice Trust and individuals with a wealth of experience across local government
- The Enforcement Conduct Board is due to formally launch in the autumn
The Enforcement Conduct Board, the new independent regulator for the enforcement industry (bailiffs) across England and Wales due to launch in autumn 2022, is appointing four non-executive directors effective from 1 July.
The new appointees are; Alan Cavill, Ged Curran, Althea Efunshile, CBE and Jenny Watson, CBE. They will join Catherine Brown, the inaugural Chair of the Enforcement Conduct Board, whose role was announced in March. The purpose of the Enforcement Conduct Board is to ensure that all those who are subject to enforcement action are fairly treated.
The four new Board members were selected following an open recruitment process:
- Alan Cavill is Director of Communications and Regeneration at Blackpool Council, supporting a town that has 8 of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods in England and is at the forefront of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.
- Ged Curran was Chief Executive at the London Borough of Merton for twenty-one years with direct experience of the complexities involved in enforcing debt recovery including the establishment of an in-house enforcement agent team. He is also a non-executive director on Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Integrated Care Board.
- Althea Efunshile, CBE, is Chair of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, and Chair of Ballet Black. Althea previously served as Executive Director, Education and Culture, at the London Borough of Lewisham and has worked at the Department for Education and Skills.
- Jenny Watson, CBE, is Chair of the House of St Barnabas and GAMSTOP and is a trustee of the Norfolk Community Foundation. Jenny is also a former Chair of the Fawcett Society, the UK Electoral Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission (before the creation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights), and Vice-Chair of the Money Advice Trust.
Commenting on the appointment of the new Board members, Catherine Brown, Chair of the Enforcement Conduct Board, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Alan, Ged, Althea, and Jenny to their new positions. Their extensive experience across a range of sectors relevant to the Enforcement Conduct Board’s work will be invaluable as we develop our forward plans and prepare to launch later in the year. Until now, there has been no independent regulatory oversight of the enforcement industry and although minimum standards, published by the Ministry of Justice, expect enforcement agents to treat those in debt fairly, these are not legally binding.
“The FCA has identified that more than a quarter (27%) of the population having low financial resilience, a figure set to increase as the cost-of-living crisis unfolds in the months ahead.[1] Set against this, the National Audit Office reports that the likely combined cost and non-tax income pressures following the pandemic may be as high as £9.7bn, increasing the importance of local authorities being able to collect debt effectively.[2] The future role for the Enforcement Conduct Board is a vital one.”
Commenting on his new role Ged Curran said: “I am pleased the enforcement industry is committed to regulation. Through my own experience in local government, including setting up an in-house enforcement agent team in Merton, I know that there are real improvements that can be made in this industry. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues on the Enforcement Conduct Board to shape our future priorities as we head to our launch in the autumn.”
Funded by a voluntary industry levy, the Enforcement Conduct Board will be wholly independent and committed to working openly and transparently to secure widespread confidence in its ability to serve the public interest. Both the enforcement industry and debt advice charities have welcomed the establishment of the Enforcement Conduct Board and agree that the new regulatory body ought to be given statutory powers. The Government has committed to review the emerging arrangements by 2024.
[1] FCA tells lenders to support consumers struggling with the cost of living | FCA
[2] Local government finance in the pandemic (nao.org.uk)
Unit4 implementing an integrated, common system to support delivery of unified Trust and better serve its 400,000 residents
Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for people-centric organizations, has announced that its’ ERP and FP&A solution was selected by The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Royal Devon) to implement a next-generation ERP platform that will help unify the organization’s processes, boost productivity and reduce costs. With Unit4, Royal Devon will be able to free up resources to focus more on the work that matters most – delivering safe and trusted emergency services.
The Eastern site operates across a number of locations in the county of Devon, providing specialist and emergency hospital services to about 400,000 residents. Its reputation as an innovative, leading acute hospital has developed over 25 years. The Eastern site, formerly the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, was one of the first Foundation Trusts to be created in England & Wales. This status has enabled it to foster closer links and a better understanding of what local people expect and need – now and for future planning.
 In 2006, the North site, formerly the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) took over the management and ownership of local NHS community services, including five community hospitals, a health centre, resource centre, district nursing, therapy, and sexual health services. In January 2021, NDHT was approved to merge with the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E) to become one integrated Trust with an aim of offering high quality, sustainable and resilient services to the people of Devon. The combined Trust will provide acute, community and specialist services across Exeter, Eastern, Mid and Northern Devon, as well as some services further afield.
One key element of the integration of the two trusts is a significant investment to replace legacy Finance and Purchasing software systems across all the facilities, within both Trusts and local NHS community services. Within a year, the combined Trust has been able to plan and begin implementing a modern, forward-looking ERP platform that will be regularly updated to keep ahead of changes.
By selecting Unit4 ERP and FP&A, Royal Devon will benefit from:
- A joint service across East and North sites that will boost people productivity, optimize processes and projects, and reduce costs to deliver maximum efficiency in times of budget pressure
- An innovative solution that can adapt to rapidly changing priorities
- Delivery of a trusted, high-standard financial, procurement and planning services across the new combined trust
- Alignment across the newly formed Trust to effectively respond to changing circumstances to leverage smarter, more flexible service delivery
- Unit4’s extensive experience in the emergency services and healthcare sector and proven implementation models that deliver rapid time-to-value, plus easy self-service configuration
- Increased visibility across The Trust to equip decision makers with the real-time information they need to make the right calls at the right time
“Unit4’s extensive experience in working with public sector organizations, shared services and merger environments, made it an easy decision for us to partner with them”, said Andy Clark, Associate Director of Operational Finance, The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. “By implementing modern, connected ERP systems we can make better-informed decisions to deliver more responsive services to the community and support our team to be more efficient and productive. Unit4 will enable us to make better use of resources by streamlining processes for employees, suppliers and citizens.”
“Robust processes and planning are key to preparing for frequent change and now more than ever, it’s vital for healthcare services to make the best use of their teams’ precious time,” said Chris Richards, Regional President, UK & Ireland, Unit4. “With unprecedented levels of demand, it’s never been more essential for organizations like Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to take control and ensure their technology is future-proof, provides business continuity and is ready to adapt to a changing world.”
Further Reading
Discover how Unit4 helps organizations that deliver emergency services to the public sector get up and running twice as quickly
Read two case studies on how East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust benefits from Unit4 ERP and Unit4 FP&A
 In today’s climate of competition among employers to attract and retain workforce talent, they are having to think beyond the traditional mainstays of salary and pensions to ensure they stay competitive and attractive for employees.
As salary sacrifice car benefits schemes offer staff access to new, safe, environmentally friendly and above all, affordable vehicles, they remain a highly attractive proposition and one which is a cost-effective option for payroll, too.
Importantly, as a result of the unique way the schemes can be set up, they’re open to all staff, rather than those afforded a car as a perk of their role or status. For many organisations, this is crucial in ensuring that these important staff members have access to affordable, brand-new vehicles, often for the very first time. Tusker, the UK’s leading car benefit provider, finds this is often the case for its customer organisations, with 20% taxpayers making up over 70% of its drivers.
The pandemic saw an increase in the uptake of schemes, as access to cars became favourable to public transport for many, especially key workers and front-line staff. More recently, with the cost-of-living crisis tightening the purse strings of many such workers, the affordability and financial stability which can be provided by a car benefits scheme has given peace of mind.
Research carried out by Tusker, has shown that for key workers, the majority of whom are lower rate taxpayers, the schemes have given access to new vehicles which they would have otherwise not have been able to afford. As the average age of the vehicles being taken off the road is over eight years old, these schemes have immediate safety, environmental and well-being benefits for drivers.
Not only are salary sacrifice schemes helping lower the UK’s emissions, supporting the Government’s Road to Zero strategy, but they also help companies address grey fleet issues, by reducing the number of drivers using their own vehicles for commuting or company business.
Tusker is unique in its car benefits schemes, as it is the only truly carbon neutral car benefits provider in the market. Independently verified as carbon neutral since 2010, Tusker went one step further in becoming a net-positive contributor to the environment in 2021 – removing more carbon from the environment than it produces. Tusker ensures that every vehicle that it provides is fully carbon offset for the lifetime of the contract. Not only does this cover the petrol and diesel vehicles, but also includes all charging emissions for EVs, calculated on a ‘worst case scenario’ basis for drivers who do not use green energy tariffs.
On top of this, Tusker also provides protection for employees with comprehensive early termination, redundancy, and long-term sickness protection so employees and employers are not penalised in the event of any of these situations arising. Increasingly, Tusker’s salary sacrifice car schemes are seen as a win-win for employers and employees alike.
