Government Business 26.1

ROADS

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

OUTDOOR SPACES

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 26.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government

PROCUREMENT

DIGITISING SERVICES

An in-depth look at the third Digital Outcomes & Specialists framework from the Crown Commercial Service

INTERVIEW

TALKING ENERGY We chat with Nottingham City Council’s Sally Longford on the council’s clean energy goals

PLUS: LANDSCAPING | PLANNING | SECURITY | FRAMEWORKS

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CONFERENCES & EVENTS

OUTDOOR SPACES

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 26.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government

PROCUREMENT

DIGITISING SERVICES

An in-depth look at the third Digital Outcomes & Specialists framework from the Crown Commercial Service

INTERVIEW

TALKING ENERGY We chat with Nottingham City Council’s Sally Longford on the council’s clean energy goals

PLUS: LANDSCAPING | PLANNING | SECURITY | FRAMEWORKS

GB26.1_Covers.indd 5

Comment

ROADS

22/02/2019 09:01

Procuring to digitise public services The government has made it clear it wants to do more business with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its current aim is to spend a third with SMEs on goods and services by 2022.

Last year, it was revealed that since 2012, almost half of public sector spend on digital, data and technology services went to SMEs. And SMEs make up ninety-four per cent of suppliers on the third incarnation of the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework (DOS3).

Progress to meet the government’s ambition seems to be heading in the right direction. But there is still more work to be done. As such, the government’s SME advisory panel, made up of 24 entrepreneurs, is assessing the way frameworks are set up to encourage more SME participation, as well as looking to see greater use of modern collective buying methods.

Follow and interact with us on Twitter: @GovBusiness

This issue of Government Business delves into the work done by government to increase its business with SMEs on page 67. It also takes an in-depth look at the refreshed Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 (DOS3) framework on page 45, and gets a general update from the Crown Commercial Service on its new, upcoming and revised frameworks on page 55.

Angela Pisanu

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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Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

3

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Contents

Contents Government Business 26.1 17

07 News

28 Security

14 Interview: Nottingham City Council

31 Data Centre World

Series of consultations launched to overhaul Waste and Recycling; £13 million funding announced for green spaces; London Mayor aims to double vehicle scrappage scheme

Nottingham City Council has set itself an ambitious target to become the first carbon neutral city in the UK by 2028.

Government Business catches up with Cllr Sally Longford to find out more about the council’s energy and sustainability plans

17 Roads Management

22

There is a need for industry cohesiveness and collaboration to prepare us for the inevitable changes that technology brings to transport and infrastructure, writes Kealie Franklin from ARTSM

21 Landscaping

24

Stephen Ensell stresses the importance of having an annual maintenance schedule for outdoor spaces

22 Outdoor Spaces

With dwindling free outdoor play provision, investment in playgrounds is key to averting a major health crisis, writes API’s Mark Hardy

24 Planning

There are no short cuts to local authority planning approval, says Sam Dewar, director of planning experts DPA Planning, who believes that following best practice and close co-operation are the key to securing success in 2019

27 Facilities Management

We preview the Facilities Event 2019, taking place at Birmingham’s NEC on 9-11 April, looking at some of the key speakers

28

45

The Security Event, taking place from 9-11 April at the NEC Birmingham, is a new exhibition created for the commercial and residential security market and has been spearheaded by ten of the industry’s major players Data Centre World, taking place 12-13 March at London’s Excel, will examine the latest trends and opportunities with data centres, as well as provide solutions to the challenges

33 Sign & Digital

Sign & Digital UK takes place 2-4 April at the NEC Birmingham and brings together buyers and sellers from across the visual communications industry

35 Conference & Events

Sponsored by

With London welcoming almost 25 million visitors every year, we look at what is being done to promote London as the ideal venue for any conference and event and continue attracting tourism and investment to the city

45 Frameworks: Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 The third Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework helps buyers find suppliers that can research, design, build, test and deliver software applications and digital services

55 Frameworks: The latest news from CCS

The Crown Commercial Service provides an update on the range of CCS frameworks available, new commercial agreements being developed, its latest webinars, and events it will be attending

67 Frameworks: SMEs

With news that almost half of public spend on digital and technology services went to small and medium companies (SMEs), Government Business gets an update on the government’s drive to do more business with SMEs

35

Government Business magazine

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

5

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requirements.

ID CARDS

LGA report calls for full funding to support low income households

Veterans ID card to be rolled out

The Local Government Association is calling on the government to use the Spending Review to consider and fully fund the role of councils in supporting low-income households.

In its latest report, Reshaping Financial Support: how local authorities can help to support low income households in financial difficulty, the association sets out how councils are working with low-income households, improving advice provision and amending debt collection practices.

The LGA plans to deliver some pathfinders with partners and councils later in 2019 to take forward the report’s recommendations and further develop and explore local approaches to strengthening and delivering financial support.

The LGA also wants the government to better evaluate how local financial support can reduce the demand for other high-cost public services, such as health, housing and social care.

The report states: “Councils have received £800 million to provide Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) to residents between 2015 and 2020. This is given by the government to help support households affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy, Universal Credit, the benefit cap, and changes to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

However, this funding is increasingly having to be used to make up systemic shortfalls and there is no guarantee that it will continue itself after 2020.”

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board, said: “In spite of financial challenges, many councils are still finding ways to provide direct and indirect financial support to those in financial difficulty or at risk of financial exclusion because of the vital role it plays in preventing crisis and improving people’s lives. It also reduces the need for more costly interventions, for example, housing, health and social care services.

“This is becoming increasingly difficult and huge concerns remain about the future of local welfare funding into the next decade.

“The reasons households get into debt or financial difficulty can be complex.

Debt is often a symptom of wider problems, as well as a cause. Councils need the resources and capacity to disentangle and address complex issues, focus on prevention and bring services together.

“Unless local support is effective there is a risk that we entrench poverty and its associated problems.

“It is vital that the government’s forthcoming Spending Review recognises the importance of local support to achieving its wider aims in reforming the welfare system and improving outcomes for low-income households.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y5zx6yzh

News

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

A new ID card for armed forces veterans to help them access specialist support and services is to be issued to service leavers.

Any personnel who have left the military since December 2018 will automatically be given one of the new ID cards, which will allow them to easily verify their service to the NHS, their local authority and charities.

All other veterans will be able to apply for a new ID card by the end of this year.

The new ID card is one of three that are available to service leavers. Personnel leaving the armed forces are also able to keep their military IDs, known as the MOD Form 90. Additionally, veterans can access a range of discounts through the Defence Discount Service, the official MOD‑endorsed service for the armed forces.

The cards will complement the NHS’ commitment to providing specialist health support for veterans in every part of the health service, enabling ex-service personnel in England, Scotland and Wales to access treatment where they have been affected by their service.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yyrqftkb

AIR QUALITY

London Mayor aims to double vehicle scrappage scheme The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced plans to more than double his vehicle scrappage fund, announced last year, to help low-income Londoners scrap older, more polluting vehicles in favour of lower-emitting ones.

The £25 million car scrappage fund will be launched later this year and comes on top of the Mayor’s existing plans for a £23 million fund to help small businesses scrap vans that do not comply with the new Ultra Low Emission Zone standards, but which are driven into the ULEZ central London zone regularly.

Taken together, they will provide £48 million worth of scrappage to help those who face serious financial pressure in upgrading to greener options.

The announcement came as the Mayor, together with the cities network UK100, brought together city leaders from across the country for face-to face talks with government ministers. Leaders called on the government to deliver a national vehicle upgrade fund and to do more to tackle the country’s air quality crisis.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Our country’s filthy air is a national disgrace that shortens lives, damages our lungs, and severely impacts our NHS. City leaders across the country are united in raising the alarm about the dangers posed by poor air quality. Here in London we have worked tirelessly to clean-up the bus and taxi fleet, encourage clean air innovation and establish the largest air quality monitoring network of any major world city.

“Now, with only weeks weeks to go until the introduction of the 24-hour seven-day-a-week Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London, I’m announcing plans to help motorists on low incomes, as well as micro-businesses, to scrap their older, more polluting vehicles.

However, Ministers must now show they can match my commitment. If we’re going to tackle the health crisis and social injustice caused by air pollution it is vital and only fair that a national vehicle scrappage scheme is funded and supported by the government.

“I know Michael Gove and Matt Hancock

both share my commitment to clean up our filthy air and protect the health of future generations – but for this to happen they must recognise the scale of this issue, dip in their pockets and urgently match the ambition of our city leaders.”

The Mayor’s final Budget, including the new £25m fund, is due to be presented at a meeting of the London Assembly on 25 February.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y3hvwq5f

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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SOCIAL CARE

£13 million funding announced for green spaces

Nationwide campaign aims to attract more care workers

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has announced £13 million funding for green spaces. £9.7 million will be allocated to local authorities to better maintain, protect and increase their recreational spaces, with an additional £2.75 million made available for the Pocket Parks Plus programme which aims to transform neglected and derelict spaces.

A further £1.2 million has been provided to the National Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Future Parks Accelerator initiative. The partnership supports local authorities to test new approaches to managing and funding parks.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: “Our parks and green spaces are huge assets to our towns and cities, offering precious spaces for all of us to get together, to exercise and to play.

“This latest funding will support bold proposals to help renovate and restore existing parks and create new vibrant, safe green spaces for our communities.”

Action already taken to encourage more people to make better use of parks includes extending the Green Flag

Award licence by a further five years in September 2017, which means the people behind Britain’s best parks and green spaces will continue to be recognised and awarded for their tireless dedication The government will continue to work with the Parks Action Group, which represents leaders from across the parks sector to help ensure that current and future generations can continue to access safe, high quality and local parks.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y4cq7aoe

WASTE & RECYCLING

Series of consultations launched to overhaul Waste and Recycling The government has launched a series of consultations to overhaul the waste system and to cut plastic pollution.

Proposed measures include requiring packaging producers to pay the full cost of dealing with their waste, more consistent household recycling and a Deposit Return Scheme for cans and bottles, subject to consultation.

A consultation also also been launched for a tax on plastic packaging which does not meet a minimum threshold of at least 30 per cent recycled content.

Building on commitments made in the government’s Resources and Waste Strategy published in December, the consultations provide detail on plans to make packaging producers pay the full cost of dealing with their waste and to introduce a consistent set of materials collected across England from households for recycling, and bringing in a Deposit Return Scheme for cans and bottles, subject to consultation.

The changes will make up a key part of the government’s upcoming Environment Bill, to be introduced early in the second session of Parliament.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “We are committed to cementing

our place as a world leader in resource efficiency, so we can be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we inherited it.”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said: “Plastic packaging makes up two-thirds of all the plastic waste that pollutes this country and wreaks havoc on our environment. It’s our responsibility to do something about it and that’s why we will introduce a new tax on the producers of plastic packaging that don’t use enough recycled material.”

The government will seek views on its plans for 12 weeks.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yxjamjed

News

OUTDOOR SPACES

A new national recruitment campaign has been launched to help fill 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector.

The aim of the Department of Health and Social Care’s ‘Every Day Is Different’ campaign is to show how rewarding social care careers can be, and to also highlight the opportunities for progression and professional development.

The campaign has been developed in close collaboration with the adult social care sector and will run during February and March through social media, digital and local radio advertising, outdoor posters and events across England.

Advertising will feature real care workers and the people they support. The aim is to attract a diverse range of people, but the campaign will have a focus on people aged 20 to 39, as research suggests that this group is the most likely to consider a role in adult social care in the next 12 months.

Adult social care providers will be encouraged to engage with the campaign by providing case studies, advertising their vacancies on DWP Find a Job and promoting social media content using the hashtag #shareifyoucare. Materials will also be available to providers to equip them with information and assets to support the campaign locally.

Minister of State for Care Caroline Dinenage said: “Adult social care is too often seen as the ‘Cinderella service’ to our NHS. I’m determined to change this perception, starting with our hardworking social care workforce.

“There is huge demand for more care professionals who work incredibly hard to look after the most vulnerable people in our society. We must spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can transform people’s lives and every day is different to the next.

“Our national recruitment campaign will support care providers to recruit thousands more talented people. If you think a career in care could be for you, I urge you to look up the opportunities in your local area and become part of a vital and growing profession.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/yxr82coo

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

FINANCE

Treasury will need to find £5bn to ease austerity, says IFS

New analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies has found that the Treasury will need to find an extra £5bn by 2023-24 to spare further cuts to public services.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is yet to confirm how much money is to be allocated among departments at his forthcoming Spending Review, due to be published next month.

Quoting the Treasury’s provisional plans in the Autumn 2018 budget, the IFS

estimated that departments, excluding health, defence and aid, face more cuts under the government’s spending plans.

The IFS research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, was launched at a joint briefing with the Institute for Government, and stated that maintaining spending on unprotected services as a share of national income would require £11 billion on top of the plans set out in the last Budget.

Ben Zaranko, a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and an author of the report said: “The Chancellor needs to decide what period the next Spending Review should cover and what funding to make available to it. This could be the most important announcement in next month’s Spring Statement.

“The Government has already committed to increase day-to-day NHS spending by £20

billion over the next five years. Even though the latest plans have overall day‑to‑day spending increasing over that time, these increases wouldn’t be enough even to cover the NHS commitment in full. This suggests yet more years of austerity for many public services – albeit at a much slower pace than the last nine years. And while an economically bad Brexit would likely mean lower spending in the longer‑term, if anything it might require additional spending over the next few years.”

Last year, the Prime Minister Theresa May announced an ‘end to austerity’ as part of a PR drive.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y3vjcjpk

HOUSING

£6 million funding for community-led affordable housing The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has announced £6 million of funding to help build more homes.

Managed by four housing charities, the Community Led Homes Programme aims to provide local people with funding to kickstart community‑led housing developments.

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP announced that up to £10,000 will be provided to groups to cover start-up costs such as legal fees, and a further £3.5 million will be made available to provide technical advice and support to guide communities through the process of building.

The programme forms part of a wider package

of measures to increase local housebuilding, aiming to reach the ambitious target of 300,000 properties a year by the mid-2020s.

Housing Minister, Kit Malthouse MP, said: “Alongside £6 million of funding, the programme will also provide crucial training and advice to local groups, ensuring that we are not just building better homes but also building better communities.

Head of Community Led Homes, Samantha Jones, said: “Community-led housing enables communities of all shapes and forms to take the lead in building and renovating homes, helping people to come together to solve their own housing challenges and build high-quality, affordable homes. The new programme will strengthen the vital role that community-led

housing can play in delivering much-needed affordable housing, helping the sector to play its part in getting Britain building and delivering the homes our country needs.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y26fqedl

AIR QUALITY

One in three exposed to ‘dirty air’ while visiting their GP

Air pollution data monitoring levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) outside GP practices in the UK show nearly one in three NHS patients are attending GP surgeries where the levels of pollution breach limits set by the World Health Organisation.

The findings are based on particle pollution (PM2.5) data published by the

British Lung Foundation and the NHS Digital Database. It shows that London (7.5 million), the East Midlands (2.1 million), the East of England (2.5 million), South East (2.3 million), and the West Midlands (1.5 million) have the most patients registered with GP surgeries in pollution hotspots.

The government recently published its Clean Air Strategy, which included measures that it believes will save the NHS £1.7bn a year by 2020, rising to £5.3bn a year from 2030, due to improved air quality.

UK100 director Polly Billington said the figures showed air pollution was a “national problem” and called for a new Clean Air Act. “Some of the most vulnerable groups of people including young children and older

people will walk to their GP, often to get help with respiratory conditions like asthma and bronchitis,” she said. “ This shows the real danger to their health of the air pollution in their communities.”

The findings, which are also backed by the chief executive of NHS England, the Mayor of London, and the British Medical Association (BMA), prompted fresh calls for the UK government to unlock new measures and funding to help councils improve air quality in local areas.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y4vhat9t

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

ROAD SAFETY

School car free zones to be trialled in Glasgow Glasgow City Council will be trialling car free zones around seven primary schools to improve road safety for children and reduce their exposure to harmful emissions.

The scheme would see temporary pedestrian areas created outside the seven schools for limited periods in the morning and afternoon.

The pilot programme follows a series of concerns such as poor and risky driving outside schools, obstructive parking that forces pupils on to the road as well as the issues created by congestion and harmful emissions.

The proposals for streets around Bankhead, Broomhill, Hillhead, Lourdes, Our Lady of the Rosary, St Blane’s and Toryglen primary schools are currently being consulted upon by the council. Views are being sought

from the council’s Education Services, head teachers, parent councils, community councils, elected members, Police Scotland and other members of the community.

The eligibility for involvement in the scheme considers the school’s location on the road network - the school entrance shouldn’t open on to a bus route for instance. But also that there should be reasonable scope for the surrounding area to cope with displaced traffic.

A starting date for the school car free zones has still to be confirmed. It is anticipated that the trial period will last for up to 18 months.

Indicators for the success of the project will include a reduction in congestion and speed of traffic around school gates and

increase in the number of children walking and cycling to school alongside a reduction in the number of car trips to school.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y5s89ymo

FUNDING

£2bn additional spend in Scottish public services Scotland’s Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has announced that health services, the economy and public services will benefit from more than £2 billion of additional spend.

The Finance Secretary also confirmed the Scottish Budget will provide an additional £90 million to support local government and as well as further flexibility and increased income from council tax. Taken together this enhanced package offers up to £187 million of increased funding and flexibility to councils.

The Scottish Budget includes commitments to allow local authorities the flexibility to increase the council tax by three per cent in real terms, which equates to 4.79 per cent next year, while keeping increases below the maximum permitted in England.

