Government Business 29.1

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ISSUE 29.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government RISK MANAGEMENT

MANAGING RISK IN 2022 Exploring how risk leaders should adapt to the ever-changing 2022 workplace

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PLUS: COP26 | FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | SPORT & LEISURE

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TECHNOLOGY

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ISSUE 29.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government RISK MANAGEMENT

MANAGING RISK IN 2022 Exploring how risk leaders should adapt to the ever-changing 2022 workplace

Keeping IT Simple For help and advice on transforming your IT system, technical support or for consultancy then get in touch, we are here to help.

PLUS: COP26 | FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | SPORT & LEISURE

Public health services at risk, say council leaders The government has announced that England will fully return to Plan A on 27 January thanks to the success of the booster programme.

This means the advice for working from home is removed, face coverings will no longer be required by law in any setting, although public health guidance will remain in place, and venues and events will no longer be required by law to use the NHS Covid Pass.

Unsurprisingly, health leaders have warned against the move, saying that caution is still necessary. The Local Government Association has also used the timing of the announcement to raise the issue of a lack of certainty around councils’ public health funding this year, which, it argues, risks exacerbating the growing crisis of demand for support services that has built up as a result of the pandemic.

Council leaders are calling on the government to urgently publish the Public Health Grant funding allocations which councils will receive from April, as coronavirus pressures intensify due to the Omicron surge.

Follow and interact with us on Twitter: @GovBusiness

The LGA said time is also running out with councils having to make critical decisions on renewing contracts for vital public health services, including for health visiting, sexual and reproductive health and suicide prevention, potentially leaving people without crucial help and support.

Michael Lyons, editor

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

Business Information for Local and Central Government

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | www.governmenttechnology.co.uk PUBLISHED BY PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION LIMITED

226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Web: www.psi-media.co.uk EDITOR Michael Lyons PRODUCTION MANAGER & DESIGNER Dan Kanolik PRODUCTION CONTROL Lucy Maynard ADMINISTRATION Amy Hinds WEB PRODUCTION Victoria Casey ADVERTISEMENT SALES Clive Beer, Steve Day, Patrick Dunne, Bernie Miller ADVERTISEMENT SALES SUPERVISOR Neil Haydon PUBLISHER Karen Hopps

© 2022 Public Sector Information Limited. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the editorial content the publisher cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. ISSN 1470-0735

Government Business is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact Michael Lyons or Angela Pisanu on 0208 532 0055. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Contents

Contents Government Business 29.1 17

07 News

33 Technology

Councils’ finances performed more strongly

Tim Pitts shares his technology predictions for the public sector for 2022, including the better harnessing the power of data and driving customer experience through tactical digitisation

than expected; ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods have the worst health outcomes; and plans to secure a green, clean future for London

13 Facilities management

38 Technology

The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy

Sascha Giese examines how IT professionals in the public sector have coped in the past 18 months and what their expectations are for the future

sets out how the UK will decarbonise our

20

homes, and our commercial, industrial and public sector buildings, as part of setting a path to net zero by 2050

40 COP26

17 Grounds management

Laura Hughes, partner at Browne Jacobson, discusses the key takeaways for local government at November’s COP26

Jason Booth, COO at the Grounds Management Association, discusses the surge of interest in outdoor exercise and playing sport postpandemic, and the hidden challenges we face in getting the nation back to play

23

20 Play Mark Hardy, chair of the Association of Play Industries, looks at the role of playgrounds as the centre of communities across the UK and says now is the time for a national network of playgrounds to tackle the disparity between deprived communities and more affluent areas

43 Frameworks Central government and the wider public sector can access a wide range of technical advisory services in support of building and civil engineering projects of all scales and sizes through the Construction Professional Services framework agreement

51 Futurebuild Net zero pioneer Futurebuild brings together the brightest minds, the disruptive thinkers and most exciting innovators to transform the industry

23 Risk management Stephen Sidebottom, chair of the Institute of Risk Management, explores the widespread challenge facing organisations of adapting to ongoing, unpredictable change, and why excellent risk management has never been a greater priority

38 40

27 Cloud Expo Europe Cloud Expo Europe is the event that will bring

43 51

the IT community back together, connecting technologists, business leaders and senior business managers from the public and private sector with technology vendors.

It is a must-attend for anyone involved in specifying, maintaining, or managing an organisation’s technology architecture

Click here to read our new Smart City Business supplement

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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REMOVE THE PAPER RISK GO DIGITAL SAVE TIME We decreased our parking and market inspection process time by 30% within the first month!

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News

FINANCES

Councils’ finances performed more strongly than expected expenditure and income data published last month suggest that net spending increased by only £4.1 billion more than we would have expected in the absence of the pandemic – a much smaller, although still sizeable, increase.

This link between survey-based estimates and the funding provided to local government also means that overall English councils received billions more in funding than their net expenditure actually increased by. Thus while some councils had to draw down their reserves and seven had to ask for special temporary borrowing powers from the government in 2020–21, councils as a whole were able to pay substantially more into their reserves last year than had been anticipated prior to the pandemic.

The IFS has said that councils’ finances held up much better during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020–21, than previously thought.

In a new report, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, IFS researchers say that the findings have important implications for local government funding

policy in the coming year, and for how the government should respond if councils face another extreme adverse shock in future.

In the latest available survey – from April 2021 – councils reported that the pandemic had increased their net spending on noneducation services during 2020–21 by approximately £7.8 billion. However, official

COVID-19

LEVELLING UP

Funding boost in effort to vaccinate vulnerable communities

Bradford best location for levelling up opportunities

Community Vaccine Champions will be tapping into their local networks and encouraging people in their community to come forward and get vaccinated.

Councils with low vaccine uptake are being awarded a share of £22.5 million to get hard-toreach communities vaccinated. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said that 60 councils to benefit from Community Vaccine Champions scheme which will mobilise thousands of volunteers.

The funding will provide councils an opportunity to deliver bespoke projects in their region, help identify barriers to accessing accurate information and provide tailored support, such as phone calls for people without easy access to digital technology, helplines, and linking to GP surgeries.

According to NHS statistics, over 4.6 million people aged 18 or older remained unvaccinated in the 60 local authorities selected to take part in the Community Vaccine Champions programme.

READ MORE

New research by Etopia Homes has highlighted the towns and cities in England which could make the best use of the government’s levelling up funds.

The Levelling Up Opportunity Index compares the performance of the 34 largest towns and cities outside of London to identify places which might have traditionally under performed economically up to now, but which have the size and capacity for substantial future growth.

The Index focuses on data around potential growth, business rates, commuting patterns and land use. It gives an overview of which cities not only require economic development

READ MORE

in order to ‘level up’, but which may represent critical opportunities, too, in terms of their potential to grow clusters of high-growth, future-facing industries and sustain larger working populations if their economic growth can be enabled by development.

