Government Business 24.4

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FIREWORKS

WATER MANAGEMENT

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WEBSITES

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www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 24.4

FIRE SAFETY

WHAT NEXT FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY FIRE SAFETY? Safety concerns, poor regulations and inadequate government response. What next?

CROWD CONTROL

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

As we enter summer festival season, now is the time to stress the importance of event security

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PLUS: CONFERENCES & EVENTS | FLEET MANAGEMENT | G-CLOUD 9 | RECYCLING

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COMMENT

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FIREWORKS

WATER MANAGEMENT

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WEBSITES

It is one month since the Grenfell Tower fire incident, in which at least 80 people died as a result of a terrible fire spreading throughout a 24-storey building.

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www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 24.4

FIRE SAFETY

WHAT NEXT FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY FIRE SAFETY? Safety concerns, poor regulations and inadequate government response. What next?

Grenfell Tower: asking questions one month on

Comment

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

CROWD CONTROL

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

As we enter summer festival season, now is the time to stress the importance of event security

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

PLUS: CONFERENCES & EVENTS | FLEET MANAGEMENT | G-CLOUD 9 | RECYCLING

Since that unfortunate day, a number of facts have been confirmed and even more questions asked – of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, of the government and of the voluntary sector.

Of all the issues raised, two stand out. Firstly, is the issue of regulation and the apparent dismissal of residents’ fire safety concerns. Secondly, perhaps of more concern and far less likely to be addressed, is the fact that the Grenfell Tower fire emphasised a growing inequality issue.

Numerous investigations highlight the relationship between social deprivation and the rates of fire, concluding that incidents are far more frequent in poorer and more marginalised communities. Grenfell Tower, in the heart of one of London’s wealthiest boroughs, exemplifies this unfortunate reality.

Read our analysis of the fire, and how local authorities around the country are responding, on page 18.

Follow and interact with us on Twitter: @GovBusiness

Also, be sure to read our latest Government Business Top 10 list, which looks at local authority performance in the waste and recycling sector.

Michael Lyons, editor

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Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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CONTENTS GOVERNMENT BUSINESS 24.4 07 GB NEWS

18

Local government must change; parks are health ‘asset’ to communities; and five warning signs of council financial stress

12 GB TOP 10

Government Business investigates the top 10 councils who deliver environmentally sound and profitable solutions.

Encompassing recycling, machinery and equipment, energy from waste and waste transport logistics, here is the recycling and waste management Top 10

18 FIRE SAFETY

As of 3 July, 181 buildings across 51 UK local authorities were reported to have failed fire safety tests on their cladding.

In light of the Grenfell Tower fire last month, GB looks at the work being done to ensure residents are housed in fire-safe buildings

23 CROWD CONTROL

The school year is close to its end, which marks the start of the festival season and large community events. Against this backdrop, the British Security Industry Association look at the importance of event security and personnel training

23

39 FIREWORKS 50

The importance of risk assessments when planning large scale firework displays should not be ignored. Jon Wilson covers all the areas of potential concern

45 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Local authorities are increasingly using LED lights for their environmental and budgetary benefits. Here, Brendan Keely reflects upon their efficiency savings and the versatility of the technology

50 FLEET MANAGEMENT

80

With UK registrations of ULEVs topping 100,000 and government support still strong, perhaps now is the best time for public fleets to take the plunge, says Andy Eastlake of the LowCVP

52 ASSET DISPOSAL

Steve Mellings looks at the implications of Brexit on data protection in the UK, and what local authorities should be aware of, in terms of GDPR legislation and how it affects them

55 RECYCLING

As the aftermath of the snap General Election begins to clear and Brexit negotiations continue in Brussels, Lee Marshall considers what future UK waste and resource policy may look like

Government Business

Contents

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

61 RWM PREVIEW

Event director Nicola Meadows previews the RWM event, dedicated to energy, water, recycling, renewables and waste management. RWM is tailor-made for policymakers from central and local government

65 WATER MANAGEMENT

As the threat of drought rises in the UK, Claire Hoolohan, research associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, considers how we might change the way society uses water

69 FLOOD EXPO PREVIEW

Government Business looks ahead to September’s Flood Expo, the conference which will showcase the latest, innovative products on the market and the leading ideas that can change flooding policy

75 EMERGENCY SERVICES SHOW PREVIEW

Running from 20-21 September, with a strong focus on learning from past incidents and collaborating to protect the public and save lives, the Emergency Services Show is one not to be missed

80 CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Enveloped in the hills of South West England, Bristol has its own unmistakable identity for the event industry.

Destination Bristol explains why, Plus; Government Business looks at what is being done to promote London as the ideal venue for any conference and event

86 GT NEWS

Councils unprepared for GDPR; London suffering from ‘sub-standard’ digital connectivity; and less than half revamped council websites pass usability test

88 WEBSITE DESIGN

Birmingham City Council describes the importance of creating immediate dialogue between authority and residents through an easily accessible and mobile responsive council website

91 FRAMEWORKS In May 2017, G-Cloud 9 opened for business, with a record 2,847 suppliers signed up, over 90 per cent of them SMEs. GB details the iteration changes, including a new lotting structure and the opportunity for longer contracts

ISS

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www.governmentbusiness.co.uk Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local government must change, new report says Councils will have to change the way they operate if they are to cope with the challenges and risks facing them and the communities they serve, a new report says.

Published by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank and supported by public sector insurer Zurich Municipal, the report identifies six key challenges that will be presented to the local government over the next two decades. These include that an ageing population will put increasing pressure on health and social services, that more fragmented families will live in more dispersed communities and will have higher expectations of service quality as a result of prosperity, and that localised environmental risks around flooding and air pollution will become heightened.

Huge opportunities because of technological advances will also mean jobs are disrupted, and there will be risks around the resilience of councils’ local tax bases, the report warns.

The findings of the report, called Local

public services 2040, show that employment in local government has fallen by 800,000 between the start of 2010 and 2017.

Meanwhile, local government net borrowing has been increasing since 2013/14.

The report comes as the Local Government Association says that councils face a £5.8 billion funding gap by the end of the decade, and that they believe central funding is to be cut by 75 per cent by 2020.

The report recommends five different models that councils could potentially adopt in order to deal with the findings.

These include ‘industrial councils’, ‘ofcouncils’, ‘tech opportunists’, ‘the commissioning council revisited’ and ‘community councils’.

It also recommends further actions councils can take to succeed, including taking on new responsibilities beyond statutory duties to help their communities, acting as a ‘market maker’ to bolster their local economies, and evolving new organisational competencies such as around industrial policy, regulation and commissioning.

LOCAL TRANSPORT

Transport investment plan launched

GB News

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has launched a new strategy to address how local roads will benefit from a multi-billion pound fund.

The Transport Investment Strategy features the proposed creation of a new major road network, in response to the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund study last year, which would see a share of the annual National Road Fund, funded by VED, given to local authorities to improve or replace the most important A roads under their management. UK VED was £5.8 billion for 2016-17.

The Department for Transport also believes that the scheme will help people get to work or school by better connecting towns and cities, unlock land for new homes, and improve business links.

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RURAL GOVERNMENT

Devolve public spending to rural areas, urges CCN

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PARKS & GREEN SPACES

Parks are health ‘asset’ to communities Green spaces should not be viewed as a burden by local authorities, a charity says as it launches a new green space map.

Fields in Trust, which is dedicated to defending recreational spaces, has conducted research which suggests a positive association and significant link between green space exposure and health and well-being.

The charity has also launched an Ordnance Survey green space map to monitor the pressure of development on green spaces.

The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Committee recommended that more work was needed to specify the real value of the contribution of green spaces to wider public agendas in 2016. In response, Fields in Trust commissioned Jump X Simetrica, a

group which carries out social cost-benefit analyses, to calculate the social value of perks.

Meanwhile, a new initiative that could see Newcastle’s parks run by a charitable trust is set to take another step forward. Newcastle City Council cabinet is to consider a report outlining how the trust can be funded soon.

If approved, the council would be one of the first in the country to transfer its parks to a charitable trust, whose main aim would be providing quality parks for the residents of Newcastle. The initiative is a response to a 90 per cent reduction in the council’s parks budget as a result of huge government cuts.

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Leaders of England’s largest councils have called on government to unleash the potential of the country’s economic ‘sleeping giants’ and devolve public spending and tax raising powers to rural areas.

Understanding County Economies, a new report by Oxford Economics, and commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN), argues that devolving fiscal powers to county authorities could rebalance the economy, with growth set to slow to under two per cent each year over the next decade due to Brexit.

Full devolution of public spending, plus tax retention and raising powers, could generate over one million new jobs over the next ten years and create an extra £26.3 billion for the national economy over a five-year period. This could see public sector savings of £11.7 billion per year over a five-year period.

If a radical programme of fiscal devolution is granted for county areas, England’s annual growth could be boosted to 2.7 per cent a year. CCN argues this report is crucial in the context of the government’s Industrial Strategy, which is welcomed by county leaders, but is too focused on the urban city regions.

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Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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PUBLIC HEALTH

HOUSING

Cuts planned to public health budgets in UK

Central government cuts have forced councils to reduce planned spending on public health services, new analysis shows.

The analysis, conducted by The King’s Fund, shows that spending on public health services such as sexual health clinics will be reduced by £85 million. It also shows that councils in England are planning to spend £3.4 billion

on public health services in 2017/18. The King’s Fund has estimated that planned public spending is more than five per cent less in 2017/18 than it was in 2013/14.

Most services are planned to be cut although figures do show that councils are planning to spend more on some services, including some children’s activities.

Sexual health services will be cut by five per cent, tackling drug misuse in adults by more than £22 million and stop smoking services by 15 per cent.

These reductions follow government cuts in public health funding of at least £600 million by 2020/21, on top of £200 million already cut from the 2015/16 budget.

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SOCIAL CARE

Health and social care needs urgent ‘reboot’ Integrating health and social care should not be held back by issues of funding and instead needs an urgent ‘reboot’, according to a new report.

Rebooting Health and Social Care Integration – An agenda for more person centred care, published by the Localis think tank, says that integration should be provide greater independence and control to all people receiving care.

The report recommends that the government’s forthcoming social care green paper should make the question of a sustainable funding solution central, and that the government should support better collaboration around finance and commissioning locally by simplifying departmental responsibilities.

To support the long term joining up of

social, primary and community services in order to create person centred local services, government should look beyond the NHS England Five Year Forward View and, as had been recommended by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Long Term Sustainability of the NHS, set out a medium term strategy up to 2025.

It also recommended that the government establish a long term health and care workforce review.

A recent YouGov poll following the General Election revealed that 64 per cent of Conservative voters and 78 per cent of Labour supporters felt the state should be more involved in social care.

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GB News

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

£2.3 billion investment in infrastructure for new housing A £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund has been launched by Sajid Javid to help unlock 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand.

Speaking at the LGA Conference, the Communities Secretary said that the investment will help to fund vital physical infrastructure projects like the building of roads, bridges, energy networks and other utilities, the absence of which continues to hold housebuilding back.

The new investment will also be available to help build new schools, healthcare centres and digital infrastructure to accommodate growing communities and alleviate pressure on public services.

Javid said: “To build the homes this country needs, we need to deliver the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time. By investing in local infrastructure, we can help unlock building thousands of new homes in the areas where they are needed most. The Housing Infrastructure Fund will also make sure we have better public services in place for local communities.”

The Housing Infrastructure Fund is part of the government’s wider £23 billion National Productivity Investment Fund.

The new funding will be allocated to local authorities on a competitive basis, and will be available from 2017-18 to 2020-21.

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PROMPT PAYMENT

Suppliers sign up to Prompt Payment Code The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has reported that 32 of the biggest government suppliers have voluntarily committed to pay 95 per cent of invoices within 60 days.

The signatories to the code, who together account for approximately 40 per cent of government procurement spend, are major strategic suppliers who typically have contracts across government of more than £100 million.

The CCS is encouraging businesses to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are collectively owed an estimated £26 billion in overdue payments. The voluntary code of practice publicly signifies organisations’ commitment to fair payment terms to suppliers, especially smaller businesses.

Emma Jones, Crown Representative for Small Businesses, addressed this point in saying the Prompt Payment Code is ‘welcome news to thousands of small business owners’.

Over 80 per cent of undisputed invoices to SMEs are paid within five days, whilst the remainder are paid within 30 days.

The government is also encouraging all businesses, no matter the size, to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code, and will be appointing a Small Business Commissioner shortly.

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Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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FINANCE

FINANCE

Five warning signs of council financial stress

75p in every £1 of council funding cut by 2020

The Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) is urging councils to watch for five warning signs of financial stress.

The institute’s new report, Building Financial Resilience, has identified five key symptoms of financial stress, which includes: a rapid decline in reserves; a failure to deliver savings in service provision; shortening of medium-term financial planning; firm objectives missing from savings plan; and a tendency for unplanned overspends.

The report also outlines the steps towards building better financial resilience, encouraging councils to ensure that the right financial management systems are working effectively and use benchmarking data. Councils should also manage reserves effectively, avoiding dipping in to reserves to pay for services or postpone necessary cuts.

Sean Nolan, director for Local Government at CIPFA, said: “In the face of growing demand, tightening funding and an increasingly complex and unpredictable financial environment, councils must be financially resilient;

meaning they must remain viable, stable and effective in the medium to long term.

“Austerity has battered the sector for close to a decade, while increased demand and cost pressures have left some councils at the brink. Other, more positive changes, such as a trend towards greater self-sufficiency and local leadership has allowed some areas to flourish, while others have struggled to reap the benefits of these reforms. What we are seeking to do now is to help councils spot the warning signs of financial stress and take the right steps towards resilience.”

AIR QUALITY

FIRE SAFETY

New efforts to reduce air pollution in Oxford

Independent taskforce for Kensington and Chelsea

Oxford City Council is planning to install electric vehicle charging points for taxis and phase out high-emitting hackney cabs in an effort to reduce air pollution.

The city council is working with City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association (COLTA) on the scheme, which will see £500,000 worth of electric vehicle charging points for taxis installed for the exclusive use of hackney and private hire taxis. The aim is to install 19: seven in 2018 and 12 in 2019.

The council won £370,000 of funding from the Government’s Office for Low Emissions Vehicles for the project. The aim is to seek the remaining funding from private investment.

The scheme also set out the city’s intention to set an age limit on all hackney carriages operating in Oxford of 18 years and require all newly-licensed hackney carriages to be ultralow emission vehicles (ULEVs) in the future.

Latest figures reveal that, despite a 36.9 per cent drop in Oxford city’s air pollution over the last decade, nitrogen dioxide levels are sticking above the legal and safe levels in some streets. It is hoped that the infrastructure and licensing changes will see nitrogen dioxide emissions from Oxford’s 107 licensed hackney carriages reduce by 50 per cent by 2020.

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Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that an independent Recovery Taskforce will run services for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, Javid has announced an independent recovery taskforce to help the borough cope, with the body reportedly expected to manage the council’s housing, regeneration, community engagement and governance services.

Javid said: “The scale of the recovery effort needed on the Lancaster West estate in the months to come cannot be underestimated.

Support to survivors, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and residents in the wider community must and will be ongoing.

The challenge of providing that support is and will continue to be significant. I want to help the council meet that challenge.

“The immediate response to the disaster is being coordinated by the Grenfell Response Team, headed up by John Barradell. He is ably supported by a number of colleagues drawn from London councils, the wider local government sector including the RBKC, the voluntary sector, police, health and fire services as well as central government. Their expertise and hard work is making a huge difference.

As well as providing that immediate support,

GB News

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that local government will have lost 75p out of every £1 of core central government funding that it had to spend in 2015.

This means that 168 councils will no longer receive any of this core central government funding by 2019/20. This covers bin collection, road maintenance, children’s services, as well as elderly and social care.

The LGA said the need for adequate funding for local government is urgent, and is calling for local government to be allowed to keep all of the £26 billion in business rates it collects locally each year, as well as a fairer system of distributing funding between councils.

Launching a new report, Growing Places, the LGA also urges for council tax referendum limits to be abolished and for councils and their residents to decide how local services are paid for.

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we must have an eye to the future. This intervention is putting in place the foundations that will support the longer term recovery.” ! For more news on the Grenfell Tower fire response and investigations, turn to page 18.

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Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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GB Top 10

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

RECYCLING

Not letting recycling innovation go to waste In the third of our Top 10 series, in the build up to RWM, Government Business analyses local authority green policy, and the examples of leading recycling management and efficient, effective waste management policies across the UK

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

In the build up to the RWM show, which runs from 12-14 September 2017 and is previewed in this magazine on page 57, Government Business investigates the top 10 local authorities who deliver environmentally sound and profitable solutions in their regions. Encompassing recycling, machinery and equipment, energy from waste and waste transport logistics, the Top 10 highlights excellence in green policy, savvy recycling management and effective waste management policies.

At the end of January 2017, figures released by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics body, revealed that the UK was ranked tied tenth among the top-ranked municipal waste recyclers in Europe during 2015. When considered collectively, EU member states recycled 45.2 per cent of their municipal waste on average, with the UK’s combined recycling and composting rate standing at 43.5 per cent in 2015, down from 43.7 per cent a year earlier. However, the data also highlighted the amount of waste generated per person across Europe, with the UK seeing a per person increase from 482kg in 2014 to 485kg in 2015.

This correlation complimented the statistics released by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) at the end of December 2016. The government data showed that the rate of household recycling had fallen to 44.3 per cent, from 44.9 per cent in 2015. In light of the figures, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) called for a fundamental review of the funding for council waste services and for concepts such as Extended Producer Responsibility and Direct Charging to be explored and implemented.

West Sussex County Council The West Sussex Waste Partnership, led by West Sussex County Council, was awarded the ‘Best Local Authority Recycling Initiative’ at the 2017 Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management for a trial project that saw more than three tonnes of extra recycling being collected every fortnight from communal housing in the region.

Designed to improve both practical obstacles and residents’ attitudes towards recycling, the project resulted in 94 per cent of resident’s waste being recycled correctly. It is predicted that the reduction in landfill costs will save £14,000 every year, leading to calls for the project to be rolled-out nationally.

Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for Environment, said: “It is a fantastic achievement and great testament to the waste management team for overseeing the project and our district and borough partners for carrying it out to a high standard worthy of national recognition. This award signifies the important work that has been done to not only better, but create a lasting recycling legacy in multiple occupancy properties which are notoriously difficult to improve.”

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South Oxfordshire District Council The December 2016 Defra figures, mentioned above, highlighted that South Oxfordshire District Council had maintained its lead as England’s best recycling council for the third year in a row. The council had a recycling, reuse and composting rate of 66.6 per cent for 2015-16, which was significantly higher than the UK average.

Earlier in 2016, South Oxfordshire District Council was recorded as recycling 67.3 per cent of household waste and was highlighted as an exemplar for the 73 councils that had met or exceeded 2020 recycling rates.

Cllr Tony Harbour, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be top of the tables again and we’re very grateful for the hard work of our residents – we took a difficult decision this year to stop people using non-clear sacks in their bins to prevent contamination.

Most of our residents have already adapted brilliantly though, which should help us stay near the top for another year.”

Vale of White Horse District Council While South Oxfordshire District Council was named the best recycler in Defra’s annual recycling league tables for 2015/16 for a third year in a row, neighbouring Vale of White Horse District Council dropped from second last year to fourth place in the latest rankings.

In November 2016, the council introduced a new policy to not empty recycling bins containing non-clear sacks, due to an increase in the amount of bins contaminated with non-recyclable materials. Since the new policy was introduced, no lorry loads of recycling have so far been rejected due to contamination. This has been complimented by a new, council-run kerbside recycling service of textiles and small electrical items.

Vale of White Horse District Council has also just jointly invested £6.5 million, alongside South Oxfordshire District Council, in a brand new fleet of waste and recycling trucks, providing new and improved collections to households across southern Oxfordshire.

Charlotte Dickson, cabinet member for Waste, said: “I’m very happy to hear that our residents are still among the best in the country. We’ve already made great headway to tackle the contamination problem, so when we combine that with our successful kerbside textiles and electricals recycling collections, we’re confident we’ll be back to challenging our neighbours in South Oxfordshire for the number one spot next year.”

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GB Top 10

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Surrey Heath Borough Council In April 2017, Surrey Heath Borough Council, alongside Elmbridge, Woking and Mole Valley councils, formed a new organisation to deliver a joined-up waste service across the region. The Joint Waste Solutions service follows Surrey County Council’s plans to integrate waste services and oversee all collections and disposal of waste.

In the 2015/16 overall performance data, derived from WasteDataFlow, Surrey Heath Borough Council recorded 62.1 per cent of household waste being sent for reuse, recycling or composting, ranking fifth in the local authority league table – a position it beats in our Top 10 list. The previous year, the council ranked fourth nationally by Defra for its 63.3 per cent rate of household waste sent for recycling, composting and reuse.

As part of a wider perspective, Surrey County Council has recently launched a consultation on proposals to save up to £2 million-a-year from community recycling centres.

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tinyurl.com/yckmvqoo Newcastle City Council In March this year, Newcastle City Council announced the formation of the Newcastle Waste Commission, a team of seven waste management experts tasked with tackling the city’s ‘mountain of waste’. It is believed to be the first time that a major city has set up a commission to take a root and branch look at all aspects of waste, from recycling to refuse, waste to energy and packaging.

Newcastle produces approximately 142,000 tonnes of waste each year, with Nick Kemp, the council’s waste strategy leader, arguing that it is simply not sustainable to continue producing more and more waste and dumping it into landfill sites across the country. Instead, the council is changing its perspective. It wants to stop looking at waste as a problem and instead view it as an asset through innovative new ways of recycling, reusing and turning waste into energy.

Although the recommendations of the commission will be for Newcastle, it is expected they will be applicable to other cities across the UK and even influence government policy. The commission is due to release its recommendations following its final meeting in September 2017.

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tinyurl.com/zku6vgm South Northamptonshire Council Recording a 59 per cent rate of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting for 2015/16, South Northamptonshire Council has recently joined the ‘MetalMatters’ recycling campaign to raise awareness of the importance of metal packaging !

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RECYCLING " recycling, to increase the amount collected from households and reduce the costs for dealing with household waste.

Back in February, the council stated that its recycling rate had increased to just over 60 per cent so far for 2016/17, with the improvement being driven by the 281 tonnes of food waste collected during January 2017, a 47 tonne increase on the same month in 2016. The council also collected 960 tonnes of recycling from the blue bins this January, compared to 918 tonnes during January 2016.

Dermot Bambridge, the council’s portfolio holder for Environmental Services, said: “I’d like to thank residents for the enthusiasm they have shown in support of our goals to drive down costs and reduce the district’s environmental impact. Because residents are careful when recycling, the number of items that shouldn’t be there is very low.

But the evidence shows that it is possible to recycle or compost up to 80 per cent of waste from the average home and we will seek to continually improve our collection rate.” tinyurl.com/ydaa767a The City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council has recently undertaken a changed garden waste collection to provide a more consistent service, collecting bins once every three weeks all

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At the end of January 2017, figures released by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics body, revealed that the UK was ranked tied tenth among the top-ranked municipal waste recyclers in Europe during 2015 year round, instead of every two weeks in the summer and four weeks in the winter.

The latest Landfill and Recycling report to the council’s Transport and Environment Committee in March 2017 highlighted an increase of 1,239 tonnes in recycling citywide on the previous year, while the amount of unrecycled waste has dropped by 2.6 per cent. This has been due to the introduction of new kerbside dry mixed and glass recycling collections to more than 140,000 households across the city, while the introduction of additional facilities for communal packaging bins serving flats and tenements has encouraged a 39 per cent increase in the waste recycled for the year to March.

More recently in April, Lesley Hinds, Transport and Environment Convener, announced the opening of a £9 million depot for its waste collection and street cleansing operations at Seafield, which will increase efficiency by providing a single base for waste collection and street

South e hir Oxfordsouncil C District its lead d has hel and’s best as Engl council for g recyclin ird year in the th row a

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

cleansing services in the east of the city.

A similar site in the north west of Edinburgh is also under development.

Hinds said: “As a council we are 100 per cent committed to increasing the amount of waste recycled in Edinburgh. Over recent years we have implemented several changes to make recycling easier for residents, and these are clearly having a positive impact.

While maintaining this focus on recycling, we recognise that improvements need to be made across the service, and I’m pleased to see that our ongoing efforts are making a difference.

That said, there is no room for complacency, and we will continue to direct resources into completing the outstanding actions in our Waste and Cleansing Improvement Plan to achieve a better service for everyone.” tinyurl.com/yc554fh5 Bolton Council Bolton Council was shortlisted for the ‘Environment’ category at this year’s Local Government Chronicle Awards 2017 for its work in saving more than £2 million by introducing slim bins.

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The council replaced all 240 litre bins with 140 litre grey bins between June and November last year to encourage recycling, reduce grey bin waste collected and save £1.25 million a year in waste disposal costs – a figure which the council is already exceeding.

Between April and December 2016, the council collected 33,310 tonnes of recyclable waste, an increase of 2,956 tonnes on the same period the previous year. The recycling rate for this period rose to almost 45 per cent, compared to 41 per cent for the same period in 2015.

Nick Peel, executive cabinet member for Environmental Services, said: “Big thanks must go to our residents – without their support and hard work in recycling and adapting to the changes, we would haven’t been able to achieve what we have done and already save more than £2 million. I must also congratulate our teams at the council who have worked really hard to communicate the slim bin rollout plan so residents were as best prepared as possible. They worked with community groups, schools and went to talk to residents and the end result has been a smooth implementation and significant savings, which has now been recognised nationally. We are delighted.” tinyurl.com/ycq5x749 Stratford-on-Avon District Council Figures released show that Stratfordon-Avon District Council is still in the top ten for recycling rates for the third year in succession, rising three

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places in the ratings to seventh with a recycling rate of 60.4 per cent for last year.

Mike Brain, Community and Technical Services Portfolio, says: “We’ve slightly bettered last year’s recycling rate which has lifted our position in the recycling league table as other councils have seen their rates reduce. It’s thanks to our residents that we’ve been able to achieve this result with their continued commitment and support for recycling. The service we provide is designed to make recycling easy and our residents have responded to that by ensuring they recycle as much as possible and by limiting the amount of other waste that is produced for landfill.

“It is important that residents continue to recycle and one of the reasons why we are performing so high is because more residents are regularly putting food in the green bin and the weekly collection of electric/electronic goods, textiles and batteries is continuing to be very popular. Residents can see that their efforts and diligence continues to pay off.” tinyurl.com/y92atfzc Bristol City Council Britain’s Real Green and Pleasant Land, compiled by property company Goodmove, analysed 10 different region’s percentage of green space and found that Bristol is the greenest city in the UK. The June report highlighted the city’s 44 per cent recycling rate as one of the reasons why it tops the list.

Bristol Waste Company runs the city’s

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household waste recycling centres and has recently launched a commercial waste service, offering local businesses tailored, cost-effective recycling and waste solutions.

Throughout the 17 million scheduled collections made each year, the group collects 140,000 tonnes of waste and recycling per annum, of which 53,000 tonnes is sent for composting or recycling. Previously, waste collection and waste disposal were procured separately from one another.

Mayor Marvin Rees said: “One of my key promises to the city has been to launch a Clean Streets Campaign. We need a city wide strategy to tackling problems with littering and fly tipping, and to increase recycling rates. We must work closely with community organisations and schools to promote behaviour change.

“We have been given a real opportunity to make a difference to Bristol’s streets, and after considering all the facts, we believe that Bristol Waste Company offer us the best chance to achieve our ambitious goals for the city.

“There is a lot of work to be done, but we hope that a ten-year contract will allow us the stability to make serious progress towards tidying up our streets.” tinyurl.com/ya79xdj5 # FURTHER INFORMATION www.letsrecycle.com/ councils/league-tables/ 201516-overall-performance Photo by Lacey Williams on Unsplash

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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ENERGY PROCUREMENT

BREAKING THE MOULD – PROCURING ENERGY

Advertisement Feature

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Do you use a Public Sector Buying Group (PSBG) to procure your energy? Are you responsible for procuring and reducing your organisation’s energy consumption and costs? If so then perhaps it’s time to move away from your existing provider Public sector organisations can be reluctant to switch to another energy consultancy and will often renew their existing contract without even looking elsewhere. In addition, notice periods for getting out of a contract with a PSBG can be quite lengthy, often preventing public sector organisations from changing or moving contracts. So what can you do to break the mould?

STC Energy believes that it is essential and good practice to benchmark energy consultancy fees with others in the market as it will help to ensure that you are receiving the best deal for the services you require.

TRANSPARENT FEES It may appear unbelievable, but some public sector organisations do not know what they are paying their PSBG, as fees can be included in their energy costs.

With much of the industry still using a commission based fee structure, transparency is key. STC places a great deal of value on transparency to demonstrate value for money is being achieved. We offer an alternative fixed fee structure and ensure that all of our fees are understood by the customer from the outset.

FRAMEWORKS Many PSBGs only offer one utility supplier which could mean that your energy is not competitively priced or benchmarked against other suppliers. Other energy consultancies can offer a greater choice, meaning a utility supplier can be chosen based on your requirements and not just because that is the only option available to you. STC offers an OJEU compliant multi-supplier framework which gives public sector organisations the opportunity to choose from 12 utility suppliers.

