Government business 25.3

ENERGY

RISK MANAGEMENT

PARKING

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 25.3

AIR QUALITY

MAKING CLEAN AIR A REALITY Why collaborative working is key to effectively tackling our air quality crisis

WASTE MANAGEMENT

LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND LITTER With plastic pollution making headlines, how can local change affect the litter landscape?

PLUS: DOCUMENT DISPOSAL | FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | FIRE SAFETY | HOUSING

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RISK MANAGEMENT

PARKING

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 25.3

WASTE MANAGEMENT

AIR QUALITY

MAKING CLEAN AIR A REALITY

LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND LITTER

Why collaborative working is key to effectively tackling our air quality crisis

Comment

ENERGY

With plastic pollution making headlines, how can local change affect the litter landscape?

PLUS: DOCUMENT DISPOSAL | FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | FIRE SAFETY | HOUSING

Local action on plastics Devon County Council has pledged to phase out its use of the most polluting single-use plastic products within two years.

As Keep Britain Tidy explain in our waste management feature on page 29, councils across the UK are not just battling to keep our cities, towns and villages clean, but are also fighting to stop that same litter getting into our oceans.

Devon County Council’s ‘Plastics Strategy’ sets out how various single-use plastic food and beverage packaging and tableware will be removed from council work locations by 2020 and how the authority will use its position and responsibility to raise awareness of the issues surrounding single-use plastics and encourage and support collective action across the region.

While removing plastic is important, something which the Houses of Parliament has also been publicising over the last few weeks, it is imperative that more local authorities carefully and responsibly use their positions to influence recycling and litter habits in their communities. By focusing on packaging and consumption first, we may be on the right path to cleaning our coastlines and streets.

Follow and interact with us on Twitter: @GovBusiness

This issue also includes some great commentary on another issue which is dominating central government thoughts lately - air quality. Our contributions from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (page 17) and Sustrans (page 21) both highlight how the dominance of the car must be challenged and how local authorities must be more incentivised and financially backed to push through change. As the Client Earth court case has proven, the government is still not doing enough on the matter.

Michael Lyons, editor

P ONLINE P IN PRINT P MOBILE P FACE-TO-FACE If you would like to receive 6 issues of Government Business magazine for £150 a year, please contact Public Sector Information, 226 High Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055, Fax: 020 8532 0066, or visit the Government Business website at:

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226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Fax: 020 8532 0066 Web: www.psi-media.co.uk EDITOR Michael Lyons PRODUCTION EDITOR Dan Kanolik PRODUCTION DESIGN Jo Golding, Sophia Mew PRODUCTION CONTROL Vickie Hopkins WEB PRODUCTION Victoria Casey ADVERTISEMENT SALES Steve Day, Azad Miah, Michael Kennedy, Bernie Miller, Paul Taylor, Richard Murray ADVERTISEMENT SALES SUPERVISOR Neil Haydon PUBLISHER Karen Hopps ADMINISTRATION Bella Chapman REPRODUCTION & PRINT Argent Media

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Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

3

Contents

Contents Government Business 25.3 16

07 News

55 Parking

17 Air quality

63 Document disposal

Air quality is one of the dominant concerns in the UK. In two articles, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and Sustrans examine why a change of approach is necessary to tackle the issue

Seeking professional help in disposing of your data is a wise investment especially as the new GDPR is now in place. The British Security Industry Association tell us why

25 Energy

66 Public Sector Show

The public sector can already make most applications of solar work for the communities they serve today, write the Solar Trade Association

Exclusive research from the Public Sector Show 2018 has provided a picture of public service views on the health of the nation’s public services

29 Waste management

67 SDW 2018

Safe infrastructure needed to boost cycling and walking; councils given new powers over house planning; and Devon produces new strategy to reduce plastic waste

25 52

Earlier this year, Manchester City Council became the country’s first ‘Tidy City’.

With plastic pollution high on the government agenda, Keep Britian Tidy explain why change must start at home

33 Facilities management

Innovate UK and UK Research and Innovation have launched a £102 million investment programme in new local energy approaches and announced the opening of a new research consortium

37 Facilities Show

From 19 June, the largest event in the facilities management calendar will commence as the Facilities Show descends on London’s ExCeL

43 Health & safety

Slips, trips and falls at work are collectively the single most common cause of injury in UK workplaces. RoSPA looks at how good management can ward against such injuries. Plus, a look ahead to the Safety & Health Expo

55

49 Risk management

What constitutes good risk management and how can risk professionals in the public sector be supported? Jane O’Leary seeks to answer these questions

52 Fire safety 81

The inclusion of a sprinkler system can prevent major financial and equipment losses for UK businesses. The Business Sprinkler Association detail why

Government Business magazine

Glenn Dives from the British Parking Association establishes the importance of car parks and outlines the way in which they can and should be maintained

This three-day SDW conference delivers innovations, insight, analysis and debate direct from over 75 industry experts

69 CIH Housing 2018

Affordable housing, the Homelessness Reduction Bill and Grenfell Tower are just some of the topics being discussed at June’s Housing 2018 event

76 Recruitment

Karen Grave, president of the Public Services People Managers Association, looks at the pressures impacting on our workforce and how some organisations are defying current recruitment trends

78 IFSEC International

IFSEC International is Europe’s leading security event, committed to co-creating the future of integrated security

81 Conference & events

Despite uncertainty, figures suggest the majority of venues have been relatively unaffected since the Brexit vote in June 2016. The mia explore in more detail

85 Frameworks

GB examines two of the current Crown Commercial Service frameworks: Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services, and the Management Consultancy Framework

95 Generators

A reliable and continuous power supply is essential to many activities, across both industry and the public sector

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

CYCLING

Safe infrastructure needed to boost cycling and walking Andy Street and Transport for the West Midlands (TfWM) are urging the government to boost efforts to increase cycling and walking journeys by investing in safe infrastructure.

The Mayor of the West Midlands has written to Jesse Norman, Under Secretary of State for Transport, seeking the Department of Transport’s support in increasing investment on cycling to £10 per head by 2023 in the West Midlands, focused on new and upgraded cycling infrastructure.

The letter also includes a call for the West Midlands Combined Authority to receive devolved powers over traffic enforcement, allowing them to more easily prosecute people who park recklessly

and endanger cyclists and pedestrians.

Street said: “We have made some significant progress in the West Midlands over the last 12 months in terms of improvements in the cycling infrastructure and promoting walking and cycling.

The most obvious examples are the progress being made by Birmingham City Council on the superhighway routes on Bristol Road and Walsall Road, as well as the bikeshare scheme which will give people across the West Midlands the chance to hire bikes.

“But we need to be looking to the next stage, to making sure these superhighways become part of a network, not pieces of standalone

infrastructure. And we need to make sure that the people who hire the bikes are able to use safe infrastructure.

In my letter to Jesse Norman, I’ve asked him to work with the WMCA and TfWM on a host of measures which I believe will make it safer for people to walk and cycle. We need the government’s help to enable us to take this to the next level, making cycling and walking a safer and easier option than it is now, with beneficial impacts on traffic congestion and air pollution.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/ybscjcna

TRANSPORT

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Increasingly difficult to fund free school transport

New taskforce for London’s electric vehicle uptake

With transport costs in county areas ten times higher than in neighbouring cities, the County Councils Network has warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to fund free school transport for pupils in rural areas.

According to the CCN’s analysis, the average costs per head for home to school transport in 2017, covering free buses, taxis, and other transport for eligible pupils, reached £93 per child, compared to £10 per child in cities and towns. Therefore, county leaders are calling for a ‘fair deal’ for rural areas, saying that services will continue being reduced unless government recognises the higher costs of services in rural areas and funds those councils adequately.

There are higher costs to transport pupils in rural areas due to longer distances travelled and availability of routes, as well as higher numbers of pupils who are eligible for free transport in rural areas compared

to urban ones. This means, councils have had to introduce charges, reduce transport, and tighten eligibility with 29 out of 36 county councils reducing their expenditure on home to school transport between 2014 and 2017.

Broken down, home to school transport in North Yorkshire costs £207 per head, significantly more than neighbouring towns and cities such as Leeds (£15), Bradford (£30), and Wakefield (£23).

However, despite these costs, counties will receive £161 of core funding per head compared to an England average of £266 and £459 in London y the end of the decade, and their funding from government will almost half over that period.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y75pcobv

POTHOLES

Cyclists put off by potholes and traffic conditions Britain’s poorly maintained roads and having to share the road with lorries and other large vehicles are the biggest factors stopping more people taking up cycling in the UK. A poll of 2,000 adults, carried out by Cycling UK, found that 57 per cent are worried about sharing the road with lorries and large vehicles and that a further 56 per cent are put off from travelling by bike in the UK because poor road conditions, such as potholes.

Other concerns included crossing busy junctions and roundabouts with other vehicles and car doors being opened in their path while cycling.

However, the poll also revealed that separate cycle paths away from roads

(45 per cent), segregated bike lanes (45 per cent) and better road conditions (42 per cent) would encourage people to cycle more. Therefore, Cycling UK is calling on the government to make fundamental changes in six areas, which the charity believes will help give more people the confidence to cycle more often: changes to the Highway Code; safer vehicles, especially lorries; road and street design; enforcement; road traffic offences and penalties review; and funding.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yagfmpah

The Mayor of London is launching a new taskforce dedicated to boosting the infrastructure needed to increase the take-up of electric vehicles across the capital.

Sadiq Khan is also urging Londoners to make the switch from diesel to electric cars in a bid to tackle the city’s air pollution and move closer to becoming a zero-emission city.

The new rapid network of charging points has predominantly been delivered on land or roads managed by Transport for London (TfL), which represents a limited resource.

In addition to petrol stations, businesses and car parks, the participation of London boroughs in the taskforce has been highlighted as key, as they manage 95 per cent of London’s roads.

To move the infrastructure away from limitations and in to a place and system that encourages city-wide uptake, boroughs with TfL, the Mayor’s Office and taskforce partners to help deliver vital electric vehicle infrastructure and install rapid charging points in more urban areas.

Alongside approximately 2,000 standard charge points already installed across London, at least 150 TfL-funded rapid charge points are set to be in place by the end of 2018 in addition to new infrastructure in residential neighbourhoods. Khan would like to see rapid charging ‘hubs’ – a group of charging points, similar to petrol stations – set up across the city.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y8kheref Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

PLASTIC POLLUTION

Devon produces new strategy to reduce plastic waste Devon County Council has pledged to phase out its use of the most polluting singleuse plastic products within two years.

The authority’s ‘Plastics Strategy’ sets out how various single-use plastic food and beverage packaging and tableware, such as cutlery and cups, will be removed from council work locations by 2020 and how the county council will use its position and responsibility to raise awareness of the issues surrounding single-use plastics and encourage and support collective action across the region.

The first-of-its-kind strategy has received support from marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage ‘Plastic Free Coastlines’ campaign.

Roger Croad, cabinet member for Environmental Services, said: “The problem

of marine waste washing up on beaches is growing worldwide. The UK has seen a 140 per cent rise since 1994, with around 5,000 items of plastic pollution now found per mile of beach. Our county boasts over 500 miles of beautiful coastline and we must do all we can to help protect it.

“This new strategy will build on our efforts and focus attention on the consumption and disposal of single-use food and beverage packaging and tableware. This type of waste is most prominent in marine litter and discouraging its use will greatly reduce the amount of plastics in the environment.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y9ba5f5s

ENVIRONMENT

PLANNING

Over 110,000 trees cut down by councils in three years

Councils given new powers over house planning

A Sunday Times investigation has found that more than 110,000 trees have been chopped down in three years by councils across the UK, with Newcastle the most prolific.

With Sheffield City Council regularly in the news for felling 10 per cent of its street tree population, often facing protesters over plans to chop up to 17,000 street trees, the freedom of information requests by the newspaper have found that Sheffield is listed as third for the cities most prolific at tree felling.

Sheffield, whose rate stands at 3,529, is exceeded by Newcastle, where 8,414 trees have been felled, and Edinburgh, where 4,435 trees have been felled. There are an estimated 800,000 trees in Newcastle, with

Newcastle City Council claiming that 0.35 per cent of its tree stock had therefore been felled in each of the past three years.

A Newcastle council spokesman is reported as saying: “Where trees have been felled this has been for a good reason or where this has been necessary – where trees are dead, diseased or dangerous or where we have a new development scheme. In most of these cases replanting schemes are required. We have 7,000 trees with protection orders (TPO) and 718 group TPOs.” READ MORE tinyurl.com/y7ctj4cx

HOUSING

165,000 homes could be built without local scrutiny The Local Government Association has warned that current housebuilding targets are running the risk of allowing nearly 165,000 new homes to bypass scrutiny by the local community.

Council leaders are urging the government to abandon its planned changes to the National Policy Planning Framework which will impose sometimes ‘undeliverable’ housebuilding targets on local areas and penalise councils and communities left powerless to ensure they are met. Local areas will be expected to meet new housing targets imposed by Whitehall. If private house builders fail to build more than 75 per cent of those targets by 2020, then developers will be able to ignore sites agreed locally

and build in places that communities did not want to include in local plans.

If that goes ahead, more than half of the target homes – which is calculated at just shy of 165,000 homes in 42 per cent of council areas - could be built by bypassing local plans by the end of the decade. This could leave house builders in a position where they may be able to avoid of local factors, such as ensuring the right types of homes are built in the right places, that homes have appropriate infrastructure and that enough affordable homes needed locally are actually provided.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y7x88y4n

Housing Minister Dominic Raab has announced new powers for local authorities to aid them in delivering the homes their communities need.

Under the proposed regulations, councils will be able to seek government’s approval to launch a New Town Development Corporation, which will then be accountable for delivering new towns and garden communities in their area, including master planning and project development, bringing on board private investment, partnering with developers and overseeing the completion of a new town or garden village. Each will be expected to deliver tens of thousands of new homes.

The corporations, who will involve communities in their projects, will be led by teams made up of council representatives, community stakeholders, experts in delivering major projects and other partner organisations involved in the delivery of sites.

All New Town Development Corporations were previously created by the Secretary of State and remained accountable to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Raab said: “We need to build the homes our communities need and I’m committed to giving councils the tools they need to deliver. That’s why we’re giving councils the option of applying to establish development corporations. These will be locally accountable and must listen to the views of the community to ensure that the right homes are built in the right places.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yd7sgbx8 Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

COUNTER TERRORISM

Better intelligence sharing with local authorities In a speech on an overhaul of the UK’s counter terror strategy, Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed plans for increased sharing of information between government, local authorities and the police.

While the main discussion point centred around MI5 declassifying and sharing information on UK citizens suspected of having terrorist sympathies, Javid also

discussed increased sharing of information between security services, the private sector and other partners, which will see intelligence shared more between government, local authorities and the police. The Home Secretary’s speech also included calls for increased maximum sentences for some offences, improving the use

of data to track terrorism suspects and outlining a new approach to deal with right-wing extremism, which Javid suggests is more closely linked with ISIS than people may think.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yc2mhee2

FINANCES

SEND

Northamptonshire to sell County Hall to boost income

Funding boost for SEND school places

Northamptonshire County Council is seeking to minimise its property costs by disposing of County Hall and increasing occupancy at its One Angel Square headquarters.

The council can lower its annual rental costs and generate income by sub-letting parts of One Angel Square, which welcomed staff last May, to partner organisations in order to achieve the best value for money from the building.

There are now limited functions being delivered from the County Hall site, where the council chamber, coroner’s courts and

tourist information centre are based.

Northamptonshire County Council sold One Angel Square earlier this year to Canada Life Investments on a 35-year leaseback arrangement, with estimates suggesting that the space made available for third party occupation in One Angel Square would generate around £500,000 per year for the authority.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yampyyk4

EDUCATION

Parents ‘not involved’ in new free schools New research by the Sutton Trust has revealed that parent groups have only been behind about one in five of the free schools that have been opened.

The flagship free schools policy was formed in 2010 with the intention of bringing innovation and more parental choice to schools in England, but the foundation claims that ‘very few are fulfilling that original purpose’.

The latest study, from the Sutton Trust social mobility charity and the National Foundation for Educational Research, says new free schools are now much more likely to be created by expanding academy trusts, with many set up in areas with a need for more school places.

The report, Free For All? Analysing free schools in England, 2018, says that if free schools are now very likely to be part of academy chains there needs to be

more clarity about how they are funded and supervised and to make sure they represent ‘value for public money’.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, said: “Free schools were supposed to bring new and innovative providers into the education sector, to drive up standards and improve school choice. But as our research shows, very few are fulfilling that original purpose. Our research finds that while free schools are often located in disadvantaged areas both primary and secondary free schools have lower proportions of disadvantaged pupils than their catchment areas. This is unacceptable. Free schools need to make serious efforts to recruit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Local authorities are set to benefit from a £50million funding boost to create additional school places and state-ofthe-art facilities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The additional investment builds on the £215million fund announced last year to ensure children with SEND had access to a good school place and is expected to create around 740 more special school places and provide new specialist facilities to support children with complex needs. As part of this, more than half of English councils will receive more than £225,000 to increase places or improve schools for children with SEND, with every council receiving at least £115,000.

Nadhim Zahawi, Children and Families Minister, said: “All parents want to send their child to a good local school, one that meets their individual needs and supports them to achieve their full potential, regardless of the challenges they may face.

This funding will help to create thousands more school places across the country, with a clear focus on transforming the experience of education for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/ybrnyb9y

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Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

11

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News

OBESITY

Councils should get more say over unhealthy food The Health and Social Care Committee has claimed that local authorities need to be allowed to limit the proliferation of unhealthy food outlets in their areas.

As part of their report into childhood obesity, the committee has identified several key areas which demand attention as a matter of urgency by the government, including giving local authorities powers to limit the proliferation of unhealthy food outlets in their areas and the prevalence of high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) food and drink billboard advertising near schools.

As part of this, the committee urges

for health to be made an objective within the planning system in order to give local authorities the tools they need to make effective changes at local level.

Additionally, the government should ensure that there are robust systems in place to ensure that overweight or obese children are offered effective help in a multidisciplinary approach, and that service provision extends to their families.

The report also calls for a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising, a ban on brand generated characters or licensed TV and film characters from being used

to promote HFSS products and regulation in place to restrict the discounting and price promotions which drive higher volumes of consumption of unhealthy food and drink.

This follows new analysis by the Local Government Association that revealed that more than 22,000 children aged 10 and 11 in Year 6 are classed as severely obese.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y823oa5v

CHILDREN’S SERVICES

CRISIS SUPPORT

Unstable care system problematic for ‘pinball kids’

Council-run crisis support schemes failing people

The Children’s Commissioner for England has warned that thousands of children are still ‘pinging’ around the care system, changing homes, schools or social worker over the course of a year.

In her second Stability Index, Anne Longfield reported that nearly 2,400 children changed home, school and social worker over the last twelve months, with data from the last two years revealing that over 3,000 children had to move home four or more times. Over three years, around 2,500 children moved home five or more times.

Created to encourage councils to hold themselves to account for children moving around the system, the annual Stability Index highlight how disruptive changing school can be. Last year, approximately 4,300 children in care moved school in the middle of the year, with their new school

24 miles away on average. Meanwhile, roughly 400 children who moved school ended up missing a whole term as a result.

It also emphasised how children at poor-performing schools are more likely to experience a school move, and less likely to move to a better school.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y9b3w7xl

A new report from The Children’s Society and the Church of England has warned that crisis support schemes run by local authorities are failing to operate effectively.

With increasing numbers of destitute people turning instead to food banks and other voluntary agencies for help, as well as a lack of publicity and restrictive eligibility criteria, the report finds that vulnerable people are being deterred from applying for Local Welfare Assistance schemes.

The number of awards under the Local Welfare Assistance scheme in the report’s seven case study areas in 2016/17 ranged between three per cent and 29 per cent of the level of equivalent awards in 2009/10 made under the Social Fund, leaving the report authors to urge stronger leadership from local authorities in developing effective crisis support for people in need. As part of this, the two organisations are asking the government to provide more funding and set minimum standards for these schemes.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y7xgc3jq

CARE SERVICES

Cuts cause loss of three million hours of home care A new report by Age UK has shown that the provision of home care services has fallen by a concerning three million hours since 2015.

Behind the Headlines – the battle to get care at home highlights the misery being experienced by many older people and their families as they find themselves ‘trapped in a nightmare of bureaucracy’ and without the help of local authorities who are struggling to meet growing demands for care with ‘deeply inadequate resources’.

Furthermore, the average spend per adult on social care fell 13 per cent, from

£439 to £379, over the last seven years, with approximately 400,000 fewer older people receiving social care, as eligibility criteria were tightened by councils desperately trying to ‘square an impossible circle’ of rising demand and falling funds.

Many older people cited long waits to get an assessment, care services that are disjointed or simply unresponsive and a fundamental lack of capacity in the system.

Local authorities are found to be unable to provide basic care and support to older people in need of it, creating local ‘care

deserts’, which, without urgent action the charity says this situation will only get worse. Age UK has therefore urged the government quickly act to prop up the current system with further substantial investment, as well as introducing proposals for placing care on a sustainable financial footing for the future before the scheduled planned date of later this year.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y98xdhw4

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

13

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The SARS framework was designed to help Customers procure Spend Analysis and Recovery Services from a range of suppliers who provide retrospective ‘audit’ and analysis of core spend and supplier transactions (invoices and payments), to identify and recover any supplier overpayments, overcharges or missed opportunities (discounts, rebates etc.) from a customer’s suppliers on a ‘gainshare’ basis.

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Historical Private and Public Sector approaches to procurement of Spend Analysis and Recovery Services.

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In this way, they are choosing who they feel they can best work with and who they believe will generate them the most returns from the review.

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Council Comment

A county council perspective:GB comment Cllr Ian Hudspeth, leader of Oxfordshire County Council and County Councils Network spokesman for education and children’s services

Councillor Ian Hudspeth

It is now widely accepted that local authorities of all shapes and sizes, and of all political colours, are struggling financially.

The forthcoming Spending Review is an opportunity for all councils to unite and make the case for a bigger slice of the national funding pie. However, alongside this, it is crucial that the government’s on-going fair funding review ensures any larger quantum of resources is distributed fairly across councils.

Last month, the County Councils Network (CCN) released a new study that perfectly encapsulates the need for a more sustainable and fairer funding settlement for counties.

Our research on home to school transport expenditure showed that, due to funding reductions and growing demand, counties were having to cut services down to the statutory minimum. As a result, just over 22,000 pupils in 20 different counties were no longer receiving mainstream, pre-16,

free transport to their local primary and secondary school in 2017 compared to 2014.

Under government guidance, councils have a statutory responsibility to offer free, home to school transport (either on buses, taxis, or other means of transportation) if a pupil under eight lives more than two miles away from their school, or if a pupil over eight lives three miles away from their school.

However many county authorities have gone above and beyond this, and offered free transport to pupils who live within a closer radius – but due to funding pressures, have had little choice but to scale back services. None of us want to reduce these highly-valued services for families, but we have had no option due to severe funding shortfalls, coupled with the historic underfunding of counties.

The research showed that there were markedly higher costs in delivering home

to school transport in rural counties: on average, free, mainstream transport costs £93 per pupil in counties, compared to an average of £10 per pupil in urban and city areas. The highest, North Yorkshire, has per pupil costs of £207, far higher than neighbouring towns and cities such as Leeds (£15), Bradford (£30), and Wakefield (£23).

This is due to the increased number of eligible pupils for free home to school transport in county areas, due to schools being more spread out and people living more sparsely, as well as the increased costs of rural transport – through longer routes, larger fuel usage, and so forth, exacerbated by rural bus routes being cut back, due to insufficient subsidies to maintain services.

Many local authorities say that ‘ill-thought out’ housing is also increasing the issue, with new developments being built without a school, or build miles away from the closest school. Once the families move in, the bill to transport pupils to their school is picked up by the county council. Further housing growth, especially in the high-demand south-east, will only intensify this problem.

With the average per-head costs of home to school transport almost ten times the average cost for city or urban councils, it is clear there is a ‘rural premium’ on delivering this kind of service. County councils and county unitaries receive the lowest funding per head out of any uppertier council type. Counties will receive just £161 of core funding per head by the end of the decade compared to an England average of £266 and £459 in London.

Fortunately, government ministers recognise this too, and the current direction of travel in the fair funding review is extremely promising, with rurality set to be considered as one of three main cost drivers for local authorities.

CCN will continue to build a strong evidence base on the need for a more sustainable funding settlement for all councils. Home to school transport is just one example of where councils are having to make unpopular cut backs. But it also serves to demonstrates that more resources, distributed the same old way, will fail to recognise the increased costs of delivering services in rural settings and it is leading to growing areas of ‘unmet’ needs. Unless our councils are fairly and properly funded, we will continue to have to cut back on highly-valued local services.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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EUROFINS – The Gold Standard for Indoor Air Quality Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present an invisible threat to the wellbeing of every person inside a building. The pollutants are emitted by everyday items, including cleaning and building products, and have been linked with a variety of health conditions, from shortness of breath and dizziness to internal organ damage, depending on the length and concentration of exposure.

Despite a growing body of evidence highlighting the risks VOCs can pose, regulatory guidance on how to limit exposure is not always well-defined. The Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort (IAC) certification programme has been developed to provide a clear, rigorous standard for assessing VOC emissions from building products and displaying compliance with the relevant requirements within standards such as BREEAM, LEEDv4 and EMICODE.

