Government Business 27.3

CYCLING

TECHNOLOGY

HOUSING

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ISSUE 27.3

Business Information for Local and Central Government REMOTE WORKING

THE NEW NORM? Remote working may continue beyond lockdown.

So what is needed to aid this change in working behaviour?

PLUS: FIRE SAFETY | MENTAL HEALTH | RECRUITMENT | WASTE MANAGEMENT

TECHNOLOGY

Comment

CYCLING

HOUSING

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ISSUE 27.3

Business Information for Local and Central Government REMOTE WORKING

THE NEW NORM? Remote working may continue beyond lockdown.

So what is needed to aid this change in working behaviour?

Cycling funding undermined by car dependence A £250 million active travel fund was announced last month as part of a £2bn package for cycling and walking for the next five years.

PLUS: FIRE SAFETY | MENTAL HEALTH | RECRUITMENT | WASTE MANAGEMENT

Local authorities have been investing in cycle paths, designated road space, making streets and town centres more accommodating for walking and streets closed to motor traffic. All of which is very encouraging and, although a shame that it took a pandemic-enforced lockdown to prompt change, much needed.

Rachel White has written a piece on the topic for the magazine, which you can read on page 12. In it she explores the government’s ‘intent that public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities’.

It is concerning then to read new research which suggests that, with the public discouraged from using public transport for social distancing reasons, a million more cars could be on roads in England and Wales each day if public transport commuters with cars switch to driving. Worryingly, it is possible that the percentage of people who drive to work will increase from 60 per cent to 70 per cent, meaning an estimated 1.06 million more cars on the road.

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Funding is always welcome and councils should be commended on the work they are doing to encourage active travel. But safety, infrastructure and, above all else, less reasons to drive must be made clear.

Michael Lyons, editor

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Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Contents

Contents Government Business 27.3 10

07 News

29 Recruitment

Social care was ill-equipped to deal with pandemic; MPs want the government to end cladding nightmare; and geographic impact of crisis will be hard to manage

Many businesses and offices have now been closed and emptied for 10 weeks. Harry Sanders writes for the Immigration Advice Service about the current governmental advice for Tier 2 and Tier 5 sponsors

10 Waste management

15

Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, writes on why we all need to celebrate and support our binmen and binwomen in their vital role as resource managers on the frontline during the coronavirus outbreak

Active travel has proved to be vital for our recovery from Covid-19. Here, Rachel White, head of Public Affairs at Sustrans, looks at the benefits that emergency measures to help pedestrians and cyclists to travel safely could have on our health and the health of our communities

15 Technology Georgina Maratheftis, of techUK, explains how tech innovation can help authorities with the most pressing problems that they and their communities face

19 Local services Anique Bravenboer, alliance manager at Yotta, explains the importance of keeping services up and running in the lockdown and beyond

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Do you know what an IDB is and do you have one managing the drainage and water levels in your area? On behalf of the ADA, Innes Thomson explains

34 Fire safety When you look at the built environment over the past 20 years, we have created many buildings that are not resilient to fire and we continue to build them. While the best approach to fire safety is not to have a fire in the first instance, it’s important that we ask the question: what sort of built environment do we want in the future? Iain Cox, chairman of the Business Sprinkler Alliance, discusses

36 Security

What impact has the lockdown had on the possibilities for more regular home-working across organisations, and what technology is needed to support this? Sascha Giese, Head Geek™, SolarWinds, explores

Professionals involved in the planning, design and ongoing management of public spaces and streetscapes must consider and address a number of factors when looking at site security and safety. Here, Mark Lester of Hörmann UK, explores the key issues and the solutions available to help mitigate against potential terrorist threats, without altering the overall landscape

26 Mental health

38 Housing

23 Remote working 26

In May, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that journeys on local roads, railways and motorways will be smoother and safer thanks to a multi-billion-pound infrastructure package

32 Drainage

12 Cycling

23

31 Road management

When this is all over, will it be said that ‘it took a pandemic to put mental health where it should be – at the front and centre of daily considerations about working lives?’ Adrian Wakeling, Senior Policy Advisor at Acas, discusses

Government Business magazine

Ken Lee, chair of the CIPFA Housing Panel, explains how Housing 360 can support local authorities in addressing and meeting local housing needs and better understanding their housing resilience

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News

SOCIAL CARE

Social care was ill-equipped to deal with pandemic Social care bosses have said that thousands of people lost their lives ‘prematurely’ because care homes lacked the PPE and financial resources to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.

The rapid discharge of thousands of NHS patients into the care system to free up hospital beds for coronavirus patients began in mid-March. It was not until 15 April that the government recommended testing before

admission to care homes, and there has been widespread criticism of the slow and chaotic rollout of the testing programme.

In a highly critical report, social care directors at ADASS argue that decisions to rapidly discharge many vulnerable patients from NHS hospitals to care homes without first testing them for the virus had ‘tragic consequences’ for residents and staff.

This was made worse by many care facilities

having a shortage of PPE or where it was impossible to isolate them safely, sometimes when they could have returned home.

According to one recent estimate, care homes could account for half of all coronavirus deaths in England by the end of June.

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MANCHESTER

Manchester using new system to check PPE stock levels Care homes and GP practices across Greater Manchester are now benefiting from a new situation reporting system to monitor PPE stock levels, staffing availability, infection rates and outbreaks.

The first-of-its-kind reporting system, which is now operating in 540 care homes, allows all ten Greater Manchester councils to share data in one place, creating a visual dashboard to show a clear picture of operational pressures during the coronavirus pandemic. Being used daily, it will enable authorities to identify early signs of instability so swift action can be taken.

The system, launched in urgent dental centres earlier this month, is also live in 445 GP Practices, 681 pharmacies. In the coming weeks, the reporting system will also be rolled out in opticians and supported living centres.

Sir Richard Leese, chair Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said:

“I continue to be incredibly proud of the response in Greater Manchester to this pandemic, from the people volunteering to support our most vulnerable, to the businesses donating much needed PPE. “The digital response has been no exception - the speed at which this new situation reporting tool is being deployed across our city-region is ground-breaking and is helping us manage this pandemic in a much more coherent and proactive way.

Working collaboratively like this allows the Partnership to effectively support local authorities when they are under significant pressures, including redistributing PPE and assisting with infection control.”

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CORONAVIRUS

Councils call for suspension of No Recourse to Public Funds Councils are urging for the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition to be suspended by government so that all vulnerable individuals are entitled to receive support during the coronavirus crisis.

The Local Government Association says that high numbers of people with NRPF – a condition government places on some individuals as a result of their immigration status, removing access to welfare benefits – have been approaching councils for support during the pandemic following, for example, loss of employment.

The LGA wants to work with government to provide greater clarity and funding for councils’ responsibilities for all

those who are destitute and homeless because of their migration status.

Furthermore, it says a suspension of the NRPF condition would enable people to access welfare benefits, which could prevent them from becoming homeless.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, councils have been given emergency funding to meet a range of cost pressures arising, including supporting people with NRPF. However, this funding will not cover the costs of preventing people with NRPF who were sleeping rough from returning to the streets. Councils also do not receive any specific funding from central government to support people with NRPF. Latest data for 2018/19 showed that 59

councils were spending £47.5 million a year on NRPF service provision, however this was before the coronavirus crisis.

Council leaders claim that greater clarity is needed from government on what additional practical support will be available to councils to help them move rough sleepers out of hotels and temporary accommodation and into housing, when the current ‘Everyone In’ policy, where all people sleeping rough are placed in emergency accommodation, comes to an end.

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Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News FIRE SAFETY

MPs want the government to end cladding nightmare that currently have dangerous cladding and other fire safety issues, including inadequate fire doors or missing fire breaks.

The £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove combustible non-ACM cladding from buildings above 18 metres is likely to only be sufficient to cover the cost of removal from a third of the 1,700 buildings needing remediation. Stringent rules on applying to the Fund, including a short application window and restrictions against social housing providers, risks leaving many unable to access vital funding.

MPs are calling on the government to make an absolute commitment to ensure that all buildings of any height with ACM cladding should be fully remediated of all fire safety defects by December 2021. Additionally, buildings with other forms of dangerous cladding should have all fire safety defects

CORONAVIRUS

RENEWABLES

Councils receive funding to support new Test and Trace service

Over a million new green jobs could be created by 2050

Local authorities across England have been allocated a share of £300 million to support the new Test and Trace service.

The government has again stressed that local authorities are central to the new NHS Test and Trace service, and each upper tier local authority has now been awarded funding to develop tailored outbreak control plans, working with the service, their local NHS and other stakeholders.

Work on local outbreak control plans has already begun, focusing on identifying and containing potential outbreaks in communal areas, such as workplaces, housing complexes, care homes and schools. Local authorities will also need to ensure testing capacity is deployed effectively to high-risk locations.

Funding has been allocated to councils based on need, with additional funding provided for communities with lower incomes and higher demand for local healthcare settings.

A new National Local Government Advisory Board has also been established to work with NHS Test and Trace. This will include sharing best practice between communities across the country.

Work to share lessons learned is being led by a group of 11 local authorities from the breadth of the UK, representing rural and urban areas, who have volunteered to help localise planning.

Council leaders have said that nearly 700,000 direct jobs could be created in England’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy by 2030, rising to more than 1.18 million by 2050.

In a new report, the Local Government Association is urging the government to work with councils to develop post coronavirus economic recovery options, including proposals for a jobs guarantee programme which can provide new opportunities, including in the low-carbon sector. The report also calls for national skills and employment schemes and funding to be devolved to councils and combined authorities so they can work with businesses and education providers to train and retrain young people and older workers so they can benefit from these new local opportunities.

The report, Local green jobs – accelerating a sustainable economic recovery’, shows that demand for green jobs will rapidly increase as the nation transitions to a net zero economy and will help to counter the unprecedented job losses due to coronavirus which are likely to increase further when furlough ends from October. This new green jobs bonanza will help the national economic recovery following the pandemic.

The report predicts that: 46 per cent of an estimated 693,628 total low-carbon jobs by 2030 will be in clean electricity generation and providing low-carbon heat for homes

READ MORE tinyurl.com/ya5f49d8

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removed by June 2022. The committee says that the government must accept that the £1 billion pledged so far will be insufficient and be prepared to meet the cost of what will be necessary to make sure buildings are safe.

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has said that the government must commit to ensure that all buildings with ACM cladding should be fully remediated of all fire safety defects.

Ahead of the third anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire there are still 2,000 high risk residential buildings with some form of dangerous cladding. The consequences for home owners have been devastating, with properties becoming unmortgageable and unsellable. Many residents continue to pay hundreds of pounds a month for waking fire watches and face bills of tens of thousands of pounds for remedial work fix fire safety issues.

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee says that government support will fall far short of what is needed to carry out remedial work on all buildings

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and businesses; 21 per cent of jobs by 2030 will be involved in installing energy efficiency products, while a further 19 per cent will be based on providing low-carbon services and producing alternative fuels.

A further 14 per cent of jobs will be directly involved in manufacturing low-emission vehicles and the associated infrastructure.

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News

CORONAVIRUS

Geographic impact of crisis will be hard to manage The Institute of Fiscal Studies has claimed that the balance between protecting public health and enabling economic activity could look very different in different parts of England.

Part of the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities, the IFS has said that there is no simple North–South or urban–rural divide in the way that the coronavirus crisis is affecting health, jobs and families across England. Areas whose residents look particularly vulnerable to the health effects are not in general the same as those likely to be hit hardest

by job losses. Areas with more children at particular risk, because they are poor or have been referred to children’s services, tend to be different again.