For any public sector employers looking to introduce a car benefits scheme, Tusker has approval and access to the CPC Drive procurement framework, meaning that there is no need for organisations to conduct their own individual internal tender processes, vastly reducing the administration burden on the introduction of car schemes with Tusker. Even better, as access to the framework is free for such organisations, it is accessible to all such public bodies with no addition budgetary considerations.
With Tusker’s full suite of business support services on hand to take care of the administration surrounding a scheme’s introduction, its cast-iron environmental credentials, ease of procurement and importantly, the offer of a cost-effective benefit provision for employers, can your organisation afford not to find out more?
www.tuskercars.com/
- SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2022—Getting IT Right: Managing Hybrid IT Complexity examines the current state and areas of opportunity for public sector technology professionals managing increased complexity as hybrid IT accelerates
- The continued shift to hybrid IT drives increased levels of IT management complexity, but tech pros feel a lack of confidence in how to best manage it
- More than half (55%) of tech pros said their organisation manages hybrid IT complexity through training staff and adopting IT monitoring/management tools (45%)
SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of simple, powerful, and secure IT management software, released the findings of its ninth annual IT Trends Report today. This year’s report, The SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2022—Getting IT Right: Managing Hybrid IT Complexity, examines the acceleration of digital transformation efforts and its impact on public sector IT departments. The report found the acceleration of hybrid IT has increased network complexity for some organisations and caused several worrisome challenges for public sector IT professionals.
Hybrid and remote work have amplified the impact of distributed and complex IT environments. Running workloads and applications across both cloud and on-premises infrastructure can be challenging, and many public sector organisations are increasingly experiencing—and ultimately hindered by—these pain points. According to a report by IDC, as more and more mission-critical workloads move to connected cloud architectures that span public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, enterprises recognize they need to invest in the tools that will help them ensure consistent policies and performance across all platforms and end users1. However, they simultaneously face challenges such as budget, time constraints, and barriers to implementing observability as a strategy to keep pace with hybrid IT realities.
 The new SolarWinds report also found public sector tech professionals feel less confident in their organisation’s ability to manage IT. While nearly half of public sector tech pro respondents (45%) state they leverage monitoring strategies to manage this complexity, 67% revealed they lack visibility into the majority of their organisation’s apps and infrastructure. This lack of visibility impacts their ability to conduct anomaly detection, easy root-cause analysis, and other critical processes to ensure the availability, performance, and security of business-critical applications.
“Operational complexity prevents organisations from capitalising on their technology-driven transformation and investments and delivering benefits for end users,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna , president and CEO, SolarWinds. “As organisations look beyond the pandemic, they must re-examine their investments from the past few years. Part of that requires organisations to have visibility into their IT environments to understand what’s working and not working, and where to prioritise their efforts to achieve the ROI targeted in their planned projects.”
“Observability is increasingly becoming the clear answer for tech pros charged with managing greater levels of complexity in these diverse and distributed environments spanning on-premises, private and public clouds,” added Ramakrishna. “However, organisations must set aside time and resources to upskill and train tech pros to help them properly implement observability strategies and manage hybrid IT realities more effectively—and set up their teams and business for success in the long run.”
2022 Key Findings
The continued expansion of hybrid IT is driving increased levels of IT management complexity, but tech pros feel a lack of confidence in how to best manage it.
- Almost one in five (17%) tech pros responded that the acceleration of hybrid IT has increased the complexity of their public sector organisation’s IT management.
- These tech pros reported the following top drivers of increased complexity:
- New tools and/or technologies (50%)
- Outdated staff skill sets no longer aligned with new technologies (40%)
- Increased technology requirements from multiple departments (40%)
- When asked about how confident tech pros were in their organisation’s ability to manage IT complexity:
- Only 12% of tech pro respondents said they felt extremely confident
- Half of respondents (50%) admitted they weren’t fully equipped to manage complexity and felt only somewhat confident
- One-third of tech pro respondents (33%) were confident their organisation is equipped to manage IT complexity adequately
- An additional 3% were not confident at all
A particular area of concern among respondents is visibility. With the increased shift to complex, hybrid IT environments, technology professionals say they have limited visibility into their networks, apps, and infrastructure.
- When asked about current IT monitoring/management strategies, 67% of respondents stated they only have visibility into about half or less of their apps and infrastructure.
- Anomaly detection (57%), correlated metrics (43%), easy root cause analysis (29%), and the ability to gather metrics from disparate systems (29%) were revealed as the top four aspects lacking from respondents who felt their current IT monitoring/management strategies provide visibility into less than half of their apps and infrastructure strategy.
Public Sector Organisations’ lack of insight into their networks impacts ROI.
- Most respondents (88%) agreed that return on investment (ROI) was impacted during an IT project they oversaw in the past 12–18 months due to increased hybrid IT complexity.
- Thirty-six percent of respondents said the IT project in question took an additional four to seven or more months to complete
- More than half (52%) said the project in question was extended by up to three months
Overcoming IT complexity obstacles and improving ROI will be difficult, with lack of implementation resources looming.
- Respondents say the largest barriers to improving visibility and implementing observability as an IT strategy are:
- Lack of implementation resources (staff, skill sets, and tools) (48%)
- Lack of knowledge about observability platforms/solutions (38%)
- Siloed teams (38%)
- As it relates to planned investment in IT management tools over the next 12 months:
- Nearly all (80%) of tech pros responded their organisation plans to invest less than 20% of overall IT budget
- Only 16% indicated their organisation will invest 20% or more
- Three percent of all tech pro respondents reported they are unsure or have no insight into their overall IT budget.
There is a planned lack of investment despite the fact nearly half of respondents (45%) said the best solution to manage increased complexity is to adopt IT management tools.
- Three-quarters (73%) of tech pro respondents state their organisation has prioritised adopting a hybrid IT strategy for their technology environment within the next three years.
- The biggest areas of impact respondents expect to see if their organisations implemented these IT management tools would be:
- Improved end-user/customer experience (40%)
- Reduced IT monitoring/management complexity (40%)
- Cost optimization which drives budget savings (37%)
- Converged roles and responsibilities which drive collaboration (35%)
- Other strategies respondents mentioned as important to help to meet complexity issues include:
- Training staff and upskilling (55%)
- Adopting IT monitoring and/or management tools (45%)
- Planning to reduce/consolidate/modernise cloud systems (42%)
- When asked to select the top ways their organisation’s experience with IT management complexity has influenced future technology investments:
- 52% of tech pro respondents selected increasing/ramping up investments
- An additional 45% selected creating new roles/hiring specialists, with a further 45% selecting AI and/or automation solutions to increase efficiency/reduce human error
Please visit the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, a dynamic web experience exploring the study’s findings and additional insights into the data broken down by region into charts, graphs, and socially shareable elements. Like previous IT Trends Reports, this year’s study features an interactive component where visitors to the web experience can see how they compare to the results.
The findings of this year’s UK Public Sector report are based on a survey fielded in March 2022, which yielded responses from 60 technology practitioners, managers, directors, and senior executives in the United Kingdom from public-sector small, mid-size and enterprise organisations. All regions studied in 2022, as reported on the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, were North America, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom, with 1,138 respondents across all geographies combined.
1IDC Market Forecast: Worldwide Intelligent CloudOps Software Forecast 2021-2025, July 2021.
 Reporter: Stuart Littleford
British quantum computer developer, ORCA Computing, is working with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to develop future data processing capabilities.
In a year-long programme of activity, MoD will use ORCA’s PT-1 model, the first computer of its kind to operate at room temperature and be based on-premises.
ORCA computing has developed software that allows small scale photonic processors, which use single units of light, to be applied to complex machine learning and optimisation tasks.
These include image analysis, handwriting recognition and decision making.
After installation, the MoD is expected to develop programmes for the PT-1 in collaboration with partners.
Stephen Till, Fellow at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an executive agency of the MoD, commented: “This work with ORCA Computing is a milestone moment for the MoD. Accessing our own quantum computing hardware will not only accelerate our understanding of quantum computing, but the computer’s room-temperature operation will also give us the flexibility to use it in different locations for different requirements.
 Richard Murray, CEO – ORCA “We expect the ORCA system to provide significantly improved latency – the speed at which we can read and write to the quantum computer. This is important for hybrid algorithms which require multiple handovers between quantum and classical systems.”
The ORCA PT-1 contains unique technology that avoids bulky and expensive refrigeration. It puts the power and potential into a compact, plug-and-play rack-mounted system built with easily available components, such as standard optical fibre. The PT-1 system will be supplied with ORCA software libraries that allow for easy mapping between its hardware and current ML libraries such as PyTorch.
ORCA Computing CEO Richard Murray told GPSJ: “We’re delighted to be working with the MoD. This represents a significant vote of confidence, particularly given the critical importance of national defence.