Eurofins IAC The Eurofins IAC certification programme was created to harmonise the criteria of mandatory and voluntary product regulations from across Europe which govern VOC emissions. The voluntary certification tool is split into two levels.

Standard Certification – This shows that a product’s emissions are compliant with the minimal legal specifications issued by authorities and governments within the European Union.

Gold Certification – This recognises the product is compliant with many of the most demanding voluntary performance standards and can be recognised as being an ‘outstanding’ material according to the VOC Indoor Air Quality emissions regulations. Products with this certification achieve an A+ under the French VOC Regulations, a pass under AgBB, and compliance for both BREEAM and LEEDv4 on European projects, including in the UK. In 2016, Kingspan Kooltherm FM Pipe Insulation became one of the first building service insulation products in the world to be certified under the scheme.

To achieve the certification, Kingspan Industrial Insulation’s production facility was first evaluated by a Eurofins-approved assessor.

The assessor looked at production methods, the product’s formulation and a variety of other factors which could have affected its emissions. They also took samples of the product for emissions testing.

Once emissions tests were completed, the results were then sent back along with a detailed report from the inspection. These reports can allow manufacturers to take corrective action where necessary.

As the test results suggested compliance, and no issues were raised in the inspection report, the product was then issued with the Eurofins IAC Gold certification.

Critically, Eurofins certification requires manufacturers to engage in a process of continuous testing and auditing. Recently-certified products are subjected to emission testing and production site inspections every year to ensure low emissions. As a result, installers and specifiers can have confidence that the performance and quality of certified products will be maintained over time.

Work is under way to consider VOC emissions within the harmonised European Standards for the CE Marking of products and a growing number of building services products have now achieved the Gold Level of certification. In addition to reducing VOCs within a building, these products can contribute towards the award of credits within the Hea 02 Indoor air quality section of BREEAM. Building specifiers should carefully consider these options when identifying suitable products for a project.

In Clear Air With the average person now spending the majority of their day indoors, it is essential that indoor air quality is given the same attention as outdoor air. The Eurofins IAC Gold Certification programme provides rigorous, independent assurance that construction products will emit minimal VOCs — helping to maintain a healthier indoor environment.

For more information, please contact the Pipeline Technical Advisory Service on 0808 168 7363 or email hvactechnical@kingspaninsulation.co.uk

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Air Quality

A policy shift: making clean air a reality The Chartered Institute of Environmental strategy, to shift the focus to just English local Health (CIEH) and its members believe authorities. Consequently, CIEH is concerned that good air quality is a basic requirement that the focus on Clean Air Zones (CAZ) is and a key determinant of health. In the not an appropriate way forward at this time UK over 800 Air Quality Management and it remains unclear whether these will Areas (AQMAs) remain in operation where provide any kind of solution to the current pollutant levels exceed legislative standards. challenge of poor air quality, and exposure With some of the UK standards set at twice to NO2 in particular. A further problem is that the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) the current focus is on NO2 when we know acceptable levels it is clear that air quality that the health implications of particulates is a significant public health issue. are, probably, a greater health problem.

In the UK, air pollution costs businesses and The failure of the UK to meet legislative and health care services in excess of £20 billion WHO standards has led to increased hospital annually and, in 2010, the Department of admissions, placing excess burden on the NHS. Health’s Committee on the Medical Effects It is also likely to have a significant impact of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) reported that on the health of the future generation, with long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution studies showing a reduced lung capacity in caused the equivalent of approximately children living in the most polluted areas.

29,000 deaths in the UK in 2008. Current With air quality spanning a wide range of work by the committee suggests that the policy areas, it is not only clear that everyone ongoing effect is likely to be even greater. has a role to play in improving air quality Poor air quality in the UK is a but that government policies are national issue. Air pollution not providing the necessary does not recognise leadership to enable this r i A boundaries and all UK issue to be addressed n o i pollut ot countries, regions, in a satisfactory way. towns and cities and Were the government oes n daries d n even rural areas are to be doing so then u o eb affected to a greater the UK would not ecognisUK countries, r or lesser extent. It be in breach of l l d and a s, towns an l is, therefore, wholly EU requirements inappropriate, as and facing action region d even rura n the government has in the European cities a re affected to Court done with its NO2 of Justice and a r s

area or lesse r e t a e r ag extent

the government would have avoided the successive legal challenges, mounted over the last 18 months or so by ClientEarth.

Environmental health professionals do not accept that government plans set out effective and proportionate measures to deliver the necessary reductions and they certainly will not drive those reductions quickly. The current government strategy for addressing NO2 emissions was produced in haste, is wholly insufficient and abdicates responsibility for providing national leadership for a national problem.

Emission reductions begin by developing a better understanding of the problem. More and better ‘real-time’ monitoring of air quality and consequent health related data should be required by both environmental health and public health professionals and government should appropriately resource this.

Ultimately, the only real solution is to either significantly reduce overall vehicle numbers on the road or take action to completely remove vehicles that do not comply with EuroVI/6, if diesel fuelled, or petrol Euro 3 standards as a minimum. Both of these options are probably impractical and politically unacceptable at the national level; although CIEH recognises and applauds the steps taken by the Mayor and Transport for London in this respect.

Written by Tony Lewis, head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

Air quality is one of the dominant concerns impacting on the UK’s population. Tony Lewis, head of Policy at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, looks at why the government must change its approach to tackling the issue

Financial support for local authorities CIEH does, however, advocate the following as being effective and proportionate measures: Clean Air Zone (CAZ) type charging to be introduced as matter of urgency at the national level; the removal of tax incentives on all types of diesel fuel (including red diesel) and their transfer to Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) and Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) infrastructure development; E

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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BYD Solutions Launch Indoor Air Cleaning Solution Essex based company BYD Solutions Ltd have recently launched a solution to clean your internal air of VOC’s & Bacteria. Following a simple application your internal air will be cleaner and fresher.

Officially launched in the UK at the Contamination show in September last year BYD have seen a lot of interest with customers liking the easy application procedures and no building alterations required.

To give you an example of its affect, only 20m2 of ceiling treated with titan effect can remove up to 400’000 litres of ambient air from its pollutants without resorting to complicated and costly techniques.

BYD say this effective and especially economic way to remove air pollutants, bacteria, germs and odours by treating surfaces of premises, preferably ceilings with titan effect. The treatment is totally invisible and works according to the principle of Photocatalysis.

The VOC’s decomposition effect of our titan effect treatment has been verified by a certified laboratory and can be requested any time. BYD say the application will last up to 10 years and not require any maintenance at all.

One of BYD’s directors Lee Bywater said: “This unique process is such a simple an affordable way of cleaning internal air.

It can be available not only for offices but private homes, restaurants, public transport basically anywhere that requires the need for cleaner fresher air”

With the help of light, titan effect virtually decomposes all air pollutants.

BYD adds that in order to produce this effect, daylight transmitted through windows is as well suited as the artificial light from all electrical lighting.

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Air Quality

£1m fund to protect London pupils from pollution Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced a new £1 million fund to help some of London’s most polluted primary schools fight poor air quality.

A significant reduction in vehicle numbers would also reduce congestion, noise and odour in town centres which would open up pavements areas as desirable locations for commercial opportunities  a significant switch to good quality, integrated public transport; a phased reduction in sub Euro VI/6 diesel vehicles via a properly supported scrappage scheme introduced as part of a well-managed, coordinated set of long-term responses to the problem; and the phasing out of Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) secondary engines that are almost universally powered by red diesel.

CIEH is cognisant of and supports the moves by Transport for London to only license new ULEV or ZEV ‘black cabs’ from 2018 and we advocate national measures to ensure that this approach is taken by all local authorities across the UK. We also believe that local authorities should be financially supported to take a number of actions and these include but are not limited to: providing new and better designed cycle routes that physically separate cyclists from other traffic; purchasing ULEVs and ZEVs for their own purposes; developing and extending infrastructure to support ZEVs; and supporting moves to progress infrastructure projects that provide alternatives to driving through AQMAs or CAZ. We take the view that the government’s consultations prior to the introduction of the NO2 strategy inappropriately reference the need for a ‘value for money’ approach in the face of a public health emergency. CIEH strongly believes that cost/benefit analysis must also include costs and benefits to the health of the people, the burden on the NHS of failing to act and the health implications on lives, families and communities across the whole country of failing to act. We are particularly concerned that the government’s approach of merely looking at the problem and attempting to generate a solution from the point of view of business or from the perspective of minimising overall expenditure, is wholly inappropriate.

Joint solutions Finally, as recognised above, actions such as the reduction of the number of vehicles entering polluted areas and/or excluding the worst polluting vehicles are generally considered to be politically unfavourable. This may be due to the framing of the agenda with such action often being considered for air quality purposes alone; however, a significant reduction in vehicle numbers would also reduce congestion, noise and odour in town centres which would open up pavements areas as desirable locations for commercial opportunities e.g. pavement permits for seating for bars and restaurants. This would increase business profitability and develop and help sustain local overall economic activity. These and other benefits are not often linked together in order to sell positive air quality messages. Air quality is one of many concerns impacting on the UK’s population; however, the solutions should not be seen in isolation, they should be linked to other agendas to ensure that they deliver benefits across as broad a spectrum as possible.

CIEH believes that the most important thing is a clear demonstration of leadership from government that indicates a desire to advance both technologies and policies to make cleaner air a reality. This will require a proper cross‑departmental strategy that brings together all involved with transport; public health and environmental health professionals, planners, housing providers and sustainable energy companies to address the issues.

It’s only by engaging in proper collaborative working that we will be able to effectively tackle the issue. L FURTHER INFORMATION

Detailed air quality audits have been carried out in 50 schools across 23 London boroughs, with the results offering recommendations including closing roads or moving playgrounds and school entrances, as well as targeting indoor pollution using improved ventilation systems, and installing green ‘pollution barrier’ hedges.

The Mayor’s new £1 million fund will provide each of the 50 audited schools with a £10,000 starter grant and enable any of the other London schools located in areas exceeding legal air pollution limits to apply for green infrastructure funding. This is made up of £500,000 to deliver non-transport interventions at all 50 audited schools, £300,000 to deliver green infrastructure at any London school located in an area exceeding legal pollution limits and £250,000 in funding to launch a new nursery audit programme that will trial filtration systems to reduce indoor air pollution at 20 of the most polluted nurseries in the most polluted areas.

Khan has also developed a toolkit to help boroughs apply the audits approach to other schools located in areas exceeding legal pollution limits.

Khan said: “I’m doing everything in my power to protect children in London from air pollution. Our air quality audits set out to reduce pollution in and around school premises. City Hall are also offering funding to the 50 audited schools – as well as other schools and nurseries located in high‑pollution areas – to help them make immediate changes.

“Air pollution is a national health crisis that is putting the health of children at risk. As Mayor, I’ve moved fast in London to implement the most ambitious plans to tackle air pollution of any major city in the world. This includes cleaning up our bus and taxi fleets, bringing forward the introduction of the world’s first Ultra-Low Emission Zone and introducing the Toxicity Charge – T-Charge – for the oldest polluting vehicles in central London. But I can’t do this alone. The government must step up and act with more urgency if we are going to tackle London’s filthy air once and for all.”

Read more at https://bit.ly/2LriQNE

www.cieh.org

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Environmental Noise, Dust and Vibration Boundary Monitor The Guardian2 boundary monitor is designed to help compliance with site emission levels, using remote monitoring.

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Air Quality

Air pollution is killing tens of thousands of people prematurely across the UK every year, with higher exposure effecting those in towns and city centres. Sustrans has set out ten recommendations on what needs to be done to solve the UK’s air quality crisis. Here, Rachel White highlights its findings Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) are two of the most harmful forms of air pollution, of which a large percentage is produced from motorised transport.

In fact, a staggering 80 per cent of nitrogen oxide emissions in areas where the UK is exceeding NO2 limits are due to motor vehicles, especially diesel.

To help combat this, pressure is being placed on local authorities to act following Client Earth’s third successful court case against the UK government’s ‘unlawful’ air pollution plans.

As a result, 33 additional local authorities in England which aren’t projected to reach legal air quality levels by the end of 2018 have been mandated to take action as soon as possible.

This is on top of the 28 local authorities that have already been instructed to produce plans.

Electric transport is not Pres the only solution is being sure The World Health Organisation p l aced on loca states there are no safe l a uthoriti to act f levels of particulate e s matter for humans. Most Earth’s ollowing Clien third su t particulate matter is ccessfu court c caused by motorised l a transport of which 45 the gov se against per cent comes from tyre ernmen t’s and brake wear. Therefore, ‘unlaw although electric vehicles air polluful’ will play an important role tio in helping to solve the air plans n quality crisis, it will not reduce 45 per cent of particulate matter.

Electric vehicles also won’t help to tackle the physical inactivity epidemic the UK is currently facing. Moving people from one metal box to another will not help to reduce the £20 billion this costs the UK economy each year from poor health. They will also not address

Written by Rachel White, senior policy and political advisor, Sustrans

Reframing mobility to solve our air quality crisis

congestion. In order for local authorities to tackle air pollution while making their communities happier and healthier, they need fewer not just cleaner vehicles.

The benefits of a modal shift to cycling and walking have a large role in tackling air pollution. Sustrans found that if targets to double journeys by bike and increase walking by 300 stages per person set out in England’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy were met, this would prevent more than 8,300 premature deaths from air pollution alone over ten years.

Additionally, there would be £5.67 billion worth of savings to the public purse through reduced illness from poor air quality.

Investing in walking and cycling infrastructure provides local authorities with an opportunity to rethink the way our town and cities function and create vibrant, liveable centres which are built around places.

This prevents the severance that currently occurs in many towns and cities due to busy, congested main roads cutting through the middle of them. Town centres that prioritise walking and cycling and take space away from cars don’t just improve air quality, but also benefit from increased consumer spend.

For example, a study in Portland USA found that whilst pedestrians and cyclists spend less per trip, overall they make more trips per month and spend more in shops, bars and restaurants. With clear evidence such as this demonstrating the benefits of investing in walking and cycling infrastructure – why aren’t more local authorities taking action?

Joining the dots At a round table held recently by Sustrans, local authorities from across England, public health representatives and academics discussed the barriers that exist which prevent local authorities embedding cycling infrastructure to combat air pollution and how these barriers could be overcome. Our resulting Actively improving air quality report has ten recommendations – largely E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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The dominance of the car is embedded in the lack of action to tackle air pollution and in the appraisal of actions which favour the electrification of transport they have the power and mandate to push through cycling and walking programmes.

Seeking the solution One of the greatest barriers identified is the framing of what the UK government deems as successful schemes to tackle air quality. The UK government tends to favour big capital infrastructure programmes when measuring economic success such as the roads building programme. The costs of these schemes, in terms of damage to public health, for example, in respect of physical activity and exposure to poor air quality is often disregarded. Health improvements are where the main benefits lie with cycling and walking projects. This makes it hard for cycling and walking to be seen as part of the solution to air quality even in areas with lots of capital funding.

This is because the appraisal mechanism does not currently place active travel programmes on the same footing as big infrastructure projects. Other recommendations centre on increasing awareness of the issue of air pollution and the best form of action to tackle it. They include the need for a

Air Quality

 for the UK government to make it easier for local authorities to take action.

In addition to the wider recommendation for a new Clean Air Act to enshrine the right for everyone to breathe clean air into law, the UK government needs to better link cross-departmental policies that produce positive air quality outcomes For example, the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) is made up of representatives from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

However, there are currently few links to the health department or other key departments which could bring out policies that improve air quality. In regards to cycling and walking’s role, despite DfTs involvement in JAQU, there is little integration of air quality policy with the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) and Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). Local authorities have suggested that better integration of these policies, combined with dedicated and continuous funding would help them put long-term active travel programmes in place that are ‘shovel ready’.

The placement of health practitioners into transport and planning teams within local government would also help to integrate cycling and walking infrastructure into future transport and infrastructure plans. This embeds healthier lifestyles and better air quality from the start rather than being considered as an add on. There is also a call for all combined authorities to have the leadership of a Cycling and Walking Commissioner, provided

national campaign to build momentum from communities, and provide politicians with the mandate to act; and for charities to work closer together to raise awareness and deliver change. This, combined with community engagement programmes that increase the public’s understanding of the beneficial effects of walking and cycling on air quality would help local authorities implement schemes.

If we are going to be successful in improving air quality in towns and cities we need to reframe the way we think about mobility and put people first. The dominance of the car is embedded in the lack of action to tackle air pollution and in the appraisal of actions which favour the electrification of transport. This is an opportunity for government at all levels to show leadership and help their citizens lead healthier lives by making walking and cycling the natural choice for smaller journeys. If this can be done, we won’t just solve air pollution but a whole array of public health issues. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.sustrans.org.uk

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Local authorities can use their powers to make the economics of most applications of solar stack up today, without central government support. That’s the headline message from our new report, Leading Lights. Many of the lessons apply to the wider public sector. This means local government or public sector leaders with ambitions to cut carbon, energy bills and air pollution don’t have to wait on Westminster to take effective action. They can start now, if they haven’t already.

Our analysis shows that 85 per cent of local authorities already own solar panels, nearly a third have integrated solar into their environmental strategies and the top 10 local authority investors have already collectively invested £80 million in solar. Despite frustrating policy barriers for the commercial solar industry, public sector investment

continues. Indeed, West Sussex County Council is about to open the UK’s first truly subsidyfree solar farm, together with battery storage.

Since we published our report, Leicester City Council has announced a £16 million investment in a solar farm and industrial units, which will generate nearly £1 million of revenue for essential frontline services every year. The attractive economics of ‘subsidy-free’ solar farms, showcased in our report, are backed up by independent expert modelling we commissioned alongside.

For rooftop solar, the public sector should make full use of zero interest Salix Finance to upgrade the energy and carbon

performance of their building stock. Salix has recently admitted solar back in and their overall funding is set to rise to around £385 million by 2020. They encourage potential projects to take a holistic approach, requiring all reasonable energy efficiency measures to cut bills and carbon to be taken before or alongside installing solar, and they expect loans to be refunded within five years, or eight for schools. Our report features Norland Church of England school in Halifax that has done just this. Salix loan finance can be used alongside other sources of funding for projects with longer paybacks, which allows for more ambitious or E

Loca authori l can also ties rooftop deliver solar scheme s w ith better p ayback even schools s across and cou n rooftop cil s

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Leonie Greene, Solar Trade Association

The public sector can already make most applications of solar work for the communities they serve today. The Solar Trade Association’s Leonie Greene explains why

Energy

Leading Lights: encouraging local authority solar use

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 schemes. Nevertheless, we firmly support Salix Finance’s own advocacy to government to extend the payback rules (ten years would be good), so as to enable more projects and more innovation, including with battery storage.

By using efficient tendering processes, local authorities can also deliver rooftop solar schemes with even better paybacks across schools and council rooftops. Portsmouth City Council provides a prime example of a competitive tendering process that has enabled the delivery of nearly 5MW of rooftop power across nearly 300 sites, with more on the way. Not surprisingly, other councils are making use of this effective scheme.

by Milton Keynes Council, which not only stipulate a 20 per cent contribution from onsite renewables, but which requires onsite energy storage to be considered. This kind of clever strategic planning for ‘smart energy’ neighbourhoods is another area we feature in our report, with pioneering case studies of smart housing developments, smart transport interchanges and EV charging. If the UK is to realise the estimated £8 billion potential cost savings by 2030 from a smart energy transition, there needs to be much more emphasis on optimising utilisation of local networks making full use of local generation and local flexibility services. Local government clearly has a role to play here.

Local government leading the way Every local authority can ramp up its new build policies at no cost. Ministers allayed the widespread uncertainty created by their colleagues on this issue when they confirmed clearly in the Lords last year that local authorities are indeed free to set higher new build standards. And local authorities should feel further reassured after the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that the government will seek to halve emissions from new buildings by 2030.

While we have no details, politically the pathway to better standards is clearly getting back on track and it is local and regional government leading the way.

We have been particularly impressed with the revised planning policies proposed

Innovative models emerging It’s not all good news. We found many once ambitious social housing retrofits had collapsed all over the UK, where the economics remain difficult and where we will continue to press the government for support – including better local authority control over ECO funds to target deep intervention on fuel poor homes. But even here innovative models are emerging, such as the Solarplicity model, which can install solar and even battery storage on, and in, social housing at no cost to the household, as part of an energy supply package that instantly cuts bills.

All of the case studies in our report have been carefully chosen because they illuminate what is possible today. The public sector and local authorities in particular have tremendous advantages when it comes to

Energy

Brexit, start-stop energy policies and uncertainty about how we will meet our national climate commitments means decisive leadership by local government and the public sector matters more than ever

solar projects including, access to low or zero interest finance, long project time horizons, relatively easy access to council-owned land or roof space and exceptionally secure local markets for local power. In addition, they can also mitigate the current key barrier to rooftop solar in the UK; business rates.

Perversely, self-supply with rooftop solar has been hit with business rates that do not apply to onsite gas CHP, and which particularly hurt those making the most efficient use of the technology. We are urging local authorities to do all they can to mitigate the intransigence of HMT on this regressive policy for local solar power.

There are solid arguments for government leading by example. There was dismay in the solar sector that the 1GW target for government estate investment in solar, set out in the former Energy & Climate Change Department’s 2014 Solar Strategy, was quietly dropped, even before meaningful progress was made. The National Infrastructure Commission’s recent report on progress on smart power recommends the government estate helps to pilot demand flexibility and to implement this on a large scale where it can be shown to deliver benefits to the public sector and the electricity system. Finally, the Clean Growth Strategy sets out, and BEIS has consulted on, expectations for a greenhouse gas reduction target for the public sector ‘such as a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.’ All of these point not only to a bold push on solar by the government estate, but to investment in the many ‘smart’ technologies and flexibility services that fit so naturally alongside.

We hope that the common sense and the extraordinary achievements of local government leaders showcased in our new report will provide inspiration and encouragement to public sector leaders everywhere. To further develop confidence, we have published a summary of the independent modelling we commissioned on typical local authority solar schemes, both north and south. These resources are freely available on our website. We also invite local authorities who are serious about solar and energy storage to join our low cost Leading Lights Local Authority Network, which shares best practices and offers deeper support.

Brexit, start-stop energy policies and uncertainty about how we will meet our national climate commitments means decisive leadership by local government and the public sector matters more than ever. Fortunate, then, that the economic stars have aligned for the public sector on solar power. And we couldn’t be keener to work with local leaders to make it happen.

Let us know how we can help you. L

Leonie Greene is Director of Advocacy & New Markets at the Solar Trade Association & author of Leading Lights: how local authorities are making solar and energy storage work today.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.solar-trade.org.uk/ about/leading-lights

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Local authorities are at the frontline in the war against litter. In England alone, councils spend more than £750 million each year keeping our streets clean; clearing up the mess left behind by the thoughtless minority who think it is acceptable to throw their rubbish on the ground.

In the past 12 months though, we have all seen that the war against litter is one that is being fought on two fronts. Councils are not just battling to keep our cities, towns and villages clean, they are fighting to stop that same litter getting into our oceans.

The game-changing BBC TV series Blue Planet II showed us all, in a shocking way, the impact that our littering is having on our oceans and our marine life. It is

to turn the tide on marine litter. Working on estimated that, by 2050, there will be more the beaches is important but it will take a far plastic, by weight, in the ocean than fish more fundamental shift to make a difference. and that plastic isn’t magically finding its And this is where Keep Britain Tidy comes way in there, it is coming from the land. in. As a charity, we campaign to improve And this is where things must change. the environment on people’s doorsteps Keep Britain Tidy’s own research shows and encourage them to take action to that while people are aware of the impact of make a difference. In recent months we litter on the marine environment, they fail to have broadened that message. We need understand that the litter does not originate everyone to understand that by making on a beach or ship, it comes a difference on their doorstep – from our towns, finding reducing litter and waste – they its way to the sea via It is are also making a difference our rivers and drains. e s timated to our seas and oceans, even We urgently need to that, by 205 if they live in the heart of change the mindset 0 , be mor there will one of our inland cities. of everyone in this e plasti Earlier this year, E country if we are we c

Written by Helen Bingham, Keep Britain Tidy

Earlier this year, Manchester City Council became the country’s first ‘Tidy City’.

Here, Keep Britain Tidy’s Helen Bingham looks at the importance of councils seeking cleaner towns and cities and how local change can make a global difference

Waste Management

The litter challenge: tidying on and beyond our doorstep

, by ight, in than fis the ocean h where . This is must chthings ange

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Waste Management

 Manchester City Council became the country’s first ‘Tidy City’, launching a series of campaigns to reduce littering and fly-tipping over the year with the aim of improving the quality of the environment for residents, workers and visitors to the city. The council’s vision and ambition to become a Tidy City is exactly what we need. It is an approach that pulls in businesses, communities and other stakeholders to look at what each can do to make a difference.

mark to identify them as such for residents and visitors alike.

This year, more than 145 beaches across the country are flying a Blue Flag and/or a Seaside Award and almost 1,900 parks and green spaces are recipients of a Green Flag Award, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of both local authorities and volunteers, who work tirelessly to deliver a fantastic environment on their doorstep in the face of significant financial challenges.

Great British Spring Clean We know that litter and fly-tipping makes a place looked unloved and increases fear of crime. We also know that people do care about the environment on their doorstep. In March, more than 370,000 people took part in Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, with more than 13,500 events organised and 630,000 bags of rubbish collected. This army of volunteers were supported by 300 local authorities and parish councils.