However, the report did suggest that coastal areas are notably vulnerable to both health and economic impacts of the crisis, partly due to the higher rate of elderly population vulnerable to the virus and the large reliance on the hospitality sector.

Furthermore, areas in the northern spine of England are more vulnerable than average to health impacts and impacts on families and children, while London’s younger

population is less vulnerable to experiencing serious symptoms from the disease.

While there are some regional patterns in vulnerability, in many cases neighbouring local authorities look set to have very different experiences of the crisis. For example, Nottinghamshire has very different exposure from that of neighbouring Leicestershire on all three dimensions of vulnerability.

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HIGH STREETS

CONGESTION

New support for reopening and recovery of high streets

Public transport switch could block up roads

A package of support has been announced to help high streets to get back on their feet, as shops begin reopening.

The High Streets Task Force will provide access to cutting-edge tools, training, information and advice for high streets across England as part of the government’s efforts to get shops back in business safely.

This support is open to local councils and all organisations involved with high streets and will include free access to online training programmes, webinars, data and intelligence on topics including recovery planning and coordination, public space and place marketing.

High Streets Minister Simon Clarke said: “The re-opening of our high streets will be

a crucial part of kick-starting our economic recovery and restarting town life. Combined with our £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, the work of the Task Force will support our high streets through this challenging time and ensure they have the tools they need to get back on their feet.”

The announcement follows the opening of the government’s £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund which will support local councils to safely reopen their high streets and other commercial areas.

Shops were allowed to reopen on 15 June.

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AIR QUALITY

Inquiry launched into air quality post-pandemic The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee has launched an inquiry into air quality and whether the coronavirus pandemic can act as a catalyst for change.

The committee will look at whether the government’s 2019 Clean Air Strategy and the Environment Bill will deliver the national leadership needed to tackle the UK’s poor air quality, especially given that the message to not use public transport could lead to more cars on the road.

In 2018, four Select Committees including EFRA made a number of recommendations to government in its Improving Air Quality report. Since then, emerging research has

suggested poor air quality may be linked to higher death and infection rates from coronavirus. Poor air quality has also been shown to disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities; costing the UK £20 billion and 40,000 lives per year.

The committee will also address the delay in the rollout of Clean Air Zones (CAZs) as a result of the pandemic and some towns and cities’ plans to enable people to walk and cycle as the lockdown is eased.

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New research has warned that a million more cars could be on roads in England and Wales each day if public transport commuters with cars switch to driving.

Current government guidelines suggest that the public should continue avoiding the use of buses, trams and trains, and instead to walk and cycle, or drive if necessary. Some estimates suggest that public transport capacity will be cut to a sixth or less of its former rate to accommodate physical distancing measures.

Rachel Aldred, a professor of transport at Westminster University’s active travel academy, says that her research shows that unless local authorities make it significantly easier and more pleasant to cycle to work safely, the percentage of people who drive to work will increase from 60 per cent to 70 per cent, meaning an estimated 1.06 million more cars on the road.

Concerning active travel, the analysis also found that with rapid changes to road layouts and new policies to make walking and cycling safer and more attractive, up to half of all public transport journeys – those of 10km (6.2 miles) or less – could be made by bike or on foot, resulting in up to two million more active journeys than before the pandemic.

The government recently announced that cyclists will have safer journeys thanks to new laws coming into force from 22 June.

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Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Wasre management

Minimising waste to demonstrate our gratitude Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, writes on why we all need to celebrate and support our binmen and binwomen in their vital role as resource managers on the frontline during the coronavirus outbreak Before the coronavirus pandemic, waste staff deserve just as much applause as for many people was largely out of sight other key workers such as bus drivers, and out of mind. The people emptying police and supermarket staff for keeping our bins are typically as invisible to the on working during the crisis. public as the waste and recycling itself.

The term binman does not come close Now our binmen and binwomen – and to doing justice to what the job is really everyone else who handles all our waste about, especially now that we have all fully and recycling – are getting some longembraced a more resource-focused overdue praise and recognition approach to our waste which for the vital work they do favours reuse and recycling keeping our nation going. over landfill. Like farmers Every Notwithstanding our and fishermen, refuse e m heroic doctors, nurses collectors are skilled workin ployee g and careworkers, resource managers, i n r a e nd stree cycling I would argue out in all weathers battlin t collection that bin collection harvesting materials

g of a mo against the rs is We all nuntain of wasisk te. ee we can d to do what to fl that tooatten

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for the growing circular supply chain which feeds the national and global economy.

Waste collections and the staff who carry them out are going through serious changes and challenges on our behalf.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, it’s important that we all do everything we can to manage waste, so we don’t make the current crisis any worse.

As little waste as possible Clapping is great for morale, but by far the most valuable thing anyone can do to show their appreciation and help the refuse collectors on the frontline is to produce as little waste as possible.

Waste management

Most recycling and other waste collection services across Scotland and the rest of the UK have been affected in some way.

This has been necessary to deal with the impact of staff shortages through sickness while prioritising and protecting the health of workers and public alike in line with government guidance on implementing social isolation measures.

Waste poses a serious health risk in normal times if it is allowed to pile up, as councils and waste management firms will know all too well. To help mitigate these risks Zero Waste Scotland – along with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Scottish Government – has launched a campaign to let householders across Scotland know about changes to their waste collections so they can manage and dispose of their waste as safely as possible.

Much of this campaign builds on our existing work with local authorities, helping them to provide the simplest, most effective recycling services. We are giving householders practical advice on how they can reduce their waste during the lockdown, including simple tips on planning meals and making better use of storage to reduce food waste.

Clapping is great for morale, but by far the most valuable thing anyone can do to show their appreciation and help the refuse collectors on the frontline is to produce as little waste as possible Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in flytipping around the country north and south of the border that is likely to have been caused by the rise in DIY projects and clearouts. The advice to anyone with unwanted goods is to store them safely at home or in the garden.

Our campaign has also urged people to be wary of fraudsters posing as legitimate waste disposal businesses. People should not to be taken in by cheap deals – services that sound too good to be true often are.

The public is also being urged not to leave unwanted clothes outside charity shops while they are closed during lockdown as these donations may be damaged by bad weather which means they can’t be resold, and charities often have to pay to get rid of them.

Easing pressure on services The more people we reach with the current public health message on waste, the more we can ease the pressure on staff and services to manage the pandemic and recover as quickly as possible. Like the curve in cases of the disease itself which NHS workers on the frontline in healthcare are working so hard to flatten, every employee working in recycling and street collections is battling against the risk of a mountain of waste. We all need to do what we can to flatten that too.

We will get through this by continuing to work together to deal with the challenges and changes that coronavirus brings. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.zerowastescotland.org.uk

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Cycling

Covid-19: Conquering crisis through re-allocating space Active travel has proved to be vital for our recovery from Covid-19. Here, Rachel White, head of Public Affairs at Sustrans, looks at the benefits that emergency measures to help pedestrians and cyclists to travel safely could have on our health and the health of our communities The government recently announced a Why a rise in walking and £250 million emergency active travel fund cycling is needed as part of a wider package of £2 Public transport is vital but billion for cycling and walking in many areas will only for the next five years. be able to operate Getting The emergency fund is at 10-20 per cent about b y designed to be spent capacity whilst f o cycle is o immediately by local maintaining social a low c t or arbon form of authorities in England on distancing. Even pop-up cycle lanes, the if a fraction of doesn’t travel and c widening of pavements, those journeys, o n tribute poor ai closing some streets usually done by t o r q u ality. An makes to motor traffic, and public transport, d it our tow cycling and bus corridors. were done by c n i s ties mo This is to aid social car instead, we re livea and b distancing of two metres would see grid-lock. l e p laces as lockdown measures And this is begin to be lifted and there is why despite the more pressure on our streets to devastation of Covid-19, accommodate greater numbers of people.

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the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps’ statement that this is ‘a once in a generation opportunity to deliver a lasting transformative change in how we make short journeys in our towns and cities’ is not fanciful hyperbole but a statement of intent which we hope will be reciprocated by local authorities up and down the country.

Active travel has proved to be vital for our recovery from Covid-19 We started to see a change in the language used by government in support of cycling and walking with the release of the Decarbonising Transport: Setting the challenge paper which came out before the true impact of Covid-19 was realised. The paper states the intent that public transport and active travel will be the

Cycling

New powers for councils to keep cyclists safe Cycling Minister Chris HeatonHarris has announced that cyclists will have safer journeys thanks to new laws coming into force from 22 June.

We are now seeing examples of road space reallocation in countries all over the world and increasingly in the UK, to make more space for walking and cycling in response to Covid-19 natural first choice for our daily activities. This was in the context of tackling the climate crisis and meeting our zero- carbon 2050 targets.

Now we are seeing cycling and walking as a key way to keep us safe and socially distance as we return to work, or take exercise. And that is the crux of why re-allocating road space to cycling and walking is the key thing our towns and cities need to do, not just in the short-term to prevent the spread of Covid-19 but in the medium to long-term.

Increasing cycling and walking increases our resilience to all diseases by upping our daily physical activity and improving our health. This lowers the baseline burden on our NHS and local health services. Getting about by foot or cycle is a low carbon form of travel and doesn’t contribute to poor air quality. And it makes our towns and cities more liveable places that people want for their homes and for work. For example, a study from Systra found that being in proximity to a high quality cycle lane can increase house prices by up to 50 per cent.

We are now seeing examples of road space reallocation in countries all over the world and increasingly in the UK, to make more space for walking and cycling in response to Covid-19. Liverpool is spending £2 million on 100km of temporary pop-up cycle lanes and pavement widening whilst Bristol is closing streets to through traffic to open them up to walking and cycling.

The potential for long-term change What will make the difference between a temporary change and creating a long-term shift to walking and cycling will be to make as many of these street changes as possible permanent. The best way to do this is to look to cycling and walking plans your council may already have in place and see where these can be rolled out early in response to Covid-19. Thereby creating space for social distancing now but tackling wider health, climate and air quality issues in the long-run.

Local authorities in England will have new powers to use CCTV to issue penalty charge notices to drivers who park or load illegally in mandatory cycle lanes, putting cyclists at risk of a serious accident.

With approved camera devices, it will be easier for those local authorities with civil parking enforcement powers to take action against cars illegally parked on mandatory cycle lanes, allowing cyclists to complete their journeys without deviating from their path.

The announcement comes as part of Bike Week (6-14 June), which will see a range of organisations – led by Cycling UK – encourage everyone to get pedalling to boost their fitness and protect the environment.

Heaton-Harris said: “Across the country there has been a surge in the number of people dusting off their old bike from the back of the shed and cycling, or taking journeys on foot, to get from A to B. Giving local authorities more powers to stop cycle lanes from becoming blocked will make it safer for cyclists. These new measures also build on our recent £2 billion investment to create a green, healthier legacy and see more people travelling by bicycle or on foot.” https://bit.ly/2XOSCwA

Now is the time to transform plans into action at all levels of government to secure the health of people, places and the planet.

If local authorities are putting emergency street space re-allocation measures in place and want to see feedback from residents, please get in contact with Sustrans and we can put the measure on our website at Space to Move where people can give their feedback on the changes. We hope this will give more local authorities the confidence to make many measures permanent.

One thing is clear: we must not solve one crisis by perpetuating others. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.sustrans.org.uk/space-to-move/

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Advertisement Feature Written by Jonathan Bradley, Engagement Specialist and Head of Practice Development, Bang the Table (UK)

Not another Zoom Welcome to the new normal of public consultation (other platforms are available)!