PUBLIC SECTOR CHALLENGES Public sector organisations can often find themselves with an out of date portfolio making utilities difficult to manage.

Difficulties often arise due to incomplete site lists, estimated utility bills and default unit rates. This leads to overpayments being made and utility invoices not being investigated fully. This is when issues tend to crop up, such as being billed for sites you are no longer responsible for.

Public sector organisations also face

are often facing staff reductions and cut backs which can affect in-house expertise when looking to save energy and reduce costs. The solution to this issue is to have a consolidated portfolio and a customised outsourced bureau service.

The first port of call is to establish exactly what supply points are in your organisation (including water) and create a cleansed database of all utilities. This in itself can highlight opportunities for savings, such as identifying non-consolidated supplies billed on out of contract rates.

ONLY PAYING FOR WHAT YOU USE Many of the PSBGs used by the public sector are purely procurement based and cannot provide additional services such as a fully managed bureau. The validation of utility bills is essential as it can highlight estimated consumption that could be higher than actual readings. STC is a leading bureau services provider and has recovered over £36 million in utility billing errors in the last two years alone for our customers.

Suppliers’ contracts and invoices can be very complex and difficult to understand. As a result it is inevitable that some billing errors will be missed. With flexible and energy-only contracts becoming a more popular way of buying energy, additional validation is required to balance reconciliation statements from suppliers and check the growing number of third party charges.

STC has been processing utility invoices for over 25 years and estimates that between three per cent and five per cent of utility expenditure can be saved by fully validating supplier invoices.

Further savings can be achieved by reducing time spent by internal staff dealing with utility issues. This type of saving can often outweigh the cost of an energy bureau service, which should equate to less than 0.5 per cent of the total utility expenditure.

ADDED VALUE SERVICES Energy consultants such as STC can also offer additional products and services in comparison to PSBGs, such as

If you would like to find out more about our services or what we can offer you in comparison to a PSBG, simply call Alan Little on 0208 466 2915 or email alan.little@stcenergy.com. # FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0208 466 2915

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Fire Safety

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

GRENFELL TOWER

Grenfell Tower: what next for local authority fire safety?

As of 3 July, a total of 181 buildings across 51 UK local authorities were reported to have failed fire safety tests on their cladding. In light of the Grenfell Tower fire last month, Government Business looks at the work being done to ensure local authorities are housing residents in fire safe buildings

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

On 14 June, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block in North Kensington caught fire, burning for approximately 60 hours before finally being extinguished. With emergency services receiving the first report of the fire at 00:54, and more than 200 firefighters and 45 fire engines attending the scene, the fire is believed to have caused the deaths of least 80 residents, although that number could still rise as investigations continue.

Reports which emerged after the incident suggested that the residents’ organisation, Grenfell Action Group, had raised concerns about the buildings fire safety, while questions have also been asked of current building and safety regulations in the UK, which, if they had been updated, may have prevented such an incident from taking place. For example, Grenfell Tower only contains one single central staircase, as UK regulations do not require a second to be created. The Telegraph reported on 16 June that residents had repeatedly claimed that, in the event of a fire, their escape path was limited to a single staircase, but such worries were dismissed.

Additionally, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) issued guidance to tower residents in 2014, advising them to remain within the flat incase of a fire, repeating the advice in May 2016.

The Grenfell Tower regeneration newsletter of that month read that ‘if there is a fire which is not inside your own home, you are generally safest to stay put in your home to begin with’.

Latest reports show that fire service advice to ‘stay put’ inside Grenfell Tower during the fire which destroyed the building lasted nearly two hours, before the policy was changed.

The aforementioned safety concerns, raised by the Grenfell Action Group, were voiced following a major renovation project on the high rise, which reached completion in 2016. Following a change of contractor by the KCTMO, the project saw new windows and new aluminium composite rainscreen cladding added to the building. According to a report, also printed in the Telegraph, alternative cladding with better fire resistance was refused due to cost. The Guardian also reported in the week following the fire that the material used in the new cladding was a cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options. The newspaper reported that Omnis Exteriors manufactured the aluminium composite material (ACM) used in the cladding, with the manufacturer telling the paper that they had been asked to supply Reynobond PE cladding, which is £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative fire resistant Reynobond FR cladding.

LOCAL AUTHORITY INSTRUCTIONS Following the fire, Melanie Dawes, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), issued local authorities with a list of instructions that must be taken if insulation within cladding ‘is unlikely to be compliant with the requirements’ of current

building regulations. The measures included checking that the fire risk assessment had been carried out within the previous 12 months and that the recommendations within the action plan of the assessment have been completed, and to confirm that there had been no material changes (to the building, the fire safety measures or the occupancy that could, potentially, undermine the validity of the fire risk assessment.

Following this instruction, it emerged that Camden Council began removing cladding from five of its blocks after discovering that the outer cladding panels on five blocks in the borough were made up of aluminium panels with a polyethylene core, similar to that which helped the fire at Grenfell Tower to spread across the building. The council fitted the cladding in 2006 as part of a £150 million PFI deal with the same contractors that were used on Grenfell Tower – Rydon and Harley Facades.

The London council has since agreed to conduct an independent review, due to begin in August, into the circumstances which required the evacuation of residents from the region’s Chalcots Estate, and has also announced plans to appoint a new director responsible for resident safety and establish a borough-wide Camden Fire Safety Advisory Panel led by tenants and leaseholders.

Georgia Gould, Camden Council leader, said: “The panels that were fitted were not to the standard that we had commissioned.

In light of this, we will be informing the contractor that we will be taking urgent legal advice. Camden council has decided it will immediately begin preparing to remove these external cladding panels from the five tower blocks on the Chalcots Estate. Camden council will do whatever it takes to ensure our residents are reassured about the safety of their homes.”

Councillor Alison Butler, the deputy leader, also announced at the council’s cabinet meeting that council blocks with 10, 11 or 12 storeys would be receiving fire sprinklers.

Butler said: “This council is committed to installing fire sprinklers in 25 council blocks with 10 storeys or taller because last week’s tragedy showed we all need to bolster fire safety measures for our residents. I will also be writing to the government challenging them to give us more support in our plans to make our borough safer. In the meantime, we will continue to work with London Fire Brigade to ensure our housing continues to meet fire safety standards, and we will respond to any recommendations that emerge from the Grenfell Tower investigation.”

Sheffield City Council and Southampton City Council are also looking to put sprinklers in their high-rise tower blocks

Fire Safety

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in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Sheffield confirmed it will be putting sprinklers in all its 24 blocks, claiming that it had ‘always intended’ to review the sprinklers policy later this year but will bring the review forward to ‘provide extra reassurance’.

PUBLIC SECTOR BUILDINGS Three hospitals have since failed fire safety checks after conducting assessments on their buildings. Buildings at London’s King’s College Hospital, Sheffield’s children’s hospital and the North Middlesex Trust have been found to have combustible cladding, with all three hospitals undertaking steps to improve safety.

The trusts, along with another 35 across the country, have been instructed to introduce 24-hour fire warden patrols to improve safety.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Teachers, the Fire Brigades Union and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have called for urgent checks of fire safety measures in England’s schools, including the analysis of cladding on school buildings. Reports indicated that fire safety rules for schools were to be ‘toned down’, although the Department for Education has maintained that there were no plans to bring in any changes which would make fire safety laws less strict.

Fire safety guidance for schools, known as Building Bulletin 100, requires all new schools to be fitted with sprinklers – except for a few low-risk schools.

However, figures, stated by the above associations and shared by the BBC, indicate that only 35 per cent of new schools built since 2010 had been fitted with sprinklers, compared to 70 per cent of schools built between 2007 and 2010. This has caused many to question the Coalition government’s ‘efficient’ school building programme, Priority Buildings for Schools, leading to the unions to argue that ‘current guidance is being ignored in the rush to build new schools as cheaply as possible’.

ts Residentedly ea had rep that in claimedt of a fire n the eve pe path was ca their es d to a single limite se, but such stairca ies were worr ssed dismi

RESPONSE On 15 June, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that the Bellwin scheme would be activated to support the immediate response operation in North Kensington. The emergency scheme provides financial assistance to local authorities to help with immediate costs following a disaster or emergency in their area that involves danger to life or property.

He said: “Emergency services and the local community have been tremendous in their response. As the Prime Minister has been clear, the government stands ready to help in anyway possible. We’re determined to stand squarely behind the affected communities.

Funding through the Bellwin scheme will help councils support the !

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Fire Safety

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

GRENFELL TOWER " community to get back on their feet.”

On top of the emergency funding, and the full enquiry that Prime Minister Theresa May issued, a number of utility companies announced a package of support for victims of the fire, with businesses in the energy and water sectors, as well as power companies supplying energy to Grenfell Tower residents, agreeing to write off any outstanding debts for energy bills for residents and put on hold any direct debit payments for residents.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has faced perhaps the most criticism for the way in which it handled the incident and the immediate aftermath, leading to Nicholas Holgate, the authority’s chief executive to resign. Holgate was heavily criticised for the speed in which the local authority responded to the fire, with residents condemning the initial relief effort as ‘absolute chaos’. Reports have suggested that Javid requesting that Holgate leave his post.

The incoming leader of the council, Elizabeth Campbell, has since admitted to never having been inside a flat in any of the borough’s high-rise buildings, but did concede that ‘words and apologies’ would not be enough and that it would take a generation for the authority to regain the trust of local people.

Javid has also announced that an independent recovery taskforce has been established to help the borough cope, with

“Time and time again, we are desperately worried about our building regulations, particularly the approved documents falling behind what is going on within the built environment. We must get over this” Dennis Davis, Fire Sector Federation the body reportedly expected to manage the council’s housing, regeneration, community engagement and governance services.

Making the announcement, Javid said: “The scale of the recovery effort needed on the Lancaster West estate in the months to come cannot be underestimated. Support to survivors, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and residents in the wider community must and will be ongoing.

The challenge of providing that support is and will continue to be significant. I want to help the council meet that challenge.

“The immediate response to the disaster is being coordinated by the Grenfell Response Team, headed up by John Barradell. He is ably supported by a number of colleagues drawn from London councils, the wider local government sector including the RBKC, the voluntary sector, police, health and fire services

as well as central government. Their expertise and hard work is making a huge difference.

As well as providing that immediate support, we must have an eye to the future. This intervention is putting in place the foundations that will support the longer term recovery.”

THE USE OF SPRINKLERS Timing can very cruel. The Business Sprinkler Alliance released a warning to the government on the 7 June, urging the incoming MPs to build the case for fire resilience and commit to actions designed to reduce the impact of fire on the country, most noticeably by promoting a greater use of fire sprinkler systems.

Certainly, the underuse of sprinkler systems is in question following the Grenfell Tower block fire. Looking back at the inquest into the 2009 Lakanal House fire, Judge Frances Kirkham said the evidence ‘indicated that

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

Heavy Duty Key Cabinets

Fire Safety

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

retrofitting of sprinkler systems in high-rise residential buildings might now be possible at lower cost than had previously been thought to be the case, and with modest disruption to residents’.

The British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA) claim that around 100 blocks of the estimated 4,000 throughout the UK have been retrofitted with sprinkler systems as a result of the free-to-attend seminars that the group has invited local authorities and housing associations to since 2012.

A pilot project resulted in the successful installation of sprinklers in Callow Mount, a 1960s tower block in Sheffield, and showed that improvements in building safety can be achieved with minimal disruption by retrofitting an automatic fire suppression system. The group’s report, Safer High Rise Living… the Callow Mount Sprinkler Retrofit Project, looks into the use of sprinklers in residential and domestic premises and demonstrates that it is possible to retrofit sprinklers into occupied, high-rise, social housing without evacuating residents and that these installations can be fast-tracked. The project concluded with costs of £1,148.63 per one-bedroomed flat, which included the provision of sprinklers in utility rooms, common areas, bin stores and an office.

FUTURE POLICY Independent disaster investigator Professor Arnold Dix, who conducted the post-assessment of the Lakanal House fire, has warned that he current system to assess fire safety of high-rise buildings in the UK is ‘pointless’. Of the 21 tower blocks managed

by Kensington and Chelsea Council, which includes Grenfell Tower, all were rated as having a medium FRA rating, leaving Dix to suggest that current fire risk assessments (FRAs) were simply a ‘box-ticking exercise’ in a system that doesn’t work.

FRAs do not look inside individual properties and do not analyse how the building was originally designed to evacuate people – meaning it is, in Dix’s words, like ‘having a full health

A pilot project in Callow Mount, a 1960s tower block in Sheffield, showcased that improvements in building safety can be achieved with minimal disruption by retrofitting an automatic fire suppression system check and only checking the tonsils’. He also commented that FRAs do not consider how many people live in the building, the possibility of high fire-risk appliances, the possibility of highly flammable extra beds and the ability of people to leave their homes quickly. His comments have sparked a number of discussions on what future fire assessment policy should look like.

Speaking as part of an expert panel at FIREX International the week after the Grenfell Tower fire, Dennis Davis of the Fire Sector Federation (FSF) said the industry was now ‘creating the legacy for the next 50 years’. Discussing the way in which building regulations have failed to keep pace with rate of change in the built environment, the last regulations having been reviewed in 2006, the panel agreed that ‘lessons must be learnt’, unlike the Lakanal House fire of 2009. In contrast, the Australian government conducts regular reviews of legislation once a year.

Davis said: “Time and time and time again, we are desperately worried about our building regulations, in particularly the approved documents falling behind what is going on within the built environment. We must get over this. 2006 is the last review. Ten years is too long a gap, far too long a gap if you consider how much constriction and building has changed. The determination has to be as a sector that we ask very, very deep, searching questions – how could this happen in our country, at this time?” #

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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EVENT SECURITY

With British Summer time set to be filled with an array of music festivals, sporting meets and community events, there has never been a more important time to stress the vital role that security products and personnel play in keeping these events secure. Here, the BSIA’s James Kelly looks at some of the important considerations of event security Over the past few years, large scale events and crowded places have found themselves the target of terror attacks, including the attack at the Stade de France and in the Bataclan Theatre in Paris in 2015, the attack during Bastille Day in Nice in July 2016, the attack at the Berlin Christmas markets last November and most recently the attack at Manchester Arena in May. Such events can be attractive to terrorists, particularly as they result in large crowds of people being gathered within the same public space, often with more congested crowds upon exit. With this in mind, it is essential that event organisers are assessing

these safety concerns and implementing measures to mitigate these potential risks.

Alan Meyrick, senior risk analyst for G4S Risk Consulting, explains: “Event security, particularly sporting events, has improved to best practice, legislation, industry standards, reputational risk and so on. Venues, whether concert halls, festivals, stadiums or arenas, are often naturally-secure sites, with physical architecture – whether that is permanent or

temporary – increasing the target’s security profile. The addition of security stewards to conduct access control and search regimes, as well as technical security measures, creates a relatively robust security environment when compared to immediately outside the venue. This creates somewhat of a paradox; the time and effort to pass through venue security to the safer internal environment means that people are potentially exposed to greater risk while !

Even organis t have a ers care to duty of safe an provide a d environ enjoyable m attende ent for es a staff nd

Written by James Kelly, chief executive, British Security Industry Association (BSIA)

The show will go on: the importance of effective events security

Crowd Control

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EVENT SECURITY

" waiting to enter or when exiting in a crowd.

Exiting en masse is arguably the most concerning factor and event organisers, through the use of staggered egress or incentives, such as post-event entertainment, ‘meet and greet’ or some other strategies, may have to, purely for security purposes, keep attendees in the venue for longer while egress is managed more safely. That said, is that feasible? It may well be difficult to get public buy-in for a staggered or delayed exit from a venue, possible cost implications, potential health and safety concerns to having people remain in the venue post-event. These and other factors need careful consideration.”

It is important for event managers and law enforcement agencies to manage both the space within the venue, as well as the surrounding streetscape, in order to ensure the safe movement of people in, out and around the venue. Event organisers have a duty of care to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for attendees and staff alike. As such, it is vital for organisers to undertake a complete risk assessment of the event, starting with the risk register.

It is absolutely paramount for organisers to be aware of exactly what they should be protecting themselves against, and at the heart of any event’s resilience to threats is its risk register. The risk register is a key risk management tool that helps identify and plan for the risks it may face and the best ways to counteract them. Identifying the risk register can help organisers develop contingency plans that can be implemented in

Crowd Control

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Event venues are often naturally-secure sites, with physical architecture increasing the target’s security profile. The addition of security stewards to conduct access control and search regimes creates a relatively robust security environment when compared to immediately outside the venue the event of a threat. It can be useful to enlist the help of a security consultant to develop the register and corresponding contingency plans, as an outsider perspective can prove beneficial in identifying threats that may not have originally come to mind. Independent professional support can also help ensure that the security measures in place correspond to the threats, whilst also complementing the event’s environment and overall operation.

HOSTILE VEHICLE MITIGATION With multiple terror attacks of late using vehicles as the main weapon, it is especially important to consider Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) techniques as part of the contingency planning. Recent attacks have shown that the main focus of vehicular attacks tend to be public open spaces or temporary events where people are enjoying themselves. Generally, these are areas with limited permanent perimeter security, making them ‘soft targets’ where

the likelihood of mass casualties is increased.

As such, it is essential that event organisers are considering HVM tactics as part of their security measures. Organisers must consider the necessary security barriers as well as how they can fit into the surrounding streetscape.

Alan comments: “Hostile Vehicle Mitigation in various forms, is – and has been – the initial ‘go-to’ products to stop such attacks (as those in Nice, Berlin and London), as well as Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) attacks such as the Glasgow Airport attack in 2007. HVM in different forms, including bollards, concrete planters, concrete benches and other physical architecture, are all used. Existing infrastructure and utilities, existing hardware and hard landscaping, the proximity to points of egress or access, as well as integration with the existing streetscape and how HVM methods may impact pedestrians and vehicular movement are all key considerations.”

When it comes to HVM events, organisers !

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Offering affordable training courses and a full range of security services for your company The Formative Group is a young, energetic and dynamic security, training and employment provider, offering training courses, security and events safety services, business consultancy and employment opportunities to individuals and businesses throughout the UK. The organisation, which is based in Westbury, was established in 2012 and the staff employed have many years’ experience in the security, training and business management sectors.

Specialists in security, event safety, health and safety, management and learning and development training, enable an holistic solution for businesses to improve and individuals to succeed at work, whilst adding to personal development records.

Services and training are affordable, current and delivered by a highly qualified team of trainers and consultants. The organisation offers a comprehensive range of security staffing, training courses and business consultancy to businesses and individuals which are designed to meet

current legislation, regulations and national occupational standards. Using either on-site facilities or hiring venues to suit, the organisation has experienced staff that will give advice and training to enable customers to save time, money, improve performance, knowledge and levels of skill.

The Formative Group has expertise in the provision of staffing and equipment and also the management of events, either in stadium events or outdoor events. Featuring a wide range of training courses and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ), the training and assessment delivered by the organisation is perfect for business use.

Available on the website and Facebook, the security services, training programmes and

consultancy services are tailored for business and individual needs and help to improve both workplace efficiency and personal development.

With a close knit team that includes fully qualified and licenced staff members, The Formative Group has an experienced, highly skilled and professional membership that will strive to deliver a high quality service. All staff maintain their own currency by deploying on operations, sharing information and good practice. It enables individuals and businesses alike to learn from them by way of workshops, seminars, coaching or training.

The Formative Group has an expanding customer base situated throughout the UK including several large companies and some private clients. The directors offer guidance and support to others with regards to running their organisations efficiently and effectively.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0203 7502250 www.theformativegroup.co.uk

Challenging traditional perimeter security by improving barrier systems for crowd control

The necessity to improve security and crowd management at public events and gatherings is now in the public spotlight more than ever.

When organising an event, be it a bonfire, concert, fete or charity run, organisers (including councils) are expected to provide adequate security and crowd management.

Creating a boundary to an event is the first step towards improving safety. Crowd barriers, even simple waist-high systems can be used to form a perimeter and channel visitors. Attendees can then be ‘vetted’ on entry at designated ‘entry points’ for any contraband, or potentially harmful items.

Something as simple as this can help ensure dangerous items do not reach the centre of a dense gathering of people.

Everybody is familiar with traditional fixed leg metal barriers. They are strong and offer good value for money. However being

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metal, they can be prone to rust and even stolen for scrap metal. The modern plastic alternative to metal barriers use formats that have been tried and tested in the roadwork and construction industry, with benefits including as many as 50 units on a pallet for easier storage and transport.

High visibility anti-trip feet improve safety and reduce the risk of tripping. They can also lock together to prevent unauthorised disassembly. Custom colours can be incorporated to fit with the branding of a borough, council or event. Having the barriers coloured also improves their visibility to the public.

The traditional perimeter fence is a metal mesh design. The problem with this type of fencing is that they are hard to transport due to their size and are once again a target for scrap metal thieves.

The modern alternative is a hybrid system with a lower panel made of brightly coloured plastic and a top section made of mesh.

These barriers reach heights of up to two meters (or more) and form a very effective pedestrian barrier. Many units can be transported on a single vehicle and quickly deployed to produce a secure fence that keeps unwanted guests from climbing in. Storage is also easier due to their compact nature.

Whichever crowd control system is chosen to safeguard your event it should be strong, durable and ensure that pedestrians are safely guided into your event past appropriate security points.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01905 700 340 www.starttraffic.uk

EVENT SECURITY " will need to consider the most suitable techniques, taking into account the cost of the installation and the suitability of the solution. It is especially important to consider HVM requirements at the earliest stage of event organisation, ensuring that if the wrong products are selected, there is time for remedial action.

Since events often take place in temporary spaces, there are a variety of temporary, mobile HVM forms that can be implemented.

These include water or sand filled barriers, and other, more rudimentary solutions, such as boulders, concrete blocks or other heavy objects that can still be moved relatively easily at reduced costs.

As with any type of security product or service, there are standards that HVM techniques should adhere to in order to ensure they are fit for purpose. There are a couple of key standards that provide a benchmark for HVM equipment, as well as guidance for the installation of such products. Perhaps the most relevant for HVM is the British Standard Institute’s PAS 68 – Impact Test Specification for Vehicle Security Barriers, which is the UK standard and the security industry benchmark for HVM equipment. Any equipment should be tested in conjunction with PAS 69 – Guidance for the Selection, Installation and Use of Vehicle Security Barrier Systems, which provides product installation guidance.

THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY When it comes to effective event security – whether it be HVM techniques, access control measures or crowd management services – the importance of choosing services from a quality supplier is always of the utmost importance.

Discussing this point in particular, Andrew Murphy, managing director of Eventsec,

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Recent attacks have shown that the main focus of vehicular attacks tend to be public open spaces or temporary events. Generally, these are areas with limited permanent perimeter security, making them ‘soft targets’ commented: “When reviewing security at events, purchasers should consider various factors prior to their decision. Many companies offer event security, however, many do not have the relevant experience or operational capacity to perform the role. It is very important that the organiser checks if the prospective company has appropriate insurance. It is also important that purchasers review the insurance cover and clarify with the underwriter as to what insurance is in place and whether it covers events and issues such as wilful acts, front of stage and ejection. With the present severe UK warning, it is important that we constantly monitor our security provision. It is essential that whoever is engaged has relevant experience, has the operational capacity and can provide assurances to the organiser with regards to recruitment, vetting and training. This can be ascertained and qualified by companies who hold membership of trade bodies and have external accreditations such as ISO 9001 and Investors in People as an example.”

With recent terror attacks no doubt being on the minds of the general public, it is absolutely essential that they have confidence in the provider of event security.

Andy adds: “Often, cost is the most important factor to organisers, but in light of recent events, staff experience, training

and the supporting management structure will help mitigate the impact of incidents and should help the procurement decision.

The staff employed in Manchester during the recent attack should be commended, demonstrating immense bravery and resilience as the first responders in what was a truly awful situation. Events will continue and resolve is strong. I would encourage event organisers to review their procedures and decision making procedures when procuring security. They should ensure when it comes to procuring security that they engage with experienced and reputable operators. It is important that we minimise the impact of all hazards, and events pose many risks.

Therefore, it is very important that event organisers understand and recognise their responsibilities. The procurement of experienced and reputable companies will help ensure the safety of all attending events and mitigate when incidents occur.” #

Members of the BSIA are inspected to rigorous criteria, including compliance with the relevant British and European standards for their product or service, ensuring that they will offer a reputable service.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.bsia.co.uk

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Is your building ‘mobility friendly’?

As detailed in the Equality Act (2010) places of employment, schools, clubs, shops, offices and public buildings must provide adequate access and egress facilities for all persons with disabilities who may enter or exit a building.

In the event of an emergency can you evacuate the mobility impaired safely?

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CROWD CONTROL

With any emergency, it’s about getting everyone out of a building safely during evacuation as managing director at Evac+Chair International, Gerard Wallace, explains As the current threat level for international terrorism in the UK is severe, it’s now time for every business owner to ensure they have comprehensive and up-to-date evacuation procedures in place. Although similar, emergency evacuation procedures caused by security threats, are tailored differently to fire evacuation procedures. For example, evacuating a building to a nearby car park or to a clearly marked evacuation point in a public area isn’t sensible as is evacuating to a location within 500 metres of a building.

A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, known as a ‘PEEP’, must also be in place to ensure the needs of all employees and visitors, especially those who are mobility-impaired, are adhered to.

AN EMPLOYER’S RESPONSIBILITY As stated in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, it’s no longer the responsibility of the fire service to facilitate evacuation of non-domestic premises, it’s an employer’s. As a result of this, company owners must ensure their buildings are well prepared for evacuating all – employees, visitors, students or the mobility-impaired – safely and efficiently.

Alongside coherent and wide-ranging evacuation procedures, trained team members who have undergone practical training in the operation of any evacuation equipment, must be in place. As well as regular fire evacuation procedures, regular drills for the provision of security threats should be held to ensure all staff are familiar with procedures.

PRE-PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL During a security threat, no matter what the circumstance, it can be difficult to stay calm and collected which is why preplanning is essential in order to anticipate, identify and mitigate any problems with evacuation, especially for those who are mobility-impaired. The government gives specific recommendations during a terror threat; run, hide, tell. However, not all people can escape from danger quickly so it’s the responsibility of the business owner – also referred to as the responsible person – to ensure safe, fast and easy evacuation for all.

Under legislation, the responsible person

must develop a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, known as a ‘PEEP’. This is to provide people who cannot get themselves out of a building unaided during an emergency, with the necessary information to be able to manage their escape from the building.

But it is not just for people with physical disabilities. PEEPs are for anyone who will need help during an evacuation including children, the elderly or frail, anyone with a temporary condition or people who may not be able to use stairs, hear the fire alarm or move quickly which might hinder their escape. Well thought through PEEPs are important in making our workplaces safe for everybody and demonstrate commitment to improving accessibility.

During the pre-planning stage, that’s the time where difficult questions need to be answered to ensure everyone can evacuate a building safely during an emergency.

Questions your responsible person must adhere to in pre-planning are: do we have an emergency evacuation plan?; have we considered everyone in our PEEP?; do we have the correct evacuation equipment which can ensure everyone’s safety?; do we have a trained, incident response team?; do we have regular evacuation drills to check our procedures?

Written by Gerard Wallace, Evac+Chair International

ENSURING EVERYONE IS EVACUATED SAFELY DURING A THREAT

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USING ASSISTED EQUIPMENT TO HELP THE VULNERABLE It’s a legal requirement for business owners to provide a means of escape for everybody using their buildings. All evacuation aids must be located in a designated refuge point but, undoubtedly, evacuation chairs have proved to be the most efficient and user-friendly as they enable the operator and passenger to safely exit the building quickly and efficiently.

It was during one of the most devastating terrorist incidents of the 21st century that an Evac+Chair carried John Abruzzo, a C 5-6 quadriplegic who relies on an electric wheelchair for mobility, from the 69th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Centee on 11 September 2001, to safety.

In addition to evacuation chairs, many types of evacuation products may be required such as slide sheets, rescue mats or stretchers in order to meet different requirements.

With over 35 years’ experience, Evac+Chair offers a simple and effective solution to ensure a safe exit from tall buildings in any emergency situation. # FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0845 230 2253 www.evacchair.co.uk

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evaccess.uk info@evaccess.uk +44 (0) 121 366 9275 Evaccess have many solutions available for: Access, Egress, Evacuation, Lift Breakdowns.

Service providers have a responsibility to plan in advance for the needs of disabled people and ensure they can get in and out of their premises safely,‚`wrote Lord Holmes, Disability Commissioner. Fully consider access, evacuation and lift breakdown cover and purchase the stair climbers / evacuation chairs that cover you for all areas and units that reduce manual handling.

Powered units reduce manual handling and go both up and down stairs. The purple pound is the potential spending power of disabled people and if venues and businesses are not actively considering their needs and making adjustments then they are not providing an equal service and losing potential income and an active market. As we know you have to speculate to accumulate and this applies to making changes that can bring in more people.