Bradford emerged top of the list, indicating it has the strongest case for economic support as part of the levelling-up agenda, as well as significant capacity for new economic growth.

Wolverhampton was second, Coventry third, Sheffield fourth and Luton fifth.

READ MORE

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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News

HEALTH

‘Left behind’ neighbourhoods have the worst health outcomes

New research by the Northern Health Science Alliance has calculated that ill health n England’s most deprived neighbourhoods is costing an estimated £29.8 billion a year to the economy in lost productivity.

People in England’s most deprived

neighbourhoods work longer hours than those in the rest of the country but live shorter lives with more years in ill health. People living in these communities were also 46 per cent more likely to die from coronavirus than those in the rest of England, according to the research.

The report shows the devastating impact of poor health for those living in deprived areas and left behind neighbourhoods and makes a number of recommendations to overcome the health inequalities faced by people living in these places.

Those living in local authorities that contain ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods have a further £2 billion gap in lost productivity compared to those areas with a similar rate of deprivation but with more civic assets, connectedness and an active and engaged community.

READ MORE

PLANNING

Areas selected for planning pilots for deprived communities Communities across England have been selected for two pilot schemes aimed at encouraging more people in urban and deprived areas to engage in the planning system.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has allocated up to £45,000 to seven areas as part of its Simpler Approach to Neighbourhood Planning pilot for schemes that will make it easier for communities to set out their priorities for development.

The pilots involve neighbourhood planning, which was introduced by the Localism Act and gives communities power to shape the development of their area. This includes choosing where they want new homes,

shops and offices to be built, what these new buildings should look like and what infrastructure should be provided.

The government has also awarded up to £50,000 to four councils from the Bidding

Fund for Local Planning Authorities in Underrepresented Areas. This will go towards initiatives that give additional support to residents to produce a Neighbourhood Plan, which must be used by a local authority when determining planning applications.

Over 1,200 communities across England have completed a neighbourhood plan, and more than 2,800 have started the neighbourhood planning process. They have been used by communities to encourage the delivery of affordable housing, homes for older people and young families, and for the conservation of green areas.

READ MORE

CLADDING

Developers told they must pay to fix the cladding crisis Michael Gove has warned developers that they must pay to fix the cladding crisis that they caused as he overhauls the government’s approach to building safety.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has written to the industry giving them a deadline of early March to agree a fully funded plan of action

including remediating unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre buildings, currently estimated to be £4 billion.

Developers must take forward all necessary remediation work at pace - prioritising those with greatest risks first and in all cases finding the quickest and most proportionate solution to make buildings safe.

In the letter, Gove warns he will take all steps necessary to make this happen, including restricting access to government funding and future procurements, the use of planning powers and the pursuit of companies through the courts. He adds that if industry fails to take responsibility, the government will if necessary impose a solution in law.

READ MORE

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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A breath of fresh air According to the WHO, Covid-19 is mainly spread through the air. Rensair’s portable, hospital-grade air purifier is making shared working spaces safer and encouraging a full return to the office.

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News

HOLIDAY HOMES

Rural communities ‘strangled’ by rise in holiday homes

CPRE research has shown a 1,000 per cent increase in short-term lets nationally over the last six years, with most in rural staycation hotspots – all while 176,000 families wait on social housing lists.

The analysis of data on properties on Airbnb and similar sites shows that 148,000 homes that

could have otherwise been, or in some cases, previously were, used as homes by local families are instead being put up on short-term and holiday lets.

CPRE says that startling figures in locations such as Cornwall, Devon, South Lakeland and Northumberland, and is often combined with social housing waiting lists that are lengthening year on year. In many of these rural areas these waiting lists could be drastically reduced or even eliminated if the number of properties advertised for short term let were available for local families.

In South Lakeland, for example, which saw a 1,231 per cent increase in short term listings between 2016-20, roughly half the families in need of social housing could be accommodated in properties exclusively available for holiday

SECOND HOMES

LONDON

rentals. Meanwhile in Cornwall, which saw short term listings grow 661 per cent in the five years to September 2021, there are roughly 15,000 families on social housing waiting lists and the same number of properties being marketed as holiday let.

The countryside charity is calling for tighter controls on second home ownership, including higher council tax on second homes and the requirement for short term lets to have planning permission. In addition to this, CPRE is also seeking for the definition of ‘affordable’ must be changed in national planning policy, with rents being tied to local incomes rather than market prices.

READ MORE

Government closes tax loophole on second homes

New measures will see owners of second homes who abuse a tax loophole by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets forced to pay.

Currently, owners of second homes in England can avoid paying council tax and access small business rates relief by simply declaring an intention to let the property out to holidaymakers.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said that the changes will target people who take advantage of the system to avoid paying their fair share towards local services in popular destinations such as Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District, Suffolk, West Sussex and the Isles of Scilly.

Around 65,000 holiday lets in England are liable for business rates of which around 97 per cent have rateable values of up to £12,000.

Second homeowners must pay council tax if they are not genuine holiday lets. From April 2023, second homeowners will have to prove holiday lets are being rented out for a minimum of 70 days a year to access small business rates relief, where they meet the criteria. Properties will also have to be available to be rented out for 140 days a year to qualify for this relief.

READ MORE

Plans to secure a green, clean future for London A new net-zero by 2030 report has outlined the action required to reduce air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in London to create a greener, healthier city fit for the future.

Published by Element Energy, and commissioned by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, analysis shows that more action will be required by City Hall, particularly around reducing vehicle use in London, but that the Mayor does not have the funding or powers to deliver everything that’s required alone.

Therefore, Khan is using the findings to urge the government to provide much greater support to help London reach net-zero by 2030.

The new report states that in order to meet the climate change targets, car traffic must reduce by at least 27 per cent in London by the end of the decade. More than a third of car trips made by Londoners could be walked in under 25 minutes and two thirds could be cycled in under 20 minutes.

It is believed that, if no additional action is taken to reduce air pollution beyond the existing polices, around 550,000 Londoners would develop diseases attributable to air pollution over the next 30 years and the cumulative cost to the NHS and the social care system is estimated to be £10.4 billion.

The report sets out that to achieve anywhere near a 27 per cent reduction in car vehicle kilometres, London will need a new kind of road user charging system implemented by the end of the decade at the latest. Such a system could abolish all existing road user charges – such as the Congestion Charge and ULEZ - and replace them with a simple and fair scheme where drivers pay per mile, with different rates depending on how polluting vehicles are, the level of congestion in the area and access to public transport.