It also sets out plans to bring forward a three-year funding settlement for local government from 2020-21 budget onwards and continue to provide an earmarked £160 million for health and social care

investment in local authorities to support social care and mental health measures.

Mackay said: “The Scottish Budget proposes an additional £2 billion of investment. It provides an increase of almost £730 million for health and care services, more than £180 million to raise attainment in our schools and gives a vital boost to our economy through a £5 billion infrastructure programme. As a result of these decisions, we have been able to invest in essential public services, particularly the NHS, while ensuring 55 per cent of income taxpayers in Scotland pay less tax than those earning the same income in the rest of the UK. “The Scottish government has continued to ensure our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement despite further cuts to the Scottish Budget from the UK government. These additional measures will deliver the most significant empowerment of local authorities since devolution and provide additional funding to support local services.

“This enhanced package offers up to £187 million of increased funding and flexibility to councils, on top of the £11.1 billion local government settlement. In total overall spending power for local authorities next year will be £620 million higher than it is currently.”

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y4rfxbcs

APPOINTMENTS

Dr Jo Farrar to head up HM Prison and Probation Service

Dr Jo Farrar, director general for local government and public services at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, will leave the post after being appointed as the next chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

She takes up her new post on 1 April, succeeding Michael Spurr who is

leaving the role after nine years, as was announced in September last year Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, Communities Secretary, said: “I am extremely grateful to Jo for her relentless dedication and commitment to local government during a period where the system has faced real challenges.

“Her focus has been unwavering on doing the best for her staff, as well as turning innovative policies on communities and public service reform in to tangible actions with real results. She is an example of the very best of public service and I wish her all the best in her new role.”

Farrah has been in her role at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since 2016. Before that, she served as chief executive first at Bath and North-East Somerset Council and then at Bridgend County Borough Council.

Prior to those roles, Jo spent 16 years in central government – with both the Home Office and Cabinet Office. Her public service career started in the Parole Unit of the Prison Service, in 1987.

READ MORE tinyurl.com/y42tyg58

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

13

Interview

Talking energy with Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council has set itself an ambitious target to become the first carbon neutral city in the UK by 2028.

Government Business catches up with Cllr Sally Longford to find out more about the council’s energy and sustainability plans

Cllr Sally Longford

Having already met your 2020 Energy Strategy target, why has the council set the ambitious task of becoming the first carbon neutral city in the UK? The council has provided leadership on climate change and sustainability in local government for many years. We see the target of becoming carbon neutral both a necessary next step as a responsible authority acting to protect citizens and future generations in Nottingham, and as part of our role in tackling this critical global challenge. We have already made significant progress, and are able to demonstrate that this transition can be a just one with many benefits for citizens, businesses, and the public sector – as seen through our national leading work on Energy Services. We hope our ambitious target will inspire innovation, and wider action in the city and across the country.

14

working with partners to combine solar Pv with domestic, community and commercial energy storage facilities to help maximise the use of renewable energy. New projects like vehicle-to-grid technology that help reduce demands upon the grid at peak times are indicative of the way forward in the next few years. Coupled to this is a programme of work assisting businesses, residents and our own staff to reduce energy consumption.

You have plans to install large batteries that can store solar energy on council premise.

Compared with other energy sources, how key to reducing emissions do you think local authority energy use will be?

Our work on energy supports not only our climate and sustainability objectives, but also fuel poverty, regeneration of the city and protecting frontline services through generating income from our assets and a unique commercial offer. This model of municipal energy services, a heat network and the EE heat smart meter, is vital to lead the transition of local energy provision to a smarter, dynamic and carbon neutral status that works for all.

We have piloted battery storage alongside generating assets at our leisure sites and have a battery at Trent Basin which supports the new housing development to be sustainable by utilising solar energy stored in the 1MW battery in the evening. We have a fantastic new battery storage project underway at our Eastcroft Depot site which will allow stored energy from renewables and electric vehicles to be traded with grid.

Throughout 2018, what progress has Nottingham City Council made in enabling people to move away from petrol and diesel-power and get around in a cleaner, greener way?

Last year was a big year Last for us, with our local year wa plan to improve air big yea s a quality in the city r f o r us, with ou approved by Defra r lo cal plan to impr in November. Our o Nottingham is plan focuses on in the c ve air quality ity appr expected to meet reducing transport its 2020 target emissions through

by Defr oved a in of 20 per cent of retrofitting 171 diesel Novem energy generation buses with cleaner ber from low carbon exhausts, which started sources. What schemes last year, and introducing are currently in place to a requirement that only Euro achieve this? And can residents 6 or Ultra Low Emission Vehicle expect further action on this in (ULEV) taxis will be licensed from 2020. the future?

Obviously it’s a big switch for drivers to Nottingham City Council has an extensive make, so we’re offering support including heat network linked to Energy-from-Waste, two week trials of cleaner vehicles, with and a significant Solar PV programme on its funding secured to install on street charge own estate and portfolio, in addition to panels points at taxi ranks. By the end of last year on thousands of Nottingham City Homes we had nine ULEV taxis on our roads, and properties across the city. We are committed to we’re continuing to see a steady increase. further rollout of solar panels. Nottingham has We’re continuing to invest in better also pioneered more innovative approaches facilities for walking and cycling, and to renewables, such as Solar Carports, and last year completed work to improve

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

Interview

We see the target of becoming carbon neutral both a necessary next step as a responsible authority acting to protect citizens and future generations in Nottingham, and as part of our role in tackling this critical global challenge a cycle path by the River Leen, which has gone down really well.

Unfortunately the railways are outside our control, but we’re maintaining pressure on the government to electrify the Midland Mainline – as they promised – so we can reduce the number of dirty diesel trains polluting our city.

Meanwhile, our Go Ultra Low programme is making great progress making it easier for people to switch to electric vehicles. We installed more than 70 fast and rapid charge points in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire last year. In addition, our Workplace Travel Service supported businesses with grants used to install 72 charge points.

To top it off, back in May we opened the country’s first bus lane that ULEVs are also allowed in.

It’s thanks to all the innovative measures we’ve taken in previous years that put us in a really strong position to be able to improve air quality. For example,

introducing the Workplace Parking Levy in 2012, which helped pay for the significant and sustained investment in green public transport, like the tram, that meant we didn’t have to include a Clean Air Zone.

Recent finding from Sustrans and Cycling UK has found that the government is in serious danger of missing its targets to increase levels of cycling and walking. How have you worked to improve cycling facilities around the city?

Making Nottingham easier to get into and around by foot and by bike is one of our main priorities, not only because of the environmental benefits of encouraging drivers out of their cars, but the health benefits of active travel too.

In 2015 we set an ambitious target to double the amount of people cycling to work by 2025, and to increase

cycling to account for 10 per cent of all forms of travel in the city.

We’ve invested more than £20m in the last four years improving cycle routes on key commuter corridors, such as to employment parks, universities, hospitals and the city centre. We’ve developed routes connecting the city from east to west and from the south, along with improvements to facilities along the ring road in the north. We’re due to open a new route – including a 50m bridge over the railway – linking existing cycle routes with employment sites in the Nottingham Enterprise Zone in the next few weeks.

One of the things that may put people off cycling, especially at peak commuting times, is lack of confidence. That’s why, wherever possible, we’ve introduced segregated and off road facilities with priority for cyclists at junctions.

We won’t know how we’re doing against our targets until the next journey to work survey in 2021, but we have seen the number of cyclists citywide increase by 50 per cent in the last five years, and by up to 60 per cent on key corridors in the last two years.

We’d like to keep up this progress and have submitted a bid to the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities programme to help us deliver even more. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk

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There is a need for industry cohesiveness and collaboration to prepare us for the inevitable changes that technology brings to transport and infrastructure, writes Kealie Franklin from ARTSM, the association for road traffic safety and management Since taking up post in October 2017, I have been privileged to support the association through many changes – from working with Lindsay Forster as we sought views from members and sharing ideas; reviewing our rules of constitution; to getting out there at trade shows promoting and meeting people face to face.

We have responded to requests for more sharing of information from outside and within the association and across the four working groups. The Executive and Working Groups now work more closely together and our business plan will ensure we remain an active and relevant body in providing for our members.

We have welcomed several new members but lost a few due to company consolidations and industry changes.

Technological changes With the ever-increasing and seemingly rapid rise in technological change and application of data, ARTSM sees it as imperative to establish a wider community of relevant experts and enhance its collaborative practices while ensuring that the manufacturers of longstanding, effective products continue to be consulted and supported.

We see the benefits of industry cohesiveness and collaboration to

prepare us for the inevitable changes that technologies bring to our current ways of thinking about how we use transport and infrastructure in the new age. With so much debate around how automation will benefit or impact on every day lives, we need to remember that we have a valuable resource in communication already – the ability to share innovative ideas together to come up with the best solutions for all.

To this end, the association is pleased to announce that at its recent AGM, members voted unanimously to add two new classes of membership.

ARTSM is extending its membership beyond the manufacturing and supply sectors to include designers, service providers – including those currently offering Software as a Service (SAAS) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) specifically – and consultancies who work with both end users and manufacturers.

We are also inviting applications from academics and those within local authority transport teams who we value as being innovative and who work together with manufacturers in ensuring that what is needed is practical, efficient and fit for purpose.

Membership fees and requirements have been reviewed to assist SMEs. We still require a high standard of our members, and Class

Written by Kealie Franklin, general secretary, ARTSM

Transport and infrastructure in the new age A members (products) are still required to evidence ISO 9001:2015. Class B members (services) will be required to demonstrate a system of quality in their business practices.

Future-proof standards With our already wide-ranging knowledge and experience, we lobby government and policy makers but standards and specifications are often written retrospectively. While no one can foresee with certainty, ARTSM wants to ensure they are written, revised and updated with the future in mind. To this end, we sit on many BSI shadow committees working on EU standards and UK National Annexes – a real benefit when we are no longer part of the EU, since we can still align with European requirements and trade both ways.

We already work closely with government bodies – Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, Department for Infrastructure NI and Welsh Government Department of Economy & Infrastructure. We also work with the local authority users through The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), Transport for London, Highways England, Unity Authorities such as Greater Manchester.

ARTSM was instrumental in creating TOPAS (Traffic Open Products and Specifications) when the Secretary of State removed the need for type approval as industry saw a very clear need to maintain standards.

As part of TOPAS and other committees, we play a significant part in developing new standards through consultation with industry, government and local authorities which will E Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Roads Management

 support and define the changes which lay ahead. We are already aware of the deficit in the current standards and in those which are waiting CEN gazetteering.

The association pushes for consultation with industry and all meetings we attend and are well placed to argue for the best solutions.

Our experts are consulted regularly on changes proposed by the DfT, for example in the writing of the latest version of TSRGD. We have contributed to the new Traffic Signs Manual (TSM) and we will continue to push Highways England for further consultation on changes in The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) and TSM Chapter 8.

We concur with others that we need to have sight of drafts before they become legislation not after. It is paramount that industry has the opportunity to comment.

Innovation and change We want to build on an environment that will support innovation and change but which also encompasses what already exists.

Each of these sectors inevitably undergoes continuous change as technologies advance and innovations are adopted – for example the impact on the environment and light emissions, the greater need to deal with all kinds of pollution and the immersion of global sustainable goals.

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) is likely to drive in more changes that will have an effect on both legacy and future equipment – (product landscape and infrastructure) and the ranges or applications

and roles they can fulfil. The effects on both suppliers and users are best predicted by drawing on the widest set of interested parties and canvassing diverse views and ideas.

By way of example, I have been party to many conversations raising concerns in relation to road signs. People have asked what can be done with the current products and assets to ensure that they remain valid and purposeful in the age of CAV. People have also asked if there is a benefit to adapting to VAS. Similarly, with bollards and other street furniture, people ask how big a part these can play in ensuring accurate data processing? Currently there are issues relating to smart cities and smart motorways relating to the lack of sustainability of modern technology – repeated failures in data transfer can lead to chaos.

Are we taking leaps too quickly without testing the water? Are we relying to much on technology? And what skills, jobs and knowledge might be needed. Some are asking whether CAV can be successful on our current road infrastructure? With one facet of CAV being image processing, where will the money come from to ensure that road markings and signs can be maintained?

What will be lost in the process?

We should also argue that tax payers’ money is important, and we want an effective commercial sector where funds are applied to best effect and will also stimulate innovation.

The Department for Transport are currently offering opportunities for innovation – but we need to discuss these ideas openly, not least to

evaluate their usefulness long-term. Another major question is who is leading the change?

Increased membership Many of these issues are unanswerable and the views depending on your standpoint are vast. ARTSM is a strong voice of industry, and as such it welcomes an increased membership to ensure that when changes do happen, all views have been considered, not just those who shout loudest.

ARTSM gets its members voices heard and we have good relationships with the other Associations in the industry as a network.

Many members hold cross memberships, enabling joined up thinking on issues that affect us all. There are many innovative people out there and the sharing of ideas can only enhance the development of a purposeful fully functioning network that begins not with technology for its own sake, but which has been questioned and challenged in infancy across many different criteria and with the best asked questions first – what is the benefit for the ultimate users?

Our current membership consists of approaching 50 members with a global turnover of £1 billion. We have six members who are elected to the Executive Committee and four working group chairs, who are co-opted annually. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.artsm.org.uk

Make no mistake on road risk When it comes to setting out your road transport requirements, you can’t afford to make mistakes.

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.

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Safety, Efficiency, Environment

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There are many factors that affect the environmental impact of a fleet of vehicles – from heavy loads to heavy right feet. Daimler Fleet Management shares its top ten tips for a cleaner, greener more efficient business

The right vehicle for the job – your fleet is a toolbox With WLTP still grabbing headlines, we are all more conscious of the CO2 emissions created by our vehicles. But in addition to environmental concerns, CO2 levels also affect vehicle pricing and taxation. DFM recommend undertaking a Whole Life Cost Analysis of your fleet. This analysis takes into account not just the cost to fund a vehicle, but also the running costs, tax and future values. What may look like a cheaper vehicle on day one, may prove to be not so economical over time.

Also consider where your vehicles travel?

With more inner city congestion charges and emission-free zones planned across the UK consider the savings that a Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) could create if you travel into these zones regularly.

Digital processes Digital isn’t a new buzzword but an alarming amount of ‘paperwork’ is still involved in the day to day running of a fleet. Digitisation could be the catalyst for more eco-processes.

Paperless billing, ePayslips and timesheets are a start. Using an integrated telematics system to manage your driver’s route planning and job lists could also cut down on waste paper.

Plastic reduction Aim to reduce single-use plastic in your business. DFM are working with leading suppliers to limit the amount of single-use plastic used in items like number plates, car mats and warning signs. Wave goodbye to large plastic bottles of washer fluid. These are being replaced by tablets like those used in washing machines. This not only eliminates the plastic bottle but reduces

the item weight and therefore the carbon footprint associated with transporting them.

Consider your supply chain – how far does your office stationery travel?

Buying local could even reduce the carbon footprint of the office stapler.

Telematics and route planning Route planning is essential for a greener fleet.

An efficient telematics system means less idling, traffic and accident avoidance, as well as faster deliveries. It also means you can keep a closer eye on the activities of your drivers gaining greater visibility of training needs and monitor repair and maintenance requirements.

Breaking habits and changing mindsets From the drivers who need to lighten their right foot to those who have a favourite off-route lunch spot – data from telematics can give you vast amounts of insight, indicating where training could be valuable.

Whilst this may seem a bit ‘big brother’ the benefits of driver training and monitoring can lead to significant savings in fuel costs and unnecessary vehicle repairs. Conversely there are also telematics options available to identify and reward good driver behaviour.

Review your grey fleet policy Changes to your grey fleet policy could help improve your company average CO2.

Employee’s own vehicles are unlikely to be as green as you would like. Ageing vehicles are less economical than newer models.

Consider your requirements, an extended range of LEV pool cars could be utilised instead, depending on your circumstances.

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Daimler Fleet Management’s top ten tips for a cleaner, greener fleet Regular repairs and maintenance A happy car is an economical car, adding a repair and maintenance package to your leasing policy ensures your vehicles optimum performance. Combined with telematics, vehicles can be monitored so downtime is kept to a minimum and issues can be resolved before they become a problem.

Tyres lose air naturally over time. Ensuring tyres are properly inflated can extend the life of the tread as well as improve fuel efficiency. Tyre quality and inflation can affect fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent so it’s important to check tyres regularly.

Electricity supplier ‘from wind to wheels’ The emissions associated with running your fleet could be further reduced by reviewing your choice of electricity supplier.

Choose an eco-supplier and incentivise your employees who ‘home-charge’ their EV to switch to one of the many ‘green energy’ suppliers whose electricity is exclusively fuelled by solar, wind and tidal.

The Leasing life-cycle There are many practical and financial benefits to leasing over an outright purchase, but in the context of running a greener fleet, the main benefit is the continuous cycle of new vehicles. By replacing your vehicles every two to three years (for example) you benefit from the latest technology and newest efficiencies. Many cars and vans come loaded with safety and eco functions keeping your drivers safe, your vehicles on the road and your emissions low.

Boiling the ocean – metaphorically You may not be able to implement everything at once, but make a plan and make a start.

You will be surprised how quickly your marginal gains add up. Be practical and realistic. Whether you change one thing by 100 per cent or make 100 changes by one per cent be realistic in your aspirations and use that momentum to further your efforts. Small steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all. L FURTHER INFORMATION Talk to DFM about your green aspirations or complete the sixty second challenge at www.daimlersixty.co.uk E: dfm-uk@daimler.com T: 01908 697442

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Stephen Ensell from the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), stresses the importance of having an annual maintenance schedule for outdoor spaces and gives some tips for winter maintenance The importance of maintenance of outdoor spaces cannot be over emphasised.