“While there has been much discussion and debate in the industry over the realities of near-term quantum computing, our partnership with MoD gives us hands-on close interaction; and working with real hardware will help us to jointly discover new applications of this revolutionary new technology.”
About ORCA Computing
ORCA Computing is developing a full-stack, photonic quantum computer. Its multidisciplinary team of quantum scientists, engineers and computer scientists is devising unique hardware and architectures. These will change the face of high-performance computing and networking, from near-term quantum devices and applications to universal fault-tolerant systems.
The ORCA platform is the first to include a ‘quantum memory’ allowing quantum computers based on single photons (units of light) to become scalable. Photonic quantum computing does not require complex engineering such as advanced cryogenic cooling and vacuum.
The ‘quantum memory’ storage of quantum information also reduces errors so that fewer components are needed. This allows ORCA to build computers in optical fibre without silicon processing since silicon is unreliable, highly expensive and prone to failure.
The company recently announced the completion of its Series A funding round.
- Nearly 7 million workers worry about their safety each week
- 57% of employers underestimate the level of concern felt by their staff
- 57% of employees are concerned about facing aggression from the public
- 22% of former lone workers and front-line staff said safety concerns were among the reasons they chose to leave their job
- One in four people do not want to take a role that involves face-to-face contact with the public, with 62% citing safety concerns among the reasons for that
A landmark study into perceptions of personal safety at work found 6.8 million workers worry about their safety each week, while the majority of employers underestimate the level of concern.
The study, conducted on behalf of employee safety experts Peoplesafe, found that one in five of all employees worry about their safety at least once a week and that negative experiences involving safety issues can often contribute to decisions to leave their jobs.
Policy makers and businesses across the UK are facing a recruitment and retention challenge in front line roles. Although the study found that many businesses want to do more to protect their employees, many struggle to know how they can help.
 Naz Dossa The new report, published today by Peoplesafe, explores this issue of workplace safety and presents solutions for how employers and Government can work together to address these challenges.
The report recommends that in order to better protect employees, regulators must give clearer guidance and Government should work with all parties to set out a standard of protection that employees can easily understand and access.
Lower cost security measures now exist and can be better tailored to a wider array of employees. The most effective are personal safety alarms that provide a strong level of protection, can support the prevention of incidents, and critically manage issues. Where CCTV systems may cost thousands of pounds, some personal safety alarms are now the price of a cup of coffee for near instant access to the police.
There is a clear, tangible benefit to recruitment and perceptions of roles if prospective employees are offered technology, and in particular, personal safety solutions.
Naz Dossa, Chief Executive of Peoplesafe commented “Britain’s workforce is our most valuable asset, and it has faced up to considerable challenges throughout the pandemic while continuing to deliver fantastic services.
Despite this, we are facing a cross-industry problem that few have come to terms with. It’s clear that safety concerns are real for millions of employees in all types of roles, and that employers underestimate their concerns, and feel it is hard to know what they can do to protect their employees.
We need to shift the dial on the importance of employee personal safety. By supporting businesses to act in the best way possible, and by giving employees greater peace of mind through recognised standards, we can make a genuine difference. We’re calling on employers and government to work together to achieve a step change in how workers are being protected.”
The survey was conducted with 2,081 non-vulnerable and potentially vulnerable workers. Download the study report here: peoplesafe.co.uk/whitepapers/overcoming-the-employee-safety-gap/
By Sascha Giese, Head Geek™ at SolarWinds
 In our increasingly crowded urban settings, delivering better, safer, and more sustainable environments for citizens is central to both short- and long-term national and local government strategies.
As a result, the accelerating development of smart cities is driving huge advances in technology and the use of data across the world. Building the infrastructure and systems required to collect and process information from citizens and devices alike meant global revenues from smart city projects was in excess of US$129 billion last year alone.
Several core technologies are key to building a successful and integrated smart city infrastructure. These include performance monitoring and infrastructure management, which are employed to provide full-stack visibility across hybrid IT infrastructures and applications. In particular, their role is to monitor and troubleshoot network and application performance issues across fixed and wireless links.
Next is application, user experience, and web app monitoring, which provides visibility into
the health of key applications and sites, including software as a service (SaaS) use cases. These tools are also used to reveal application dependencies and related performance across the smart city networks.
Underpinning everything are IT security and automated vulnerability management tools, which help save time and dramatically improve IT security. And when performance or reliability issues come to light, support desk solutions are vital to help authorities track tickets and optimise resolution rates and reporting.
Security and Service
Given the growing complexity and integration of the data sets required to operate a smart city, security has become a particular priority. In response to the rise of risks such as ransomware, smart city infrastructure needs to implement technologies to not only monitor vulnerabilities but also aggregate logs and automate threat responses, even dividing up network segments for triage reasons.
Security information and event management (SIEM) systems, for instance, can aid in the detection of new attack vectors by monitoring logs. In addition, the city’s IT team can employ device configuration management to help eliminate known vulnerabilities, establish baselines to monitor configuration drift, and back up device configurations to recover from failures by successfully managing vulnerabilities.
In this context, service management also plays a key role because smart city technology creates a wide range of support requirements needing to be reported, tracked, and resolved quickly and efficiently. For instance, problems may arise from VPN or connectivity issues, and in larger cities, tracking these service desk demands and managing delivery can present huge resourcing problems. As a result, putting remote access tools in place to manage systems and endpoints and help resolve technical issues is a crucial part of the infrastructure equation.
Data Decisions
Given the size and complexity of today’s smart cities—and the huge scope there is for their continued growth—focusing on the security of shared and open data is essential to maintaining public confidence and support.
City authorities must carefully assess the chances data may be misused. Depending on what data is collected, for example, it’s possible to monitor the route taken by individual citizens on their journeys around a city, their commutes to and from work, or where they go as part of their social lives. Though there are circumstances where access to this information may be considered crucial to personal and general public safety, citizens don’t want to be in a situation where they feel every move they make is being unnecessarily monitored by smart city technologies.
As the scope for gathering data across smart cities increases, so does the range of applications and services—and the associated potential risk. Last year, for instance, the Mayor of London announced almost £1.5 million of investment in air quality monitoring, which would support 195 sensors creating real-time data shared publicly via the Breathe London website.
Using this information, authorities can take preventive measures to maintain air quality. When public transit vehicles enter locations with higher pollution levels, for example, they can be switched to an all-electric mode. When air quality deteriorates, some towns use the data in public awareness announcements to encourage people driving or walking to find alternate routes.
As these innovative applications are implemented, security and compliance become more difficult, not least because of the increase in data volumes and complexity. Organisations are becoming more aware of their regulatory requirements, and the impact of legislation like UK-GDPR means administrators are increasingly responsible for data integrity and protection. As a result, smart city administrators are responsible for not just securing these expanding volumes of data but also ensuring they and their third-party partners don’t misuse it.
Clearly, there must be a dividing line between the nature and volume of data being collected and the ways it can be used. At the same time, this data must be kept safe from cybercriminals, nation-state adversaries, or anyone who would seek to exploit it for unethical or illegal purposes. Striking the right balance will prove essential to the effective long-term development of our smart cities.
- Bright Initiative has joined the UK Government-backed Data Skills Taskforce to help tackle the UK’s data skills challenges
- Initiative also set to begin work with members of the UK Parliament on an inquiry investigating issues around governance and ethics in data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- New collaborations complement ongoing support for UK Government officials delivering the country’s National Data Strategy (NDS) and take the number of worldwide Bright Initiative partners past 500.
The Bright Initiative, a global programme and organisation by Bright Data that uses public web data to drive positive change, is stepping up its support for the UK’s National Data Strategy (NDS) with two new major partnerships. Already part of the NDS Forum, which the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) established to drive the Strategy forward, the Initiative is now set to provide industry-leading expertise, insight and data-collection capabilities in support of work looking at skills and ethics.
Significantly, the Initiative has joined the Data Skills Taskforce. Backed by the UK Government, the Taskforce brings together figures from industry, the public sector, academia and others to share knowledge and develop innovative solutions to meeting the UK’s data science and AI skills needs. As a member of the Taskforce the Bright Initiative will play a vital role in ensuring that action is taken to guarantee the skilled workforce needed to meet the NDS aim of establishing the UK as a pioneering data economy.
The Initiative will also work with members of the UK Parliament on an Inquiry looking at issues around ethics and governance with data and AI. The Initiative is to join with cross-party members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Data Analytics to look in depth at how regulation and policy can keep up with the fast pace of technological change. The Inquiry will gather evidence and carry out research over the coming months towards publishing a report later this year, The Bright Initiative will help guide the process as a member of the Inquiry’s steering group.