READ MORE

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PEOPLE MAKE PLACES

Places that Work Functional, well maintained environments creating the trust to safely return to work. www.uk.issworld.com enquiries@uk.issworld.com

Facilities management

Setting a path to net zero by 2050 The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy sets out how the UK will decarbonise our homes, and our commercial, industrial and public sector buildings, as part of setting a path to net zero by 2050 The Heat and Buildings Strategy sets out Decarbonising buildings the government’s plan to significantly cut To meet net zero virtually all heat in buildings carbon emissions from the UK’s 30 million will need to be decarbonised. The benefits homes and workplaces in a simple, low-cost of more efficient, low-carbon buildings and green way whilst ensuring this remains for consumers are clear: smarter, better affordable and fair for households across the performing buildings, reduced energy bills and country. Like the transition to electric vehicles, healthier, more comfortable environments. this will be a gradual transition which will Additionally, studies indicate that more start by incentivising consumers and driving energy efficient properties typically have a down costs. higher value than less efficient ones. Evidence There are about 30 million buildings from a study commissioned by BEIS indicated in the UK. Heating these buildings that properties with an EPC C rating were contributes to almost a quarter of all UK worth around five per cent more than those emissions. Addressing the carbon emissions currently at EPC D rating, after controlling produced in heating and powering our for other factors such as property size and homes, workplaces and public buildings can archetype. The 2020s will be key to delivering not only save money on energy bills and a step change in reducing emissions from improve lives, but can support up to 240,000 buildings and establishing the foundations of skilled green jobs by 2035, boosting the a pathway to net zero. This means improving economic recovery, levelling up across the the efficiency and flexibility of our buildings, country and ensuring we build back better. and developing the UK supply The Heat and Buildings Strategy aims chains and technology to provide a clear direction of options needed travel for the 2020s, set out the to save carbon Within strategic decisions that need throughout the the Hea t and to be taken this decade, and decade and Building s demonstrate how we plan put us on a S t r a g t egy, the overnm to meet our carbon targets cost-effective e set of fi nt develope and remain on track for net pathway to d ve core a zero by 2050. net zero. p to rin

guid ciple 2020s a e action in the s nd lo transfo nger-term rm to net z ation ero

Investing in energy efficiency will bring down bills for millions of households and businesses – with government support for low income households to pay for improvements.

Meanwhile we are acting to reduce the costs of low-carbon heat – with the ambition of working with industry to reduce the costs of heat pumps by at least 25-50 per cent by 2025 and towards parity with boilers by 2030, and supporting consumers who switch early with £5,000 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants. Alongside action to remove distortions in energy prices, heat pumps should be no more expensive to buy and run than existing boilers and we are investing in innovation to make them smaller, easier to install and beautiful in design.

Decarbonising buildings can provide a major economic stimulus, creating new highlyskilled jobs, products, markets, and supply chains in the UK, fit for a net zero future. As building improvements are labour-intensive, upgrading our homes and workplaces could rapidly create new opportunities and support over 240,000 low-carbon jobs by 2035 across the sector (from manufacture to installation and modelling to project management) as part of a green recovery, while also reducing energy bills and delivering better, greener, and healthier homes and workplaces. E

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Facilities management

 The journey to net zero buildings starts with better energy performance. Increased awareness of energy use and the need for greater efficiency is the first stepping-stone to enabling consumer decisions to improve building energy performance and use smarter, more efficient products and systems. Improving energy efficiency by adopting a fabric-first approach is key in ensuring the transition to low-carbon heating is cost-effective and resilient. ‘Fabricfirst’ means focusing on installing measures that upgrade the building fabric (e.g. walls/ lofts) itself before making changes to the heating system. The government is committed to supporting businesses and households to upgrade as many buildings as possible to higher levels of energy efficiency and flexibility, in a way that will ensure long-term compatibility with low-carbon heating systems.

Five core principles Within the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the government developed a set of five core principles to guide action in the 2020s and longer-term transformation to net zero. Firstly, taking a whole-buildings and whole-systems approach to minimise costs of decarbonisation.

Secondly, prorating innovation as being key in driving down costs, improving options and informing future decisions, Thirdly, accelerating ‘no- and low-regrets’ action immediately. Next balancing certainty and flexibility to provide stability for investment and enabling different approaches to be taken to address different buildings. And lastly, targeted support to enable action for those most in need.

Key commitments Amongst key pledges made by the government, the strategy outlines how ministers intend to: phase out the installation of new natural gas boilers from 2035; reduce the costs of installing a heat pump by at least 25-50 per cent by 2025, and ensure heat pumps are no more expensive to buy and run than gas boilers by 2030; significantly grow the supply chain for heat pumps to 2028; and develop the evidence base necessary to take strategic decisions on the role of hydrogen for heating buildings in 2026.

On creating greener buildings, commitments include: improving the performance of existing homes; supporting social housing, low income and fuel poor households; and leading through the public sector.

The government aims to reduce direct emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent against a 2017 baseline by the end of carbon budget. This will be done by encouraging public sector organisations to monitor and report their energy use, develop and deploy plans to decarbonise, including by applying for government funding, and to lead by example to build demand and encourage other sectors to decarbonise.

The government has already made available over £1 billion through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which will provide critical support and drive whole-building interventions that deliver energy efficiency and low-carbon heating at the same time. £1425 million is being invested into this scheme over 2022/23 to 2024/25.

The government has already made available over £1 billion through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which will provide critical support and drive whole-building interventions that deliver energy efficiency and low-carbon heating at the same time Levelling up We need to decarbonise and support clean growth in every region of the UK. This means substantial opportunities for local investment and job creation. The Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine, and rural communities represented by Britain’s Leading Edge have all highlighted the importance of low-carbon investment to their future economic growth.

The government will ensure that the benefits of the UK’s growing low-carbon economy are shared fairly in every region, targeting areas of greatest need by encouraging manufacturing and training to provide jobs and the government is already providing funding where it is most appropriate, supporting low income and fuel poor households, social housing tenants, and vulnerable consumers.

Tangible, targeted benefits can be achieved through action to upgrade poor-performing buildings. This is supported by research conducted by the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group which found a correlation between areas of deprivation and homes with low thermal efficiency and high-carbon heat sources in England. The same report explored the incidence of fuel poverty in England and

found it to be typically higher outside of the South East, particularly in rural areas including Cornwall, Cumbria and Lancashire.

Therefore, the ambition (as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy) to upgrade as many homes as possible to EPC band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable, and action to phase out high-carbon fossil fuel heating in off-gas- grid buildings, can deliver broader benefits to deprived areas.

By its nature, installing energy efficiency measures and new heating systems requires local supply chains. It can also tap into the network of UK supply chains and SMEs, supporting the wider UK economy.