So it seems the Covid-19 crisis is here to stay, in some shape or another. And now that many of us are starting to come out of the initial shock and morbid amazement we are starting to think about ‘getting on with it’ and carrying on as best we can. The conversation is switching from lockdown to exit strategy and taking small steps back to normality Public consultation and community engagement is going to be an integral part of this ‘getting back to normal’ daily life, playing its part in planning decisions, housing developments, infrastructure projects, local government statutory consultation and changes to health and social care services.

So as a profession, therefore, now is the time that we too must think about the new normal and what it looks like for us.

Already, some of this is becoming clear and specifically the fast transition by many people from face-to-face participation to online techniques - especially Zoom.

But, first things first! Zoom is not best practice online patient and public involvement just like relying only on doing public meetings has never been the best way to do good public consultation! It is just one method in our toolkit. Early adopters and seasoned practitioners of online methods of participation already know this and they are in demand. Many others are scrambling to find alternatives to how they used to do things and are just jumping on a video conference as a sticking plaster.

As it happens, a range of things like public exhibitions, planning charrettes, community roadshows, focus groups, stakeholder workshops, public meetings, surveys, discovery interviews, citizens’ assemblies, citizens’ juries, Samoan circles (what? I hear you shout), stakeholder workshops, world cafe events and there’s more can all be done online. So now is the time to get clever when it comes to patient and public participation and online dialogue methods What kinds of things will people want to talk about?

Before diving into how though, we should

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stop to think about what. The world has just gone through an almost literal sci-fi movie experience. People are shocked, worried and uncertain about the future. It is going to be quite difficult to jump right in and expect them to share their views and opinions on changes to local library services, for example.

First of all, local government is going to need to start having conversations about coming out of the Corona Crisis, reflecting on what it has meant for local people and going through a hyperlocal catharsis (most probably online). Some have started doing this already like Chester and Cheshire West Council’s Inspire Now online project and there are many other examples like this from around the world. After this it will need to be back to business as usual, asking people to comment on plans for town centres, changes to local health services, planning applications for new housing, and their views on major infrastructure projects in the pipeline. Now is the time to think about how this will happen?

How will these conversations take place?

Thankfully, before Covid-19 many organisations had already begun to take a digital first approach to public consultation.

So we already have lots of examples and case studies to draw from. What do they tell us? Well they tell us that good online public consultation is much much more than a Zoom meeting (other platforms are available). They tell us that good online public consultation does two things It provides a range of methods to take part, like online discussion forums, storytelling, mapping tools, question and answer tools, graffiti walls, blogs, opinion polls as well as online surveys

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It offers a suite of information and support, like document libraries, video, podcasts, details of who is listening, key dates, FAQs and lots more. So that people can give proposals intelligent consideration.

As we transition to the new normal best practice and public expectations will dictate that local government offers these types of ‘safe places for online dialogue’ and not just a mediocre replication of a shouty public meeting in the form of an online webinar. We’ve already been campaigning for #NotAnotherSurvey to beat consultation fatigue, well soon we may be talking about #NotAnotherZoom!

Will this last forever?

You’ve probably been talking to friends and relatives about their lockdown experience and I bet many of them have enjoyed some aspects of it. We’ve all learned that we can socialise online and we can have work meetings online. Many people previously reluctant to take these steps are now rich advocates of online working and hanging out online.

Well, public consultation will not be immune to this change in mindset. People will be asking some searching questions of any local authorities who try to go back to the old ways. They will be demanding that more public consultation takes place online, digital first, and they will be their own experts in what works and what doesn’t.

So this will probably last forever to a great extent. Yes, we will meet again, but probably when we really need to and in second place to online consultation techniques.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.bangthetable.com

Technology

Digital is now clearly front and centre for councils Georgina Maratheftis, of techUK, explains how tech innovation can help authorities with the most pressing problems that they and their communities face The Covid-19 crisis has been a catalyst of digital change for many local authorities.

From increases in remote working to virtual committee meetings to how services are being delivered, councils are working digitally. Technology is the easy part. Transformation and innovation itself, however, is an ongoing process and in this piece we outline some of the steps councils can take to make it sustainable.

a council-wide organisational strategy. People and agencies need to feel confident and empowered to break down silos and innovate.

While all councils’ adoption of digital has moved at pace during the crisis, those councils that already had strong leadership, strong existing digital infrastructure and agility were able to respond swiftly. This was highlighted in techUK’s communities and public Leadership services post-covid Culture and leadership webinar where Paul We exp are key to creating Brewer, Director how tru lored the environment to for Digital and enable successful Resources at council ly digital transformation.

Adur and more c s will be o Councils must Worthing n n ected a integra understand the digital Councils, n t d e d and com , with citize components within described how ns munitie their organisation at they utilised t s he drive the executive level existing digital rs of th being so that the leadership platforms to o s e c hanges can recognise how understand public services can be demand and transformed. Digital is no design a service longer just the responsibility within 48 hours to of IT – it is everyone’s. The vision manage referrals across needs to come from the top and any voluntary organisations, ensuring digital strategy needs to sit alongside much needed community support.

Challenge-led innovation When embarking on any transformation, councils should start with the problem they are trying to solve and the outcome they want to achieve. This means focused on what the users need rather than what products/solutions are available.

One of the essential ways to achieve this is by bringing local public services and the tech industry together early in the procurement system to interrogate what the challenge is, understand the art of the possible, and validate ideas.

From the GovTech Catalyst Challenge to TechForce19, we are seeing the growth of challenge innovation funds which is encouraging and provides a useful vehicle for SMEs and new entrants to also access the market.

Place-based innovation Transformation and innovation done well targets specific problems in specific localities and improve the lives of people and their communities. Local government must empower people and take a placebased approach to digital projects. The current crisis has illustrated the importance of collaboration at the local level and marked a firm shift to place-based E Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Getting to this vision is no easy feat but the crisis has shown that the leadership and capability is there. Data is at the heart of decision-making and helping tackle cross-cutting challenges. As we move forward, we must continue the engagement between industry and local government organisations and bring together all these ingredients to drive meaningful transformation for citizens and our communities. As we look to what the future of digital local public services look like, we urge you to get in touch to share what you think this could look like. There’s never been a more important time to collaborate. L

Technology

When embarking on any transformation, councils should start with the problem they are trying to solve and the outcome they want to achieve. This means focused on what the users need rather than what products/solutions are available

FURTHER INFORMATION www.techuk.org

Councils lacking a consistent view of cyber security New government research has found inconsistencies across local authorities in England as to what cyber security is as well as its threat to their organisations.

 working where departments and agencies are all looking at digital responses to specific local challenges.

Place-based approaches are not new.

With local public services continuing to face financial constraints and rising demand, there is recognition that challenges are increasingly interlinked and cannot be faced by individual service providers.

An excellent example of this is Wigan’s award-winning ‘The Deal’, an informal agreement between the council and everyone who lives or works in Wigan to work together to create a better borough.

It aims to use technology to facilitate the delivery of integrated services with communities at the heart of service delivery.

Elsewhere, in Greater Manchester, a brand new ‘early warning’ system for its care homes has been drawn up in the space of a week. This has seen the region’s ten councils share a dashboard of information on which homes are

reporting problems, so that other parts of the system can step in to help.

Microsoft has been working with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to develop a mobile application to support Community Hubs providing services to vulnerable people. There are many more examples of this, illustrated with the numbers of offers from the tech industry in response to techUK’s Covid19 local government repository.

Council of the future We have seen how quickly councils can digitise during the pandemic. Councils and industry, together, should look at what has been done well and take these learnings forward. In techUK’s Council of the Future: a digital guide for Councillors, we explored how truly digital councils will be more connected and integrated, with citizens and communities being the drivers of those changes.

Having interviewed 163 local authorities across England on ransomware, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government report sought to identify how central government can reduce risk and optimise spending in support of, and collaboration with, local authorities.

However, responding authorities had difficulty providing uniform definitions of what constitutes a breach, despite 37 attempted breaches of UK local authorities occurring every minute.

Although the National Cyber Security Strategy includes information management as part of its cyber security definition, stakeholders quoted in the research felt that information management is separate to cyber security, whilst also expressing the view that cyber security and risk related solely to penetration testing, defending against hackers and defending against virus threats.

The report says that this forms an ‘incomplete perspective’ as it excludes cyber risk extending to the systems, the data kept in the systems, the hardware used to access the systems and the services provided.

Cyber security was also viewed by the majority as a technical issue, rather than a business responsibility. https://bit.ly/2XODgIn

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

Office Depot: The everyday expert in workplace solutions Office Depot have always been an expert in workplace solutions. But these days, we’re far more than just paper and pens - we will provide smart solutions that take care of your business needs

approval limits. We can also work with you to simplify your life, for example, identifying opportunities to consolidate your orders, whether that be improving the efficiency of existing orders or the consolidation of suppliers. With the breadth of our service and product range we will be able to help you reduce the complexity of supply, reducing admin, reducing costs and reducing transportation impacts on the planet – one supplier, one invoice, one delivery.

Office Depot, we can help you navigate the new normal As restrictions lift Office Depot can help your organisation navigate the new normal.

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print and marketing solutions; cleaning, hygiene and catering solutions; furniture, interiors and signage. We also provide training in everything from leadership and management skills, HGV and forklift licences to health and safety and first aid.

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This passion has fuelled our work, our thinking and our people for decades and still excites us today. We’ve always been an expert in workplace solutions. But these days, we’re far more than just paper and pens. We have transformed and evolved to meet the changing needs of our customers and we are now proud to call ourselves a total business solutions provider.

We can personalise our offering to your needs Our experience working with governmental bodies gives us a real insight into the products and services needed for the challenges that you face. That said, we get that you are unique and we can tailor our products and solutions to meet your needs, whether that be your own personalised catalogues and product listings to bespoke reporting, we will partner with you to develop a proposition that works for you.

Through our bespoke reporting, your account manager can work with you to identify and monitor areas of potential improvement on your indirect purchasing, for example reducing low value orders, looking for green product switch alternatives, or rationalising similar products into a smaller inventory.

You can buy from us with confidence Our scale means that you can buy from us with confidence. Our extensive distribution network ensures that the majority of mail order products are available on the next day. We also provide a 30-day money back guarantee returns/collections service, giving you piece of mind and letting you get on with the thousands of other task you need to get done.

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Racheal Cropper Tel: +44 (0) 161 301 8480 Email: racheal.cropper@officedepot.eu www.whyofficedepot.co.uk

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

Talk to us We’ve changed the shape of what an office supplies partner looks like - but this is just the beginning. To find out more about how Office Depot can help you just contact us today…L FURTHER INFORMATION

Local services

Providing a roadmap for local authorities Anique Bravenboer, alliance manager at Yotta, explains the importance of keeping services up and running in the lockdown and beyond In many different countries, people take a high standard of public services for granted. Tidy streets and well-kept parks and gardens are a common sight in countries all over the world. No one looks twice when walking past an empty, clean litter bin in the street.

People tend to forget the importance of, and the urgent need for, local services. Often, they see these services as a public right, something that they have become accustomed to paying for through taxes. In many countries the streetlights, highways and local waste collection services are regarded as part of a duty of care that the local authority has towards its residents. In short, the public often just assume that council services are there today and always be.

For the first time in decades the advent of the coronavirus pandemic called the ongoing resilience and continuity of these services into question. Very few could have predicted the virulence and the reach of the global Covid-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the year, any risk projection model that predicted that large swathes

of the world’s population would be in lockdown within months would have been seen as fanciful in the extreme.

usual: service levels that were the same or similar to what residents were used to.