These new partnerships build on the work that the Bright Initiative has done to support the NDS over the past year, which has included facilitating discussions among industry figures and education institutions and advising Government officials developing plans to implement the Strategy. The Initiative also recently published ‘Unlocking net-zero’ – a white paper looking in detail at how data can be used to tackle the climate emergency, the focus of one the NDS Forum’s workstreams.
The news means that the Initiative has now passed the significant milestone of having 500 active partnerships with a wide range of organisations around the world, including NGOs, NPOs, academic institutions & public bodies. All are now enjoying the benefits of pro-bono access to Bright Data’s leading data technology and expertise, in line with the Initiative’s mission to use the power of web data to improve the world.
Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data – the industry leading web data collection platform that powers the Bright Initiative, said:
“I’m delighted to expand the Bright Initiative’s support for the National Data Strategy with these exciting new partnerships. As a founding member of the NDS Forum we know that collaboration across multiple sectors and industries is key to unlocking the full power of data. Industry, policymakers and civil society organisations all have a role to play in shaping the right policies, developing the skills base and ensuring that data is effectively utilised in addressing society’s most vital needs. That’s why we’re so pleased to welcome these new partners to our worldwide programme.”
 Vortex triple seal valve (TSV) Public sector organisations could more than halve urinal running costs, at the same time as slashing CO2, by switching to waterless urinals. The findings, announced by Smarti Environmental to coincide with Water Saving Week 2022 (23-27 May), show that savings of over £1,200 are possible for every three urinals retrofitted with waterless technology.
The dramatic cost-savings are possible with the installation of Smarti Environmental’s latest product, the newly launched eco-friendly Vortex triple seal valve (TSV), which has been designed to cut urinal water bills by over half, at the same time as dramatically lowering carbon footprints, eliminating bad urinal smells, blockages and eradicating the spread of infections caused by flushing urinals.
The smart-tech, eco-friendly, retro-fit Vortex valve ends the need for water in urinals, saving on average 100,000 litres of clean water and 105kg CO2 per urinal, per year. It also prevents airborne infections caused by spray during flushing, which has been shown to spread 500,000 germs per inch, per flush, landing on skin, surfaces and clothing, spreading viruses including Covid-19, influenza and norovirus.
The Vortex TSV, which fits 98% of all urinals, enables businesses to retain their existing urinal bowls while cutting annual running costs by over 50%, compared to conventional water-flush alternatives.
Based on average water bills across the UK, Smarti Environmental’s Vortex valve provides an annual saving of circa £630 on a typical bay of three urinals supplied by one cistern, rising to a saving of up to circa £1,230 in the South West.
Confirmed as the fastest flowing waterless urinal solution on the market, the fully recyclable, British-manufactured, hygienic one-way multi valve system, traps all odours so that the foul drain smells become a thing of the past.
The Vortex valve also accelerates the flow of urine down into the drainpipe, and includes an eco-friendly bio-block enzyme ring and integrated bio-tablet which breaks down uric acid and bio film proteins during use, making the urine PH neutral – a world first! This means less energy is required in sewerage treatment processing, reducing environmental impact. When the enzyme ring depletes, it turns from blue to clear, ready to be replaced using a simple non-touch key change-out system.
 Combined with Smarti Environmental’s SteriKleer enzyme in-pipe pipe-pods, the Vortex multi-valve solution actively lubricates sewerage pipes, breaking down all biofilms and uric salts in pipework to prevent blocked pipes.
With the absence of water, calcium build-up caused by a chemical reaction between water and urine cannot occur. This ends the all-too-common experience of bad drain smells, floods and overflow when water-flush urinal pipes become calcified and back-up. Importantly, this prevents expensive and entirely avoidable plumbing and maintenance costs often experienced by public sector bodies.
Using 100% environmentally friendly enzyme technology – including its 24-hour odour and bacteria suppressing SteriKleen surface spray – Smarti Environmental technology also eliminates the need for harsh bleaches, cleaning fluids or drain un-blockers, further enhancing its environmental benefits to customers and cutting costs.
Commenting on the launch of the all-new Vortex TSV Valve, Kimberley Hill, New Business Development Manager at Smarti Environmental, the UK’s leading waterless urinal business, said: “In the public sector, clean, fresh-smelling and free-flowing urinals that don’t get blocked by uric salt build-up and biofilms, really matters. Members of the public and staff remember the good, the bad and the ugly.
“Fitting waterless Vortex TSV triple seal valves guarantees an end to foul-smelling urinals, but more than that, it allows you to share the environmental benefits that going waterless brings; a fact that tax-payers increasingly look for, appreciate and remember, especially as the world moves to Net Zero status.”
Kimberley added: “We’re committed to helping the public sector cut carbon and costs through the adoption of the waterless urinals. That’s why this Water Savings week, we are pledging to offer public sector bodies with 100 or more urinals under their management, a free washroom trial for 3 months, and free installation of our retro-fit waterless valves. Smaller public sector organisations can benefit too, as our waterless technology brings overall running costs down by more than 50% compared to the cost of running conventional flushing urinals.”
As part of the Vortex TSV valve offer, Smarti Environmental undertakes a free site survey, identifying the current amount of water used and projected savings. For the trial, urinal drainage pipes are checked and, if in need of replacement, are installed at no cost within the fully serviced package option. Cisterns are removed and waterless valves fitted, all typically in just one day, minimising down-time.
Visit smartilimited.com/ for more information or call 01392 311 202 for a no obligation washroom survey and quote.
Local authorities and housing providers being asked to ‘think veteran’
Charities providing support to former members of the Armed Forces have seen a rise in the number of homeless veterans seeking their help over the past two years. With further increases expected, they’re asking local authorities and housing providers to identify veterans and steer them towards the support they’re entitled to.
The group of 12 charities, including the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation (Stoll), Alabaré, Haig Housing, Help for Heroes, RAF Benevolent Fund and Housing Options Scotland, attribute the increase to the impact of the pandemic and the rising cost of living. Since March 2020, some organisations report a 50% jump in veterans who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness coming to them for support. Many are also seeing a growing number of people with mental health issues, particularly PTSD and depression.
The charities say help to find appropriate housing is available for former members of the Armed Forces, but people are missing out because they aren’t identified as veterans. The group is now backing the No Homeless Veterans Campaign, which calls on local authorities, housing providers and other homelessness services to ensure they identify veterans, include them in housing strategies, and help them find suitable housing as quickly as possible.
Richard Gammage, CEO of Stoll, which is coordinating the No Homeless Veterans Campaign, said: “Some former members of the Armed Forces, especially the most vulnerable, were already struggling before the pandemic. Now with the knock-on effects of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis beginning to bite, we’re seeing a steep rise in veterans experiencing homelessness and in people with more severe and complex needs. We’re concerned that without action, the situation could get much worse.”
The charities say that despite the Government’s recent efforts to end rough sleeping, the pandemic has exacerbated the problem.
Andrew Lord, CEO of Alabaré, said: “During the pandemic, the Everyone In initiative was a monumental collaborative effort that saw rough sleepers housed in hotels and other protections for renters put in place. As a result, many lives were saved. But now we’re seeing existing challenges such as social isolation, anxiety and stress becoming even worse than before, and the progress made is falling away.”
The No Homeless Veterans Campaign says a more coordinated approach between local authorities, housing providers, homelessness charities and veterans’ organisations is needed. This would ensure veterans don’t continue to slip through the net.
One man who experienced this is Terry. For more than 20 years, he served in the Army and the Reserves, including in Bosnia and Iraq. He left in 2018 after being diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. “Because I had been renting before I was admitted to hospital, I lost my property – so when I was discharged from the hospital, I became homeless. The local authority didn’t help. They were told I was a veteran, and that I was in very bad shape – but still, I ended up going straight from hospital to a homeless shelter. 
“I was so ill. I needed a stable home where I could get better and rebuild my life. Luckily, I was put in touch with Stoll. They helped me with housing straight away. I know local councils are stretched, but we need to be doing more to help veterans. Every local council should be proactively trying to find homeless veterans and help them into housing, as per the Armed Forces Covenant. And whenever someone comes to them for help to get out of homelessness, they should be asking whether they are a veteran. Without that more people like me will just fall through the net – and veterans deserve better than that.”
Tim Stockings, CEO of Haig Housing, said: “The Armed Forces Covenant states that anyone who has served should face no disadvantage and that veterans who are especially vulnerable should be prioritised for support. Most veterans do make a smooth transition from military to civilian life, but it is too easy for them to end up homeless.”
The No Homeless Veterans Campaign, which is led by the Cobseo (Confederation of Service Charities) Housing Cluster, is renewing efforts to equip local authorities and housing providers to ‘think veteran’ with a range of free toolkits and training. On 17 May it hosted an event at the House of Lords to brief MPs and other stakeholders. The Campaign is coordinated by Stoll, in partnership with Homeless Link and the National Housing Federation, and it is funded by the Forces in Mind Trust.