The UK will continue to support vulnerable and fuel poor households as they decarbonise their homes through utilising the latest metrics and communicating clear strategies to tackle fuel poverty and through providing targeted support for social housing residents, and low income and fuel poor households through government-funded grants. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.agilisys.co.uk

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Germgard System from Fireco

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Grounds management

Getting the nation back to play post-pandemic; the hidden challenges Jason Booth, COO at the Grounds Management Association, discusses the surge of interest in outdoor exercise and playing sport post-pandemic, and the hidden challenges we face in getting the nation back to play It’s been nearly two years since the UK was first gripped by the Covid-19 pandemic and since then we have seen a significant shift in what we, as a nation, value most in our daily lives.

For many, the ability to exercise and to play sport outdoors has never been more appreciated. With this renewed appreciation, we hoped to see the maintenance of outdoor spaces given more support than ever before and, encouragingly, the groundwork is now in place to do so. Investment into the sector in the GMA, through the confirmation of a £3.9 milliom investment in Phase 3 of our Pitch Advisory Service to provide technical assistance and support to grassroots clubs, from the Football Foundation, Sport England, and the National Governing Bodies of sport, is significant in helping us to address the worst of the issues facing grassroots pitches and green spaces.

more sport on grass surfaces if they could.

However, whilst demand for grass surfaces is high and significant funding from the NGBs has been pledged, any issues in supporting the work of grounds could hinder the nation’s ability to use outdoor spaces. The right steps have been taken, but support needs to be consistent and sustained over a long period if we are to see any significant improvements.

The data shows that within the next decade, almost three quarters of a million adults and young people may be affected by deteriorating pitches seasonally, with the majority The demand for grass potentially finding themselves unable to play. surfaces vs supply challenges If we were not to properly support The pandemic has reminded us how grounds teams, this problem could intrinsic playing and watching sport become more pronounced is to the nation. Our Back to when considering how Play research found that 57 The Co severely the pandemic has per cent of children aged v pandem id-19 impacted the grounds seven-18 and 30 per cent ic has management sector. E of adults say they’d play rem However, the need for action remains a priority as research we published in our Back to Play report at the start of the pandemic indicates that there is a crisis facing the groundscare sector in providing the facilities to meet increased demand. So, whilst we should embrace our newfound appreciation for outdoor spaces, we must also focus on supporting those who maintain them, or we may not be able to meet the demands for exercise and sport we currently see.

in intrinsicded us how watchinplaying and g to the n sport is ation

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Grounds management

 The cost of the pandemic on grounds management Outdoor sport and exercise have never been in more demand and we should consider the challenges faced by those working behind the scenes to ensure that the use of outdoor grass surfaces remains possible.

The financial effects of the pandemic have been felt in every part of society, forcing many businesses and organisations to make tough decisions that have impacted grounds staff through reduced levels of staffing and heavilycut budgets.

Even with recent increased awareness of what grounds staff are faced with, it’s a shame to see criticism aimed at grounds teams when pitches and grass surfaces inevitably cannot be perfect due to the multitude of varying factors that impact natural turf, coupled with overuse due to fixture demands. Much of this criticism fails to acknowledge that it has actually been a remarkable achievement that so many matches could be played over the pandemic.

All this has been done despite grounds teams facing high numbers of redundancies, increased workloads, budget cuts, and historically challenging weather conditions.

The need to support the groundscare sector Despite the challenges the sector faces, there is still reason for optimism. Our Back to Play research shows that, if we were to focus on improving existing grass pitches and surfaces, almost 1,400,000 more children could play rugby or football every week and 489,859 more could play cricket every season. That means 4,000,000 more children’s football matches could happen every year on existing pitches, all of which would have a positive impact on our communities, from the improvement of the nation’s health and well-being, to increased opportunities for marginalised groups and a greater sense of community.

The need for action remains a priority as research we published in our Back to Play report at the start of the pandemic indicates that there is a crisis facing the groundscare sector in providing the facilities to meet increased demand It’s estimated that physical inactivity already costs the NHS £1.1 billion a year and with a decline in playable grounds, this figure could rise. However, playing sport can reduce the risk of developing type two diabetes by 30-40 per cent as well as the risk of a range of medical conditions, including cancer, dementia, strokes and heart disease. In our survey, we also found that 64 per cent of adults said playing in a local sports league every week is good for mental health with 51 per cent of children aged seven-18 saying that playing on local grass pitches was fun.

There are further benefits in supporting grounds teams in providing outdoors spaces for exercise. Currently, there is a supply issue for women’s sport. Nationally, over a quarter of adult women and 55 per cent of girls aged seven-18 would play more team sports on grass surfaces if they could, but often there isn’t the opportunity to so. If we were to improve our support for grounds staff that maintain outdoor grass facilities, we would be better placed to meet the demand for more facilities from women’s sport.

We would also likely see a wider benefit to the community as a whole. With a sense of community growing during over the course of the pandemic, it’s likely that the desire for local sport will continue to increase, supported by the fact that 57 per cent of adults believe

playing local team sport is a national past time. With such a strong association between community-building and local sport, the provision of more grass pitches will be crucial in capitalising on the widespread desire to get outside and exercise.

Grounds management a vital profession The past 20 months has undoubtably been the hardest the industry has faced, but with more people understanding and appreciating the work that goes into maintaining grass spaces, the road ahead is a positive one. Without grounds staff, sport and outdoor exercise would not be possible, so make sure you get behind grounds staff and support them in helping the nation get outside and exercising.

At the GMA, we aim to increase the skills and talent of grounds staff and we’re collaborating with the National Governming Bodies of sport on workforce development so that existing and future generations can continue to play sport and exercise outdoors.

In order to make this possible, the grounds sector needs investment and the right support in maintaining pitches and grass surfaces. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.thegma.org.uk

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Play

A national playground network is needed to ‘Level Up’ Mark Hardy, chair of the Association of Play Industries, looks at the role of playgrounds as the centre of communities across the UK and says now is the time for a national network of playgrounds to tackle the disparity between deprived communities and more affluent areas The link between physical activity and health is well documented. British children are experiencing never-beforeseen levels of ill health, intensified by the inactivity imposed on them during lockdowns. Their increasingly screenbased, sedentary, reduced-sleep lifestyle and declining outdoor physical activity has serious implications for children’s mental and physical health outcomes.

British children are part of a global trend of low physical activity and the UK has very poor levels compared to other countries.

Children now sleep less and by the time they finish primary school many children have the highest levels of body fat on record.

Rates of child Type 2 diabetes and mental illness are also the highest in our history.

Deprivation and child health A briefing from the Commission for Equality in Mental Health shows that children from the most deprived households are four times as likely to develop serious mental health issues by the time they reach 11 than their wealthier peers.

There is also a strong association between deprivation and obesity in children. In 2019/20, the prevalence of obesity in children aged four-five was almost twice as high in the most deprived areas (13 per cent) compared to the least deprived areas (6.7 per cent). It is a similar picture for older children: in 2019/20, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 10-11 was 27 per cent in the most deprived areas and 14 per cent in the least deprived areas.