This was and will continue to be a big ask. The public is often the Business continuity harshest critic of local The truth is councils have faced authority departments. unprecedented challenges Residents are likely For the in continuing to deliver to voice their fi rst time in services to their strong opinion communities during the when anything the adv decades coronavirus crisis. Local in the public corona ent of the virus pa authorities quickly space fails ndemic called t came to realise that to reach resilienc he ongoing to ensure business the high e and c continuity at a time standards of thes when some staff would they expect. e servicontinuity need to be working at For councils, questio es into home and others might the big n be ill or self-isolating, question all they needed to be able through this to efficiently manage their crisis has been: how operational resources. That would can levels of resilience be a key pre-requisite to ensuring network and business continuity be resilience and keeping services up and guaranteed in public services during these running during the pandemic. To keep the unprecedented times and what will the public on-side and engaged, however, approach taken bring to our society after it was important to deliver business as the virus has gone? E Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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The marriage between human workforce and technology has been tried, tested and is working in local authorities all over the world and we expect its use to grow during lockdown and beyond

Local services

 Gauging the operational challenge The greatest challenge to standard operational practice for councils arguably came right at the very start of lockdown.

The back-office workforce was sent home to continue operations from dining rooms, studies and reception areas while operational teams remained out in the field.

In this context, every aspect of council’s environmental, highways and infrastructure management services have come under pressure and have been challenging to deliver.

Whether it is the pressure of increased volumes of household waste, due to the need for residents to stay at home, or the impact that lockdown has had on chargeable services like bulky or garden waste collections, and on commercial collections generally, working out how these can be re-configured to continue efficiently and safely has been a major challenge.

Other environmental services have also been impacted, with the impact of lockdown seeing changing priorities for street cleansing services and a shift in immediate focus from cyclical activity that was usually driven e.g. by high footfall towards more reactive activity such as emptying dog bins and dealing with fly tipping.

With traffic levels a small fraction of what they are in more normal times, some councils have taken advantage of the quieter roads to fill in potholes and undertake general maintenance. Activities such as disinfection, including of handrails, bins and even vehicle interiors have had a much higher priority in lockdown and will continue to do so as we come out of it in due course. Councils are likely to also prioritise understanding the location and condition of a wider range of assets across the public realm to ensure they are in the right place and the right condition.

That’s where technology and more specifically connected asset management can have a key role to play, effectively providing a system that can manage for the council’s teams. It connects to assets located in public spaces, informs operational staff what needs taking care of where and when, and notifies them of every ad-hoc report made by the public.

Connected asset management helps local authorities to monitor not only the quality of inspections that take place, but also ensures that operations are on top of the weekly maintenance schedules that are in place, in all asset categories managed by the local authority or their contractors.

The quality measurements councils need to achieve can be predefined, alerts put in place to effectively automate responses to incidents and escalations and best practice health and safety procedures can be notified and taught to staff.

Ultimately, this marriage of human workforce and technology has been key in keeping hard-pressed council services up and running during the pandemic. It has been tried, tested and is working in local authorities all over the world and we expect its use to grow during lockdown and beyond. L

The local government viewpoint Councils across the country are leading local efforts to support communities through the coronavirus crisis and keep day-to-day services running. This has led to significant unforeseen demands and costs caused by the pandemic – to protect the vulnerable such as older, disabled and homeless people - and in order to continue to keep normal services running, such as bin collections.

This is at the same time as councils have seen a large and immediate hit to their income. Many councils use income from fees and charges to fund a range of services, such as leisure and planning services, many of these services are scaled back or closed so income has dried up yet most costs including payment of staff continue to be incurred.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, is calling on the government to provide a cast-iron public commitment that it will provide additional funding to fully meet extra costs to councils and compensate for lost income.

Before the coronavirus crisis hit, councils had to identify another round of savings needed to balance

their books from April. As they rightly focus on providing vital services, the LGA said it is increasingly unlikely that councils will be able meet these savings this year. Without this urgent government funding guarantee, some councils may be subject to Section 114 reports in the next few weeks.

This would lead to spending blocks by councils and in-year cuts to the vital local services that are supporting communities through this crisis and the national effort to beat this deadly disease.

The £1.6 billion provided by the government in April helped ease some of the pressure on local services during the coronavirus crisis. Equally, the government’s decision to also allow councils to postpone business rates payments to central government and its move to pay care grants up front will help councils with some of their immediate cash-flow pressures.

However, the LGA said it is increasingly clear that further funding is needed to meet all pressures, income losses and expectations placed on councils by various government departments in connection to Covid-19.

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

The Widest Range of Weapon-Mounted Lights Switches It Up Streamlight upgrade popular TLR models to now offer 1,000 lumens and introduces rear switch options, high and low Streamlight® Inc., a leading provider of high-performance lighting devices, offer a range of high-quality products built with precision and performance especially for law enforcement, fire & rescue and the military.

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Their understanding that for law enforcement and military applications it is vital to have clear vision, not only for what is in front of you but also what may be lurking in dark corners and along the peripheries, is why Streamlight have consistently developed bright lights that cast wide beams to illuminate entire areas.

1,000 Lumens of Blinding White Light The output of four of the Streamlight TLR® high lumen (HL) gun-mounted lights, including the TLR-1 HL®; the TLR-2 HL®; the TLR-2 HL® G, and the TLR-1 HPL® has been improved. Each of these rugged, yet compact and lightweight TLR® models now deliver 1,000 lumens of blinding white light.

Streamlight President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Sharrah, explains “The TLR-1 HL®, TLR-2 HL® and TLR-2 HL® G are designed to provide full situational awareness, offering a wide beam pattern that is similar to a floodlight for a variety of tactical maneuvers such as clearing a dark room, searching alleys, or other outdoor uses. The high performance TLR-1 HPL® also functions as a high lumen light, while delivering a brighter hotspot which puts more light on a target at a distance.”

In addition to their enhanced lumen capability, the TLR-1 HL®, TLR-2 HL®, and TLR-2 HL® G also now offer a 283-metre beam distance, while the TLR-1 HPL® provides a 490-metre beam distance. The TLR-2 HL® also is equipped

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with a 640-660 nanometre integrated red aiming laser for long-range targeting, while the TLR-2 HL® G features a 510-530 nanometre green aiming laser to improve focusing on targets, particularly in daylight.

The upgraded lights feature the latest in LED technology, including a shock-proof highpower LED and have strobing capability, offering the added benefit of being able to signal in the field or disorient targets. The enhanced TLR models can be quickly and safely attached to most weapons, without the need for users to put their hands in front of the muzzle. They mount directly to all MIL-STD-1913 (Picatinny) rails and handguns with Glock-style rails, offering highly accurate sight repeatability when remounting.

Two Rear Switch Position Options In addition to increasing the brightness of popular TLR models, Streamlight have introduced rear switch options, high and low. The new exceptionally lightweight and compact TLR-7® A rail-mounted weapon light features ambidextrous on/off rear switches with low and high positions to suit user preference, and a rail clamp that attaches and detaches easily from the side of compact and full frame weapons.

Like the original TLR-7®, it is designed to maximise visibility and targeting capability in a variety of tactical applications. Featuring a powerful LED that delivers 500 lumens over a beam distance of 140 metres, it offers two lighting modes, LED only or LED strobe, each with a run time of 1.5 hours. Securely fitting to a broad range of weapons, the TLR-® 7 A also includes a safe off feature, locking it so it cannot be turned on accidentally.

Laser Features Complementary to the TLR-7® A qualities and ergonomic rear switch options, Streamlight have added two rail-mounted tactical lights, the TLR-8® A and the TLR-8® A G to the line of weapon-mounted lights. Both lights deliver 500 lumens and feature a rail clamp that attaches and detaches easily from the side of a broad array of compact and full frame weapons.

The TLR-8® A offers a 640-660nm red laser to maximise visibility and long-range targeting capability, while the TLR-8® A G features a 510-520nm “Eye Safe” green laser to improve users’ ability to focus on targets during daylight hours. Both lights can be deployed in Laser-Only mode to keep the gun on target and in LEDOnly mode to provide bright, focused light, or in dual mode, which uses both light sources. The run time for both lights is 1.5 hours in LED-Only, LED and Laser, and strobe modes. In Laser-Only mode, the TLR-8® A provides a run time of 60 hours, while the TLR-8® A G delivers 11 hours.

All these models include a key kit with six interchangeable keys to securely fit each light to the broadest array of rails, are fabricated from 6000 series machined aircraft aluminum, feature impact-resistant construction and have been extensively live-fired tested. Each use included 3-volt, CR123A lithium batteries.

For additional information, visit streamlight.com or connect with us on social media links below. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.streamlight.com facebook.com/streamlightUK twitter.com/StreamlightUK instagram.com/streamlight_europe

Remote working

How is remote working changing the public sector?

What impact has the lockdown had on the possibilities for more regular home-working across organisations, and what technology is needed to support this? Sascha Giese, Head Geek™, SolarWinds, explores Across the public sector, remote working Accelerated IT investment seems certain to have a more important Providing the tools and technology to role to play in the future. Right enable people to work from home now, it’s a national health has meant some IT investment necessity, but once this has been happening more crisis is behind us and quickly than usual.

Providin organisations can go Indeed, the need g the too back to choosing to offer access to ls and techno where people work, services such as l o g people y to enable it remains to be videoconferencing seen how many on such a broad home h to work from a will set aside what scale may well s m eant so IT inves they’ve learned have been m t m e happen ent has be in recent weeks years away en ing mo and return to their under ‘normal’ r e q u ickly than us pre-crisis approach. circumstances. ual But, given the efforts But these are far made to adapt, how from sticking plaster might short-term, enforced investments, and IT change result in longerspend currently being made term change and benefit both by public sector organisations public sector workers and organisations? in rapid response to the Covid-19 crisis

shouldn’t just be viewed as a short-term fix to keep the wheels turning—it will deliver long-term benefit. Building a Virtual Private Network (VPN), for example, to extend secure connectivity to people working at home will continue to pay for itself after workplace restrictions have been fully lifted.

And there’s a strong argument which says once the infrastructure is in place to work from home, we can’t sensibly justify reducing it again. Now people have the tools in place and organisations are more familiar with supporting their needs, the momentum behind continuing to invest in technology for positive workplace change will be hard to resist.

New experience, expertise, and best practice Like many, the public sector is building valuable new experience and learning more about remote working best practice ‘on E Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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 the fly’. Understanding how to help people work effectively from home and when they don’t have the option to meet in person is being trialled, implemented, and reviewed simultaneously. Previously, this process may have taken years, as projects to increase the level of home working would have gradually helped to build understanding—but no-one would have suggested such massive change in such a short timeframe.

Irrespective of how many more people work from home in the future, there’s no doubt our individual and collective understanding about how to do it well has moved forward enormously.

Changing workplace culture Perhaps one of the biggest changes those working from home have seen is workplace culture. Overnight, the usual office rules, conventions, and social norms have gone—replaced by a way of working unfamiliar to many of us.

This has brought with it huge challenges about how to work well from home and how to keep those vital relationships in place, and will raise some long-term questions about why some people are more able to adapt than others. We’ll always have the opportunity to meet in-person (eventually), but we may also find we’ve gained something extra with the option to be at home more.

The long-term need for traditional office space has become a hot topic—it remains to be seen whether we’ll all soon return to our familiar surroundings or if organisations will move to smaller office spaces alongside much more home working, with the financial savings it’ll bring.

Building trust and promoting well-being A major factor in the ability of teams to successfully work remotely from each other is fostering and maintaining trust. Organisations are quickly finding relationships built on mutual confidence allow teams to pull together to meet their individual and common goals, even when they’re apart.