Not all disabilities are visible and when a lift is out of action you will find out if people can`t manage stairs. If people are stuck then it shows a major flaw in your evacuation plan / means of escape, as in a fire, they could also not be evacuated. It is not the responsibility of the Fire Service. Fire evacuation is just one part of the puzzle so if you have just purchased downward manual evacuation chairs then you haven`t considered the daily issue of allowing people in and out of your buildings and then up and down stairs. As a venue you must be able to.

There is a Direction / Evacuation App where people complete their PEEPs on their mobile phone. As a business you upload your direction / evacuation routes and in the event of an incident people are advised of the most suitable route and also direct people to accessible routes. We have a variety of stair climber and evacuation options available and are regularly called in to cover the major gaps left by not properly covering access and egress. Listed and historic buildings can also offer accessibility as units are portable. You can purchase or rent the stair climbers. Also train and maintain the stair climbers. We can also put you in contact with experts who can advise on disability access and egress and social inclusion.

Call us to discuss the options open to you to improve accessibility and dignified means of escape

EVENT SECURITY

Managing the security of crowded places At the start of June, the NaCTSO published new and updated guidance for those responsible for managing the security of crowded places. As part of its crowd control focus, Government Business examines the paper and details how local authorities can better plan its events with site security in mind One does not have to cast his mind back far the importance of security and counter to find incidents of event venues falling victim terrorist protection at major events. While to a terrorist attack or even how established the tragedy that shook Paris, and with it the security systems prevented an attack from rest of Europe, was an act of terrorism that taking place. The November 2015 terrorist should not be given a disservice in discussion, attacks in Paris shook the whole of Europe there is no denying that the outcome had and raised the importance of event security to the potential to be much worse. The Bataclan British and European law and security leaders. attack will forever be known as a massacre, With coordinated attacks taking place across whereby the terrorists were able to carry out the French capital – starting at the Stade de mass shootings into a large crowd who had France and ending at the Bataclan theatre little time or space to disperse, -–130 people lost their lives, with thus initiating maximum O over 400 more seriously injured. casualty possibilities, S T NaC es The two bookends to that night while the terrorist s of terrorist activity highlight attacks at the Stade recogni

de France are better known as the attacks that started the succession of planned assaults.

The first attacks, which took place 20 minutes into a football match between France and Germany, resulted in just four deaths, three of which were the suicide bombers, later revealed to be acting on behalf of the so-called Islamic State group.

Following that November night, French investigators revealed that the first suicide bomber had planned to detonate his vest within the Stade de France, the French national stadium, hoping to trigger a panicked exit onto the streets where the two remaining suicide bombers would detonate their own bombs, ensuring mass casualties.

The Stade de France has a capacity of just over 81,000. We now know that the first suicide bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard discovered the suicide vest while patting him down. He detonated his vest after being turned away, initiating the second and third terrorists to !

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

d to the ‘nee friendly na maintai elcoming and w ere within h atmosp ts stadia spor rena and a ents’ m environ

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A&M

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THE CROWD BARRIER AND PEDESTRIAN CONTROL SPECIALIST A & M Sales and Marketing Limited specialises in the manufacture and supply of custom-made barrier systems, including retractable barriers, sales and barriers, post barriers, queue barriers and wall-mounted stretch barriers. We also design and deliver a range of retractable sign barriers, airport luggage gauges and ticket collection stations for airlines and train stations.

Established in 1991, we’ve gone on to see our bespoke barriers and signage systems used widely by a variety of clients in the traffic, retail, commercial, entertainment, parking and travel industries.

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EVENT SECURITY " detonate theirs soon after, away from the stadium and away from the feeling flock of fans. One can only imagine how high the death toll could have been had the first terrorist not been refused entry to the stadium.

More recently, and admittedly more closer to home, the attack on an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on 22 May saw a lone wolf attacker detonate an improvised explosive device in the foyer area of the venue as parents waited for their children to vacate the venue. 14,200 people attended the concert, with 23 adults and children killed as part of the attack. A further 250 were injured in what has been described as the deadliest attack in the UK since the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

CROWDED PLACES GUIDANCE The new Crowded Places guidance for the UK is primarily aimed at those with a responsibility for security at crowded places, including local authorities. It covers the key areas of protective security including physical, personnel, personal and cyber, designed to assist crowded place sectors assess the risk and build a security plan to help mitigate that risk and recover more quickly should there be a terrorist attack. While it is accepted that the concept of absolute security is almost impossible to achieve in combatting the threat of terrorism, it is possible to reduce

While the tragedy that shook Paris, and with it the rest of Europe, was an act of terrorism that should not be given a disservice in discussion, there is no denying that the outcome had the potential to be much worse the risk to as low as reasonably practicable.

This new guidance aims to do that.

Launching the guidance, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said: “Terrorist attacks are rare in the UK, but recent events have shown that an attack could happen anywhere and without warning. Those locations either public or private where large groups of people gather, for reasons such as entertainment, business, transportation, sporting or social occasions, have always been preferential targets for terrorists.

“This new and updated guidance is intended to give protective security advice to those responsible for managing the security of crowded places. Every location is different and I would urge those of you who hold this responsibility to review your security using the information in this guidance to reassure yourselves around your Security Plan. Guidance within this booklet is intended to not only make the UK more

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resilient to a terrorist attack but also to support our fight against other crimes.”

PHYSICAL SECURITY AND COMMUNICATION The guide offers a range of advice to a number of different event venues and public spaces, including restaurants and hotels, cinemas and theatres, visitor attractions, commercial centres, transport hubs and stadia and arenas.

A number of these places, particularly stadia and arenas, are at risk of a terrorist attack ‘by the very nature that they are crowded places’. Events from around the world in recent years have highlighted how ‘terrorists are prepared to use different methodologies to attack sites and online terrorist media seeks to incite, inspire and enable individuals and groups to target these venues’.

One key message within this events security guidance is the notion of not creating a ‘fortress mentality’. While it is true that !

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CROWD MANAGEMENT

THE PLANNING AND DELIVERY OF YOUR FUTURE EVENTS

The organisation of major events requires focused and experienced planning to ensure they can be delivered safely, FOAMHAND has a reputation of successfully planning projects on a global stage FOAMHAND is a global major events consultancy firm specialising in event planning with a focus on the core themes of stakeholder integration, seamless spectator journeys and event readiness. With offices in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, we work with city planners and event organisers around the world to ensure a safe and enjoyable event for all, offering expert knowledge from our team’s major event experience that has been founded on the planning and delivery of over 40 global events from the last decade. This, combined with a team who have recognised qualifications in crowd science, pedestrian modelling, city planning and transport engineering, provides FOAMHAND with a talent pool that delivers the best internationally recognised theoretical knowledge and practical know-how in planning for major events. As a result, we can offer our clients a high level of accountability throughout the entire event lifecycle; from event bid to operational delivery and legacy planning.

Uniquely, all our team have first-hand experience of event day delivery and use this valuable knowledge to support our clients by providing ‘real world’ practical solutions. We understand that for an event to be successful for strategic supporters, funders and governments; a city needs to keep working. Our ‘one team, one plan’ approach to event planning considers a broad range of factors, identifies partner agencies and influential stakeholders and engages them in the process as early as possible.

FOAMHAND has a reputation for delivering successful planning projects on the global stage, as seen through events such as London 2017 World Para Athletics & IAAF World Championships, Rio 2016 Olympic Games, England 2015 Rugby World Cup and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

CITY AND EVENT OPERATIONS When you host an event in your city, the focus is generally on event production. However, beyond the spectacle of the event, ticketed visitors now expect more than just a couple of hours of world class entertainment.

FOAMHAND is an international specialist in creating and developing seamless spectator

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

journeys that will enhance not only the overall spectator experience but also consider a venue’s ‘business as usual’ demands allowing you and your visitors to better engage with the stakeholders operating near the event.

FOAMHAND does this by offering a range of consultancy, training and operational services including: integrated venue reviews; ‘last mile’ route planning from transport hubs to event spaces; crowd and spectator management planning, modelling and demand analytics; real-time pedestrian monitoring; and event readiness and operational delivery.

WORKING COLLABORATIVELY FOAMHAND uses specialist online tools to provide access to the most up-to-date data including expected visitor demands, venue capacities, latest event schedule and much more. This then facilitates collaborative planning giving all stakeholders access to the same base data as a critical foundation activity, so that the multiple parties that need to be involved can do so with the confidence that their time and input will be utilised effectively.

The team have supported and advised a wide range of organisations in developing and delivering event operations. This includes police forces, local councils, city authorities, organising committees, venue management and transport providers. We can utilise our experience of working for, and working in, different event environments around the world to ensure the benefits of integrated planning can be realised through trusted and strong stakeholder engagement.

FOAMHAND’S PRECISION PLANNING Understanding crowd dynamics and the targeted use of models to replicate crowd flow is one of the specialist skills adopted by all FOAMHAND lead planners. We provide a professional and effective approach to the planning, design and modelling of event infrastructure, using several pedestrian modelling simulation packages. These

internationally recognised software tools are designed to provide realistic simulation of pedestrian movements. We carefully interpret the data outputs to inform your event planning through a detailed understanding of pedestrian arrivals, walking speeds, facility layout and interactions with vehicular traffic.

FOAMHAND will work with your team to ensure full stakeholder engagement with the plans produced and ensure that the information and plans developed is successfully incorporated into the actual event delivery by offering bespoke event readiness, training and event delivery services. By working with FOAMHAND we offer you not just the planning and baseline documents but the assurance that the plans developed will be successfully delivered to visibly improve the visitor experience for anyone coming to your event. # FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0207 205 4105 info@foamhand.com www.foamhand.com

Crowd Control

EVENT SECURITY

! you can’t have a safe show without security and you can’t have a secure show with safety measures, guests and customers still want to attend a welcoming show or attraction. The NaCTSO recognises the ‘need to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere within sports stadia and arena environments’. This is where communication becomes crucial.

Naturally, the higher the threat level the higher the intensity of security presence needs to be.

If this increased security is not communicated clearly and effectively, it can lead to delays, complaints, confusion and poor corporation.

Imagine a group of teenagers attending a summer music festival. If they are itching to get into the venue but are left queuing for hours without any dialogue being offered as to why, they are likely to become restless and irritable. The whole ‘friendly and welcoming atmosphere’ very quickly disappears.

Crowded Places guidance for the UK reports that ‘good communication can have the effect of making staff and visitors more vigilant, whilst not instilling anxiety or concern in the everyday venue or site user’. Writing in Counter Terror Business magazine, Mike White, director of the Security Institute, noted the ‘example of London 2012 and the outstanding Games Makers’ to explain the importance between security assurance and excitable atmospheres. He noted that ‘despite all the spectators knowing that there was a strong security operation in place and airport style queues no one that I

Managers of crowded places now have to consider a wider range of terrorist methodologies than previously, including hostile actors using firearms and vehicles as weapons observed was grumpy or complained’, making it one ‘of the finest examples of this work I’ve ever seen, anywhere in the world’. The 2012 Olympic Games were a security success, and there was no such fortress mentality at any of the stadia or venues.

Nonetheless, there is a need to strike a balance. With terrorists having the ability to both identify and exploit weaknesses in protective security, NaCTSO seeks to create an ‘improved security culture’ through communication. One of the most effective actions that a communications professional can undertake is to ensure the site, venue or any contractors are not accidentally providing security information to a hostile audience, such as details of security equipment models or locations, the number of security officers on location or patrol patterns. The idea is that any potential criminal will consequently have to put themselves at risk detection to obtain this information.

EVACUATION AND LOCKDOWN Managers of crowded places now have to consider a wider range of terrorist

methodologies than previously, including hostile actors using firearms and vehicles as weapons. This wider range of threats to safety of people in crowded places requires a range of emergency responses, including emergency evacuation, invacuation (inward evacuation), lockdown, and use of protected spaces.

The initial decision-making regarding emergency response is usually made by the management of the crowded place, and should not be delayed in order to wait for instruction or action from the police. The NaCTSO maintain that ‘speed of decision-making and implementation are critical’.

Police will assess the threat or attack at the earliest opportunity and provide support, advice and guidance when they are able to do so. Actions should be reasonable, necessary and proportionate based upon the circumstances, particularly when they are necessary to protect life and limb. The difficulty is responding effectively in what is a confusing and life threatening moment. In that scenario, decisions will always be scrutinised, so you should always record and justify your actions. "

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CROWD CONTROL

UK’S SECURITY STAFF AND STEWARDS NEED GREATER AWARENESS OF THE TERRORIST THREAT It may be opportunistic to write that terrorist organisations are always looking to strike at the heart of our way of life by conducting large scale attacks on planes, trains and public spaces as well as lone attacks on isolated targets. The events over the past month have brought home the stark reality of what the SEVERE and CRITICAL terrorist threat to the UK and wider Europe actually means: an attack is highly likely, and so proved the case Each attack has the chilling effect of spreading fear among the lives of ordinary people.

It is without doubt that these attacks will continue, and they will continue to vary from the simple to the very complex, causing death, injury and damage to property. All of which reiterates the need for those responsible for the safety of the public to be prepared, practiced and able to respond to such events.

Unfortunately, not all terrorist attacks are against high profile targets. As these targets are often well protected, the terrorists often choose to target weaker areas – hotels, shopping malls, public transport hubs and areas of large public congregation such as sports stadia and busy shopping streets. Places which are increasingly secured, patrolled and monitored by commercial security organisations.

PLANS Security-conscious management teams will have plans in place to respond to fire, theft, violence or even cyber attacks.

Staff will be drilled on assembly points in case of fire at their induction training and perhaps revised by line managers at regular intervals. But what about terror attacks?

High profile facilities deemed more ‘at risk’ than others will have strong liaison with local police counter terrorist advisors but it is still reliant on the person receiving the call, discovering the bag and understanding what

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

is suspicious (and what is not) to initiate the responses required which may lead to the safe resolution of a potentially fatal and costly explosion or other form of terrorist attack.

No matter the risk to the business, it is still rare that these plans are practised either as a desktop exercise or with live real-time practice exercises. Third party security companies may have good SIA approved training, have proven records in maintaining security against theft and non-approved entry but not all will have the specialist skills, or practised experience, to act in a coordinated manner to deal with terrorist attacks. Of course, the eyes on the ground are the most important and this training and vigilance must permeate down to stewards, tickets sellers and car parking associates. It is at this level where security starts with observant staff spotting the suspicious and out of place.

MITIGATING THE RISK To mitigate the risk of a terrorist attack targeted at public facilities, a fully comprehensive security strategy needs to be enshrined into the facilities management, club management, stewards and spectators alike. Communication across all these layers of ‘first responders’ needs to be consistent, with reporting of suspicious incidents, from staff or spectators, being focused quickly to appropriately trained control officers.

With such large numbers congregating into

a relatively small area, in a relatively short space of time, the likelihood of panic and crush injuries may also manifest, even if no terror attack is subsequently executed.

ABOUT ISSEE ISSEE, a company with a world-wide reputation for consultancy, design and delivery of counter terror, homeland security and related explosives management services is an ideal partner for the commercial and public security sector.

Our staff are highly experienced advisors, trainers and operators with backgrounds across policing, intelligence, counter terrorism, CBRNE and security.

Working as a prime or with our vetted partners, we can design and deliver bespoke security solutions integrating technological equipment, human factors training, and security audit and testing across the range of public and local government facilities and activities.

ISSEE is focussed on UK public and private security; delivering your responsibilities for Duty of Care to employees and customers. It is also an internationally recognised provider of counter terrorist and security services and equipment. # FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01608 678382 www.issee.co.uk

EVENT SECURITY ! In terms of a terrorist scenario in a crowded place, a security plan should be in place that promotes the highest chance of staff, visitor and responder survivability.

This involves familiarising staff with different threat scenarios, so that they are more likely to respond in a measured manner, with speed and confidence.

The response should be dependent on the type of threat faced. If it is within the venue consider evacuation, but if the threat or incident is outside the venue it may be safer to stay inside. Initiating evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and/or use of protected spaces should be the responsibility of the responsible individual. Full site evacuation should be police-instructed, moving people towards a ‘place of relative safety’.

Directional evacuation influences the time and route that the evacuation process takes place in, especially if a pre-planned route has become, or is likely to become, under threat. Phased evacuation gives priority to the people closest to or most at risk from the threat, while invacuation moves people away from the threat whilst remaining inside the building, stadia etc.

If preventing an attack has not been possible, the ability to frustrate and delay the attacker(s) and reduce the number of potential casualties can be greatly increased through dynamic lockdown.

Crowd Control

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In June this year, the National Police Chiefs’ Council announced that more festival workers and staff at major summer events are to be trained on what to do in the event of a terrorist incident, following the atrocities in Manchester and London STAYING SAFE AT FESTIVALS THIS SUMMER In June this year, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) announced that more festival workers and staff at major summer events are to be trained on what to do in the event of a terrorist incident, following the atrocities in Manchester and London. As part of this, counter terrorism officers will be working in partnership with organisers at major entertainment venues up and down the country to ensure safety and security remain at the top of the agenda.

The NPCC has been quick to say that this is not in direct response to intelligence about an increased threat to summer events, but insists that it remains important that the public and industry professionals minimise the chance of attacks and the impact they can have.

Lucy D’Orsi said: “Keeping the public safe to enjoy a summer of special events is our top priority. Sadly we have seen that these can be targeted by those who want to cause harm. But the public should be reassured that police, partners and commercial organisations are working hard together to keep them safe and secure. We have had a tremendous response from companies who want to do all they can to raise awareness with their staff. We also need the public to play their part. Don’t leave it to someone else to raise concerns around suspicious activity – ACT yourself to report it to police or security staff.

Do not hesitate for a minute that we might think you are wasting our time. If something doesn’t look right, tell someone.” # FURTHER INFORMATION tinyurl.com/y86kgbr7

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Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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SPECIAL EFFECTS & PYROTECHNICS

CONFETTI & STREAMERS / FLAMES / LOW FOG / LASERS CO2 & CRYOGENICS / FIREWORKS / INDOOR & OUTDOOR PYROTECHNICS BALLOONS & INFLATABLES / BUBBLE FX / SNOW FX CLOSE PROXIMITY & HIGH ALTITUDE PYROTECHNICS Since 2010 Dynamite FX has been one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Special Effects & Pyrotechnics to the Events and Entertainment Industries.

Contact us to find out how we can make your event stand out from the crowd!

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Photograph taken at Christmas light switch on - Carnaby Street, London

HEALTH & SAFETY

Jon Wilson looks at the importance of risk assessment when planning large scale firework or pyrotechnic displays, and also explains the recent launch of the Pyrotechnic Assurance Standard Scheme, which aims to promote safety with defined best practice principals In recent years there seems to be more and more firework and event special effect performances taking place, with many of these occasions now attracting larger audiences who anticipate even more elaborate and complex performances.

Due to this recent market growth, competition has inevitability increased, causing some clients concern as to how best to measure one supplier offering their services against another, both artistically and in terms of trusting their ability to provide services,confident in the knowledge that the chosen operator is able to demonstrate their competence, especially with regards to

safety. Very often selection seems to just come down to better marketing or who can put the biggest risk assessment on the table.

THE ASSESSMENT OF RISK With any fireworks or close proximity special effects separation from operator, other performers and audience must be paramount.

The planning phase of any pyrotechnic performance must consider site to product selection. To begin the risk assessment process one needs to accept the notion that there is no such thing as a totally safe, risk-free display. The nature of all fireworks is that they will nearly always produce hot dropping embers and all aerial effects will always have a level of hazardous fallout associated with their normal

Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

To he begin t ment ess risk ass ne needs o process t the notion p to acceere is no such that th as a totally thing risk-free safe, lay disp

functioning. To suggest otherwise is either through misunderstanding or possibly a clear demonstration of inexperience.

Pyrotechnics and energetic inert special effects for stages, festivals and sporting grounds, that are specifically designed to provide close proximity effects, have minimum separation requirements dependant on user experience and therefore are not risk free either.

It must, therefore, be reasonable to accept it is incumbent for any display operator to initially consider the two main concerns.

Firstly, the products’ normal function coupled with their many possible malfunctions and, secondly, to combine the allowable maximum wind strength and direction as to whether the site and its exclusion is of a suitable "

Written by Jon Wilson, Black Powder FX

A fresh approach from the firework and special effect industry

Firework Displays

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An experienced company, combining skill and technology to produce magnificent displays No matter how large or small your event attention and design is given to produce a high quality display.

Professional & domestic fireworks available all year TEL: 01580 712678 round. www.wizardfireworks.co.uk Jordan@wizardfireworks.co.uk

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

Despite being relatively new to the firework industry Skylit Pyrotechnics has enjoyed many positive reviews from our customers both in terms of our display content and delivery.

Our investment in a world renowned firing system used at venues such a Sydney Harbour bridge and the London Eye provides us with a reliable firing platform which can be up scaled as needed to suit a multitude of display scenarios.

We provide complementary display simulations for all our displays so our customers know precisely the content and duration of their shows in advance along with an initial site visit and risk assessment.

Being explosives fireworks displays will always be a high risk activity, in our risk evaluation we strive to mitigate risk by putting in place processes which bring hazards down to an acceptable level. Sometimes this may involve a cost but more importantly it enables both ourselves, our client and of course our spectators to enjoy our displays safely.

Our passion for attention to detail and accuracy in the display design provide the backbone for the standards we deliver.

Together with our dedicated team of pyro-technicians we look forward to having the opportunity of bringing our high standards, reliability and great value to your event.

Firework Displays

Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

HEALTH & SAFETY ! size to manage any possible fallout.

Careful consideration should also be given when an attempt in offsetting the risk from one hazard may sometimes present elevated consequences to another.

An historical example could be where reports advised that aerial shells were not always operating correctly and returned to ground as a dud. The reason was due to the single internal delay fuse failing to ignite the contents of the aerial shell with consequence that presented an obvious hazard to operators within the firing site.

To overcome and reduce this risk of malfunction, the inclusion of a secondary time delay fuse was incorporated that reduced the frequency of a dud occurring but improved the risk because now the effect payload has been subjected to a further weak spot that could be susceptible to a violent in mortar explosion. The consequences to this malfunction could now disrupt other effects in the same racking system and send items in an unintended direction, if towards the audience it would be unthinkable.

The industry reaction was to improve mortar rack designs to better cope with that type of product misbehaviour but also to keep the twin fuse option. So in a roundabout way there was benefit eventually.

ESTABLISHING HOW FAR IS SAFE ENOUGH Within the industry there are ‘rules of thumb’.

For every 1mm of calibre, diameter equates to one meter of separation to audience – there are even guidance documents from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that specify values for default display separations.

Caution should always be taken with these distances and are not completely reliable as neither provide any consideration for wind or effect size nor equipment. Debris drift and ballistics calculators do provide some benefits but equally, as it is based on maths rather than individual product, equipment and rigging methods should only be taken as guidance.

The only true way to subjectively measure practical separation values is by the thorough worst case (off-site) testing to destruction of equipment, products and rigging methods to establish the basis and clear understanding of those separation requirements and to do so in any likely firing conditions. These results provide clear suggestion of a justifiable separation value.

Only the company providing the service should be able to demonstrate those details.

The assessment of risk is therefore based on tolerable levels, specific to site, product and equipment knowledge, as well as the knowledge of the limitation is essential.

THE REGULATIONS The firework, pyrotechnic and energetic special effect industry has some of the most restrictive legislation governing its operations. The simple reason for this is the

Pyrotechnics and special effects for stages, festivals and sporting grounds, that are specifically designed to provide close proximity effects, have minimum separation requirements dependant on user experience fact that all fireworks and pyrotechnics are classed as explosives and therefore have a need to be securely stored, transported and used with the greatest of care.

The process to completely understand these many explosive regulations, its legislation and guidance, is complex and possibly deliberately vague. But whatever the reason, they seem to remain open to some individual interpretation, possibly due to confusion. The attempt to define a better way to understand them and to work in a safe manner has been widely debated. There have been a few industry practices adopted, but even within these modern practices some debate unfortunately remains.

HOW TO HELP YOUR DISPLAY OPERATOR Early bookings and confirmation is always very helpful and allows for far easier planning in terms of both safety and design. If your display is fired with a recorded musical track please do try to provide or confirm selections as soon as reasonably practicable. It will certainly help a designer overcome any short-term brain freeze in inspirational terms and also provide time and opportunity to tweak parts that will eventually culminate in a far better display than one designed when rushed.

Please always read their safety paperwork and understand the cancellation terms with regards to poor weather. Your operator must always reserve the right to cancel.

ONE OF THE MANY CONVERSATIONS The industry has evolved in recent years, particularly with the progression of sophisticated electronic firing systems and digital choreography software that, when combined, create highly entertaining but complex performances. The consequence of these methods has required a more enhanced use of pyrogenic electrical igniters that are used to initiate the effects. Hundreds or even thousands are used in these modern displays. The trouble with this is that sometimes, under the right circumstances, they can unintentionally go off!

Unfortunately a number of incidents have already occurred in the last ten or so years and have resulted in a number of fatalities that were directly attributed to the use of igniters away from the place of intended use, often at storage sites in the fusing and preparation for displays.

The industry could remove most of this risk by simply fitting these igniters in their secured firing positions at the place of intended use. It’s just a matter of a bit of cultural change and has little discernable difference in site set up time.

A BETTER FUTURE The recent launch of the Pyrotechnic Assurance Standard Scheme (PyroPass) is a voluntary initiative and the only assurance pyrotechnic operator scheme in the UK. Its development has been based on many years practical experience working within all facets of the industry and aims to promote and maintain the highest standards within the explosive entertainment profession.

The scheme is open to every part of the industry, from individual operators to the largest companies, with aims to promote safety with defined best practice principals that create confidence for both providers and clients alike.

Setting standards and carrying out regular independent assessments provides buyers with the confidence that the pyrotechnic company or individual they employ is certified and meets these standards. The standards are revised annually to include any new regulations and aim to further develop a robust and meaningful measure of providers of pyrotechnics services and products against industry best practice and conformity to any regulations. "

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Professional Fireworks Displays and Consultancy across Cornwall and the South West.

For bookings please email: mail@neonpyrotechnics.co.uk Or Visit: www.neonpyrotechnics.co.uk

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

Members of:

HEALTH & SAFETY ! The scheme also provides assistance to businesses, individuals and clients alike, allowing the opportunity to offer advice and the new ability to demonstrate their competence and to promote a level playing field within the market so clients buying pyrotechnics, firework services or products have the confidence that the supplier has been fully assessed and conform.

To validate and maintain the schemes integrity the standards must be rigorously assessed and enforced without any bias or favour, but remain achievable to all commercial operators – although there may need some slight culture changes and possibly some improvements in housekeeping.

The scheme will also develop several advisory databases that allow stakeholders to widely share topical information from manufacturers, product alerts and storage security concerns, enabling the industry to better understand and provide the opportunity for a realistic new form of market surveillance.

Scheme membership also provides the opportunity to disseminate information between companies and individuals to improve the standards, whilst also creating any improved practices and adopting any new regulations to ensure the scheme remains current.

The scheme is therefore far in advanced to any other membership group code of

The Pyrotechnic Assurance Standard Scheme (PyroPass) aims to promote safety with defined best practice principals that create confidence for both providers and clients alike practices or assessment for membership and is further backed up by independent assessment from a network of experienced industry professionals, who assess operators throughout all facets of their operations.

The scheme has been already positioned to representatives of trading standards, HSE, fire services, event safety professionals and insurance companies and also dangerous goods safety advisers. The proposal has already received very positive feedback, with some insurance companies even considering discounting premiums based on successful assurance as they perceive it provides an improved way to evaluate risk.

HOW CAN YOU HELP Essential to the success of any industry standard schemes is the acceptance from clients and enforcers to embrace the benefits whilst providing its members the opportunity of representation by way of demonstration of their validated credentials, and provide the opportunity to market their

Firework Displays

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

businesses across a more level playing field.

After all, fireworks were the first chemical explosive and have existed since around the 7th century, so it’s possibly about time for some true industry standardisation of best practice to be fully adopted that takes the conversation out of the understanding to provide both the practitioner and client the confidence that all matters are fully adhered to if not surpassed.

Please accept this invitation for any local authority events or trading standards officers, event safety professionals or any other stake holder to share this article and to also explore the below website and decide for yourselves if the principal, process and long overdue strategy is something you would consider supporting – especially if you view the inclusion of all facets of the industry working collectively with the clear aim to benefit and further enhance public safety. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.pyropass.co.uk

If you want to light up the sky, then light it up with Walk the Plank Fireworks This year Walk the Plank celebrates 25 years as one of the UK’s leading outdoor arts organisations, during which time it has created incredible spectacle for local authorities across the four UK nations, as well as cultural venues and capitals of culture.

Walk the Plank Fireworks is a specialist pyrotechnics subsidiary whose team of experts have delivered firework displays of every shape and size, in all conditions.

Whatever the objective of a display is, the company’s designers will work to create something that is not just unique and memorable but maximises the dramatic possibilities of the setting.

Using premium fireworks and fusing them by hand in the company’s dedicated firework assembly site in St Helens, the digital firing technologies means that Walk the Plank can time the launch and explosion of every firework to the second. Despite its unashamed obsession with pyrotechnic artistry, Walk the Plank never compromises on safety or the environment.