We maintain our cars, heating systems, machinery, our houses, and even our health, because we recognise that a regular maintenance schedule prolongs their life and helps reduce the risk of things going wrong and potentially causing injury.

The green spaces and sports surfaces that surround us are no different, especially in terms of safety and prolonging the life and usefulness of these areas. These spaces are often the first thing that people see when they arrive, and we all know the importance of first impressions, but it’s for more than just aesthetic reasons that they need to be correctly maintained. Whilst we may be very good at making sure they are well looked after through the spring and summer we may neglect them come the winter months when they are not used as much, if at all.

Create a schedule Carrying out the appropriate maintenance at the correct time of year for outdoor spaces – whether landscaped areas, sports fields and surfacing, playgrounds or car parks – is of paramount importance, so if you haven’t done so already, a yearly maintenance schedule should be created to help you keep on top of these areas and plan for the maintenance activities that will need to be undertaken.

Plant growth cycles in particular need to be taken into consideration; these will influence when watering, mulching, pruning and plant replacement takes place. Whilst we are now in a dormant growth period, remember there are still tasks that need to be carried out to keep everything not only looking shipshape but also safe for the people that use and travel through these areas.

Grass will continue to grow at a minimum temperature of 14 degrees Celsius, so mowing may continue into the months that are unseasonably mild, subject to the weather and areas being dry enough.

Leaves and plant debris will need to be removed from grassed area to prevent lawns from dying and from walkways and hard surfaces to prevent pedestrians slipping and the surfaces becoming stained.

Plant and shrub growth will need to be checked and cut back appropriately if it is overhanging walk ways, cars parks or obscuring lines of sight for vehicles and pedestrians on the property. Rejuvenative pruning can take place throughout the winter and presents an opportunity to cut back hard those deciduous shrubs that have become overgrown, giving them a chance to produce new healthy growth, which in turn will produce a healthier shrub with improved flowering; By evaluating any areas of soil that have been used as a ‘cut through’ causing compaction and leading to soil erosion or uneven surfaces, you can then alleviate the compaction by cultivation during the winter months and then replanting or grass seeding in the spring.

Adverse weather It’s that time of year when potentially there could be a lot of ice and snow. Last year saw a 52 per cent rise in slips, trips and falls during icy and snowy conditions. A close eye should be kept on the weather, checking for warnings on local weather channels concerning potential ice and snow. There are specialty BALI contractors that focus on preventative and reactive gritting and snow clearance services so that outdoor settings don’t pose a hazard when conditions take a turn for the worse.

Written by Stephen Ensell, education officer, the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI)

Winter care for green spaces

Play areas Playground equipment and surfacing should be checked on a regular basis but, with these areas perhaps being a little less used at this time of year, it’s an ideal time to carry out a thorough visual check for signs of damage and wear and tear, along with a tactile test. Timber play equipment should be checked for cracks; anything exceeding 8mm should be reported. Moving parts should be checked and lubricated as necessary.

Make sure the safety surface areas are clear of debris and trip hazards and check for signs of wear and tear and replace as needed. A professional inspection should take place at least once a year. If serious defects are detected the compromised equipment should be immobilised and repaired as soon as possible. All play equipment and surfaces should comply with European Standards of Play Equipment (EN1176) and or Surfacing (EN1177).

It’s also a great time to check sport surfacing.

Continue to keep surfaces free of debris and keep off artificial grass in frosty conditions and when snow has settled as walking on the surface can damage the artificial fibres. It is also best to try not to remove snow once it has settled but allow it to thaw as removal can again damage the fibres. Avoid applying rock salt or grit as, once dissolved, this can cause contamination and damage to the surface. Specialist PDV salts and antifreezes can be applied by contractors to help prevent ice and snow settling; it is not, however, appropriate for all surfaces so specialist advice should be sort for your type of surface.

One of the biggest problem’s artificial surfaces face at this time of the year is the potential to flood; with a build-up of contaminates water will be slow to drain, therefore regular brushing and the replacement of infill materials is essential to keep the areas draining adequately. If flooding and standing water persists then contractors may need to be contacted to carry out a deep cleaning process and restore the correct drainage properties. If ignored this will only continue to worsen as times goes on.

A BALI registered company that specialises in grounds maintenance will create a bespoke maintenance plan and carry out the maintenance all year round for your green space. L

Landscaping

If you have good sized trees, now is the time to check for dead and diseased branches and have them safely removed by a reputable arborist.

Edges are something we take for granted but we are very reliant on them for guiding us and helping us navigate, whether that be the edge of a path, a road, a grassed area or planted border. When these become overgrown or obscured this increases the chance of injury from slips, trips or falls and damage from vehicles that can’t see where they should be travelling or parking. Make sure they are well maintained and clearly defined.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.bali.org.uk

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Outdoor Spaces Written by Mark Hardy, Chair of the Association of Play Industries (API)

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Invest in playgrounds to avert a public health crisis Children are increasingly sedentary, isolated and indoors on their screens. And with dwindling free outdoor play provision, investment in playgrounds is key to averting a major crisis, writes Mark Hardy, chair of the Association of Play Industries Latest research shows that playgrounds continue to close at an alarming rate despite the government’s claims that they are tackling childhood obesity and mental health problems. In April 2017, the Association of Play Industries Nowhere to Play report first uncovered the state of playground decline in England, revealing the closure of hundreds of playgrounds.

The report showed that between 2014/15 and 2015/16 local authorities across England closed 214 children’s playgrounds, and when asked about future plans they admitted their aim to close a further 234.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the API once again asked local authorities in November 2018 to disclose current and planned playground closures. The results showed that by 2020/21, there will have been a decrease in spend on play facilities of 44 per cent since 2017/18.

In 2016/17, local authorities closed 63 playgrounds and in 2017/18 a further 70 playgrounds have been closed.

Since 2014, local authorities have closed a total of 347 playgrounds across England.

There will be a decrease in spend on playgrounds of over £13m each year on average across England.

Finally, the research found that local authorities estimate a decrease in their spending on playgrounds of £25m by 2021.

Funding pressures Local authorities cite lack of budget to maintain, repair or replace equipment as reasons for the closures. There is no longer dedicated funding for playgrounds from central government or grants from third sector institutions like the Big Lottery Fund, so provision and upkeep of play spaces falls on local authority budgets which are also reducing.

In its battle against childhood obesity the government should not restrict its interventions to schools or formal sports clubs, but should look at other local provision that can improve a child’s activity level.

The closure of public playgrounds – which take away these opportunities to be active at the same time as we are trying to tackle childhood obesity – is counterproductive.

outdoors. The Association of Play Industries is therefore calling upon the government to issue an official recommendation of two hours discretionary screen time per day for children.

It also urges the government to invest in outdoor play provision, especially in deprived areas, to reverse the decline in playgrounds.

A Movement for Movement By the time they finish primary school many children have the highest levels of body fat on record. Rates of child Type 2 diabetes and mental illness are also the highest in our history. Children now sleep less and have the highest level of admissions to NHS hospitals for sleep disorders. At the same time British children are spending the highest ever amount of their discretionary time in front of screens, and young children have never moved so little.

There is growing evidence that these Screens are displacing play contemporary observations are not entirely More recently, the API released A Movement unrelated. Increasingly, interrelationships for Movement, a new research report which are being identified between physical shows, the first time, a strong link between activity (PA), free play, sedentary behaviour, recreational screen time and children’s discretionary screen time (DST), inactivity. Children are choosing to sleep, mental illness, body spend their free hours on screens fat and type 2 diabetes. instead of playing outside.

Yet these health issues Children are experiencing There w are often presented a strong inducement from i l l be a de as separate lifestyle screens to stay indoors crease in spen factors, with separate coupled with a lack of d on playg bodies of evidence suitable play provision

rou £13m ends of over on aver ach year age Englan across d

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Outdoor Spaces

and debates surrounding each one. The evidence presented in A Movement for Movement points to an urgent need to reconceptualise these behaviours not as separate components but as inextricably linked, joint 24-hour movement behaviours.

Parents and local and national policy-makers must now work in tandem to ensure that all of the elements of children’s movement behaviours are considered together, rather than being seen as the responsibility of separate government departments and initiatives. This requires a far more muscular and visible public health approach, with joined-up thinking from national and local government.

A public health issue The changes needed to avert this crisis for an entire generation and the ones to follow are varied, addressing families, schools, and local & national policy-makers. Reducing children’s recreational screen time and increasing the provision and use of accessible playgrounds and play areas must occur in a wider context of public health education: an understanding of how and why these screen time and physical activity behaviours should be integrated into children’s lives from an early age and on a regular basis.

The consequences if we fail to make these changes will be nothing short of disastrous: this is one of the biggest issues of our time. We have a moral obligation to ensure that this becomes a public health issue; we don’t allow our young children to drink alcohol or take drugs, we insist they wear seatbelts, cycle helmets and suncream. And yet, we are allowing the

silent killer of excessive recreational screen and inactivity time to go unchecked.

The vast majority of families and children live in urban areas where playgrounds are their only opportunity for free play and movement. Playgrounds are a central part of the community, uniting not only children but parents and carers too. Without access to attractive and free playgrounds which, crucially, are safe, local and accessible, communities suffer and children quite simply have nowhere to play.

A relatively modest investment of £100m could lead to an increase in the number of playground facilities that are available for children to access across the country.

We need a clear and unequivocal show of support for outdoor play and activity and the benefits it brings to young people. The lost playground provision that our research has uncovered should be replaced at a minimum – but this would only be a sticking plaster. A relatively modest investment of £100 million could lead to an increase in the number of playground facilities that are available for children to access across the country. We estimate that would provide a further 1,600 playgrounds and play spaces which is only 10 per cent rise on the number that local authorities reported to be running in 2011.

It is more important than ever that play is prioritised by government. As the body representing the industry which supports and enables outdoor play, the API will continue to lobby and engage key decision-makers on central funding to trickle down to local authorities. Our screen-obsessed and time-poor society is increasingly focused on false economies, neglecting the crucial role of free recreation facilities for children and young people. In the face of huge and mounting challenges affecting our youngsters, problems which can become entrenched for life and costing the economy billions overall, it seems a no-brainer to prioritise protecting our playgrounds.

We all have memories of playgrounds – they are part of the building blocks of childhood and vital for child development.

They provide communal, free and attractive focal points for communities – rich and poor – and for children of all ages and abilities.

With the cost of repairs and replacements to these facilities being dwarfed by the social cost of removing them, we insist that no child should find they have nowhere to play. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.api-play.org

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Planning Written by Sam Dewar, director, DPA Planning

The battle for planning approval success There are no short cuts to local authority planning approval, says Sam Dewar, director of planning experts DPA Planning, who believes that following best practice and close co-operation are the key to securing success in 2019 In the 12 months ending June 2018, district level planning authorities granted 374,200 decisions (down three per cent on the year ending June 2017); 48,800 decisions on residential developments, of which 6,400 were for major developments; and 42,400 were for minors (down by two and three per cent respectively on the year ending June 2017). More than 9,700 applications for commercial developments were also granted, down 11 per cent on the year ending June 2017.

Impressive numbers, undoubtedly.

However, what they don’t show is the level of applications that failed, or never even made first base. Nor do they show the length

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2007 levels yet planning department resource in local authorities remains at an all-time low. This leads to over worked planning officers struggling to look beyond the pile of applications on their desks in an ever-increasing impersonal planning service.

This leads to ‘fire-fighting’ by planning officers, who are desperately trying to keep on top of their workload, rather than pursuing the pragmatic and cooperative approach that the private sector craves so much. This spiralling breakdown in relationships between the public and private sector ultimately leads to one thing – the inability to stimulate development and economic growth. Despite this, the government continues to increase their targets for growth and in particular housing figures across the country.

of time applications have been stuck in Pre-application engagement the system. While there’s never So, what can be done to avoid any beauty in statistics, your plans becoming mired they also fail to reveal in delay, disappointment We that steering planning and disapproval, and are seein g approval through to a ensure that they an incre final decision can be remain on track? a s e in appeals a time-consuming, The government of a lack because frustrating wants to see more and expensive ‘front loading’ with engage of two-way ment be experience – and an emphasis on pretween develop there’s never any application engagement ers and guarantee of success. with the council. So, don’t c o u n cils Application be afraid to start talking to submissions are almost your local authority sooner back to the pre-recession rather than later about your

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

proposed project, and find out what you can effectively do to expedite matters. An early dialogue with your LPA can be crucial here if you want to save yourself some time and money in the long term. It can keep your plans on the right track from the onset and save you paying for revisions later.

Missionary work We are seeing an increase in appeals because of a lack of two-way engagement between developers and councils. In turn, independent planners are taking on an increasingly ‘missionary’ role, working closely with councils as they attempt to cut through and overturn traditional ways of operating. They are more and more changing the approach of LPA officers, nurturing and encouraging them to work more ‘proactively’ with applicants to deliver sustainable solutions, which will benefit everyone involved in the planning process.

We are also looking to encourage LPAs to more and more embrace the concept of working more closely with

the private sector. This can manifest itself through bi-monthly meetings with regular agents and developers, or greater encouragement of free-flowing twoway dialogues. Progress is being made towards this, as local councils become ever more attractive places to submit planning applications, which ultimately drive economic development for us all.

When it comes to planning, patience is definitely a virtue. It can take months to get approval – and that’s if no alterations are needed. You may also face a long list of planning conditions if your project is successful. These are requirements you’ll need to fulfil before any construction work is completed. Again, best advice when it comes to building projects, is to expect the unexpected and be patient. With the right guidance and expertise by your side, the process can efficiently work itself out.

And what if you what to make major changes to your property? A successful planning application can often add value, but the path to success can be bumpy.

Remember not all projects require planning permission and there are different kinds of permission depending on the project.

Planning

What planning approval statistics don’t show is the level of applications that failed, or never even made first base. Nor do they show the length of time applications have been stuck in the system.

Independent expertise If your planning application is rejected or has been approved with unfavourable conditions, contact your local planning authority. It may also be advantageous to consult an independent planning expert if you are not already working with one. You may be able to submit an amended application – and this can often be done without extra council fees.

Take advantage of readily accessible tools such as the planning portal service to amend and resubmit your application. Alternatively, if you think the authority’s decision is unreasonable, you can submit a planning appeal.

The planning system manages built development and balances competing economic, environmental and social needs to reach decisions. Planning permission transforms the value of land and gives people the ability to create development opportunities. It can also be a long, painful and risky business, fraught with hassle and uncertainty – but the potential gain usually massively outweighs the pain for those who are prepared to be patient and follow best practice. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.dpaplanning.co.uk

British company ZED Pods announces starter home production at FutureBuild 2019

ZED Pods, the company behind a new concept in modular low-carbon starter homes, kicks off 2019 by announcing 65 units are in planning or pre-application at sites across the UK

including Lincoln, Essex and London. This exceeds the company’s planned 2018 start-up target of 60 housing units.

Manufacturing has also started on the first 11 prefabricated homes at ZED Pods’ selected manufacturing partner in Peterborough. These include nine onebed and two two-bed units, all designed for installation raised above the ground, normally in car parks, a key design feature for customers who intend to make use of existing parking provisions beneath.

“Hard work during the past year to explain the Pod concept and the opportunity this brings to make use of hard to use windfall sites is now starting to pay dividends,” explains Dr Rehan Khodabuccus, ZED Pod’s operations director.

“Local authorities and developers are particularly attracted to the fact that our Pod homes can be built over existing parking or on land outside the development plan to deliver rapid, affordable, low energy housing solutions for sale or rent.”

“In this way ZEDPod housing can add to a local authority’s existing housing allocation, while existing car parks continue to function,” Khodabuccus added. “A flexible design approach with different housing

styles to maximise each plot, combined with rapid installation, a design life the same as typical timber frame buildings and the fact that Pod developments can be designed to be moved to different sites if requirements change, are also important factors for many of the councils we are talking to,” he concluded.

To meet expected demand, the company is continuing to refine the production process to speed up build times and deliver efficiencies. Currently it takes the team 10 days to build a single unit, ready for transportation and delivery to site. By overlapping production and further experimentation the team hopes to significantly improve this with the goal of four Pods per week.

Following the success of Ecobuild 2018, the company is again at FutureBuild, 5-7 March 2019. Housing associations and local authorities wanting to learn more about the Pod and ZED Pods’ innovative ways of delivering affordable homes on council owned sites, can visit the team at Stand F1.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.zedpods.com

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The Facilities Event 2019, taking place at Birmingham’s NEC on 9-11 April, will address the five pillars of facilities management: cleaning services, security, catering, property management and support & technology services In response to imminent technological, sociological and cultural changes facing British business in 2019, the Facilities Event will tackle some of the most pressing technical issues and create a forum where facilities managers (FMs) can find answers to their workplace challenges.

The show, which takes place 9-11 April at the NEC, Birmingham, will centre around the Facilities Hub. Five pillars of FM will be covered: cleaning services, security, catering, property management and support & technology services. The programme will be designed to give attendees access to three days of educational content and practical information in these areas.

In addition, exhibiting companies will be ready to provide advice to attendees and showcase their products and services.

Combined with the Health & Safety Event, Fire Safety Event, and the brand-new The Security Event, these portfolio of shows give FMs the opportunity to keep educated and informed with professional content, inspirational case studies and hands-on advice from exhibiting companies.