Why playgrounds matter In April 2020, parents were asked about normal life before Covid restrictions in the biggest ever study on play in the UK. Using a nationally representative sample of 1,919 adults who had a child aged five-11 years, it found that, away from home, playgrounds were cited as the most popular spaces for outdoor play at least once a week.

The study endorsed the essential role of public play areas in the physical and mental health of children. As community assets, playgrounds impact significantly upon children’s health and well-being but, despite the fact that the hardships of lockdowns

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A survey of 1,111 parents with children aged two-12, carried out by the Association of Play Industries via the parenting website Mumsnet, showed the devastating impact that a lack of outdoor play facilities has Public play spaces had on some children. Over one third (35 are great levellers per cent) of parents have experienced the Playgrounds are free at the point of access, closure or neglect of their local playground and as such they help to level up inequality. and nine out of 10 parents who Children from disadvantaged were not close to a playground backgrounds have a greater need said that having access for these spaces: one in eight would make their child British households has no T he pow play outside more. access to a garden, rising of play er As many as 72 per to more than one in five as a prevent cent of parents of households in London a children with health and the percentage health tive public measur issues such as obesity of homes without a e should said that the lack of garden is higher among under-e not be outdoor play facilities ethnic minorities, with stimate in their area has played black people in England d a role in their children’s nearly four times as likely problems. Over a quarter as white people to have of parents surveyed with no outdoor space at home. children experiencing mental Semi-skilled, unskilled or casual health problems and 26 per cent of workers and people who are unemployed parents with children who have sleep are almost three times as likely as those in problems said that the lack of outdoor more skilled roles to be without a garden. play facilities in their area has played For children living in these households, a role in their children’s difficulties. the availability of public playgrounds is essential to their health and development, Build Back Better as playgrounds represent their only to Level Up opportunity for outdoor play outside of Public playgrounds are often the hub of the school day. Access to local ‘doorstep’ local communities, a place as integral playgrounds, where they can play to neighbourhood cohesion as local frequently, safely and in high-quality schools, shops or pubs. They are shared environments is key to their achieving spaces where all generations meet but and maintaining good overall health. most importantly, they are a lifeline to the children of the community.

The need for a coordinated The power of play as a preventative national network public health measure should not be underCurrently, the creation of public play spaces estimated. A nationally funded network of is a piecemeal affair, handled by individual inclusive, local, ‘doorstep’ playgrounds will local authorities with no coordinating have a dramatic effect on the mental and body to fund and oversee national play physical health of those children that need provision. In reality, this means that cashit the most. Playgrounds have the ability strapped LAs face increasingly difficult to turn young lives around by embedding choices as to how to allocate their a love of play, activity and exercise, budgets, with funding for outdoor play establishing healthy habits for life. L areas often sacrificed in favour of other demands, a situation greatly exacerbated by the pandemic. The result is patchy play FURTHER INFORMATION provision overall, with some areas wellwww.api-play.org served and others woefully lacking. have inspired a renewed appreciation for shared public spaces, they are still not prioritised as essential for public health.

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

Play Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Risk management

How risk leaders should adapt to the 2022 workplace Stephen Sidebottom, chair of the Institute of Risk Management, explores the widespread challenge facing organisations of adapting to ongoing, unpredictable change, and why excellent risk management has never been a greater priority For most organisations responding well to the impact of the pandemic was the biggest challenge of the past year. Managing new ways of working, crises in the supply chain, cyber risk, hiring and engaging people, and the Great Resignation have been some of the most important concerns for leaders.

The growing focus on ESG risks means many organisations are already recognising the importance of understanding how they contribute to society and the obligations they have to people in their community, whether work colleagues or part of the wider ecosystem. This translates into a renewed focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as a driver of sustainable performance and a growing debate about the role of organisations in the fight for social justice.

I wanted to start the year by asking what this means for risk leaders and what they need to do to ready themselves for the challenges of 2022? I propose four key development areas:

Engage and collaborate Reshape yourself as Successful risk management now requires a an inclusive leader multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach The key change risk leaders need to make to with a deep capacity to experiment, share, create an agile and adaptive performance and make sense of a changing culture in their workplace and teams world. In an increasingly hybrid is to become more inclusive as and connected world of a leader.

Risk lea work, risk leaders need Creating a community need to ders to engage consciously where all members are and deliberately to valued for what they how to plan cultivat create agile networks bring means listening relation e that provide insight, much more carefully s h ip s and b networ drive performance, and to what people have u il d k s support high levels of to say, encouraging their or both within ganisat employee engagement. people to share their ion and ext Risk leaders need to perspectives, and ernally s plan how to cultivate engaging with challenging relationships and build conversations on the things networks both within their that really matter to people at organisations and externally. work and in their lives.

Your new favourite question as Your new favourite question as a a leader should be ‘how can I help?’ E leader should be ‘what do you think?’

Issue 29.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Sparking change in public sector L&D for 2022 We collaborate with councils, police forces, charities, educators, and health services, building and fostering learning cultures that inspire people to perform to their full potential.

We provide thousands of quality-assured resources, all in one device friendly solution, to help your people develop their workplace skills, take control of their personal development and boost performance.

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See it for yourself

Focus on skills and education Preparing your organisations and workforces for post pandemic changes means focusing not only on practical changes to the workplace but a whole set of challenges about building the right culture, skills, and capabilities. This requires careful calibration of the role of leaders and what is changing in your expectations of your people.

Preparing your staff now, through training, education, qualification, and skill building will help them maximise the post pandemic recovery and support new strategic directions. Prioritising staff training, retention, and career growth is much more cost effective than recruiting for new positions, retains institutional knowledge, and creates a high level of staff engagement, commitment, and loyalty.

Your new favourite question as a leader should be ‘how can I help you learn and grow?’ L FURTHER INFORMATION www.theirm.org

How did you get your job?

I have always worked in risk management in local government.

My risk career started at Shropshire County Council, I now work for the City of Edinburgh Council as Principal Risk Manager.

What’s a typical day like as Principal Risk Manager?

Busy and diverse, the role involves being in amongst teams helping to support the management of risk. I spend a lot of time delivering risk workshops and analysing risk information/reporting to management teams.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

How busy the role is and how much you learn and understand about the wide range of services the council delivers.

What are the challenges?

In a time of austerity this brings more challenges for local government; however there are also great opportunities risk management is key to this and is part of affecting this.

guidance available through the IRM website is excellent.

How has your role developed and what are your career ambitions?

Has being linked to the IRM helped?

My role has developed in terms of the risk approaches I enable colleagues to use, especially scenario planning, creating greater understanding of interdependencies. The importance of applying the risk management process is key. My ambition is to keep delivering risk support in an informed manner and to a high standard. Being linked to the IRM has really helped, gaining the International Diploma gives assurance that you are educated and understand risk management as well as knowing the organisation you work within.