Goupil Utility Vehicles to take centre stage on Bradshaw stand
The UK’s leading manufacturer of industrial electric vehicles, Bradshaw, is set to exhibit its range of Goupil utility vehicles at one of the industry’s leading trade shows, ITT Hub on Stand No: A332
The two-day show, which takes place on the 11th/12th May at the Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, will bring together the latest innovations and technologies for the bus, coach, truck and van sectors – with Bradshaw showcasing its products which will help meet the industry’s pressing sustainability ambitions and targets.
 Goupil G6 Bradshaw will be exhibiting its extensive range of Goupil utility vehicles to enable businesses and organisations to make their last-mile distribution and overall operational needs more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Part of the Polaris family, Bradshaw’s Goupil range offers an adaptive and versatile solution to its customers’ needs and day-to-day processes which will be showcased on its stand.
All vehicles within Bradshaw’s Goupil range are equipped with lead-acid or lithium batteries and each can be tailored directly to the customer’s requirements.
At the show, Bradshaw will be showcasing their G2 and G4 vehicles – with the former vehicles featuring box van and cage tipper bodies. All vehicles are 100 per cent electric and produce zero-emissions, making them a sustainable, environmental and cost-effective solution to local authorities, industrial sites, resorts and last mile delivery companies.
As all-electric compact road utility vehicle, the G2 range offers an ideal solution for customers who have multiple sites which are connected by public highway. Available with pick-up, cage and van bodies, the G2 has been expertly designed to transport payloads of up to 600kg, whilst retaining small and compact size for convenience of use.
 The Goupil G6 offers operators total flexibility With an operational range of between 27 to 62 miles the G2 range has a payload of between 415 to 533kg and 78 to 596kg depending on the chosen model.
Visitors will also be able to see a Goupil G2 vehicle on LEX Autolease’s ‘Future Van Hub’ located next to Hall 1.
The G4 road vehicles on offer include pick-ups, vans and waste collectors, all designed to transport people and equipment for a variety of different applications. With an operational range of 68 miles and maximum speed of 31mph, the G4 range are equipped with an array of body types to cater to the customer’s specific requirements and feature a safe and secure cabin and both left- and right-hand drive options.
This year Bradshaw will be exhibiting the G4 with an innovative offering – a salt spreader attached on its rear provided by Peacocks Salt, showcasing the versatility of the vehicle and its many applications and uses.
With eleven different variations to choose from the G4’s greater payload offers an ideal electric vehicle for many stop-start and last mile applications and is ideally suited to low-emission zones, whilst still delivering optimal performance and low vehicle operating costs.
Ramsy Labassi commented: “Bradshaw Electric Vehicles is delighted to be back at the ITT Hub at which we can showcase our extensive Goupil range, as well as its many uses.
“Visitors will be able to see first-hand our G2, G4 and G6 vehicles which provide an ideal alternative to traditionally powered utility vehicles.
“With many organisations, businesses and local authorities placing more emphasis on environmental sustainability, the Goupil electric vehicles provide customers with the prospect of not only vastly improving their environmental footprint, but in turn enhancing operational performance and lowering their vehicle operating costs as well.
“As we understand that each customer will have different needs, Bradshaw also offers a bespoke tailor-made service to cater directly to the customer’s ever-changing requirements – as shown by our collaboration with Peacocks Salt to facilitate a salt spreader on the back of our G4 vehicle.”
 Anne Cooper Well-known digital nurse leader @AnnieCoops looks forward to joining a leading forum for debate on the big issues shaping health tech and the digital health industry
Highland Marketing has welcomed a digital nurse leader to its advisory board of NHS IT professionals and health tech industry experts.
Anne Cooper, known as @anniecoops to her many social media followers, has joined the expert group that acts as a forum for the discussion of issues affecting digital health, and provides advice to the agency and its clients.
Anne helped to develop the NHS’ first, nurse-led telephone helpline, NHS Direct, and went on to hold senior positions at the Department of Health Informatics Directorate, NHS England, and NHS Digital.
She retired as deputy clinical director and chief nurse at NHS Digital in 2018 and turned her attention to consulting and supporting SMEs with a social remit.
She is chair of Ethical Healthcare Consulting CIC and works with Thrive by Design a multi-disciplinary team hosted by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust who specialise in inclusive co-design projects and programmes.
She is also a non-executive director of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Anne acknowledged that with so many calls on her time, she thought carefully before agreeing to join the Highland Marketing advisory board.
However, she said: “I wanted to be involved because of the quality of the people on the board. I wanted to stay connected to some of the big brains in the industry, to have the chance to debate the issues of the day with such a knowledgeable and influential group, and to have some fun in the process.
“I love talking to people and I’m convinced it’s the only way to get a real understanding of the challenges that are facing healthcare and the role that technology can play in addressing them.
“I see the advisory board as a think-tank or sounding board for doing that, and for helping Highland Marketing and its clients to positively shape the health tech industry so it can deliver the innovation the NHS so badly needs.”
Jeremy Nettle, chair of the Highland Marketing advisory board, said: “As the health and care system emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is facing a new set of challenges; from addressing waiting lists to implementing new models of care.
“The advisory board meets regularly to discuss these challenges and to make a frank assessment of how digital policy and the health tech industry can contribute to addressing them.
“Anne’s experience as a nurse and long-standing advocate for technical innovation will add a valuable dimension to our discussions. We’re looking forward to some robust debates and some frank advice about how to shape the digital future.”
Susan Venables, founder and client services director at Highland Marketing, said: “We have watched and admired Anne’s work for many years, and we’re delighted to have found an opportunity to recruit her to the advisory board.
“Our longstanding ambition is to find ‘health tech to shout about’ and to tell people working in health and care about digital ideas, companies and products that can transform services for the better.
“Anne will bring a new perspective to our industry, the advice we give to our clients and the communications that we develop on their behalf. We’re very much looking forward to working with her as the NHS moves into a new phase of digital development.”
The Highland Marketing advisory board meets regularly to discuss issues around healthcare IT. It also acts a sounding board for the agency’s content, marketing and PR teams and for strategic clients.
 Barley Laing – UK Managing Director at Melissa The invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a large number of new sanctions by many countries against leading politicians, businesspeople, and entities in both Russia and Belarus.
The UK has been one of a number of states leading the way in imposing sanctions, and as the fighting continues the number of those being sanctioned by the British government is increasing fast.
For those in the public sector, and in fact any sector, it’s not easy to keep up with the plethora of sanctions being announced – which they are legally required to adhere to.
The best way to ensure compliance with sanctions is by having access to sanctions lists, also called watchlists. For a long time these lists have played a vital role in ensuring those in the public sector effectively undertake know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks when onboarding people to use their services. The lists have also been used to run regular cross-checks against those on their existing databases.
Failing to properly assess for sanctions could see public sector organisations facing hefty fines. Also, they are likely to experience significant brand damage resulting from the negative publicity associated with providing services to someone who’s been sanctioned.
To ensure compliance with the new sanctions triggered by the conflict in Ukraine a best practice approach to KYC and AML is essential.
- Source sanctions data from trusted global sources
The most important first step to ensure adherence with the latest sanctions data is to obtain an up-to-date sanctions list. Ideally, it’s accessed as part of an automated tool that collects and synthesises sanctions data from a wide range of trusted sources worldwide, such as governments, regulators, and credit agencies. It should also continually scan for updates and deliver them in real-time. This way it’s possible for the organisation to provide a smooth user experience for those signing up for services – something many people expect in the digital age. Taking an automated approach is also a much more efficient and accurate way to deliver sanctions checks. Undertaking manual checks, for example using search engines, could leave your organisation exposed to sanctions breaches and the associated cost in fines and to your reputation, quite apart for the large cost of employing staff to carry out such checks.
It’s not enough to solely have access to sanctions data. Organisations must obtain politically exposed persons (PEP) data from around the world as part of a wider best practice approach to sanctions checks, KYC and AML compliance. A PEP is defined as ‘an individual who is or has been entrusted with a prominent public function’ and it is ideal to screen for them in the early stages of any onboarding activity. Along with PEPs those in the public sector require access to details of relatives and close associates (RCAs) of PEPs, as well as those sanctioned. It’s because there is a tendency for these groups to be involved in or drawn into crime. In the UK, financial organisations have a legal requirement to undertake enhanced checks of both domestic and foreign PEPs.
- Adverse media checks are vital
Monitoring the latest news and alerts in real-time, not only for those facing sanctions, but also PEPs and anyone else who could have potential negative regulatory, financial, or reputational consequences to their organisation, is essential. Compliance teams must remain up to date on any new information regarding the status of those using their services. This requires organisations in the public sector to augment their standard sanctions and PEP screening process with checks on adverse media and negative news. These tools scan the global news media, sourcing information on those with new sanctions against them, and where legal cases are pending.