The displays can make the sky come alive, make the ground shake beneath audiences’ feet and create effects that stay in the memory long after the final spark has

made its way into the night sky.

Previous and current clients include, Wales Millennium Centre, Newcastle City Council, Centre Parcs and Manchester City Football Club.

Norma Rutherford, Principal Events Officer at Bolton Council, said: “I can’t thank you guys enough for pulling out all the stops and delivering what has to be the best firework display yet at Bolton’s Christmas Lights Switch On! It felt very special and I have loved working with you all at Walk the Plank and you never fail to deliver!

You are and always will be the best in the business for me!”

Steve Murray, head of Arts, Parks and Events at London Borough of Tower Hamlets, also recommended Walk the Plank. He said: “The Walk the Plank team were very professional both in the lead-up, during and after the show. We would highly recommend working with Walk the Plank and are delighted that they were able to provide such a magical evening for over 70,000 people.”

New Year’s Eve, Newcastle Civic Centre

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0161 736 8964 fireworks@walktheplank.co.uk www.walktheplank.co.uk/fireworks

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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LIGHTING

Local authorities across the UK have been increasingly using LED lights for their environmental and budgetary benefits. Brendan Keely, secretary at the Society of Light and Lighting, reflects upon their efficiency savings and the versatility of the technology Just under a year ago, the UK government affirmed its commitment to the 5th Carbon Budget which binds it to a target of 57 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2032 – with a view to an 80 per cent cut by 2050.

This is a refreshingly ambitious target, but according to Dr Hywel Davies, of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), it will mean that the government must maintain all of its current climate policies and find further ways to make cuts if it is to stand any chance of hitting this goal.

This means the government is going to have to get creative in order to eke out savings above and beyond what it is already doing.

Last year (Government Business 23.3), I wrote that a great way of cutting down on emissions is to target the 180,000 government-owned buildings in the UK, two-thirds of which are run by local authorities – encouraging them to switch to properly designed and specified LED lighting solutions in order to save money and carbon. Since that article was published, local authorities across the UK have been rolling out LEDs en-masse for their environmental and budgetary benefits in new builds, as part of retrofits, on motorways and in street lighting.

With most local councils aiming to replace all of their sodium-based

street lighting with LED alternatives gradually over the next decade, LED will soon be a fixture just about everywhere.

Much has been made of the great efficiency savings that can be made with LED technology. Since the year 2000, LED lights have become ten times more efficient and can boast far longer lifespans than even the most "

Loca authori l ties across t he UK h been r ave LEDs enolling out their en -masse for vi and budronmental ge benefit tary s

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Brendan Keely, the Society of Light and Lighting, CIBSE

Longer lasting and more efficient: the growth of LEDs

Facilities Management

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

LIGHTING ! advanced fluorescent lights. Combined with other measures to boost efficiency, such as controls systems, LED solutions can represent a step-change in the efficiency of a building’s lighting – up to 80 per cent savings in some cases.

LONG LIFE, LOW MAINTENANCE The maths also looks good from a lifetime perspective as well. A combination of a long life, energy efficiency and low maintenance costs are a great asset to facilities managers worried about the overall cost of a new technology. In this vein, they are also easy to integrate into existing energy management systems as they can easily be set to dim automatically or turn off altogether to reflect the number of people in a room, the time of day or the time of year. This applies on the scale of a single room, a whole building, a stretch of road or a whole town, and can save money without jeopardising safety because their efficiency actually increases when they are dimmed.

The energy and carbon savings possible with LED lights are well documented, and local government has bought into their potential on a large scale – but simply seeing LED as a cheaper, newer replacement for fluorescent lights that tick a few green boxes seriously underestimates their other benefits.

At the recent CIBSE Technical Symposium, Ashley Bateson of Hoare Lea observed that only one per cent of the cost of running a business is energy-related while nine per cent is rental and a massive 90 per cent is staff costs. The health and well-being of the occupants who live and work in a building is hugely important to a company’s bottom-line, because staff absence and illness costs more than any amount of inefficiency, but it can’t be easily measured on a meter so is often overlooked.

The effects of the built environment on health are numerous, complex and touch just about every element of a building. Just sitting next to an open window can reduce a staff member’s sick days by as much as six per cent, for example, and higher CO2 concentrations can reduce students’ cognitive performance by 72 per cent. Lighting is no exception to this.

THE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM The most well-known application of lighting to well-being is in the human Circadian Rhythm – the biological processes that regulate our waking and sleeping hormones.

Since researchers discovered that this cycle is greatly affected by light, when less light enters the eye it tells our brains that it’s dark and time to sleep or when brighter – time to wake up. Much has been made of the role of artificial light in this process. Too much blue light in the evening can fool the body into thinking that it’s day time – thereby interfering with the natural sleep cycle.

Daylight remains the most effective means of keeping the Circadian Rhythm in check,

While the savings attributable to energy efficiency caused by the switch to LED lighting is great for local authorities, it really only scratches the surface of what is possible for the whole range of publicly-owned buildings

but with the advent of LED lights that can mimic a range of colours and intensities it is increasingly able to replicate natural changes in the spectral distribution of the light to mimic natural light, to the extent that it can offset the damage to mood and sleep cycles linked to prolonged periods in doors. The light changes colour during the day – from colder blue light in the afternoon, when we need a boost to be active, to warmer colour temperature light in the evening when we’re resting. In the winter months when it gets dark early, it could even mean the difference between a well-rested workforce and a tired one.

The versatility of LED technology also allows designers to create bespoke solutions that create a balance between the light’s usefulness and its impact on health. Obviously a workplace needs to be well-lit enough to be safe and functional, but the impact of lighting too intensely from above can be anything from eye pain caused by glare or flicker. It can even make a room harder to see by creating dark areas where there isn’t a balanced light distribution. Using control systems in conjunction with LEDs, it is possible to reduce these problems by setting light intensity to match the local requirements, and allow office users to choose their own settings for comfort.

Even the ability to adjust lighting levels gives building users a psychological boost that lowers absenteeism and increases productivity.

LED lighting is crucial here because it not only produces light, but the right kind of light for a workplace environment. There are numerous studies that link brighter offices with increased productivity, motivation

Facilities Management

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and enhanced well-being. The flexibility of LEDs not only allows us to light the room more effectively, but with the right kind of light, to ensure the least disruption.

While the savings attributable to energy efficiency caused by the switch to LED lighting is great for local authorities, it really only scratches the surface of what is possible for the whole range of publicly-owned buildings – from workplaces to leisure facilities, schools, hospitals and libraries. A one per cent increase in productivity or health of employees can far outweigh all of the savings achieved through efficiency. But it’s all down to how LEDs are implemented and deployed within buildings.

In order to ensure that the technology is properly utilised so that it is as effective and efficient as possible, local councils will have to ensure that it is professionally designed as part of a wider strategy that bakes efficiency into the design of their buildings. It’s not as simple as replacing one technology with another like-for-like; it needs to be properly designed and installed by an engineer or designer following industry guidance, such as that produced by the Society of Light and Lighting and the CIBSE, to be as effective as it can be, and ensure that it works harmoniously with the building, the occupants and the other systems in play. #

Read Brendan’s GB 23.3 article here: www.governmentbusiness.co.uk/features/ shedding-some-light-sustainability FURTHER INFORMATION www.cibse.org/ society-of-light-and-lighting

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LOW EMISSIONS

Written by Andy Eastlake, managing director, Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP)

Are you ready to lead the ULEV charge?

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With UK registrations of ultra low emission cars topping 100,000 and government support still very prominent, perhaps now is the best time for public fleets to take the plunge, says Andy Eastlake In the latest report to government, the Committee on Climate Change highlighted that transport is now the largest contributor to UK greenhouse gas emissions and continues to grow. There is no doubt that pressure to change our transport fleet to lower carbon options is only going to increase.

Air quality concerns also remain high on the government and public agenda and for many fleets, particularly those in the public sector, deciding what vehicles to buy next is proving to be very challenging. With diesel being pilloried as the root of all air quality issues (but still with lower carbon emissions), the headlines scream of exponential sales increase of electric vehicles (EVs) and companies like Tesla are the darling of both the financial and technology industries alike.

But in the real world, the truth is somewhat different, and for fleet operators ensuring that the vehicles they buy will continue to

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

many of which deliver dramatic tax savings for the company car driver. However, unless they are regularly plugged in, they do much less for fuel savings. And this is the real heart of the challenge: any electric vehicle, be it deliver the operations expected of them pure battery, range extended or plug-in hybrid can be a more difficult decision. (the differences are substantial), must be The reality is that sales of pure combined with the appropriate battery electric vehicles have duty cycle and complementary been stable at around charging infrastructure. g n i d n a t s 0.4 per cent of all cars for This tripartite approach r e Und umption, the last two years. The of the ‘Right Car, Right s UK-built Nissan Leaf Cycle, Right Charging’ fuel con ic range, has been the biggest can deliver dramatic , s lectr e e v ti n e c selling battery electric benefits, but if any one n i , ns vehicle throughout emissio and charging of these is wrong or n that time and with the missing, it can all taxatio ones is new Leaf just around fall rather flat. z the corner (with teaser cult for BOOMING BUS FIGURES fi f i d o photos emerging every to other week), it is hoped However, some fleets have many that Nissan can maintain embraced this brave new that leading position, in what is world of ULEVs wholeheartedly, hoped to be a rapidly expanding market. such as bus operators. Uptake of low But the real growth in ULEV numbers over emission buses was almost 50 per cent of the last few years has been the Plug-in Hybrid, total bus sales last year (compared with just

3.3 per cent of cars classified as ‘alternatively fuelled’). The bus market obviously has some benefits given the routes are known, which means implementing charging on-route is more straightforward. But the challenge of getting the right specification of bus for the route, together with the battery and charging combination, still leads to a wide range of technical solutions making it to full service operation – including the 18 hydrogen buses currently in service in London and Aberdeen.

The bus market is also one of the most targeted when it comes to air quality, but with the introduction of the Euro VI regulations in 2014 and rigorous complementary on-road testing (which is still yet to come for cars), the focus of ‘dirty vehicle’ is rightfully turning to the older cars and vans typical of many public fleets. And here is perhaps the most compelling reason for a fleet to consider ‘going ultra-low’. There is no doubt that Clean Air Zones are coming, with the first five planned to come into force before the end of 2019 (and likely many more to follow). The vehicles allowed to operate in city centres will be radically cleaner than the

majority of today’s fleets. Local authorities are likely to be pressured by both the public and central government to do everything possible within their existing powers prior to implementing a charging Clean Air Zone.

Changing the public fleets, together with licensing measures on buses and taxis, will be seen as the first step on the road to cleaner air.

We only need to look to London to see how, after radical policies for both their buses and the issuing of London taxi licenses, they are now leading the way both in implementation of clean vehicle policies, with ‘T’ (toxicity) charges this year, and Clean Air Zones, with the introduction of the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) likely in spring 2019. At the recent LowCVP conference on city mobility, the latest announcements from City Hall signalled the creation of Zero Emission Zones in 2025. There is no doubt about the trajectory for vehicles operating in urban areas needing to have at least a capability to run some of the time with zero emissions.

Defra’s own analysis shows that, while road transport is the majority source of NOx pollution, it is the diesel car and van (LGVs) fleets which contribute the largest proportions. For these, the emission requirements mandating the extra on road tests are only now forcing the step change in NOx emissions that were seen in trucks and buses three years ago. While it may be right to point the finger at the older diesel cars of yesteryear, suggesting that a Euro 4 petrol vehicle (which is now over 10 years old) is a cleaner solution than next year’s Euro 6d, WLTP, RDE, SCR diesel, is just wrong.

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO CONSIDER A ULEV? Support for fleets to adopt ULEVs is probably at its peak right now. Grants for Plug-in cars are confirmed until November 2017 and for charging points until April 2018.

When the upsurge in sales really does take off, it is inevitable that government will have to review the levels of incentives given. Funding is also available for larger vehicles, with grants of up to £20,000 for ultra-low emission trucks and even more for buses. But as mentioned earlier, buying the vehicles is only half the story. Infrastructure requirements for significant fleets of vehicles can scupper even the best ULEV business case.

The current grants for workplace chargers and supporting infrastructure for trucks and buses are crucial to the early adopters.

Funding to support regional and local initiatives such as those in the Go Ultra Low City scheme is paving the way for additional coordinated measures to encourage ULEV

Fleet Management

Some fleets have embraced the ULEV challenge.

Uptake of low emission buses was almost 50 per cent of total bus sales last year uptake. Nottingham will introduce their Eco Expressway in 2018, allowing ULEVs to whisk down the bus lanes avoiding the ‘conventional’ congestion. Preferential parking schemes exist around the country in both public and private parking control, and many commercial businesses are installing charging points, seeing these as a way of attracting the savvy (ULEV driving) shopper.

Early adoption by the public sector can highlight the benefits of these vehicles and help target further initiatives to really hit the sweet spots of ULEV uptake opportunity.

UNDERSTANING ULEVS But perhaps one of the major reasons for taking the ultra-low emissions option is education. Mainstream buyers are notoriously difficult to influence and by adopting these new technologies into public fleets and showing how they work in real everyday life, we can all hopefully demonstrate that cleaner and lower carbon transport choices are for everyone.

In today’s ‘media mistrusting’, ‘fake news’ world it is increasingly difficult to get sensible debate heard. Choosing the right vehicle for your specific transport needs is more complex than ever before. Understanding fuel consumption, electric range, emissions, incentives, charging rates/locations, renewable fuel options, taxation and charging zones is just too difficult for many consumers and indeed for fleet operators. The network of support for the public fleets enables these decisions to be made with confidence and with the backing of central government.

As part of this network, the LowCVP is working to cut through this complexity and present the key facts in an accessible way to both fleets and consumers, whilst simultaneously working with government to develop the policies and support to help every transport operation move to low and zero emissions. For LowCVP, creating the standards and the simple information presentation for clean and low carbon vehicles of all types allows sensible and informed decisions to be made of the fleet renewal policy and targeted funding for new vehicles, fuels, infrastructure or retrofit to be applied in the most cost-effective way.

Armed with this new information and supporting policies, the questions for fleets now should be: ‘Which vehicles or fuels are best to change to now and how do I plan my strategy for a ULEV fleet of the future?’. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.lowcvp.org.uk

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Asset Disposal Written by Steve Mellings, COO of Data Protection Governance, founder of Asset Disposal and Information Security Alliance (ADISA)

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

DATA PROCESSORS

Implications of GDPR on data processors Steve Mellings looks at the implications of Brexit on data protection in the UK, and what local authorities should be aware of, in terms of legislation and how it affects them There can be no doubt that we are living through very challenging times, leading to calls for increased monitoring from the security services but being met with equally compelling arguments for increased privacy from intrusion. In this environment, the way in which we as individuals happily share data is at an unprecedented level and, conversely, the appetite for businesses to capture and use data is critical for competitive advantage.

The question of how to regulate this increasingly complex situation is challenging and is one which the European Union has sought to resolve through the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679. This law was passed in May 2016 with an objective to give far greater protection to the individual in terms of their rights about how to control what happens to their data. With each member state being obligated to enshrine this into their own regulatory framework by 25 May 2018, those with a data remit are now fully aware that this new piece of regulation is on its way. The challenge of what to do has seen a marketing frenzy with social media forums awash with ‘GDPR compliance tool kits’ and suppliers who claim to be able to help you comply with the regulation without understanding your business or the law itself.

ink Many thit will x that Bret they no a mean th ust comply m longer ny European with a es but that’s Directiv e case with not th s one. thi

SO, WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS? The first point to note is that when the current Data Protection Act was introduced elements such as cloud computing and social media were not considerations and how business was done was not as varied and dynamic as today. So not only is this re-write of law necessary, it should be welcomed to reflect the different business environment in which we operate. GDPR (all 99 articles of it), is a very reasonable document. Given that you’re meant to be compliant with DPA 1998, many of the requirements are carried through to the new law but are enhanced to reflect the aforementioned changes.

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However, a fundamental change is to provide the data subject with far greater controls over their data and, in return, require the data controllers to be able to evidence how their processing activities meet these controls.

There are many who still think that Brexit will mean that they

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

no longer must comply with any European Directives but that’s not the case with this one. As the UK will still legally be a member of the EU at the time of the deadline, we have no choice but to follow this regulation, as confirmed by Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner.

Those peddling FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about GDPR focus on ‘four per cent of global turnover’ record fines and ‘mandatory breach notification’ as being the key changes.

Whilst these are headline grabbers, I’m unconvinced that it is the right tone to take.

I think most practitioners will acknowledge that data protection has not had the right level of focus for many organisations.

Security countermeasures are often seen as business inhibitors and with historic fines relatively small, many have viewed the risk as being acceptable. So, whilst the FUD may not be helpful it may at least help to start to build the business case to change.

WHERE DO COMPANIES GO? A good starting place is to undertake a root and branches exercise like the DPG Pathfinder which provides a holistic assessment of operational and technical vulnerabilities and GDPR requirements

New GDPR research

When the current data protection act was introduced such elements as cloud computing and social media were not considerations and how business was done was not as varied and dynamic as today across your business. Failing that you should start breaking down the requirements into smaller projects and focus on each.

One such area is that of data processors, a company which performs a set of operations on (sets of) personal data on behalf of a data controller. For this article, I’m going to focus on one type of data processing and suggest a path of remediation which shows how easily moving from a non-compliant position to a compliant one can be – ICT asset disposal.

This is the process whereby organisations release old, broken or in some other way retired IT infrastructure into an industry which provides data sanitisation services and then brokerage/recycling. This may seem a relatively benign process but under existing legislation government entities have already been fined over £500,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for

data breach as a result. More still, freedom of information projects undertaken by ADISA showed that over 66 per cent of police forces are breaking the current DPA and members continue to feedback transactional difficulties which mean they are unable to meet the requirements of their certification due to customer inaction or inappropriate action.

At ADISA, we’ve performed over 500 audits of this process and can easily see why companies get this wrong, leading to exposure to data breach but also, obvious non-conformance to current and incoming regulation. Due to restriction of article length, I can only propose two simple steps for you to take before GDPR is enshrined into law to help you within the process of ICT Asset Disposal.

INTERNAL CONTROL Before we look downstream we must look internally. Currently assets which are marked for disposal become very low priority. Too much attention is placed on the physical asset (often an old or damage device) and not enough on the data which still resides on the media within such devices. ITAM must continue to own the chain of custody after decommissioning and into the downstream.

Under GDPR it will be critical to have accurate inventory control at point of release into your downstream. Unless this is the case such release might be considered as breach and requiring notification to the regulator.

Photo by Goran Ivos on Unsplash

VENDOR SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT There is an entire chapter (4) on the relationship between the controller and processor which indicates the structured approach which the appointment of data processors will have to follow. For asset disposal, you will no longer be able to just have a man in a van arrive and remove your equipment without having a formal assessment process in place wrapped up in a formal contract. Under Data Protection Act 1998 there is already a requirement for data controllers to have a contract in place with Data Processors but ADISA members frequently claim customers don’t want contracts and just want ‘us to collect their stuff’.

A moot point here is that of notification.

Should an asset disposal collection take place without a contract in place then that would be breaking the law. If this is the case then under Article 4, definitions a ‘data breach’ will have taken place. As per Article 33, this will then require you

New research has indicated that the majority of UK councils have not allocated budget towards meeting the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Asset Disposal

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

GDPR, which will be formally introduction in May 2018, was passed in May 2016 with an objective to give far greater protection to the individual in terms of their rights about how to control what happens to their data.

M-Files Corporation, an information management product company, conducted freedom of information (FOI) requests to the 32 London boroughs and 44 other local authorities, and found that 76 per cent of London councils having not yet allocated budget plans towards ensuring compliance with GDPR, while 56 per cent of the local authorities reported not having appointed a Data Protection Officer, despite this being stipulated as a requirement by GDPR. FURTHER INFORMATION www.m-files.com/en by law to notify the supervisory body within 72 hours of being made aware.

DISPOSING OF ICT EQUIPMENT Within this small part of GDPR the good news is that to move from a non-compliant or unsure position to a compliant position is relatively straight forward as the ADISA Standard and certification programme has been amended to reflect the changes in law.

This means that ADISA members who offer data processing services to you, are well versed in what is coming down the line. Simple things such as the need for a proper contract to be in place are clear within module 3.1. Inventory management from point of collection through to point of data safe are included within both module 2 and 3 within the Standard. Furthermore, some of the additional services offered to you such as copies of the Audit Summary Reports and free monitoring service are all ways which you can comply with Articles 24 and 28.

Of course, I’m biased so I should point out that there is no mandate to use an ADISA certified company, just that we feel there is a significant business benefit in you doing so and as the Standard is formally recognised by DIPCOG and listed on the NCSC website as a certification scheme – the question should really be why not! # FURTHER INFORMATION dpgovernance.com adisa.global

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

RECYCLING

R&D TAX RELIEF MYTHS – SO IF IT’S ALL SO GOOD, WHY IS IT ALL SO BAD? MSC Associates has compiled a few reasons that might explain the reticence of lots of Small and Medium sized enterprises, (SME’s) to take up this really generous Corporation Tax Relief Many believe that research and development (R&D) tax relief is only for companies that are inventing something brand new. This is not true. R&D Tax Relief is not just for inventing something or getting a patent.

It is also available (and most typically used by) companies that are improving or modifying an existing product or improving a manufacturing process—that is, making a product cleaner, quicker, greener, cheaper, etc. Also, computer software, architecture, engineering, etc. are all good candidates for R&D Tax Relief.

The understanding that R&D Tax Relief is only for companies with laboratories and test tubes is also wrong. While companies involved in basic research are obviously prime candidates for R&D Tax Relief, the relief is very much about encouraging applied science – solving a customer’s problem or a production issue using known scientific principles. Problem solving on the shop floor, in the field, on the site, behind a computer – all may be eligible for R&D Tax Relief.

We at MSC have helped many businesses across the country claim the relief, including bio-tech and engineering firms and companies involved in everything from computer software and electronics to food processing and agriculture to chemicals and oil and gas. Self-censoring is the biggest block to companies taking advantage of R&D Tax Relief.

ONLY FOR THE BIG COMPANIES? Approximately 80 per cent of small and medium businesses think that R&D Tax Relief is only for the big companies. While the big companies, with their armies of tax accountants, are all over R&D Tax Relief, too often small and medium businesses act as if there were a velvet rope barring them from taking advantage of R&D Tax Relief. R&D Tax Relief is available for small and medium businesses, but you do need to show up and apply to get it – HMRC isn’t simply handing out tax breaks.

Another misconception is that R&D Tax Relief won’t help my bottom line.

Working with small and medium businesses, MSC have been able to find tax savings from one to one hundred thousand

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

pounds, with an average claim value of £45,000. Much black ink and hard cash has been realised for companies thanks to MSC’s knowledge of R&D Tax Relief.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE R&D Tax Relief benefits thousands of companies a year. The relief has been part of the HMRC Corporation Tax Relief for over 10 years. While HMRC isn’t giving away this tax relief – you need to have proper documentation of your activities and correctly apply the law — it is certainly a relief that is widely recognised and utilised by a wide range and number of businesses every year.

It is very unlikely that we are going to have tax reform and R&D Tax Relief is going to go away. R&D Tax Relief has been significantly improved in the last six years and operates in most EC nations.

It provides incentives for UK based Ltd companies to invest in the kind of R&D projects which will keep UK plc.

competitive and provide future investment and jobs. We predict it will stay in place even with tax reform; in fact, it could well be expanded. Moreover, in many cases your business may be eligible to file an amended return and claim the relief for the previous two years – more money in your pocket to grow your business and create new jobs.

With an average claim value of 45,000, which at 10 per cent pre-tax profit equals a £450,000 order, how can you not afford the time to do it?

We make the process very simple.

Half an hour meeting to qualify the claim followed by a two-hour meeting for the detail. Add to that half a day of your admin staff time to complete our proforma templates and you’re done. # FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01432 381054 www.mscassociates.co.uk mick@mscassociates.co.uk

Approximately 80 per cent of small and medium businesses think that R&D Tax Relief is only for the big companies. While the big companies, with their armies of tax accountants, are all over R&D Tax Relief, too often small and medium businesses act as if there were a velvet rope barring them from taking advantage of R&D Tax Relief

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Every industry seems to be facing unprecedented change. As the aftermath of the snap General Election begins to clear, LARAC’s Lee Marshall considers what the future waste and resource policy in the UK may look like While it is far too early to say that the dust has settled and things are now clearer following the General Election, at least we know the ministerial team at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) we will be dealing with in the waste and resources sector. Given it has gained a reputation as a department someone travels through rather than stops at, there must be some comfort in having the junior ministers return to their posts.

Obviously, the headlines will be about the new Secretary of State and there have already been assumptions made based on past voting records on climate

change issues. As with all these things there is always another view point and, as Michael Gove has pointed out, he was a member of the government at the time and he voted with them, which in a way should be the greater worry.

As an industry, we will rightly focus on Defra and their emerging thoughts on how waste policy will develop and evolve as we detach ourselves from the EU and the legislation that goes with it. That said, local authority eyes will be focused as much, if not more, on the Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to see how future funding levels are looking. It is an unfortunate reality that the

d We neere to ensu t we ha we do w services p e e k can to and keep the going as engaged public ssible in as po ling recyc

drive to increase recycling (in England) has been impacted by the years of funding cuts that local authorities, along with the rest of the public sector, have endured. An ambitious and forward-thinking waste and resources strategy for the UK from Defra is of little value if the means to achieve it are not forthcoming as well. Whilst some in the industry state all it needs is targets to be imposed on local authorities, like in Wales, they ignore the vast amount of funding the Welsh government has pumped into councils to help boost the recycling rates north of 60 per cent.

In theory, the task of guessing the future waste policy in the UK is straightforward. The EU Circular Economy Package is likely to be finalised and agreed before the end of the EU exit negotiations and so will be adopted by the UK. So, 70 per cent recycling levels "

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Lee Marshall, Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee

Re-evaluating recycling rates and resource policy

Recycling

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ! and an extension of producer responsibility are on the cards. However, we know that the UK has been at best lukewarm on these two aspects of the package during the negotiations, suggesting they will be some of the first bits to be unpicked once we have left the EU. What we have yet to establish is what they might be replaced with and how important the resource agenda will be for Defra in the post-EU world. Again, it is far too early to know and judge, but so far the comments from the new Secretary of State have focused on agriculture and the future for that sector post Common Agricultural Policy.

THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE In order to consider the future, it may be worth a short review of where we are now in the UK, with a differing picture across the four nations. Broadly speaking, virtually all households in the UK have a kerbside collection of glass, cans, paper, card and plastic bottles. This is easily forgotten in the ongoing debate and work on ‘consistency’.

So, for the main materials, households have a regular service. In Wales, you can also add food waste to this list of materials that all households can recycle at the kerbside.

The differences start to emerge in the frequency of collections, types of container used and the colour of them. That said, all households have information on their particular system and most of us only live in one main place so only use one main system.

The other difference is then food waste in England and other types of plastics across the UK, with plastics being the main culprit in giving rise to the myth that collections are confusing for people. There are not many industries out there that would go out of their way to paint a bad picture of themselves and yet we are doing just that every time we say that collections are confusing. If we don’t promote our services in a positive and correct manner, how can we expect the public to engage fully in what we do?

Recycling

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

The UK government will need to take much more of a lead in the resource debate and engaging with households at a high level to promote and support the concept of recycling and the concept of individual responsibility for it This leads on to the current and inconvenient truth for our industry: people just do not see recycling as important enough. This is why, despite the universal coverage of a wide range of materials, a large chunk of it does find its way into the right container. Recent surveys in Wales show that food waste is still being placed in the residual bins, in large quantities, instead of the food caddies being provided and emptied each week. We talk of ‘nudging’ and ‘prompting’ householders into doing their bit – with the move to three weekly residual collections being the most obvious example of this. And some of this is working, again the recycling rates in Wales appear to support the move to extending residual collections when you have a comprehensive recycling service, including food waste, in place. The move to three weekly collections is not a popular one though and starts to turn public tide further away from recycling.

It is also a move designed to help balance the funding issues that local authorities are facing and balance ever decreasing budgets.

RECYCLING RESOURCES There is only so much that councils can do to promote recycling and why we need to do it.

WRAP has provided, and continues to provide, great support and resources for councils to use and to do what they can at the national level as well. Organisations such as OPRL are also helping to make recycling information more readily available to the public and are working more closely with local authorities on producing communications resources.

It was an obvious move for Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) to become one of the new owners of OPRL last year to further promote and improve the links between retailers, producers and councils. The issues need multi solutions and there is no one-all-encompassing policy or system that will lead to high recycling rates.

The UK government will need to take much more of a lead in the resource debate and engage with households at a high level to promote and support the concept of recycling and the concept of individual responsibility for it. They can be supported in that by the producers and retailers of goods and how any future policy and legislation on producer responsibility is formed could be key to this.

Local authorities are doing a great job in trying circumstances but, without more support from national governments and the wider industry, the plateau in recycling rates we are seeing in England is likely to continue.