Seminar programme On the first day, following a case study on last year’s PFM Award-winner Dentons’,

there will be a seminar session on demystifying workplace technology

by Mark Miller from Cisco.

The workplace is going through a time of unprecedented change and organisations must rethink how workspace design, workplace policy and technology come together to create a sustainable, fit-forpurpose and future-proof work environment.

While technology has become an essential component in every workplace, for many facilities professionals, keeping up with its pace of change remains challenging. In this session, Mark will take a non-technical look at technology, including video, collaboration tools, mobility, wireless, analytics and the IoT, and also examine how Cisco is using technology in its own offices.

In the afternoon, Colin Wills, CEO of Cambridge Maintenance Services will lead a session debating who’s responsible for energy management as it can fall under the remit of many positions. This has led many organisations to not prioritise energy management and miss out on opportunities to increase efficiencies and make savings.

At the same time, there is an increasing amount of energy data available which many organisations are failing to understand and use to their benefit. This debate will look

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at who should be responsible for energy management and explore some ways to ‘own’ the issue and benefit from it.

Ellie Hurst from Advent IM will give a seminar on security in businesses. There is a widely acknowledged security skills gap in the UK. Chief information security officers (CISOs) in many businesses are faced with huge challenges and the threat landscape is growing with constant addition of web enabled devices and other IoT, providing an enhanced attack surface for criminals and more potential for successful breach. How can businesses help support the security function whilst embedding a great security culture?

This presentation seeks to identify ways in which the silos and mystery around security can be broken down by communications teams to bring about genuine cultural change and spread the security load in positive and business-enabling ways.

On the second day, Greg Davies from Assurity Consulting will share his 30 years’ experience in making health and safety work in organisations. Health and safety is a fundamental part of business. But for many reasons it can be seen as costly, a burden, an inhibitor and even nonsensical.

Add in changing legislation and conflicting advice and it can make creating confidence in your compliance feel a little bit of a game show. Sharing with you more than 30 years’ experience in making health and safety work in organisations, Greg Davies of Assurity Consulting considers the current situation.

Data protection as a facilities enabler will be discussed by Mike Gillespie of Advent IM. The real benefits to businesses of truly embracing good data protection practices remain largely hidden from view. This presentation will look at the benefits that can be leveraged by organisations by having a real world understanding of data protection act 2018 and GDPR and how, far from preventing business, if done properly, it can enable greater data analytics and improve business efficiencies.

Mike Boxall, managing director of Sitemark, the de facto standard for good buildings will take a session on benchmarking. By only looking at costs, most benchmarking exercises miss a substantial amount of data and insight about their FM provision. Mike explores what benchmarking should really include and how FMs can benefit from it.

On the third day, Bryan McLaggan, managing director at CTS, will take a session on how facilities management is a key choice for many former military servicemen. But what is it actually like to make the transition from the military to FM? What are the benefits of FM as a career? Are there any pitfalls? And what military skills are useful and where are there gaps? Bryan McLaggan, a former warrant officer in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, who has had a ten-year career in FM, including his current role as managing director of M&E firm CTS, will talk through his experiences and share some top tips. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.facilitiesevents.com

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Security

Bringing together the UK security industry The Security Event, taking place from 9-11 April at the NEC Birmingham, is a new exhibition created for the commercial and residential security market and has been spearheaded by ten of the industry’s major players

The Security Event will host around 100 of the world’s leading security brands and will attract thousands of attendees over three days, with key features including a tailored content programme and networking opportunities.

The education programme has been designed specifically for UK security professionals in the trade and their end users.

It will be delivered across three theatres: the Innovation Theatre, the Security in Practice Theatre, and the Technical Seminar Theatre.

The Innovation Theatre will allow delegates to gain first-hand insight into the latest product and technology updates and their impact on the market, while the Security in Practice Theatre will see speakers share their first-hand experience.

The Technical Seminar Theatre meanwhile will offer practical training tips and guidance for security installers and integrators. It will covering current and emerging challenges and the most pressing issues facing security teams and engineers to ensure they are equipped to meet the demands of an ever-evolving industry.

Innovation Theatre David Harrison-Brown from Johnson Controls will take a session on cyber security in building systems. The Internet Of Things is having an ever increasing impact on all our lives. However there are occasions when these devices provide those with malicious intent an easy back door into your systems and often access to very sensitive data essential to the success of your businesses.

David will highlight a holistic approach to cyber security, the potential risks your business may have been exposed to, and how working in partnership can help protect your assets.

Mark Weatherley from Avigilon will speak about the role of artificial intelligence in the security industry. As the security industry continues to evolve, developments are taking place both in terms of technology and policy.

Avigilon has responded to this evolution, providing solutions such as AI-powered selflearning video analytics which help overcome some of the biggest challenges in the security industry, bringing a focus of attention to video surveillance and providing actionable information to operators. Furthermore, since the introduction of the GDPR, Avigilon has introduced new updates to its video management software (VMS) to support users’ compliance to the regulation.

Michael Downie from Texecom will take a session on digital services and their value to intruder alarm systems. New digital services are transforming the way intruder alarm installation companies operate and how they can add more value to their customers. This session will teach attendees to learn how digital services can revolutionise by using, designing, installing and maintaining intruder alarm systems.

John Davies, managing director at TDSi, will discuss delivering efficiencies with integrated security systems. This session will illustrate how innovative integrated security systems can be used to deliver business efficiencies by providing data to improve human resource planning and deployment, marketing metrics and

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Security

customer returns processes. Case studies will illustrate how this has been achieved effectively in the UK retail and leisure sectors.

Phil Cain and Nick Whiting from BT will discuss the next step in the UK’s digital transformation and how alarm signalling will be affected.

BT intends for all its customers to be using fully digital telephone services by 2025. But special services, such as monitored alarms that rely on our analogue PSTN network may be impacted by the move to all IP. Jeremy King from Comelit Group UK will give a presentation on integrated homes. As door entry evolves, integration is now a key requirement. This session will allow delgates to discover the flexibility to control multiple aspects of the home, including door entry, home automation, CCTV, audio control, Energy monitoring and more, from a single device as well as exploring future innovations from Comelit.

Security in Practice The Security in Practice Theatre will kick off with a keynote panel chaired

by Professor Martin Gill at Perpetuity Research, with contributions from Anthony King at Square One Systems, and James Oliver from Code Security Systems. This discussion will present and discuss the findings of research commissioned by The Security Event on the key trends and challenges impacting security practitioners. Technology advancements are ensuring the landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, so how security businesses and practitioners balance traditional needs with evolving challenges will determine what is required to succeed.

A session on designing out crime will be chaired by Barrie Millett and will cover the principles of designing out crime and crime prevention. The session will discuss bringing together elements of physical security with environmental design, layout and construction and the Internet of Things, focusing on standards, best practice and the importance of an integrated approach.

Mark Lindsay from Arup will lead a presentation on a risk-based design of security solutions. He will focus on the ‘Risk based approach’ and how the findings of the Threat Vulnerability and Risk Assessment translate to a proportionate and appropriate solution that satisfies all aspects of a design from cost, integration and maintenance. Mark will call on his recent experience of working on a large national infrastructure project and how conflicting stakeholder requirements were addressed to provide a holistic and commensurate solution across the entire spectrum of protective security.

Andrew Palmer, border security manager at Gatwick Airport and Darren Stanton from the Human Lie Detector will discuss approaches to behaviour detection and analysis.

Implementing behavioural detection against a backdrop of ever changing operational and commercial demands permits a high degree of security assurance, balancing an informed and pragmatic approach to mitigating multiple aspects of threat within critical national infrastructure and crowded place sites.

This session will offer an understanding of what is involved in the practice of behavioural detection along with detailing the benefits and limitations of implementing and developing a behavioural detection programme.

John Downie from Visual Management Systems UK and Professor Jeremy Levesley at Leicester University will examine

the future of automatic facial recognition.They will look at the latest developments in facial recognition technology, the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and neural networks and the key considerations when identifying a fit-for-purpose, high performance, GDPR compliant multi-subject facial detection, recognition and identification solutions.

Rick Mounfield from the Security Institute will discuss the benefits of understanding evolving threats and advancing technologies through professional development. Key topics that will be addressed include professional development; accreditation and licencing; the value of diversity; benchmarking levels of security; and responsibility for professional development. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.thesecurityevent.co.uk

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Data Centre World, taking place 12-13 March at London’s Excel, will examine the latest trends and opportunities with data centres, as well as provide solutions to the challenges For more than a decade, Data Centre World has been delivering the future vision for the industry. Now in its 11th year, it continues to probe all the trends, all the opportunities and all the challenges for data centres everywhere.

In an industry that refuses to slow its development and against a backdrop of critical innovation, edge computing and 5G emergence, Data Centre World will not only explore it all, it will explain it all.

There are three main concerns with data centres – cost, risk and continuity. Data Centre World’s exhibitors will showcase how their products and services can alleviate these pressures and worries for visitors.

Data Centre World 2019 will be taking the data centre to the next level. It will showcase the 6th generation data centre which will address new technologies that are pushing the boundaries for data centres in today’s market.

Data Centre World 2019 is co-located with Cloud Expo Europe, DevOps Live, Cloud & Cyber Security Expo, Smart IoT London, Big Data & AI World and Blockchain Technology World.

Data Centres of the future keynote theatre As business needs change and capacity requirements increase, how will you adapt your data centre to manage an ever changing, expansive landscape? The DCW keynote theatre contains answers to a multitude of challenges that will allow you to plan and manage your data centre of the future. The largest data centre operators on the planet will be providing key content and case study presentations.

Stuart Kay from Airedale International Air Conditioning will take a session on how to achieve the low energy cooling in high density data centres whilst minimising water usage.

As data centres look to maximise the power density of their facilities, the requirement for efficient, powerful cooling systems grows.

Increased heat and therefore increased cooling puts pressure on the environment and the industry must do what it can to conserve natural resources. Indirect adiabatic cooling has in recent years demonstrated advantages over air & liquid cooled systems, but water usage is still an issue.

This session will demonstrate how using innovative cooling mediums and controls can deliver the holy grail of high performance cooling with low energy & water use.

Rabih Bashroush from Enterprise Computing Research Lab will lead a panel debating how data centres can deliver efficiencies to rival public cloud.

A strategy that includes both on-premise and public cloud is fairly commonplace, but what can data centres do make sure they are firmly positioned to be part of that strategy?

This panel will discuss how data centres can better support businesses and become a trusted partner to strategic conversations.

Energy efficiency, cost management and DCIM theatre This theatre will deliver all the latest developments in tools, product solutions and services to help maximise energy efficiency and reduce cost. From cutting edge cooling systems, energy control and distribution, to best practice and due diligence, these sessions will help you run a more power efficient and cost effective data centre.

Andrew Dobson from Hanley Energy will give a presentation exploring challenges, considerations and insights for Data Centre Infrastructure & Operations leaders engaged in the formulation energy strategies.

Facilities and critical equipment theatre Delegates can discover the most up to date technical information on the most innovative products available in the market, as well as improve efficiency through tackling the biggest challenges their data centre faces.

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Get the latest data centre expertise

This theatre will present case studies to effectively demonstrate how these innovations have made a significant positive changes to data centres in the UK and beyond.

Dr Sarah Colwell from BRE Global will give a presentation reviewing the fire suppression options currently available to protect data centres in the event of fire.

She will also discuss the importance of selection of third party approved products and new technologies coming to market.

Data centre design and build and physical security theatre This theatre will allow delegates to learn more about the latest techniques for building and designing the modern data centre. Delegates can hear from industry experts on real life practical case studies and projects to why its so crucial to design and build an efficient and effective and operational cost-controlling data centre.

Panel debates will identify the risks to avoid as well as making sure you have a refined strategy in place from day one.

Tatu Valjakka from UPS Connectivity will give a presentation describing the benefits and potential threats in UPS communications within different use cases, and the ways in which to mitigate them.

Communications with local and remote monitoring systems can enhance the protection given by UPS equipment, however it also increases the attack surface of the system. Many installations are old and were intended to operate in a safe internal network but have since been connected to other networks. New and legacy installations should be analysed and appropriate security enforced and in many cases technology needs to be upgraded to meet the needs of today’s networks. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.datacentreworld.com

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Sign & Digital

An annual showcase of creativity and innovation Sign & Digital UK takes place 2-4 April at the NEC Birmingham and brings together buyers and sellers from across the visual communications industry course of the three days of the show the sign will build up to reveal the final sign that will reflect the diversity of today’s sign industry.

During each session one or two letters/elements will be added and demonstrations on how they were made.

Elements will include digital print, vinyl graphics, banners, built up letters, soft signage, digital signage, traditional sign writing and much more.

There will also be a session on learning the basics of applying to a large area of vinyl, covering the basic techniques.

Sign & Digital UK facilitates the UK’s largest network of sign and display manufacturers, distributors, re-sellers, installers and end users. For over 30 years, the event has been the UK’s leading exhibition for showcasing the sector’s widest range of the latest and most innovative products and services.

With hundreds of exhibitors showcasing thousands of products and leading brands, Sign & Digital UK is the place to see the latest developments from across the signage, print, display, decor and design sectors.

The Main Stage The popular main stage returns with panel debates, demonstrations and live ‘sign & digital explains’ sessions, designed to offer practical information and advice that can be used to help you grow your business.

The main stage will cover topics including display solutions for buildings and interiors; textiles and soft signage; personalisation products and 3D printing; sustainable materials and waste management, amongst others.

The sessions will have experts from across the industry and use case study based real life examples.

The Adobe theatre will allow delegates to update their knowledge in the free daily sessions at the show, including the new Adobe Premiere Rush CC. Video dominates the internet and consumers still want more. Adobe Premiere Rush CC is the first cloud based cross-platform video editing tool for Windows, MacOS, and iOS that allows users to capture, edit, add audio and motion, then publish online from anywhere.

The Corel Theatre will allow attendees to update their knowledge on CorelDRAW, which offers a seamless design experience for graphics, layout, illustration, photo editing, tracing, web images, print projects, art, typography, and more.

The CADlink Technology Showcase meanwhile will have daily demonstrations on the benefits of a single vendor software provider and the leading-edge technology available that will make the day-today running of your business infinitely more efficient and profitable.

There will be sessions on Signlab where delegates can discover the benefits of using software specifically designed for sign making and large format displays.

Software Features Delegates can get free expert advice and updated knowledge of using Adobe, Corel and CADlink in the Software Theatres with sessions on each day of the show.

Adobe gives everyone, from emerging artists to global brands, everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences.

Signmakers Workshop The Signmakers Workshop has a new look for 2019 and will take place within the Sign Trade Services Pavilion. Paul Hughes returns to the show to give delegates some signmaking tips and tricks live.

One session will showcase 14 different popular sign styles/techniques. During the

HEXIS Battle Sign & Digital UK 2019 will feature the HEXIS Battle UK Wrap Contest where delegates can be in with a chance to win the title of Best UK Installer 2019 and over £5,500 of winning prizes.

With two heats and semi-final each day, the contest will pitch participants against each other in timed, 10-minute sessions. Judged on speed, efficiency and quality of work, the winners from each day will go through to the grand final at the show on Thursday 4th April.

Exhibitors Not to be missed new exhibitors include: ABC Display Industry, GMG Color, Liquid Lens Systems, M3 Online Limited, PROTEK, Premier Paper Group, Signzworld, Solar Illuminations, Trade Sign Shop, Target Transfers, UK Feather Flags, UK Industrial Tapes, and Viscom LEDs and Frames.

Amongst the many companies returning to the show are Atlantic Tech Services, CMYUK, Blackman & White, Complete CNC Solutions, Epson, GESS, HEXIS UK, Hybrid Services/Mimaki, printMAX, Roland DG (UK), Sabur Digital, Signgeer, Spandex, Tecna, The Magic Touch, Ultima Displays, Vivid Laminating, William Smith Group1832 and Zund Plotting Systems.

Rudi Blackett, Sign & Digital UK portfolio director said: “It’s fantastic to have so many new companies at the show this year, as well as welcoming back a large number of returning exhibitors – their presence at S&DUK 2019 confirms the show’s continued ability to connect people and the industry. The variety of products and services on offer, in addition to free-to-attend seminars, workshops and live demonstrations means that we deliver an industry leading event, which gives our visitors the chance to connect with their peers and to keep up to date with the latest innovations.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.signuk.com

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Look no further than London for your next meeting With London welcoming almost 25 million visitors every year, we look at what is being done to promote London as the ideal venue for any conference and event and continue attracting tourism and investment to the city Following the EU referendum in June 2016, taking into account the destinations on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan launched his offer, London won in September’s Condé #LondonIsOpen campaign to showcase Nast Traveller 21st Annual Readers’ that the capital city is united and open for Travel Awards for Best UK City. business, and that despite the UK’s decision Laura Citron, CEO of Visit London, said to leave the EU, it remains entrepreneurial, of the accolade: “It’s brilliant to hear that international and full of creativity and the readers of Conde Nast Traveller have possibility. Since then, and only weeks crowned the capital as their favourite away from the UK possibly leaving UK-city, and a true reflection the EU, Khan has made good of how London as a global headway in his ambition city continues to attract London for London to be a 24 and dazzle its visitors. undoub hour city, which not From pop-up bars only encourages and edgy new hotels remain tedly s t London’s night time to international h e of the w envy economy and cultural exhibitions and o r l d , with i incomp scene, but also cultural arts festivals, t s ar bodes well for those London has a showof histoable mixture r attending meetings, stopping autumn y , and tec culture events and conferences in store. Whether h nology in the capital. it’s your first visit or According to research your fiftieth, London from CBRE, London has is a city that surprises topped a ranking for EMEA’s at every turn and there is largest technology clusters, partly always more to discover.” due to its ability to attract young millennial talent. The Times Higher Education (THE) History, culture & technology World University Rankings revealed last London undoubtedly remains the envy of September that four universities in London the world, with its incomparable mixture are listed in the top 40 – more than any of history, culture and technology. Below other city in the world. Furthermore, the admirable city skyline sits a setting

of political passion, hidden heritage and unrivalled diversity, where world-famous museums and galleries rub shoulders with Michelin-starred restaurants and where trendy pop ups stand beside state-of-theart-auditoriums. Hosting a function in London is not only easy and convenient, it also gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy and experience this world-renowned capital.