- Sanctions training for compliance staff
Suitable training and guidance must be provided for compliance staff who are on the front line when it comes to acting on the sanctions data. As well as having a clear understanding of the latest sanctions measures, they must know how to handle those individuals that are impacted by the sanctions.
- Systems and controls
Are your organisation’s onboarding and payment screening platforms able to act on those who have been sanctioned? And once these individuals have been detected in your database, do you have the systems in place to block transactions and quickly freeze funds? Identifying those who have been sanctioned is only half the battle. The next stage requires having processes in place to immediately act on this information.
- Undertake a broader approach with automated identity verification
An automated tool that in real-time sources those on disparate sanctions lists, including PEPs and RCAs, works well as part of a more comprehensive approach to automated KYC and AML operations. This includes using electronic identity verification (eIDV) that can cross-check user-provided details against reputable data streams to ensure they are who they say they are in real-time. Additionally, when onboarding, implementing document scanning with optical character recognition (OCR) and machine readable zone (MRZ) technology enables those in the public sector to instantly and accurately determine the authenticity of the ID documents provided online. Because these operations are seamlessly integrated into the onboarding process, the user journey remains smooth and friction-free.
The large number of new sanctions prompted by the conflict in Ukraine highlights why the public sector must have access to continually updated real-time sanctions data, including data on PEPs and RCAs, from governments and regulators worldwide. With automated functionality, these lists can be easily used in conjunction with automated eIDV and document scanning technology for an accurate, quick, and cost-effective KYC and AML process.
For more information about Melissa and how our identity and document verification services can help you prevent fraud please visit: Melissa, email: barley.laing@melissa.com or call: 020 7718 0070.
 “LGfL-The National Grid for Learning is set to bolster public sector online defences in response to the National Cyber Security Centre’s alert to act now following Russia’s attack on the Ukraine,” says John Jackson, CEO, whose organisation has stepped up its cybersecurity resilience package to include monitoring, identification, sandboxing1 and the eradication of ever-evolving threats from phishing attempts, malware, hacks, viruses and ransomware. LGfL has provided services to the public sector over many years and is approved by the governing bodies for the Public Service Network (PSN) and Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) to provide secure access to systems across the public sector, including central government systems.
Newly appointed as the only UK Platinum Partner for Malwarebytes, LGfL is using its significant group buying power to supply public sector bodies cybersecurity solutions at significantly discounted prices.
LGfL is also able to offer:
• Endpoint Protection (threat prevention)
• Endpoint Detection and Response (threat prevention, monitoring, sandboxing1, isolation, and rollback2)
• Endpoint Protection for Servers (threat prevention for servers)
• Endpoint Detection and Response for Servers (threat prevention, monitoring, sandboxing, isolation, and rollback for servers).
Using its Malwarebytes OneView console, LGfL will also be able to give third party support organisations (PSOs) greater visibility and control over what is happening across multiple sites. It will also be able to provide full information on licences issued/used through its OneView Portal.
For further information on LGfL’s cybersecurity resilience packages please contact Gareth Jelley at LGfL’s Cybersecurity Centre of excellence via cybersecurity@lgfl.net
1. Sandboxing works by keeping potentially malicious programs or unsafe code isolated from the rest of the organization’s environment. This way, it can be analysed safely, without compromising the operating system or host devices. If a threat is detected, it can be removed proactively.
2. Rollback – rolling back changes to restore a computer to its previous state.
 Danny Wilson, head of children’s residential at Bedspace By Danny Wilson, head of children’s residential at Bedspace
Before the pandemic, Local Authorities in England were already under significant pressure, as budget cuts made the increasing number of children being put into care difficult to manage. Following nearly two years of Covid restrictions and lockdowns the problem has been exacerbated. Now, new analysis predicts that the number of children in care in England could reach almost 100,000 by 20251. This increase will represent a 36 per cent rise in a decade, putting unprecedented pressure on already struggling Local Authorities. Ultimately, the people who will feel this increase most are the vulnerable children in care. The systemic problems that are causing this increase, and the issues created once they are in care, need to be addressed before we reach crisis point.
Why are more children being put into care?
In the past ten years, large cuts to the social care sector have had a huge impact on children. The Local Government Association has proposed that councils in England need £2.7bn more in funding for children in social care by 2024-251. However, as it stands decisions are being made based on what will cut costs, instead of what’s in the best interest of the children who need support. These short-term money saving decisions are leading to more children being put into care and are and causing further problems down the line.
Budget cuts have led to Local Authorities cutting spending on preventative measures, and as a result support for some vulnerable families has decreased. The closure of early intervention support measures, such as community hubs for struggling families, has meant that more vulnerable children are reaching crisis point. Obviously, this negatively impacts the lives of these children, but in the long-term removing this early intervention also costs Local Authorities more, as many children will move into care as a result.
What does the children’s care sector look like now?
As well as the lack of preventative measures there are several other issues that need to be addressed in the children’s care sector.
In my opinion the biggest is lack of forward planning or matching when putting children into care. Short-sighted decisions by Local Authorities, including children being placed in any available home across the country, regardless of where they are from, has led to poorly matched placements which can result in difficult or dangerous incidents and disruption. In worst cases, children who have been taken out of the family home in emergency situations are being placed alongside other children who have similarly been taken out of a crisis. Children coming out of these situations are likely to experience high levels of emotional trauma, and so being placed together in an unfamiliar environment increases the risk of them becoming violent or running away. These incidents not only have a detrimental impact on the child’s wellbeing and future development, but also have knock-on effects for the other children in the home.
Finally, in addition to poor planning, the low budgets Local Authorities are dealing with mean that they are unable to provide the same level of service once a child is put into care. Despite councils increasing budget in the past two years, and eight in 10 councils in England overspending in 2019/2020, the impact of long-term budget cuts mean there’s still not enough funding to provide appropriate care and deal with the ever-increasing demand.2
The pressure relating to cost of placements in children’s homes means that at age 16, children are often rushed into moving on to cheaper alternative accommodation before they are ready. This focus on costs, rather than the child’s wellbeing and the support they need, can undo the progress that a child has made up until that stage. It is well known that the ‘cliff edge’ from children’s homes to adulthood can result in very poor outcomes. The only way to make this process easier to provide intensive support around transitions, or integrated services that enable continuity in order to ensure children to develop successfully.
The rapidly increasing number of children being put into care needs urgent attention. Across a backdrop of austerity and the ongoing impact of the pandemic, young people across the UK are already struggling with increased mental health issues, difficulty building relationships, and are finding it more challenging to find job opportunities. The impact of these challenges for children in care, who do not have a consistent environment or family support proves an even heavier burden.
What can we do to solve the problem?
Firstly, to prevent the rapid increase in the number of children in care, there needs to be a reconsideration of the way decisions are made within Local Authorities. Even with limited budget, decision makers need to invest now in support services within the community to prevent vulnerable children reaching the point where they end up in care. Although investing in support services may seem like a large outgoing, in the long term it not only benefits vulnerable children, but it is also more cost effective for Local Authorities. Housing one child in a children’s home costs approximately £4000-£4500 a week, so investing in preventative measures now is well worth it down the line.
Secondly, is it essential that there are carefully thought-out planning processes in place to match children to the best homes for them and the community, if they are put into care. This planning and risk assessment is especially important before taking children out of crisis situations, as these children are most at risk.
We need to see wider variety of organisations providing residential care homes. Currently, a third of residential care homes are provided by the 10 biggest organisations in the country3, due to the current approach around planning and buying property that favours large corporations. There needs to be a change in this process within the sector to allow smaller organisations to enter the market. Different providers will have different approaches to care. Having a more varied range of providers and more competition in the sector, will not only increased standard of care, but will lead to a diversity of ideas that will support the long-term improvement of the sector.
Finally, and most importantly, it is essential that children’s homes provide a family-like and supportive environment for the children that live there. Children in care must have care pathways that provide a safe and ongoing transition into other areas of support. Providers should work with Local Authorities to constantly review placements and provide a flexible provision of much needed support for these vulnerable children.
For the benefit of both the Local Authorities and the vulnerable children in our communities, we need to act now to solve what is becoming an ever more pressing issue.
www.bedspace.co.uk/
By Sascha Giese, Head Geek™ at SolarWinds
Organisations across the public sector are embracing digital transformation, and as a result, IT infrastructure is becoming more complex. On top of significant levels of legacy hardware and software to manage, the addition of various cloud-based services means IT professionals are looking after a diverse set of technologies—from the most current and advanced systems to those in use for many years.