Leave behind littering These challenges mean it is more important than ever that local authorities learn from each other and share best practice. Through the Keep Britain Tidy Network, those charged with keeping the public realm clean and litter-free can come together to find out about the latest research, hear about innovations that are making a difference and access campaigns designed to tackle issues and change behaviour.

The charity’s innovations and campaigns are currently helping councils to reduce dog fouling, tackle fly-tipping and challenge littering from vehicles and later in the year they will have the opportunity to engage with new campaigns to tackle cigarette litter and the ‘leave-behind’ littering of coffee cups, plastic bottles and food-on-the-go litter that sees rubbish left on and under park benches, at bus stops and on ledges.

Even with charities, local authorities and volunteers working together, to make the difference everyone wants to see to the environment on our doorstep we also need support from national government and businesses. In the past 12 months – and particularly in the past six months – we have seen this support growing.

It is hard to believe that it only 12 months ago that the government released the National Litter Strategy. Since then, the issue of single-use plastic has become a topic that has reached into every corner of society. We have seen Iceland pledging to remove plastic from their own brand products, Coca-Cola coming out in support of a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and Costa committing to recycle as many cups as it sells by 2020.

Even Parliament has made a commitment – to ‘virtually eliminate’ single-use plastic from Westminster by 2019, including cups, bags, straws and bottles, to be replaced by compostable or reusable options. All these initiatives will help and, by working together as we move into the third decade of the 21st century, we will be able to create the environment, both on our doorstep and further afield, that we all want to see. L

By working together as we move into the third decade of the 21st century, we will be able to create the environment, both on our doorstep and further afield, that we all want to see The success of the campaign is proof that people don’t just care but are content to sit back and let the council clean up. It is proof that there are many thousands of people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and take action – they just need some support.

Keep Britain Tidy supports them with the Great British Spring Clean – offering advice and guidance and even some bags for the rubbish – but local authorities can and do support these #LitterHeroes the length and breadth of Britain week in, week out.

Volunteering isn’t just confined to litter-picking. Community groups and councils are supporting each other in parks and on beaches every day – helping to create the great shared spaces that everyone can enjoy. The Green Flag Award for parks and the Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for beaches are given by Keep Britain Tidy to the very best of those shared spaces and are a quality

FURTHER INFORMATION www.keepbritaintidy.org

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

Customers are the key to successful workwear selection Workwear plays a crucial role in today’s industrial world, no matter whether it is protecting employees engaged in hazardous tasks or promoting brands and company identities Every type of workwear – from specialised protective garments for fire and emergency service personnel through to coveralls for automotive engineers – must fulfil its role perfectly, so the selection of the most appropriate garments is clearly an important task.

Perhaps surprisingly, the route through to selecting the best workwear actually begins with the end-user who wears those garments day after day. They know what they expect of their workwear and how it must perform, so they are ideally placed to influence how it is designed, manufactured and maintained. They are also acutely aware of the way that the demands made of their workwear change continuously.

The pace of change The pace of that change has never been more rapid than it is today, and as workwear manufacturers continue to devote increasing amounts of resources to research and development, they must pay close attention to the views of the end-user. Fortunately for a manufacturer such as ourselves, our commitment to that approach has meant that we maintain close contact with our customers. By liaising closely with them we are able to stay ahead of the game, providing them with workwear which

Meeting the exact needs of the wearer is especially important when it comes to firefighter garments.

This picture courtesy of Eddie Howland

32

really meets their needs and constantly improving the offer we make to them.

Evidence of the value of this approach came recently when it helped us secure a major new contract to supply Network Rail with protective workwear. Ballyclare has been providing Network Rail with a wide range of waterproof foul-weather garments for some time, as well as flame-retardant and arc-protection clothing for their employees engaged in more demanding applications.

When asked to tender for this latest contract, we worked closely with end users to find out exactly what they required from our workwear.

This led to us redesigning our range of hi‑vis polycotton jackets, cargo trousers and coveralls to provide improved fit, female fit options, better performance and greater value for money. As with all the clothing we supply to Network Rail, these garments are in a high visibility orange which is fully compliant with the recently introduced RIS3279-TOM standard. The tendering process was both detailed and rigorous, requiring the garments to pass stringent design and quality examinations, as well as laundry and wearer trials. However, the input we received from the end users ensured that this process was considerably less daunting than it might have been, and it made a great contribution to a successful outcome.

Requirements for now and in the future This detailed focus on the people who will ultimately wear our products also pays dividends for us in the other ranges of safety-critical protective workwear which we supply, as evidenced by the design and manufacture of our range of Xenon fire and rescue garments. Despite the fact that we are widely recognised as a leading supplier to the fire industry, we were careful not to assume that we knew what our customers would want from our new range. Although the basics

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

may remain the same, specific requirements for different tasks such as fire investigation or rescue operations change on a frequent basis. This prompted us to liaise closely with our customers and identify not only what they wanted from us today, but also what they felt they might require in the future.

Using the information they provided as the starting point for the Xenon range, we went back to basic principles and designed the Xenon garments so that they would satisfy the needs of the wearer as closely as possible. Whilst customers obviously need the garments to perform perfectly in terms of providing effective protection, long life and durability, we also paid particular attention to their requests for maximum freedom of movement. This plays a key role in allowing the wearer to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently, and it was identified as an area where they felt that most of the garments on the market could be improved.

Once again, the results speak for themselves.

The Xenon range met with a very enthusiastic response from customers, with 2,500 Xenon rescue/wildland suits being supplied to the Alicante Fire Service in Spain. That order was closely followed by Ballyclare being appointed as the official supplier of protective clothing and station-wear for the Fire Brigade at Cologne-Bonn Airport in Germany, and once again, the user-friendliness of the Xenon garments played a major role in helping us secure this contract. Xenon garments have also helped raise Ballyclare’s profile in non-European markets such as South America and the Middle East where the brand has recently been introduced. L FURTHER INFORMATION For more information on Ballyclare, either visit ballyclarelimited.com, call +44 (0)844 493 2808, email info@ballyclarelimited. com or follow @BallyclareLtd on Twitter.

Facilities Management

£6 billion to drive innovation in energy efficiency A new flagship £6 billion energy efficiency scheme will re-focus on low-income and the vulnerable, aiming to cut bills for thousands more families until at least 2028. Government Business looks at the announcement and some of the schemes in place to lower energy bills and reduce emissions Claire Perry, the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, announced at the end of March that nearly one million more low-income households would benefit from innovative energy saving measures as part of the Clean Growth Strategy. Perry launched a consultation to focus Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions by providing energy efficiency upgrades and heating measures, entirely on low income households.

Since the scheme was launched in 2013, one in 16 homes have benefited from over 2.2 million improvements, but only 70 per cent of those beneficiaries have been from low income families. The intention has now

shifted to bring 2.5 million fuel poor homes up to an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C by 2030, helping to save energy and bring down bills.

The proposed changes to focus 100 per cent of the ECO scheme on the fuel poor would see energy saving improvements like insulation and modern efficient heating systems installed in 900,000 homes by March 2022. The government also committed to maintaining funding for home energy efficiency until at least 2028 as part of the Clean Growth Strategy, a total of just over £6 billion.

Speaking at the announcement in March, Perry said: “We have made clear our commitment to eradicating fuel poverty and by making our flagship energy scheme

As set out in our Cle a n G rowth Strateg y , w e want to also drive w continue to British i orld-leading green t nnovation in e for the chnologies ben consum efit all ers

100 per cent focused on low-income families we are taking another step towards achieving this goal. As set out in our Clean Growth Strategy, we also want to continue to drive world-leading British innovation in green technologies for the benefit all consumers.

That’s why we are increasing the opportunity for energy suppliers to get funding to develop new and innovative energy saving product and services, like the award winning company Q-bot’s robotic insulation service.”

Warm Homes Discount A separate consultation was launched at the same time as the ECO consultation, looking ahead to changes to the Warm Home Discount beyond next winter which will enable all payments to be made automatically. The Warm Homes Discount provides a much needed top up of £140 to the energy bills of the most vulnerable in society. The government revealed that the consultation would also include extending eligibility to people who receive Universal Credit who are in work and earn less that £16,190 a year.

Domestic Gas and Electricity The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, set out by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in February this year, establishes a requirement on the independent regulator, Ofgem, to cap energy tariffs until 2020. It means that an absolute cap can be set on poor value tariffs, protecting the 11 million households in England, Wales and Scotland who are currently on a standard variable or other default energy tariff and who are not protected by existing price caps.

With some consumers paying up to £300 more than they need to, the Bill, part of a package of measures being introduced by government to increase competition in the retail energy market and lower prices for consumers, will bring this overcharging under control. It is being encouraged alongside the use and rollout of smart meters in each E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

33

THE FUTURE IS RENEWABLE WHY CHOOSE GREEN SQUARE?

We strive to offer you bespoke and honest experience when you shop with us. Every product in our range is eligible for Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which is a Government led scheme to reduce carbon footprint. RHI can earn you extra income via cash payment from the Government.

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INSTALLATION As an MCS installation company we will oversee the complete installation of all your technologies and provide you with an insured parts and labour warranty.

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AFTER SALES We provide you with a servicing plan to help monitor and maintain your equipment.

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Facilities Management

 household, as well a push to increase smarter and faster switching.

The introduction of the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill arrived following the BEIS Select Committee scrutinising the draft Bill as part of the government’s work to build consensus for the cap. The Committee backed an absolute cap and made a number of other recommendations about the Bill in its report, which the government then accepted in full.

In setting the cap, Ofgem will also take into account the need to create incentives for suppliers to improve efficiency, the need to set the cap at a level that enables suppliers to compete effectively for supply contracts, the need to maintain incentives for customers to switch and the need to ensure that efficient suppliers are able to finance their supply activities. This will make sure the cap reflects the interests of both consumers and suppliers.

It will be in place until 2020 when Ofgem will recommend to government whether it should be extended on an annual basis up to 2023. In line with the Committee’s recommendation, the government will ensure Ofgem reviews the level the cap is set at every six months while it is in place.

New research network Innovate UK and UK Research and Innovation have launched a £102 million investment programme in new local energy approaches and announced the opening of a new research consortium. Part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, the £102.5 million Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge will deliver a suite of strategic research projects that address industry-led challenges in the development of local, investable, consumer-centred energy approaches to create prosperous clean energy communities.

The research consortium competition builds on a series of announcements in recent weeks that detail how the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is developing cutting-edge capabilities in local systems that deliver

The Domestic Gas and Electricity Bill means that an absolute cap can be set on poor value tariffs, protecting the 11 million households who are currently on a standard variable or other default energy tariff and are not protected by existing price caps cleaner, cheaper and more resilient energy for consumers; which includes: smart local energy systems demonstrators and designs, the innovation accelerator fund and research and integration services.

The fast-track creation of up to three practical local energy systems demonstrators and a range of whole-system design studies, which could be ready for new consumer energy systems in the 2020s, will build supply chain capabilities, deliver positive changes for energy consumers, and inform future projects.

The design studies will create a pipeline of investable projects for the future. Additionally, the innovation accelerator fund will develop and commercialise smart local energy system products and services, and help UK business and researchers engage with the best international innovation opportunities.

Furthermore, a world-leading, interdisciplinary research programme will be commissioned to work alongside the Energy Systems Catapult. The programme will provide coordination and technical support to demonstration and design projects.

Rob Saunders, Interim Challenge Director, Prospering from the Energy Revolution, said: “This is an exciting time for energy innovations. The convergence of new technologies with artificial intelligence, big data, and the internet of things promises a new energy future. This future will be one of lower carbon and more efficient energy supply,

distribution and storage, giving consumers more control. This energy revolution – a crucial part of the Industrial Strategy – has the potential to unlock investment, create high-quality jobs all over the country and grow companies capable of exporting.”

The Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge will bring together businesses working with the best research and expertise to transform the way energy is delivered and used. Together they will develop and demonstrate new approaches to provide cleaner, cheaper and more resilient energy services. This includes providing energy in ways that consumers want by linking lowcarbon power, heating and transport systems with energy storage and advanced IT to create intelligent, local energy systems and services.

Further funding to make up the rest of the challenge will be announced in future financial years. The funding will be awarded competitively by UK Research and Innovation, the new organisation that brings together the UK research councils, Innovate UK and Research England into a single organisation to create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ department-for-business-energyand-industrial-strategy

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Cloud-based permit to work system

Coastal Permits provide a modern system enabling companies to operate safely and efficiently, creating a full audit trail and providing a greater visibility and control.

Coastal Permits is an easy to use fully automated cloud-based permit to work system and RAMS management tool to safely control, coordinate, manage and provide live reporting.

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The Coastal Permits system is currently being used in all sectors including construction, facilities, property, and estates. It utilizes a simple dashboard allowing you to apply for, submit, approve and manage up to 20 different permit types.

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Coastal Per mits For more information on our modern cloud based permit system please visit our website www.coastalpermits.co.uk email us sales@coastalpermits.co.uk or contact us directly 01227 806 787

The Facilities Show

Championing the facilities management industry From 19 June, the largest event in the facilities management calendar will commence as the Facilities Show descends on London’s ExCeL. Co-located with IFSEC International and the Safety & Health Expo, Government Business looks ahead to the show Held in association with the British Institute of Facilities Management and world-class real estate firm CBRE, Facilities Show 2018 continues to attract inspirational speakers, contractors and individuals. It champions the industry, changes perceptions, drives excellence and pioneers new-age leadership, with global facilities management (FM) professionals given the opportunity to network in a variety of areas with likeminded peers as they discuss the industry’s hottest topics at the cutting edge of FM, not to mention keeping abreast of all legislation updates and regulation changes.

Facilitating the coming together of more than 11,000 visitors with over 300 suppliers, Facilities Show is the perfect place for every FM professional to do business. Those looking for career development and training will discover a large range of complimentary CPD workshops and seminars. While those wanting to source the latest cost effective solutions will find every sector covered from cleaning and maintenance to gritting, energy and CAFM. On top of this, Facilities Show visitors will be spoilt for networking opportunities, including the Facilities Society Fair, giving them the chance to experience and join leading industry networking groups.

Designed explicitly for FM practitioners, 2018’s theatre sees each day split into three different themes: the workplace, technology and people. The programme includes presentations and panel discussions on topics including workplaces of the future, security, delivering top class FM on a budget, leadership, office refurbishments and relocations, technology disruption, diversity, skills and recruitment, getting recognition in the board-room and flexible working.

wellness and experience initiatives, Beck Conversations range from how to define will touch on the role of data in measuring them to how to design them and how to and realising tangible benefits to end assess their contribution to the business. users. What constitutes ‘success’ in the As our society and economy digitises, new modern workplace (design, build and requirements on workplaces are being put management), and what are the potential forward. Effectively, part of the workplace is benefits, both financial and otherwise? digitising itself. Looking at future expectations, What will employees expect from their Erik Jaspers of Planon Software will discuss workplace by 2025? Will there be an increase workplace trends and requirements we in non-traditional spaces, such as gyms? see trending and emerging.

What will be FMs’ biggest challenge We are at an inflexion in managing workplaces of the point in the evolution of Visitors future? And what role will the office workplace. will be s sustainability play? These Tenants, owners p o for netw ilt questions will be answered and technology o opportu rking as part of the FMJ Debate companies are nities, includin on workplaces of the future, all hungry to g the Fa which will include the promote smarter cilities workplaces.

Society thoughts of Dr Andy Lewry, Why? F other n air and Principal Technical Consultant Because progressive etwork at BRE and Ian Wade, head of companies now g roups ing UK Estates for the British Medical know that by Association, among others. improving the health, Probably the most vivid comfort and well-being conversations held of employees, they can give in Real Estate a significant boost to their productivity. and Facility The Internet of Things, with its myriad Management of applications is continuously finding are around new ways to serve the worker and the workplaces. enterprise. By flooding workspaces with sensors, enterprises are accumulating unprecedented levels of data, which is allowing for greater decision-making. Be sure to witness Jim McHale’s session on smart office design in the Internet of Things era. E

The personalised workplace How is user experience influencing workplace change? The ‘Personalised Workplace, Prioritising People’ session, led by Lewis Beck and Michelle Wharton of CBRE, will centre on the growing focus of ‘Real Estate as a Service’, in particular the ‘user experience’, with companies increasingly recognising that its people are at the heart of business. With real case studies of brands who are applying CBRE’s

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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

The Facilities Show

 Technology disruption in FM How will smart buildings develop in the next five-seven years? What will IoT mean for FM? How will Artificial Intelligence impact FM? With the rise of connected workplaces, what is the cyber security threat? And how can it be managed? These questions will be considered as part of the FM in 2025 session, with representatives from TTP plc, Zoodikers and BSI participating.

It has become quite apparent that innovation in information technology has become one of the most profound gamechangers in our society and economy. One can expect that its impact will be significant on the business of real estate and facility management as well. In this session, again led by Erik Jaspers, a number of these technologies will be discussed along with their potential impact on our business.

Whether building services design, facilities management, property, real estate, or any other fields associated with the built environment, the world is changing.

Technology as an enabler continues to evolve at an alarming pace. So along with developing technical skills, it is time for real leadership and people skills to lead the change the collaboration required. But as well as developing these skills now, where and how are we developing our future leaders? Geoff Prudence, chairman of the FM & Building Services Group, believes there is a real opportunity for the future and will discuss it as part of his leadership talk.

Tools for smart procurement Equipping attendees with the knowledge and tools to make smart procurement decisions enabling successful client-supplier partnerships, seminar sessions in the BIFM Smart Client Programme will be followed by pre-booked 1:1 appointments with selected suppliers. The 90-minute session will cover: how to select a contractor or supplier; how to use strategic sourcing to improve quality, deliver efficiencies and reduce risk; and what do to when contracts go wrong.

2018 speaker highlights include Lord Tim Clement Jones, of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, Deborah Lee, Chief People Officer, YOOX Net-a-Porter, and Steven Boyd, Director Estates, HMRC. London’s smartest building In 2015 UBM arduously packed up their papers, computers and their employee’s belongings and moved all of 50 metres to the other side of Southwark Street to their new headquarters at 240 Blackfriars.

For the 2018 edition of Facilities Show, UBM and Euroworkspace have reunited, showing attendees an insider view of London’s Smartest Building and what an agile workplace looks like from the eyes of those that work within it Also running alongside Facilities Show is the highly acclaimed Smartworking Summit.

Organised by Quora Consulting, the Summit considers the impact of the changing nature of work and the intertwined roles of HR, IT, property and management cultures.

These summits are unique in their format with no PowerPoint and the opportunity to network with both speakers and delegates in an afternoon of round table sessions.

The move to the smart London skyscraper prompted UBM to shift towards more agile ways of working. By designing an office with neighbourhoods, they reduced the space required by the various exhibition organiser teams.

UBM approached Euroworkspace to find the perfect storage for the company’s needs. The result was the installation of the Simplicity smart locker solution, E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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 and by integrating it with UBM’s existing IT systems, it enabled staff to use access cards that were already provided.

For the 2018 edition of Facilities Show, UBM and Euroworkspace have reunited, showing attendees to Facilities Show an insider view of London’s Smartest Building and what an agile workplace looks like from the eyes of those that work within it. Stopping by Euroworkspace stand at Facilities Show this year will allow you experience the UBM offices for yourself with our immersive Google Cardboard VR experience.

The free virtual reality app displays 360-degree photographic/ video content. When used with a simple smartphone viewer, you’ll be able to step into each room and space as if you were there.

The Facilities Show

What will employees expect from their workplace by 2025?

Will there be an increase in non-traditional spaces, such as gyms?

What will be FMs’ biggest challenge in managing workplaces of the future? And what role will sustainability play?

Field Service Management Expo is Europe’s leading event dedicated to the entire field service and service management industry, showcasing the latest technologies and practices from industry experts. You’ll discover how to benefit from culture and technology, the mentality behind innovation and the latest IoT developments. You’ll discover how to deliver customer experience in field service and speak to expert suppliers across workforce optimisation, performance management, cloud solutions, service management software and more.

FIREX International is the global centre of excellence for fire safety.

As an FM, you’ll access a life safety perspective to keeping people in your building safe. Meet specialist suppliers across health, safety and well-being, risk management and fire safety. You’ll hear about the use of technology in fire detection, the easily mismanaged policy of occupants staying put in a building during a fire and need-toknow legislation changes in dedicated fire seminar theatres.

The Professional Clothing Show will partner with Safety & Health Expo for the third year running, bringing visitors more corporatewear, workwear and personal protective equipment than ever before. As an FM, you’ll engage with the industry’s latest clothing developments, discover new and innovative workwear and PPE solutions showcased under the same roof. The specialist trade show presents an extensive variety of solutions, inclusive of footwear, gloves, badges and ties. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.facilitiesshow.com

Inspirational speakers Facilities Show 2018 is proud to welcome comedian and mental health expert Ruby Wax and English rugby legend Sir Clive Woodward to the event’s keynote speaker line-up. Joining Nicky Moffat, who was formerly the British Army’s highest-ranking female officer, both Ruby and Clive will give fascinating, contrasting talks on the importance of positive professional environments in sustaining and growing a healthy, happy, high-achieving workforce. The Inspirational Speakers will hold their sessions in the Keynote Theatre, which is sponsored

by Safety Media.

As a reminder, Facilities Show 2017 featured star studded inspirational speakers including: Double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, rock star Professor Brian Cox, world renown rugby union referee Nigel Owens and Falklands War veteran Simon Weston.

Co-located event The Facilities Show is co-located with IFSEC International, FIREX International, Safety & Health Expo, the Professional Clothing Show and Field Service Management Expo. Across all six shows, you’ll discover over 1,600 suppliers showcasing 200,000 products across security, safety, fire, field service and workwear.

IFSEC International is the dedicated integrated security summit, welcoming over 27,000 visitors and more than 550 exhibitors.

You’ll have unparalleled access to a seminar programme which assesses current and future security trends, cyber security, health and safety, maintenance and physical security, as well as The Future of Security Training Theatre, powered by Tavcom and sponsored

by Panasonic UK. Read more about IFSEC on page 78.

As an FM, you’re responsible for the health, safety and wellbeing of people and places, which is why Safety & Health Expo, Europe’s most dedicated health and safety event, is a must. Discover solutions to combat safety risks in your workplace and benefit from in-show discounts. Keep up to date with mental health initiatives, safety culture and productivity tactics while earning CPD points.

Find solutions and strategies for training, consultancy and risk management. Read more about the Safety & Health Expo on page 43.

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creating better environments

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Safety & Health Expo

Examining the strengths of occupational health and well-being Safety & Health Expo, the UK’s largest health and safety event and conference, is returning to London’s ExCeL on 19-21 June alongside the Facilities Show and IFSEC International

Safety & Health Expo is on mental health, reducing New the only place in the UK stress, boosting resilience, for 201 where all key health and including a discussion with 8 , the Occ safety associations, Santander on how to u p a t ional Health manufacturers, manage psychological Zone w & Wellbeing distributors, well-being for positive i consultants, industry dedicat ll have its own business outcome. ed e leads and influencers Attend free sessions from come together, leading associations such theatre ducation giving you access to as HSE, IOSH, RoSPA and a relaxa and unrivalled expertise BOHS, including: ‘Health risk tion and networking under management approaches’; zone one roof. Delegates gain ‘Using nature-inspired design access to over 1,600 exhibitors to improve office occupant health offering exclusive deals on over and well-being’; ‘Occupational hygiene 20,000 products across safety and health, in the 21st century’; ‘Well-being strategy as a facilities, service management, fire and business improvement tool’ and many more security including workwear, evacuation debates and panels on this critical subject. systems and behavioural safety services.

As well as showcasing exclusive products Lone workers and mental health and services from over 350 leading suppliers, The Lone Worker and Driver Safety Theatre Safety & Health Expo 2018 offers visitors looks at best practice in lone worker health a comprehensive educational programme and safety. Speakers, representing RoSPA, featuring more than 75 hours of CPD HSE and DriveTech amongst others, will accredited content, access to a lively PPE, take to the stage to share their experiences. workwear and corporate wear fashion show, As part of the theatre, Saskia Garner, of the a number of industry awards ceremonies, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, will explore some of the exclusive networking events and a brand personal safety issues facing lone workers new Occupational Health & Wellbeing Zone. and how employers can help create a personal New for 2018, the Occupational Health & safety culture, while Soloprotect will explore Wellbeing Zone will have its own dedicated how Body Worn Video may affect the future education theatre, a relaxation zone plus of lone worker safety, the benefits to the lone an area showcasing best practices in worker and first responders, considerations work‑space designs. Hear industry leaders from a data protection perspective and how share their own personal stories with talks to reduce the burden of data management.

Mental Health First Aid is the best-known training course available for companies who wish to start raising awareness and reducing stigma in their organisations.

Before implementing it, you need to consider a number of factors such as how you will support MHFAiders. In the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Theatre, West Midlands Trains and The Healthy Work Company will outline practical considerations for implementing mental health first aid at work.

BRE and partners have commenced a long‑term project, ‘The Biophilic Office project’, to grow and deepen the evidence base for health, well‑being and productivity impacts of creating a restorative office environment. Alongside indoor environment, the measurement of the physiological and psychological well-being of office occupants forms the evidence base to help understand the return on investment for office refurbishment using nature‑inspired biophilic design. Does refurbishing with higher levels of occupant well-being in mind bring a greater return – in terms of business performance, reduced absenteeism and improved reported levels of wellness?