At the moment, most of the knowns in the waste and resource sector are unknown and it is likely to be years before we are in a position where we have a clear and definite policy direction. In the meantime, we need to ensure we do what we can to keep services going and keep the public as engaged as possible in recycling so that when we do get that clear direction, we are in a good place to make the most of it and make the next step towards change in recycling. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.larac.org.uk

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BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

w st ith Me an us e d a t 5R t R 80 W -S M 81

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www.modulo-beton.co.uk BENEFITS OF A MODULO HOUSEHOLD WASTE RECYCLING CENTRE:

• Using the split-level Modulo platform is convenient and safe for staff and residents • The convenience and better overview lead to higher recy cling rates • Easy and quick installation: around 2 weeks to install • Additional space is created inside the platform for multi purpose use • No subsurface foundation needed • Expandable for future needs by placing additional blocks • No risk of budget overrun, a clear and fixed price • Prefab units allow high quality concrete combined with lower carbon emissions

CONSTRUCTION WITH A CONSCIENCE

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

RWM 2017

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

RWM 2017: where policy-makers meet Bigger, better and more collaborative, the UK’s premier event dedicated to energy, water, recycling, renewables and waste management is tailor-made for policymakers from central and local government. RWM event director Nicola Meadows previews the show The UK public sector represents the single largest market in the country, and its decision-makers negotiate with a wide range of overlapping industries and suppliers, from waste management to energy procurement and everything in-between. As such, it is crucial for policy-makers to be up-to-date with the opportunities and commercial issues affecting local and central government.

As we move towards the circular economy model, which sees materials form part of a complex cycle of re-use rather than a linear produce-consume-dispose model, supply chains are becoming increasingly interconnected. Solutions to the challenge of resource management have never been more accessible for policy-makers and implementers. The expanded RWM 2017 event, run in partnership with the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), offers a unique opportunity to connect with overlapping supply chains, share knowledge and explore new opportunities.

Bringing together decision-makers and innovators from the energy, water, recycling, renewables and waste management

communities, RWM 2017 takes place from 12-14 September at the NEC Birmingham.

This year the previously co-located Energy, Water, Renewables and RWM events are combined – an expansion that reflects the merging and overlapping business opportunities in these sectors. Decision-makers from public and private sector businesses will have the opportunity to share ideas with policy makers, trade associations, waste leaders, operational leads from councils, materials processers and innovators from these increasingly interconnected sectors.

practical software solutions to modern and future logistical challenges, with a focus on quality data and supporting services.

New exhibitors already signed up for the Data, Tech & Services zone include BeNomad, while Increase Computers is returning to the 2017 event. New exhibitors for the Supply & Demand zone include Phoenix Contact, with returning exhibitors from the Energy Show including Source for Business.

The Energy from Waste zone will showcase one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic sectors in waste management. New exhibitors for this zone include China Tianying, while returning exhibitors include Babcock & Wilcox Vølund. In the Handling & Logistics zone, innovations in the transportation of commercial or construction waste will be highlighted, with "

The Energy Waste z from showca one will the fast se one of and moest-growing s sectors t dynamic i managen waste ment

DEDICATED ZONES RWM 2017 will feature six dedicated zones, including two new ones: Supply & Demand, which is the home for networking, learning and business opportunities in the UK energy and water markets; and Data, Tech & Services, which covers smart,

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ! new exhibitors including E Power Trucks, and returning exhibitors including Dennis Eagle. This zone will also host a new theatre seminar for Municipal and Material recovery.

The Machinery & Equipment zone will display the latest technology in the shredding, sorting and compacting of material, boasting new exhibitor A & C Weber, and returning exhibitors including Eriez. And the Recyclers & Reprocessors zone will showcase all things connected with the environmental and financial benefits of converting waste into new materials, with new exhibitors including Tomra Sorting, and returning exhibitors including AMCS. Meanwhile, the Innovation Hub will be a pavilion where exhibitors and start-up companies showcase the latest, most innovative ideas in the market. The Innovation Hub will be managed in association with InnovateUK to bring the energy, waste, recycling, water and renewables industries the latest and best innovations to RWM 2017.

Innovate UK is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

VISITOR TRAILS The new-look RWM 2017 will also offer four visitor discovery trails identifying key exhibitors for audiences looking for a specific service, or a more organised experience. For instance, visitors can navigate the exhibition by exploring the Energy Solutions trail, designed for visitors looking for energy suppliers, energy efficiency, and energy technology; or the Water Marketplace trail, which guides visitors looking for water suppliers and management services.

The Local Authority Solutions trail has been designed to highlight all exhibitors and content relevant to those responsible for waste management and resource, legislative issues and fleet management; while the "

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Theatre seminar sessions A wealth of knowledge-sharing and networking opportunities will also be present during the daily seminar theatre sessions running in each event zone throughout the show.

Utilities Keynote Theatre The platform for UK energy and water leaders to share their insights into the latest industry developments. Topics to be debated across the three-day event include energy supply, pricing, energy storage, renewable innovations, water deregulation and future visions. These resources are about far more than just cost, and correct management can be a source of value, resilience and real competitive advantage.

Utilities in Practice Theatre This case study-led seminar programme seeks to support visitors with practical, peer-led insight into how to drive efficiency, create value and deliver compliant water, energy and renewables services.

Find out what best practice looks like, and where new commercial opportunities lie that your company could stand to benefit from.

Circular Economy Theatre Focusing on how the principles of circular economy can be applied to maximise value and the sustainable use of resources. The world’s cities generate 1.3 billion tonnes of waste per year and this is expected to rise to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025. These wastes pose a growing risk to human health, air and

water quality, and are an increasing source of greenhouse gas emissions.

But effective waste and resources management is an opportunity for economies to re-invent themselves, to mine society’s wastes and close materials and utilities loops on all fronts.

Energy from Waste Theatre Sharing best practice, technological advances, and changes to the global political and economic landscapes which impact this evolving sector, has not always had favourable perceptions in the media and public eye. New commercial prospects for EfW will be assessed, together with what could constitute barriers to the growth of the industry within the UK and wider global market. Other prospects such as the opportunities in a decarbonising economy, and what impact an increase in recycling rates will have on future EfW feedstocks, will also come under the spotlight.

Municipal and Materials Recovery Theatre The platform for resource and waste industry experts from both the public and private sector to come together and discuss creative techniques to drive recycling rates.

From the effective management and commercialisation of food waste to tackling waste crime, and rethinking revenue streams from recycling, seminar sessions in this theatre are set to see exciting debates over the three-day show.

A wealth of knowledge sharing and networking opportunities will also be present during the daily seminar theatre sessions running in each event zone throughout the show

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A FULL SIZE SWEEPER - IN A COMPACT PACKAGE The Scarab Minor M25H asserts itself as the most versatile sweeper in its class. The M25H can hold more waste than its predecessor thanks to its 2.5m3 hopper capacity and can operate for longer due to the 450 ltr water tank.

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

RWM 2017

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ! Exhibitor Discovery trail will allow visitors to discover the latest exhibitors and suppliers that have joined the RWM community.

EVENT FEATURES As well as a return of the outside area at the 2017 show, key features at the event include RWM Connects, a complimentary matchmaking service hosted in the Recyclers & Reprocessors zone allowing exhibitors and visitors to use our database to arrange meetings prior to the show. Meetings can be on exhibitor stands or at the RWM Connects Lounge, and the RWM Connects team can also help facilitate introductions with new business partners if desired.

Meanwhile, the CIWM Resource and Waste Clinic will see industry experts on-hand over the course of the show offering advice and insight. Visitors can book to have a one-to-one chat with one or more experts, who collectively offer wide and in-depth knowledge on a range of resource and waste management subjects, and are mainly CIWM Fellows. Booking isn’t essential, and CIWM staff will be on-hand to direct ad-hoc meeting requests at the show to the most suitable experts.

And the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) is returning to RWM 2017 to offer visitors and exhibitors the opportunity to gain insight and advice about exporting products

This year the previously co-located Energy, Water, Renewables and RWM events are combined – an expansion that reflects the merging and overlapping business opportunities in these sectors and internationalising their business. On-site advice will be available at the show from the DIT’s expert team of international trade advisers, who specialise in the energy and waste sectors, in Hall 4, stand A120-B120.

There will also be the opportunity to have some fun at RWM 2017 by making use of the

Qualifications for waste and resource management WAMITAB is a specialist industry awarding organisation, established in 1989, that develops qualifications for those working in waste and resource management and recycling, facilities management, cleaning, street cleansing and parking from operative through to management level with a strong focus on supporting environmental sustainability.

WAMITAB offers over 120 qualification pathways delivered through 70 qualityassured centres and works directly with industry leaders to shape employer-led qualifications that provide individuals with fit-for-purpose skills for the workplace.

As well as its suite of nationally-recognised qualifications, WAMITAB offers a range of complementary services to support skills development and assessment.

The Accredit service is a rigorous review process which offers third party validation of

in-house training. Validate is an on-the-job assessment tool with a strong focus on health and safety compliance, which can be used to audit staff competence and identify future training needs.

In addition, for those preparing for the continuing competence test, there are revision guides available to purchase plus free summary guides to download from the website.

By qualifying the workforce, WAMITAB aims to embed a culture of safety and progression, making the industry more attractive as a career.

Visit WAMITAB on Stand 4J33 at RWM to learn more.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01604 231950 www.wamitab.org.uk

four-hole Pitch & Put crazy golf course and bar at the back of Hall Five, sponsored by Adtrak.

It’s a great way to network in a relaxed setting away from the hubbub of the main show. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.rwmexhibition.com

CIWM: Representing the resource and waste management sector As the leading professional body for resource and waste professionals, CIWM is the voice of the sector, representing almost 6,000 individuals and organisations in the UK and overseas.

A non-profit organisation, CIWM is dedicated to the promotion of professional competence, seeking to raise standards for the sector by producing best practice guidance, developing educational and training initiatives, and providing information on key waste-related issues.

Through its members and wholly owned subsidiaries WAMITAB and CIWM Enterprises, the CIWM group has a unique understanding of the sector. Its professional knowledge and trusted reputation enables it to inform and influence legislation and policy in addition to playing a vital part in shaping the sector’s

future role and contribution to environmental protection and sustainable, resource-efficient economic growth.

CIWM organises high profile events, providing an opportunity to discover the latest thinking, share innovative best practice and to network with peers.

With over 30 years’ experience in developing and delivering sustainability, resource and waste management courses, CIWM also offers high-quality individual training, in-company, bespoke packages and e-learning options.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01604 620426 www.ciwm.co.uk

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Award Winning Pump!

High Pressure Low Volume Dosing Pumps The Verderflex Dura is the first real advance in hose pump technology since the high pressure hose. The Verderflex Dura 5 and Dura 7 combine a close coupled pump s compactness with traditional long coupled pump benefits in superior High Pressure Low Volume dosing pumps. Unlike traditional high shear pumps that reduce flocculent particle sizes and result in both increased chemical use and higher operating costs, the Verderflex Dura 5 and Dura 7 s bring gentle pumping to sub-litre per hour flow rates. Off-Gassing liquids, such as Hypo, often cause traditional pumps to vapour lock, however, the Verderflex Dura 5 and Dura 7 readily pumps these liquids with ease.

With no valves or stators to wear, Verderflex Dura 5 and Dura 7 pump lime and similar highly abrasive chemicals at a pressure of 5 to 8 bar with minimal downtime. Other features of Verderflex Dura 5 and Dura 7 include: Care free dry running capabilities No clogging maintenance costs Long life heavy-duty hoses True dry priming eliminating pre-wetting and priming Superior secondary containment and viscous performance.

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DROUGHTS

Written by Claire Hoolohan, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change

Water management in the face of droughts As the threat of drought rises in the UK, Claire Hoolohan, research associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, considers how we might change the way society uses water At the start of May, headlines emerged that the UK is braced for drought after a warm and sunny April saw only 41 per cent of average monthly rainfall, and long-range predictions suggest an increased chance of higher than average temperatures in May and June.

Yet, compared to recent ‘weather bombs’, repeated and dramatic flooding and unexpected snowstorms seen in the last 18 months, drought feels a somewhat familiar challenge. The UK is no stranger to drought, yet for a country with a tendency toward the decidedly damp, drought is often incongruous with the everyday experience of UK weather.

Though weather is part of drought, much of the challenge in the UK is simply the amount of water that is used day-to-day by people going about their daily activities. The average person uses approximately 142 litres a day, according to the Energy Saving Trust, as the water industry strives to achieve 130 litres a day.

With an air of ambivalence toward water saving and a prevailing confidence in water infrastructure, changing the ways we use water is no easy task. However, increasingly aware of the challenges population growth, urban development and climate change might bring, the water industry is developing an interest in how change might be brought about.

RESEARCH INTO WATER USE Partnered with Thames Water, one of the UK’s largest water companies, research at the

University of Manchester sought to tackle this challenge. Working with consumers, water companies and policy makers the aim was to unravel how everyday life influences water use, and develop ideas about future supply-demand systems that might support lower levels of demand.

These findings challenge water companies’ current water efficiency activities. But they also provide opportunities, offering insights as to how activities might engage in social and material aspects of demand to bring about less intensive patterns of water use.

They show that visible and tangible representations of normality that people encounter in everyday life convey powerful messages about normal everyday water use and what it is appropriate to use water for. These messages, conveyed in the social and material world around consumers, are difficult to counter through direct forms of information, however refined they might be.

They also highlight the importance of material things; not just showers, toilets and taps but the objects and materials that shape demand like clothes, hair and garden. These things create ‘needs’ for water. People also described the importance of the layout and design of their homes, which influence the options and possibilities through which these needs might be fulfilled.

As well as at home, the limited interaction people

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have with water outside the home, coupled with an infrastructural heritage that hides our dependence on water in the environment, supports a confidence in supply that remains largely unsettled by uncharacteristically dry weather.

These social and material aspects of everyday life are so mundane that the opportunities they pose for water efficiency are often overlooked. However, they are constantly changing, and understanding how their future forms might support less intensive water use is a promising avenue for water demand management.

REDUCING WATER USAGE To address these findings, a series of workshops brought Water Company representatives together to visualise strategies to engage with social and material context of water use to elicit deep changes to the ways in which water is integrated in everyday life.

Three umbrella concepts were developed, under which a range of activities might be designed and experimented with, and all imagine radical changes to how society uses water. Re-design. Re-attune. Re-locate. Three strategies to change how society uses water.

Redesign strategically engages in design processes – for example working with the hair and beauty industry to popularise products and styles that require less frequent washing. " Photo by Matty Sievers on Unsplash

The challen the UK ges managi faces in supply ng water a more sere becoming ri current ous, with ill-equip policy pe with ev d to deal er water uyday se

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DROUGHTS ! The process entails the identification of problematic material factors, their replacement with water-sensitive alternatives and engaging with social media to enhance their uptake.

Re-attuning addresses the disconnection between water and society which has a historical legacy, but is preserved in contemporary water management and urban planning. Re-attuning is about making visible and material changes to how water in the home connects to water in the environment, and potential opportunities lie in decentralised water systems, urban daylighting and river restoration; projects that give presence to water in society.

Relocating challenges the ‘domestic’ in domestic water use by exploring options for outsourcing. Everybody uses water differently. For some people outsourcing is already common, like using laundrettes and car washes. For other people such services are unimaginable. Increasing the popularity of outsourcing poses opportunities to alter routines and maximises the potential for large-scale water efficiency outside the home.

There might be other potential impacts of unlocking routines too. For example, could workplace uniform washing lead to changes in how people commute as clothing is one of the principle barriers to cycling? Or does it simply become an additional laundry service, reducing the volume of clothes being washed at home with no change to the frequency?

WATER CHALLENGES Year-on-year, the challenges the UK faces in managing water supply are becoming more serious. Furthermore, similar challenges are faced across the globe (for recent examples look to California, Australia, or Alberta).

But current water management and policy strategy is ill-equipped to deal with the complex yet mundane context of everyday water use. Redesigning, re-attuning and re-locating domestic water use are three strategies that might fundamentally alter how society uses water, but work is yet needed

90 per cent of floodplains unfit for purpose A new study has revealed that only 10 per cent of England’s extensive floodplains are fit for purpose, increasing the risk of flooding across the UK. Changing Face of Floodplains, a 12-month study published by Co-Op Insurance, warns that floods will claim higher economic costs unless action is taken to prevent the ongoing damage to floodplains and restore some of their functions to the 90 per cent that no longer function properly.

Furthermore, with natural floodplains covering approximately five per cent of England, the report states that, alongside the 90 per cent which no longer function properly: 65 per cent have been modified by agriculture to be smoother, and now man made; nine per cent have been lost to urban and suburban building developments; six per cent are now covered by semi-natural woodland and rough grassland; four per cent by open water; and only 0.5 per cent now natural or semi-natural wetland.

The report argues that, as natural floodplains have been altered by man-made features, the ability to store water has been hindered, leading to sudden and unstoppable

to understand how such strategies might by implemented in policy and practice. #

This article previously appeared on the Manchester Policy Blog.

This research was conducted by Claire Hoolohan towards a PhD, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/J500094/1) and Thames Water (CASE partner) and supervised by Dr Alison Browne (Sustainable Consumption Institute) and Prof Alice Larkin (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research). To read more about this research visit Academia.edu.

deluges – like that seen during Storm Desmond in 2015. Storm Desmond saw rivers and streams burst their banks and affected over 6,000 homes and businesses, causing in excess of £500 million in damages.

Floodplains serve as ‘sponges’ in the landscape, forming natural buffers that hold back or divert rushing water after rainfall. However, due to intensive agriculture, increasing urbanisation, poor management of rivers and the draining of wetlands, the majority of natural features no longer fulfil the needs of the environment during heavy rainfall. The report warns that some floodplains are close to collapse.

George Heritage, co-author of the study, said: ”We have ignored our floodplains. The changes to them mean water [from heavy rainfall] can flow much faster downstream, and can flow at the same speed as the water in the rivers.”

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FURTHER INFORMATION tinyurl.com/y7jqzstw

Claire is a Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, Manchester. Her research explores the social dimensions of global challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, energy demand and water use. She currently works on the EPSRC funded Stepping Up project, a multidisciplinary effort to understand the processes and implications of scaling up innovations in the water-energy-food nexus.

FURTHER INFORMATION tinyurl.com/ydxc73ee

67

EVENT PREVIEW

Flood Expo

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Innovative ideas to combat the threat of flooding Running on the 27-28 September, the largest flood exhibition and conference in the world will showcase the innovative products and infrastructure reinventing the way that flooding across the globe is predicted, prevented and managed. GB looks ahead to the Flood Expo With climate change increasing the risks of extreme weather and floods, finding the latest solutions to help mitigate this rising threat is something that both public and private sector organisations are growing increasingly concerned with – and for good reason. In England alone, one in six homes are at risk of flooding and 40 per cent of businesses fail to reopen after suffering a catastrophic loss due to flooding. The average person is also more likely to have their property flooded than burgled in their lifetime.

That’s why around 2,500 professionals working in flood defence, prevention, resilience and risk management will attend the Flood Expo and transform the capital into the hub of the industry over two unmissable days. This highly targeted audience will be made up of some of the brightest and most prominent minds, engineers and authorities within the flooding world; as well as decision makers from county councils, governmental organisations, major transport authorities, construction companies, and more.

These visitors will all attend looking for that flood innovation or piece of expert insight that will allow them to predict, prevent

and manage a flood more effectively than ever before. The impressive profile of the audiences attracted to the show down the years hasn’t gone unnoticed by some of the most progressive and relied-upon suppliers in the flood industry – who have added their names to the growing roster of inventive organisations choosing to reveal their most recent offerings at this year’s event.

As well as getting the exciting opportunity to sell their existing products face-to-face to a room full of prospective buyers, they can also get immediate feedback from their target market on any new products launched directly to the flood sector. That’s why 200 firms working in flood mitigation, resilience and rescue will once again make up an unparalleled line-up of exhibitors; all looking to strike up partnerships with the show’s visitors.

Not only will the audience get to touch the latest flooding solutions these companies have to offer, they’ll also get to truly understand the product’s potential and evaluate its performance in the numerous live demos happening over both days of the show. These sessions will run on the banks of the Thames just outside the venue, where attendees will be able to discover first-hand the reliability and functionality of Vikoma’s latest flood barriers; ADC’s attention-grabbing vacuum tankers; Pontoon Works’ most recent offerings; Meercat Work Boats’ most advanced vessels; and much more.

One six hom in at risk o es are and 40 f flooding businesper cent of reopen ses fail to a a catas fter suffering tr due to ophic loss floodin g

PROFESSIONAL FLOODING ADVICE Back under the roof of the ExCeL, the impressive lineup of exhibitors is only matched by the exciting schedule of 100 expert-led, CPD-accredited seminars taking place in the show’s nine theatres. !

Photo by Jasper van der Meij on Unsplash

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EVENT PREVIEW

With so many cutting-edge products, systems and services on show, the event also houses the Flood Expo Awards, recognising the innovations that have made the biggest impact on how flooding is predicted, prevented and managed in the sector, Flood Expo provides visitors with the chance to network with flood industry innovators and thought leaders in the Environment Agency Networking Area. Here, attendees will interact with, and learn from, experts from the most prominent organisations in the UK. As the principal flood risk management operating authority, the Environment Agency’s networking area is a fascinating educational platform for visitors – with the public body’s continued sponsorship of the zone also highlighting Flood Expo’s growing reputation. If all that isn’t quite mouthwatering enough, there is also a plethora of interactive masterclasses, one-to-one advice and insightful real-life case studies; making this the most comprehensive, exciting and influential event on the flood sector calendar.

AWARDING INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE With so many cutting-edge products, systems and services all packed under one roof, the show also houses the Flood Expo Awards.

These recognise the innovations on display at the event to have made the biggest impact on how flooding is predicted, prevented and managed in the previous 12 months.

Each nominee in the three award categories – Innovation Award, Mitigation Award and Resilience Award – will get the opportunity to pitch their product to a judging panel composed of four esteemed professionals from prestigious firms, with one winner being chosen for each category.

Furthermore, a visitor’s free ticket to the show will not only give them access to the Flood Expo, but also to the two other industry-leading events running alongside !

Photo by Mark Doda on Unsplash

" Unrivalled in the depth of knowledge and information it offers its attendees, talking at the event will be the likes of TEN Ltd’s William Montgomery on how good storytelling can inspire flood action; the MOD’s Colonel Drummond on the department’s support in response to flooding; and the University of Exeter and Centre for Water Systems’ Albert S. Chen on flood risk modelling and assessment for community resilience.

Also imparting their expertise and wisdom on the audience will be revered industry names such as the ‘queen of floods’, Mary Dhonau OBE, and Ambiental’s Daniel Cook.

The chance to hear from some of the leading experts in the flood profession doesn’t end there. In the show’s Live Debates area, panels of the brightest minds in the sector will discuss the hottest global issues surrounding the industry and highlight, debate and challenge the most advanced flood defence theories around.

Key issues impacting the flooding industry such as technology, insurance, emergency response/resilience and climate change have all been debated by the panelists in previous years; with the audience also getting the opportunity to have their say on the topics.

For those looking to make new contacts

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Flood Expo

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So you think you have a plan? A sobering thought from Flood Avert

Beaver waterfilled flood barrier systems: using water to control flooding

Defending your building or facility against internal or external flooding is no easy task.

Do you have a plan? Can it be actioned quickly and deployed to numerous ingress points, on multiple floor levels, throughout the building?

As with other forms of prevention or action plan, a flood plan is essential. So now ask yourself this – at its core, can it be implemented in minutes? If not, sorry to say, your plan has a hole in it.

There is no such things as a typical flood. Internal leaks leading to flooding are very different to natural external floods.

Similarly, there is no single product that might defend against unpredictable and destructive flooding. For example, the inadequate but traditional sandbag has absolutely no use

The Beaver storm and flood protection system consists of two reinforced PVC tubes laid side by side, permanently joined together to form a flood barrier that can hold back up to 1900mm of floodwater. The elements of the Beaver flood barrier are initially inflated, easily moved into the desired position and subsequently filled with water from a nearby water source or flood water – via water pump.

The individual elements are joined together by a patented link system. This makes it possible to build flood barriers of any length, which conform to all types of terrain. Additional hold back capacity (height) can be obtained by adding a further single tube on top of the twin element.

The Beaver Barrier Protection System guarantees one of the fastest assembled temporary flood barriers on the market.

In recent years, Beaver flood barriers have protected cities,

for in-house flooding.

Flood Avert has designed an innovative system, not simply a product. The company’s mobile ‘rapid response kit’ comprises a range of flood bags and diverter-flexitubes designs, using super absorbent polmer (SAP) which expand in three minutes in contact with water and is supported with Flood Avert’s (patent pending) pre-taped floodscreen.

All are highly visible, mobile, compact and easily stored.

Now that’s rapid response!

FURTHER INFORMATION bclohessy@greenbagco.com www.flood-avert.com

citizens, land and buildings from the onslought of floods in over 150 cases. Over 80,000m of Beaver flood barriers have been sold to date.

Storms and floods cause damage, which can cost millions of euros/pounds worth of damage.

The economic costs place an enormous strain on property, home owners, businesses, insurance companies and public authorities.

The Beaver Flood Barrier System helps to prevent or at least reduce storm and flood damage and their associated economic costs/impacts.

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

EVENT PREVIEW

" the exhibition – the Marine & Coastal Civil Engineering Expo (M&CCE Expo) and the Contamination Expo Series. The close relationship between the three shows means that flood professionals will find information and innovations relevant to them and their business at all three events.

At the M&CCE Expo, visitors will find the UK’s most exciting platform for global infrastructural solutions and innovative engineering concepts in coastal and marine projects. Attracting thousands of marine and coastal engineers, flood authorities, coastal management professionals and business owners, the show gathers the foremost and economically viable solutions to challenging civil engineering projects under one roof.

The likes of Tideman Boats and Meercat Workboats will be exhibiting and running live demonstrations on the Thames, while talks by experts such as EDF’s Marine Area Construction

Flood Expo

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Back under the roof of the ExCeL, the impressive lineup of exhibitors is only matched by the exciting schedule of 100 expert-led, CPD-accredited seminars taking place in the show’s nine theatres Manager, Rob Holtom, will provide an exceptional level of industry knowledge.

In the neighbouring Contamination Expo Series is the standout event of the year for contamination professionals and showcases the latest strategies, techniques and technologies that further the protection of the environment and management of contaminated land, water and air. It’s audience is made up of high profile visitors from some of the world’s largest and most relied-upon environmental organisations and decision

makers from: major international airports, councils, specialist consultancies, construction firms, and land and property owners.

With all this and more packed into one room – at the show that has become the home of innovation in the flooding sector – you can’t afford to miss this event if your work, business or land depends on you predicting, preventing and managing potential floods. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.thefloodexpo.co.uk

Outreach rescue, technical rescue and industrial safety training Outreach Rescue is the UK’s premier flood rescue management training establishment. Based in North Wales, the company has over 25 years of experience training specialist rescue teams and emergency management professionals how to deal with wide area flooding.

The Flood Rescue Management programmes meet the exacting standards of both the Fire Service College and Coventry University

disaster management school.

Outreach Rescue’s broad range of clients include statutory and volunteer emergency services, government agencies, amongst many others.

The programme includes Water Incident Manager to DEFRA Module 5, Subject Matter Advisor to DEFRA Module 6 and a range of technical rescue qualifications up to and including DEFRA Module 4.

All course content is compliant

with current legislation and guidelines. The company’s tutors are experienced practitioners with over 50 years joint experience and are actively involved at a national level helping to develop new flood rescue policy.

Outreach Water Rescue and Flood Management courses can be delivered in-house at Outreach Rescue’s facility in North Wales or at the client’s own location, making it a cost effective and

convenient way to keep up to date with the latest, accredited training.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01248 601546 www.outreachrescue.com

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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EVENT PREVIEW

Learning from the past and preparing for the future

Emergency Services Show

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

This year’s Emergency Services Show returns to Hall 5 at the NEC, Birmingham from 20-21 September with a strong focus on learning from past incidents and collaborating to protect the public and save lives. Show organisers Broden Media preview the show Recent major incidents in the UK, such as the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London and the Grenfell Tower fire, have demonstrated that all government departments need to collaborate at every stage to co-ordinate effective response and recovery during emergency situations.

Luana Avagliano, head of Resilience Direct, UK Cabinet Office (a key partner of the show, along with JESIP and the National Operational Guidance Programme), said: “We continue to face challenging and difficult times and these events continue to highlight importance of collaboration, partnership working and using digital tools to be able to respond quickly. JESIP underpins how multi agencies can cohesively work together.

Resilience Direct continues to enable and

support our responder community – all of from BSI and the British Automatic us working together to keep the UK safe.”

Fire Sprinkler Association. The latest Attracting over 6,500 visitors and 400 developments in breathing apparatus and exhibitors, The Emergency Services Show lighting solutions will be showcased by brings all that expertise together through suppliers while outside, Emergency One/ an unrivalled networking opportunity, Clan Tools will be demonstrating the a programme of free seminars, live high reach of its turntable ladders. demonstrations and an indoor and outdoor exhibition showcasing the REVIEWING MAJOR INCIDENTS latest products, services and training.