Valued venues London offers visitors the best of the old and the new. Historic landmarks and contemporary venues sit side-by-side and many can be hired for meetings or private events. Located on the More London Estate, overlooking Tower Bridge, The Tower Room offers stunning 180 degree views of the city’s skyline and the versatility to accommodate a variety of events, from conferences and workshops to receptions and product launches.

With ever-rising numbers of business and leisure visitors to London, a variety of new hotels have opened across the capital.

Amongst them is the InterContinental London – The O2, boasting an indoor pool, two restaurants and 18th floor Sky Bar, with panoramic views across the Thames to Canary Wharf and beyond, making it the ideal location to host an evening reception or meeting for networking drinks. It also E Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Meeting Rooms | Conferences | Video Conference | Studios Event Space

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 has 20 multifunctional meeting rooms and a 3,000sqm ballroom, which will hold up to 3,000 delegates.

The last few years has also seen a number of new restaurants open across the city, with some great function spaces, such as the Barbecoa St James, a new 9,000ft restaurant, set within an iconic new space at the historic Prince’s House. The restaurant uses only the finest cuts of meat, all hand selected by in-house butchers who search the length and breadth of the UK to find the very best produce for its distinctive dishes.

For something more intimate and different, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery will be opening its new restaurant Pharmacy 2. This new venture will offer a fine dining experience in the evening, with Hirst’s ‘Pill’ pictures decorating the walls.

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

Venues with event-appeal Imperial College London offers over 100 event spaces ranging from meeting rooms and banqueting halls to an elegant Grade II listed Victorian townhouse.

Catering for up to 758 guests, Imperial’s venues are ideally located in central London.

For a smart, modern, luxury suite of meeting/conference rooms, Piccadilly Chambers is located in the heart of London’s Mayfair district. The venue

“London has two exciting Boroughs of Culture celebrations to look forward to, and I can’t wait to see Waltham Forest and Brent’s bids come to life and improve the lives of people in their local communities.” offers three rooms which seat between four and 10 persons, all air-conditioned and equipped with HD screens.

Sadler’s Wells provides a contemporary, vibrant and inspiring venue for conferences, workshops and performances. The venue can hold private and corporate events from 12-1,500 guests in rooms including the main auditorium, a studio theatre and various meetings/conferences suites.

Located in the heart of the historic West End, St Giles London hotel has modern spaces, state-of-theart facilities to cater for small meetings, conferences, and training courses.

St Giles Heathrow meanwhile is conveniently located near London Heathrow Airport and is just a one minute walk from Feltham Mainline Rail Station for easy access to Central London.

For flexible venue hire, &Meetings have in excess of 100 rooms and event spaces, all of which are available to hire from just one hour. The company works with an ‘all-inclusive’ philosophy, so it does not charge for teas and coffees or for using its flat-screen TVs.

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

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

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

Playing host to 40 per cent of European headquarters and over 40,000 tech businesses, London is now the tech capital E

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WHO ARE WE? Piccadilly Chambers is a smart, modern, luxury suite of meeting/conference rooms in the heart of London’s premier Mayfair district.

WHAT DO WE OFFER? Three rooms which seat between 4 and 10 persons. All rooms are air-conditioned and equipped with HD screens which can be connected to your laptop to enable you to share a presentation.

Complimentary tea/coffee and water along with pastries or biscuits are available upon request for morning meetings and further catering options are also available throughout the day.

TRANSPORT Located at 169 Piccadilly, we are equidistant between Fortnum & Mason and The Ritz Hotel and just a 4 minutes walk from either Green Park Station or 5 minutes from Piccadilly Circus Tube station. There is a NCP car park located behind The Ritz Hotel and via pay & display meters in surrounding areas. .

PRICES Room prices are from £55.00 per hour, with all-day rates starting from £330.00. Or you can choose to go with our delegate rates which start from £60.00.

VIRTUAL OFFICE We also offer a virtual office which gives businesses access to a prestigious office location, without the overheads of leasing physical space.

CONTACT DETAILS Please contact us on 0207 100 1180 or email us at info@w1chambers.com for your exclusive 20% discount by quoting ‘PSI’ if you are interested in any of our services.

Piccadilly Chambers, Dudley House, London W1J 9EH

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Our Central London location, modern spaces, state-of-the-art facilities, and expert team make us your ideal venue for small meetings, conferences, and training courses.

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Email corporate@stgiles.com for more details.

For enquiries, please contact our team at Email: LConference@stgiles.com or Telephone: 020 7300 3052 www.StGilesHotels.com

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In 2014, London Technology Week was launched. Hailed a huge success by leading entrepreneurs, the event returned for 2017 with Sadiq Khan using this to unveil his vision for London to become a ‘Smart City’  of Europe. The Cities of Opportunity Index from professional services firm, PwC, named London number one and said the city is ‘technologically on the top of its game’. The report also listed London as the world leader in economic influence, technology access, reputation as an urban gateway, and its development and design capabilities. The UK capital claimed the number one position ahead of New York, Singapore, Toronto, and San Francisco.

London Tech Week In 2014, London launched London Technology Week. Hailed a huge success by leading technology entrepreneurs, the event returned for 2017 with Sadiq Khan using the occasion to unveil his vision for London to become the world’s leading ‘Smart City’.

Amongst his plans were a new £1.6 million Clean Tech Incubator called Better Futures, which will help 100 London-based small

businesses to deliver low-carbon and cleantech products to tackle the causes and effects of climate change, and a pledge to appoint London’s first Chief Digital Officer (CDO), a position which will drive the development of smart city technologies.

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

London Borough of Culture In February 2018, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced the winners of

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the first-ever London Borough of Culture competition, with Waltham Forest the first borough to be awarded the title this year, followed by Brent in 2020. Inspired by the UK City and European Capital of Culture programmes, each borough will be awarded £1.35 million of funding to deliver a programme of ambitious cultural activities, placing culture at the heart of communities and celebrating the unique character of local people and places.

Waltham Forest will be the inaugural London Borough of Culture in 2019, with projects including a digital installation called ‘Molecules in the Marshes’ on Walthamstow Marshes and a fashion exchange highlighting stories about the heritage of Pakistani makers in the textile trade already planned.

The winner of 2020 London Borough of Culture is Brent, which, coinciding with Euro 2020, will see the world’s eyes fixed on the borough as Wembley Stadium is set to host seven matches including the semi-finals and final of the prestigious tournament, creating an opportunity for Brent to reshape itself as a destination for creativity and culture.

Since then, over 70,000 thousand people gathered together this month to enjoy the spectacular opening weekend of Waltham Forest: London Borough of Culture, Welcome to the Forest. Residents from across the borough and audiences from all over E Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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 London and beyond encapsulated the theme of Fellowship that the programme will be promoting throughout the year.

World premieres of three new commissions by artists Greenaway & Greenaway, Talvin Singh, Addictive TV, Marshmallow Laser Feast and Erland Cooper created the unforgettable show Welcome to the Forest. Made with the help of thousands of local children and community groups, the weekend’s events provided a platform for local residents to shine and the stories of Waltham Forest to be told.

The year-long programme will shine a light on the character and diversity of this London boroughs and demonstrate that culture is for everyone. Welcome to the Forest was just the start.

Khan said: “London Borough of Culture is a game-changer for the capital. It will give all Londoners, regardless of background, the opportunity to enjoy the capital’s fantastic cultural riches, discover places they never knew existed and will increase the level of participation in the arts across the city – especially in outer London boroughs.

“But with such high-quality bids, deciding which boroughs should win was a very difficult decision. All boroughs who have bid should feel proud of their proposals.

Huge congratulations to Waltham Forest and Brent for their superb bids. I know that both will deliver a programme of work that will benefit residents and make the whole city proud. I am particularly happy to see both bids have placed such importance on

young people. It’s vital that young people get access to culture, regardless of their background, so that they can aspire to be our performers, artists, entrepreneurs and cultural leaders of the future. All of London has two exciting Boroughs of Culture celebrations to look forward to, and I can’t

wait to see Waltham Forest and Brent’s bids come to life and improve the lives of people in their local communities.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.londonandpartners.com

London Borough of Culture Award

Conferences & Events

Sponsored by

The Mayor’s London Borough of Culture award will bring Londoners of all ages and backgrounds together. It will put culture at the heart of local communities, where it belongs. It will shine a light on the character and diversity of London’s boroughs and show culture is for everyone.

Now more than ever, the Mayor wants Londoners to get to know each other and feel part of the great city. Thanks to this new award, all Londoners will now have the chance to be part of something extraordinary.

In total, 22 boroughs submitted bids in December 2017 to be named London Borough of Culture.

In February 2018, Waltham Forest and Brent were awarded £1.35m of funding to deliver a programme of ambitious cultural activities celebrating the unique character of local people and places.

Waltham Forest will be the inaugural London Borough of Culture in 2019.

They will deliver a year of exciting cultural activity across the outer

London borough, and have an ambitious target of getting 85 per cent of households to participate, attracting half a million visits.

The winner of 2020 London Borough of Culture is Brent. The voices of young people take centre stage in Brent’s bid.

During 2020, the borough will establish a new trust for delivering culture in the area with 50 per cent of the trust’s board being both from the local community and under the age of 30. Rather than adopting a top-down approach, the borough is working with young people to explore what culture means to them in the 21st century and allowing them to directly influence the design of their London Borough of Culture programme.

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Are you cloud ready?

Moving to the cloud presents many benefits for the UK government, including increased agility and reduced cost. But, how can you implement your strategy if your team needs to acquire new skills or change the way they work? policies may need to be updated or new processes put in place to ensure good data governance. In each case, work out who needs to be on board with your plan – you need a ‘cloud champion’ in each area who has the necessary expertise and contacts to get new processes written and approved.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and their partners use a structured Cloud Adoption Framework to help you map out your journey to the cloud and to aid in identifying the key stakeholders within your organisation for this process.

Step 1: Presenting the case for business From an IT finance perspective, the move to the cloud represents a massive shift away from Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) towards Operational Expenditure (OPEX), a move that can create significant cost savings and allow for more detailed consumption-based budgeting. By directly linking consumption with specific business processes, the value of technology investments can be more clearly shown. For your pilot project, we can help with a Return on Investment (ROI) calculation or a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) comparison.

Step 2: Identifying the right people Change on this scale can be disruptive. You need stakeholders from Security, IT and the Business to define and implement new processes to ensure that your pilot project is a success. This is a great opportunity to

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upskill your existing team, we can recommend online training materials, allowing them to learn at their own pace and on the job mentoring as we help to map out the legacy processes and design the new cloud version.

Step 3: Engage proactively with issues Many of your stakeholders will have questions, concerns and uncertainties around cloud technology. Your platform or operations team may not feel they have enough expertise in-house to support a pilot cloud project. Your governance and security teams may have questions about how data transfers will be secured. It’s likely they will want confirmation that the encryption standards provided by cloud storage are at least equivalent to what their legacy data centre provides. Capture all these questions and keep in regular contact with your stakeholders as the pilot project progresses.

Step 4: Map out a plan to address each concern This may require providing operational and platform staff with additional training or even recruiting suitably experienced DevOps staff. Existing SyOps documents and

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Step 5: Document the action plan The purpose of a pilot project is to act as a trailblazer – to overcome the initial hurdles and smooth the way for future projects. Any tactical decisions to bypass governance or simplify security requirements (by only running with anonymised data for example), need to be clearly documented. Where there is a strategic solution on the way, any tactical fixes need to have a clear deadline, otherwise, you are incurring technical debt, and your proof of concept is of limited usefulness, as it wouldn’t apply to the real world.

Step 6: Measure, monitor, manage As your pilot project is deployed, ensure that you quantify the time savings, as well as just the cost savings. Additional benefits such as the capability to carry out analysis that was previously not possible on the legacy system, are harder to quantify but can be even more valuable.

Butterfly Data Butterfly Data has been providing data services to government departments since Gcloud 7 and have been involved in every stage of the project lifecycle, from proof of concept all the way through to ‘business as usual’ deployment. Our expertise in High‑performance analytics made us the natural choice for deployment of the cloud‑enabled SAS® Viya® toolset in the AWS cloud for a major government department.

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transform your data If your data and analytics teams have a challenge that you believe could be solved by harnessing the power of cloud computing, we would love to help you formulate your strategy and come up with a plan of action for your pilot project.

“I believe that AI and machine learning is probably by far the biggest opportunity for us, in terms of our ability to make data become critical information for us to do a better job of what we do today.”

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Frameworks

Digitising government services The third Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework has been designed to support the public sector in its digital transformation of services. It helps buyers find suppliers that can research, design, build, test and deliver software applications and digital services The government’s Transformation Strategy sets out how the government will harness digital technologies, skills and tools to transform public services and put the citizen first.

At the time of launching the strategy, Minister for the Cabinet Office Ben Gummer, said: “I want to see a revolution in the way we deliver public services – so that people up and down our country feel that government is at their service at every single stage in the journey.

“That is why we are publishing our Government Transformation Strategy, outlining our commitment to reshape government by ensuring millions of people are able to access online the services they need, whenever they need. We will deliver these changes while driving efficiencies wherever possible, making considerable savings for the taxpayer.

“Only by transforming the relationship between the citizen and the state – so that the latter serves the former – will we deliver the Prime Minister’s commitment to build a country that works for everyone.”

Procuring digital services To help the government achieve its digital ambitions, there are a range of framework agreements from the Crown Commercial Service, designed to make procuring digital services easier and cost effective.

The Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework and G-Cloud frameworks for

example, mean that government can buy The previous version of the framework had the right technology and services from 2,018 suppliers, with 94 per cent of them SMEs. the right suppliers at the right price. By Now the third version of the Digital making procurement clear and simple, Outcomes and Specialists framework (DOS3) they are opening up the marketplace to is live, having undergone a refreshment. suppliers of all sizes and from all parts of the country. They are creating a level The third Digital Outcomes playing field that means that all private and Specialists framework sector enterprises can be involved in helping The Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 government work better for everyone. framework has been designed to support The Digital Outcomes and the public sector in its digital Specialists framework transformation of public sector To agreement helps the services. It helps the public help th public sector to find sector to find suppliers govern e suppliers that can that can research, design, research, design, build, test and deliver achieve ment build, test and software applications ambitio its digital n deliver software and digital services. s , range o there are a applications and It is a dynamic f from th framework digital services. style framework e CCS d s Since its launch with the specific aim e t s o i g m n ake pro ed at the end of of helping the public April 2016, over sector buy, design, digital s curing ervices 1,850 opportunities build and deliver digital easier for suppliers to do outcomes using an agile business with the public approach, by procuring the sector, have been published appropriate specialist resource on the Digital Marketplace. to deliver agile software development.

Almost £280 million has been spent The framework is based on the approach through the framework since its inception, detailed in the Government Service Design with over £100 million going to small Manual and complies with the Digital by and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

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Frameworks

The framework is available for use across the public sector, including central government departments and local councils, as well as charities and the NHS design service, which is lower cost and flexible  and conditions have been designed to reflect the flexible, iterative way of an agile approach.

The framework will be awarded for an initial term of 12 months, with an option for CCS to extend the deal for a further year. Individual call-off contracts of up to two years – plus a six-month extension – can be awarded via the framework.

The framework is available for use across the public sector, including central government departments and local councils, as well as charities and the NHS. Why was the agreement developed?

This framework has been developed to create a diverse pool of specialist, agile service providers to enable government and the public sector to move traditional services to a user centric design service, which is lower cost and flexible to enable continuous development and improvement. It specifically enables and supports the government’s digital by default strategy and cloud adoption commitment.

How was the agreement developed?

Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 has been developed in collaboration with the Government Digital Service (GDS), building on the feedback received from users on Digital Services 1 and 2, and Digital Outcomes and Specialists 1 and 2.

This iteration has been re-designed by a team from CCS, GDS and GLD (Government Legal Department). The design has encompassed buyer and supplier engagement, feedback and iteration.

Contract simplification and the use of plain english have played a part in the redesign of this iteration of the framework.

What’s available?

Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 is available through the Digital Marketplace, a website which was created by the Government Digital Service in collaboration with the Crown Commercial Service to make government procurement easier, faster and more transparent. The Digital Marketplace allows buyers to find technology or people for digital projects in the public sector.

Buyers will need to run a further competition for each requirement by using the online buying tool on the Digital Marketplace.

Guidance and a list of suppliers are available on the Digital Marketplace.

Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 comprises four lots: digital outcomes, digital specialists, research studios and research participants.

Lot 1, for digital outcomes, is for teams to build and support a digital service, with the capabilities to deliver performance analysis and data, security and service development, as well as many more.

Lot 2, for digital specialists, is for individuals to deliver a defined service, programme or project. They include

data engineers, performance analysts and user researcher, among others.

Lot 3 is for user research studios, for suppliers with the facilities to carry out interviews, usability tests and focus groups. This may involve filming people as they engage with your designs, prototypes or services.