Dr Ed Suttie, research director at BRE, will examine this in his nature-inspired design session, also in the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Theatre. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.safety-health-expo.co.uk

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Health & Safety

Slips, trips and falls at work are collectively the single most common cause of injury in UK workplaces. RoSPA’s Karen McDonnell looks at how good management of health and safety can ward against such injuries Slips, trips and falls are a major issue in the health and safety industry, both in the workplace and in day-to-day life. According to Health and Safety England (HSE), there were around 5.5 million working days lost in 2016/17, with falls making up a significant amount of that total. Within that time, there were 40 falls from height that resulted in a fatal injury, and 111,000 non-fatal reported slips, trips, or falls on the same level.

Slips, trips and falls are collectively the single most common cause of injury in UK workplaces, which is cause for employers to ensure they are creating the safest possible environments for their employees. This proves a challenging task when the ageing

workforce has significantly risen in recent years. In the over-65s there are around 255,000 falls-related emergency hospital admissions in England alone every year, and in 2015 more than 4,500 people in England in this age bracket died as a result of a fall.

RoSPA aims to promote a ‘whole life’ approach to safety, seeking to assure freedom from serious accidental injury from early years and throughout life. Good management of health and safety by organisations can help to support safety across all stages of life, not least by being an arena in which people learn about the importance of recognising hazards, assessing risks, and choosing the right preventive/ protective measures to stay safe.

A particular organisation that requires additional safety measures for

Slip trips an s, are coll d falls single m ectively the cause o ost common workpl f injury in U ac K 255,00 e, with aroun 0 emerge falls-related d ncy admissi hospital every yeons ar

A health and safety culture Falls represent a significant problem for most companies. Efforts to improve fall prevention require a system approach that achieves organisational change through modifications to workflow, communication, and decision making.

This type of organisational change can be difficult to achieve, but can be done through following basic principles, implementing schemes, and changing the culture of health and safety within the workplace.

There are certain basic principles that, if implemented effectively, enable organisations to achieve the absence of risk. Hospitals should have a system in place to manage health and safety, in which they plan, organise, control, monitor and review all preventative measures. Main hazards should be identified and risks assessed to ensure the risk control measures are sufficient. These measures, however, will only be used and maintained if employees are informed, trained and supervised.

In order to maintain a healthy and safe workplace certain things should be checked regularly, like: consulting your workforce; conducting regular health and safety checks; reporting, recording and investigating accidents and nearmisses; and providing employees and others with certain basic information.

It is also beneficial for employers and employees to make sure suitable first aid and welfare facilities are provided, and employers’ liability insurance. Time should be made periodically to review E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Karen McDonnell, occupational safety and health policy adviser for RoSPA

Creating safe working environments

falls due to the high risk levels of hazards is hospitals. Hospitals cater for thousands of people of different circumstances on a daily basis, which means a more intense approach to safety should be taken.

45

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www.pjhsafetytraining.co.uk 46

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While there are simple steps you can follow to ensure you are creating a safe work environment, there are also schemes that can be implemented in the workplace and in everyday life î † performance and then feedback any lessons learned to improve controls.

A risk assessment will help you identify the slip and trip hazards that exist in your workplace and their potential for causing people to slip or trip. Through this assessment, employers should have some ideas of how to prevent these accidents. While risk assessments provide the opportunity to identify risks and solutions, you cannot eliminate all risks. It is essential that organisations implement control measures that are proportionate to the risk in question, and a good approach to health and safety balances control measures sensibly against other needs.

With hospitals, the added factor of patients makes for a challenging task for creating a healthy and safe environment for the thousands of people that are in and out of them every day. The most significant factors of patients falling in a hospital are: walking unsteadily; confusion; being incontinent or needing to use the toilet frequently; a history of falling; and taking sedatives or sleeping tablets.

Small tasks such as good housekeeping can offer much protection in the way of falls.

Keeping walkways clear from clutter, removing or tying trailing wires, and immediately mopping up spillages are some simple responsibilities that should become a habit for employers and employees in the workplace, and could prevent accidents, especially for hospital patients that you know are vulnerable.

Stand Up, Stay Up While there are simple steps you can follow to ensure you are creating a safe work environment, there are also schemes that can be implemented in the workplace and in everyday life. RoSPA offers a programme, funded by the Department of Health, called Stand Up, Stay Up, which aims to unite a network of health professionals and falls prevention practitioners to share best practice, knowledge and advice. Stand Up, Stay Up is a scheme that contributes to the fight against fall injuries, by learning from one another and being hands on with finding the root cause of falls, so as to find the solutions.

Safe and healthy working is the foundation upon which organisations’ are built – not just because of it being morally correct, but because it is the most cost-effective

Provision for first aid Every employer has a duty of care to provide, or ensure that there are provided adequate and appropriate facilities and equipment to cater for his employees if they are injured or become ill at work. An employer should make an assessment of first aid needs appropriate to the circumstances (hazards and risks) of each workplace.

Where an employer provides first aiders in the workplace, they should ensure they have undertaken suitable training, have an appropriate first aid qualification and remain competent to perform their role. Typically, first aiders will hold a valid certificate of competence in either first aid at work (FAW) or emergency first aid at work (EFAW).

Health & Safety

and efficient. It is often missed, just how much employers lose out on due to safety failures, and so prioritising a healthy and safe working environment can only prove beneficial.

First aid provision for non-employees These regulations do not require employers to provide first aid for anyone other than their own employees. However, many organisations, such as schools, nurseries, libraries, hospitals, provide a service for others and it is strongly recommended that employers include non-employees in their assessment of first aid needs and make provision for them.

This may require first aiders to receive additional training above the legal minimum requirement so that they are able to act competently, for example additional training in paediatric first aid if operating in a school.

First Aid for Life specialises in First Aid at Work and tailoring the training to the needs of the work situation; including staff, clients, customers, pupils and contractors.

First Aid for Life is also uniquely able to offer fully regulated blended learning, enabling staff to undertake online pre-learning and then a shorter amount of time on the practical course. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.rospa.com/homesafety/stand-up-stay-up

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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What does good risk management look like?

What constitutes a good risk professional?

Both are topics frequently debated amongst Alarm members. There are the obvious to list with respect to a risk professional - a confident communicator, a technical expert, a good negotiator, being persuasive, have an inherent curiosity, possess commercial acumen, and have the ability to adapt and respond to our ever-changing environment.

What constitutes good risk management – a framework that aligns to the organisation, processes understood and accessible by all, risk management embedded through the organisation, leadership buy in and drive and risk based decision-making and planning? As a risk professional I can attest that what good looks like is constantly challenged, debated and aspired to by those working in this field.

It is certainly true that however good or mature our organisations have been at managing risk within the public sector, over the last few years we have seen a significant change to the risk profile and to the skills needed as a risk professional in response to this. Long gone are the days of what we know as the staple of public services, social care, highways, leisure, cemeteries, housing and waste management to name but a few. All delivered by our local council. The stakes do feel higher and are a long way from our traditional core business of property and casualty risk.

We know that over the last 10 years public services have changed, some beyond recognition, forced by years of austerity and changes to funding from central government. The ever increasing need to commercialise, to ‘earn’

The profess risk the fut ional of as succ ure is only e leaders ssful as the organis hip of the ation work in they

Technology progressions The question now in our minds - is our traditional role sustainable in the 2020 and beyond? What does the risk professional of 2030 look like?

Technology advances must be the number one consideration for the future risk professional as are the risks this brings.

Upskilling to keep abreast of cyber risk and threats to our organisation is a role not just for IT, leadership and risk managers but for the every employee. We have heard many times over, relative to a cyber attack, that it is not a matter of if but a matter of when. One cannot envisage these risks and threats decreasing and with advances in technology it is vital that risk professionals keep pace. Of course understanding technology is not just about risk and threats but about understanding new technologies that brings opportunities to how we deliver public services. Driverless vehicles, carebots specifically designed to assist in the care of the elderly, artificial intelligence, and a machine based workforce.

With the major role technology and information systems play in delivering E

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Jane O’Leary, chair, Alarm

What constitutes good risk management and how can risk professionals in the public sector be trained and supported as they strive to tackle the many challenges that face them?

Jane O’Leary, chair of Alarm discusses

Risk Management

What does the risk professional of 2030 look like?

money from commercial ventures, making cuts to public services, moving to a commissioning body, sharing services and joint ventures with the community and third sector. Changes that have required the risk professionals within these organisation to rise to the challenge. To understand the changing risk profile and provide the expertise to support the leadership and senior management teams in understand the risks these create, understanding how to manage those risks and having the best chance to maximise successful delivery of our business objectives.

49

Transport procurement: don’t get left behind Safety, compliance, efficiency, the environment – it’s easy to get left behind when procuring road transport.

Work Related Road Risk (WRRR) is everybody’s responsibility - even if you don’t have your own fleet. The delivery of goods and services generates road transport and any collisions involving your suppliers can affect your business and, ultimately, your reputation.

FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, is a nationwide, best practice accreditation scheme committed to driving up standards of road transport in our towns, cities and across the UK. Join the growing band of organisations that manage WRRR and air quality by including FORS in your procurement policies and supply chain contracts.

Don’t get left behind on transport procurement.

Safety, Efficiency, Environment

www.fors-online.org.uk 08448 09 09 44

Salauddin Ïbn Mustafa, IRMCert, Risk & Assurance Manager, Crown Prosecution Services

“The IRM has helped me to identify and plug gaps in our Risk Management, from lapses in oversight to more critical ‘unknown unknowns’ that are now in scope allowing us to manage expectations better and minimise service delivery issues.”

Find out more at theirm.org/ERMcertgov 50

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Risk Management

 our core business the risk professional must be upskilled to understand as much as possible about information technology risk.

The use of big data and ability to analyse and forecast in numerous ways using the interconnected information we collect can be an asset. Its use should not just be reactive, such as analysis of losses or claims to prevent future losses but used proactively as a risk management tool. For example, it allows the measurement, integration and management of financial risk across all areas of the business; allows for better fraud management with faster identification and control; enhanced scenario analysis such as flood profiling and in emergency planning; developing new business models and project risk management; and better understanding of our community and its needs, allowing for more accurate future planning of services.

Potential threats and opportunities With our need to boast depleted funds and get positive returns on investment in order to sustain our public services, the risk professional of now and the future needs to understand not just the core business risks, but those of the commercial projects we are involved in. Running energy companies, building commercial property portfolios, managing airports and hotels, and selling support services are a few examples.

Skills in project risk management must be a requirement for the risk professional in our new world. Understanding the business objectives and potential threats and opportunities; worst case scenario assessments (how much will this cost if it goes wrong); the use of qualitative techniques to identify the relative significance of identified risks and quantitative analysis to determine the effects of cumulative risk on objectives. How do all these risks interface with the organisation as a whole?

There needs to be a re-evaluation of the organisations risk appetite relative to the commercial agenda, which may vastly differ from the appetite applied to the core statutory business. The risk appetite applied to setting up and growing an energy company cannot be aligned to the risk appetite applied to children’s safeguarding, such are the complexities of the services offered by the public sector. Maybe the way to address this is for a specialist project risk professional within each organisation allowing for a dedicated resource. In my view, well worth the money if they are effectively supporting the identification of risk in commercial projects, thereby increasing the likelihood of meeting the commercial objectives, which are vital in underwriting the continuation of statutory services to our citizens.

Recent tragedies Closer to the present day the risk professional of today and undoubtedly the near future has a role to play in public safety and continuation of services in the event of a major incident.

Sadly over the last year we have experienced a number of terrorist atrocities in the UK and witnessed the destruction of Grenfell Tower,

The question now in our minds - is our traditional role sustainable in the 2020 and beyond? What does the risk professional of 2030 look like? all of which have called upon public services to respond in the immediate and in the aftermath. Risk management is the overarching term for Emergency Planning, Crisis Management, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery – all of which have a different role but all are part of properly managing a risk. What we have learnt from these terrible events to date and, what we will learn in the future, is that building and embedding a robust business continuity and crisis management plan and ensuring a close and aligned working relationship with leadership and the risk professional is critical.

Establishing an effective education and awareness programme is vital for ensuring all staff are aware of the implications of business continuity as well as their roles and responsibilities in a recovery situation.

The success of the business continuity programme depends on this. It can greatly enhance the ability of the organisation to anticipate, identify and respond effectively to an incident. It should also consider both internal and external stakeholders, including third parties such as utilities companies and other partners. This links directly to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 duty to promote BCM among the business community.

The impact of a disruption to services in the public sector is a risk that many have

identified at a strategic level and it figures largely in corporate and strategic risk registers. The wide range of threats, the increasing reliance on technology and public expectations, often voiced through social media, all mean that the need for plans and alignment to risk management, to deal with disruptions is more important than ever before.

Commercialism, technological advances, climate change, Brexit, changing demographics and terrorism are all here to stay and the future risk professional must develop knowledge and skills in these areas complimentary to the knowledge and skills we have already in risk management attributable to our core statutory services.

On a final note, the risk professional of the future is only as successful as the leadership of the organisation they work in.

Risk management only works with ‘leadership buy in’. However competent and experienced the risk manager, the success of managing risk can only be properly realised when leaders of an organisation drive the risk agenda and lead the embedding of good risk management from the top, giving risk and opportunity the time, resource and attention it deserves. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.alarm-uk.org

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Fire Safety Written by the Business Sprinkler Alliance

Sprinklers ensure resilience for businesses The inclusion of a sprinkler system can prevent major financial and equipment losses for UK businesses. The Business Sprinkler Alliance explain how to mitigate against the risk of fire damage, both immediate and long term, and how sprinklers can enhance business continuity and responsibility completely destroyed, impacting not only the From healthcare facilities to hotels, offices business and its employees, but also retailers, to industrial buildings, the impact of a major the local economy and the environment. fire can be devastating and many businesses The loss of £20 million of stock was felt by never recover. To reduce the risk to life retailers who rely on their more than 4,000 and the degree of damage in a fire event, lines of garden products. There were disruption automatic sprinkler systems are proven time and smoke warnings issued following the and time again to be both effective and fire while fire water run-off needed to be efficient in a wide range of fire scenarios monitored by the environment agency. There and building types, affording greater levels was the environmental impact of disposing of fire protection to people, property and the of the damaged property, where the costs, environment. This is why they are chosen to resources and materials required to rebuild protect buildings and businesses, ensuring it would be in excess of £30 million, continuity and productivity. significantly more than the cost to In the event of a fire, many Fires install sprinklers which would businesses with sprinkler have been in the region of systems find they are are the £850,000 to £1.2 million. back up-and-running c Whilst thankfully there was in a matter of hours. significaause of n loss of life, the lasting In the early hours t e c o nomic, no environ effect is undeniable. of 12 March 2018, commu mental and a devastating fire nity cos Financial loss destroyed a recentlyts whic are ultim Sadly, fires such as this opened unsprinklered h damage and destroy warehouse in Daventry. borne b ately y the businesses on a regular Despite more than 50 taxpaye basis. Businesses that do firefighters tackling the r recover only do so at great blaze, the Gardman garden cost to their clients, suppliers and supplies distribution centre was

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

their reputation. Fire remains the leading cause of commercial property loss with the Association of British Insurers predicting that UK businesses could stand to lose £10 billion between 2010 and 2020 as a result of fire. However, businesses should take note of findings from the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters which found that 79 per cent of businesses under insure their property by 20 per cent or more. At the same time, they under estimate business interruption after a fire by 50 per cent.

Home Office figures show that there have been 22,800 fires in industrial and commercial buildings (ICBs) in the past three years. But the costs of fires in industrial and commercial buildings go far beyond the costs and impacts on individual businesses and insured costs.

Fires are the cause of significant economic, environmental and community costs which are ultimately borne by the taxpayer.

Out of business In the worst case scenario, the effect of a fire is the closure of a business. This is not uncommon. It can prove impossible for small businesses and some medium sized ones to recover from the effect of fire; and evidence shows larger businesses choose to consolidate operations in other sites following the loss of a site to fire. Both productivity and jobs are lost in these cases.

In either case, the resulting fire has an impact on a number of businesses within the supply chain. Companies supplying the fire damaged business will lose business temporarily or even permanently; businesses which depend upon products or services from the fire damaged business have to find other means of supply; businesses surrounding the fire-affected business will often have to cease trading for the duration of the fire and sometimes even longer.

Nearly all fires in ICBs cause transport disruption, while many also require residential evacuations and school closures.

The cost to the environment All fires in ICBs create environmental impacts and costs including carbon emissions. A study

by Bureau Veritas has calculated that up to 350,000 tonnes of CO2 a year are emitted because of fires in ICBs. Furthermore, the same study has calculated that more than nine billion litres of water are needlessly used by the UK fire service each year to extinguish fires in ICBs (equivalent to 15 million UK households’ daily water use).

This vast amount of water used each year to put out fires in ICBs could be avoided if the buildings were fitted with sprinkler systems.

While the impact is incalculable, the smoke and emissions generated from a fire are

The sensible approach As a small, family-run food manufacturing company that prides itself on continuity of supply and guaranteeing deliveries to its customers, including national supermarkets, Birmingham-based Cleone Foods must ensure the company manages risk by minimising potential threats and disruption to its business.

With fire continuing to be one of the biggest threats to businesses, Cleone Foods have recognised the resilience benefits of fire sprinklers, and fitted them to their premises.

The single-site manufacturing and distribution facility, close to Birmingham’s jewellery quarter, produces Jamaican patties, a traditional Caribbean snack derived from a Cornish Pasty. Since the company was formed in 1988, expansion has been rapid and it has achieved an excellent reputation, enabling it to secure significant contracts supplying leading national food retailers.

With 70 staff running two shifts, there are fixed financial penalties in place for the company if it fails to satisfy its orders, which in the event of prolonged disruption, would impact profitability and worse still, could affect the survival of the business.

Simon Noble, project manager at Cleone Foods Ltd, said: “We are a small food company supplying major supermarket chains and they are very big on maintaining continuity of supply. We have to keep them happy and cannot afford to have any disruption

The inclusion of a sprinkler system can prevent major financial and equipment losses, containing what could be a potential major disaster and ensuring it is only a minor inconvenience to our day-to-day operations. As part of our continuity strategy, we have reviewed all of our internal and external processes and one of the areas that we identified that could dramatically affect our business is that of a fire at our premises. To address this risk and effectively protect our business, thereby safeguarding jobs, we have installed sprinklers throughout the facility.”

To ensure continuity and productivity, a sprinkler system has been installed throughout the 1,000m2 site. Contrary to the myths that exist about sprinklers, the site team understand well that in the event of fire only the sprinkler heads that are directly above the fire will be triggered. The water from the sprinkler heads will have the effect of containing or even extinguishing the fire without causing damage to non-affected areas.

The alarm and sprinkler system are tested weekly, and servicing is completed once a year by a specialist contractor. The weekly test involves checking the water pressures, carrying out an alarm test and checking the interlocks of the fire alarm system. Further fire protection measures at the site include a full multi-zone fire alarm with remote monitoring, which will automatically call the local fire brigade to attend in the case of an activation.

Fire Safety

pollutants which can lower the quality of the air that we breathe. Fire-water run-off can, in certain situations when buildings contain pollutants, contaminate watercourses which is costly to treat. Furthermore, there is significant unnecessary waste and use of resources to rebuild destroyed property.

The inclusion of a sprinkler system can prevent major financial and equipment losses, containing what could be a potential major disaster and ensuring it is only a minor inconvenience. Proven time and again with consistent reliability, it is a small price to pay to prevent a business’s hard earned success from going up in flames.

Noble adds: “As a business we have to be prepared. Sprinklers form part of our resilience strategy, the success of which is highlighted by impressive growth figures and minimal disruption to the business since its implementation in 2009. It’s about being a responsible business and the inclusion of sprinklers is part of our commitment to our customers, our staff and our local community.”

Automatic sprinkler systems offer the business owner reliable, long-lived and proven technology which can reduce the risk to life and degree of damage caused in a fire event.

These systems make buildings and businesses resilient to fire incidents because they control or extinguish a fire before the fire and rescue service arrive. The impacted business can be back up-and-running within hours, avoiding the economic and social costs. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org

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Discover how a partnership with CAME could benefit you.

TAP-IN TAP-OUT Utilising contactless payments customers can now ‘tap’ their payment card on entry and again on exit to pay for their parking. Fees are calculated at exit, based on duration of stay.

TICKETLESS Our PKE system can be used without tickets, utilising ANPR technology for an innovative parking solution. QR tickets can easily be added to this system if customers require it.

ANPR Our Automatic Number Plate Recognition system provides highly reliable recognition for licence plates, giving maximum vehicle capture and detection.

eVALIDEC On- or off-line system for parking ticket discounts, allowing single or multiple discounts on the same ticket, perfect for use by retail partners.

PAY BY APP Speed up exit to the car park with customers paying in advance on our app using either number plate or a ticket. It can

PAY BY PLATE Customers simply key in their number plate at the pay station to pay for parking

parking spaces!

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Parking

Parking structures form a crucial part of our urban architecture.

Here, Glenn Dives, Corporate and Public Affairs Officer for the British Parking Association, establishes the importance of car parks and outlines the ways in which they can be maintained Car parks. Who loves car parks? If we are honest there are not many people working outside of the parking sector who would admit to liking car parks let alone loving them. They are seen to be there. We drive in, park up, pay, and then go about our business, before returning to our vehicle and leaving.

We don’t think of the processes that go into designing, building or maintaining them.

Why would we after all? Car parks are not thought of as being vitally important to how we live our lives. As you would expect, the British Parking Association (BPA) think differently. Parking structures form a crucial part of our urban architecture, and, as such, good quality, well-designed and properly managed and maintained car parks are vital to our quality of life. Car parks, and the wider role of parking management, play a critical role in keeping our streets safe, free

from obstruction, improving road safety and enabling services and deliveries to take place in high streets that would become congested if parking wasn’t properly and effectively managed.

There are a range of organisations providing or operating parking facilities including local authorities and private operators, and landowners themselves. This happens, be it in town centres, business districts, healthcare or at transport hubs such as train stations and airports. Within these

Written by Glenn Dives, Corporate and Public Affairs Officer for the British Parking Association

We all tumble down?

Maintaining Britain’s car parks groups are a wide range of different car parks from single deck flat tops, through to multi-storey car parks. Within this range it is necessary to say that every car park is different, meaning that any guidance or advice on maintaining them can only be general.

However, there are several factors which can be considered regardless of the type of car park. These factors include: structural stability; maintaining the road surface; maintaining concrete; maintaining steel reinforcements (primarily in multi-story carparks); assessment of the structure following a crash; bay lines and other surface markings; parking architecture; ticket machines; ANPR/ CCTV cameras; barriers; de-icing (in persistent cold weather); and cleaning.

These are some of the factors which need to be considered in the maintenance programme for a car park. But why is E

There significaare associat nt costs providin ed with such as g parking s fencingurfacing, and cleaning .

S o somew meone, her to paye has

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A proactive approach Having now outlined some of the issues involved, both legal and practical, it is now time to consider how to approach that maintenance. These factors can be broken down into two groups: those which are reactive in nature and those which can be dealt with proactively. An example would be the assessment of the structure following a crash (this can only be completed following a crash). Correspondingly the maintenance of the concrete can be proactively managed by regular visits and inspections of the site.

Now of course there is a degree of overlap in this, where some proactive measures end up being dealt with reactively. For example, inspecting the steel support and concrete following a crash into a concrete column, but as a rule addressing those issues ahead of time is considered best practice.

It is this drive for standards which underpins the BPA’s work in this area. As such we facilitate a Parking Structures interest group

Having a proactive approach not only means that the car park looks its best but will ensure, that the structure remains safe for use and will remain serviceable.

Neglecting the structure can, create risks, reduces quality and increases reactive spend which focuses upon structures and asset management. One of the group tasks is to develop best practice, promote planning and answer questions fielded by the association’s extensive membership. The BPA further work to support this by sharing best practice, and support schemes like Park Mark® and its ‘The Art of Safer Parking’ campaign.

Russell Simmons, chair of the BPA Parking Structures group and director at Stripe Consulting, describes the work of maintaining car parks as being ‘similar to any structural asset in that they will degrade over time and need to be maintained. Once degradation starts it will only get harder to fix and more expensive to arrest the longer it is left, which is why the professionals will always advise you to adopt a life-care plan approach to maintaining the asset’.

What exactly are life-care plans?

Put simply life-care plans are documents (or systems) which set out the arrangements for regular inspection of structures and continued dialog between the owner/operator and their engineers (in house or via consultants).

Parking

 it important? Well those responsible for providing or operating parking facilities have a duty of care to maintain them in a safe condition for those persons in or about it, whether lawfully or otherwise. This duty of care stems from the legal requirements outlined under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984. Even without this legal responsibility, the operators/owners recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure that their parking facilities are safe, properly serviced and maintained. It’s a valuable asset after all that should be taken care of.