Terrorism and search and rescue are For example, public sector visitors concerned among the topics planned for the Lessons with fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Learnt Theatre, sponsored by UCLan, tragedy can speak to members of where emergency services and the Fire Industry Association partner agencies will share their (FIA) and Fire Sector experiences of responding to The sho Federation (FSF). On real incidents. The British Red w provide their stand will be Cross will talk about its s unriva representations response to the Grenfell ! ll

ed netw opportuorking program nities, a semina me of free rs demons and live trations

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EVENT PREVIEW " Tower fire, how it worked with and supported the local community and how this ties in with its new Community Reserve Volunteering project. The nationwide project, launching this year, aims to recruit a taskforce of thousands of volunteers who will only be called out if a major emergency, like Grenfell, were to happen in their own community.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service will lead a session on the Wirral gas explosion, with co-speakers from Merseyside Police and Northwest Ambulance Service. There will also be a multi-agency case study of the Didcot Power Station building collapse.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch will cover the different phases of the response to an air accident, and how it works with the emergency services to minimise risk and preserve and share evidence. Finally, the College of Paramedics will once again deliver a programme of free 30-minute CPD workshops. This year’s programme includes a reflective account on the London bombings.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING THEATRE The effectiveness of the UK’s emergency services depends not only on the training, equipment and technology they are provided with, but also on the way in which their physical and mental resilience is supported.

This is why organisers have introduced a new seminar theatre dedicated to the health and well-being of emergency services personnel. The programme will cover issues such as fitness, mental health and health and safety. Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service will present a session on supporting firefighters dealing with the emotional impact of Emergency Medical Response.

Delegates will also be updated on the blue light well-being framework for all emergency services, currently being developed by The College of Policing in conjunction with Public Health England, while the Police Federation will be sharing details of its Protect the Protectors campaign which is calling for a change in legislation, leading to tougher sentences for those who assault emergency service workers.

Personal stories will be shared by a serving police officer who suffered a nervous breakdown and a paramedic diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who has set up the charity Our Blue Light. Simon Durance, co-founder of the charity PTSD999, will present a session on living with PTSD.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service will present a session on supporting firefighters dealing with the emotional impact of Emergency Medical Response out more about the fully integrated control room operated by North West Fire Control and a live streaming project being used by Thames Valley Air Ambulance to improve patient care. There will also be an overview of the research and development work being undertaken by Hampshire Fire & Rescue Services in partnership with the Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology.

Air support will also be a key topic with United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)’s centre for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) presenting the latest developments in robotics and drones, and Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service explaining how its drones are being used to complement multi-agency searches for missing persons.

COLLABORATION ZONE In the networking hub of the show – The Collaboration Zone - over 80 voluntary groups, charities and NGOs will be sharing details of the support they offer, while members of other blue lights services will be available to discuss co-response, current trends and share ideas. The Emergency Planning Society will be exhibiting again this year alongside other organisations including Resilience Direct, Resilience Advisors Network, British APCO, Applied Psychological Sciences, Unison, Mountain Rescue England & Wales, HM Coastguard, Civil Air Patrol, British Red Cross,

Emergency Services Show

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

National Operational Guidance Programme, JESIP, Government Decontamination Services, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Rail, Air and Marine Accident Investigation Branches, to name a few.

Around the indoor and outdoor exhibition visitors will be able to see and handle the latest kit and discuss their needs with over 400 suppliers. Over 50 companies will be exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show for the first time. The growing exhibition for emergency responders has also attracted the most respected training providers in the industry including the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Training 4 Resilience and the National CBRN Centre. Many exhibitors will be demonstrating solutions and technology on their stands and water rescue demonstrations will take place on the Pendigo Lake outside the exhibition hall.

EXTRICATION CHALLENGE West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) will be running a realistic and exciting Extrication Challenge at The Emergency Services Show this year. The Challenge will provide an arena for some of the UK’s best rescue personnel to come together and develop their proficiency levels in all areas of road traffic collision rescue but specifically in incident command and control, safety and scene assessment, extrication, professional pre-hospital care and expert use of rescue equipment. !

INNOVATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE RESPONSE In the Innovations Theatre, delegates will hear about the work undertaken by the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing to reduce high demand on blue light services from local residents through education and intervention. There will also be a presentation on the capabilities of the NEXES app and the benefits this offers both call centre operatives and citizens, especially those with special or additional needs. Visitors can find

Luana Avagliano, ResilienceDirect

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

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EVENT PREVIEW

The growing exhibition for emergency responders has also attracted the most respected training providers in the industry including the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Training 4 Resilience and the National CBRN Centre " Supported and judged by the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO), the RTC scenarios will include a car on its wheels, a car on its side and a car on its roof. Vehicles will have heavy and complex damage, simulating a significant road traffic collision (RTC) along with a ‘live’ casualty trapped inside. There will also be other vehicles or props in the vicinity in order to make the scenarios more realistic. Scenarios will be cordoned off, however spectators will have the opportunity to get close up to the action.

FIRST AID AND TRAUMA CHALLENGE This year, the WMFS will also hold their annual First Aid and Trauma Challenge at The Emergency Services Show. This will be the first time the event has been hosted outside of a brigade venue and an exciting new dimension has also been introduced to make the scenarios more realistic and interactive. Competing teams will experience

visual and audio from an actual incident that has been set up and filmed specifically for the scenario in an Educational Immersive Tent. To add authenticity to the trauma scenarios, West Midlands Fire Service Casualty Simulation Group will be providing casualties with realistic make-up and prosthetics.

ROAD SAFETY SEMINARS Running alongside the extrication and trauma challenges will be a dedicated Road Safety seminar programme. Speakers include the Road Rescue Recovery Association which will be explaining how road recovery firms have knowledge, expertise and resources which can assist the fire and rescue services at the scene of a RTC. Highways England will highlight the dangers contained within a car that could impact how rescuers respond to incidents.

The Air Ambulance Association will present on the future of UK highways in the context of the All Lanes Running roll out which will

impact on all emergency services, rescue and recovery organisations attending incidents.

UK HEMS (a charitable collaboration of UK helicopter air ambulance services) will also be speaking. WMFS, in partnership with various vehicle manufacturers, will provide visitors with specialist information on the latest rescue tool equipment, new vehicle technology, high strength steel, airbags, SRS, hybrid and full electric vehicles and road safety.

Emergency Services Show

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

COLLABORATE FOR BETTER SAVINGS AND PRODUCTS CFOA National Procurement Group which is co-hosting its stand with representatives from the Home Office and Police Commercial (CLEP), invites fire and rescue services as well as suppliers to the fire sector to find out more about the Fire Commercial Transformation Programme which covers clothing, construction and facilities management, fleet, ICT, operational equipment and professional services. Visitors can obtain information on the procurement frameworks currently available to them and see examples of where collaboration has resulted in savings and better products. Meanwhile, in the Innovations Theatre, Kent Fire & Rescue Service will share details of the Collaborative PPE Project. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.emergencyuk.com

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Conferences & Events Written by Destination Bristol

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

BRISTOL

A unique place, putting itself firmly on the conferencing map Innovative, sustainable and creative… Bristol delivers all three factors and more in a vibrant city where business and leisure collide in one accessible package. Destination Bristol gives a guided tour ‘Cool, classy and supremely creative’ was how the Sunday Times summed up the city when its annual lifestyle report named Bristol the UK’s ‘best place to live’ for 2017.

The article that made the announcement waxed lyrical about Bristol’s ‘extraordinary culture’, its spirit of collaboration and streak of independence – all things that make it a brilliant a place for visitors too.

The keynotes of Bristol’s tourism offer are Brunel, Banksy, hot air balloons and bendy characters (think Bristol-born Wallace and Gromit), but the South West’s largest city is as big on business events as it is on festivals and fun.

Bristol is one of the UK’s leading MICE destinations and it is growing in popularity, showing a 15 per cent increase in the number of conferences taking place in 2016 than in 2015 – itself a record breaking year when Bristol enjoyed the international spotlight as European Green Capital. Bristol became a hub for sustainable events including the International Fairtrade Towns Convention which came to the UK for the first time.

There was an increase of 20 per cent in event days and more than 2.2 million delegates over the course of the year.

A significant amount of investment has come to both new and established venues and there are plans for more in the future, with over 1,000 additional bedrooms being added in the next couple of years and exciting new event spaces that will be truly unique – a word that is bandied around far too often in the industry, but Bristol is full of genuine one offs.

The city has an independent and unorthodox spirit which is embraced by venues and reflected in the types of activities available for delegates. This is a city where the top team-building activities include craft beer

and food trails, boat trips, street-art tours, a chance to climb the rigging on an historic ship, model-making with Oscar-winning animators, and spray-can workshops with graffiti artists.

WELL CONNECTED For the business events and association industry, access is everything and Bristol’s location and connections to the UK and beyond make it an appealing choice. Located on the River Avon, close to the junction where the M4 meets the M5, Bristol is well-placed for easy travel from London, Birmingham, South Wales or further into the West Country – all within a two-hour journey.

There are two mainline stations: Bristol Temple Meads in the city centre, and Bristol Parkway to the north, both served by fast intercity trains, most of them running every 30 minutes from London Paddington, Cardiff or Birmingham New Street. For conference delegates, Destination Bristol has negotiated an exclusive deal on GWR rail fares – offering significant savings on advance rail tickets valid for travel from all main GWR stations.

Bristol Airport operates flights and connections to 30 countries and 122 destinations, including domestic flights to Newcastle, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. To meet demand, the airport is continually up-grading, with the most recent development being a £24 million West Terminal expansion and a new security facility. Earlier this year, Hampton

by Hilton opened Bristol’s first on-airport hotel. Upon landing at the airport, it is not unusual to be through to collect bags and out of the door within 30 minutes, meaning you can be in the city centre and checked in within an hour of landing. Once in the city, it’s easy to get around. Arrive at Bristol Temple Meads station and you can hop on one of the distinctive yellow ferry boats which serve the Floating Harbour.

Kathryn Davis, Destination Bristol’s head of

The s of keynoteourism t Bristol’se Brunel, offer ar , hot air Banksy nd bendy sa balloonaracters ch

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

Tourism, says: “Like many major cities, traffic can be an issue around commuting times so the benefit of the ‘walkable’ city is huge. For larger events, this allows the use of multiple hotels around the main event venue meaning that a range of accommodation budgets can be taken into account. It also means we can be creative about plenary sessions and breakout space – even if they are in different buildings it can take less time to move between them than in some large convention centres.”

WHAT BRISTOL DOES BEST One of the city’s USPs is the variety of its venues, ranging from major hotel brands to truly unique spaces – like the Grade II* listed Arnos Vale Cemetery. The area is also blessed with world-class venues such as Brunel’s iconic SS Great Britain and the new Aerospace Bristol, an aeronautic museum which features Concorde 216, the last to fly. Both are engineering marvels, both the fastest way to cross the Atlantic in their time, and both designed and built in Bristol; back permanently in their original birthplaces.

Bristol’s venue portfolio was transformed in 2016 when the new Ashton Gate Stadium was completed. The largest event space in the South West of England, Ashton Gate has all the sophistication of a top-class convention centre located next to a pitch that is home to both Bristol City Football Club and Bristol Rugby Club. The flexibility of the space offers many opportunities for combining exhibitions, conferences and break out spaces or allows for multiple events on one site.

There are a number of new venue spaces coming in 2017 and 2018, including the aforementioned Aerospace Bristol, together with new spaces at St Georges Bristol, one of the city’s most iconic concert halls, and Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continuously working theatre in the UK. Both of these enhance the creative cultural DNA that runs through the city.

Nowhere is this more evident than at Watershed, the beating heart of Bristol culture and the home of some of the most exciting events, including major film festivals. As well as waterside meeting space,

1) Bristol and Brunel go together like bread and butter – and in 2018, the SS Great Britain opens a Being Brunel, a museum dedicated to the life of the great Victorian engineer.

2) The annual Balloon Fiesta in August is the largest event of its kind in Europe with over 130 balloons taking off twice a day for three days.

3) Founded in 1766, the Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continually running theatre in the country.

4) Aardman Animation’s bendy character, Morph, celebrates his 40th birthday in 2017.

5) Bristol was the first choice for the first Ivy Brasserie outside London.

6) Bristol rocks: As the birthplace of pioneering bands Massive Attack and Roni Size, Bristol is a centre of musical innovation.

Watershed offers state-of-the-art cinema that can be utilised for presentations along with private hire for screening or gaming.

Film is a rich part of Bristol’s heritage, with both TV and cinema being critical to the local economy. Classic TV productions (Sherlock

Bristol Balloon Fiesta morning launch (Gary-Newman)

and Dr Who among others) complement new productions coming to the city all the time. While their studios are closed to the public, the multi award-winning Aardman Animations has created a very special modelmaking workshop for delegates as a way to engage in team building. You can also do behind the scenes tours of BBC Bristol, home to the world-class Natural History Unit.

Business confidence is growing in the city and this is reflected in numerous developments and upgrades. The Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel has been transformed from a traditional hotel into a celebration of urban creativity with pieces of art commissioned from local street artists adorning both public areas and bedrooms.

The Avon Gorge Hotel – which has unrivalled views of Brunel’s famous Clifton Suspension Bridge – is in the process of a major transformation that includes all 77 bedrooms, bars and event space. There has been major investment in the Doubletree by Hilton Bristol North, formerly the Hilton Hotel, located on the outskirts of the city. Bristol’s newest hotel, the Harbour Hotel & Spa, which opened in early 2017, offers a combination of boutique bedrooms and its stunning event space, the impressive Sansovino Hall.

Sheffield

Corporate event

Tapton Hall

LIFESTYLE OFFERING Bristol’s top spot in the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Place to Live’ survey followed a host of media accolades which put Bristol on top both nationally and internationally. The Rough Guide, for example, named Bristol as one of the world’s top 10 must-dos for 2017 – the only UK destination in their city hot-list.

Rough Guide described Bristol as ‘a shining example of one of the UK’s most forwardthinking, innovative and dynamic small cities’, and this growing perception is supported by its first-rate music scene, incredible street art, charming pubs and ‘classic landmarks’ like the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

In an attractive waterside setting along the banks of the River Avon and the Floating Harbour, this maritime city may well be small, but it offers a huge variety of quality museums, galleries, events, festivals, heritage and family attractions, as well great shopping and one of the most exciting foodie scenes anywhere in the country. According to Observer food columnist Jay Rayner: ‘Bristol really has become one of the most interesting restaurant cities in England.’ #

Conferences & Events

Six fast facts

FURTHER INFORMATION www.destinationbristol.co.uk

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n addition to arious unction rooms o different si es Winford Manor contains a well-stocked bar and a gourmet restaurant offering a bar menu as well as fine dining.

Although only 20 min from Bristol City Centre and under 2 miles from Bristol Airport the large pri ate park with s uirrels in the old trees and ducks in the dew pond give you a feel of being in the west country.

The hotel and conference centre is privately owned and owner-operated The owner and staff can also pro ide e ent management strateg seminars team-building da s and arious other uali ing training e ents n addition to the con erence dining and training ser ices Winford Manor can o course pro ide accommodation There are different si es and standards of rooms available from small double rooms starting from £75 to executive manor rooms starting from £125/night.

or bookings or in uiries call 01275 472 292. or larger e ents or corporate ser ices speak to the owner Kenn.

Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

LONDON

An outward-looking city – London is open With London welcoming almost 25 million visitors every year and Sadiq Khan really pushing to make the capital the strongest it can be to attract small, medium and large business, Government Business looks at what is being done to promote London as the ideal venue for any conference or event Following the EU referendum last year, passion, hidden heritage and unrivalled Mayor of London Sadiq Khan launched diversity, where world-famous museums and his #LondonIsOpen campaign to showcase galleries rub shoulders with Michelin-starred that the capital city is united and open for restaurants, and where trendy pop ups business, and that despite the UK’s decision stand beside state-of-the-art-auditoriums. to leave the EU, it remains entrepreneurial, Hosting a function in London is not international and full of creativity and only easy and convenient, it also gives possibility. Since then, Khan has pursued his visitors the opportunity to enjoy and vision for London to be a 24 hour city, which experience this world-renowned capital. not only encourages London’s night time economy and cultural scene, but also bodes VALUED VENUES well for those attending meetings, events London offers visitors the best of the old and conferences in the capital. and the new. Historic landmarks and London remains the envy contemporary venues sit side-by-side of the world, with its and many can be hired for n incomparable mixture meetings or private events. o d n Lo of history, culture and Located on the More London e h t s technology. Below Estate, overlooking Tower remain e world, h the admirable Bridge, The Tower Room t f o e l envy ncomparab city skyline sits a offers stunning 180-degree i setting of political views of the city’s ! istory, with its

of h mixture technology culture, nrivalled and u rsity dive

Conferences & Events

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Mayor launches first London Borough of Culture award Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched the search for the first-ever London Borough of Culture, inviting 32 boroughs to bid for cultural funding.

The new London Borough of Culture Award will see the capital’s 32 boroughs bid for more than £1million of funding to stage a programme of world-class cultural events and initiatives, and to develop a plan to make culture an integral part of the boroughs’ future. A further £600,000 is available for up to six boroughs which don’t win the title, but which put forward exemplary projects.

In February 2018, two winning boroughs will be named London Borough of Culture, with one taking up the title in 2019 and the other in 2020. The winning boroughs will be chosen based on their artistic vision and ambition to deliver outstanding cultural initiatives in their local area, putting communities at the centre of the programme’s design and delivery.

With only a third of Londoners feeling that they make the most of the culture on their doorstep, the project forms one of Sadiq’s key manifesto pledges and aims to strengthen London’s reputation as an international powerhouse for culture.

FURTHER INFORMATION tinyurl.com/y78h86ls

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WI FI

LONDON " skyline and the versatility to accommodate a variety of events, from conferences and workshops to receptions and product launches.

With ever-rising numbers of business and leisure visitors to London, a variety of new hotels are opening across the capital. Amongst the hotels that opened last year, the InterContinental London – The O2, boasts an indoor pool, two restaurants and 18th floor Sky Bar, with panoramic views across the Thames to Canary Wharf and beyond, making it the ideal location to host an evening reception or meeting for networking drinks. It also has 20 multifunctional meeting rooms and a 3,000sqm ballroom, which will hold up to 3,000 delegates.

2016 also saw a number of new restaurants open across the city, with some great function spaces, such as the Barbecoa St James, a new 9,000ft restaurant, set within an iconic new space at the historic Prince’s House. The restaurant uses only the finest cuts of meat, all hand selected by in-house butchers who search the length and breadth of the UK to find the very best produce for its distinctive dishes. For something more intimate and different, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery will be opening its new restaurant Pharmacy 2. This new venture will offer a fine dining experience in the evening, with Hirst’s ‘Pill’ pictures decorating the walls.

Dave Rogers, corporate events planner at London & Partners, said: “London has huge cachet thanks to its unique venues and culture. It’s such a vibrant world city, businesses cannot help but feel motivated and inspired here.”

BLENDING CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY With eight out of 10 visitors to London citing culture as their main reason for visiting, London is well and truly a global cultural powerhouse. The new Tate Modern opened in June 2016 and offers more space for new kinds of art as well as being a memorable new addition to London’s skyline.

London recently topped a chart of the most visited exhibition venues globally, in the 2016 AECOM and TEA Theme and Museum Index Report. The report lists the 20 most visited museums around the globe from last year, with the findings showing that four of London’s attractions - the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern and the Natural History Museum, were included in the list.

With the museums positioned at 6th, 8th, 10th and 13th respectively, London received the most entries alongside Washington DC which also bagged four spots on the table.

Playing host to 40 per cent of European headquarters and over 40,000 tech businesses, London is now the tech capital of Europe. The Cities of Opportunity Index from professional services firm, PwC, named London number one and said the city is ‘technologically on the top of its game’. The report also listed London as the world leader in economic influence, technology access, reputation as an urban gateway, and its development and design capabilities. The UK capital claimed the number one position ahead of New York, Singapore, Toronto, and San Francisco.

In 2014, London launched London Technology Week. Hailed a huge success by leading technology entrepreneurs, the event returned for 2017 with Sadiq Khan using the occasion to unveil his vision for London to become the world’s leading ‘Smart City’. Amongst his plans were a new £1.6 million Clean Tech Incubator called Better Futures, which will help 100 London-based small businesses to deliver low-carbon and clean-tech products to tackle the causes and effects of climate change, and a pledge to appoint London’s first Chief Digital Officer (CDO), a position which will drive the development of smart city technologies.

London offers a wealth of tech venues, such as Central Working and Google Campus in trendy East London, and is home to some of the best creative agencies on the planet. With venues such as the London Stock Exchange, Guildhall, Mansion House, the Barbican Centre or St Mary’s Axe (The Gherkin), the City of London – the historical heart of the capital – and Canary Wharf, London’s second financial district, also offers a wide range of venues fit to welcome tech and financial meetings and events.

LONDON FOR TEAM BUILDING London offers a wealth of options for planners looking to organise team building activities and its excellent transport network makes

London offers visitors the best of the old and the new. Historic landmarks and contemporary venues sit side-by-side and many can be hired for meetings or private events

Conferences & Events

BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

it easy to get around. From sport and food, to music and VIP experiences, the city caters for every group’s needs. The new Slide at the ArcelorMittal Orbit was designed by artist Carsten Höller and is the world’s highest and longest tunnel slide.

After the rush of adrenaline, participants can discover the Olympic Park at a more relaxed pace on a guided boat tour along the river that runs through it.

The Cookery School at Little Portland Street offers packages specially tailored to team building. Groups from eight to 50 people can work on bespoke menus with the help of dedicated staff, and planners can even add a competitive element to the class if desired, such as a bake-off. Those looking for a more cultural experience could head to the Royal Opera House, where groups will be able to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the London institution, followed by a private dinner and an opera performance.

Finally, for those looking for a thrill, Small Car Big City offers a fleet of Classic Mini Coopers in which groups will be able to discover the city while taking part in exciting challenges. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.london.gov.uk www.londonandpartners.com

Whether your purpose is a leisure break, a special celebration or business, you can be assured of a warm welcome at Park Farm Hotel.

Despite our rural location standing in 200 acres of unspoiled Norfolk countryside, the Fine City of Norwich is only a few miles away.

Whatever your business, your corporate events are taken seriously at Park Farm Hotel.

Your delegates‘ needs will be catered for promptly and efficiently by experienced, enthusiastic staff.

From 120 people capacity, seminars to private meetings of 2 people, we have conference suites to suit all needs and requirements. Hot and cold refreshments, be it a platter of sandwiches to a three course gourmet dinner can be requested for your attendees. Here at Park Farm Hotel we can provide the facilities and service specific to your needs as a large scale company or a private business.

Equipment is available for your perusal such as projectors and large wall mounted screens, as well as photocopying and faxing services. You can be assured of an efficient, friendly team on hand to assist you at any time.

Tel: 01603 810264 • Fax: 01603 812104 Web: www.parkfarm-hotel.co.uk enq@parkfarm-hotel.co.uk

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GT News

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

DATA PROTECTION

Photo by Francisco Galarza on Unsplash

Councils seriously unprepared for GDPR New research has indicated that the majority of UK councils have not allocated budget towards meeting the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

GDPR, which will be formally introduced in May 2018, was passed in May 2016 with an objective to give far greater protection to the individual in terms of their rights about how to control what happens to their data.

M-Files Corporation, an information

management product company, conducted freedom of information (FOI) requests to the 32 London boroughs and 44 other local authorities, and found that 76 per cent of London councils having not yet allocated budget plans towards ensuring compliance with GDPR, while 56 per cent of the local authorities reported not having appointed a Data Protection Officer, despite this being stipulated as a requirement by GDPR. Julian Cook, vice president of UK business

MANCHESTER

DIGITAL

Andy Burnham outlines plans for Manchester to be a digital city

DCMS encourages digital conversations

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has expressed his intention to use the power of technology to establish Manchester as the UK’s number one digital city.

Using the city’s Digital Summit to set out a bold programme of skills and infrastructure development, Burnham highlighted a vision for a smart city region where technology is used as a vital part of the solution to societal issues.

He said: “I want Greater Manchester to be a digital city with a difference – one with a bold digital economy which actively encourages businesses to invest and grow, and also one where technology is used to deliver positive change, from connecting young people with opportunities, to tackling social problems such as homelessness. This bold vision places the needs of people firmly at the heart of technological innovation.

“We want to fuse technological advancement with culture, ethics, communities and places to build a world which is connected, creative and cooperative, and a modern and prosperous Greater Manchester where no-one is left behind. I don’t want Greater Manchester to be just a smart city – I want it to be the smartest city.”

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The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, recently changed from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to acknowledge the role of digital in the department’s responsibilities, has launched #CultureisDigital, a conversation between government, the cultural sector and tech companies.

As part of the department’s commitment to review the digitisation of its public collections and cultural offering, the project will analyse how culture and digital technology can collaborate to drive audience engagement, unleash the creative

at M-Files, said: “At this stage we would have expected local authorities to be further along in their preparation efforts, but the data demonstrates that this is far from the case.

Inadequate preparation for GDPR will have serious financial implications if these boroughs ultimately do not comply with the new rules.”

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potential and boost the capability of cultural organisations. The four main areas hoped to be addressed in the conversation are: access and participation; cultural infrastructure; cultural content and technology; and skills, IP and business models.

The public can share their thoughts at cultureisdigital.uk and follow the conversation on social media using the #CultureisDigital hashtag.

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MOBILE FINES

Councils call for control over fines to mobile operators Councils have called for control over the fines given to mobile operators for poor coverage and customer service to boost connectivity.

The Local Government Authority (LGA) said Ofcom has fined operators millions of pounds over the past three years due to breaches of its rules, and that this money should be handed over to local areas to help access digital infrastructure.

Under government proposals, councils will be required to draft new policies setting out how they will deliver high quality digital infrastructure in their areas.

The LGA said extra funding would enable them to trial new ways of working.

GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 15.4

Mark Hawthorne, chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “If a new duty is imposed on planning authorities to set out how they will help deliver digital infrastructure it must be accompanied by funding to pilot new local models for facilitating the deployment of these networks. Rather than fines levied on mobile operators going straight to the Treasury, it would be far better for councils to be able to use the money to boost local efforts to ensure everyone has access to fast and reliable digital connectivity.”

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CAPITAL COVERAGE

London suffering from ‘sub-standard’ digital connectivity A new report by the London Assembly Regeneration Committee has revealed that London suffers from ‘not spots’ and ‘digital deserts’.

The investigation into digital connectivity in London found that London is held back by limited 4G coverage, ranking in the bottom five UK cities with 73.6 per cent of 4G coverage, and also ranking lowly in terms of high speed broadband coverage, listed 30th out of 63 cities across the UK. Worryingly, the report also discovered that London lacks full fibre connections. In Spain, 83 per cent of all its buildings are connected to pure fibre, but in the UK the figure is just three per cent or even less.

The report, Digital Connectivity in London, recommends that the soon-to-be-appointed Chief Digital Officer should support Londoners to make well-informed decisions about

their connectivity needs and encourage Transport for London to grant providers access to the ducts they own, so that they can use existing networks as opportunities.

Furthermore, it urges that the next London Plan should encourage boroughs to produce local connectivity plans to ensure sufficient access to a minimum level of broadband service.

Navin Shah AM, chair of the Regeneration Committee, said: “London’s digital connectivity is frankly embarrassing in some areas and will no doubt lead to major issues in terms of London’s global attractiveness as a place to live, work and do business. We need to act before it’s too late and London’s success is threatened.”

WI-FI

GT News

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Free to use Wi-Fi rolled out to all GP surgeries A scheme being rolled out across the country means that every patient in England will have access to free Wi-Fi in GP practices.

NHS Wi-Fi will be rolled out to all general practices across England by 31 December 2017 and patients will be able to access the internet free of charge on their smart phone or tablet in their GP’s waiting room.

It will allow patients to link in with local health clinics and services and is paving the way for future developments in digital healthcare.

Internet access will be granted through an NHS.UK landing page and will allow patients to access and download health apps, browse the internet and look up health care information.

Plans are also in place to make free Wi-Fi accessible in hospitals and the rest of secondary care by December 2018.

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5G TECHNOLOGY

Three universities develop 5G Less than half revamped council to test network WEBSITES

websites pass usability test

Fewer than half of the 91 council websites revamped between April 2016 and March 2017 have passed both key performance tests carried out as part of Socitm’s ‘Better Connected’ survey.

The annual survey uses a series of mystery shopping tests carried out by a team of reviewers to test the performance of all UK council websites from a viewer perspective.

Results showed that 45 per cent of the 91 new sites scored 3 or 4 stars for both tests, compared with 41 per cent of all council websites achieving 3 or 4 stars for the same two tests. The survey also found that 53 per cent of the redesigned sites scored 3 and 4 stars overall in Better Connected, compared

Experts from leading 5G research institutions will test cutting-edge 5G technology, in an attempt to put the UK at the forefront of the next wave of mobile technology.

King’s College London, the University of Surrey and the University of Bristol will share £16 million to develop the cutting-edge 5G test network, to trial the technology and make sure people and businesses can enjoy the benefits sooner.

The universities will work together to create three small-scale mobile networks which together will form the test network, which will result in a 5G end-to-end trial in early 2018.

Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said: “We want to be at the head of the field in 5G. This funding will support the pioneering research needed to ensure we can harness the potential of this technology to spark innovation, create new jobs and boost the economy. We know 5G has the potential to bring more reliable, ultrafast mobile connectivity, with quicker reaction times and larger data capabilities, and I’m thrilled to announce King’s College London and the universities of Surrey and Bristol have agreed to collaborate on this project.”

with 55 per cent of all councils. In addition, 43 per cent of the sites that underwent redesign in 2016-17 were previously not purposed for access from mobiles.

Vicky Sargent, director of the Better Connected programme, said: “These results suggest that re-designed sites are only just outperforming the rest indicating that councils may not be getting the value they might from their investment in upgrading sites, including new content management systems and other software, changes in site information architecture and visual design.”

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Website Design Written by Paula Buckley, assistant director of customer services, Birmingham City Council

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

DIGITAL

Birmingham City Council: from zero to hero Paula Buckley, assistant director of customer services at Birmingham City Council, looks at the importance of creating immediate dialogue between authority and residents through an easily accessible and mobile responsive council website Birmingham City Council’s old website had been built in 2009, had cost a significant amount of money and been subject to a significant amount of criticism. There had been a number of attempts to improve it but it just wasn’t working for the people of the city. This was particularly apparent as almost half of site visits came from mobile devices, yet the site was not mobile responsive. Recent figures show 57 per cent of visits are from mobile sites. Radical changes were needed.

When I joined the council, it was in the final stages of procurement activities including soft market testing for a new CMS and website design at the end of 2013, with a formal Request For Information in 2014.

Spacecraft Digital was chosen to lead an entire rebrand and build of the website. The Leicester based firm has been behind many of the most successful government websites, including the much celebrated Manchester City Council site, which itself had been awarded Official Honouree status at the 2014 Webby Awards.

The project started at the beginning of 2016.

There was a lot of stone turning and criticism after the last website, so to be certain the website met people’s requirements there was considerable work to be done to make sure we were engaging as many people as possible. It was imperative that the people of Birmingham were involved every step of the way.

Together, we spoke to anyone and everyone that was willing to speak to us. This included citizen panels and people on the street, whilst also taking iterations to Birmingham’s ‘Impact Hub’, a community centre within Birmingham made up of social enterprises and tech startups. We did drop in sessions with community groups, conducted workshops with services and gave out links for people to test the site before go-live. We also had a cross party working group, which was hugely important in making sure everyone felt involved, regardless of political allegiances. You name it, we did it.

CONFUSING INTERNAL TERMINOLOGY One of the biggest things that came out of the process was that citizens struggled with how some services linked. There was also a lot of

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head scratching around internal terminology that had crept into Local es content and structure of the it site. ‘Transitional services’ hority s y to t u a for example, was a term dut have a one in the that confused many.

People simply didn’t y very serve e rking for man know what it meant. o it makes sense to Another example area, w ent audiences s r have information that sticks with me is e e s f s f di usine s b about free school of residents trying to g n i d inclu izens acros meals on the same apply for a white line page, but historically to stop people parking and cit mmunity outside their driveways school meals had the co where they had a dropped gone with schools only. kerb. This had been in the We started thinking out highways section and was labelled governance – who should be as a ‘H bar’, which was not a term residents writing for the web? We started to move that were aware of. It was also not in the place within the web team and are now at a point they expected to find it. To combat this, the where people in the services are responsible search term ‘white line’ was added to the for the accuracy of the services information content. It sounds simple, but making sure and ensuring it is up to date. They have the common search terms are used, updating knowledge but don’t write it, and don’t get to names of categories and linking from related influence how it’s written. The research and tasks vastly improves the user experience. feedback from citizens has given the webteam the confidence to challenge the use of jargon, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE the placement and the amount of content, AND SERVICE CLARITY whereas before the content was written by It’s really important that services on the the services and the team would be overruled. website are grouped around the structure All of the content has been rewritten to some degree with mobile use taken into of the citizens and not the council. But consideration in that process. The first rewrite this needs buy-in from the services of content was audited once added to the site themselves. There was very much a belief and then reworked and reworked again. It was that the website belonged to the services an ongoing process throughout the project and it was about the services putting up with many stages and plenty of reviews from information about what they do, but without service teams, editors and citizens. There is a always being clear about the purpose. lot less content now than before and it’s We sat down with different services and definitely more user and mobile friendly. looked at ‘life events’ rather than service areas, asking what people would need to MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS AND know if they were having a child, moving AUDIENCE RECEPTION home, getting married and so on. People from Mobile responsiveness and accessibility different services attended and we asked them were absolutely key to Spacecraft Digital’s to put things into different ‘life event’ buckets. mission. Mobile frameworks focused on This was hugely important in getting those user need, featuring a dominant search field within the council to think about the structure for accessing all content. Spacecraft Digital of the website in a different way, and not just did a lot of discovery work throughout the on behalf of the services they are involved in. process and spent a lot of time with the data So for example, if we’re talking about benefits,

of the previous site. User testing was used throughout the design and build process.

Eye tracking played a big part of Spacecraft Digital’s process; once something had been created it was put in front of people and insight into what their eyes were drawn revealed a lot. This included many things, from the best colour contrasts to where things were best suited on pages. We were able to see heatmaps of where people were looking and test pathways based on specific tasks.

Local authority sites have a duty to serve everyone in the area, working for many different audiences including businesses and citizens across the community. Birmingham City Council is actually the largest local authority in Europe, its website receives over 37 million page views per annum and there are over 100 different languages spoken, and for many, English isn’t their first language. The decision was therefore made to support the English vocabulary with an icon-based approach, helping people to navigate through imagery alongside text.

The approach had proven popular in the test phase and has worked very well in practice.

Wireframes were created as we went along and presented to users for feedback.

Through constant iteration, we ended up with two distinct styles. It meant that when we got to the final concept stages, rather than having several rough versions we

Birmingham City Council is actually the largest local authority in Europe: its website receives over 37 million page views per annum had two very honed concepts. Because of the thorough research, we were able to definitively say that people had a preference for a certain typeface, for a certain button design, for a specific layout, and so on.

These were then presented to users and members. We spent a day at council house, going through various committees, and we arrived at a version that incorporated the best of each. Before we went live, we gave everyone we’d engaged with links to take a look and told them to play with it, explaining that it was still in development and saying ‘here’s your opportunity to feedback to us’.

Following various prototypes of site and key user journeys testing, we went live (quietly) in August 2016 and the new site was received positively. In April 2017, the new site was awarded Honouree status in the 2017 Webbys, recognised under Mobile Sites and Apps in the Public Sector and Activism categories, providing great recognition, especially as a core objective in the redesign was tackling a lack of mobile responsiveness.

From an internal and external perspective, the site has been a huge success. The web

Website Design

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

team enjoy using the new CMS, which is part of the Jadu Continuum platform. Jadu has moved to fortnightly development sprints, so it’s very responsive to industry changes in practice and user need. We also use Jadu’s forms product, XFP and are looking to introduce its CXM, their customer relationship management service.

Our users are finding things easier and faster in the new site and that means everything.

There are so many benefits, but to give a recent and specific example; there are a lot of taxis in Birmingham and we historically received a significant amount of calls and visits around licensing. People actually had to come in for a 20 page document, that cost £25 to create. We put all the details on the new website, with the appropriate information and couldn’t believe the change.

Recognition is great, but how users experience the site and digital services is by far the most important thing and so far the feedback has been outstanding. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.birmingham.gov.uk

Glasswall Solutions’ research shows that your employees will not protect you from cyber villains As the scale of cyber attacks increases, significant new research reveals that complacency and ignorance are putting organisations at risk of hacking, ransomware and zero-day attacks.

The research, by Glasswall Solutions, surveyed a total of 2,000 office-workers at medium-to-large businesses in the UK and US. Despite widespread publicity staff fail to understand that the main threat to any organisation now comes from malicious email attachments. To make matters worse, many staff follow such lax email procedures that they unwittingly leave the door wide open to cyber criminals.

The research found that 62 per cent of staff do not usually check the legitimacy of attachments in emails from unknown sources, while a dangerous minority of 15 per cent said they always or usually trust email attachments sent by people they have never even heard of. More than eight-in-ten staff (83 per cent) always or usually open attachments in emails purporting to be from known contacts.

Other findings reveal how some employees have no sense of responsibility

for cyber security. More than one in five would avoid reporting anything they had done that may have compromised security, while a worrying 16 per cent in the two countries do not believe that preventing cyber-attacks is their concern.

There was however, a consensus among 61 per cent of employees that their organisations should install more technology to protect them. In the UK more than a third of staff (34 per cent) do not believe their bosses fully understand cyber risks.

Employees just want to be able to do their job and whilst everyone should be mindful of cyber threats there is an expectation that

with the vast investment spent on border cyber defence, at a user level opening what looks like a legitimate attachment should be okay. We know that is not the case!

Therefore doing more of the same in the form of reactive signature based approaches to protect from email based attacks is futile. Innovation, such as Glasswall, is the key and the adoption of new and innovative technologies that check, validate and regenerate files in real-time without impacting the user experience is a way of securing organisations from document based attacks. Working seamlessly in real-time in an email architecture, web download or file transfer Glasswall delivers clean and secure documents without business disruption.

It is only through such innovation that hackers, criminals and their malicious pieces of code can be kept firmly outside the door.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0203 814 3890 info@glasswallsolutions.com www.glasswallsolutions.com

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Frameworks

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

On Cloud 9 with Crown Commercial Service The ninth iteration of the government’s G-Cloud 9 framework agreement launched in May this year. Here, Government Business looks at what the agreement offers and analyses some of the companies that have successfully secured placement on the latest cloud version The G-Cloud 9 framework agreement, launched in May this year, is the latest iteration of the framework which allows UK public sector bodies access to cloud computing services via a compliant procurement vehicle. New iterations of the framework are considered at a varying frequency of six-12 months, depending on demand for, and availability of, new services as the IT cloud market develops.

Launched with 2,847 suppliers, the ninth G-Cloud iteration has undergone several changes with the aim of providing a more flexible maximum contract length. Earlier versions of G-Cloud were designed to run parallel with its previous agreement by design. However, G-Cloud 9 is being run, and will continue to run, as a single framework, requiring all aspiring and existing suppliers to

have registered to offer services. This means challenges’ that would involve ‘helping the that buyers and suppliers will be public sector turn ideas into reality’. able to use one set of contracts for all their G-Cloud services.

THE AGREEMENT d G-Cloud 7 and G-Cloud G-Cloud 9 is a framework aunche 7 L 4 8 were removed from agreement of 12 months’ 8 , with 2 -Cloud 9 the Digital Marketplace duration, however G , s r when G-Cloud 9 the duration may be e i l supp anged with service went live. extended for any period h has c f providing Meanwhile, Tony up to a maximum of o m i Singleton, best known twelve months from a e l e b h t exi fl for creating and the expiry of the initial e r o am tract term, which at the n developing G-Cloud, o c m announced the day moment sits at May 2018. maximu ngth le before G-Cloud 9 launched For the use of public sector that he was to leave the bodies, the agreement allows civil service after 35 years. In a them to choose and purchase blog post on the Government Digital cloud computing services covering Service he said he would be looking for ‘new infrastructure, platform, !

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G-CLOUD 9 " software and specialist cloud services.

The framework is for commodity based, pay-as-you go cloud services across three lots. Lot 1 covers Cloud Hosting (IaaS) and (PaaS). These must be cloud platform or infrastructure services that can help buyers deploy, manage and run software and provision and use processing, storage or networking resources. Lot 2, Cloud Software (SaaS), is for applications that are typically accessed over a public or private network e.g. the internet and hosted in the cloud. Lot 3, covering Cloud Support, is for products which help buyers set up and maintain their cloud software or hosting services.

In order to monitor the performance and capture the benefits of the G-Cloud framework, it is essential that customers complete the customer benefits record form every time that they enter into a call-off agreement.

When customers are replacing ‘in-house’ software, infrastructure and platforms with cloud based services, the whole cost of running these currently will be compared on a customer by customer basis against the new total costs. Savings will be shown by the reduction in licenses, support staff, equipment running and maintenance costs and capital outlay for infrastructure. In situations where the cloud services being purchased are new (i.e the customer has not replaced an existing service provision with a cloud service) there is still an opportunity to claim demand management savings.

run mission-critical systems and services.”

Elsewhere, as a G-Cloud 9 digital marketplace approved supplier, Kirona will offer software as a service, including its Job Manager mobile application to enable delivery of data and services to field resources to carry out their job efficiently, eliminating paperwork, speed up job completion and support data capture on a range of platforms and devices.

Kirona’s Dynamic Resource Scheduler provides intelligent appointments and dynamic scheduling of resources or assets.

UKCloud is another vendor that celebrated its approval to the agreement. The company has committed to delivering more for less on G-Cloud 9, offering further cost reductions across its service catalogue, including its Cross Domain Security Zone (CDSZ), which will see prices fall by up to 50 per cent.

UKCloud customers will also benefit from more flexible pricing on the UKCloud Oracle platform and a range of enhanced features, including data-at-rest encryption in its Cloud Storage, and Cloud GPU at no extra cost.

Simon Hansford, CEO, noted: “As a committed supporter of G-Cloud, we welcome the latest iteration which promises to be the best yet, thanks to the comprehensive consultation process undertaken by the Government Digital Service and CCS. As a supplier to the framework since the very beginning, we are delighted to continue our tradition of releasing several new and enhanced service offerings on the innovative new G-Cloud 9.”

A number of public sector organisations are increasing their use of cloud services due to its flexibility and cost savings. G-Cloud 9 makes it easier for them to check which types of suppliers meet the CCS approval criteria FLEXIBILITY AND COST SAVINGS Node4 is one of the companies awarded a place on G-Cloud 9, with the N4 Private Cloud, Cyber Security Services, NetApp Private Storage as a Service (NPSaaS), Storage as a Service (STaaS), Backup as a Service (BUaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) powered by Cisco and Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions listed on the framework, making these available to UK public sector organisations.

Paula Johnston, head of Public Sector at Node4, said: “A number of public sector organisations are increasing their use of cloud services due to its flexibility and cost savings. G-Cloud 9 makes it easier for organisations to check which types of suppliers meet the CCS approval criteria and readily engage with them. Being a G-Cloud 9 supplier means that public sector services have better access to Node4’s solutions to

David Booker, CEO at Veropath, another company on the framework, commented: “We are delighted to be part of the G-Cloud 9 supplier framework. It represents a key and streamlined route to market for our Microsoft Azure cloud-based Technology Expense Management platform, and ensures we are well-placed to build on our current success in delivering telecoms cost reduction and ongoing control to all parts of the public sector.”

As a supplier on the Digital Marketplace, Veropath can be used by organisations across the UK public sector including central government, local government, health, education, devolved administrations, emergency services, defence and not-for-profit organisations.

Making it easier than ever to become a government supplier

Frameworks

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is making it easier for companies to supply to government by launching a new, simplified tender pack.

CCS has been working with partners including techUK and the Federation of Small Businesses to design the new pack, which cuts the amount of tender documentation that suppliers need to complete. The pack sets out all the information in one place and consists of fewer, shorter tender documents. It is in plain English and also removes irrelevant terms and conditions. Full terms and conditions are available online.

Sam Rowbury, CCS director of Policy Delivery, said: “The new bid pack will make it easier than ever for more suppliers, and particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to work with government. It clearly and simply sets out the customer’s and CCS’s requirements, so that bidders can spend more time developing their best offer and less on red tape.

“We have already seen success in the first project, which resulted in 86 of the 121 successful suppliers on the new Cyber Security Services framework being SMEs. Many of those suppliers told us that the new pack was much easier to understand and use.”

Rob Driver, head of Public Sector Programme at techUK, added: “Ongoing engagement between government and industry enables public services to take advantage of innovative tech through having access to a wide range of suppliers.

As a result of the detailed supplier and buyer engagement between techUK and CCS a more user friendly bidder pack has been developed.

This will open up choice for public sector buyers, promote innovation and help the government achieve its target of 33 per cent of procurement spend being awarded to SMEs.” Read more: tinyurl.com/y92u2587

MOBILE COMPUTING SOLUTIONS SmartTask, the leading employee scheduling and remote workforce management !

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Engage and Retain Your Workforce Peakon is the government approved real-time employee engagement solution.

Our simple, automated, and user-friendly pulse survey platform provides a real-time data-driven approach to measuring and improving employee engagement. The benefits of using Peakon over traditional providers include: •

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Frameworks

G-CLOUD 9 " solution, is now available on the G-Cloud 9 Digital Marketplace. The company enables organisations to better plan and manage their workers, so they are at the right place, at the right time by combining intelligent rostering, live monitoring and integrated proof of attendance across both static and mobile teams.

Paul Ridden, CEO of SmartTask, said: “SmartTask is now established in the security, facilities management, university, care and mail sectors, so offers significant opportunities to public sector organisations that operate remote teams. Having been listed on the G-Cloud 9 Digital Marketplace, new and existing public sector customers will have greater access to our mobile computing solutions without a lengthy and costly procurement process.

“The public sector is under ever increasing pressure to provide more for less, reducing costs while at the same time improving service delivery. As a cloud-based workforce management solution, SmartTask can achieve a wide range of business and operational objectives at a fraction of the cost of other systems in the marketplace. In fact, the breadth of functionality available and the scalable cost model supports a highly flexible roll-out without a huge upfront investment.”

One of the UK’s fastest growing travel management companies, Redfern, has also

G-Cloud 9 is a framework agreement of 12 months’ duration, however the duration may be extended for any period up to a maximum of twelve months from the expiry of the initial term, which at the moment sits at May 2018 won a place on the G-Cloud 9 framework.

Redfern was listed on the previous version of G-Cloud, and is the only travel management company to maintain its place on the new, improved framework, and is one of only two to be successful in applying for the latest iteration.

Redfern’s COO Kate Wimpeney said: “We’re proud to be re-appointed to the G-Cloud procurement framework. This will increase Redfern’s presence within the public sector and will give organisations the benefit of

our tRIPS booking tool designed to make booking business travel as smooth as possible, without having to go through onerous procurement processes. We’re committed to helping our customers drive down the cost of business travel and to make the process as hassle-free as possible. Admission onto the G-Cloud framework will allow us to continue to do this for the public sector.” # FURTHER INFORMATION tinyurl.com/ydymsm45

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info@opm.co.uk - 020 7239 7800 - www.opm.co.uk - @OPMnetwork OPM Group is an independent, employee-owned consultancy that delivers improved social impact Research and Evaluation Our Impact and Insight division has over 25 years’ experience helping Clients in public, private and volunteer sectors understand the results of their programmes.

Organisational Development How can you save money without irreparably damaging relationships?

Can you help disillusioned staff to reconnect with a sense of public service?

Do you need advice on how to create the conditions for difficult conversations?

Our Change and Transformation Team can help.

Social Investment and Social Investment Bonds Public services have rarely faced so much uncertainty. The needs of service users and communities are changing; resources are tight and likely to get tighter.

We can help Commissioners access private and volunteer funds through SIBs and other means.

Contact our SI team.

FRAMEWORKS

THE OPM GROUP – MARKET LEADER

Advertisement Feature

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Producing a positive impact on society with independent, employee-owned research, OPM Group is a consultancy organisation which supports the delivery of social impact OPM Group is an independent, employee-owned research and consultancy organisation which supports and champions the delivery of social impact. The group consists of two divisions: OPM and Dialogue

by Design. We are a market leader in understanding and measuring social impact through research, evaluation and engagement, giving the third, public and private sector organisations the evidence of their positive impact on society and helping people have a say in both the decisions that affect them and the services designed for them.

WHO WE WORK WITH We work with a wide range of organisations including local and central government; health; social care and children’s services; the voluntary sector and social enterprise; police and community safety; education; and the private sector. All the people we work with share a common commitment: a determination to improve the well-being of the communities they serve.

OUR PROJECTS The issues we focus on vary as widely as the people and organisations we work with. Key themes include demonstrating the impact of innovation and investment, consulting and engaging with communities and stakeholders, unlocking local community capacity, improving standards for service users despite considerable financial pressure, developing the ability of leaders and organisations to manage change and ensuring that commissioning strategies and models lead to the best possible outcomes EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP As an employee-owned company, OPM Group has been at the forefront of efforts to increase staff ownership of public services, including providing expert support to Cabinet Office mutual pathfinders and supporting the delivery of the Mutuals Information Service.

We are also part of the grants and programmes framework, supplier on the programme evaluation lot and we bring deep understanding of evaluations of grant funded programmes. For example: CRIPPLEGATE FOUNDATION We were asked by the Cripplegate Foundation to evaluate Islington Giving: a campaign of local and national philanthropic organisations that work together to tackle the most pressing local issues facing the poorest residents in Islington.

This evaluation occurred just after the midpoint of the campaign’s delivery and was designed with the following aims: to understand the emerging impact of Islington Giving on the borough; to explore the extent to which these impacts fit with campaign overriding objectives; and to make recommendations for future activity.

We identified Islington Giving’s key objectives during an initial scoping period by reviewing key documents, in-depth interviews with a range of stakeholders involved in the programme and developing a draft logic model underpinned by clearly articulated ‘theories of change’.

Through this process, we identified three hypotheses to explore through the evaluation which was purely qualitative: we asked participants to describe the ways in which they have engaged with Islington Giving, the added value offered through this engagement and the impact this has had upon themselves and their wider community.

We spoke with 46 people including board members, strategic stakeholders, volunteers and donors, grant recipient staff members and grant recipient beneficiaries themselves – the people that attend Islington Giving-funded projects.

The evaluation attracted attention from funders and councils from other areas and OPM worked with Islington Giving to identify ‘top tips’ for those looking

to replicate a place-based multi-funder model. Please find more information and the evaluation report here: http://www.opm.co.uk/projects/ evaluating-the-impact-of-islingtongiving-cripplegate-foundation/ DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION: OPM was commissioned to produce an evaluation report on the Learning into Practice Project (LiPP) which was funded under DfE’s Innovation Programme and ran by NSPCC and SCIE. The LiPP was testing a proof of concept – aiming to establish what is needed on an ongoing and sustainable basis to improve the quality and use of Serious Case Reviews (SCR) in England. The LiPP consisted of four main workstreams: developing a mechanism for collating and producing accessible information on practice issues and causes from SCRs; the establishment of a strategic Alliance of national strategic and leadership bodies to consider and implement improvement work, from a national perspective, as a result of SCR findings; supporting commissioning and conduct of reviews through a set of Quality Markers; and improving lead reviewer expertise through a series of masterclasses.

Our evaluation was asked to explore: stakeholder perceptions of the potential for the new mechanisms being developed and tested to achieve improvements in the quality and use of SCRs in the future, and in turn, better outcomes for children and families; and what might be needed for these mechanisms to become sustainable and implemented on an ongoing basis.

The evaluation involved 63 qualitative interviews with those involved in LiPP activities; and an online survey aimed at non-participants in the LiPP activities to explore wider views on the proposals. 126 people completed this.

Alongside the external evaluation, the project team conducted an internal evaluation of the LiPP, focussing on describing the mechanisms being tested, and the emerging learning from these. # FURTHER INFORMATION The evaluation report has been published now and can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/learning-into-practice-project

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PAYMENTS

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IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Suppliers signing up to Prompt Payment Code The Crown Commercial Service has reported that 32 of the biggest government suppliers have voluntarily committed to pay 95 per cent of invoices within 60 days. Government Business looks at the strengthened Prompt Payment Code

The signatories to the code, who together account for approximately 40 per cent of government procurement spend, are major strategic suppliers who typically have contracts across government of more than £100 million. The CCS is encouraging businesses to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are collectively owed an estimated £26 billion in overdue payments. The voluntary code of practice publicly signifies organisations’ commitment to fair payment terms to suppliers, especially smaller businesses.

Emma Jones, Crown Representative for Small Businesses, addressed this point in saying the Prompt Payment Code is ‘welcome

which is an acceptance that they will follow government’s lead in paying their small business suppliers within 30 days.

The government is also encouraging all businesses, no matter the size, to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code, and will be appointing a Small Business Commissioner shortly. The position will deal with issues and complaints around late payment. Holding a four year tenure, the successful candidate will hopefully have sufficient time to bed-in a culture of prompt payment across the UK corporate scene.

Small Business Minister Margot James said: “We want the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a business, but the UK’s small-to-medium-sized businesses are currently owed over £26 billion in overdue payments. Such unfair payment practices hamper a business’s ability to invest in growth, and have no place in an economy that works for everyone. It is only right that the government should lead by example, and it’s great to see all 32 of our strategic suppliers signed up and committed to fair payment terms.”

PAYMENT PRACTICES Caroline Nokes, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office, added: “This is a major boost to payment practices in the UK. Paying invoices on time is vital in providing healthy cash flow to smaller businesses, to help them survive and thrive.”

0 Over 8 of Philip King, chief executive t n e of the CICM, concludes: c r pe ices o v “It is important to n i d e t u p s i see that all of the d d i n a u are p , s E government’s strategic M S s y to a d suppliers are now e v fi news to thousands within remainder leading by example he of small business by signing up to the whilst t aid within owners’. Over 80 per Prompt Payment Code. p are cent of undisputed The code allows suppliers 30 days invoices to SMEs are to raise a challenge if paid within five days, whilst they feel they are not being the remainder are paid within treated fairly by a signatory, 30 days. These terms make for loyal and such challenges are proving and happy suppliers, and small businesses successful not only in delivering payment would like to see more of the same. but also in further improving practices and processes. It’s vital that businesses A LARGE FOCUS feel confident and have certainty that they CCS has focused on 32 strategic suppliers will be paid on time, as well as having a to central government, especially large route to challenge if they need to.” # companies that secure the greatest amount of contracts. All 32 strategic suppliers have FURTHER INFORMATION now signed up to the Prompt Payment Code www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk

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Built by the ASB community for the ASB community.

ReACT is the solution of choice for more than 150 organisations case managing antisocial behaviour across UK & Ireland.

Born out of the need for a case management solution designed specifically to meet the needs of ASB professionals, ReACT is different because it has been built with the knowledge, feedback and real experiences of ASB professionals and partners. With its 10 year pedigree, ReACT is powerful yet simple to use; delivering the right tools for the job and intuitively guiding the user through policy and procedure workflows.

Its flexible features mean that ReACT has the potential to be used beyond ASB; by organisations also responsible for case managing safeguarding, troubled families, tenancy fraud, domestic violence and more.

Your benefits Protect or share – it’s your choice. Lock complete cases or just specific notes. Powerful data sharing across internal and external teams for true collaboration when you need it.

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A step ahead – triggers and alerts help your team to see tasks through to conclusion and within allocated timescales; supporting organisational targets and goals.

Flexible – configure bespoke workflows, labels, user permissions, terminology and just about everything else, to ensure ReACT is the perfect fit for all of your organisation’s case-management needs.

Improve customer satisfaction – a rationalised and reliable flow of communication between you and your customers to improve satisfaction levels - another metric captured and reported on by ReACT. Straightforward reporting – with a built-in suite of reports, data output is simple. Write and upload your own reports or create ad-hoc queries using the simple business intelligence tool.

To see how ReACT could support your organisation, please contact us: T: 0121 384 2513 E: info@react-asb.co.uk

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Access on the move – ReACT is web based, enabling users to access information when working from home or on the move.

Continuous Care – from our Safer Life implementation programme. With world class support and an annual user group, our aftercare service is second to none.

DIGITAL OUTCOMES

The Crown Commercial Service Digital Outcomes and Specialists 2 framework launched in February 2017, helping the public sector to find suppliers that can buy, design, build and deliver software and test their websites or software. Niall Quinn, director for the Technology Strategic Category of CCS, discusses the aims, objectives and impact of the new framework, how it is driving government spend to SMEs, and the growing importance of digital The public sector in this country is keenly aware of the opportunities that digital provides for bringing government closer and making it more comprehensible to ordinary citizens. Thousands of digital projects are ongoing in local authorities, police forces, NHS bodies and hundreds more public sector entities as I write this, demonstrating just how crucial it is that government is able to aggregate its demand and leverage its size to maximise commercial benefits and make public money go further.

At the same time, the government’s go-to provider of common goods and services, Crown Commercial Service (CCS), is committed to facilitating the growth of SMEs and increasing opportunities for small and medium-sized providers to supply to government.

AN SME-FRIENDLY FRAMEWORK The second iteration of Digital Outcomes

and Specialists, launched in February, has proven to be extremely SME-friendly. From the earliest work to improve and build upon the strengths of the previous iteration of the framework, we have designed the agreement to maximise the opportunities for SMEs – initially, in securing their place on the framework, and then by making it as straightforward as possible for them to sell their services to public sector customers.

The numbers back us up on the success of these measures with SMEs. Of the 2,018 suppliers on Digital Outcomes and Specialists, 1,900 (94 per cent) are SMEs. This supports the government’s pledge to spend £1 in every £3 through SMEs. In the months since the framework opened for business, £4.5 million has already been spent by the public sector with businesses, with £1.7 Of the million, or 38 per cent of 2,018 s the total going to SMEs. upplier Overall, central government s Digital and wider public Out

on and Spe comes cent are cialists, 94 pe govern SMEs, with th r men e £1 in evt spending ery through £3 SMEs

sector spend through the first iteration of the framework is now over £26 million, with 32 per cent of it going to SMEs. Achieving this kind of spend is about making both sides of the process as easy as possible to complete. That means appealing to SME and larger suppliers in the first place through simple, easy to complete bidder packs, and then supporting public sector customers with a logical and assured process to buy in digital expertise.