Top tips: Learn about and understand the organisation comprehensively and be involved/aware of change where risks/ opportunities exist.

Understand how colleagues think about risk – in discussions listen carefully and let colleagues discuss/get their views across, be the support and challenge.

In what way are your IRM qualifications relevant?

Timeliness is everything – make sure risks are managed in a timely way.

IRM qualifications are relevant in that I share my knowledge with the organisation to support risk management effectively.

Encourage a good balance between risk assessment and managing risks.

What would you say to others thinking about joining IRM as a member?

Go for it, the benefits are great, especially in terms of learning/sharing information. The risk management

Risk management

 Explore the unknown Our common experience of the past two years teaches us all that the world is complex and unpredictable. The model of a leader who knows the answer and directs their people on what to do is increasingly anachronistic.

Problems are no longer mostly technical, and leaders don’t have answers to complex, adaptive challenges. Most leaders aren’t great at learning about new things. They tend to operate in confirmatory bubbles, and many see ‘knowing the answer’ as part of their authority.

Becoming curious about the things you don’t know can therefore seem quite difficult, and it requires humility and a real desire to learn and understand. As a leader this also means creating space for uncertainty and experimentation in your teams.

Your new favourite question as a leader should be ‘what am I missing?’

Case Study: Michelle McMillan, GradIRM: Principal Risk Manager, The City of Edinburgh Council

Promote risk monitoring and review – it’s key to getting things done.

FURTHER INFORMATION: www.theirm.org/news/michellemcmillan-gradirm-principal-riskmanager-the-city-of-edinburgh-council

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Advertisement Feature

Bacula Systems: experts in data backup and recovery Government Business interviews Frank Barker, CEO of Bacula Systems, in which he shares his thoughts on the security challenges facing government departments sure their organisation – for which they are ultimately responsible – are as safe as possible.

You don’t have to be a technology expert to check the basics with your IT department. The key message here is that all UK government agencies can become adequately protected if the right things are done.

How so?

Frank Barker is the CEO of Bacula Systems, which provides advanced backup and recovery solutions to many western government agencies

Frank, I imagine that in your role, you are in a position to learn a lot about the security challenges that government IT departments are up against?

Frank: The situation today continues to be increasingly challenging, with more threats facing government organisations than ever before. Compared to many governments around the world the UK government has done a very good job at moving its many departments online to provide citizens with good and efficient services. This has of course increased the attack surface for cyber attacks. The combination of an always-on infrastructure with an always increasing threat vector means it’s actually become quite critical. I expect nearly all UK departments to face at least one and likely several attacks over the next year or so. Most government agencies in the UK still need to be moving to a higher level of data security to combat the higher level of threat. This means higher security through a number of layers – personnel, processes, and IT. For example, some IT departments have data backup processes in place that are out of date, no longer fit for purpose, or have been outgrown.

On the other hand, other departments may be adequately protected, but paying far more of the tax payers’ money than they need to. Of course, many have to deal with limited resources, or incomplete training and experience. For example, sometimes, after a ransomware attack, departments can be unable to recover quickly – which they should be able to do – or in some cases, they will struggle to even be able to recover at all.

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What are the reasons is it so bad at the moment?

Frank: Over time, IT systems themselves have become more and more critical to running economic, social, and governmental activities.

As the information in these systems is of course stored and processed digitally it is prone to attack – in particular, to ‘theft’ by copying, to being ‘taken hostage’, by being encrypted or by threatening to make public.

This has become a fast growing market for organised crime groups of all types and the UK for a variety of reasons, including the extent of digitisation and language, is a preferred target.

But is backup and recovery not just a basic service that is easy to do?

Frank: It should be as easy as possible, but the need to protect a wide range of applications and data types is not trivial. Remember, attackers can not only choose specific targets, but also only need to succeed just once – while IT system protection needs to be vigilant at all times and must never fail.

So is it OK for government agencies and organisations to just leave it all to their IT departments to figure out?

Frank: That’s more or less how it used to be.

But now with ransomware, or similar threats becoming so prevalent and the massive damage they can do to an organisation, I would strongly suggest that government leaders actively engage more with their IT leaders to make

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

Frank: Well for example we provide a simple checklist that any departmental leader can work through with his or her IT leaders, and be reassured that the important factors are well covered.

What sort of important factors?

Frank: A couple spring to mind immediately.

One would be to make sure that the recovery process meets the departmental needs in terms of speed and the order in which systems are brought back on line.

Another would be to check if the IT team uses backup systems that employ immutable storage or vaulted copies of backups. ‘Immutable’ in this context means stored data that cannot be changed or deleted. These systems are likely to be more robust against attacks than those that do not. Another example would be to agree that one copy of the backed up data is seldom enough. There should at least be a second copy replicated to a disaster recovery location.

These and other basic principles are worth the small amount of time it takes an organisation’s leaders to become aware of. The guidelines are applicable to all backup systems although our successes in government security projects around the world would suggest that we are delivering better and more cost effectively than most.

BaculaSystems’ checklist against ransomware for organisation leaders is available here. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.baculasystems.com

Cloud Expo Europe will bring the IT community back together, connecting technologists, business leaders and senior business managers from the public and private sector with technology vendors Cloud Expo Europe is the largest cloud computing event in Europe. It’s where IT professionals can learn from their peers, meet with suppliers, seek advice, evaluate cloud solutions and services to help shape the future of their business.

Cloud Expo Europe is completely free to attend, with everything under one roof. It’s also part of Tech Show London, giving you access to other industry-leading shows; Data Centre World, Cloud & Cyber Security Expo, Big Data and AI World, and DevOps Live.

Delegates will enjoy more than 100 hours of high-quality content across two days. There is an incredible line-up of speakers, such as Tim Berners-Lee, to deliver keynotes and discussion. Our new interactive zone provides attendees with roundtables, hackathons, workshops, leadership discussions and drop-in clinics – no other show offers this much insight

Cloud Expo Europe

Transform the future of your business under one roof without an entry free… you really cannot afford to miss this!

With such a vast array on offer, Cloud Expo Europe always attracts a high-quality crowd. Immerse yourself in an event where heads of departments and senior managers flock to for the best inspiration for their organisation. This offers you the opportunity to enhance and expand your network by liaising with the very best in the sector.

What’s exciting and new for 2022?

There are three exciting headline themes for 2022, which are: Controlling costs and complexity, Digital acceleration, and Future of the cloud. These have been chosen to reflect the trends within the industry, helping you to keep pace with the latest technologies and choose the best for your organisation.