As a result, IT teams must split their time and resources across disparate technologies. To stay in control, many now rely on a variety of management and monitoring tools. Though these tools help them maintain performance and reliability, the quest for simplification means service silos can develop based on the various monitoring capabilities available.
Indeed, the widespread piecemeal monitoring strategies seen across organisations can create major operational blind spots, and on a practical level, they can cause delays in resolving problems and failures. Looking ahead, the danger is IT pros will eventually find it’s no longer possible to fully focus on infrastructure and service modernisation because the complexity inherent in monitoring their existing systems gets in the way.
So how can public sector technology teams balance their digital transformation priorities against the need to deliver effective monitoring across their IT estate? The answer lies in the implementation of full-stack observability, which is designed to deliver an end-to-end monitoring service without the familiar silos and disruptive complexity.
From Monitoring to Observability
Traditional infrastructure and application monitoring tools capture and process telemetry data to allow IT organisations to understand the current state of each relevant component. This then enables teams to understand where systems are operating normally, whether they’re performing outside their normal parameters (or are completely offline), and how the status of each is changing at any given time.
This traditional approach to monitoring tends to focus on a specific network, cloud, or infrastructure component. Ultimately, the role of these tools is to help technology professionals identify and resolve minor and serious problems as soon as possible.
Specifically, these tools employ metrics-oriented dashboards to help IT pros evaluate telemetry data against manually or statistically defined thresholds. Though this provides invaluable insight across public sector organisations, the tools can’t provide cross-domain correlation, service delivery insight, information about operational dependencies, or any useful sense of predictability.
This creates a problem because modern systems are increasingly built around complex multi-cloud environments and increasing levels of telemetry data, meaning there’s an accompanying shortfall in the monitoring insight available.
In contrast, observability goes beyond traditional monitoring by measuring the internal states of systems in their entirety. By offering a more holistic view—from end-user experience to server-side metrics and logs—IT teams can immediately overcome the limitations of their legacy monitoring tools.
Whereas monitoring aggregates and displays data to help assess whether systems are operating as expected, observability draws on these insights and metrics and compares this information with expected outcomes and objectives. This allows IT pros to understand the state of their infrastructure and applications and allows them to eliminate silos.
Observable Improvements
Observability also offers IT organisations scope to improve performance, availability, and digital experience on a continual basis—all while embracing the complexity of today’s increasingly distributed hybrid and cloud tech strategies.
Moreover, full-stack observability isn’t just about IT monitoring, performance, and problem-solving. By delivering actionable insights and intelligence—combined with capabilities such as machine learning and artificial intelligence for IT—it can be applied to historical metrics, logs, and trace data at a huge scale and in real time.
This also helps professionals across ITOps, DevOps, and security teams deliver consistent and well-performing services focused on meeting the needs of users with continuous improvements in productivity and experience.
The bottom-line impact is users, employees, and customers alike get better-performing, more reliable systems to meet their varied needs. This is particularly important for public sector organisations focused on the delivery of digital transformation projects, where minimising complexity is often among the key strategic priorities when modernising systems.
As digital transformation continues apace across focused public sector projects and entire departments alike, observability is increasingly key to enabling the kind of proactivity these systems require to maximise uptime and performance. In this digital-first era, expectations are high, and public confidence in online services will—to a significant degree—depend on how well they perform.
 Sajid Javid – Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Health and social care secretary Sajid Javid has announced a new target to complete the digitisation of the acute sector. The Highland Marketing advisory board discussed the approach being developed by NHS England’s transformation directorate, and the challenges to making it work.
In the first week of February, the Health Service Journal reported that it had seen a PowerPoint presentation of the digital plans being drawn-up by NHS England’s transformation directorate, which is absorbing NHSX and NHS Digital.
The magazine revealed that the directorate wants to see the “universal adoption of electronic patient records” as part of its “foundational vision” and that it wants clinical decision support to become “the norm” for all clinicians.
Just a few weeks later, health and social care secretary Sajid Javid told the HSJ digital transformation summit that he is setting new targets for the adoption of EPRs in England. He said he wants 90% of trusts to be at Level 5 on the HIMSS EMRAM maturity model by December 2023, with the other 10% well on the way to deploying an EPR.
A shift in NHS digital policy
This is a significant shift in focus. The Highland Marketing advisory board held a debate on the future of EPRs last year, because it felt as though NHSX wasn’t particularly interested in completing the digitisation of hospitals.
Yet there have been signs that something like this announcement has been coming. In retrospect, the most significant move was made last March, when NHS England announced that it was making Tim Ferris its director of transformation.
Ferris used to lead the Massachusetts General Physicians Organisation, which in 2016 agreed a $1.2 billion deal for Epic. In October, digitalhealth.net reported that Ferris had been suggesting an even bigger deal: a contract with Epic for a single, national EPR for the entire NHS.
While that was always unlikely, NHSX went on to announce a reboot for the digital aspirant programme that was interesting in two ways. First, Digital Aspirant Plus or DA+ focused on EPRs, and not on the departmental, e-obs, and AI systems that have received digital aspirant funding in recent years.
Second, DA+ comes with central support to procure an EPR and ‘buddying’ support to deploy one. At one level, this looked like a bid to learn the lessons of the global digital exemplar programme, which the National Audit Office has judged a success.
On another, it looked like a bid to give the centre more control over the systems being chosen. Shortly after HSJ reported on Javid’s target, it reported that NHS England has been sending out forms asking integrated care systems about their plans to ‘converge’ local EPRs.
So, twenty years after the National Programme for IT was launched, it looks as though the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are going to have another go at getting EPRs into every trust, and that they want to do some market shaping in the process.
How much ‘convergence’?
When the Highland Marketing advisory board met towards the end of February, members debated whether the push would work, and the pros and cons of ‘convergence’.
Chair Jeremy Nettle suggested that it looked as though the centre would still like to see Epic everywhere. “The way things are forming up, with the integration of NHSE, X, and D, and the latest announcements, it looks like they’d like a Henry Ford offer: you can have any colour of EPR you like, as long as it’s black!”
However, the reality on the ground is that the landscape is too messy for this to happen. Nicola Haywood-Alexander, system chief information officer at NHS Lincolnshire, pointed out that EPRs are only used by acute trusts; mental health and community providers have their own systems, as do GPs, and they’re not going to rip them up and take them out.
“We’re all discussing what the definition of ‘convergence’ is going to be, and the utopian answer might be ‘one system’ across an ICS, but the pragmatic answer is going to be ‘data’ and systems that allow data to be exchanged with each other,” she said.
Even in the acute sector, trusts that have achieved a high level of digitisation using a mix of single supplier EPRs and other systems, or ‘best of breed’ approaches, are also unlikely to undo the work they have done. But for the large minority of trusts that are still mostly paper-based, adopting the EPR or approach of another member of an acute group, a neighbour, or the majority of trusts in its ICS area, should make sense.
Andy Kinnear, who retired from the NHS after 30-years and now works for Ethical Consulting, said: “In some areas, trusts have been deliberately difficult with their EPR choices. We can all think of cities in which there are three or four trusts and they’ve refused to use a single instance of an EPR, because they think it will make it harder to merge them.
“Any attempt to tackle that kind of behaviour is going to be a good thing, so we can get on with sharing data to do what we’re meant to be doing, which is creating better services for patients.”
The challenges: deployment
If Whitehall and NHS England do use DA+ and the new EPR target to encourage acute trusts to ‘converge’ on systems at an acute group or ICS level, the NHS will end up with a smaller number of single-system suppliers.
As Matthew Swindells pointed out in a recent Highland Marketing interview, that was one of the intentions of the GDE programme, so recent developments can be seen as taking the health service back to where it was before NHSX arrived on the scene. However, Kinnear pointed out that it won’t be enough to guarantee that NHS trusts will be at HIMSS 5 on target.
“We shouldn’t underestimate how hard it is to deploy,” he said. “Fewer products will make your provider landscape a lot more manageable, but it doesn’t make your trust landscape more manageable. Every trust will have its own way of doing booking, or managing transfers from A&E or whatever, and you have to get into all of that.”
Time and leadership
The advisory board identified two additional challenges to getting the 20% of trusts that are still mostly paper-based over the line: timescales and leadership. As Kinnear pointed out: “No matter how many times we’ve tried to do this in England, we’ve failed, and one reason is that we keep announcing new approaches and failing to see them through.
“As soon as it gets tough, we change the national leadership and start again. I think that if we’d stuck with the NPfIT – ok, perhaps not NPfIT, but certainly the GDE programme – we’d be there by now.
“I remember talking to the leaders of the GDE programme when it launched [in 2016], and they said: ‘The Treasury won’t give us the money to put EPRs into the entire NHS, because it doesn’t think we’ll manage to deploy. So, we’re going to do a few trusts, to prove that we can do it, and then we’ll go back to the Treasury, and ask for the millions and millions required.