AN AGILE SOLUTION FOR BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS With such a broad range of requirements – from the design of local authority websites or software to user research studios and participants for central government departments or arm’s-length bodies – it’s crucial that suppliers can be agile with their offer. Designing an online billing application for a large, unitary local authority in the north of England, with features that make it suitable for use by large numbers of !

Written by Niall Quinn, director for the Technology Strategic Category, CCS

Delivering software and growing digital

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DIGITAL OUTCOMES

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Photo by Glenn Carstens Peters on Unsplash

" older or vulnerable adults or their families is very different to supplying a digital solution for a rural NHS trust that wants to automate its online booking system.

One solution might involve a team of web developers working in-house and in tandem with public sector colleagues, the other a remote, project managed development with a diary of video conferences and key delivery milestones. The depth and range of suppliers on Digital Outcomes and Specialists makes these kinds of projects achievable, and affordable.

Buyers can access suppliers with the right capabilities, who comply with the Digital by Default Standard and align with the Government Digital Service Design Manual. Intellectual property rights for

DOS2 is a dynamic style framework with the specific aim of helping the public sector buy, design, build and deliver digital outcomes using an agile approach, by procuring specialist resources to deliver agile software development project-developed solutions are owned by the buyer and can be shared and reused with any other public sector buyer, ensuring longevity and efficiency across agencies. Sustainability is built into the foundations of the agreement.

From the suppliers’ side, we’re making it easier for SMEs and larger suppliers by enabling them to provide short, concise

initial responses to buyer requirements, only going on to complete full tender responses if they are successful in being shortlisted.

The framework is also designed to be agile in its length and scope – it’s a 12-month framework with the option to extend for another 12 months. Contracts under Digital Outcomes and Specialists can !

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Liberty Cloud Transforming Citizen Engagement

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DIGITAL OUTCOMES " run for 24 months, providing flexibility for longer projects. All engagements under the framework are based on customers specifying outcomes with specific deliverables.

ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK Digital Outcomes and Specialists 2 is a dynamic style framework with the specific aim of helping the public sector buy, design, build and deliver digital outcomes using an agile approach, by procuring the appropriate specialist resource to deliver agile software development.

The agreement is split into four lots: Lot 1 – Digital outcomes: teams to build and support a digital service; Lot 2 – Digital specialists: individual specialists to deliver a specific outcome with defined deliverables on a service, programme or project; Lot 3 – User research studios: space and facilities to carry out interviews, usability tests and focus groups; watch and record people as they engage with designs, prototypes and live public sector services; and Lot 4 – User research participants: access to a diverse range of user research participants including people who are digitally excluded, as well as those who have low literacy or digital skills, and those who need assisted digital support.

GOVERNMENT DIGITAL STRATEGY The Digital Outcomes and Specialists agreement supports the delivery of the Government Digital Strategy: giving public sector buyers easy access to suppliers with the right capabilities, who comply with the Digital by Default Standard and align with the Government Digital Service Design Manual; providing a large, diverse pool of capable suppliers from small and medium size businesses to the agile practices of the traditional tier-one / system integration suppliers; ensuring supplier capacity to enable the delivery of digital projects at multiple UK locations; and providing a flexible and speedy route to meet customers’ digital project commissioning requirements. It is dynamic in style, regularly refreshed, following agile methodology in short delivery Sprint, learning from and incorporating lessons learned in the next iteration of the framework.

New training and development framework awarded Organisations across the public sector are set to make big savings on the cost of training and developing their staff. The new Managed Learning Services agreement, developed by CCS, is estimated to save the public sector around £30 million, with SMEs set to receive more than half of the total investment.

Managed Learning Services enables public bodies including government departments, local councils, NHS Trusts and the emergency services to procure training courses and services from general interest subjects like data protection to more specialist training, getting the best deal for public bodies as they develop their staff.

The framework agreement will run for three years with the option of extending by another year.

How will it work?

The single supplier framework has been awarded to Capita, who has guaranteed that more than half of the spend through the framework will be subcontracted through smaller, specialist training providers, helping to ensure that SMEs can benefit from working with the public sector.

The framework brings the following benefits to public sector organisations: greater choice and flexibility to suit individual needs; transparent pricing with a simple structure allowing public sector bodies to only pay for

Frameworks

IT & COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR– www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

what they use, ensuring the best value for money; bigger savings – building on the success of the previous framework, customers can expect further savings due to the new tiered pricing approach; and a continuously developed catalogue of public sector commonly required courses.

Lotting structure and services The multi-tiered model includes the following services: Tier 1 – Learning Portal and Catalogue – a free to access, secure, web-based public learning portal, hosting a catalogue of courses in a broad range of subject areas, which can be used either off the shelf or customised to meet specific needs.

Tier 2 – Sourcing Services – source learning requirements that provide best value for money across all subject areas, and learning platforms, from traditional to leading-edge.

Tier 3 – Administration and Support Services – deliver customer-focused, end-to-end, scalable administration and learner support solutions.

Tier 4 – Contract Management Services – a single point of contact for the ongoing relationship and performance management of third party learning and development suppliers.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice. gov.uk/contracts/rm3822

LATEST FRAMEWORKS In May 2017, G-Cloud 9 opened for business. The latest iteration of G-Cloud has a record 2,847 suppliers signed up, over 90 per cent of them SMEs. There are a number of changes, including a new lotting structure and the opportunity for longer contracts following feedback from buyers.

There are also changes to the way cyber security can be purchased through G-Cloud following the removal of overlap and the launch of the Cyber Security Services 2 framework earlier this year. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.gov.uk/digital-marketplace

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G-CLOUD 9

EASING THE PAIN OF PROCUREMENT

Advertisement Feature

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The length and complexity of UK procurement processes make purchasing new software and services a costly affair. In fact, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEPR), procurement in the UK is 90 per cent more expensive than in the EU The CEPR research found that the average cost to a UK public authority of attracting each bid from a potential supplier is £1,260. That makes the UK the fourth most expensive place in Europe for organisations going out to tender.

It also means that a competitive procurement process, that involves a variety of suppliers, is more costly for organisations looking for the best possible fit for their project.

This is one of the reasons why more organisations are looking to reduce costs by buying services through a framework such as the UK government’s G-Cloud.

Procurement frameworks lower the cost of buying services by speeding up and simplifying the procurement process. Vendors are screened when they apply to be part of the framework – allowing organisations to buy services without needing to run a full tender process. Rather than putting out an invitation to tender and hoping that suitable vendors respond, you can browse all of the suppliers and choose the most suitable package. Here at Zengenti, we recognised the benefits this increased choice offered customers and joined G-Cloud in 2012. In that time we’ve seen it grow in popularity with organisations that want to bypass a lengthy tender process and we have just been accepted onto the latest iteration of the framework, G-Cloud 9.

ADOPTING A ‘CLOUD FIRST’ POLICY Following the creation of G-Cloud, the UK government announced that it was adopting a ‘Cloud First’ policy for public sector IT projects in order to save money and increase efficiency. By using services that are hosted in the cloud, often known as ‘Software as a Service’, you avoid the costs associated with setting up, securing, and maintaining your own hosting infrastructure.

Service providers can run servers and data centres at a lower cost than individual organisations because of the scale at which they operate. You, the customer, benefit from these cost savings as well as the more flexible payment model. It can help to think of cloud services in terms of renting rather than owning a house. When you rent a house you are free to occupy it, decorate it, and use how you like – without being responsible for the upkeep of the building. Cloud services are similar in that you rent the ‘service’ – often on a monthly

basis – without being responsible for the upkeep of the infrastructure that it relies on.

Rather than needing to find the budget to buy and host a new piece of software upfront, you can can spread the cost over the lifetime of your project. This allows you to be more agile – trying new services without needing to go through a lengthy and expensive procurement process.

FANTASTIC SERVICE We’re finding more and more organisations are choosing cloud services, whether they’re purchased through a framework or a traditional process. In recent years, we’ve seen an increasing number of our customers – both public and private sector – opting to use the cloud version of our Contensis content management system. As the public become more tech-savvy and their expectations grow, organisations are understandably keen to spend more time providing a fantastic service and less time worrying about servers.

Because we handle the installation, updates, and support for Contensis Cloud, our customers are free to focus on what they do best. Teams can concentrate on providing a better user experience, creating more useful content, and building better self-service platforms rather than fending off DDOS attacks and setting up load balancers.

Other organisations are making further savings by taking a more innovative approach to procurement. This includes getting together with similar organisations to pool resources and expertise. We recently

won a contract to supply Contensis and our professional services Bedfordshire Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, and Hertfordshire Constabulary as part of a joint project between the three forces.

Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary have used a shared CMS since 2009 and all three forces use the same intranet. The trio have similar aims and objectives, such as improving their customer’s access to police information and meeting increasing demand for self service, so require the same set of tools to achieve their goals.

This makes it relatively simple for them to redevelop their websites and intranet using the same systems and technology. By sharing resources the forces are aiming to make significant cost savings and improve efficiency, which will allow them to offer an improved quality of service to the public, stakeholders, and their partner agencies.

It’s never been easier to cut your procurement costs while finding a supplier that’s the right fit for your organisation.

Cloud services offer a way for organisations to get the services they need while bypassing the lengthy tender process associated with huge one-off purchases. Whether you use G-Cloud or opt for a traditional tender process, thinking outside the big metal boxes of servers and hosting infrastructure can free your team to do what they do best – provide a fantastic customer service. # FURTHER INFORMATION www.zengenti.com

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CONFERENCES & EVENTS

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Meetings in the heart of Regency Cheltenham

Helping you get more from your events

Malmaison Cheltenham is a majestic white building located in the heart of Montpellier.

This sensitivelyconverted but utterly modern villa has 61 bedrooms offering free Wi-Fi and smart technology. The hotel boasts a vibrant brasserie and bar, private dining rooms, a terrace, Victorian conservatory and glass courtyard. There is also a REN spa and fitness room.

The inspiring meeting spaces seat from two to 18 people. The Drawing Room on the ground level of the villa has floor to ceiling windows that flood the space with light and can seat up to 14 people. Mal One is a contemporary lower ground floor room with a private entrance and its own wall of wine, which connects to a break-out space and seats 18. Mal Two

Eventsforce provides event management software that helps results-driven professionals deliver thousands of successful events each year.

Its web-based solutions address all aspects of the event management lifecycle from event planning, marketing and registration to abstracts and awards management, as well as post-event analysis and reporting.

Eventsforce has one of the highest customer retention rates in the event technology sector. Its market spans 14 different countries and is seen as the platform of choice for

is another lower ground floor room with a private entrance which also has a wall of wine; perfect for eight delegates.

Day delegate rates start from £29.00 per person; 24 hour delegate rates start from £199.00 per person; government room rates start from £110 including accommodation and full English breakfast; and Forces leisure rates start from £75 accommodation and full English breakfast. All rates are subject to availability.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0330 016 0381 eventsdesk@malmaison.com www.malmaison.com

some of the leading names in finance, education, government, associations, PCOs and publishing.

Eventsforce is the technology partner your events can rely on, supporting you, your team and your events every step of the way. It helps you deliver successful events by improving the attendee experience and it makes it easier for you to plan and manage events.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 020 77857040 info@eventsforce.com www.eventsforce.com

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

KingsGate Conference Centre – Conference venue by design

Luxury accommodation within walking distance from the heart of Sheffield

KingsGate Conference Centre is perfectly situated on the outskirts of Peterborough, with easy links to major roads and the east coast train mainline.

From KingsGate to Kings Cross is a mere 50 minutes.

With a reputation for delivering successful events and excellent customer service, KingsGate is the ideal venue for your conference, exhibition or business meeting and so much more.

At the heart of KingsGate is an impressive 1,500 seat Auditorium, with over 740 square metres of floor space, a theatre sized stage with in house high spec audio – visual equipment and highly skilled technicians.

KingsGate has three large suites designed with flexibility to suit all your requirements for conferences, larger meetings,

Copthorne Sheffield provides a friendly base for government business travellers, thanks to its welcoming staff and walking distance to city centre.

The contemporary 4* corporate hotel, with 158 attractive bedrooms, is located at Bramall Lane, next to the world’s oldest football ground. The hotel, which offers 24- hour reception and concierge, is perfectly equipped for business travellers as the company’s government regulars have come to expect, including air-cooling, a writing desk with chair, a laptop-sized safe, a smart TV and, most importantly, a comfortable bed and pillows for a good night’s sleep.

Delicious food and good wine is served at the AA Rosette 18Fifty5 restaurant. You’re guaranteed a great pint, proper grub at the bar and live music on selected week nights in a

briefings, product launches or training. There are also seven smaller meetings rooms perfect for boardroom meetings or breakout rooms for larger conferences. Some rooms include their own kitchenette and toilet facility, perfect for use as private or self-contained events.

From breakfast meetings, working lunches, evening receptions and banquets, KingsGate’s 5* rated caterers can provide it all.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01733 602040 conference@kingsgateuk.com www.kingsgate-uk.org

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friendly Yorkshire atmosphere.

The hotel also provides complimentary parking, gym access and Wi-Fi. Secure locable meeting rooms with natural daylight are located on the first floor and can accommodate up to 400 delegates. Government day delegate rates start from £23.00 and room rates from £67.00 inclusive of breakfast and VAT. FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01142 525480 events.sheffield@ millenniumhotels.co.uk www.millenniumhotels.com

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CONFERENCES & EVENTS

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Welcoming guests since 1909, the Strand Palace Hotel is surrounded by the best London has to offer. Set on the Strand in the heart of the capital’s West End, a stone’s throw from Westminster, the hotel is mere moments from Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and the Thames.

From the hotel’s main entrance, an art deco staircase leads to a dedicated 680sqm events floor, home to nine contemporary rooms. All varying in size and fitted with built-in AV equipment and video conferencing facilities, providing the flexibility to host any type of event.

The largest space is the bright Exeter Suite, which accommodates up to 250 delegates. This can be split into two soundproofed rooms for smaller meetings, or kept as one for banquets and

Located in the heart of the City of London, Drapers’ Hall provides a majestic setting for any event. On the site of the present Drapers’ Hall, once part of the Augustinian Priory, Thomas Cromwell built his palace in the 1530s. After his execution, the property was purchased by the Guild of Drapers in 1543 from Henry VIII. Drapers’ Hall boasts magnificent interiors creating a stunning backdrop to every occasion. While steeped in history, the Hall is recognisable from films & TV programmes such as The King’s Speech, The Apprentice and The Great British Menu. The exquisite in-house catering, and the service provided by Drapers’ Hall’s experienced and dedicated team, will ensure that your event is perfect in every way.

Conferencing in the heart of the West End

awards ceremonies. A separate large reception area provides a fantastic breakout and networking space for delegates.

The hotel’s contemporary guestrooms, all with modern en suite facilities, provide the perfect comfort after a big day of meetings. A range of room sizes are on offer, from cosy singles to executive kings – perfect for a single night’s stopover on a budget or a longer stay.

Strand Palace Hotel is the preferred accommodation for government departments and has government rates available.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 020 7379 4737 www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

47-58 Bastwick St is a new venue offering state of the art facilities and outstanding customer care in Clerkenwell, one of the capital’s most thriving creative neighbourhoods.

Benefitting from excellent transport links, and just a short walk from Old Street’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’, the bright, contemporary meeting spaces offer state-of-the-art AV and are suitable for all requirements, whether it is a training event, conference or other activities. Bespoke catering and a professional front-of-house team will ensure your event is welcoming as well as productive.

The five meeting spaces are located on the ground and first floors, featuring flexible layout options, air conditioning and plenty of natural daylight.

So whether you’re looking to host a meeting for four or a

Clayton Hotel Chiswick, located in the heart of West London, is a newly refurbished 4-star hotel offering eight purpose-built, state-of-the-art meetings and events spaces. Through clever design, all rooms enjoy lots of natural daylight and are equipped with complimentary Wi-Fi, digital screens, brand new audio visual and click and share technology.

All meeting rooms can be set into different layouts and provide various setups, ensuring that all your needs are met; be it a small boardroom meeting of 10 delegates, or a conference for 300 delegates in the contemporary Chiswick Ballroom. Each meeting room has its own dedicated breakout area in the conference lobby.

On the day, a selection of customised packages of refreshments and your choice of working or buffet lunches can be provided. Depending on the number of delegates or size of your party, the Chiswick Ballroom

Meeting rooms in the heart of Islington

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The breath-taking venue of Drapers’ Hall

training workshop for 80, you will find the right space for you.

The venue’s tiered auditorium is also ideal for seminars or conferences with up to 104 delegates, and can accommodate up to 150 when joined to its adjacent meeting rooms.

Bastwick Street also serves as the international HQ for The Institution of Structural Engineers, the world’s largest membership organisation dedicated to the art and science of structural engineering.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0207 235 4535 www.47bastwickstreet.org

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

The venue can comfortably hold up to 700 guests for a standing reception when using all rooms, 276 for a seated dinner and 300-350 for theatre style presentations or concerts. This makes Drapers’ Hall the perfect location for all types of events.

Call or email the events team on the details below to check availability and book in a time to visit the stunning venue.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0207 448 1324 events@thedrapers.co.uk www.thedrapershall.co.uk

Made to suit your meeting destination

can also be split into two rooms.

The dedicated meetings and events team will be on hand whether it be for meetings, conferences, a drinks reception, wedding or private dining. With mood lighting to enhance the atmosphere of your event, a built-in dance floor and bar, this fabulous venue has all you need for the perfect celebration.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0)20 8996 5218 cb.chiswick@ claytonhotels.com www.claytonhotelschiswick.com

AIR CONDITIONING

RECYCLING

Overclean Ltd has been leading the way in indoor air hygiene for over 35 years, having become the first company to received ISO9001 in indoor air quality in the UK. Overclean was also the first to establish in house training for all operatives.

Its founder Peter Reid FIC, along with a well established team of experts, has long carried out extensive works during this period, including projects at Heathrow Airport, major hospitals and thousands of retail outlets around the entire UK, and are often called on when others failed.

Overclean has made its reputation from years of high quality works and the company’s intensive training of personnel, through its sister company AEME Ltd, which has trained thousands in it’s 25 years of experience, be it in indoor air quality, kitchen extracts to EC852/2004 & TR19 or fire damper testing.

Traditional methods to recycle plastic packaging waste don’t work. Recycled plastics have to compete directly with prices for virgin polymers made from low priced oil - clearly a recipe for disaster.

Dependence on achieving Defra recycling targets has been linked to date via exports to the Far East, which are no longer guaranteed. Plastic recycling targets will only be met by adopting the radical approach that Revaluetech has to offer.

Revaluetech Re-Formative Engineering provides a real way to overcome this problem. The company’s research over the past nine years, costing £2 million, enables a wide variety of polymer composite products to be made at prices that match those for tropical hardwood, treated softwood, concrete and steel.

Heavy duty civil engineering applications for these structurally

The market leader for indoor air hygiene

Overclean has carried out extensive surveys, kitchen extracts and indoor air quality cleaning and testing in: hospitals, colleges, universities, government buildings, hotels, schools, retirement homes, MOD premises, ships, super yachts, and railways, all to the latest legal requirements. The company CEO also serves as expert witness in legal cases.

Overclean’s knowledge and expertise are here waiting to help you.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01404 41333 enquiries@overclear.co.uk www.overclear.co.uk

Sustainable tech solving plastic waste problems

SECURITY

ENERGY

SmartTask is an advanced employee scheduling and mobile workforce management system for the public sector. The cloud-based software solution offers significant opportunities to central and local government organisations who wish to take control of their remote teams, helping them to deliver a speedy and reliable service through improved communications and increased transparency.

SmartTask enables organisations to plan better and manage their employees, so they are at the right place, at the right time. It combines intelligent rostering, live monitoring and integrated proof of attendance across both static and mobile teams, making it the ideal tool to improve operational control, enhance service levels and support duty of care. The software can also replace paper-

AFS Biomass are proud to be at the forefront of promoting, installing and maintaining biomass heating systems nationwide. The benefits of adopting biomass are compelling.

For example, it replaces expensive fossil fuel heating costs with cheaper fuel; avoids potentially punitive carbon taxes; promotes eco-credentials from almost carbon neutral heating; and provides effective heating for public sector or business premises.

Now is undoubtedly the time to invest in a biomass heating system for maximum rewards.

As one of the leading, Carbon Trust Accredited, biomass installation companies in the UK, AFS Biomass offers bespoke biomass system design, installation and ongoing maintenance provision.

From schools and care homes to hotels and leisure centres, biomass heating is fast becoming the preferred option.

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BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

engineered composites include coastal protection, inland flood alleviation, rail sleepers, utility poles for power and telecoms.

For local authorities street signage, kerbing, landscaping, decking, noise barriers, revetments and a host of park, garden and landscape uses offer sustainable end markets.

Avoiding the use of tropical hardwood, reducing carbon emissions, meeting climate change targets prove their validity in terms of whole life performance, allied to recyclability after their exceptionally long, maintenance free service life.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0121 603 6492 rodfox@revaluetech.co.uk www.revaluetech.co.uk

Manage staff and increase Providing a cost-effective employee accountability form of heating

based processes – such as audits, inspections and incident reporting – by providing an effective means for capturing and storing operational data.

Already established in the security, facilities management, university, care and mail sectors, SmartTask is now available on the G-Cloud 9 Digital Marketplace, the Crown Commercial Service’s latest procurement framework. As a result, organisations in the public sector can now take advantage of proven capabilities to better performance manage staff and increase employee accountability.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01494 444 044 smarttask@skillweb.co.uk www.smarttask.co.uk

Holbeach & East Elloe Hospital Trust, Bodawen Nursing Home, and Old Hall Country Club & Spa are just a few of the many businesses and institutions which have benefitted from the unparalleled experience and attention to detail offered

by AFS Biomass Ltd. References are available on request from these and many other highly satisfied clients.

For more information and advice see below.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0161 302 2851 www.afsbiomass.com info@afsbiomass.com

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HEALTH & SAFETY

FIRE SAFETY

Helping schools comply Pinnacle: fire detection with fire safety legislation and emergency lighting

Established in 2011, DB Fire Safety’s motto - ‘Your Partner for Fire Safety’ - accurately describes its role when providing its many clients with help and support in meeting their responsibilities under fire safety legislation.

Since the introduction of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, it is now a statutory requirement that all businesses and organisations meet certain defined requirements. These include the appointment of a Responsible Person and a Fire Risk Assessment.

DB Fire Safety, helps its clients, including numerous schools and colleges, by carrying out the necessary fire risk assessments and providing staff with appropriate training in fire awareness and evacuation procedures.

DB Fire Safety Limited has recently been awarded ‘The Best Independent Fire Safety Consultancy 2017’ by the UK Business Awards.

When interviewed, David Black, managing director said: “Winning this award demonstrates our commitment to providing advice and support independent of any other commercial considerations.

“Additionally, I think it proves our commitment to ensuring that all the advice we provide is in the best interests of our clients, and not in the interest of advancing any commercial considerations on our behalf.

“Our motto, ‘Your Partner for Fire Safety’, accurately describes our mission that has led to this award.”

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 772 0559 enquiries@dbfiresafety.co.uk

FIREWORKS

High-class fireworks for special ocassions Selstar Fireworks Ltd has been delivering highclass professional displays since 1995.

There are over 40 British Pyrotechnists Association (BPA) trained pyrotechnicians who travel all over the country delighting clients with firework magic.

Selstar Fireworks uses the latest in visualisation design software to assist in delivering high quality displays with split second timing for a wide range of firework effects. This is achieved using the latest in digitally controlled firing system technology.

Selstar Fireworks is a specialist in providing high impact displays for a wide variety of venues and events from pyro musical to low noise sensitive national parks. As well as the Armed Forces, Selstar Fireworks also cater for corporate events, weddings, concerts, local authority and public events.

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The company only uses high quality products ranging from Chinese fireworks from the Luiyang province to the most beautiful colours and effects from Europe. This year the firm will be competing in the British Firework Championships in Plymouth, firing from the breakwater lighting up the Hoe with stunning colours and noise with new effects for 2017.

The company’s aim is to deliver high quality displays to entertain audiences with a wow factor for any event.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01243 606777 info@selstarfireworks.co.uk www.selstarfireworks.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 24.4

With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Pinnacle Fire & Electrical is perfectly placed to provide fire detection and emergency lighting services at competitive prices for all commercial and domestic customers throughout the wider London area. The company offers impartial best practice advice on supply, design, installation, and commissioning of systems to suit all budgets.

It is third party accredited – BAFE/BSI/NICEIC/FIA. Being a member of independent bodies within the UK ensures it is audited and remains competent to meet all appropriate high quality standards that non-certificated companies may lack.

It’s no secret that fire detection

and emergency lighting saves lives in the home or place of business. Having a fully working alarm is essential to the on-going safety of personnel. From simple smoke detection devices to fully addressable fire panels Pinnacle Fire & Electrical aim to ensure your premises remain protected.

Implementation of periodic maintenance to comply with current British standards ensures your fire systems remain reliable.

Contracted customers are entitled to 24-hour emergency callout.

Pinnacle also offers a free survey and quote and aim to beat any genuine like-for-like quotes.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0208 8416066 sales@pinnacle-fire.co.uk

ADVERTISERS INDEX

The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service 58 VE &Meetings A&M Sales and Marketing ABM Adams Electronics AFS Biomass ARTS Energy Ballyclare Barnet Lock and Security BESA Publications Best Western Palm Hotel CIWM Enterprises Clayton Hotel Chiswick Company for Electronic Copthorne Hotel CP Regents Park Two Crocodile Flood Solutions Crowd Control Solutions DB Fire Safety DCR Inspection Systems Door Tablet Dynamic Fireworks DynamiteFX EA Recycling Ecco Safety Group Electronic Business Systems Evac Chair International Evaccess Fantastic Fireworks Foamhand Ford Foresight Group Frontier Fireworks Geoline Glasswall Solutions Gorse Hill Green Bag (Rec.) Gullivers Truck Hire Hadfield Wood Recyclers Institution of Structual ISS Mediclean Issee KingsGate Coference Centre Kiwi Power Malmaison Hotel Mangar Health Mangrove Data Medical Banks Miles Smith Insurance Group Modulo Beton Modular MSC Associates

82 82 32 44 37 109 IBC 72 20 46 82 61 108 24 107 80 66 22 110 74 93 42 38 54 77 98 28 30 42 34 10 58 42 70 87 80 70 56 58 108 8 36 107 IFC 107 76 104 106 58 56 52

My Mailing Room Neon Pyrotechnics Netcall Telecom Neuven Solutions Nobel Fire Systems OfficeLabs OpenCell Openhouse Products OPM Overclean Park Farm Country Hotel Peakon Pestana Chelsea Bridge Pinnacle Fire and Electrical Plas Menai Porkka Practicus Premier Guarantee Prime Document Prometheus Medical Quantum Special Effects R J Evans Flat Roofing Recolight Recordsure Redis Labs Revaluetech Sajas Group Scarab Sweepers SelStar Fireworks Shield Associates Skillweb Skylit Pyrotechnics Start Traffic STC Energy Management StormMeister Flood Protection Strand Palace Hotel Tapton Hall Text Local The Drapers Company The Formative Group The Outreach Organisation Unwin Verder Walk the Plank Wamitab Advisory Board Wessex Safety Services Widdops Brush Co Winford Manor Hotel Wizard Fireworks Zengenti

37 42 102 104 20 88 96 76 94 109 83 92 80 110 76 46 101 6 90 77 40 46 58 106 100 109 56 60 110 60 109 40 26 16 68 108 79 BC 108 26 71 76 62 43 61 33 56 79 40 105

Made in Europe

Stretching the lifetime of YOUR equipment!

Introducing the NEW improved Ni-MH rechargeable batteries from ARTS Energy.

Designed to last 10 years plus in your applications, operational temperature between -40°C to +85°C, this safe non volatile product is available in AA, Cs, D, & F cell sizes and available in virtually any configuration, recharge uses 5 x less energy, an important consideration for energy costs in a building, truly a green recyclable product.

ARTS Energy VHT cells in Nickel Metal Hydride are designed for applications demanding exceptional life duration in extreme climate conditions, the VHT series can be charged and discharged in a wide temperatures range. These cells are used in Emergency lighting (now with a 5 year warranty}, Back up, Off peak or Solar outdoor applications. VHT cells offer an exceptional behaviour in cycling (3,000 full cycles), offering a long service life to the professional applications using the battery every day.

ARTS Energy can also supply high quality Lithium and Ni-Cd products. ARTS Energy, producer of batteries and storage systems for electrical energy is uniquely based in Europe and in essence ‘We manage the complexity for Your simplicity’. Contact us to specify our energy saving products in your equipment.

Visit us at www.arts-energy.com for more details.

Email: colin.dore@arts-energy.com Phone: +33 545 903552 +44 7893 816637

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