The correct administration of a life-care plan (in line with Institute of Chartered Engineers, ISTructE and BPA guidelines) will ensure that the correct proactive and reactive actions are taken and are subject to continual review. The Institute of Chartered Engineers recently updated their recommendations, influenced by a strong input from the BPA including a forward from Kelvin Reynolds, the BPA’s director of Corporate and Public Affairs, and co-authored

by Russell Simmons. The adage ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ lies at the heart of the process behind life-care plans. Maintaining the facility in good time will ensure that you get the best out of it for years. Ignoring it and hoping for the best will quickly lead to deterioration and degeneration becoming a drain on resources and, potentially subject to structural failure and early closure.

Having a proactive approach not only means that the car park looks its best but will ensure, that the structure remains safe for use and will remain serviceable. Neglecting the structure can, and in many cases does, create risks, reduces quality, increases reactive spend and reduces the number of years that the car park can remain in service.

Local authorities (among other owner/ operators) have an obligation to ensure that the car park is being managed safely and cost effectively, and life-care plans are the most effective way of ensuring that this remains at the forefront of thought and planning.

The BPA wants to see more emphasis on life care planning for all car parks and appropriate funds set aside to ensure that they are properly serviced and maintained. Premature or unplanned closure of multi-storey car parks has a detrimental effect on the communities the car parks serve and works against the regeneration of town centres.

So, while car parks may not be the most loved structures on our high streets or town centres, they are amongst the most important. However, as we have seen there are significant costs associated with providing parking such as surfacing, fencing and cleaning. Where tariffs apply there is also a cost of collecting that charge. Someone, somewhere has to pay. Car parks require continual investment not only in money, but time. The BPA is passionate about promoting this to both our members and all stakeholders, to ensure that they receive the right amount of support and investment. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.britishparking.co.uk

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For further details please contact: phill.lewis@nuphalt.com

Parking

Changing perceptions of parking through customer experience The British Parking Association’s Glenn Dives looks at the local examples of where parking initiatives are delivering a service that is exceeding customer needs The entire economy is facing a whole range of new challenges presented by technological innovation and consumer demand and the parking sector is no exception to this. Indeed there is a real desire across the industry to deliver a more positive and consistent parking experience for customers. To do this the British Parking Association (BPA) and its members are exploring new approaches and technologies to deliver a more integrated and effective service to the public.

The BPA is increasingly looking at the bigger picture to improve government, media and public perceptions of parking and support the sector to raise standards.

It has made this a priority in its Blueprint for Parking which was published in July. The Blueprint outlines the BPA’s main objectives for the next five years, and is centred upon improving collaboration and consistency throughout the parking community, and encouraging professionalism and continuous development to raise standards.

The BPA has implemented this by connecting the sector together, as evidenced by both its recent Annual Conference and Parking Scotland events where the subject of collaboration and changing perceptions took centre stage. At Parking Scotland, a third of the day was allocated to a spirited debate around what private and public sectors can do to improve existing standards and create new ones. At the Annual Conference in London, almost the entire agenda from the opening introduction by Peter Lowe, president of the BPA, was centred upon collaborative thinking and how the industry can work together to change the perception of parking and deliver better outcomes for the customer.

While the BPA continues to connect its members together and encourage the wider sector, it is not alone in driving this agenda, and its membership are increasingly leading in this area. Indeed, the unofficial motto of the parking sector at the moment, to borrow the words of Cicero, would seem to be ‘I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know’. This admission has led to more collaborative approaches, exchange of knowledge, best

practice and improvements to the customer experience and perception of parking.

The Positive Parking Agenda One form this is taking is the development of the Positive Parking Agenda (PPA). The PPA has been developed by a group of local authority parking managers, fully supported by the BPA. The PPA aims to improve public understanding and the image of parking management by helping local authorities to work together in setting and raising standards, improving communications, encouraging innovation and promoting transparency in the delivery of parking management.

To address this, the group is spearheading a positive way forward, which aims to achieve better consistency across the public sector, to provide a standard set of principles and tools for local authority parking managers everywhere to adopt. The PPA also works to collate thoughts and ideas to enable a constructive response to commonly held inaccuracies and myths. One of their key messages is the importance of parking management in ensuring town centres remain free flowing, dispelling the perception that it is solely about enforcement, and of raising revenue for local authorities.

This is an area where the perception of parking does not match the reality and one that the PPA wants to address. Every year the media publishes an article about the alleged ‘profit’ that councils generate, even though the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 includes provisions to control the use of parking surplus generated. The essence of the legislation says income from all penalty charges, whether issued for on-street or off-street contraventions, plus any income

from on-street parking fees and charges is subject to s55 usage, which means it must be reinvested in services. Income from off-street parking fees and charges is for general use by the local authority, but none of this is reported.

In fact, only 20 per cent of councils in the country make an operating surplus; the rest are running at a loss. Council’s absorb these costs because they have decided they need to manage the traffic in their area to ensure that their streets are as free as possible from congestion and that their town centres are accessible.

The PPA is however, just the tip of the iceberg, as many local authorities are deeply involved in practical improvements to performance and delivering better standards for customers.

A good example of this work to improve customer experience is the City of Bradford Council. The council issues more than 100,000 PCN’s for parking, environmental and bus-lane contraventions. To ensure a smooth operation, the council has integrated the latest technology platforms into its public communications. This has involved automating its correspondence and providing an online self-service system to customers, simplifying and standardising their response to customer inquiries.

The council utilises two separate systems to perform these tasks. The first is an automated correspondence system, which generates an automatic letter in clear, jargon free English, which is fully consistent with council parking policies and this has led to a drop-in repeat correspondence from motorists. The other system operates 24/7 as a question and answer service on the council’s website.

Because it is always available it can deal with customers outside normal working hours when the majority of customer have the time to deal with a PCN. These systems combined have dramatically improved customer service satisfaction scores and reduced time spent answering phones by about 40 per cent. E

There is a real des the parkire across in to delive g industry r positive a more consiste and n experient parking c customee for rs

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A single platform approach to data sharing drives multiple traffic management applications The drive to achieve ever smarter cities relies on the ability to gather and process significant quantities of data from different types of systems. CCTV systems play a key role in the capture of data relating to the movement of vehicles, historical analysis and real-time monitoring and decision making. Councils use a wide range of different CCTV and ANPR systems to capture vehicle registration marks (VRM) for diverse parking, traffic management and enforcement, crime prevention, planning and modelling applications.

To eliminate the integration issues experienced when trying to link separated data silos that have built up as a result of using single point solutions, Videalert’s Digital Video Platform (DVP) delivers best value by supporting multiple civil traffic enforcement, traffic management, community safety and crime prevention applications from a single CCTV infrastructure simultaneously.

It also allows data to be easily shared with multiple stakeholders in their required time frames whether it be batch or in real time.

The system enables councils to reduce infrastructure and communication costs

by operating in both LAN and WAN-based environments. For WAN deployments Videalert’s RDS units (processor up a pole) have been specifically designed to simultaneously support multiple camera locations. Many of Videalert’s customers use this style of configuration to enforce multiple offences using just a single SIM card.

The benefits of existing assets can be further extended through integration with other applications such as urban traffic management and control systems to improve traffic flows and enable motorists to better plan their journeys.

To reduce congestion and pollution, Videalert has partnered with Imperial Civil Enforcement Systems to automate the management and enforcement of Clean Air and Low Emission Zones. This hosted solution

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includes a virtual emission-based permit system with differential pricing structures to reflect the specific characteristics of different vehicle types. The Videalert technology provides real-time identification of vehicles including make, model, colour, gross weight, engine type, Euro rating and CO² emission band. This enables the system to determine whether an offence has been committed and/or whether the correct tariff has been paid for entry into the restricted zone.

Imperial also provides a tried and tested back office permit management system.

Videalert’s DVP also integrates with the latest data analytics tools to provide higher levels of insight into the performance of the enforcement process and identify behavioural trends of drivers to determine the extent to which the productivity objectives of the enforcement process are being achieved based on predetermined KPIs. FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0) 20 3931 6556 info@videalert.com www.videalert.com

3 Camera agnostic - supports latest digital industry standards including ONVIF 3 Supports multiple traffic enforcement and management applications simultaneously 3 Flexible deployment options – LAN, WAN, Mobile Vehicle, 3 Optimum capture rates through combined ANPR and Video Analytics 3 Fully hosted solution available for rapid deployment 3 24x7 Remote monitoring software with auto recovery for highest availability 3 Delivers highest productivity and lowest operating costs

THINK TRAFFIC, THINK CCTV, THINK VIDEALERT For UK and International enquiries: Videalert Ltd, Riverside House, 87A Paines Lane, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 3BY, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 3931 6556 • Email: info@videalert.com • www.videalert.com

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Cambridge City Council Improving customers’ experience can take many forms beyond providing improved customer service. The proper planning and communication around renovation work can help maintain customer usage and avoid unnecessary complaints. The recent work of Cambridge City Council and Stripe Consulting demonstrates this extremely well.

The council and Stripe Consulting worked together to develop a refurbishment plan and a communication strategy to renovate three of the council’s car parks. The work progressed in stages, with both organisations and the construction firm maintaining regular contact at multiple levels, to minimise issues as the work progressed.

The council meanwhile proactively communicated with the public.

Indeed, they were so successful that they only received one complaint during the work and that was because of the smell of some of the materials, rather than the work itself. In terms of general customer experience, due to the planning undertaken, disruption from the work was minimal with the town centre remaining free flowing and 80 per cent of available car park capacity being maintained.

Parking

 Michaela Hall, the assistant parking coordinator for the council, estimates that it is saving around 300 hours a month in staff time.

As a part of the work, the council decided to design a cohesive brand for the city’s multistorey car parks utilising a common colour scheme and signage. This common branding is intended to give customers confidence that they are in a quality facility and provoke a sense of ownership. The aesthetic is clean, simple and looks high-value to meet the council’s specifications, and forms part of their 20-year refurbishment plan. Following the completion of the project the two project leads, Russell Simmons of Stripe and Sean Cleary from Cambridge, have continued utilising their communication skills by proselytising the success of their project to the rest of the parking community.

These are just some of the collaborative work patterns which the parking industry is developing to maintain and improve the experience of the consumer and the perception of parking, but it is only the beginning and there is still much to do.

With the ongoing focus of the sector and the BPA on collaboration and innovation we will see continued improvements for the customer and real change in the way parking is perceived and managed.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.britishparking.co.uk

With the ongoing focus of the sector and the BPA on collaboration and innovation we will see continued improvements for the customer and real change in the way parking is perceived and managed

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SCANSHARE CAPTURE, CONVERT & DELIVER PAPER DOCUMENTS: INTELLIGENT - PRODUCTIVE - EFFECTIVE Today’s market place is all about DATA and CAPTURING DATA which allows everyday processes to be put in place.

Scanshare is a powerful yet easy-to-use software solution that lets you integrate your paper-based workflows, inbound emails and faxes to your document management systems, databases, corporate file servers and content management applications.

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Scanshare receives documents into a server based folder from an MFP, FTP, Email, PC Client, or Watched folder.

Once received Scanshare processes the incoming document.

After processing, Scanshare will aid the storage of the document.

Scanshare can place annotation, read barcodes based on a pre-setup area and create barcodes on a document.

Scanshare can also export data from a scan, based on the variations in the content.

In short Scanshare will make your office workflow processes quick and effective. Contact us to find out more.

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WORKFLOW INTEGRATION SOLUTION

Written by Don Robbins, Information Destruction Section chair, BSIA

ith th Protect e Data ion Act

Document Disposal

When do we know we are GDPR compliant?

management in breach of the Data Protection Act with fines of up to £500,000. The largest of these fines so far was £400,000, issued to two separate companies (Keurboom Communications Ltd and TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC). In addition, there have been 19 prosecutions for criminal offences committed under the Data Protection Act during the same time period. Under GDPR fines can be up to four per cent of annual global turnover or 20 million Euros.

The other most common risk will be reputational damage leading to potential lost business; as customers are becoming Seeking professional help in disposing of your data is a wise increasingly aware and concerned about how businesses collect and use their personal investment especially as the new GDPR is now in place. information, businesses run the risk of losing But what exactly does it mean to be ‘GDPR compliant?’ customer confidence in the brand where Don Robbins, Information Destruction Section chair at the they feel that their privacy is not being protected or respected. A loss in customer British Security Industry Association, discusses confidence ultimately leads to financial loss.

When it comes to information destruction, the seventh principle of the Data Protection In the months before and following the recent not be in compliance with the new rules are Act stipulates that appropriate introduction of the General Data Protection at risk of compromising their business. measures must be taken Regulation (GDPR) Act on 25 May 2018, Top of the list of tangible risks In against accidental loss, companies and organisations across the UK will be a raft of financial the last destruction or damage will have been taking steps to ensure that they penalties being issued fall in line with the new procedures. A crucial to personal data and by the Information months 12 part of this process will have been in procuring against unlawful Commissioner’s over £4 alone, the right services to ensure their data storage processing of the Office (ICO), or even .1 milli on worth adheres to the changes. Under the new data. So now that prosecution of those have be of fines legislation, organisations will not only have to the new GDPR who commit criminal en issue prove that they have taken an audit on their legislation has offences under the Act. d to busines data but also prove that they have taken the come into force, The ICO can currently s e s have fa t h a t right steps to destroy data that is no longer companies in both issue businesses that iled to comp relevant. After this date any company seen to the private E display poor data w

ly

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Document Disposal

 and public sectors will need to prove that data is securely erased in line with the new guidelines, and show that they are fully accountable for monitoring, reviewing and assessing relevant processing procedures.

Data shredding reassurance How do we mitigate against these potentially expensive and reputational hazards when it comes to disposing of data no longer needed? Shredding confidential material is costly and time consuming, which for some firms means in-house data shredding is not a viable option, and this is true for those handling vast amounts of data across a variety of sites. In these situations outsourcing to a regulated information destruction (ID) organisation is the most practical alternative.

By engaging a company who specialises in this service, either on or off site at a high‑security shredding facility, gives organisations the reassurance that it is being done to the highest standard. Registered data shredders have to comply to the highest

industry standards which are regularly updated and providing this service has to be able to demonstrate that they are certified to EN15713 – the European standard for data destruction. This standard sets out the measures that organisations should take to maintain the security of confidential data and provides recommendations relating to the management and control of collection, transportation and destruction of confidential material to ensure such material is disposed of safely and securely.

GDPR represents a great opportunity for information destruction companies. In the current climate there has been increased demand for these services from both new and existing customers, asking about GDPR and how information destruction can assist. But even with all this help at hand there is still confusion around what it means to be fully ‘GDPR compliant’; not just from the point of view of the customer – but also, how does it affect the industry itself as holders of their own data?

There has been increased demand for these services from both existing customers and new queries, asking about GDPR and how information destruction can assist, but even at this late stage there is confusion around what it means to be fully ‘GDPR compliant?

Industry feedback from customers shows varying levels of concern, from companies looking for accreditation to others happy with a downloaded template data policy or standard T&C’s to others simply ignoring the deadline. From an industry standpoint there are three elements that could affect information destruction as a business; their own data responsibilities, the shredding services provided for the destruction of data as a data processor, and marketing to opted-in existing and prospective clients.

These elements are all currently open to interpretation (both by experts and customers) and are most likely common across all industries, so it is arguable that even with all this information at hand companies are still not fully aware of their obligations, no matter how robustly laid out by the ISO. Of course some of these issues opens up opportunities for companies dealing with data to create new services from these companies but it shows that even at this late date there is still work to do in communicating what companies need to do and so close to a major data milestone.

What is data destruction?

Secure data destruction is the process of destroying confidential materials to the point that they cannot be reconstituted. These materials can take many forms, including paper, computer hard-drives, branded products and uniforms, but crucially, they all hold the potential to cause problems for business, employees or customers if they fall into

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Ensure your compliance with GDPR

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Data protection principles Under the Data Protection Act 1998, everyone responsible for using data has to follow the data protection principles. These include ensuring that data is used fairly and lawfully; for limited, specifically stated purposes; used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive; accurate; kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary; handled according to people’s data protection rights; kept safe and secure; and is not transferred outside the European Economic Area without adequate protection.

This has now changed as of 25 May 2018, when the GDPR came into effect in the UK. The GDPR has potentially significant impacts on the ways in which UK businesses collect and process the personal data of individuals.

All organisations globally are obligated to provide evidence of compliance and can be fined for any data breach. Failure to comply could lead to tough financial penalties. The definition of personal data is now broader there will be stricter rules for obtaining consent as a legal basis for processing personal data. As a data controller a company must have a legal basis for processing and collecting personal data and must ensure adequate contracts are in place to govern data processors. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.bsia.co.uk/sections/ information-destruction.aspx

The University of Greenwich has been fined £120,000 by the Information Commissioner following a ‘serious’ security breach involving the personal data of nearly 20,000 people – among them students and staff. It is the first university to have been fined by the Commissioner under the existing data protection legislation (Data Protection Act 1998).

Document Disposal

the wrong hands. Information destruction companies provide a range of services to help businesses of all sizes to protect themselves from the risks associated with data loss or theft. Shredding of materials can take place at business premises using a mobile shredding vehicle, or materials can be collected and shredded at a high-security shredding facility.

Whether confidential materials are shredded on‑site or at a high-security shredding facility, businesses that outsource their shredding to a professional service provider can be assured that the data will be completely destroyed.

Additionally, the services provided by an information destruction company extend far beyond the actual destruction of confidential material. These services can also include secure document storage, data security advice and guidance, office clearance and recycling.

Every business will collect and generate confidential information relating to its operations, its employees or its customers. When this information is no longer required, there can be severe consequences for the data subjects if the information is not correctly disposed of and subsequently falls into the wrong hands.

Therefore, any business that collects, holds, processes or disposes of a person’s personal information has a responsibility to ensure that it is protected from loss or theft. In fact, since the Data Protection Act was passed in 1998, there has been a legal obligation for businesses to act responsibly with regards to how they use personal information.

First university fined for serious data breach

The investigation centred on a microsite developed by an academic and a student in the then devolved University’s Computing and Mathematics School, to facilitate a training conference in 2004.

After the event, the site was not subsequently closed down or secured and was compromised in 2013. In 2016 multiple attackers exploited the vulnerability of the site allowing them to access other areas of the web server.

The personal data included contact details of 19,500 people including students, staff and alumni such as names, addresses and telephone numbers. However, around 3,500 of these included sensitive data, such as information on extenuating circumstances, details of learning difficulties and staff sickness records, and was subsequently posted online.

Steve Eckersley, head of Enforcement at the ICO, said: ”Whilst the microsite was developed in one of the University’s departments without its knowledge, as a data controller it is responsible for the security of data throughout the institution. Students and members of staff had a right to expect that their personal information would be held securely and this serious breach would have caused significant distress. The nature of the data and the number of people affected have informed our decision to impose this level of fine.”

The Commissioner found that the university did not have in place appropriate technical and organisational measures for ensuring, so far as possible, that such a security breach would not occur – for ensuring that its systems could not be accessed by attackers.

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Public Sector Show

Creating smarter and more efficient public services Exclusive research from the Public Sector Show 2018 has provided a picture of public service views on the health of the nation’s public services. In light of this, Government Business looks at the findings and ahead to the show on 26 June compromising the sector’s values. Panellists will also consider There’s how best to support staff to develop their commercial skills. no dou Ensuring that UK public services can continue to meet the b that dig t needs of citizens will be another key theme of the show, with ital techno sessions exploring the important role that technology can exciting logy provide play here. Eve Roodhouse, director of Implementation at NHS Digital, will speak on a panel exploring how digital for the opportunities change can help revolutionise the interactions between s p u b l to ‘wor ic sector state and citizen, including digital procurement solutions.

Focusing on themes including leadership, estates, when ikt smarter’ infrastructure, technology and finance, the show comes to servi will bring together over 2,000 senior public sector budget‑holders and decision-makers to hear from over deliveryce 140 leading speakers – including Chris Grayling, Secretary of

The State of the Public Sector report sets out the views of those leading, delivering and managing core public services in the UK on the key challenges facing the sector in the months and years ahead. Top of the list of public servants’ concerns in the second edition of the publication is finance and resources, with 71 per cent of respondents identifying this as an issue as the sector confronts the challenge of doing more with less.

The potential impacts of Brexit are not far behind, with 59 per cent of respondents citing it among their concerns. It is too soon to say with any certainty what impact leaving the EU will have on the UK’s public services, but as the date of our departure edges closer, public servants are aware they need to be preparing now for what the future may bring.

Key to high-quality public services are the people who deliver them, something acknowledged by the 38 per cent of respondents who cited staff shortages as a key challenge, while over half (54 per cent) expect the challenge of building and maintaining a workforce with the right skills and experience to get harder.

These issues, and others identified in the report, will apply across different parts of the public sector to varying degrees.

However, with debates ongoing about NHS capacity and funding, the future of EU nationals working for the health service and the pay and working conditions of NHS workers, their relevance to the healthcare sector cannot afford to be ignored.

State for Transport; Deborah McKenzie, Chief People Officer for Public Health England; Dave Sweeney, director of Transformation and interim chief officer at NHS Halton Clinical Commissioning Group; and Robert Jenrick, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. L FURTHER INFORMATION

https://psshow.co.uk

Technology and automation The report makes clear that those providing the public services we all rely on face some acute challenges. However, it also explores potential solutions, including how technology is set to become more fundamental to public sector operations. There is significant optimism that technology and automation will enable better and more efficient public services – however, this may be something of a ‘double-edged sword’, with a majority (64 per cent) of public servants also expecting it to cost jobs.

Corby Ganesh, portfolio director for The Public Sector Show, said: “There’s no doubt that digital technology provides exciting opportunities for the public sector to ‘work smarter’ when it comes to delivering the services we all rely on. But building a workforce with the right people and skills will be just as vital as technology in ensuring our public services are fit for the future. That’s why we’re delighted to be welcoming an exceptional line-up of speakers and exhibitors to the Public Sector Show to showcase their innovative products and share their experiences and insights into the future of public service delivery.”

The State of the Public Sector report also highlights instances where the public sector is already putting innovative solutions into practices.

Learn. Procure. Deliver.

Insights from the report have been used to shape the agenda of this year’s Public Sector Show, the must-attend event for those involved in delivering public services in the UK. Helping public servants cope with the everpresent resource challenge is one of the key objectives of this year’s show.

Sessions will include a discussion on how the public sector can develop a more commercially-focused mindset, where Alyson Brett, managing director of NHS Commercial Solutions, will speak on a panel exploring the pioneering approaches being taken by public sector organisations to find new sources of revenue without

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SDW 2018

Signalling secure document technologies Recognised as the pre-eminent conference for professionals involved in secure ID credentials and government-identity solutions, the three-day SDW conference delivers innovations, insight, analysis and debate direct from over 75 industry experts Whether your company or organisation is involved with security features, chips/inlays, cards and document production, personalisation techniques, document readers, biometrics, or in providing infrastructure and expertise for large-scale identity solutions, or in fraud detection, the 2018 SDW conference will be of strong appeal. Taking place on 25-27 June at London’s QEII Centre, SDW has become one of the world’s largest gathering of advanced security document and identity solutions experts.

The 12th edition of SDW, hosted by Science Media Partners, is expecting to welcome 2,000 attendees from around the world.

The event features a world-renowned three‑day conference and a free two-day exhibition with over 150 companies exhibiting. The show provides exceptional opportunities for learning, sourcing solutions and networking with so many leading organisations, government officials and industry professionals from around the world all under one roof. SDW is a truly international event with 78 nations represented at the 2017 iteration of the event.

well-resourced to achieve their aims. In this series of sessions, SDW will take a purposeful look at the drivers of document and identity fraud, the systems, approaches and tools available to prevent and detect it, and explore what government and industry can do to further deter and reduce the possibility of fraudulent documents or identities being used by those who seek to do harm to our societies.

As increasing numbers of people travel to more destinations than ever before, now, more than ever, interoperability is critical to our shared success. Secure documents need to be readable in multiple locations by multiple actors. Systems need to interface with other systems. And end-users should be able to use their identity or credentials in new and innovative ways. Vitally important standards, such as ICAO 9303, provide a powerful platform on which the foundations of global interoperability can be built. L

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Key themes for SDW 2018 As challenges, such as terrorism, organised crime, forced migration, identity fraud and social exclusion, continue to challenge policymakers across the world, the identity industry must adapt and evolve. While this process requires many different elements, leading contributors to SDW have cited the critical role that new technologies will play. Examples are biometrics, mobile devices, new credential substrates and security features, as well as the need to work with both physical and digital identities, and the development of technologies such as blockchain.

In a series of sessions, we will examine these technology trends and aim to establish how they will shape our industry over the coming years. Whether organisations are involved in the design or manufacture of new credentials or next-generation identity management systems, best practice plays an invaluable role in raising the bar to limit counterfeiting and fraud. SDW will take an in-depth view at the tools, techniques, materials and processes that enhance security and further improve quality – ensuring that citizens are able – both on-line and off-line – to prove their identity with ease, while making fraud detection easier for authorities.

Secure identity credentials have been developed over decades and today are used by more people than ever before for an increasing number of applications – from proving their identity, to international travel, and accessing government services.

The fraud curve As we continue to innovate and design new ways of developing secure documents and managing identities, government and industry need to remain vigilant and stay ahead of the fraud curve to ensure their designs and processes are not vulnerable to fraud or misuse.

Equally, action to detect and disrupt fraud needs to be robust.