Another feature of our current situation is the overdue increase in concern for workplace well-being. Protecting the nation through enforced isolation has refocused many minds on the benefits of protecting our mental health. Emerging from the crisis as a kinder, more caring set of employers and employees will be a huge benefit for society as a whole, long into the future.

Leading positive change The public sector is always under pressure to reflect changes in society, and past experience tells us public sector working practices have been ahead of other sectors in fostering positive change, with organisations prepared to roll out new ideas before others.

The amount of flexible working in the public sector, for example, was already ahead of the private sector—an ONS report published last year points out 42 per cent of public sector workers said they worked flexibly, compared to just 21 per cent in the private sector.

But, the ubiquitous health risks faced by everyone, no matter who they work for, has brought shared change to many millions of people at the same time. Public and private sectors are on this path together.

They can share experiences and advice, can empathise with each other, and approach the challenges with a uniform purpose.

Remote working has become a major feature of our collective response to Covid-19, but also offers the prospect of significant long-term benefits for the health and effectiveness of many people across the public sector. In time, when we can fully review the benefits in better circumstances, we’ll be able to take the best of what we’ve learned into a permanent working environment. L

Remote working

An ONS report published last year points out 42 per cent of public sector workers said they worked flexibly, compared to just 21 per cent in the private sector

FURTHER INFORMATION www.solarwinds.com

Powers for councils to hold public meetings remotely At the start of April, local authorities across the country were handed new powers to hold public meetings virtually by using video or telephone conferencing technology.

The government has temporarily removed the legal requirement for local authorities to hold public meetings in person during the coronavirus pandemic, thereby enabling them to make effective and transparent decisions on the delivery of services for residents and ensure that local democracy continues to thrive.

Meetings will remain accessible whilst ensuring that councillors, staff and the wider public are able to follow government advice by staying at home to stop the spread of coronavirus to protect the NHS and save lives.

Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Local authorities are the backbone of our democracy and they are playing a vital role in the national effort to keep people safe. This change will support them to do that while maintaining the transparency we expect in local decision making.

“Councillors and staff are already doing the right thing by following our advice to stay home, protect the NHS and save lives. This includes working from home wherever possible, and the new powers to hold meetings virtually will make that easier. It’s critical that they continue to provide essential services and find innovative ways to maintain important economic functions they perform like the planning system and they will now be able to do so. We’ve given local authorities across England an additional £1.6 billion to help their crucial work in the national effort against coronavirus, and we are continuing to ensure they get all of the support that they need at this time.”

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Mental health

Mental health in the lockdown and beyond When this is all over, will it be said that ‘it took a pandemic to put mental health where it should be – at the front and centre of daily considerations about working lives?’ Adrian Wakeling, Senior Policy Advisor at Acas, discusses Charities and stakeholders have been campaigning for a genuine parity between physical and mental health for decades.

We may be social distancing to protect each other’s physical health, the NHS and social care, but what impact is the crisis having on our mental health and what can we do about it?

The new normal is mentally challenging We don’t have to look very far for the causes of increased levels of poor mental health. Early findings form an IES survey of the well-being of employees working from home, paints a vivid picture of anxiety and stress: loss of sleep – 60 per cent are losing sleep due to worry; more drinking (alcohol consumption up 20 per cent) and less exercise (down 60 per cent); unhappiness with work-life balance (50 per cent) and a third frequently feeling isolated; worry about job security (21 per cent) and the health of

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Technology: a friend and a foe loved ones (41 per cent); and an increase Many people have wondered what the in musculoskeletal complaints, with survey current experience of this pandemic would respondents reporting new aches and have been like a few decades ago, without pains in the neck (58 per cent), shoulder the internet and social media?

(56 per cent) and back (55 per cent).

Of course, technology allows Although we all face many new us to stay connected. But it challenges, much has also also allows us to recreate stayed the same. Surveys Techno what we had before and of employees, such as lo allows u gy for many this is hours those from the CIPD, s to stay connec of Skype meetings regularly show that t instead of facework-life balance allows ued. But it also s to-face meetings. is a perennial top t o what w recreate And there is the concern. This may e h a d befor for man addictive nature of be heightened at e a technology which the moment – with Skype my this is hours nd of means that it takes the line between eet of face-ings instead a lot of self-discipline work and home to to turn off devices. being not so much meeting-face Technology can’t blurred as completely s solve the connectivity rubbed out for many problem on its own. I have of us – but it very much a heard of colleagues having virtual dilemma of modern working life.

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

tea breaks to chat, quizzes after work and there has been a great deal of therapeutic sharing. But a recent survey by YouGov, commissioned by Acas, shows that people are still missing ‘social/informal interaction’ while working from home (71 per cent) and feeling ‘out of the loop’ (51 per cent).

Technology cannot automatically create good management; and it is concerning that in the same survey, although: 43 per cent of employers have experienced issues affecting their employees related to stress, anxiety or mental health difficulties in the previous 12 months; and only 22 per cent of employees have spoken to their manager about stress, anxiety or mental health in the last 12 months.

Good line management always in fashion Helping people to cope in the current crisis relies on many good old-fashioned soft management skills – such as getting to know your staff and finding how to best to communicate with them. For example, social catch-ups can be good for teams but some colleagues might dominate the conversation and over-share; so one-to-ones may work better for some. And video meetings may be good for picking up on visual signs of wellbeing, but the World Economic Forum have warned of what is being dubbed ‘video call fatigue’, caused by people feeling they have to constantly perform for the camera.

There is a course a grey area in all this.

Employment law is still employment law, and although some regulations have been

put on hold (such a gender pay gap reporting, which has been postponed for a year), employers still very much have a duty of care over their staff. Indeed, this duty of care has arguably never been so important. But it can be tricky knowing how to interpret legal requirements in the current situation. The rise in musculoskeletal problems could perhaps have been foreseen, with ONS figures showing almost half of us now working from home. For many of those, this is a new and unexpected development, and we will all know someone who is perched on a stool or using their bed as a workspace. This raises the issue of how to carry out health and safety assessments.

Another pressing issue is around managing disciplinary and grievance issues.

Unfortunately, conflict has not distanced itself from our working relationships. Everyone still wants to be treated fairly and equally at work and to be protected in doing so.

Acas has just published new guidance on how to manage conflict remotely.

The same storm but different boats Everyone has their own lockdown story about how they are coping and the challenges they face – whether that’s home-educating young children for the first time; shielding a vulnerable relative; or waiting anxiously on furlough to see if there will still be a job for you. Although there has undoubtedly been a feeling of camaraderie amongst employees and people in society more generally, there is growing evidence that some parts of society are being affected more than others.

The EHRC are concerned about the impact the epidemic is having on disabled people; and the Mental Health Foundation have just issued a report linking financial inequality and mental wellbeing. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has pointed out that ‘groups that are vulnerable to poor health are likely to be hit hardest … and evidence is emerging that the economic repercussions of the crisis are falling disproportionately on young workers, low-income families and women’.

The gist of what many charities are saying is that although we may be in the same storm, we are not in the same boat. This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week focused on the theme of kindness and perhaps the kindest thing we can do currently is to look after the most vulnerable in society. At work this means those who are most insecure, financially or psychologically, and those with pre-existing mental health problems that may have been exacerbated. L

Mental health

Helping people to cope in the current crisis relies on many good old-fashioned soft management skills – such as getting to know your staff and finding how to best to communicate with them

FURTHER INFORMATION www.acas.org.uk

£5 million for mental health community projects Community projects supporting people with their mental health during the coronavirus pandemic will benefit from their share of £5 million of additional funding.

Mental Health Minister Nadine Dorries said that voluntary organisations from across the country will receive a financial boost, administered by Mind as part of the Mental Health Consortia, to expand their existing support services.

Dorries said: “This epidemic has had huge consequences for us all, but for some it has been especially difficult, leading to loneliness, anxiety and other mental health challenges. I believe we must pull together as a nation during these trying times and I am absolutely determined that no one should have to cope with mental illness alone.

“While our NHS remains open for business and has adapted its care to continue to provide vital mental health care throughout the crisis, this investment will only strengthen what’s on offer and ensure emotional support sits at the heart of the community.”

The funding package follows the £4.2 million investment announced by the Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock for mental health charities during Mental Health Awareness Week.

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

Access to documents digitally will remain of strategic importance OPEX Corporation is a recognised global technology leader in document imaging, high-speed mailroom automation and warehouse automation. Craig Hartley, UK Business Development Manager for OPEX Business Machines GmbH, explains how their solutions are helping the NHS and wider public sector achieve digital transformation

For nearly a decade, the NHS has seen the road to digitisation grow and become more complex and challenging, through multiple governments, regulatory changes and strategic shifts combined with internal complexities.

In 2020, we all recognise that the NHS has been faced with the biggest challenge in a generation. COVID-19 has placed the UK Healthcare system in previously unseen territory, whereby a global pandemic that threatens life as we known it has placed enormous pressures on an already over-stretched service.

Across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, we have seen amazing response to these trying times. Like always, the NHS has risen to the challenge brought on by this pandemic. Whilst it isn’t possible to perform many of the amazing life saving tasks done by our NHS staff away from a hospital or surgery environment, large parts of the administrative functions and non-patient facing tasks have been moved off-site.

Technologies such as ‘Teams’ and ‘Zoom’ have now become the boardroom and coffee shop for the majority. Battling with cats on shoulders, kids in the background and the many distractions of home life, workers all over the world are clearing a space on the breakfast bar, keeping calm and carrying on.

The nations great response to ‘staying safe’ whilst working from home has highlighted something the NHS has had a great understanding of for a long time – that he need to ‘Go Digital’ is greater now than ever before.

whilst transforming workflow efficiency and reducing arduous document preparation. By creating a unique solution that’s significantly different to all other hardware manufacturers in this space, we have identified and solved the key issues surrounding this monumental task faced by an already overstretched NHS. OPEX is fast becoming the dominant force in digital conversion of hard copy patient files within the complex arena of scanning NHS medical records, seeing NHS and UK service providers selecting OPEX Falcon as the scanner of choice for capturing patient files and information in a structured format.

We already work directly with dozens of NHS trusts across the UK to enable scanning and transformation of legacy and day-forward hard-copy medical records into digital content, for onward ingestion into EPR systems.

Across the UK and Ireland, OPEX’s scanning equipment is directly responsible for creating an estimated two billion Medical Records images annually created, through both NHS trusts and business process outsource partners.

Furthermore, NHS England’s current procurement exercise requires by 2022/23 all ‘Lloyd George’ notes are digitised to enable patients’ access to their records. Each Lloyd George envelope contains a broad range of detailed personal information, so maintaining the security and accuracy of these legacy records becomes vital. Many of these paper records contained within three dimensional ‘Lloyd George’ wallets are over 70 years old and in a state of fragile deterioration, whilst the information they hold is paramount for safe medical practice. The preservation, security and accuracy of these records is vital – an area Craig Hartley, UK Business Development Manager, OPEX Business Machines GmbH

It becomes a valid question to ask - but in all this current chaos and uncertainty, where does something like the scanning and capture of medical records and patient documents play a crucial part?

OPEX provides state-of-the-art document imaging platforms and technologies. Our innovative ‘one-touch’ scanning approach significantly increases processing speeds

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that OPEX’s Falcon has proven experience, widely regarded by our customers as the perfect solution and technology platform for combined ‘prep, scan and capture’ of these notoriously challenging Lloyd George notes.

Throughout this pandemic, OPEX has been working shoulder to shoulder (…but still two meters apart) with our NHS customers to ensure they are able to keep operating.

OPEX staff have been on-site, installing and relocating much needed equipment, assisting in the configuration of systems and advising on best working practices. Ultimately this ‘behind the scenes’ service supports and enables our NHS medical records teams to keep operating, digitising records for those NHS staff on the front line or working from home within a controlled and safe working environment where required.