“And they were going along, but then Matt Hancock arrived [as health and social care secretary] and it all changed [as Hancock set up NHSX]. Every IT programme seems to last about three years, but it takes a year to get the programme together, and a year to do the procurement, and at least two years to deploy: so we never see things given enough time to get the job done.”
Targets, money, action?
On the leadership front, the board noted that NHS IT programmes tend to coincide with NHS reorganisations; and NHS reorganisations inevitably end up with good, experienced people leaving the service.
Haywood-Alexander said there are signs that this is happening now, as acute trusts form acute groups or integrated service providers and clinical commissioning groups make way for ICSs, but neither put chief information officers on their boards.
“We all spend a lot of time dealing with the system, and if you’re doing it from a position in which you feel you’re not being valued, it’s very tough,” she said. Again, Kinnear agreed: “I used to work for a shared care record, and I got put into a commissioning support unit [when primary care trusts were abolished in order to set up CCGs].
“But lots of people just gave up and left the NHS at that point, and that contributed to CCGs having a very difficult birth. They just didn’t have the leaders and the experts that they needed to be successful. And now we’re seeing the same thing happening again.”
Entrepreneur Ravi Kumar said this was a real worry. “At the start of the Covid pandemic, there was real progress on IT, and we all hoped that it would be maintained,” he said. “Instead, there seems to be a gap at the top.
“Sajid Javid and Tim Ferris are saying some interesting things, but I wonder if they always agree with each other. Even if they do it will take time for the new relationships between the Department [of Health and Social Care] and NHS England the new transformation directorate to bed in.
“It’s important to have a consistent message, but it looks like we might not get one for twelve months. While that happens, more people will leave the frontline. That’s bad, because all the good things we saw being done during Covid was done by strong people with the drive to make it happen.”
Déjà vu all over again
Nettle drew some positive conclusions from the discussion. Yes, he said, “there is an element of déjà vu about these proposals” but the hope has to be that the NHS’ central bodies, local IT leaders and industry have learned from what has gone before.
If nothing else, he pointed out, in the 20 years since NPfIT was launched, there has been widespread buy-in to the idea that technology matters. “Both healthcare providers and industry have learned so much over two decades, and there is a genuine commitment to the idea that delivering healthcare is dependent on sharing good quality and timely data with those who need it to make operational and clinical decisions.”
However, Kumar summed up some of the board’s concerns about whether current politics and organisational changes could still derail the latest attempt to digitise the NHS. “The danger is we could end up in a situation where there is a target, and money, but there isn’t the strong leadership to make it happen,” he said.
 Wayne Fowler – Sportsafe Service, Repair and Maintenance Engineer ESPO accreditation Sportsafe have been working closely with ESPO for over 20 years, and the company’s uninterrupted delivery of gymnasium and fitness equipment maintenance services is set to continue as they retain their position on ESPO framework 107.
Framework 107, Inspection and Maintenance of Indoor Gymnasium, Fitness and Sport Equipment and Outdoor Schools Play and Sport Equipment, offers public sector authorities easy and quick access to quality suppliers who can successfully deliver the maintenance and inspection of indoor gymnasium, fitness and sport equipment, outdoor play and sport equipment, and minor repairs.
Sportsafe has a nationwide network of offices and engineer hubs ensuring our engineers are not more than 90 minutes away from our sites. The company employs over 25 Inspectors and Engineers all of them employed by Sportsafe and DBS checked for our customers site safety. Sportsafe hold CHAS, Constructionline Gold and Alcumus SafeContractor health and safety accreditations, and they are also a member of AFPE and ROSPA, giving their customers peace of mind that their equipment is in safe hands.
Claire Hunt, Sales & Marketing Director says, “Following 20 years of a close working relationship with ESPO, we are proud to continue delivering this service across the UK. This award adds to our year of celebration as we mark our 25th anniversary in 2022.”
Part of the Sportsafe submission referred to the new inspection and maintenance system that was deployed earlier this year, the benefits include:
- Connection of all the teams within Sportsafe to provide continuity of service to our customers
- Paper free which assists us with our ISO 14001 aims
- Improves the speed between inspection and receipt of quotation for repairs, improving our customer equipment downtime
- Asset tagging and product lifecycle statis enabling our customers to budget more accurately for new equipment
- Management information for contract holders.
ESPO is a customer-focused, public sector owned professional buying organisation. Established in 1981, ESPO has the purchasing power to achieve savings to pass on to customers. ESPO is jointly owned by its six member authorities: Leicestershire County Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, Warwickshire County Council, and Peterborough City Council.
For more information on the ESPO frameworks please visit www.espo.org/
Integrated solution enables IT agility, productivity, and actionable intelligence for organisations of all sizes and industries, wherever they are on their modernisation and cloud migration journeys
SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of simple, powerful, and secure IT management software, announces the launch of SolarWinds® Hybrid Cloud Observability, built on the SolarWinds Platform. The SolarWinds Platform offers organisations of any size the ability to accelerate their digital transformation efforts by providing a comprehensive and unified view of today’s modern, distributed, and hybrid network environments.
As organisations progress their digital transformation initiatives, they’re modernising their operations, applications, and databases, and leveraging hybrid and multi-cloud deployments—all while supporting existing, traditional workloads and systems. Organisations managing these complex, diverse, and distributed environments have amassed various monitoring and management tools across different teams. According to Gartner®, “for overlapping toolsets—many enterprises already have upward of 15 monitoring tools and do not wish to add further complexity.”1 As a result, ITOps, DevOps, and SecOps teams receive an overload of alerts and disjointed analytics and have difficulty accessing the actionable insights they need to quickly identify, prioritise, and resolve issues in business-critical services. These disparate tools can also be cumbersome to implement and manage, and they can become cost-prohibitive to maintain and scale, creating operational and business risks.
SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability helps solve these problems through an integrated, comprehensive, and cost-effective full-stack solution designed to provide end-to-end oversight of service delivery and component dependencies, helping organisations shift from a reactive to proactive IT posture as they meet the challenges of today’s hybrid IT realities. With Hybrid Cloud Observability, tech pros gain single-pane-of-glass monitoring with actionable intelligence to expedite problem resolution and enable proactive management. SolarWinds applies built-in intelligence and AIOps to its full-stack solution. The platform is built to help organisations continuously improve performance, availability, security, and digital experience across complex, diverse, and distributed hybrid and cloud environments.
“The level of IT complexity organisations face is growing at an unprecedented scale due to tool sprawl, rising costs, security threats, and siloed operations,” said Rohini Kasturi, chief product officer, SolarWinds. “Customers have told us clearly, they need help to meet today’s challenges and reduce operational noise so their teams can scale to address a broad range of business needs faster, maximise budget outcomes, and drive business results.
“Building upon our more than 20 years of delivering monitoring and management solutions to market-leading organisations across different segments and verticals, SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability provides organisations with a single solution from one vendor, delivering a more streamlined approach to helping them advance their modernisation and cloud migration initiatives,” Kasturi continued.
SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability
SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability enables organisations across all sizes and industries to gain rapid time to value, ensure service levels, accelerate issue resolution, and reduce alert fatigue and risk. It’s designed to help organisations do the following:
- Accelerate issue resolution with actionable intelligence: The platform’s full-stack and integrated coverage helps IT teams make faster and more informed, coordinated, and effective decisions. Users can readily discover, map, and understand dependencies to predict and prevent user experience degradation and service outages.
- Ensure service levels to increase IT efficiency and business agility: Hybrid Cloud Observability helps teams meet service levels and more efficiently conduct problem resolution, configuration, reporting, and planning tasks, freeing up time to focus on more impactful activities to advance the business. Armed with correlated intelligence, teams can more efficiently identify, prioritise, and resolve problems and anomalies, reduce compliance and attack surface risks, and accurately determine where best to scale performance and capacity.
- Benefit from a low cost of ownership: Enterprises gain centralised oversight to optimise on-premises and cloud resource costs with a unified solution built to simplify and improve cloud migration efforts. The suite approach allows organisations to cost-effectively start and extend Hybrid Cloud Observability across hybrid and cloud environments with a unified experience, deployment, scalability, and support—offering a low total cost of ownership.
The SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Essentials and Advanced tiers are now available, with additional offerings planned for later this year.
1Gartner, Innovation Insight for Observability, Padraig Byrne, Josh Chessman, September 28, 2020, refreshed on March 9, 2022.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
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KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, announced the release of a resource kit for IT managers as part of a month-long effort in July to increase awareness of ransomware, its many forms and methods used by cyber criminals to extort funds. Some of the resources for download include a Ransomware Master Class, Ransomware Rescue Manual, infographics, posters, digital signage and more.
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