During the past decade, instances of simplistic document fraud have been on the decline, but have been replaced by a sharp increase in identity fraud. Actors and organisations involved in terrorism and organised crime will continue to exploit design and system vulnerabilities for their benefit and remain highly motivated and

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Housing 2018

The innovations improving efficiencies in housing Tacking place on 26-28 June at Manchester Central, Housing 2018 is the leading event for the housing sector to meet industry professionals, gain industry insight and conduct business deals

Two modula r propert i e s b y Home ilke constru s are being of the o cted as part ff at CIH’s -site village Hou 2018 sing

In May, Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations controversially did not include a ban on flammable cladding, despite calling for a ‘radical rethink’ of the safety system. Set up after the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy of last year, the independent review has looked into and analysed regulations around the design, construction and management of buildings in relation to fire safety.

Following the fire last June, cladding on hundreds of buildings failed safety tests. In recent weeks, architects, building firms and Grenfell survivors have backed a ban on using combustible materials in construction, with the government announcing a £400 million fund to remove dangerous cladding from tower blocks owned by councils and housing associations.

Hackitt’s review states that ’simply adding more prescription, or making amendments to the current system, such as restricting or prohibiting certain practices, will not address the root causes’. A separate judge-led inquiry into the Grenfell fire started taking evidence on 21 May, finding that fire service advice to ‘stay put’ in the Grenfell Tower fire had ‘effectively failed’ within around half an hour of the fire starting. Despite Hackitt’s omission, Dr Barbara Lane, a leading fire safety expert, also suggested cladding was

the primary cause of the spread of June’s fire, which caused over 70 deaths.

Responding to the final report from Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety, Chartered Institute of Housing chief executive Terrie Alafat CBE said: “The Hackitt Review rightly recommends a wholesale overhaul of the building regulations and fire safety system covering high-rise buildings.

“It is absolutely vital that we increase accountability for everyone involved in building and managing homes and make sure that residents have a stronger voice. It is now almost a year since the horrendous events at Grenfell Tower when 71 people lost their lives – we urge the government to consider the review’s recommendations carefully and act on them swiftly.

“Everyone who works in housing must reflect on the recommendations and we will be doing everything we can to make sure that our members understand the changes coming their way so they can put them into practice quickly and effectively.”

Almost a year after the Grenfell Tower fire, the Housing 2018 conference will explore how the government and the sector have

responded and how the industry can address the questions that remain about what needs to be done to ensure nothing like it ever happens again. This will, in part, be led

by Sir Ken Knight, chair for the Independent Expert Advisory Panel - Building Safety Programme.

Why attend?

Attendees at Housing have consistently rated the show as the sector’s leading event, with 97 per cent of chief executives from the top 100 housing associations in attendance.

Members of Parliament, government officials, council leaders, mayors, trade body presidents and housing association CEOs make up the unrivalled speaker line up at this year’s show. As well as addressing the Grenfell Tower fire, sessions in the keynote theatre will confront how best to tackle the housing crisis, making sense of the current political agenda, leadership in housing, building places that work, rethinking social housing and meeting housing need at local level.

Among the think tank discussions at the show, a number of leading housing experts will be discussing what the Homelessness Reduction Act means. The Homelessness Reduction Act, which came into force in April 2018, aims to help councils tackle homelessness and is designed to prevent people from becoming homeless and to give councils more control to tackle the E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Housing 2018

E issue. This think tank seminar, including input from Shelter’s Deborah Garvie, Faye Greaves from the CIH and Mike Wright, strategic lead on homelessness for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, will provide an overview of the Homelessness Reduction Act, the impacts that it will have and early learnings from the ‘trailblazers’.

The past year has seen a rise in the demand for affordable housing with the government coming under fire for not reaching its targets or being ambitions enough in its actions.

However, the last 12 months or so has also witnessed an extraordinary growth in the amount of new equity funding coming into the affordable housing sector, ranging from the rise of the For Profit RPs and private equity funds through to the new social housing REITs. The ‘Making the case for equity investment in affordable housing’ think tank session, sponsored by Trowers & Hamlins, will explore the drivers behind the flow of new capital into the sector, what investors are looking to achieve and what it means for traditional RPs and local authorities.

Everyone deserves a place fit to call home.

Yet with a shortage of new properties, outdated rental stock and a lack of support for the vulnerable, many people end up in unsuitable, unsafe, or unaffordable accommodation. The session on finding local solutions to national housing issues will provide first-hand accounts from those on the ground, highlighting ways that local groups are taking a strategic approach to solve local housing issues.

High quality homes for the future The building of homes is a catalyst to the building of communities; it is possible toay to revolutionise the off-site engineering and on-site installation of high-quality apartments to deliver homes that people aspire to live in. The aim of the industry should be to deliver innovative residential schemes that respond to the needs of those who use them and to identify and overcome the factors that lead to poor house building.

The Laing O’Rourke-sponsored panel will discuss the challenges of, and solutions for, the house building process and identify what we need to do to create housing stock that meets the standards we would all expect.

A session on funding and delivery models for a future housing need, sponsored by Mears, will detail how the company has worked with local authorities, investors and

Almost a year after the Grenfell Tower fire, the conference will explore how the government and the sector have responded and how the industry can address the questions that remain about what needs to be done to ensure it never happens again housing providers to deliver sustainable and tailored portfolios with a range of models, that can cater for temporary accommodation, prevent homelessness and enable discharge of duty with the formation of joint ventures and bespoke partnerships. Taking place on 27 June, the session will combine the input of Mears’ business development director, Ciaran O’Shea, Darren Welsh, director of housing for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and Beth Knowles, the mayoral lead for homelessness and rough sleeping for Greater Manchester Mayor’s Office.

With many drivers pushing change over recent years, the sector has undoubtedly become a much more diverse place. Some change has been incremental and some faster paced. There are now more players in the market, a wider range of options for delivery, and a change in attitude amongst many. But, how far have we come? Trowers & Hamlin return to lead a session exploring some of the different ways in which those that operate in the sector now approach the delivery of homes, funding and services, including the attitudes of organisations to what they do and what drives them and the Regulator’s view of a changing world.

Unlocking access to land The UK government has set a national target for the NHS to provide land for 26,000 residential units by April 2020. This policy sits alongside other key NHS policy drivers for efficiency and service transformation arising from the Five Year Forward View and the more recent Carter and Naylor reports.

It is clear that the NHS, local authorities, housing associations and the private sector will need to work together to achieve it.

But what are the challenges not only to achieving these ambitious targets but also to ensure a better health and social care service is created as a result?

This session, titled local authorities and housing associations unlocking access to NHS land, will examine the issues from the NHS and the housing sides of the debate, considering: the NHS perspective: policy drivers and organisational structures, successful ventures between the NHS and housing, social services and housing’s role in NHS targets and how to engage it. The session will provide a platform to hear the voices of Ian Burden, property transaction lead for NHS Improvement, and Maxine Espley, executive director of the Accord Housing Association, as well as Trowers & Hamlin.

Housing parity Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who spoke at Housing 2017, has called on the government to make housing a human right like health or education and help beat homelessness. The former Labour leadership candidate has been a vocal voice for tackling homelessness since becoming the Mayor of Greater Manchester, pledging to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020 and help more than 500 people through a Housing First scheme over the next three years.

In the last 12 months, £106,000 has been raised for the Mayor’s Homelessness Fund, with more than 1,000 emergency beds provided during the recent cold weather period. Burnham has also seen over 500 homeless people accessing healthcare through a new GP registration scheme and 270 homes made available for the most vulnerable homeless people across Greater Manchester.

However, now analysing the problem on a national level, Burnham has written to Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, claiming that the housing crisis will never be solved if the government continues to operate with limitations on local authority’s powers to E Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Come and see us at CIH Housing 2018 www.fortem.co.uk @FortemCares

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

Housing 2018

LGA’s Housing Advisers Programme opens for bids An innovative scheme set up by the Local Government Association to help councils overcome housing challenges in their local areas has opened for bidding.

Analysing the key themes, the event will analyse how smart homes can improve efficiencies for housing associations, and also support the well-being and independence of tenants E improve housing in their constituencies.

He is therefore urging party to introduce a new Housing Bill and ensure it cannot be crowded out by the time pressures of Brexit.

Burnham said: “It is time that Parliament woke up to the scale of the crisis unfolding on our streets. Rising levels of rough-sleeping are the most visible sign of our broken housing market. But, behind every person on the street, hundreds more are just one step away in poor rented accommodation.

“Here in Greater Manchester, there is no shortage of passion and determination to do something to help. But that urgently needs to be matched by people in Parliament and government showing the same. We cannot allow the intricacies of Brexit to divert us from the humanitarian crisis unfolding on our own streets. Any night spent on the streets causes immense damage to people’s physical and mental health. Housing is a health issue and in this, the 70th anniversary year of the NHS, what better way of marking than by extending the right to healthcare to safe housing.”

Off-site demonstration village Fixing our broken housing market together - CHIC and ilke Homes will both be building two semi-detached off-site homes over two

days in time for Housing 2018. ilke Homes is aiming to tackle the UK’s shortage of affordable housing by delivering consistently high-quality, modular homes at scale to the people that need them most. With a focus on inspiring design, ilke Homes builds beautiful, energy-efficient homes for real families, using the latest precision engineering techniques.

Two modular properties by ilke Homes are being constructed as part of the off-site village at CIH’s Housing 2018 showcasing what ilke Homes are delivering for developers, local authorities and housing associations.

In partnership with BRE, The Cabinet Office, GLA, Homes England, Inside Housing, Manchester City Council, MHCLG and One Public Estate, Housing 2018 will be offering all attendees the opportunity to walk around some of the non-traditional build solutions that can address the governments 300,000 homes target.

Thirteen years on from the launch of John Prescott’s £60,000 house launch at the then GMEX, show organisers are delighted to showcase innovative solutions to the attendees at Housing who are collectively responsible for all the affordable housing in the future. The government’s target remains 300,000 new homes per year; let’s come together to look at what is possible. E

There is an ongoing shortfall of new homes supplied in England, with the net additional dwellings supplied last year reaching 217,350, a marked increase on recent years and yet still 80,000 homes short of the 300,000 it is widely agreed are needed each year.

In response to this, more than 40 projects across the country were supported through the Housing Advisers Programme last year, with authorities launching initiatives on everything from increasing housebuilding to reducing homelessness in their communities.

The Programme funds the provision of an independent expert undertaking specific projects to tackle the effects of the housing crisis in local communities. Following this, the best practice and lessons learned from each project will be shared with councils and embedding into the sector-led improvement currently on offer from the LGA. Martin Tett, LGA Housing spokesman, said: “The Housing Advisers Programme can make a huge difference to councils and the communities they serve. Over the last year, more than 40 local authorities have been supported to tackle our shortage of homes at the local level, and it can make a hugely positive difference, from tackling homelessness to encouraging housebuilding.

“However, there’s only so much councils can do on their own, which is why we continue to call on the government to lift the housing borrowing cap across the country and enable councils to keep 100 per cent of the receipts from sales of homes under Right to Buy. The Programme aims to help councils deliver local priorities, and can be valuable source of expertise to councils wishing to innovate and improve in their efforts to build more homes, reduce homelessness, and plan prosperous places and economies. It’s well worth councils who haven’t already done so looking at the programme and seeing how it can benefit them – a simple visit to the website is all that’s needed.”

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Centrally Managed, Locally Distributed Our aim is to be the Social Housing sector’s first choice for supplying high-quality kitchens, worktops, sinks, taps, doors, flooring and accessories. Our unique ‘centrally managed, locally distributed’ approach gives you and your contractors the best of both worlds, making sure that even the very biggest kitchen projects run smoothly.

We are exhibiting at HOUSING 2018 26th - 28th June, Manchester Central, Stand: D42

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2018, said: “We are on a journey which some say we have been on before. I did eight years in off-site media from 2000 to 2008 and I spent a lot of my time on John Prescott’s £60k house project. And here we are again. Some of you, as old as me, may remember in 2005 there was a sustainable communities summit that took place at GMEX, now Manchester Central.

For all those that came along we witnessed Blair, Brown, Prescott and about five modular

builds. Thirteen years on and these homes have changed but we still have a housing crisis.”

Other speakers discussing off-site sessions at Housing 2018 include Andy von Bradsky,

design and delivery advisor at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Nick Walkley, chief executive, and Stephen Kinsella, lead for the accelerated construction programme, Homes England, David Cowans, group chief executive, Places for People, Joanne Roney, chief executive of Manchester City Council and Sarah Weir, chief executive of the Design Council.

TECH@Housing Launching at this year’s Housing 2018, TECH@ Housing is a brand new event where visitors and industry leaders can discover the latest innovative business transformation and future

Housing 2018

ESarah Payling, event director for Housing

proofing technologies. Taking place over three days there will be two theatres providing excellent content, a pow-wow area bringing tech suppliers together with their clients, drinks receptions and expert speakers.

A Chartered Institute of Housing survey to 200 senior leaders at housing providers found that 95 per cent reported that their IT systems are the priority at their organisation, that future IT investment is set to be c. £4 million, and that 100 per cent of respondents say IT systems are pivotal to driving efficiencies moving forward. Therefore, Tech@Housing will examine innovative technology and practices adopted by players in the sector to positively change how their organisations are run and how to serve their tenants.

Analysing the key themes, the event will analyse how smart homes can improve efficiencies for housing associations, and also support the well-being and independence of tenants, whilst a review on how to utilise data all look at why the implementation of GDPR is serving as a catalyst for housing associations to review their data and why it presents an excellent opportunity for housing associations to build data plans which improve their service capability. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.cihhousing.com

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StoCretec is a market leader in many European countries and provides concrete solutions which are designed for all types of project, from various hand-applied repair materials through to floor screeds, flowable materials and sprayed mortar.

StoCretec also offers a range of solutions for optimal concrete protection, including hydrophobic treatments, crack-bridging coatings and high-performance floor-coating systems.

Visitors to the StoCretec stand at Housing 2018 (Stand F34) will be able to view the SM and SM P quick repair mortars, RM F fast-curing floor repair mortar, the EB balcony repair system, StoCretec’s range of hydrophobic impregnation materials and StoCryl coatings.

StoCrete SM is a combined, fast-

curing repair mortar and fairing coat that requires no bonding bridge, and is mixed into a smooth, easyto-use high-build mortar for immediate application to the repair area.

With an especially quick initial cure, the repaired area can be coated in just four hours with no need for any additional curing process. StoCrete SM P goes one step further, having a built-in corrosion inhibitor, making repair work even faster. Both StoCrete SM and SM P comply with the requirements of EN 1504-3 and are available in either 25kg sacks or 10kg pails that can be sealed and re-used.

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Recruitment Written by Karen Grave, president, Public Services People Managers Association

Following great practice to tackle public sector recruitment Recruitment and retention remains a lively issue across public sector organisations. Karen Grave, president of the Public Services People Managers Association, looks at the pressures impacting on our workforce and examples of those leading the way in defying the odds The public sector remains as complex, challenging and profoundly rewarding a place as ever. Listening to the headlines, the challenges are ever increasing and our capacity to have the honest debates we need to tackle some of our most pressing challenges (with credible evidence by the way) seems much diminished.

Ongoing budget pressures, ongoing public service reform, increased demand for services, ageing workforces, rapid technological advancement and media scrutiny all exert huge pressure. And of course, the last few years have seen significant policy choices that have had an enormous impact on our workforces.

IR35 legislation has transformed, and not in an entirely positive way, public services capacity to recruit experienced and specialist skills that interims offer. Whilst there are

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What does this mean for HR & OD professionals?

Constant challenge is what it means, for those colleagues tasked with recruiting staff in the first instance. Arguably this is compounded given we adhere to national pay bargaining. Over The the last 10 years, we have last few varying views on become much more adept years h whether the policy at streamlining processes, ave see is sound, what is utilising digital media and s n i gnifican absolutely clear is channels more effectively, t policy choices that the questions developing placea and clear issues based approaches to pressur nd budget es that with the process recruiting public services have had an have caused extra professionals (rather than en workload, which was for example, specific local impact ormous o completely avoidable. government, education, workfo n our Pay constraints, whilst health campaigns within rces lessened this year, will be a geography – think county a factor for years to come wide approached), and developing too. And, of course, Brexit looms more flexible approaches to reward. large on the minds of everyone involved in These are all great of course and they delivering public services, not least because are delivering tangible benefits. Arguably of the already substantial consequence however, they tend to be tactical responses. of non-UK nationals returning home – Interestingly enough, the constant colleagues in the NHS have been particularly pressure to find new ways to recruit hard hit here. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. people in an environment where

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

Reasons to be optimistic I’m mindful that one of the privileges of the PPMA Presidency is that you get a macro view of what is happening across our diverse HR and OD community. There are some incredible colleagues designing and developing innovative solutions that are delivering real tangible benefits. These create much needed capacity and capability.

I am also very conscious that whilst I also need to advocate and raise awareness of key issues on behalf of our membership community – it is not good enough to just focus on what is bad, difficult or dispiriting. It is incredibly important that, with my PPMA senior colleagues, I find ways to give voice to the amazing practice happening day in and day out. I feel very optimistic in this area. Our annual PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards process has five awards dedicated to excellence in recruitment practice: Best Frontline Recruitment Campaign; Best Senior Leadership Campaign of the Year; Best Social Media Recruitment Campaign of the Year; Best Value for Money Recruitment Campaign; and Best Creative Concept. In sharing an overview of two of our 2018 winners, my aim is to promote and share great learning.

Best Frontline Recruitment Campaign This year, Cafcass won the Best Frontline Recruitment Campaign category. As of April 2017, Cafcass employed 1,165 full-

Recruitment

you are very often competing with other public service organisations has presented incredible opportunities.

Workforce planning – sometimes used as an epithet – is increasingly seen through a much more strategic lens. Taking a longerterm view of what type of workforce you will need in the future is forcing organisations to think much more longer term. And that is an important outcome – and one we should always have focused on.

The most effective employers increasingly think about whether we are building high performing cultures, places where employees want to stay, places that give people the opportunities to develop across their careers etc. The much lambasted STP process used to help health and social care organisations plan healthcare needs over the longer term, are in fact a brilliant opportunity to strategically plan for common workforces.

This longer-term view has also seen HR & OD professionals really look at the concept of ‘employee value propositions’. These define what our organisations have to offer our employees - why we are a wonderful place to work, what opportunities we can provide, what our employees can contribute etc. This is critical because we know that for some employees, particularly younger people, we struggle to retain them and that cannot be acceptable to anyone. In terms of opportunities, the Apprentice Levy, another fabulous idea let down by poor design and implementation, can be harnessed as a way to develop people.

Interestingly enough, the constant pressure to find new ways to recruit people in an environment where you are very often competing with other public service organisations has presented incredible opportunities time equivalent (FTE) social workers, called Family Court Advisers (FCAs). This number may sound high, but demand for services has been exponential growing whilst the demand for high quality social workers nationally far outstripping supply. As an example, the increase in the number of care applications grew 30.4 per cent between 2014-15 and 2016-17.

A strategic approach was developed and implemented, which included: using temporary resources to support front line staff, expanding online recruitment channels, delivering targeted recruitment campaigns and developing a clear employer brand.

Through a huge amount of hard work there has been a 10 per cent increase in directly employed FCA’s and a 10 per cent reduction in average caseloads. This is a fantastic example of a multifaceted strategic approach which also included short term tactical activities to stabilise an organisation dealing with enormous challenges and families in real need.

Best Creative Concept GCHQ and Penna won the Best Creative Concept award. As we would all acknowledge, recruiting for such a critical organisation that inevitably has to work in secret isn’t the easiest thing in the world – particularly as you can’t divulge the full details of what the job entails. Penna worked with GCHQ to find a

solution to help them recruit hackers (not usually something we encourage in people!) and in fact that they needed over 100 specialists with unique mindsets, creativity, dedication and courage join their Computer Network Operations (CNO) department.

Using an ‘invaders’ concept, Penna created a video game which was shown at London Victoria and London Waterloo train stations.

Additionally, large projections were displayed on the outside of the Bullring and Millennium Point buildings in Birmingham. The game, together with the explicit acknowledgement that GCHQ needed hackers, was unique and the results were increasable. There was a 600 per cent increase in applications per month. Impressively, female applications have increased by an overwhelming 225 per cent and applications from BAME candidates are up by a massive 100 per cent. There is more work ahead, but this shows what can be achieved with a bit of creativity and a dash of transparency thrown in.

Recruitment and retention challenges will continue to play a significant role in the day job for HR and OD professionals.

But as you can see we’ve got some great practice and learning to share. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.ppma.org.uk

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IFSEC International

Co-creating the future of integrated security IFSEC International is Europe’s leading security event and the only global stage committed to co-creating the future of integrated security. It leads the way in inviting every vertical of the security industry to forge the global agenda In 2018, IFSEC International’s magnetism The brand new Keynote Arena will also will stem beyond its status as a world‑class connect you to inspirational global learnings security exhibition and conference show. from industry pioneers, including Christian Whatever your role in the industry, you Horner, team principal of Aston Martin Red have a part to play in global security.

Bull Racing and Frank Gardner, the only British IFSEC International is your platform to journalist permanently assigned to cover share ideas, discover best practice and the ‘War on Terror’ as they tackle today’s get hands on with the latest physical biggest security questions across CCTV, and integrated security products. cyber criminality and emerging threats.

Security is the world’s most critical Also new to 2018, the Converged Security challenge and IFSEC International is here Centre, brought to you by Vidsys, which to drive global safety. It is here to innovate, complements the show’s focus on the inspire and transform professionals, convergence between physical products and places. The global security and IT, striving to help security landscape has shifted. you understand your role as 2017 saw attacks take an installer, integrator and IFSEC on new shapes, become end user. Powered by the Interna t i o more insidious and more pioneering architects n a i s l evolvin intrusive. In order to keep of Converged Security g and is designe pace with these everand Information d evolving threats, IFSEC Management, this the me to deliver ssage t is evolving too – with a will feature a range of s e h curity is at change directed by you. simulations and case today’s critical in 2018 marks the studies detailing the society beginning of IFSEC’s capabilities of a fully evolution, with three converged security system. carefully curated days The show will also feature designed to give you the answers The Future of Security Training to the security questions keeping Theatre, powered by Tavcom, you up at night. IFSEC’s unparalleled seminar sponsored by Panasonic UK, the Drone Zone, programme is a testament to this. New to the BRE Global/LPCB Attack Testing Zone 2018 and in partnership with City Forum and the adrenaline-packed finals of the and London First, the IFSEC Keynote Arena Engineers of Tomorrow competition. Whatever will welcome leading security strategists your role in the security industry, IFSEC is from government, academia and industry for you. Discover the possibilities for your to drive and reflect on topics around business and gain a valuable understanding ‘Securing The Open Society of 2030’. By of the latest technology, whilst talking to taking a pivotal role in thought leadership the experts and learning skills you can and attracting a world-class calibre of implement and benefit from immediately. speakers, this feature sets a new standard for security events around the world.

IFSEC is evolving This is an exclusive opportunity to hear IFSEC is evolving and is designed to Mr Michael Chertoff, co-founder and executive deliver the message that security is critical chairman of The Chertoff Group, discuss in today’s society. Security professionals 2030 forecasts of emergent threats to national around the world are asking to be shown security. You’ll hear Dr Pippa Malmgren, their way around the future of integrated founder of DRPM Group and former special security, and IFSEC 2018 has been built assistant to the President of the United States, around this request. Following extensive George W Bush, share how everyday signs research, IFSEC’s focus is expanding to can help us navigate a turbulent world. encompass the growing convergence Mr Silvino Schlickmann, director of Cyber between physical and cyber security.

Crime at INTERPOL, will also join to talk In response to the pleas of the global about the changing face of cyber criminality. security industry, IFSEC 2018 will show

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you how to install the latest kit, show you what it does and show you what it takes to maintain it. IFSEC will show you the future, and it will show you how you can take advantage of emerging opportunities and the vendors you can trust. A vital part of this is our ‘Show me how’ demonstrations: Wherever you see a designated technician or enabler wearing a Show Me How badge, you can expect a detailed explanation of a product. IFSEC will bridge the knowledge gap, and take the lead on demonstrating the latest technology. Make real-world sense of products through hands-on demonstrations.

IFSEC International is also introducing the Government Pavilion, new for 2018. The Government Pavilion adds further momentum to the show’s mission to host the global security conversation. In connecting the wider security industry to governmental bodies in such a way, IFSEC acts as the vessel of communication, driving and reflecting on critical industry movements whilst providing leading bodies with the platform they need to share their expertise and answer the questions security professionals have about the changing security landscape. Security is critical – IFSEC 2018’s new features mean it continues to be the place to be a part of the conversation.

Education and seminars The IFSEC International security seminar and conference programme has been drastically re-vamped for 2018, as a direct result of our extensive customer insight we have designed the education programme to fully reflect the requirements and anxieties of the audience.

IFSEC will tackle every vertical to deliver a behind-the-scenes look at security’s changing technology trends. Dedicated to showing you how to tackle the latest technologies, these sessions will answer the security questions keeping you awake at night.

City Forum and London First will also co-host security summits and masterclasses at IFSEC 2018. To secure your place at a security summit you will need to book your ticket in advance. With a catalogue of world‑class speakers, the two half-day security summits add further authoritative impetus to Europe’s largest annual security trade show.

Introduced to give security strategists a focused opportunity to hear and debate a formidable range of subjects, the half day summits take place on Wednesday 20 June and Thursday 21 June in the gallery suites between 9:45am to 1:00pm, away from the exhibition floor and will focus on the following key themes: Thinking through the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – humans, machines and data; and Smart safe cities, people and resilience.