Hopefully, this time next year the world and the NHS will look a lot more like it did six months ago. However, there are a large number of lessons that will be learned from this and we firmly believe in the importance of having access to documents digitally and in a timely manner will remain of strategic importance.

As such, we can be confident that in the near future cost savings and workflow efficiencies will be more vital than ever to both central and local government – and of course the NHS. Once the current UK lockdown has passed, for a personal demonstration of the OPEX Falcon®, OPEX would warmly welcome hosting you at to demonstrate the possibilities we offer. With all OPEX technologies, ‘seeing is believing’ – so please contact Craig Hartley chartley@opex.com to arrange the next step. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.opex.com chartley@opex.com

Recruitment

Sponsoring foreign workers during the pandemic Many businesses and offices have now been closed and emptied for 10 weeks. Harry Sanders writes for the Immigration Advice Service about the current governmental advice for Tier 2 and Tier 5 sponsors

As summer draws ever closer, the UK enters another month of restrictive measures aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19. For nearly three months, businesses and offices have struggled to cope with the vast array of complications caused by the pandemic, from the implementation of furlough schemes to regrettable redundancies. For some, their doors have even been closed permanently; unable to function with the loss of clientbase their business has faced as a result.

While the latest government statements, which lay out plans for a phased easing of lockdown restrictions in England, seem to indicate that we are, slowly, on our way back to normality, the journey there is not as clear-cut as many would have hoped, and business owners and directors are still looking for answers on what the future holds.

One of the most difficult areas to reconcile with pandemic restrictions has been recruitment. Not only have matters been made complex by logistical issues, like an inability to conduct face-to-face interviews, but the uncertainty of the situation many businesses are facing has meant that employers can no longer gage what talent they need, nor can they afford to make new hires in many cases. What’s more, job applications have also plummeted, as the precariousness of the economy and people’s personal situations has meant that fewer people are applying for new roles while lockdown measures are still in place.

For UK workers and recruiters this situation is certainly frustrating. However, international workers and those who normally recruit them, have several extra hurdles to jump. Many are finding it particularly difficult to navigate the travel restrictions and new legislation regarding Work Visas, for example. At present, the government’s advice for Tier 2 and 5 UK sponsors is relatively understanding of the current crisis: coronavirus-related absences and changes to work patterns will not be perceived as in-breach of visa guidelines.

This marks a change from usual sponsorship duties, which state that all UK sponsors must consistently ensure that all visa-holding employees are adhering to their roles as outlined on their Certificate of Sponsorship. To do this, sponsors are usually expected to keep records of all absences and changes using the Sponsor-Management-System (SMS). It is important to note that, while the UKVI will not penalise any sponsors or their employees for coronavirus-related absences, role changes, or work-pattern changes, this rule still applies. In practice, this means that employers must continue to (either themselves or through an elected person) update the SMS accordingly.

Visa applications are still being accepted and employees’ pay is able to be reduced to 80 per cent of their salary (or to £2,500pm, whichever is lower) mirroring the furlough scheme in place for UK workers. Moreover, protections have been put in place to avoid kicking workers out of the country in the midst of the current global travel restrictions, and so those whose leave expired after 24 January have been granted visa extensions up to 31 July. This date is to be regularly reviewed. This is a free extension, but it is not automatic. As such, sponsors are encouraged to support their employees to contact the UKVI’s coronavirus help team requesting an extension on their visa, if they are eligible. In this contact, employees should give their CoS number as well as the reason(s) why coronavirus-related policies have stopped them from being able to return in time for their visa deadline. Once granted, they will be able to stay in the UK without being considered in breach of immigration law until the set date.

While this guidance is welcome, there is, however, much left unanswered by this advice, and myriad complications are still present for those with Tier 2 or Tier 5 Visas. For instance, the Home Office advises that a Tier 2 migrant can only delay their start date by 28 days once their visa has been granted. However, current travel restrictions dictate that many migrant workers will not be able to enter the UK in time for even their delayed start date. Working from home also raises certain bureaucratic issues for migrant workers and their sponsors. Normally, moving a migrant worker from the office to their home would class as a change in work location and would therefore have to be reported as such by their Tier 2 sponsor. However, the Home Office has ruled that this temporary change in address

is not worthy of a SMS report – so long as other circumstantial changes are reported and attendance is monitored as per usual.

Although assurances have been made for migrant workers to be able to be place on furlough as part of a company-wide policy, these salary changes must be submitted in an SMS report. It is uncertain what other situational changes must or must not be reported, and one would be excused for assuming that even the Home Office is unaware of what information it requires.

The visa application process has also been impacted by coronavirus. For Tier 2 workers, a Restricted CoS must usually be assigned by their sponsor within three months of their job offer– and must then be used within a further three-month window for their visa application. Normally, missing either of these deadlines would invalidate the CoS, requiring a new one to be issued. But those whose certificates expired as a result of their inability to travel due to the pandemic may still be accepted by the Home Office, though this is to be assessed on a case-by-case basis under the ‘extenuating circumstances’ clause. Earlier advice suggested that the Coronavirus Immigration Help Centre should be contacted, and although this advice has been removed from the government’s official guidance, it is still advisable to do so.

Most worryingly of all are the cases of migrant workers whose employment has been or will be terminated due to coronavirus.

Some employers may have no choice to do so, though this will have knock-on effects on the immigration status of their former employees.

For example, those who are dependent on their sponsorship to remain in the country are to be left in limbo and will be unsure whether or not they are required to leave the country. Many of these people may also be physically unable to do so due to global travel restrictions, depending on the border and flight status on their home country.

Issues such as this have not been sufficiently covered in the advice of the UK government, and it is of paramount importance that they are clarified as quickly as possible. As the official guidance seems to change from week to week it is essential that any such changes are clearly signposted so that employers and workers do not fall into any serious pitfalls in our immigration legislation. L FURTHER INFORMATION https://ie.iasservices.org.uk/

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Road management

Kickstarting our economic recovery with roads investment In May, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that journeys on local roads, railways and motorways will be smoother and safer thanks to a multi-billion-pound infrastructure package The Department for Transport says that can benefit from smoother and safer journeys hundreds of millions of pounds worth with better connections for our future.” of upgrades have already been Welcoming the announcement made to the nation’s road Rory O’Connor, interim chief and rail networks during executive of the Road While the lockdown period, Surface Treatments p otholes with more planned Association, said: “The real pro are a over the coming weeks additional funding is everyon blem for and months. Although welcomed both for lockdown measures helping to address the the roa e who uses ds, they have been eased, we £11.14 billion local a partic p o are far from out of road repair backlog s e u the woods. However, and for its recognition injury t lar risk of o cyclis there will undoubtedly of the importance of ts be more cars on the roads having a well-maintained as people return to work, local road network for the shops and small businesses national economic well-being.” reopen and people begin to see slightly larger groups of people.

Road defect targets The ‘multi-billion pound road and railway The announcement is particularly welcome investment’ will target around 11 million given research in March finding that only nuisance potholes, but will also see smaller one-in-ten local authorities are meeting improvements completed to upgrade their own target times to fix potholes and local networks, such as enhancing road road defects. The research from Cycling safety at key locations, the installation UK found that out of 85 local authorities of priority bus lanes, and the creation of who responded to Freedom of Information projects to help lock in improvements in requests, only one in 10 successfully air quality experienced during lockdown. repaired all reported potholes. North Shapps said: “There has been a Tyneside Council was one of the most monumental effort in every corner of the effective authorities, repairing all 39,258 country to slow the spread of the virus and identified potholes on time between 2015protect our NHS. However, the battle is not 19, while Wakefield City Council was the over yet and we urge everyone to keep up worst performer, managing to fill only 13 the good work and only travel when they per cent of reported potholes on time. need to. To help those who do have to use While no part of the UK performed well, public transport or get out on the roads one in six English authorities meet their to do their jobs, we’ve been accelerating target times of three weeks for non-urgent infrastructure upgrades to make sure that, potholes. However, not a single responding as we gradually reopen our society, everyone authority in Scotland or Wales achieved this.

Cycling concerns While potholes are a real problem for everyone who uses the roads, they pose a particular risk of injury to cyclists. At least 448 cyclists have been killed or seriously injured on our roads over the past 10 years, with three deaths in 2018, the last year with available data. The charity has suggested that this is only the tip of the iceberg, with most crashes never reaching the statistics if no police officer attends the scene.

Mike Harper, former chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, said: “Cyclists are amongst our most vulnerable road users. For them a deterioration in the road surface can result in serious, lifechanging injuries. There is currently a £9.7 billion backlog of local road maintenance, Despite the Chancellor’s recent Budget pledge to provide an additional £2.5 billion to maintain local roads over the next five years, the backlog, continued cuts in funding and the ever increasing use of roads means that local councils are fighting a losing battle and find it difficult to keep pace with the level of road repairs required.

“The injection of additional funding is welcomed. However, the government needs to examine how to provide assured, long-term funding that will allow local authorities to carry out programmes of preventative maintenance that would keep roads in good condition and stop the potholes from forming the first place.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.rsta-uk.org

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Drainage

Managing drainage and water levels in your area Do you know what an IDB is and do you have one managing the drainage and water levels in your area? On behalf of the ADA, Innes Thomson explains Many of us live our lives supported by a where watercourses and land drainage wide range of acronyms. Whilst some of infrastructure are collectively managed these are familiar, such as the NHS or the and maintained with the input of the local AA, most are quite alien outside of one’s community. IDBs occur in those parts of direct sphere of influence, and frankly England where there is a special need complete gobbledegook to the majority of for land drainage, undertake work to people. Despite this, let me introduce you reduce flood risk to people, property and to one acronym that, at over 80 years old, infrastructure, and manage water levels has not only survived the tests of time, but for agricultural and environmental needs. is an increasingly important part of local Most IDBs were established by the Land public life given our changing climate.

Drainage Act 1930, but their forerunners Yet it is one that few are aware of, that date right back to the 13th century when is unless, you pay rates to them for the Henry III established a drainage commission wellbeing of seeing your local watercourses to manage water levels on Romney Marsh well maintained and managed. in Kent. And on the interesting I refer of course to our subject of history, we have illustrious IDBs, or to give recently come across them their full name, Scotland’s one and only Collect Internal Drainage Drainage Commission IDBs inv ively, Boards. These are a still serving the Pow of type of local public Inchaffray, in Perthshire, £65 mi est over llion a authority serving areas whose origins date

nnually in man a g i n gw levels a nd redu ater flood ri cing sk

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back to the Middle Ages, with a helping hand from Robert the Bruce along the way!

There is also a distinct Dutch influence in IDB history through Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch water engineer commissioned by the king in the 17th century to drain water and reclaim land from marshy tracts of the East of England. In doing so he did however nearly lose his head to Charles I, through the ‘treacherous’ act of destroying good hunting grounds.

Thankfully today such grievances in water management can be resolved through a slightly more civil consultation process!

We also have other stories to tell. For example, the Black Sluice IDB that serves the Lincolnshire fens south of Boston, takes its names from a time when locals commoners, who did not appreciate water being controlled, tried on various occasions to burn down the then wooden sluice gates, hence the description ‘Black’ Sluice.