Lot 4 is for user research participants, for suppliers of user research. Participants are likely to include people who are digitally excluded, as well as those with low literacy or poor digital skills.

Main changes between DOS2 and DOS3 The existing roles available under Lot 2 of DOS2 did not cover all of the relevant digital, data and technology framework (DDAT) specialisms. The CCS has therefore added three roles under Lot 2: data architect; data engineer; and data scientist.

The deed of guarantee exists under DOS2 and DOS3 as an optional schedule. The optional status has been made more explicit in DOS3.

Regarding changes made because of the GDPR, the standard model under the framework is that the customer is the data controller, and the supplier is the data processor. For a small number of cases, both the customer and supplier may be controllers.

The CCS has provided optional material drawn from PPN2/18 to support customers in these circumstances, although they will need to define the actual relationship. E

What is a framework agreement?

A framework agreement is a type of ‘umbrella’ agreement negotiated with suppliers by CCS, on behalf of the public sector. Because so many organisations buy through these agreements the suppliers can offer competitive prices.

Each framework agreement comes with standard terms and conditions.

Where there is only one supplier on the

agreement, or if there is an option for direct award within the guidance notes for the agreement, buyers can place an order directly with the supplier.

Buyers can also run a further competition against an existing agreement through the CCS eSourcing tool or their own organisation’s sourcing tool if they have one.

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How the world works needs a little thought

And that’s what we do: intelligent infrastructure, the big important stuff. But it’s how we do it that makes the difference: client intimacy, detailed thinking, and minute analysis of big, big data.

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Products under the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 framework must comply with Digital by Default Service Standard, which provides the principles of building a good digital service, based on a set of 18 criteria. All public facing transactional services must meet the standard Complying with the Standard Products under the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 framework must comply with Digital by Default Service Standard, which provides the principles of building a good digital service, based on a set of 18 criteria.

All public facing transactional services must meet the standard. It’s used by departments and the Government Digital Service to check whether a service is good enough for public use.

Firstly the digital service must understand user needs by researching who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

The second criteria is to ensure ongoing user research and usability testing to continuously seek feedback from users to improve the service.

It must have a sustainable multidisciplinary team that can design, build and operate the service, led by a suitably skilled and senior service owner with decisionmaking responsibility.

Frameworks

 Regarding jurisdictions, DOS2 only allowed for contracts under the laws of England and Wales. There are optional clauses under DOS3 to allow for the jurisdiction to be changed to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The ordering process has been better clarified under DOS3. The CCS has made explicit that customers should provide feedback to suppliers that don’t get shortlisted at the end of shortlisting, rather than waiting until the end of the procurement.

In DOS2, Statements of Works referred to a ‘Release’ but did not define what it meant and allowed customers to come up with local definitions. In DOS3, CCS is more specific about what constitutes a ‘Release’ in order to make the framework clearer and easier to use.

Niall Quinn, director technology strategic category at CCS, said: “DOS3 enables hundreds of new suppliers to be able to provide services to the public sector and further underpins the government’s work to level the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses.

“The success of DOS2 was built on creating a Community of Practice to help share best practice to clearly define problems and we will continue to build on this with DOS3.”

Dave Draper, managing director of SME Valtech, said: “This latest version of DOS continues to provide the consistency and transparency that SMEs need to engage on a level playing field. The inclusion of data roles represents the acceptance of this critical capability in delivering joined up digital government, something Valtech is passionate about.”

The service must be built using agile and user-centred methods and must be improved on a frequent basis.

Service builders must evaluate what tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them.

Crucially, there must be an understanding of security and privacy issues. Service builders must evaluate what user data and information the digital service will be providing or storing and address the security level, legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service (consulting with experts where appropriate).

There is a requirement to make all new source code open and reusable, and publish it under appropriate licences (or provide a convincing explanation as to why this can’t be done for specific subsets of the source code). The service must use open standards and common platforms where available, including E

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Public sector frameworks can save you up to 25 per cent in more ways than one You could get more from your budget, improve quality and get a wider choice by using frameworks to procure products and services for your organisation

Is your organisation using frameworks?

If not, it’s time to start thinking about it.

Frameworks offer a single, simplified way to get hold of the products and services you need. They help public sector organisations like yours choose suppliers based on their suitability, capabilities and value.

They also give you more choice, from more suppliers, and because they’re all organised by an intermediary they’re easier to manage, too. Frameworks offer a great deal on the things you need – and you know you’ll be getting good quality. Because companies are only selected to be included in a framework if they can give you high quality products or services, at a fair price.

To put it simply, frameworks are part of a system for buying products and services with public money. And they could save your organisation up to 25 per cent compared to traditional contracted IT services.

The London ICT Framework There are hundreds of frameworks to choose from, helping your organisation to procure anything from office supplies to cloud services. But if you’re based in the capital, you might want to consider the London ICT Framework. It was formed by a partnership

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between three boroughs – Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It currently works with 24 public sector organisations, and £100m of business passes through the framework each year. The aim is to deliver the best value to London’s public sector, and it’s designed for those that want a faster, more cost-effective procurement process. But also want flexibility with OPEX and CAPEX options.

BT supplies the framework to London organisations, and it gives them a new way to procure IT services. It’s open to all 33 local authorities in the capital, as well as other public sector organisations. That includes the NHS, TfL, schools, the police and even waste authorities and social landlords.

As a result, all these organisations can now get the best value a provider with over 100 years’ experience in the field.

And getting what they need is simpler, because everything is dealt with through the framework. Organisations such as Bromley Council are already seeing the benefits.

“The pan-London ICT framework set up by Westminster City Council and delivered by BT gives us everything we need. It provides us with clear and transparent pricing and

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a more efficient and streamlined buying process, helping us to speed up the delivery of projects and save money,” says councillor Stephen Carr, leader of Bromley Council.

Join the UniCORN partnership Of course, if your organisation isn’t based in the capital there are still plenty of frameworks you can use to get better value, better services, or both. One example is the UniCORN Partnership framework, which is designed for local authorities who want to combine forces to get the very best deal for everyone. It helps organisations that have banded together get the products and services they need for less – all thanks to the benefits of scale.

The partnership helps multiple local authorities procure as one entity. There are currently more than 25 partners who can buy IT products and services more easily by working together. That means there’s no need for a tender process, so everyone saves money.

UniCORN already provides services to organisations including Central Surrey Health, East Sussex County Council and schools in Surrey. The framework sources from more than 350 major brands in the ICT sector, including BT, Cisco, EE and Microsoft. It handles managed WAN links to over 500 sites, delivers hosted telephony to more than 7,000 users and supports more than 300 agents with Cisco Cloud Contact Centres. And it’s saving its users money along the way.

“In every town we have many different functions, from council tax to rubbish collection, each with its own systems and processes,” says Steve Wragge-Morley, the previous head of business systems for Guildford Borough Council. “With UniCORN we can give our customers more joined-up services, while eliminating costly duplication.”

The combination of improved services and cost savings is also giving some councils more hope for a future that would’ve otherwise been filled with budget cuts.

“The UniCORN implementation has already seen great benefits for many residents through improved shared and joined up services across the UniCORN network,” says Bob Thomas, Mole Valley District Council’s strategic ICT manager. “This, together with significant cost savings being realised, gives me great confidence for the future.”

You might already be using frameworks in your organisation, or you might be thinking of adopting them for the first time. Either way, choosing the right one has the potential to save you money and make your more efficient. Sounds like a no-brainer. L FURTHER INFORMATION If you want to learn more about how you could save money with the UniCORN Framework, get in touch with laura.tressler@bt.com

Digital Marketplace Buyers can shop for DOS3 suppliers on the government’s Digital Marketplace website.

The Digital Marketplace was launched in 2014, as a single place for the public sector to access and buy IT commodities and services – such as site analytics and hosting services.

It has replaced the previous CloudStore and is the single store for buyers of Digital Services.

The simple design of the Digital Marketplace makes it easier for buyers to find what they need. It has been built using an agile, user-centric design approach, meaning that it can be continually adapted and improved based on users’ feedback.

The former Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said at the time of launch: “We know that the range of frameworks and stores can be confusing. That’s why the new Digital Marketplace, which makes it clearer, simpler and faster for the whole of the public sector to buy digital products and services when it needs to, is a vast improvement for both supplier and customer.

“This will ultimately lead to the delivery of better services for the public, and means that we can continue to work with a range of quality suppliers of all sizes.”

Suppliers must register for an account on the Digital Marketplace to take part in bidding. i-movo Limited, an SME based in Southwark, won a DWP contract through Digital Marketplace. The company now delivers an online voucher system to support benefit claimants who are not able to access their payments through the bank. David Tymm,

Buyers can shop for DOS3 suppliers on the government’s Digital Marketplace website, which was launched in 2014 as a single place for the public sector to access and buy IT commodities and services

CEO of i-movo said: “The process of joining and winning through the Digital Marketplace is straightforward even for niche solution providers like us. We worked in partnership with our customer to deliver a solution which supports vulnerable citizens to access government services, and which at the same time will enable us to grow our reputation and our business.”

Frameworks

 GOV.UK Verify as an option or identity assurance.

Service developers must be able to test the end-to-end service in an environment identical to that of the live version, including on all common browsers and devices, and using dummy accounts and a representative sample of users.

There must be a plan in the event of the digital service being taken temporarily offline.

The standard calls for developers to create a service which is simple to use and intuitive enough that users succeed the first time.

The user experience must be consistent with the user experience of the rest of GOV.UK including using the design patterns and style guide.

All users must be encourage to use the digital service (with assisted digital support if required) alongside an appropriate plan to phase out non-digital channels and services.

The service developer must have the tools to collect performance data and use this data to analyse the success of the service and to translate this into features and tasks for the next phase of development.

Service builders must be able to identify performance indicators for the service, including the four mandatory key performance indicators (KPIs) defined in the manual.

They must also be able to establish a benchmark for each metric and make a plan to enable improvements.

Finally, service builders must be able to report performance data on the Performance Platform and test the service from beginning to end with the minister responsible for it.

G-Cloud Another digital framework that has had a refresh is G-Cloud, which went live in July last year.

G-Cloud 10 is for use by the UK public sector to buy cloud computing services covering hosting, software and cloud support on a commodity based, pay-asyou go service. The commercial agreement will last 12 months, but the CCS has said that the duration may be extended for any period up to a maximum of twelve months from the expiry of the initial term, which is set at 1 July 2019.

Discussing the new framework agreement, which has been successful at attracting SMEs, Oliver Dowden, Minister for Implementation, said: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, delivering innovative solutions in partnership with the public sector, fuelling economic growth and supporting the delivery of efficient, effective public services that meet the needs of citizens. The success of G-Cloud demonstrates how we are breaking down the barriers for SMEs who want to supply to government.”

Writing on the Government Digital Service blog, Ben Welby and Patrick Opoosun explained back in April how GDS has made things simpler for suppliers on G-Cloud 10, and, now that it is open for business, the content is worth revisiting. G-Cloud 10 is run as a collaboration between the Government Digital Service and the Crown Commercial Service and is operated through the Digital Marketplace. E

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How O365 Optimised are you?

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Frameworks

Another digital framework that has had a refresh is G-Cloud, which went live in July last year. It is for use by the UK public sector to buy cloud computing services covering hosting, software and support  G-Cloud 10 is in response to supplier needs to refresh services and open the market up to new suppliers, but, because CCS and GDS were able to meet these needs without overhauling or radically changing G-Cloud 9, it took a minimum viable product (MVP) approach, meaning it could launch quickly and give the market what it needed.

G-Cloud 10 is an iteration of G-Cloud 9, which means existing suppliers should be familiar with it. But a few important improvements and extensions have been made. As well as cloud services, suppliers can now apply to sell cyber security services on G-Cloud 10. This includes services that are assured under these National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) schemes: Cyber Security Consultancy; Penetration Testing (CHECK); and Cyber Incident Response (CIR).

GDS has also created a new supplier section on the Digital Marketplace, which lets suppliers store essential information such as company contact details and registration information centrally. The supplier section runs across both the G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Specialists frameworks and means

About the Crown Commercial Service The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is a government agency and trading fund. It delivers services such as advice on complex procurement, commercial capability development, the creation and management of procurement frameworks and buying services for central government and public sector organisations.

suppliers no longer have to fill out information for each individual application. They can just enter the information once and use it again and again, saving time on applications.

While new suppliers should apply to G-Cloud 10 by creating a supplier account, existing suppliers on G-Cloud 9 will also need to apply, but to make things simpler for them, GDS has redesigned the process to allow them to simply copy over their G-Cloud 9 declaration and services into G-Cloud 10.

G-Cloud Lots There are three Lots to the G-Cloud 10 agreement, looking at Cloud Hosting (Lot 1), Cloud Software (Lot 2) and Cloud Support (Lot 3). Lot 1 includes cloud platform or infrastructure services that can help buyers do at least one of deploying, managing and running software and provision and use processing, storage or networking resources. Lot 2 companies must be applications that are typically accessed over a public or private network, while those included in Lot 3 must help buyers set up and maintain their cloud software or hosting services.

Visit www.gov.uk for more information. L

CCS is directly responsible for buying around £2.5 billion of goods and services for central government departments. It also manages buying frameworks that help departments and the wider public sector to purchase £12.8 billion of goods and services.

The rationale for buying common goods and services centrally is that these are commodities, where price is more important than differences in quality, and the government can achieve value for money by buying in bulk.

The CCS works with over 17,000 customer organisations in the public sector and its services are provided by more than 5,000 suppliers.

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Frameworks

The latest framework news The Crown Commercial Service provides an update on the range of CCS frameworks available, new commercial agreements being developed, its latest webinars, and events it will be attending The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) provides commercial services to the public sector, bringing policy, advice and direct buying together in a single organisation.

It aims to help both central government and the wider public sector to make savings, as well as achieve maximum value from every commercial relationship. The CCS also works to improve the quality of service delivery for common goods and services across government.

It works with over 17,000 organisations in the public sector and its services are provided by more than 5,000 suppliers.

Here is an update of the latest range of CCS frameworks available, new commercial agreements being developed, and events CCS will be attending.

Development projects A new funding framework has been developed by the Crown Commercial Service to allow construction firms, small and large, the chance to bid for work on government projects over the next seven years.

The Construction Works and Associated Services commercial agreement will assist central government and the wider public sector with projects focused on the construction, refurbishment, repair,

demolition or decommission of public The framework has been designed with buildings across the UK. flexibility in mind to service a range The framework has been designed to provide of construction and civil engineering customers and suppliers with the assurances requirements across both central required for long-term projects, and make sure government and the wider public sector. the government gets best value for money.

Prompt payment initiatives and project John Welch, CCS’s deputy director bank accounts (PBAs) have been incorporated for construction, said: “This agreement into the framework to support supply chains. will support construction and Policy like this is embedded throughout drive industry growth. to help sustain and grow the “Its lotting structure market whatever the size of A has been designed to the organisation, but is new maximise opportunities particularly useful for SMEs funding for all sizes of and specialist suppliers. framew company and that Suppliers interested includes SMEs, which in bidding for this allow c ork will o play a key role in opportunity have to firms th nstruction UK construction. register on the CCS e c hance to bid f “For example, eSourcing system. standardised Instructions on how govern or work on men payment terms to access the CCS over th t projects and other fair eSourcing system can e payment objectives be viewed along with the seven y next are embedded within tender documentation by ears the framework scope. This visiting the project webpage. agreement also facilitates the use of digitisation in construction and The new fleet portal is live promotes the use of innovative solutions The new fleet portal is now live and has via modern methods of construction.” been designed with the customer at its It is estimated that over the seven year life core, offering increased functionality of the framework, the cost of the works and a completely revised look and carried out across the country could feel. It now has better access to online be up to £30bn or less – with the quotations with an enhanced search projects led by departments functionality, as well as the ability to and the money taken filter results based on any requirements from existing and compare vehicles side by side. departmental As with the previous portal, users will still be budgets. able to access live quotes from all of the lease E

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A DEEPER TALENT POOL IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE Working across a range of Government frameworks, Experis has a proven track record of working with the public sector to deliver the talent to help organisations meet their business goals. Find out more at experis.co.uk James Cook, Public Sector specialist T: 0161 924 3946 | E: james.cook@experis.co.uk Š 2018 ManpowerGroup. All rights reserved.

Technology expense management The latest Technology Expense Management (TEM) agreement is now live for customers.

Through the agreement’s seven services, customers can reduce communications infrastructure costs and achieve savings through improved management of telecom and related technology estates.

The agreement helps to drive control, enhance estate visibility, uncover savings and deliver real business value. The previous agreement which

Frameworks

 providers on lot 1, ensuring competitive pricing and the ability to direct award along with access to a full breakdown of costs, so you can compare manufacturers, compare buy vs. lease prices and whole life costs for vehicles.

Having this increased functionality will support decision making for both operational and salary sacrificed vehicles.

The CCS provides public sector fleet buyers access to a wide range of agreements that cover the whole vehicle life cycle.

As well as offering buying or leasing vehicles via the portal, the CCS can offer fleet management solutions, converting or modifying vehicles to meet specialist requirements, and solutions such as tyres, telematics, insurance and fuel cards.

Sustainability is important and the CCS can help buyers access electric or ultra low emission vehicles and electric charging points, and reduce the use of employee vehicles for business purposes through vehicle hire and car share schemes.

Sustainability is important and the CCS can help buyers access electric or ultra low emission vehicles and electric charging points, as well as car-share schemes ended on 31 March 2018 helped customers save on average 20 per cent of overall telecom spend in year one.