Speaker’s Corner An extension of ‘Show Me How’, the dynamic Speaker’s Corner is where solution providers showcase their most cutting-edge products in 15-minute time slots, followed by interactive Q&A sessions. The Future of Security Training Theatre, powered by Tavcom, sponsored by Panasonic UK is a rare chance to sit down and be taught by experts in essential CPD accredited

IFSEC International

presentations. The Future of Security Training Theatre will help you learn exactly how to make sense of the future – and how to capitalise on the emerging possibilities that come with it.

Borders & Infrastructure Expo Borders & Infrastructure Expo is home to the BRE Global/LPCB Attack Testing Zone, the Drone Zone and the Government Pavilion. Collectively, Borders & Infrastructure Expo focuses on products, solutions and learnings for large scale security issues faced by border control, critical national infrastructure, transport, healthcare and key strategic assets.

The BRE Global/LPCB Attack Testing Zone Watch expert technicians from LPCB/BRE put perimeter and protection solutions to the test in a series of real-life attacks, live on the IFSEC show floor. Witness LPCB accredited fencing, shutters, doors and covers tested against non-certified alternatives and see how they fair.

The Drone Zone Back for its third year, the Drone Zone is larger than ever before.

Exhibitors with drone and anti-drone technology will be once again brought into a dedicated area of IFSEC to showcase their high-quality UAV products. It is a unique chance to see the live application of UAVs and better understand how they can help you protect your business and play a critical part of contemporary security management.

Engineers of Tomorrow The Engineers of Tomorrow competition, which sees young engineers and apprentices compete against each other in a live installation challenge, returns for its 20th year. This year the competition is taking a further step towards tackling the growing engineering skills gap by adding a live installation challenge for fire apprentices, as well as for those from the security sector, following a successful trial in 2017.

The competition will pit more than 60 young engineers – working in teams of two – against each other. Heat winners will be invited to the Security & Fire Excellence Awards in November 2018, where an overall winner will be announced and claim a £1,000 prize.

Meetings Service and Networking Areas Speak directly with your preferred suppliers and solution providers by pre-booking meetings with them before you arrive. IFSEC’s free meeting service ensures you speak with the people who are important to you.

The SSAIB ICEBAR is your dedicated networking area, where you can meet old and new connections and chat about the issues you face as a business. ASIS and Security Commonwealth members also have exclusive access to the ASIS Lounge, designed to ignite collaboration. L

The Engineers of Tomorrow competition, which sees young engineers and apprentices compete against each other in a live installation challenge, returns to IFSEC International for its 20th year

UL 293 A dedicated Standard for access control systems UL 293 is a custom solution developed in partnership with UK police authorities Visit us at IFSEC, Stand B415 To learn more about this standard and the collaboration with Secured By Design, visit

UK.UL.com

FURTHER INFORMATION www.ifsec.events/international

UL, the UL Logo, and UL certification marks are trademarks of UL LLC © 2018.

Government Business Magazine UL293 Anzeige.indd 1

30.05.18 11:17

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Exclusive Use Conference Venue Beautiful privately-owned country house set in the heart of the Wye Valley. Easy access for most, just 15 miles from the M4/M5.

In-house catering and bar facilities. Great Coffee!

Large versatile areas for theatre style presentations, smaller areas for boardroom style meetings.

16 bedrooms, all en-suite.

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You can enjoy also of our amazing food with our finger buffet, buffet or plated dinner in a private venue with an unforgettable ambience.

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Arrange your show around and have a look our venue situated just 5 minutes driving from the Train Station, Shopping Centre and Centre Milton Keynes.

If you want to book an appointment please contact directly at 01908224253 or H3272-FB@ACCOR.COM.

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With a truly unique setting, state-of-the-art facilities, experienced events and conference team along with creative caterers, Colworth Park excels at staging memorable events that will wow your delegates. Each space is equipped with AV facilities, including complimentary Wi-Fi. Day Delegate packages are available however, we also offer a tailor made service to exactly match your requirements and pride ourselves in being able to offer: •Secure Site with free parking •Historic, Picturesque grounds •Centrally located with good transport links •On site catering •Fine dining •Air Conditioning •Upgradable packages •Up to 220 Delegates •Latest AV equipment •Video Conferencing •Complimentary WIFI •Skypefacilities •Team building activity Space

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contact us: mt.edgcumbe@plymouth.gov.uk 01752 822 236

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Three weeks after UK voters went to the polls to decide whether we remained or left the EU, the Meetings Industry Association (mia) asked its members about its impact so far on business. Confidence, as you may expect, was low and uncertainty remained high.

Many were not expecting the leave vote and had not prepared for the outcome, so it was perhaps unsurprising that they felt the impact immediately: 92 per cent of mia members noted that enquiries either stood still or declined in the weeks following the vote with just eight per cent seeing bookings rise.

When asked how they planned to conduct business in the wake of

the vote, the majority (68 per cent) said they would be implementing a range of diversification and cost-savings strategies to soften the impact. Half froze non-essential spend while 20 per cent halted project capital expenditure and recruitment to save costs.

Facing challenges With confidence at a low and uncertainty high, as one of the fastest growing and influential membership organisations in the sector, we knew it was imperative we give our members and the industry as much support as possible to ensure it could continue to grow despite the challenges it faced. The mia immediately increased its range of

A key par the mia t of for the ’s work year anrest of this d is attracbeyond and ret ting aining talent in industrythe

Aiming for accreditation As well as working from within to strengthen the industry, we also focused on providing assurance and certainty to those using its services through the meetings and events industry’s only recognised accreditation scheme – AIM. More than 600 venues and service suppliers across the UK have proudly achieved AIM accreditation. Venues and service suppliers are audited against a strict 50-point criteria,E

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Jane Longhurst, chief executive, Meetings Industry Association

The meetings sector has been dealing with uncertainty since the Brexit vote in June 2016, yet figures suggest the majority of venues have been relatively unaffected so far. Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association, explains the reasons for her cautious optimism

Conferences & Events

Brexit and the events industry: moving forward

events and business initiatives to ensure all members were best equipped to maximise business opportunities and minimise the potential impact of Brexit – including a highprofile roundtable event with James Heappey MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the UK events industry.

We held our own conference, events and workshops designed to inspire and empower members, such as our ‘Don’t stop – rethink’ event in March, where we encouraged the meetings, conference and events industry to take the lead and make the most out of the current economic situation.

With staffing a concern for 20 per cent of members following the Brexit vote, we launched a campaign alongside internationally-renowned leadership and organisational development expert Roffey Park Institute to raise awareness of mental health, compassion and resilience in the events and hospitality sector. The campaign focused on the impact that mental health and compassion in the workplace has not only had on recruitment, staff retention and engagement, but ultimately on the bottom line.

As our campaign partner Michael Jenkins, CEO of Roffey Park, said: “The direct and indirect benefits of improving human relationships cannot be understated: making work a better place to be is good for wellbeing, good for mental health in particular, and fantastic for the employer brand.”

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THE IDEAL SETTING FOR MEETINGS & GROUP ACCOMMODATIONS Gray Manor Hotel is a unique, independent, family run hotel with beautiful grounds and appealing décor, with parking for up to 100 cars on site, with easy access from the A303 and A338.

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Elegant, sleek, and modern, Sandman Signature London Gatwick Hotel is four-star hospitality at its best. Our hotel features six main newly refurbished conference rooms available for hosting meetings or conferences of up to 200 delegates and flexible meeting space for comfortable break-out areas.

Our experienced staff will meet your highest expectations with meeting room set-up and specifications. A dedicated Sales Executive will handle all your booking enquiries, our friendly Operations Team will look after your event, and a Conference Host will be your on-site contact to ensure your event is a success.

All meeting packages include use of our meeting rooms, coffee, a working lunch, complimentary on-site parking for each delegate, and more!

• Catering for events from a meeting for two to a party for 200 • Corporate events, business meetings and residential conferences/events info@graymanorhotel.co.uk | 01980 629542

SANDMAN SIGNATURE LONDON GATWICK HOTEL 18-23 Tinsley Lane South, Three Bridges, Crawley • West Sussex, UK • RH10 8XH • Tel: 01293 561186

Lift Consultants Our Lift Consultants provide independent advice on all aspects of lift engineering, from conceptual design through to final build. We have expertise on compliance and advice on existing lift portfolios we undertake condition surveys to assist with forward planning and budget management.

Phone: 08003029331 Web: www.hemsworthassociates.co.uk Email: info@hemsworthassociates.co.uk Address: 86-90 Paul Street London EC2A 4NE

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Conferences & Events

 which meets government department procurement criteria, including quality of facilities, accessibility and best practice standards as well as their ethical codes of conduct, legal compliance and customer service proposition and experience.

Anyone booking AIM accredited meetings venues or suppliers can be assured they have gone through rigorous tests and are set up to meet their needs. While times may feel uncertain, at least AIM accredited venues provide certainty that their event will be remembered for the right reasons with guaranteed service excellence.

Following the vote, we also decided to give non-members access to our intelligence tool miaTouchstone free-ofcharge for 12 months, enabling them to benchmark their performance against their own competitive set, monitor conference attendance numbers and track business volumes. The vital intelligence tool allows member venues to implement smart pricing strategies based on factual data and make bolder decisions to increase profitability.

Performance and future stability Looking back at performance from the last year, we can see that the industry hasn’t been immune to Brexit’s impact, but it has fared better than expected. Members responding to the miaTouchstone question on whether businesses had experienced any changes in meetings and events business directly attributed to Brexit, overwhelmingly (92 per cent) said it had made no difference.

In the immediate aftermath of the referendum there was an average drop in meeting booking enquiries of around 10 per cent, however, this decline has been replaced

With staffing a concern for 20 per cent of members following the Brexit vote, we launched a campaign Roffey Park Institute to raise awareness of mental health, compassion and resilience in the events and hospitality sector by a more buoyant level of enquiries as between May and October 2017, for example, they were typically up by around five per cent on the comparable period in 2016.

One area proving to be particularly successful is weddings, with miaTouchstone participants indicating that bookings were typically up by around 50 per cent in 2017 compared to the previous year – a positive and strong revenue source for many venues.

The meetings industry has faced challenges over the last 18 months, just like any other industry operating in the UK has, but as results show it has weathered the Brexit storm and is in a stronger position than many to grow from. This year it’s crucial that the mia continues its work offering a critical voice for education, training, best practice and collaboration – bringing together every group in the events sector. Our goal is to strengthen in numbers, which we are well on-track to achieve, and continue to build the mia’s political stance providing clarity around the big issues and ongoing guidance.

As we continue to face the uncertainties and challenges caused by leaving the EU, we know the sector is coming under increasing pressure to retain and look after its talented staff. Our research examining the mental

well-being of the sector illustrated that the industry both needs and requires more compassionate workplaces to make it a more desirable and rewarding place to work.

Therefore, a key part of the mia’s work for the rest of this year and beyond is attracting and retaining talent in the industry, whilst supporting the sector with a number of dedicated workshops,as part of our comprehensive events programme, to create environments to foster improved well-being.

We’ll also continue to offer members more commercial opportunities as well as champion best practice through initiatives such as our prestigious miaList and our AIM scheme, which continues to rapidly grow and expand.

New venues are joining all the time and those on our AIM Higher scheme – achieving silver or gold accreditation – are retaining it.

With high standards through AIM guaranteed and enquiry levels remaining positive, the sector should continue to be cautiously optimistic that bookings for meetings will continue to grow in the latter part of 2018, no matter what is thrown at us. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.mia-uk.org

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Through the Crown Commercial Service’s Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services framework agreement, the University of Central Lancashire is expecting to save £25,500 on water bills As one of the largest universities in the competition for monthly and quarterly UK, with a student and staff community billing, combining the requirements of approaching 38,000 across campuses 122 customers across the public sector located in Preston, Burnley, Westlakes and to optimise buying leverage, promote Cyprus, the University of Central Lancashire competition between the framework (UCLan) sought to reduce its water bills suppliers and drive down retail margins. across their UK estate by taking advantage of the recently Expected savings CC deregulated water market.

The EU compliant has rep S o By reducing their bills, procurement was awarded r t e d that, b valuable savings could to Castle Water Ltd in a their fir sed on be redirected back November last year s into education and and customers could the Un t invoices, iversity support services switch supply from Centra of l Lanca at the university. as early as 1 January shire is to save The Water, 2018. CCS worked set closely approx Wastewater and with the supplier £25,50 imately Ancillary Services to embed a robust framework (RM3790) on-boarding process their an 0 on enables customers to to provide customers nual water b switch to a single retail with a quality, seamless ill provider for their billing and switching and account account management whilst management experience. By using securing their retail costs for the RM3790, and signing up to the CCS led following three years. On 18 October 2017, aggregation, UCLan appointed Castle Water via RM3790, the Crown Commercial Ltd as their sole water supplier Service (CCS) established the UK’s first aggregated further

Frameworks

University of Central Lancashire saves £25,500 on water bills for their UK estate. Based on their first invoices, UCLan is set to save approximately £25,500 on their annual water bill.

CCS supported customers throughout the entire process, providing timely updates and hosting regular webinars. The account management by Castle Water Ltd was proactive and attentive, with the university being fully informed throughout the process.

By working closely together, CCS and Castle Water Ltd were able to deliver an efficient and seamless end-to-end journey, from UCLan joining the aggregation to receiving their first monthly bill.

Laura Carter, Energy and Carbon Management Officer at the University of Central Lancashire, said: “Joining the CCS tender was the best option for us, it took all the hassle out of the process and saved us a lot of time. I have been very impressed by the team so far. The customer service has been excellent and the transfer was very smooth.”

John Reynolds, Castle Water CEO, added: “As the UK’s leading independent water retailer, we supply hundreds of thousands of businesses, charities and public bodies throughout England and Scotland. We are dedicated to delivering best value and significant cost savings for our growing number of public sector customers in the new competitive market and continuing to work closely with CCS to support them.” E

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The Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services framework (RM3790) enables customers to switch to a single retail provider for their billing and account management whilst securing their retail costs for the following three years automated meter reading goods and services; water audit; water footprint; leak detection and repair; cost/spend recovery; bill validation; benchmarking; tariff optimisation; and legionella services.

Lot 3 is for customers who require supply and sewerage services and want their supplier to help them reduce their water consumption and services from both Lot 1 & Lot 2.

Water bill savings for the frontline Focus Academy Trust is a charitable multiacademy trust that was established in 2012.

Encompassing over 8,000 students, the trust has a thriving partnership of 11 converter and four sponsored academies. With the students at the heart of their practice, Focus Academy Trust wanted to take advantage of the deregulated water market and reduce their water bills to optimise savings and redirect essential funds back into front line resources.

Focus Academy Trust joined a further 121 customers across the public sector in this

Frameworks

î † Background to the agreement The Water Act 2014 established the framework to create a new market that will be the largest water retail market in the world, allowing 1.2 million businesses and other non-household customers of providers based mainly or wholly in England to choose their supplier of water and waste water retail services.

This new market opened on 01 April 2017.

The key organisations responsible for delivering the new market are: the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Policy/Legislation), Ofwat (Regulator) and MOSL (Delivering core IT systems that enable registration, switching and settlement between wholesalers and retailer). Collectively they and the programme for overseeing and managing the implementation of the new market are known as Open Water.

Historically non-household customers have received water supplies and sewerage services through a statutory, regionally based licensed water supply company. For public sector customers with cross regional estate, this results in one organisation having to manage and process billing through multiple suppliers.

In the new market, customers will have a single point of contact for water - a contracted relationship with the retailer who transacts with the wholesalers and delivers front end customer service, metering and billing.

Resilience is a key issue for customers. A changing climate and growing population will require the water industry to find new and more efficient ways of allocating, treating and using water. This needs to be done while protecting the environment and keeping water bills at acceptable levels. The Ancillary Services offering will help to support customers with reducing consumption and wastage.

aggregation and were supported by CCS throughout via timely communication updates and webinars. The EU compliant procurement was awarded to Castle Water Ltd on 4 November, allowing customers to switch supply from as early as 1 January 2018. CCS worked closely with the supplier to provide a seamless switching and account management experience during the on-boarding process.

The trust switched seven schools to Castle Water Ltd for monthly billing and is set to save ÂŁ7,500 annually on their water bills. Castle Water Ltd provided each school with a helpful welcome pack and also offers dedicated customer service and account management. Focus Academy Trust found the aggregation process to be a positive experience, from joining to the receipt of the first monthly bill. L FURTHER INFORMATION https://ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ contracts/rm3790

Water quality measures Benefits of switching supplier include: consolidated billing, electronic billing and enhanced frequencies; consumption and billing data to a standard requested by you, including self-service online and dynamic viewing/reporting; better value for money; lowering bills and charges; enhanced customer service, from competing your supply rather than only receiving customer service from your local supplier; rationalising your supplier base to one if you have sites in multiple regions, consequently streamlining your billing and administration; tailored services for your organisation; visibility of data to help you identify water efficiency improvements; and support to reduce water consumption and improve water efficiency.

The agreement is set over three Lots. Lot 1 covers water supply and sewerage services, and is for customers who wish to compete their supply to achieve better value for money and compliance from competing their supply. This encompasses: water supply, including emergency provisions; sewerage services, including wastewater, trade effluent, roads and property drainage; metering; billing; data; and customer service.

Ancillary services are covered in Lot 2, which is for customers who wish to implement water efficiency or water quality measures at a time to suit their requirements. It includes:

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Releasing Your Greatness Tricordant is a nimble whole systems consultancy working throughout the UK and Internationally able to move at pace and scale up quickly.

Working with two other consultancies for MCF1; Consilium Partners and Rubicon Health consulting, we offer clients a wide range of appropriate services delivered by skilled, professional consultants; the majority of whom have Chief Executive or Director level experience within the NHS, private healthcare, public sector and commercial organisations.

Our services include: • Strategy

• Organisation Design

• Model of Care Development

• Organisation Development

• Service Redesign & Clinical Strategies

• Leadership & Board Development

• Quality & Process Improvement

• Collaboration & Systems Development

• Commissioning Strategies & Plans

• Business Cases

• Workforce Planning

• Financial Planning

• Programme Management

• Estates Strategy

Tricordant is delighted to have been awarded a place on the MCF1 Framework and to be amongst the highest rankings for both quality of service and pricing.

Have a new project in mind? Let’s talk...

John Taylor, Commercial Director - john@tricordant.com Emma Engstrom, Office Manager - emma@tricordant.com

Call us on Freephone: 0800 542 9290 or visit www.tricordant.com

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Frameworks

New travel and venue solutions open for business Public sector bodies can benefit from zero and low-cost booking fees for travel and venues through a new suite of commercial solutions from CCS. Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions (PSTVS) enables the booking of rail, air travel and accommodation, as well as event services (including venue finding and hiring) and other travel support services. The new solutions are designed to deliver up to £80 million-a-year in commercial benefits for the UK public sector.

G-Cloud – the impact of moving from 9 to 10 Andrew Mellish, public sector business manager of Six Degrees, discusses the decision made by the CCS to push G-Cloud 10 live in the next month or so, and how it will provide opportunities for new cloud suppliers to pitch for government work According to UK government figures, sales through the G-Cloud framework reached over £2.8 billion at the end of 2017.

SME vendors played a big role in this figure, accounting for 47 per cent of total sales by value and 73 per cent by volume. Overall, 83 per cent of total business was from central government and 17 per cent from the wider public sector.

These figures support the fact that the G-Cloud framework has facilitated the increase in cloud adoption and broadened the pool of SME suppliers for public sector organisations. It is why we welcome Crown Commercial Service’s decision to push G-Cloud 10 live in June, providing opportunity

for new cloud suppliers to pitch for

Sin government work and existing it launcce ones on the framework to ed update their service offering.. in 201h 2 , the G-C G-Cloud and its framew loud opportunities o r opportu k has crea for SMEs t e n to prov ities for SM d Since it launched in ide Es 2012, the G-Cloud cloud-binnovative, framework, with its sleek solution ased IT procurement processes, has s f created opportunities for o r the public s SMEs to provide innovative, ector cloud-based IT solutions for the public sector. It reduces time, cost and risks for suppliers and customers, resulting in an attractive solution being procured within a much shorter timeframe.

Essentially, the G-Cloud framework has been the gateway for many SMEs to work in the public sector, securing key business that in many instances has helped to shape them, their offerings and their market approach.

But, while G-cloud has done much E

Seven suppliers have been appointed to deliver services to all public sector customers including central government departments, local authorities, universities, schools, NHS Trusts and the third sector. Two of those suppliers are small or medium-sized enterprises.

The new solutions aim to reduce the cost of travel, providing access to a wide network of discounted airfares and accommodation rates available through CCS’s Public Sector Negotiated Programmes.

CCS’s Public Sector Negotiated Programme - Air, is one of the largest in the UK market, offering discounted airfares across 1,200 destinations with over 40 airlines, with the latest benchmarking revealing that CCS customers pay nine per cent less on air travel.

Benchmarking through the CCS Public Sector Negotiated Programme - Accommodation also shows that average accommodation rates are 14.9 per cent lower than the market average rates. The Accommodation Programme offers rates in and around the UK and overseas across over 620 locations with more than 2,600 accommodation providers.

Katrina Williams, head of Travel at CCS, said: “We are delighted with the award outcome for the new Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions commercial agreements. The new suite of solutions offer customer choice, commercial value and innovation for all public sector organisations, embracing developments in technology to enhance both the experience for organisations managing travel and for public sector customers booking travel.”

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Reimagining Public Services Serco specialise in the delivery of essential public services, with over 50,000 people operating internationally across five sectors and four geographies: Defence, Transport, Justice & Immigration, Health and Citizen Services, delivered in UK & Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

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 to open opportunities, create transparency and level the playing field to a large degree, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

The importance of the CCS’s about-turn The framework agreement for the current G-Cloud 9 was supposed to expire in May this year. But the government took the decision in November 2017 to extend it by another 12 months to give the CCS and the Government Digital Service (GDS) time to ‘deliver a revolutionary transformation to the platform to meet more user needs – both central government and wider public sector’.

This was met with a barrage of criticism from SMEs, who as suppliers are unable to alter prices or update their service offerings, because of the constraint of having to wait until the next iteration is available to make updates. This seems to work against the

very essence of what G-Cloud is supposed to represent and enable. If we consider that most of the innovation is being driven

by SMEs, by locking down the framework for two years and blocking technological advances the government is effectively working against SME suppliers and ultimately hindering change and progress.

The good news is that the CCS has now subsequently reversed its decision, announcing earlier in March that a new iteration of G-Cloud will be delivered in June.

Oliver Dowden, minister for implementation acknowledged that ‘small businesses are the backbone of our economy, so it’s crucial we listen to them when shaping policy’.

Challenges may not change in the near future So, while public sector suppliers have welcomed the government turnaround,

some argue that the high proportion of suppliers still not engaging with the framework suggests a radical overhaul to G-Cloud is required to make it work better for all, and a year’s delay is a price worth paying for getting it right.

There is some merit in this argument, as many suppliers agree that with G-Cloud there’s no visibility of tenders and opportunities – knowing if you’re in the running for an opportunity is a key area for improvement. Another issue already mentioned is the fact that the framework is inflexible when it comes to suppliers needing to adjust pricing, particularly thirdparty price increases that are out of the control of suppliers. Leaving the framework ‘as is’ however would also likely have a detrimental effect on new suppliers to the public sector market, to those developing new services and any that need to make pricing changes. Delaying changes by 12 months means the buyer (and, by extension, the tax payer) is being denied innovation and the positive effect of increased competition.

That is why the benefits of moving G-Cloud from iteration 9 to 10 far outweighs the disadvantages of simply extending the current framework. And we’re hopeful that the challenges will be ironed out as iterations progress. L

Frameworks

Essentially, the G-Cloud framework has been the gateway for many SMEs to work in the public sector, securing key business that in many instances has helped to shape them, their offerings and their market approach

FURTHER INFORMATION https://ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ g-cloud-10

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Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

Will your diesel generator be compliant in time?

UK-based diesel generator specialist Dieselec Thistle Generators is partnering with the emissions control company NOxProtekt to tackle the challenges operators are facing in relation to the new Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) and updates to the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR), implemented on 30 January 2017 Industrial activities play an important role in the economic well-being of Europe, contributing to sustainable growth and having a significant impact on the environment.

The largest industrial installations account for a considerable share of total emissions of key atmospheric pollutants and also have other important environmental impacts, including emissions to water and soil, generation of waste and the use of energy. Emissions from industrial installations have therefore been subject to EU-wide legislation for some time.

Better regulations The Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) is a good example of better regulation. It regulates pollutant emissions from the combustion of fuels in plants with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 1MW and less than 50 MW, and has been designed to be affordable for SMEs, and provides long-term certainty for all economic operators concerned whilst minimising the administrative burden for both industry and Member States. In addition, beyond being environmentally efficient, the MCPD will encourage continued innovation and help EU industry gain shares of the rapidly growing global market of pollution control technology.

It regulates emissions of SO2, NOx and dust, with the aim of reducing those emissions and the risks to human health and the environment. It also lays down rules to monitor emissions of carbon monoxide (CO).