IDBs have a primary function to manage water levels and reduce the risk of flooding within their districts. Much of that work involves everyday management and maintenance of the watercourses, streams, rivers and ditches they control the rivers and in turn have extensive knowledge of not only the hydraulics of that area, but also its environment, its social fabric and the business interests creating the local economic well-being of that area. That knowledge has often been built up over many years and the passing on of that knowledge from older to younger employee is an integral part of IDB family life today. IDBs also maintain careful records of their work and unlike larger authorities who cannot efficiently maintain archives, many of those records go back to the creation of the IDB. The Environment Bill Of considerable interest to IDBs are the plans in the forthcoming Environment Bill to modernise their funding rules. A positive consequence of this will be that for the first time in over a generation, new IDBs may be able to be formed, or existing districts expanded wherever this is local supported.

Thus, sharing the excellent environmental custodianship that IDBs are already able to provide in the current areas that they work.

The governance and funding of IDBs is different to other local authorities, but very effective and with clear governance guidance in place, the mix of direct landowner/ratepayer and local authority representation on an IDB’s Board, local decision making and priority setting is strong and democratic.

Collectively, IDBs invest over £65 million annually in managing water levels and reducing flood risk. These costs are predominantly funded by the local beneficiaries of the water level management work they provide. Each IDB sets a budget for its planned work in the forthcoming year and any investments it needs to make for future projects.

Section 36 of the Land Drainage Act 1991 determines that these expenses of an IDB shall be met by: drainage rates collected from agricultural land and buildings within the internal drainage district; special levies issued on District and Unitary Authorities within the internal drainage district; and contributions from the Environment Agency, known as high land water contributions.

All land and properties within a Drainage District are deemed to derive benefits from the activities of an IDB and are classed as either agricultural land and buildings or ‘Other land’. Occupiers of ‘Other Land’ pay Council Tax to the District or Unitary Authority, who are then charged a Special levy by the IDB in proportion to the annual

Drainage

A tenth of England’s land area Today the water management role of IDBs remains vital, with 112 of them serving drainage districts that cover just under 10 per cent of England’s land area, representing about 1.2 million hectares.

IDBs manage water levels in drainage districts and they either occur in broad open areas of lowland such as The Fens, Somerset Levels or the Humberhead Levels, or within the floodplains of rivers. The drainage district of each IDB is determined by the local hydrology and not by political boundaries such as those of counties.

In Wales there are a further 12 drainage districts, covering 28,500 hectares, each one with a local Advisory Group administered

by Natural Resources Wales, and consisting of representatives of those land occupiers and local authorities who fund the local water level management work.

IDBs have a primary function to manage water levels and reduce the risk of flooding within their districts. Much of that work involves everyday management and maintenance of the watercourses, streams, rivers and ditches they control and collectively, IDBs operate over 22,000km of watercourse and over 500 pumping stations. IDBs are not responsible for any Main Rivers which flow through their districts, with that responsibility falling to the Environment Agency.

IDBs are defined as Risk Management Authorities within the Flood & Water Management Act 2010 working alongside the Environment Agency, local authorities and water companies to actively manage and reduce the risk of flooding. Their activities and responsibilities are principally governed by the Land Drainage Act 1991 that enables them to raise funds, undertake works, and regulate obstructions in watercourses amongst other things.

Whilst operating as independent local authorities in their own right, IDBs do not and cannot work alone. They depend on a close network of other authorities and partners working together to provide a joined-up approach to managing water within their respective wider river catchments. You will often hear the term ‘partnership working’ referred to by those involved in flood risk management to invoke greater cooperation between these various expert partners.

IDBs are very much part of that, through PSCAs, another acronym that stands for ‘Public Sector Co-operation Agreements’.

Using PSCAs, IDBs can collaborate with the Environment Agency and local authorities to undertake works on one another’s behalf. This is enabling greater efficiencies, allowing the best equipped and most local operator to undertake works. For this reason, increasingly you will see the machinery of local IDBs maintaining the embankments along more major rivers and estuaries on behalf of the Environment Agency.

The local nature of IDB operations means that all of their employees and contractors have excellent working knowledge of

value of the other land. Until the 1980s this was collected directly by the IDBs from ratepayers but in the interests of efficiency, local authorities took over the collection and passing on of these rates to the relevant IDBs. IDBs still make direct rate demands to the owners and tenants of agricultural land and buildings.

As a result of development, IDBs are earning a greater proportion of their income from Special Levy payments. In those cases where this represents a majority of an IDB’s funding, the Board members appointed by local councils will have a plus one majority on an IDB’s board.

Because of their history and evolution, there are sometimes rather unfair and outdated opinions still circulating about IDBs but the fact is that, because of their local knowledge and focus on delivery of work on the ground, they are agile, efficient and effective examples of local public service working often behind the scenes alongside the larger authorities and agencies, and able to take some of the pressure off them. But they need support and recognition for the work they do and it is very reassuring to see Defra’s increasing interest in the work of IDBs. More dialog is still needed with MHCLG, especially around matters of local planning and development control that again, IDBs could more greatly assist with under the right conditions.

I wonder what the history books will say about IDBs in 2720 or will we all have disappeared beneath the waves by then? L FURTHER INFORMATION www.ada.org.uk

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Fire safety

What sort of built environment do we want for the future?

When you look at the built environment over the past 20 years, we have created many buildings that are not resilient to fire and we continue to build them. While the best approach to fire safety is not to have a fire in the first instance, it’s important that we ask the question: what sort of built environment do we want in the future? Iain Cox, chairman of the Business Sprinkler Alliance, discusses

Th construe ction industr y h keen on as been so s it has foustainability about s rgotten afe resiliencty and e

According to authors Raynor & Mumtaz, writing in the Harvard Business Review (April 2013), they identified three business rules that were typical of exceptional companies: better before cheaper; revenue before cost; and, thirdly, there are no other rules.

It’s become apparent that the building industry in the UK has reversed the sentiment of these rules and we, as a country, are paying the price.

Of course, change does take time. Looking back at safety in cars, the seat belt was invented as far back as 1885 but in the UK it was only required to be worn by law nearly a century later. Interestingly, airbags were developed in the early 1950s and while they are a feature of all modern cars, this safety solution is still not a legal requirement - but a car could not receive a safety rating without one. Compare this to the built environment today and a business considering fire safety; the minimum building standards are designed to preserve human life, not to ensure the resilience of the building.

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We must therefore question what value we place on the resilience of the built environment and the businesses, homes and enjoyment spaces they contain? In terms of business, the trend line on losses continues to rise despite adjustments in the number of fires. In the new, vibrant UK economy competing and trading with the world, can we afford not to invest in resilience? We should not confuse the short-term economic boost of rebuilding with the long-term impact of lost opportunity, relocation, impact on business confidence and employee welfare. The recent bushfires in Australia have only served to highlight the real cost of fire beyond the insurance claims.

Does this mean that people and businesses will do the right thing to invest to protect themselves? It’s an admirable aspiration but the hard reality is that they follow what they interpret to be the regulatory minimums. The public and business owners see claims of compliance with regulations as an assurance of safety and protection from fire. They therefore think they are building, or purchasing, resilience when in fact they are not.

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

Looking ahead Firstly, buildings must be people-proof. If a building relies on complex ‘management arrangements’ for safety, human nature is such that they will fail at some point. Buildings must also be adaptable as they will inevitably be used for differing purposes in their lifespan.

For example, old dock warehouses are now being repurposed as indoor paintball arenas, something that was never in the architect’s mind in the 1930s. Furthermore, buildings must be risk-proofed. They should be designed to withstand the risks they will be exposed to whether that is fire, flood, theft, earthquake or storm, etc. Too often a building is conceived without due consideration as to impact of those risks over the life of the building.

The construction industry has been so keen on sustainability it has forgotten about safety and resilience. Green rating systems and regulations may well recognise a highperformance building but if it’s not built to withstand fire, this will nullify the benefits gained from green construction. A fire that destroyed a newly-opened warehouse in Daventry – and one that had a high BREEAM rating for its renewable carbon technologies – had far reaching consequences, with rebuild

Sprinklers work So, what is the solution to prevent damage to our precious infrastructure? The evidence shows that sprinkler systems have an operational reliability of 94 per cent and

The data clearly proves that sprinklers are both effective and efficient in a wide range of fire scenarios and building types, affording greater levels of fire protection to people, property and the environment when they do operate they extinguish or contain the fire on 99 per cent of occasions across a wide range of building types.

The data clearly proves that sprinklers are both effective and efficient in a wide range of fire scenarios and building types, affording greater levels of fire protection to people, property and the environment. They protect firefighters who attend incidents and reduce the amount of damage to both property and the environment from fire. In fact, they are so good at protecting property, that many businesses that experience a fire and have sprinklers fitted are able to be back up and operational within days, if not hours.

Fire does not discriminate; whether it is a railway station, a factory, a car park, a warehouse or an office, fires happen on a regular basis and will continue to do so in the future. Perversely, the more we build using many materials that are seen as ’sustainable’, the more we are increasing the fuel load in the building. Whatever the cause and whatever the building, fires can be contained and extinguished

Fire safety

costs of £30 million and the eventual sale of the Gardman garden supplies business.

This raises a fundamental issue about how sustainable such a project can be when one considers fire as a serious hazard to the growth of a business and the destruction of buildings and their contents. Sustainability, therefore, isn’t just about insulation and energy consumption, a building should only really be classified as ‘sustainable’ if it is designed to be able to survive a fire event.

It’s often the case that we spare no expense in value engineering projects to get them down to the lowest price, but in so doing we make compromises with buildings, therefore features such as sprinklers are taken out. In the total build cost, sprinklers are a marginal expense, if not an expense at all. When people realise their mistake, it is too late.

In the future, do we want buildings that the fire service has no possible hope of tackling a fire in? Drone footage of the Daventry warehouse fire shows that the fire and rescue service was clearly unable to put water on the vast and expansive building. Even at a maximum elevation on the hydraulic platforms used to fight the fire, the jets could only reach about one tenth of the way into the building.

by systems such as sprinklers to ensure that life is not put at risk and businesses, jobs and the economy are protected. L

The Business Sprinkler Alliance (BSA) was established in 2010 and is an alliance of fire safety professionals working to protect UK plc against fire. The BSA aims to highlight the true cost of fire and increase the number of business premises that have automatic fire sprinklers fitted. The BSA is driving a culture change so that sprinklers are understood and accepted as the norm for UK business buildings.

The BSA’s founding members are the National Fire Chiefs’ Council, the European and National Fire Sprinkler Networks, the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association, commercial insurer, FM Global, and the Fire Protection Association.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org

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Security

The successful specification of anti-terrorism solutions Professionals involved in the planning, design and ongoing management of public spaces and streetscapes must consider and address a number of factors when looking at site security and safety. Here, Mark Lester of Hörmann UK, explores the key issues and the solutions available to help mitigate against potential terrorist threats, without altering the overall landscape As crowded places remain an attractive schemes, without impacting on the overall target for terrorists, architects and specifiers style and intention of the place in question. have an increasing challenge to successfully Using this guide as a basis, professionals blend counter-terrorism protective security should first understand the varying measures with the urban design principles circumstances and associated degrees of the public space they’re creating. of risk that each project presents, Within the government’s ‘Protecting before looking to specify solutions that Crowded Places: Design and Technical aim to reduce the vulnerability of the Issues’ guide, it provides those involved in location from a terrorism perspective. the development and maintenance For many public spaces, its crowd of the built environment with a density may be temporary. comprehensive basis for the In this instance, a By first appropriate specification of specifier will be assessin anti-terrorism solutions. responsible for potenti g the The document offers locations housing advice and guidance concerts or events security al levels of r i s on how high design that do not k t h present quality can be have a constant s, profe e space can the ssionals upheld throughout level of visitors, n unde the commissioning rather one that r s t the inte and and planning of is concentrated the p grity of new development at peak times.

rot techno ective log require ies d

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Here, the specification of temporary antiterrorism solutions present an appealing approach as the desired attraction of the space can easily be retained, without compromising the safety and security of the environment during high footfall periods.