Controlling Costs and Complexity In theory, the ‘X-as-a-Service’ model for cloud computing should make controlling IT costs and complexity easier. However, the realities of maintaining oversight of IT infrastructure when apps, subscriptions and users can be generated at the click of a button is incredibly complex – particularly for organisations using a multi-cloud approach. In these sessions, we will be discussing methods for optimising and predicting costs in the cloud (both using vendors’ own tools, as well as third party technology), looking at how to avoid vendor lock-in and ways to manage built-in redundancy - among other practical insights. E

Bacula Enterprise Data Backup and Recovery

Bacula Enterprise delivers single platform physical, virtual, container and hybrid cloud backup and recovery to significantly help governments to enhance services and save money in their shift to digitisation.

Military and defence, educational institutions, research laboratories and local authorities prefer Bacula’s robust protection and recovery from cyber attacks. It also lowers costs significantly.

Dr. Gerdes, Leibniz Universität Hannover, said: “Bacula’s scalability in terms of clients is very impressive and it allows us to pay a reasonable price on a yearly basis.”

Bacula’s broad feature-set also covers Microsoft 365 backup.

With other backup solutions, more than several hundred M365 users means unattractive costs. But Bacula’s flat pricing model for M365 offers huge cost reduction to government offices.

Bacula’s highly secure solution integrates tape, disk and cloud backup. It covers VMware, RHV, Hyper-V, KVM Proxmox, Xen, Docker, Kubernetes – and more.

Rogerio Goncalves, Navisite, said Bacula is “the most powerful backup tool on the market. Multi-cloud, multienvironment and multi-OS backups all in one tool.” L Bacula: stand C480 at CloudExpo, 2-3 March 2022 Excel, London.

Download the Cyber Security for Government Leaders white paper.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.baculasystems.com

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Business Information for Local and Central Government

Click here for your FREE subscription and to receive the latest issue and newsletter direct to your inbox Published by

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Cloud Expo Europe

 Digital Acceleration Most organisations have been undergoing a process of digital transformation for many years. However, the pandemic and the explosion in remote working has massively accelerated this shift towards reliance on digital and cloud-based technology.

Companies are using cloud services more than ever, mobile technology is deeply entwined with processes, and firms are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence, IoT and edge computing. In these sessions, we will be exploring how organisations can increase their adoption of modern cloud-based tools, migrate complex legacy apps and decide what needs to be migrated – and what should be kept on-premises.

Future of the Cloud What will the cloud look like in two, five- or ten years’ time? This theme will explore emerging trends and ‘signals’ about what the future of the cloud might look like. It will look at innovative new technologies particularly the emergence of edge computing which brings computing power closer to users.

It will also be investigating key geopolitical factors and will ask what increasingly regional cloud ecosystems will mean for business. Then there is sustainability - how will demands for greater energy efficiency affect how cloud datacentres are run?

Why should you attend?

Cloud Expo Europe offers you a vast array of product demos and buying opportunities, an incredible networking opportunity, and a wealth of education and advice. It’s everything you need to consider for your organisation for 2022 and beyond.

The speaker line-up for 2022 is outstanding, offering attendees the opportunity to hear from some of the leading lights in the industry. Enjoy an exciting discussion on driving innovations from Cloud to AI featuring the Head of Architecture at the BBC, and immerse yourself in the keynote presentation with the Senior Software Engineer at Netflix who will provide insight on how to create a culture for fast digital transformation.

If you’re looking to enhance your cloud strategy in 2022, you won’t want to miss the in-depth panel discussion featuring the Chief Technology Officer at Bupa, and if sustainability in cloud technology is your focus, we have a debate featuring the Chief Information Officer at Macmillan.

This is just a snapshot of our speaker line-up, there will be a wealth of technical discussions taking place across the two-day event with esteemed speakers from Comparethemarket.com, Willis Towers Watson, Great Ormond Street Hospital and many, many more.

Cloud Expo Europe is a vital calendar date for technologists and business leaders in the public, voluntary and private sector who are

involved in the design, build and management of digital transformation initiatives and specifying, maintaining, or managing an organisation’s technology architecture. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.cloudexpoeurope.com

The UK’s leading managed hosting provider

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centralised management for all hosting services.

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Looking to future proof your organisation? Come along to stand C650 at Cloud Expo Europe this March to chat with Hyve about your IT infrastructure. The Hyve team will be offering free IT health checks, where qualified experts will identify and evaluate your business needs, providing the relevant insights required to help you get the most out of your investment in IT. L

FURTHER INFORMATION www.hyve.com sales@hyve.com

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Technology

Eight public sector technology predictions for 2022 Tim Pitts shares his technology predictions for the public sector for 2022, including the better harnessing the power of data and driving customer experience through tactical digitisation The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic over 1. IT’s changing role in digitally the past 20 months have turned organisations savvy organisations on their heads. Whilst some site that there has The barriers to digital transformation have been a fundamental shift throughout local come down over the past 20 months. IT government IT and digital thinking, departments are pivoting away from others are arguing that the being a function that’s about changes brought on by feeding and watering boxes and The dig Covid-19 were merely wires, to one which is around the catalyst needed to driving digital capabilities transfo ital make organisations for the organisation. we are rmation adopt the changes In 2022, CIOs and n o w seeing is more they have long CDOs will increasingly the wa focussed on known they needed recognise that the job to make. isn’t just about looking approa y people are ching p Technology has, after the infrastructure. ro vs the t of course, been front Now, they are thinking echnoloblems differently and centre throughout about where g y itself the rapid digital the organisation could go transformation we have and what their leadership can been seeing. But as we move do for them. Local authorities will into the ‘new normal’ what are the continue to put tech leaders on the areas of tech that savvy CIOs are most likely board as they realise they can’t pivot without to be concentrating on over the next having digital leadership properly challenging 12 months? the business to re-think.

2. The next phase of RPA Many local authorities have already adopted robotic process automation (RPA) to remove time-sapping tasks from colleagues, allowing them to focus on more citizen-centred experiences. Thus far, RPA has been primarily used by business functions such as finance, HR, and IT. However, in 2022, data and risk management will become a core driver of RPA. Where you can use the ability of bots to not do anything unexpected it really plays to that compliance and audit aspect. Because they’re not going to deviate or do anything other than what they’re expected to, there’s a direct risk mitigation aspect to their role and I expect to see organisations move some tasks that could be deemed risky, and where human error could come into play, to RPA. 3. Driving customer experience through tactical digitisation The digital transformation we are now seeing is more focussed on the way people are approaching problems vs the technology itself. E

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Technology

 With the increasing range of technological options now available, being able to connect services, data and citizen interactions is just a small part of what has been made possible.

In 2022, local authorities will look at how they can leverage one contact and the data they’ve got on a citizen to make their life simpler across all their transactions. They will use the tools at their disposal to create a digital experience that all citizens expect.