The MCPD entered into force on 18 December 2015 and was to be transposed

by Member States by 19 December 2017. The emissions limits set in the MCPD will have to be applied from 20 December 2018 for new plants, and by 2025 or 2030 for existing plants, depending on their size. The European Union and MCPD have estimated that the number of MCPs in the EU is approximately 143,000, however the actual number of MCP’s within member states could be significantly higher. In the context of the UK alone, fixed MCP’s and mobile/rental MCP’s that are outside of the demise of historical EU Emissions regulations, could be in excess of 80,000 units.

It has been reported by DEFRA and the Environment Agency that a rapid rise in the number of non-regulated diesel generating sets due to demand created by the balancing services market – which enables

94

the electrical grid to remain stable – has led to concerns for UK local air quality and using up National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive NOx allowances. This means the new legislation is particularly pertinent to many UK-based operators of diesel generators.

Following consultation during 2016/17 relating to national derogations, and also having come in to force on 30 January 2018, amendments to the Environmental Permitting Regulations will transpose the MCPD into UK law, and will include additional provisions for specified generators. The Environment Agency (EA) is the competent authority for the purposes of the MCPD, and is defined as the regulator within the UK. As an operator, if your generating equipment is within the scope of the Directive, then you are obliged to apply for a permit, monitor emissions outputs as per the advised schedule, keep a log of running hours, log evidence of fuel types used, if abatement is required to achieve levels, you must be able to demonstrate that this was in continuous operation, maintain a deviation log, and keep records for six years. This process is to be tailored to be user-friendly and with accompanying guidance to enable owners and operators to submit the registration and permitting via an online register.

The guidance for the revised Environmental Permitting Regulations and compliance with

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

the MCPD is currently under consultation and will be published this summer. The main point of focus of the MCPD and associated Environmental Permitting Regulations are a means to limit emissions by a combustion plant site, and sets the responsibility of compliance with the owner and operators of MCP’s. This differs from other emissions regulations which have historically been directed with responsibility for compliance to rest on the manufacturer of the combustion plant, without consideration of the application of the engines on an operator’s site. This allows for the MCPD to engage a new methodology in the strategy to improve air quality within the UK and the EU. Dieselec Thistle Generators and NOxProtekt have already started to successfully deliver retrofit selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems to existing plant that will ensure operators meet their obligations in respect of MCDP. If your plant is within the scope of the new Directive, it is recommended you take steps now to ensure compliance ahead of the December 2018 deadline. L FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0141 956 7764 sales@dtgen.co.uk dieselecthistle.co.uk

A reliable and continuous power supply is essential to many activities, across both industry and the public sector. AMPS, the trade association which sets and upholds standards in the manufacture and use of power generating equipment, has some advice on meeting those needs Imagine the effect of a power cut on a hospital operating room. Or in a data centre, where constant power is needed to maintain the availability and protection of vital information on which organisations and individuals depend.

These are just two illustrations of why diesel and gas-powered generator sets, or ‘gensets’, have such a vital role to play in our world. In cases where an interruption in power cannot be allowed, the need is met by a fixed standby generator. Then there are mobile gensets, deployed as and when necessary. You may see them, for example, on construction sites, or powering pumps during major flooding or providing power at large public events and festivals.

The variety of genset brands, models, specifications and ancillary items is enormous, and each comes with its own operating and maintenance requirements.

To those responsible for buying or hiring gensets in any organisation, the first piece of advice from AMPS is to talk to an AMPS member. Read on to find out why.

High standards The Association of Manufacturers and suppliers of Power-generating Systems and ancillary equipment (AMPS), represents the UK’s world-leading companies in this field.

Written by The Association of Manufacturers and suppliers of Power Systems

The importance of securing your power supply

Ask the experts When it comes to providing advice on anything related to power generating systems, the pooled knowledge and experience of AMPS members cannot be equalled. If AMPS doesn’t have the answer, it’s highly unlikely that anyone else can provide the answers to certain questions.

Individual members can advise on the latest technology, the best choice for a given set of circumstances, and how to maintain the system so it can be counted upon to work whenever needed. They will help with the paperwork and ensure the user stays within the law. In fact, we not only expect AMPS members to understand and comply fully with the law but we also collectively influence the development and modification of regulations at national and European level.

Members can also call on others, including the AMPS Technical Committee, to supplement their advice with the best possible information and authoritative views.

The Technical Committee and its working groups bring together experienced specialists from across the membership to address key issues. Their work not only supports AMPS members but informs other bodies.

They provide input and guidance to the National Grid, the UK government and – via their pivotal role in Europgen (the European Generating Set Association) – the European Parliament. AMPS has been involved in the consultation process for important industry changes, such as the G52 grid code legislation, and is represented on a variety of national, European and international standards committees.

Through their high standards, continuous improvement and unrivalled expertise, AMPS and its members have done much to maintain Britain’s distinguished tradition of engineering leadership, inventiveness and quality. The world’s recognition of that excellence is reflected in our position as one of the largest global exporters of diesel and gas generating systems.

Generators

related areas like stored fuel cleaning, fire suppression and CHP (combined heating and power) systems. Members proudly display the AMPS logo and do their utmost to maintain the association’s reputation for high-quality products and work.

Before joining AMPS, companies receive a personal visit from director general and all members are requested that they follow good working practices. Buyers can therefore be confident of receiving good equipment, along with advice and service from professionally trained and certified engineers.

AMPS members, varying in size from global FTSE 100 listed companies to specialised micro As businesses, share a strong commitment energy to the industry. consum Each Current issues g rows anption understands This year’s AMPS Conference Nationa d the that high and AGM, at the Institute of l G r to keep id struggle standards, Engineering in March, s Civil pace w best practice drove home the message i g t h it, enset and continued of engineering leadership, can do providers success are themed around the Year of mu best achieved Engineering, of which AMPS ease th ch to through a is a supporter. In his opening e pressur professional speech, chairman Julian Furbank e trade body which urged even more members to effect promotes a culture of change within the industry by joining co-operation and teamwork. the various AMPS Special Interest Groups.

The AMPS membership offers a single Figures gathered from the diesel genset trusted source for every piece of equipment market in 2017 were shared by Romain and every service, from design, manufacturing Mocaer of PowerGen Statistics. They showed and installation to commissioning and the UK, France and Italy accounting for aftercare. As well as gensets, it covers 25 per cent of the global trade. As a block,E

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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 the EU represented 45 per of the trade worldwide in this industry.

The keynote speaker was Philip Collins, a leader writer and columnist for The Times, and chair of the centre-left thinktank Demos. As chief speechwriter to Tony Blair, he was responsible for Blair’s memorable final address as leader to the Labour Party.

Philip shared his thoughts on Brexit and the foreseeable effects within UK politics – a subject of relevance to all AMPS members, as businesses trading in the EU and beyond.

David Cant, the founder of Albion (Overseas) Ltd, gave his insight and advice on exporting to Russia. As the largest country in the world, and a nation of engineers, Russia offers great opportunities for conducting business. He revealed that Russians very much like the UK brand, and want to do business with Britain, but explained why setting up deals in Russia is not the same as anywhere else.

Richard Payne, the customer engineering manager for Cummins G-Drive, spoke on the topic of emissions. Richard, who serves as the exhaust emissions expert for both the AMPS Technical Committee and Europgen, gave a comprehensive update of legislation and standards.

Future needs It is worth noting, on the last subject, that this industry has been at the forefront of developing technology to lower emissions and has invested heavily in producing cleaner and greener gensets.

Although there is a trend toward renewable sources of power, there will always be a demand for gensets to fill gaps in supply. They will also be needed to support renewable generation in the distributed power set-ups which will gradually reinforce or replace large grids.

As energy consumption grows and the National Grid struggles to keep pace with it, genset providers can do much to ease the pressure. They contribute substantially to the Capacity Market set up by government to encourage extra generating resources, and to the National Grid’s Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR).

In addition, they provide emergency cover when power supplies are hit by major flooding events. ‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ and ‘once-in-a-thousand-year’ storms and floods have become almost an annual occurrence in the UK, and that trend seems set to continue. And of course, on a global scale others experience worse conditions with frequent power outages on a regular basis.

Advice for procurement officers If you are a procurement officer looking to buy a generator set or related services, AMPS should be your first port of call. The AMPS website contains an online directory with details of all members and their specialisms. Alternatively, you can contact the AMPS headquarters initially to discuss your needs and an AMPS member will give you advice on what equipment will be most appropriate for your situation.

Also available in the AMPS website’s Knowledge Area are answers to the most frequently asked questions, along with a very useful downloadable Jargon Buster.

This no-nonsense guide, helping you to navigate the genset industry’s technical terminology, is an accessible reference you will return to again and again.

Looking to the future, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has been in contact with AMPS to discuss the establishment of a public-sector-wide commercial framework for genset suppliers. This would cover standby

and emergency generators, including uninterruptable power supplies.

Discussions are still at an early stage, but CCS will in due course develop a market engagement plan involving a consultation questionnaire and webinar. AMPS, as always, will be happy to give the benefit of its knowledge and influential position. L

Generators

Figures gathered from the diesel genset market in 2017 showed the UK, France and Italy accounting for 25 per cent of the global trade. As a block, the EU represented 45 per cent of the trade worldwide in this industry

FURTHER INFORMATION www.amps.org.uk

Key questionaa you need to ask Here are a few points to bear in mind. These are addressed in much more detail via a download from the Knowledge Centre on the AMPS website.

1 - What will be the genset’s application? Mobile or permanent?

Back-up or primary? Occasional or constant? Residential or commercial?

2 - How much power do you need?

Consider both real (kWe) and apparent (kVA) power. And the way in which power is required – e.g. do you need a lot in one step or can power demand be staged?

3 - How sensitive is your equipment to changes in supply? The genset class will be selected accordingly.

4 - What power rating is needed?

This will be affected by whether genset use will be continuous or occasional.

5 - What fuel do you prefer? Each has different storage needs, costs and degrees of availability.

6 - What are the ambient conditions? Temperature, altitude and even humidity can affect genset performance.

7 - What ‘autonomy’ is needed? This is the length of time you will want the genset to run, with or without human intervention.

8 - What standards or regulations apply? In addition to general EU requirements, there may be others related to your locality or application.

9 - What physical constraints apply to the site? Consider, for instance, fire risks, pollution risks, noise nuisance and access requirements.

10 - How will the genset interface electrically with your site?

This raises issues in relation to compatibility, switching, ‘paralleling’ with other power sources, electrical protection and more.

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Business Information for Local and Central Government

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk Published by

020 8532 0055 www.psi-media.co.uk

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Personal attention to detail makes a difference

Set up to ensure that your next event is your best yet

Dimensions of Sun Buildings range from 5 metres wide for a simple store building up to 40 metre wide workshops with any and every length available. The practical height limit is 8 metres, which is more than adequate for most commercial applications.

The company offers a wealth of experience. Because Sun Buildings are not tied to one particular design or works, the company can select the building that suits the client’s needs after taking a design brief.

One very popular range of buildings makes use of ‘coldrolled portal frame’ technology to give a strong yet simple frame that offers great value for money on valet bays, store buildings and small workshops up to 26 metres wide.

The company also offers a re-cladding service, including asbestos removal.

The LifeCentre is a bright and modern meeting and conference venue in Sale, South Manchester, used by a huge range of companies, charities and government bodies. The Centre is unique in that it is a social enterprise, owned by a local church to benefit the local community.

All profits are ploughed back into community projects.

You can enjoy nine different sized comfortable meeting rooms for groups from five to 250, set up just how you need them.

The LifeCentre has all the kit: projectors, flipcharts, super-fast Wi-Fi and on-site parking, all of which is included one simple room hire price. Just a mile away from the M60 and a 10 minute walk from Brooklands

Amongst recent clients, golf clubs, scout groups and wholesale timber companies have found the benefit of personal service and have selected Sun Buildings to design and install their new facilities. A flexible approach has allowed the building features to be tailored to each site’s specific needs and requirements, a feature much appreciated by our loyal clients.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01462 851352 sales@sunbuildings.co.uk www.SunBuildings.co.uk

ENERGY

Advanced software for analysing energy data Optima energy management software saves it’s users both time and money through better analysis and management of their energy and water data.

Established in 1988, Optima’s software is used by public and private sector organisations and energy consultants to manage the energy data for over 22,000 organisations and 380,000 sites.

Data is fundamental to understanding how and where energy is used, along with accounting for the associated costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Optima validates all types of utility data and provides a suite of modules to generate savings in energy and costs, including; monitoring and targeting, bill validation, tariff analysis, budgeting, tenant billing and regulatory compliance.

Optima Visualizer is the company’s web-based reporting platform that delivers stunning

reports and dashboards to provide users with powerful insights designed to highlight both the risks and opportunities relating to utility consumption.

Built on a massively scalable cloud-based analytics platform, users can report and analyse their Optima data quickly and easily.

Dashboards are fully configurable to ensure the content is 100 per cent relevant to each user.

A ccredited to both ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, Optima has considerable experience in working with public sector organisations and government.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01756 702488 info@optimaenergy.net www.optimaenergy.net

Products & Services

DESIGN & BUILD

Metrolink (tram) stop, which links directly to the city centre.

A dedicated conference team is on hand for any last minute questions on the day, as well as the in-house catering manager for your buffet and drinks delivered direct to your room. The Centre offers excellent value for money and wants to serve you well, so your event is a great success.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0161 850 0770 enquiries@lifecentremcr.com www.lifecentremcr.com

FIRE SAFETY

Delivering excellence in fire protection and detection

As the UK’s largest independent fire suppression company, Hall & Kay Fire Engineering brings the latest product technology, the highest standards of professional expertise and client service skills to its core business of fire protection, detection and alarm.

The company’s reputation stands on its ability to deliver complete fire engineering solutions and meet the most exacting production and installation demands.

Every project Hall & Kay Fire Engineering undertakes

guarantees the same dedication to excellence and the same commitment to achieving client satisfaction – the source of the organisation’s success.

With offices in Birmingham, Ascot and Manchester, Hall & Kay Fire Engineering cover the whole of the UK and Europe and works to both the BS EN 12845:2015 and BS 9251:2014 standards.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0121 421 3311 www.hkfire.co.uk

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Products & Services

IT

Comms and sustainable energy solutions provider

Reducing cyber spend and preserving security

With over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, UCS Technologies has continued to broaden its business to meet the growing needs of a modern work place, supporting organisations by providing connectivity through wireless, network infrastructure & AV solutions.

The company’s sustainable energy division continues to be a MCS installer of solar photovoltaic arrays, reducing energy costs throughout the UK. Installing in all environments from commercial sites, residential developments, new builds and the health sector, the organisation’s focus is on establishing itself as a leading installer of EV charging solutions for commerce as well as residential.

Endace, a cyber security supplier to HMG, provides the means to ensure that every event or incident that happens on a department network can be quickly, accurately and conclusively investigated.

This helps to preserve the security of departmental data and critical national infrastructure assets, and the privacy of citizens and staff.

All of this can be achieved whilst also reducing overall cyber security spend and improving the agility of security systems, ensuring that all departments can meet the ever changing threats from cyber criminals, terrorists and aggressive nations.

Endace has been providing these solutions to UK and other governments, large banks, telecoms carriers and enterprises

Partnering leading providers of EV chargers such as EVBOX & Rolec, UCS Technologies is ideally placed to offer you the best service and the right solution.

With further advancements in the energy sector, such as battery storage and the adoption of electric vehicles and more devices being powered over structured cabling, there is definite convergence between both divisions and synergy to its offering.

Speak to UCS Technologies today and plan business solutions that work for your organisation.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01642 242567 www.ucs-technologies.com www.ucs-renewables.com

DESIGN & BUILD

100

TECHNOLOGY

for over 15 years and its customer satisfaction rate is among the company’s proudest measures.

Endace’s solutions are designed to be reliable and to work in synergy with solutions from other vendors, maximising the return-on-investment from an entire security infrastructure.

To find out more, please contact the company via the details below to talk to one of its solutions specialists about how it is helping government departments to do more with less.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01628 633999 www.endace.com

FIRE SAFETY

Versatile central London space available to hire

A service for all your fire safety requirements

Spread over two floors comprising 4,800Sq Ft of space and filled with cool furniture and props set on wooden floorboards and white brick walls, 4th Floor Studios is ideal for any number of delegates from 10-120.

A great space for your next team away day or think tank, 4th Floor Studios is a great space for creative get togethers be it in-house training or product development, workshops or team building.

One stop from Bank Underground Station on the DLR, 4th Floor Studios is the perfect venue to get to and stay at without blowing the budget. Perfectly situated with excellent transport links - 15 minutes to Tottenham Court Road or 10 minutes to Shoreditch.

Contact the organisation for discounted rates at the brandnew Holiday Inn Hotel next door.

Among the venue’s features,

Managed by a serving fire officer with over 25 years’ experience, Red Fire Safety Services Ltd regularly witnesses the devastating aftermath of fire and its effects on people and businesses which is why it is passionate about fire safety.

The company’s mission is to make its clients safe from fire.

Red Fire Safety Services engineers are industry approved, undertake regular refresher training and are constantly assessed so that the organisation can provide the best possible service. The company has experience of working with government organisations and understands the unique challenges of balancing budgets whilst still meeting the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 including annual and bi-annual servicing of fire safety equipment.

At Red Fire Safety Services Ltd, the client’s safety is its business, so the comapny offers a range of

there is full AV set up, an exclusive outdoor bamboo terrace and a fully licensed bar and kitchens with amazing catering on request. Menus change throughout the year with menus individually tailored to provide an outstanding and unique experience. Among the tasty food designed to impress are hearty winter favourites, vibrant summer salads and fish fresh from Billingsgate daily.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07817 341 737 www.fourthfloorstudios.co.uk

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

products and services to government clients, large and small, from supplying a single fire extinguisher to providing complete fire safety solutions. Services are tailored to meet client’s specific requirements and include the design, supply, installation and maintenance of all fire safety equipment, including emergency lighting and hard wired/wireless fire alarm systems.

Red Fire Safety Services also provides fire risk assessments, fire stopping and fire safety training.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01689 493641 www.redfiresafety.com

FIRE SAFETY

Environmental data acquisition systems

Fire safety compliance is key at EDSB

Envitech Europe has over 20 years experience in the environmental industry, providing a wide variety of products and services to improve and simplify the management of air, meteorology, hydrology data management networks, CEM systems, consolidate costs and deliver greater returns on investment.

Envitech Europe’s range of integrated services and products include: air quality data management; meteorology and hydrology data management; data collection; data ratification and scaling; monthly, quarterly and annual reports; dedicated private and public personalised websites; private cloud based customer data centre; web services; automated email and SMS alert services; data Processing and document composition; cloud archive reporting and data retrieval solutions; creative and design services; server side

There have been many publicised events over the past couple of years in relation to fire which have led to building owners, managing agents and occupants to review their fire safety systems.

To simply have a solution in place for fire detection and suppression is only the beginning. Ensuring your system is compliant and competently maintained on a regular basis is your responsibility, a practice which has led to more businesses turning to EDSB for support.

As the company’s strapline states ‘Compliance is Key at EDSB’ which is why its position within the fire and security industry is to deliver a compliant installation and maintenance service to its national client base, providing you with confidence

data management applications; EnvistaARM; CommCenter; FTP Import Export; send alerts; report designer; dedicated web sites; customise iOS and Android apps; dedicated data loggers; meteorology and hydrology sensors; data acquisition hardware and communication routers.

Envitech Europe possess a great understanding of different environmental strategies from across a large portfolio of clients in Europe and beyond. The company’s professional service will facilitate cross-sector learning and valuable knowledge‑share for your organisation.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44 141 433 1609 www.envitech-europe.co.uk

IT

of owning a fully functional fire safety system with peace of mind when identifying faulty or non-compliant issues throughout any future partnership.

The EDSB position is to be the ‘best in the industry’, not the cheapest. Its team of cherry picked professionals have decades of fire and security experience as well as training and certification in the latest industry regulations.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 141 2292 edsbinfo@edsb.co.uk www.edsb.co.uk

TRAINING

Protecting your IT systems, your data and your business

A flexible approach to first aid training

JETenterprises UK Limited is an independent specialist IT managed services provider. The company started as a family-run enterprise and remains lean and agile with a staff of eight, with clients that range from micro businesses to large enterprises, over 1,500 users.

JETenterprises’ solutions are always bespoke, tailored to your specific requirements and reflect what your business actually needs.

The company doesn’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach – you shouldn’t be paying for services and equipment that you don’t need.

Therefore, JETenterprises provides a full range of services - its independence means that it can look at the whole marketplace to source the best solutions for your requirements and budget.

The company’s fully managed service ensures that your assets are maintained and monitored. All hosted solutions are located at UK-based data centres, accredited

Right Track Training specialises in bringing the best training solutions to cater for whatever your company needs. As health and safety training specialists, the company offers a wide range of training specifically aimed towards security, construction, housing, employment and social care sectors.

Right Track Training’s accredited training courses include: First Aid at Work; Health and Safety Working and Managing Safely; Forklift Truck Training; COSHH Awareness; Manual Handling; Fire Safety; Food Safety; Emergency Response Officer; and Citizen Aid. Having worked with security companies based around the UK, the organisation has vast experience in training courses such as its accredited Emergency Response Officer (ERO) training.

This fully accredited counter terrorism training course is perfect for security personnel as well as event management

to ISO27001. JETenterprises is accredited to CyberEssentials, and helps organisations achieve the certification. Security and compliance is at the heart of all of its offerings.

Whilst holding a wide range of partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers, JETenterprises remains your single point of contact for any queries, believing that building long-term relationships and making your experience seamless and pain-free is key.

JETenterprises can deliver your IT solution whether you need a single product or full managed IT support service.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 242 54 24 www.jetenterprises.co.uk

Products & Services

AIR QUALITY

teams and large facilities.

The training course includes: Counter Terrorism Awareness; Crowd Control and Management in an Emergency; Bag Searches; Management of Catastrophic Injuries; Emergency Action Plans; and Business Continuity Plans in an Emergency.

Right Track Training takes pride in the training it provides and wants to ensure the best possible solutions for its clients. Whether it be online training or face to face, the comapny will do its best to find what’s best for you and your company’s needs.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0330 022 0680 www.right-tracktraining.co.uk

Volume 25.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisers Index

ESS18adsHPmay.qxp_Layout 1 09/05/2018 19:08 Page 4

| www.emergencyuk.com | Hall 5 | NEC | Birmingham | 19-20 September 2018 | www.emergencyuk.com | Hall 5 | NEC | Birmingham | 19-20 September 2

The Emergency Services Show teamwork This unique two-day event brings together all disciplines from the emergency services sector to discover innovative technology and operational solutions, share their experiences and unite in their collaborative approach to public safety.

Meet over 450 exhibitors, take advantage of free CPD-accredited seminars and learn from product demonstrations.

Hall 5, NEC, Birmingham. Wed 19 – Thu 20 September 2018.

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Event sponsor

Event supporters

Seminar sponsor

ADVERTISERS INDEX

The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service 4 Front Furniture 69 4th Floor Studios 100 Absolute Asset Disposals 65 AECOM 50 Agenda Screening Services 38 Agenzia O UK 62 Anua Clean Air International 20 Atkins 92 Awesome Apps 4 Ballyclare 32 Bell First Aid Training 46 Benchmarx Kitchens and Joinery 74 Britannic Technologies 72 Broden Media 102 BSRIA 34 Byd Solutions 18 Caer Llan Conference Centre 80 CAME BPT UK 54 Casella Solutions 20 Castle Water 84 Checkmate Fire Solutions 12 Coastal Consulting 36 Cohesive Communications 93 Colworth Park Conference & Events 80 Cushman & Wakefield 86 Daimler Fleet Management 70 Demand Logic 40 Dräger Safety UK 22 EDSB Fire & Security 101 Endace Europe 100 Envitech Europe 101 Evac Chair International 8

102

Evo Office From Techlink 38 Fairtrade Vending 26 FFUUSS UK & EIRE 40 First Intervention Team 46 Forbo Flooring UK 41 Ford Inside Front Cover Fortem 72 Forward Vision Solutions 38 Gama Eco Projects 34 Go Plant Inside Back Cover Gray Manor Hotel 82 Guildmore 74 Hall and Kay Fire Engineering 99 Novotel Milton Keynes 80 HVAC Recruitment 40 Immerplast UK 28 Inaparc 58 Institute of Risk Management 50 Intergas Heating 72 ISS Mediclean 10 Jet Enterprises 101 Kingspan Industrial Insulation 16 LifeCentre Events 99 Linx International Group 38 Megger 96 Mercure Tunbridge Wells Hotel 82 Mount Edgcumbe Country Park 80 NBS Technologies 67 Nobel Fire Systems 24 Nortek Group Outside Back Cover Nous Group 91 Nu-Phalt Group 58

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

Nuevue 44 Optima Energy Systems 99 PJH Safety Training 46 PJM Inspiring Safety 42 Professional Cost Group Management 66 Protech City 65 Realise Futures 30 Reallies 75 Red Fire Safety Services 100 Repair Care 74 Riello UPS 26 Right Track Training 101 Russell Europe 6 Scarab Sweepers 34 Serco UK & Europe 90 Shark 82 Smas 4 Sto 75 Sun Buildings 99 The HCI Group 93 Touchright Software 74 Tricordant 88 Truvelo (UK) 56 Twice2much 14 UCS Renewables 100 UL International Germany GmbH 79 Videalart 60 Wellbeing People 40 Wychwood Biodiversity 26 Xynomix 48

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