One of the main benefits of temporary anti-terrorism systems that are designed to specifically manage hostile vehicle mitigation is that they offer the potential for continued flexibility, particularly when compared to fixed systems that must be permanently installed. As the very nature of temporary systems lends their application to a wide range of configurations that can be transported to different areas of the location, the evolving requirements of the environment can continue to be met, without impacting on the level of security and safety provided.

By first assessing the potential levels of security risk the space presents,

Security

professionals can then understand the integrity of the protective technologies required. Here temporary systems, such as certified single units, enable professionals to successfully meet the exact levels of integrity needed, as the quantity and configuration is tailored to the individual project and its level of risk.

For example, mobile vehicle blockers that are certified as a single unit can provide effective protection against unauthorised vehicles, without restricting pedestrian access or altering the intention and accessibility of the urban public space. As the solutions are temporary, consideration of the subsurface and the materials specified do not need to be addressed, as no physical fixings are required to keep the blockers in place.

This also offers significant cost and resource savings throughout the lifetime of the project, whilst ensuring the continued adaptability of the systems to best meet the specified requirements and intentions of the environment as it evolves.

The benefit of a solution that can be arranged individually, in rows or offset, offers a completely flexible system that does not require any compromises to be made to the initial design plans and can adapt to meet the specific needs of the space.

For example, narrow pavements or cycle paths can be effectively secured with a single blocker unit, whilst a sluice or slalom arrangement can create defined passage points for emergency and rescue vehicles.

One of the main benefits of temporary anti-terrorism systems that are designed to specifically manage hostile vehicle mitigation is that they offer the potential for continued flexibility, particularly when compared to fixed systems that must be permanently installed Providing the highest levels of security Professionals should also look to explore blockers that feature axisymmetric geometry as they have no predefined impact side. This means the angle of the collision is inconsequential, providing the highest levels of security, regardless of the direction the vehicle is travelling from.

Temporary solutions may also be an effective consideration for the retrofitting of anti-terrorism systems at historical or sensitive sites, such as conservation areas, where fixed solutions would impact the physical design and integrity of the site.

To ensure compliance with all relevant legislations and provide a clear audit trail of due diligence, professionals must specify hostile vehicle mitigation solutions that have been certified according to internationally

recognised standards and standardised crash tests. This will evidence the products can withstand the force of a specific test weight and speed, enabling architects to specify solutions that are tailored to meet the integrity requirements of each specific project.

By taking a proactive approach from the initial concept stages and working closely with manufacturers, individuals can ensure the anti-terrorism solutions they specify are not only fit for purpose, but have minimal impact on the overall design intentions of the project. L

This article first appeared in Counter Terror Business magazine.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.hormann.co.uk

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Housing

Using data to meet growing housing demands Ken Lee, chair of the CIPFA Housing Panel, explains how Housing 360 can support local authorities in addressing and meeting local housing needs and better understanding their housing resilience Housing professionals have been pointing With local authorities’ annual spending on to a growing housing crisis for a number homelessness fast approaching the £1 billion of years. With over one million households mark, the need for social rented housing on council waiting lists, the government has grown ever more acute. Furthermore, has been striving to find an answer that with Housing Associations concentrating reduces this pressure, but also increases on so-called affordable housing, it falls to the availability of homes that people can councils to step up to the plate and deliver. own and recognises the role of renting in The removal of the borrowing cap on local the private and social sectors. It has set authority housing expenditure has meant itself an ambitious target for the number that many councils have started of homes that need to be built to plan how they could reannually. Although more new enter the house building homes are being built, market. We could The rem numbers are still well short see activity that o v a o l f the bo of what is needed. parallels the drive rrowing cap on Unfortunately, the spearheaded by l o c housing al authority Covid-19 pandemic Conservative has exacerbated this minister Rab has me expenditure crisis. Around 40,000 Butler in the a n t th council homeless people are years following s have at many started now in hotels and the Second plan ho to w hostels looking for World War. re-ente they could homes that are within A thorough r their financial means. understanding build the house

ing ma rket

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of the Housing Revenue Account, which records all the transactions of a local authority’s tenants, is a prerequisite to releasing resources to invest in the provision of these much-needed long-term assets.

Housing statistics For many years, CIPFA produced a steady stream of housing statistics that were relied on to inform and shape housing services at a local, regional and national level. However, the introduction of Direct Labour Organisations (DLO) in the 1980s meant that much of the detail about the Housing Revenue Account was lost in commercially sensitive DLO trading accounts. Over time, this lack of detail reduced the credibility and usability of the statistics.

Following on from this, and our work on the Financial Resilience Index for local authorities, CIPFA recognised that more needed to be done to provide information about Housing Revenue Accounts. The result, developed over the last 18 months with the input of local authority housing finance

Housing

Report into devastating impact of the housing crisis The Centre for Policy Studies has warned that the coronavirus crisis is likely to make it impossible for the government to hit its housebuilding targets and exacerbate the already devastating impact of the housing crisis.

CIPFA’s Housing 360 is a vital tool in the armoury of those local authorities that are charged with meeting the growing housing demands of the nation specialists and CIPFA’s skilled statisticians, is Housing 360. This innovative model allows authorities to understand the resilience of their HRAs, provides them with a benchmarking model and a view of historic performance trends, alongside a future resources model to support the detailed planning vital to the ongoing provision of a service that is so badly needed at the present time.

Housing 360 CIPFA’s Housing 360 draws its information from statutory data and statistical returns, thus relieving authorities of the need to provide the extra information that many other comparison tools require. Many of these data sets have been refined and honed over the years to remove inaccuracies and biases, with the resulting information providing a sound basis for judgements and planning. Reliable comparative information enables better informed decisions to be made at both councillor and officer level.

Relying on nationally collected data overcomes the hurdles of the past, with statistics now available that show not

just the individual authority, but also local authority groups (London boroughs, metropolitan authorities, unitary authorities and non-metropolitan authorities), as well as the regional and national picture. This allows government, commentators and housing professionals the opportunity to reflect on the impact of policy over time and project the impact into the future.

For example, through Housing 360, CIPFA has been able to predict that people in the North West will face an average wait for council accommodation of nearly 40 years, compared to those in the Midlands who are facing waits of 10 years. The current national average sits at about 17 years.

This extra demand pressure contrasts with the four per cent drop in HRA income since the 2014/15 financial year. Understanding the likely projections for expenditure and income will allow authorities to determine how they can invest in new stock to meet the needs highlighted by the data.

CIPFA’s Housing 360 is a vital tool in the armoury of those local authorities that are charged with meeting the

Construction sites have returned to work after the initial impact of coronavirus, but the think tank has warned that most are simply finishing off existing projects.

Cautious estimates suggest housebuilding could fall by around 38 per cent over the next year, leading to 76,000 fewer homes being built. The impact could be far worse if the economy fails to bounce back, leading to a near collapse of the sector.

In the wake of the 2008-9 crisis, it took six years for supply to return to previous levels. The CPS says that a repeat would deal a devastating blow to the government’s plan to fix the housing crisis and encourage mass home ownership.

The centre-right think tank has developed an emergency plan to support the sector, suggesting that ‘Help to Build’ would help all developers to weather the storm, ensure continuing housing supply while saving smaller and medium sized developers from ruin and having to make hardworking employees redundant.

Under the scheme, house builders would be allowed to access grants up to a maximum of £25,000 for each new-build property (capped at a percentage of the home’s value).

Given property prices we expect the grants to average around £20,000 – if capped at £3 billion, as the report suggests, this would ensure the construction of around 150,000 homes next year.

In return for using this scheme to support sales, housebuilders would be required to continue building at similar levels to their existing pipeline, ensuring that both the housing supply and construction employment are maintained through the crisis and its aftermath at a relatively low price. growing housing demands of the nation. It enables them to plan a way forward that will secure sustainable housing for the citizens they serve. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.cipfa.org/services/cipfastats/ housing-data-products

Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

39

INFECTION CONTROL

Using product innovation to maximise efficiency

Daikin Applied UK is the market leader in energy efficient air handling units, chillers and heat pumps, specialising in large scale bespoke projects from data centres and hospitals to large offices and universities.

The company’s aim is to contribute to people’s health and comfort by applying innovative technologies to provide cooling, heating, humidity and overall better air quality.

With full lifecycle service and maintenance packages, Daikin Applied Service offers an after sales service covering ANY HVAC manufacturer.

Its products are at the forefront of low energy consumption and the organisation aims to be CO2

neutral by 2050. Aiming for a circular economy, Daikin has embraced reclaimed, recovered and reused refrigerants across all products and maintenance.

Through product innovation, it has maximised efficiency, and through smart technology in its cloud based remote monitoring, the company can reduce energy consumption.

DAPUK has an extensive manufacturing facility located in Newcastle, where highly skilled engineers manufacture a variety of AHU’s from modular units to fully bespoke solutions.

The company’s full supply and installation service is supported by its head office in Rome, which is responsible for the manufacture of chiller products across Europe.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0345 565 2700 www.daikinapplied.uk

RECRUITMENT

Recruitment services for legal professionals Established in 2002, LR Legal is a dedicated recruiter to the legal sector.

Not only does the company provide an exclusive service to some of the best law firms in the South East, but it also has a proven track record of delivering excellent temporary and permanent staff to the public sector that excel expectations and add unbeatable value to the teams they join.

Because of its understanding of the pressure and time restraints placed on teams and departments across local and central government, LR Legal is skilled in efficiently and cost-effectively placing legal professionals in a variety of areas including housing, social care, regulatory, not for profit and litigation, and across all levels, ranging from legal assistants through to head of departments.The LR Legal team

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is dedicated to finding the right candidates and it can manage large scale projects, having placed entire departments and teams, but similarly able to handle ad-hoc or bespoke recruitment needs.

The organisation can offer specialist recruitment packages to ensure fulfilment of roles, and has an established, engaged and experienced candidate pool looking for legal roles in the public sector.

Get in touch with LR Legal to discuss your recruitment requirements via the details below.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0208 464 2511 leilani@lrlegal.co.uk www.lrlegal.co.uk

ENERGY

A practical response for sustainable heating In light of the government’s commitment to attaining Net Zero by 2050, and with fourth and fifth carbon budgets currently off track, the pressure is on for public sector organisations to actively demonstrate what sustainability looks like across their built estates.

A hybrid approach to heating, optimising existing gas infrastructure which remains the most common choice for the provision of heating and domestic hot water (DHW) with renewables, such as heat pumps, is both practical and cost-effective.

Though quick and easy to install, simply opting for just heat pumps (which provide a lower grade of heat) will not always be the most practical alternative for public sector properties. For sites exhibiting a large DHW load - from leisure and education to healthcare

– there remains a strong argument for employing gas fired water heating. And, just as electricity is becoming greener, so too can the gaseous fuels when blended with hydrogen and other synthetic fuels.

Talk to Adveco about the design, supply and servicing of hybrid heating. By combining the advantages of both fuels, discover the means for cost effectively meeting immediate demands for sustainability and gain the breathing space to appraise new technologies that will emerge and help achieve Net Zero by 2050.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01252 551 540 enquiries@adveco.co www.adveco.co

ADVERTISERS INDEX The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service Bang the Table

14

Big Dug

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Daikin Applied (UK)

40

DB Fire Safety

35

Dupree International

22

Ergochair 20 GDS Group

6

ISS IFC Jacksons Fencing Office Depot Ogel IT Opex Business Machines

4 OBC,18 IBC 28

Simmbiotic 24 T-Impact 16 Velocity UK

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