Calero Software Limited, recognised in Gartner’s 2018 Market Guide for global TEM services, is the sole supplier for RM3802. As TEM

involves bringing together billing, contractual and HR data onto a database, Calero’s IT system and security of personal data has been rigorously tested and assured to ensure customers have complete peace of mind that their data is safe when using the agreement. E

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Frameworks

 The CCS is holding a webinar on this topic, which will include an introduction to technology expense management and its benefits; an overview of the TEM agreement, RM3802 and how to buy; as well as a brief demo of the supplier’s TEM portal. Visit the CCS website to register.

CCS event attendance The Crown Commercial Service will be attending many events in 2019 to share information no their framework agreements.

They will be exhibiting at EvoNorth 2019 on 27- 28 February at Emirates Old Trafford Lancashire Cricket Club. EvoNorth will bring together leaders from across the region who are responsible for shaping, building and delivering a Northern Powerhouse for people which will create employment, improved public services and economic growth.

This year’s Defence & Procurement, Research & Technology, Exportability (DPRTE) event will have Paul Tuohy, senior category lead for Buildings and Stefan Phillips, category manager for Construction, Materials and Ancillary speaking on the day in the keynote arena. Taking take place on 28 March in Farnborough International Exhibition Centre, CCS are also exhibiting on stand number 34.

Crown Commercial Services’ CEO, Simon Tse will be guest speaker at Procurex National 2019, which takes place on 30 April at NEC Birmingham. The event will

The technology landscape is fast-paced and constantly evolving. The Crown Commercial Service has a variety of technology webinars suitable for everyone, from experienced technology buyers to people new to this area of procurement bring together over 1,500 key decision makers and over 100 leading suppliers from across the country who will contribute to the ongoing delivery and strategic development of public sector procurement.

Technology webinars The technology landscape is fast-paced and constantly evolving. CCS has a variety of technology webinars suitable for everyone, from experienced tech buyers to people new to this area.

There is a webinar on Technology Products 2 taking place on 25 February and 18 March. It will show the benefits of the agreement and how to flexibly buy from it while achieving best value, including a live demonstration of the purchasing platform.

CCS is running an aggregation opportunity for IT Hardware. This will help public and third sector organisations with the purchase of IT equipment by

bringing together requirements from multiple organisations across the country, which leads to larger volumes and therefore significant discounts.

If you are interested in participating and want to find out more about the scope, process and how CCS undertakes analysis of your potential savings then see the CCS website to register for one of the webinars.

There will also be a webinar on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 framework, which has been designed to help the public sector buy, design, build and deliver digital outcomes. This webinar will explain what kind of outcomes you can buy through this agreement, and give a live demo of the online buying process on the Digital Marketplace.

Travel webinars There will be a number of webinars on how the CCS can help with travel and venue needs. E Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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The aggregation service can save buyers money by combining individual needs with others and buying goods in bulk  There is a webinar on Corporate Travel Management (CTM) which will cover an overview of the different ways you can use the agreement to meet the travel needs of your organisation. This is done through our tailored solutions. This webinar is hosted by Louise Hutchinson-Chambers, head of account management at corporate travel management.

A webinar demonstrating how public sector organisations can save time and money on travel booking services will also be taking place on 28 February. It will cover Lot 4 of the Public Sector Travel & Venue Solutions (RM6016) agreement. Lead by David Marchant from HRG Worldwide, the webinar will introduce the company, share its global network & international capability, services available, and the technology which underpins its service.

One such webinar will cover project management and full team design services. It will delve deeper into the PMFDTS framework, explaining what the next steps are in developing procurement plans and awarding projects with the most suitable supplier.

The webinar will cover best practice about pre-market engagement to get an advance

Frameworks

understanding of the market, suppliers and their offerings while also forming and strengthening relationships with those suppliers. This process can also help you refine your business cases and procurement plans. It will also cover cost models and understanding how to access and analyse the suppliers rates. The webinar will also explain how to tender, understanding how to direct award or conduct a further competition with best practice hints and tips.

There will also be a webinar giving an intro to energy trading & risk and showing how the CCS helps to achieve the best possible price for customers. It will cover the different products and risk strategies that are available for gas and power and how CCS purchases these on behalf of its customers.

There will be webinar giving an introduction to Heat Networks and Electricity Generation Assets (HELGA), which is now available as part of the CCS Utilities and Fuels provision.

It will explain the framework’s scope as well as why the CCS is using a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for HELGA. Aggregation opportunities For common goods and services, the CCS can source them and help save money through its aggregation service. It does this by combining individual organisation needs with others and buying goods in bulk, rather than an organisation buying individually. This can help public sector organisations save money.

The approach CCS takes to each aggregation may vary. The most common routes are national further competitions and eAuctions, or a combination of both.

Through aggregated demand, the CCS has helped 233 customers save a total of £60 million so far this year.

Following the success of CCS led aggregated further competitions for water, there will be a further competition for lot 1 – Water and Wastewater supply at the end of April.

This further competition is open to all public sector, non-residential premises and will allow participating customers to switch their retail supplier. The requirements of participating organisations will be combined to increase buying power to secure the best retail margin for water and wastewater services. Participating organisations will also benefit from high standard servicing from a dedicated customer service team. E

Building webinars From utilities & fuels, to construction & property and workplace solutions, the CCS has a wide range of webinars on its building frameworks and agreements.

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Mind the million-pound PFI gap Let JCM show you how!

The Government may have called end-of-life on PFI for public services and infrastructure funding, but there now remain unanswered questions as to what will replace it, and, more broadly, the future role of the private sector in public initiatives.

While these challenges are unresolved, public organisations are left dealing with a legacy of around 700 active PFI contracts, which the government estimates could cost the taxpayer in the region of £200bn in the next 20 years. If these contracts are not managed effectively, the cost to the taxpayer will be even greater. That’s why the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget statement announced the establishment of a centre of excellence for the management of health PFI contracts.

Are you 100% in control of your PFI contracts?

PFI contracts are deeply complex living documents, and if you can’t be 100% sure you have a full understanding of what your rights and obligations are and a full grasp of the payment and performance regimes within the contract, the chances are you’re haemorrhaging money.

Public organisations are losing vast sums in overpayment and undercharging by not exercising, or even understanding contractual terms. It is no exaggeration to say, if you are not fully in control of your existing PFI contracts, you may be throwing away millions of pounds.

Finance directors who are now facing increasing bills from PFI contracts have recognised that proper management of the contracts will directly contribute to their bottom line.

Our approach will put you back in control Just Contract Management (JCM) work with public organisations to assess the effectiveness of the people, processes, and the technology underpinning the management of their contracts. We have a keen focus on the use of technology, and we have a unique partnership with a world leading technology provider in health care contracts. By identifying areas of greatest risk and financial loss, and applying measures to overcome them, payments and charges can be brought back under control. Not only does this prevent the wastage of future valuable financial resources, but any new contracts can then be brought within the same stringent management regime.

Our results speak for themselves From a pilot project carried out at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), JCM estimated that the Trust could make savings in excess of £20m over a five-year period. As a result, JCM were then engaged by the Trust to assist with the management of their PFI and other contracts.

Tim Jaggard, UCLH’s Finance Director, said

The work that JCM has done for the Trust has demonstrated that by applying the right processes, people and technology to the management of complex contracts, wastage is reduced, and more assurance can be provided to show that the Trust is paying for what it has contracted. Additionally, JCM has helped us rebalance the relationship with our strategic suppliers.

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of aggregated procurements for payroll services. If enough interest is expressed by customers, the first aggregated procurement – national further competition 106 (NFC106) – is anticipated to go out to tender in April 2019 to award in July 2019.

There will be webinars on this on 26 and 27 February, visit the CCS website to register.

New frameworks and updates The Data and Application Solutions framework went live for customers on 22 February.

Frameworks

 To get involved, visit the aggregation page, download and complete the switching template and Memorandum of Understanding and return both documents to the Crown Commercial Service by 28 February.

Once signed up, CCS will keep customers informed during the process and will confirm results from the competition in early May. The CCS will be doing the same for IT hardware, such as laptops, desktops, or mobile handsets.

The CCS is also considering running a series

The agreement will help public sector organisations buy, implement, test and deliver a broad range of software solutions, as well as necessary hardware and professional services, in one procurement.

This is the first CCS framework to give customers the choice to buy cloud and on-premise software or a combination of both under one agreement.

DAS is split into five groups to make it easier to search, with 14 lots covering the following areas: enterprise applications; local government; health and social care; police and emergency services; and education.

As well as offering cloud and on-premises software or a combination of both, DAS also allows customers the choice of further competition or direct award depending on the nature of the requirement. For example, a customer could run a further competition for HR and Finance modules as well as a compatible ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) application. In addition to software licenses, the customer can also include the installation and implementation to integrate into their environment as well as ongoing support and maintenance of the software.

Alternatively, using direct award, the customer could buy a support renewal for a software product that can only be placed directly with the publisher (for example, where no alternative support routes exist or are commercially viable). This can be accessed through the catalogue hosted on our Government eMarketplace platform. E

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

Frameworks

 DAS is available to all central government departments, their arm’s length bodies, devolved administrations, the wider public sector and third sector organisations.

The CCS is currently in the process of procuring a replacement framework agreement for its existing agreements: The Supply of Electricity and Ancillary Services (RM1075) and The Supply of Natural Gas and Ancillary Services (RM1076). This agreement will look to supply the electricity and gas needs of the public sector including billing, administration, customer service and where required by the customer, ancillary Services. CCS ran joint customer engagement events to hear their views on the existing agreements and help shape the next iterations.

These frameworks will be coming soon.

The Building Materials (RM3747) framework expired on 19 February and Personal Protective Equipment (RM3763) is due to expire on 16 July. They are being replaced with Construction Products, Consumables and Materials (RM3837) which is expected go live in May 2019.

The commercial agreement will be utilised by eligible central government departments and all other UK public sector bodies, including local authorities, health, police, fire and rescue, education and devolved administrations. It is intended that this framework agreement will be the recommended vehicle for all building materials and associated services required

by UK central government departments.

The contract is for the provision of supply and delivery of materials across a range of goods within scope of building materials, including but not limited to managed services, heavy and light side building materials, plumbing and heating, electrical, timber and joinery, workshop, industrial and electric tools and paint and solvents, flooring and tiling, personal protective equipment, kitchens and bathrooms, personal protective equipment and cleaning consumables and equipment. L

Case study: Highways England Highways England has launched a new technology operations centre for its management of the Strategic Road Network, procuring through the Crown Commercial Service.

The operation and maintenance of operational technology (technology which is installed at the roadside e.g. CCTV, message signs) is an important part of Highways England’s management of the Strategic Road Network, comprising nearly 100,000 devices with an estimated replacement cost of approximately £4.8bn.

In order to realise the benefits of future strategic programmes of work, such as the Smart Motorway and Expressway programmes, Highways England needed to ensure that the operational technology it deploys is available and performs to a high standard.

The Operational Technology Strategy describes how these challenges will be addressed, in part through the development of a dedicated technology management function housed in a Technology Operations Centre (TOC). The strategy describes a new model where operational decision-making is centralised and Highways England staff take overall control of the delivery and operation of technology, directing service organisations to perform the tasks required.

The Tools for the TOC (T-TOC) procurement delivers the systems to support the TOC management function in supporting and maintaining operational technology (re-using resources and systems from other projects where appropriate) and the agile development required to enhance the systems to meet user needs.

The T-TOC requirements specified a number of functional and non-functional requirements, which will be delivered through a set of integrated commercial-offthe-shelf (COTS) applications that will be selected, configured and deployed during the development. These applications include logical grouping suchs as workflow management, network monitoring, automatic analysis and service management.

The T-TOC systems will integrate with, and monitor, a number of existing Highways England systems in order to the accurately report the status of operational technology, including traffic management devices (e.g. traffic signals, message signs), roadside telephones and CCTV. Highways England ran a competition via Lot 14 (Intelligent Transport Systems) of the CCS Traffic Management Technology 2 (TMT2) framework in 2017.

Highways England conducted pre-market engagement with suppliers on the framework, particularly domain experts who have deployed solutions with the functional scope of T-TOC in similar domains, to gain feedback on the requirements.

Five tenders were received, which shows the breadth of capability available on the framework. Mott MacDonald (and its sub-contractor Fujitsu) were commissioned by Highways England to implement a suite of software systems that will monitor and manage operational technology assets across the Strategic Road Network.

The contract has a maximum contract term of six years and an initial contract value of circa €3m.

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Advertisment Feature

Is your data at risk by switching cloud supplier?

Blackthorn GRC, as a supplier of cloud solutions for investigation case management and security incident response, lists some of the areas to consider when shifting potentially sensitive data G-Cloud 10, and its forebearers, is the realisation of the government’s ‘Cloud First Policy’ introduced in 2013. Francis Maud, the then ‘Minister for the Cabinet Office’, recognised that cloud-based infrastructure and services had the potential to deliver to government quicker, cheaper access to computing resources, whilst opening up the marketplace, increasing choice, accessibility and the opportunities for innovation. Instead of being suffocated by a complex web of supply agreements with large system integrators, public sector organisations would have the freedom to choose suppliers offering best value for money and to switch to alternative suppliers every couple of years in the ongoing search for best value, free of the constraints normally associated with internal IT operations.

Whilst the vehicles for cloud procurement, such as G-Cloud, continue to evolve making it increasingly easy to engage cloud service providers, certain challenges remain such as the complexities of migrating data from internal to cloud platforms, or between platforms where there is a change in service provider. Is the transition to cloud services totally empowering or an act that puts at risk the customer’s control, understanding and safeguarding of its own data? The data is, after all, your most important and valuable asset. Blackthorn GRC has experience of supporting customers with data migration and through-life data management. We have listed some of the areas to consider when shifting potentially sensitive data.

Understand your data It sounds obvious, but to successfully migrate data it is important to both understand and manage its composition. Start by asking the following questions: Is the ‘footprint’ appropriate? Is the data-set contiguous?

Is some or all of the data sensitive from a privacy point of view? And, is cleansing necessary to remove any duplication or erroneous content? The aim here is to identify whether all necessary data fields have been identified and/or the presence of redundant data, possibly the legacy of an old service architecture. We also want to identify gaps in coverage (w.r.t. time), possibly caused by large datasets that have been partially archived or the use of different database technologies. If the data has a protective marking its sensitivity will be apparent, if not, its safe-keeping might be implied by the type of data, its use and/or circulation.

Define the data that requires migrating and

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where possible use tools to establish a solid understanding of the totality of the data and the presence of any gaps in coverage.

Of course, if migrating from an incumbent to new service provider, the onus is on the incumbent to provide an integral data-set.

When migrating from one database architecture to another the database schemas might not share identical fields, and therefore some translation and/or mappings might be necessary to facilitate the exchange. In extreme cases, the migration might be from ‘many’ to ‘one’ database, further complicating matters. Additionally, the migration might not be direct but via an intermediary, such as an export file complying with a CSV format.

It is important to agree the ‘mechanics’ of the exchange early on, and to establish accountabilities so that the data supplier and data acquirer are clear about their spheres of responsibility. Both supplier and acquirer will have a role to play, if only to define their respective database structures, database field names and database field usage. If an intermediary export file is employed, then a file specification will be required so that both supplier and acquirer are able to determine their accountabilities in relation to data transformation and mappings when constructing the file (supplier) and consuming the file contents (acquirer).

GDPR & Validation The introduction of GDPR on 25 May 2018 has forced organisations to reconsider what information they store, how and where it’s stored, and critically how long it is retained. Where personally identifiable data is concerned, it is no longer acceptable to simply hold on to information indefinitely on the grounds that storage is far cheaper than the time and labour cost of an audit and selective culling.

GDPR impacts both data migration and through-life data management activities.

There is little value in migrating data that falls foul of GDPR such as personal data that is no longer current or necessary. Start by clearly identifying assets or asset classes and for each, note the data retention policy. This will act as a specification for data cleansing at, or before, migration but also inform through-life data management activities to ensure on an ongoing basis that only current and necessary information is retained.

Data-sets, especially those using different systems and over an extended period of time, can contain deeply rooted ambiguities and inconsistencies. Having been previously

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

dormant, these irregularities can surface especially where the data is transposed to a new system with different, often more rigorous data validation rules. Data quality rules should be established early on that define the permissible values for individual fields and any inter-field dependencies. Using the rules, tools can be quickly developed and used to parse the data for the presence of irregularities. It makes far more sense from an efficiency perspective to trap and remedy such irregularities at source rather than to discover issues post migration when the focus is very much one of getting the service up and running in the shortest time possible.

Data Snapshot Unless setting up a new service, there is likely to be a need to ensure ‘continuity of service’ and to minimise any downtime when switching between service providers.

Typically, a snapshot of the ‘live’ data is taken which defines the opening position of the new service. The snapshot will need careful choreographing to ensure it is taken when the data is stable and not in a state of flux.

Obviously, user accounts can be disabled to eliminate the changes during or after the snapshot, however system instigated changes, often running asynchronously, are not so easy to adjudge or reconcile.

When migrating data across to the new service provider, careful consideration needs to be given to the timing of updates by communicating systems, especially where that data might be in transit and cannot be temporarily delayed until the new service is up and running. Of course, the chances of the snapshotted data being successfully migrated are low unless the overall snapshot and migration process has been rigorously trialled and tested in advance of the big day.

The G-Cloud Framework Agreement recognises that data migration is nontrivial and places the onus on the supplier to facilitate migration at the end of term, however arising. As indicated above, there are many facets to data migration, and therefore it is an activity that requires good communication and cooperation between all parties in order to be successful. Blackthorn GRC’s approach is to prepare a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan whenever on-boarding Case Management clients. L FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 02081237989 sales@blackthorn.com

Frameworks

Doing business with SMEs Since 2012, almost half of public spend on digital and technology services has gone to SMEs, taking the government towards its goal of doing more business with smaller companies Almost half of public sector spend on digital, data and technology services has gone to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since 2012.

In that time, over £1.9bn has been spent with SMEs. This is the equivalent of £1.35 out of every £3 spent by government.

In the last year alone, £1.3bn has been spent through Digital Marketplace, with £602m going to SMEs. This is taking the government further towards its goal of doing more business with smaller companies.

The government has been vocal about its ambition to bring more SMEs into the public sector for nearly a decade. In 2010 Lord Young of Graffham was appointed by the then Prime Minister David Cameron as enterprise adviser, with the remit of overcoming the government’s bias against SMEs. Since then, it has set itself a target that by 2022, one third of its spend on goods and services will go to SMEs. The government wants to “level the playing-field for SMEs and support a more diverse supplier base.” It is doing this though various ways, most notably, by making the application processes simpler and making sure suppliers are paid in 30 days.

For digital suppliers, the Digital Marketplace was established to simplify the application process for accessing public sector digital contracts.

Commenting on the spend on digital services going to SMEs, Minister for Implementation Oliver Dowden said: “It’s great to see small business taking full advantage of the Digital Marketplace to help drive innovation in the public sector.

“The Digital Marketplace is enabling small businesses to work in partnership with the public sector to drive the UK’s digital transformation. Small businesses are the backbone of the British economy and this government is committed to help them prosper.”

The Contracts Finder allows suppliers to search and view opportunities across central government and the wider public sector.

What’s more, an SME advisory panel is in place, made up of 24 entrepreneurs and leading business figures with a wide range of experience. It is working Encouraging SME business with the government to ensure the To help with getting more SME suppliers government meets its aim to spend to work with the government, a campaign a third with SMEs by 2022. called Gov is Open for Business was set The panel was formed in November up. It aims to spread the message to 2016 and is looking at key strands of smaller business that the government government procurement activity. wants to do business with them.

One area it wants to address is the Emma Jones has been made a Small accessibility of frameworks for SMEs. Business Crown Representative. Her job is to Frameworks have attracted criticism act as a bridge between central government from SMEs and so the panel is looking and smaller businesses, and make further at how to improve the way they are set improvements to the government’s Public up to encourage more SME participation, Procurement Review Service, previously as well as looking to see greater use of know as Mystery Shopper. The service allows modern collective buying methods such government suppliers and potential as Dynamic Purchasing Systems. government suppliers to raise The panel is also working with concerns anonymously the Contracts Finder team The about potentially to identify improvements govern m poor public sector in the way the website e n t wants t procurement practice. works to drive greater o l e the pla The campaign has transparency of ying-fie vel small a lots of additional opportunities. l d f o help and support Much government sized en nd medium r terprise available too, spend with SMEs is and sup s through guides, though a supply chain port a m(SMEs) where webinars, case small businesses d o i verse su re studies and blogs, all sub-contract with larger pp aimed at providing top businesses. The SME panel base lier tips and inspiring small is therefore looking for businesses to bid for and ways to improve that process win government contracts. and ensure it is fair to SMEs. E

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

67

Migrate to the cloud without downtime Keeping business-critical services running while migrating to the cloud might look impossible.

But it isn’t.

WANdisco Fusion enterprise-class software de-risks migration to the cloud, even at petabyte scale.

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Frameworks

Around £500 million has been spent through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 framework since its inception, with over £198 million going to SMEs  DOS3 framework success with SMEs One framework in particular has done well for SMEs. 2,953 (ninety-four per cent) of SME suppliers were awarded a place on the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 (DOS3) framework.

The Digital Outcomes and Specialists 3 framework has been designed to support the public sector in its digital transformation of public sector services. It helps the public sector to find suppliers that can research, design, build, test and deliver software applications and digital services.

Around £500 million has been spent through the framework since its inception, with over £198 million going to SMEs. The third version of the framework will support new companies to supply government, while also giving current suppliers the opportunity to update their service offer and pricing.

Niall Quinn, director technology strategic category at CCS, said: “DOS3 enables hundreds of new suppliers to be able to provide services to the public sector and further underpins the government’s work to level the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses.

The success of DOS2 was built on creating a Community of Practice to help share best practice to clearly define problems and we will continue to build on this with DOS3.”

Case studies One example of an SME winning a public sector contract is i-movo. The company now delivers an online voucher system for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to support benefit claimants who are not able to access their payments through the bank.

The DWP’s Payment Exceptions Service (PES) is for customers unable to use standard banking products who wish to receive their benefits in cash.

The new service is available across the full PayPoint estate of 29,000 stores - which is more than all banks, Post Offices and supermarkets combined. PayPoint stores are typically open seven days a week, 12 hours a day allowing customers to claim their payments at a location and time convenient to them.

DWP, PayPoint and i-movo implemented the new system on schedule and PES became fully operational on 01 April 2018 as planned.

David Tymm, CEO of i-movo said: “The process of joining and winning through the Digital Marketplace is straightforward even for niche solution providers like us.

“We worked in partnership with our customer to deliver a solution which supports vulnerable citizens to access government services, and which at the same time will enable us to grow our reputation and our business.” E

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Sirenna Create Learning

We’re passionate about designing bespoke training solutions that improve performance by learning.

Sirenna is one of the fastest growing training companies in the UK today providing training consultancy and professional services to both public and private sector organisations no matter what your size.

We specialise in managing corporate Learning and Development departments and have proven experience encompassing every stage of operational Learning & Development; including strategy development; training needs analysis, eLearning design development and delivery, implementation support, and post-rollout performance management.

Our Mission:

To educate, inspire and develop your people, your organisation through learning and innovative training solutions that deliver results.

Sirenna offer a wealth of experience and professionalism aimed to fit all your training requirements. We are more than just a consultancy, we provide robust training solutions that are tailored to your needs and budget. Take a look to see how we can help.

Training Consultancy

Learning Management Systems

Business Communication

eLeaning Design and Development

Webpage Design

Business Change and Awareness Programmes

Design, Development and Delivery of Bespoke courses

Multimedia Design

Managed Training Services

Training Programme Management

Delivery of Standard and Customised Classroom courses

Workplace Support/ Floorwalking and Facilitation

Training Consultancy

Sirenna offers professional and comprehensive consultancy services. We look to provide robust solutions with an innovative twist by exploiting new technologies as well as using tried and tested techniques to provide the best solution for you.

Working with you we ensure that the solution in place meets your requirements and is fit for purpose. To this end, we establish a partnership early in the process to gauge an understanding not only of your requirements but of your company ethos, your working culture, and most of all how your people are integral to the solution.

Business Communication and Change Programmes

Sirenna help to implement change in your organisation by creating and supporting a change mindset through training. Change is about how your organisation as a whole is evolving and we ensure that the right messages are cascaded in the right medium at the right time.

Working closely with your change team, we will develop: A Stakeholder Engagement Plan A Communications Plan Communication Road shows Business Awareness Sessions Prerequisite course materials in a variety of media.

Cascading the message of Transformation in an organisation is crucial to keeping your people, engaged, involved and informed.

Design, Development and Delivery of Bespoke courses Sirenna use the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) to design and develop bespoke training materials.

Whether converting a course for web delivery or deploying a fully integrated E-learning environment, Sirenna takes special care to ensure the specification contains a very clear statement of: Learning objectives Target audience Content scope and structure Instructional approach, including assessment strategy Functional specifications and standards for technical delivery

Training Delivery

Sirenna have a successful record of delivering end user training courses. We provide of the shelf and customised tutor-led courses and our high calibre staff are committed to delivering excellence and motivational courses.

We deliver a solution that’s right for you and can include: End user training to groups in a classroom environment One to one training sessions Train the Trainer Self-paced study guides Road shows Auditoriums based training Webinars and remote training Refresher training

Managed Service

Sirenna have a proven track record of managing some of the largest and most complex training programmes for several large blue-chip organisations in the UK and across Europe.

Our training project managers have vast experience of managing learning and development departments, training directorates and delivering learning programmes.

The Managed Training Service proposition involves a long-term contractual commitment to our clients to provide training resources and expertise. This ensures that the training content provided is in line with the overall company strategy and business objectives.

We offer: Scheduling and administering of courses Devising a corporate course catalogue Resourcing – People and Places Training Vendor Management Print and Production Web Design Implementing Learning Management Systems

Contact us: E: info@sirenna.co.uk LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Behance #Sirenna

www.sirenna.co.uk

 Another example of an SME working with government is Topspeed.

The company specialises in the safe transportation of goods requiring special handling across the UK. In 2013, after winning a place on a CCS framework, Cheshire-based Topspeed was then appointed

by the Food Standards Agency to handle the transport of its biological samples.

Stephen Clegg, CEO of Topspeed Couriers, said: “Since becoming a CCS framework supplier, our company’s turnover jumped from £1.5 million to £4.5 million in just four years. At least 50 per cent of this growth

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Frameworks

Over the last three years, 4Net Technologies has increased its turnover by 297 per cent thanks in part to its work with a range of government departments

has come from contracts we have won through our place on the CCS frameworks.

“We’ve been able to create 60 new jobs and invest in new processes and these have meant we’ve been able to win similar public sector contracts. It’s raised our profile and reputation and we’re approached by commercial clients who consider us because we’re on the CCS frameworks.”

Gemma Forrest from the Food Standards Agency, said: “We’ve worked together with Topspeed to find the most efficient, cost effective way of delivering the services required, and that lets FSA staff focus on other areas rather than deal with courier service issues.”

Business telecommunications specialist, 4Net, has seen record growth thanks to winning a number of government contracts.

Founded in 2006, 4Net Technologies is a specialist provider of digital telecommunications services based in Manchester. They have a team of 85 members of staff and over the last three years have increased their turnover by 297 per cent thanks in part to their work with a range of government departments and wider public sector customers.

4Net bid and won a place on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Network Services framework in July 2015.

Richard Pennington, managing director, 4Net Technologies, explains: “We felt that we had something unique that we E

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Gartner says that 85% of all IT budgets are used to maintain existing and legacy software systems.

This is the essential maintenance work referred to as “keeping the lights on”.

IT is held back by: •

Inefficient, outmoded software tools and methods

•

Complex, mismatched system architectures

•

Expensive, specialised development and on-premise support staff

Inefficient. Complex. Expensive.

In an age where there is a compelling need to drive software innovation, this is a desperate problem.

To realise its potential as the key enabler for growth and change, IT must modernise.

Ebase Technology deliver Verj.io, a Cloud-based Low Code platform that combines progressive UI development, workflow processing and back-office integration.

Verj.io is used by over 30% of UK Government to accelerate the delivery of modern, integrated web apps and to drive efficiency and innovation.

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 could offer to the public sector market.

Being an SME means that we can be more agile in our approach than other, larger telecommunications providers.

“We also have much lower overheads, which means we can pass savings on to our customers, something which is a priority for government.

We found the process of completing the tender to get onto the framework much easier and straight forward than we anticipated.”

A tender was issued to provide a telephony system for Number 10, and following discussions with the department about its requirements for a bespoke, shared telephony service, 4Net successfully bid for the contract through a further competition process.

It now provides a cloud-based communications solution called Antenna, a secure and scalable system for up to 350,000 users, based on the Number 10 platform. This has been rolled out as a shared service to a number of departments including Cabinet Office, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Her Majesty’s Treasury and savings of up to 40 per cent have been achieved over the course of the contract so far.

Since the Number 10 contract, 4Net Technologies has gone on to win numerous contracts with both government departments and wider public sector organisations.

Richard comments: “We have been able to increase revenue by nearly 300 per cent since we began supplying to government, and have more than doubled our headcount. 60-70 per cent of our business now comes from public sector contracts. We have invested significantly in people who have experience in working with the public sector, enabling us to use our expertise to produce tailored solutions for our customers and position ourselves as specialists for the sector. The growth we have seen certainly proves that investment has paid off.

“Working with government, there are a lot of opportunities to build relationships and raise the profile of your business. It also provides opportunities to work on some really interesting and challenging projects to provide real value, which is very rewarding.

Once we had achieved success in our first government contract, we then got referrals on to other departments with telecommunications requirements and that has really helped us grow. I would also say that working with CCS has been a huge benefit - their team have been very supportive and open minded.” L

Frameworks

Since the Number 10 contract, 4Net Technologies has gone on to win numerous contracts with both government departments and wider public sector organisations

What is the Public Procurement Review Service?

The Public Procurement Review Service, previously the Mystery Shopper service, sits within the Cabinet Office and allows government suppliers and potential government suppliers to raise concerns anonymously about potentially poor public sector procurement practice.

The service was launched in February 2011 as part of a range of measures to build the commercial capability of contracting authorities through their adoption of good procurement policy and practice and to ensure that public procurements do not impose unnecessary barriers to small businesses when bidding for public contracts.

In 2015 the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act strengthened this service by providing a statutory basis for procurement investigations. These provisions are in Section 40 of the act and Procurement Policy Note PPN09/2015 provides more information.

The service was previously known as the Mystery Shopper service.

The name has been rebranded following feedback from suppliers and contracting authorities that the name did not reflect the role of the service. The selected name reflects what the team does and therefore should help suppliers search for the service online.

Volume 26.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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WASTE & RECYCLING

FIRE SAFETY

The bin for tight spaces Leafield Environmental is extending its Envirobin range with the launch of the Mini Classic, a new, compact sized, external litter bin that is both stylish and economical.

Standing 950mm high, with a small diameter of 456mm, the Mini Classic has a respectable capacity of 70 litres when used with a plastic liner although a galvanised steel liner is also available with a 60 lire capacity.

Rotationally moulded from resilient, corrosion resistant, UV stabilised MDPE, the Mini Classic has smooth edges and large radii to minimise dirt traps and a dimpled surface to discourage fly posting.

Available in a range of standard colours and from recycled materials, subject to availability, the bin boasts a gold or silver band of distinction around the circumference and front and rear label panels for promotional purposes.

Stylish, slim-line and compact,

the Mini Classic enjoys a similar range of options to its big brother the Heritage Classic. Ground fixing kit, ashtray, stubber plate, fire extinguisher and locked access are all available on demand.

Where space is at a premium yet litter collection is essential, at a cost of £150.00 you should consider the new Mini Classic Bin from Leafield Environmental.

FURTHER INFORMATION 01225 816541 comms@leafieldenvironmental.com www.leafieldrecycle.com

HEALTH & SAFETY

Forty-years experience of health and safety training John Green Training and Consultancy advisors have a combined experience of over 40 years, providing health and safety consultancy to construction, manufacturing and public sector companies.

All aspects of health and safety advice, documentation, implementation and training is carried out to the highest standards in line with current legislation. John Green comes highly recommended by its clients who frequently commend the company for its professionalism and knowledge.

John Green’s portfolio of services includes all aspects of health and safety from fire risk assessment to fire warden training and many more. As well as assisting companies with the development and implementation of health and safety systems, John Green also works closely with both clients and the HSE

74

to achieve the best possible outcomes and reduce major fines to the companies involved.​ John Green works with companies to improve their health and safety standards, to protect both the company and employees by putting in place and updating health and safety management systems.

Individual training can be offered to employees/employers in a number of courses either classroom based or via the company’s eLearning pages.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.johngreenhealthand safety.co.uk info@johngreenhealthand safety.co.uk

Interconnected SMART smoke and carbon monoxide detectors Landlords have a Duty of Care to protect their tenants.

The Smart Compliance IoT solution features SMART sensors with a roaming SIM card that picks up the strongest signal available on the mobile networks and sends the data to a SMART dashboard. The answer is not in the method of detection within the property, but in the way the information is collected and reliably communicated externally in real time.

The interconnected sensors within the property send test results and information on alarms, tampering, and faults with date stamped records for evidence of compliance. The data can be sent to multiple mobile devices via SMS so engineers and managers can be informed in real time.

Having researched most

common communication technologies available, Smart Compliance offers the most robust solution for their safety awareness products as the constraints of others could not guarantee a reliable end to end communication.

This is a life safety awareness system and the method of communicating the data in real time is a major consideration as connectivity failures could cost lives.

FURTHER INFORMATION info@smart-compliance.co.uk 01698 840425 www.smart-compliance.co.uk

ADVERTISERS INDEX The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service & Meetings 36 AECOM 18 Amed Consulting 48 Blackthorn GRC 66 BSRIA 26 BT Plc 52 Butterfly Projects 42, 43 Cadmidium Services 6 Caterpillar 4 Deltascheme 52 Ebase Technology 72 eLignum 54 Evac Chair International 8 Experis 56 Fujitsu OBC Futr A.I 58 Genie Access Control 29 Grange Hotels IBC Hiscox UK 34 Howell Technology Group 10 Imperial College London 40 ISS Mediclean IFC John Green Training 74

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

JTOL 60 Judge & Priestley Solicitors 64 Just Contract Management 62 LA Marketing 74 Mallatite 16 NS & I 12 Olive Jar Digital 63 Outsystems 44 Piccadilly Chambers 38 Sadler Wells Theatre 40 Scan-Optics 57 Secom Networks 30 Signz World 32 Sienna Learning 70 Smart Compliance 74 St Giles Hotels 38,41 Test Partners 64 The Social Value Portal 20 TMW Unlimited 46 UK Utility Experts 26 Walker Morris LLP 49 Wandisco 68 ZEDPods 25

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