Solutions today provide much lower cost methods of managing contact than traditional methods, while also delivering a significantly better customer experience.

4. Using technology to accurately predict, pre-empt and pre-authorise IT departments will continue to put resilience into their services with the expectation that demand will continue to creep back up as we move out of the pandemic. Being able to automate decisions such as planning applications will speed up the economy. Preempting and pre-authorising processes such as blue badges or parking will revolutionise the customer journey and automating the validation of any care related services will strip out weeks of uncertainty and hardship for many.

In 2022, digital leaders will increasingly look at the information they have available and use it to understand where demand is coming from.

Adult social care is a good example. Using data, and ideally working as part of an integrated care system, local authorities can understand what the demand is going to be by person. They may want to know who ‘Molly’ is, roughly when she’s likely to hit the system and what support she’ll need. Then, who is best placed to support her. This is where the world of IoT and in-home tech solutions can really come into their own

and is a good example of a game-changing operational pivot towards in investing in change that will pay off in the future.

5. Harnessing the power of data Organisations are starting to recognise the power of what can be done with data, but we are all still only scratching the surface.

Think about the world of IoT and in-home tech solutions like sensors. By harnessing the power of these data sets, an authority could theoretically cut the number of adult social care workers, allowing a fundamental shift in the skillsets required within these teams. This shouldn’t be seen as a negative, though. It has always proven difficult to get good social care staff, and we are seeing this more so now with the lasting effects of the pandemic, Brexit and social care reforms. But if the majority of these roles were switched to data specialists, analysts and home tech specialists, you end up shifting the narrative and allowing yourself the space to deal with a much wider range of challenges.

6. Using technology to promote well-being Across all industries, there is currently an acute need to manage staff wellbeing.

Whilst there were plenty of issues before the pandemic, these have been intensified over the past year and a bit. Never has there been a better time to identify and measure where the biggest problems are and address them urgently. In 2022, technology will increasingly be used to help. One of its main benefits is that it takes emotion out of the equation. If decisions and plans are based on data, it is easier for businesses to remain objective and respond to the issues that have been identified as causing problems for

the general productivity and well-being of their people.

7. Moving up into the cloud I don’t think many would disagree that you’ve got to move to the cloud if you are to become a true digital enabler. For example, if you want to do proper machine learning to predict demand or understand how to communicate with people on an individual basis, most can’t afford the computing power to do it properly.

Most of the spend on innovation continues to be in the cloud – there are hundreds of digital services released every quarter by all the big platforms and very few of them are built with on-premises usage in mind. In fact, the big three cloud providers spent just under £70 billion on development last year. That’s a figure all authorities need to be taking advantage of, and one that we expect to see authorities leverage into 2022.

8. The climate emergency will drive transformation The climate emergency is, quite rightly, going to continue to be on everyone’s lips in 2022.

Well over 300 authorities have already declared a climate emergency and the recent COP26 summit monopolised headlines for weeks.

Moving to the cloud is a no-brainer for local authorities with environmental aspirations.

Plus, with all three big cloud providers declaring they’ll be carbon negative by 2030, let alone carbon neutral, it is yet another compelling reason to head to the cloud. L

Tim Pitts is Senior Partner at Agilisys.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.agilisys.co.uk

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Advertisement Feature

Transform grant disbursement and get funds to those who need it most with Capita Capita’s digital grant management services can help you to achieve more with less, reducing risk and delighting citizens

schemes in minutes with a fast, assured and effective platform; halve the operational costs of fund management and speed up the disbursement process; improve fund applicants’ experience with an easy, intuitive and highly automated process; minimise the risk of fraud with live data validation and fraud analytics; and gain real-time insights into scheme performance for auditing, impact assessment and future grants planning.

Billions of pounds of public money are distributed to organisations and citizens every year through grant schemes. In these unpredictable times, it’s vital that these funds reach the right people – quickly, transparently, and safely.

Unfortunately, the inefficient administration of grants often consumes valuable funds, leaving less to be disbursed. Fraud is an issue, and it can be difficult to detect and prevent. Also, the eligibility criteria for grants can change regularly, which can increase the risk of error when relying on manual processing. That’s why Capita is digitally enabling the grant management process and reimagining the customer experience to ensure the right funding gets into the right hands, quickly, easily and reliably. We have developed a highly automated digital solution that industrialises grant processing, improves operational efficiency and reporting, prevents fraud, and follows Government Digital Service (GDS) standards.

Our digital grant management services are aligned with the government’s functional standards and can help to reduce the complexity, administrative time, and cost of designing, activating and managing effective grants. By digitising the process and making it far less reliant on error-prone manual

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input, we can support grant managers and administrators, while also providing a much smoother experience for citizens.

Protect against fraud and administrative error Powered by our highly automated, end-toend GrantIS solution, we help to streamline processes for designing grant schemes, disbursing funds, and managing schemes’ performance. By digitally enabling the grant administration process, government grant makers can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their schemes which creates better outcomes for businesses and citizens.

A digital solution also facilitates sophisticated fraud detection and prevention, including immediate data validation and eligibility checks, to ensure a larger number of compliant applications. And by reducing the level of manual processing that is required, it provides greater transparency and reduces error. It also provides real-time access to data about a scheme’s performance. This makes it much easier to monitor and audit a scheme and ensure that any learnings are fed into the design of future grants.

By transforming the administration and disbursement process, government grant makers can set up and launch new grant

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Experience you can trust We have fifteen years of end-to-end fund disbursement experience, helping clients to manage high volumes of applications, eligibility criteria and multi-channel operations. This means we are uniquely placed to help grant administrators to improve their schemes’ quality and outcomes, making sure that citizens and organisations receive the right financial help at the right time.

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Find out more Our digital grant management services can help you to achieve more with less, reducing risk and delighting citizens. To find out how we can help you to digitally transform the grant making process and get vital funds to those who need them most, visit our website L FURTHER INFORMATION https://content.capita.com/digital-grants-1

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Technology

How IT has coped with the pressures of the pandemic Sascha Giese examines how IT professionals in the public sector have coped in the past 18 months and what their expectations are for the future Managing public sector IT can be a challenge at the best of times – then add a global pandemic into the mix. It’s been a stressful year and a half for IT professionals, faced with the sudden, mass shift to remote

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working and the rush to adapt systems and processes to accommodate new devices and distributed teams. And with technology being so central to the government’s coronavirus response, through testing,

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vaccinations, and information campaigns, there’s been immense pressure to get it right.

Then there’s the ever-growing cyber threat as malicious actors become more sophisticated and the frequency of attacks

When it comes to looking to the future, IT professionals acknowledge the big cyber security challenge they face but are positive about their sector’s ability to adapt soar: according to GCHQ, the number of ransomware attacks on British institutions has doubled in the past year. Public sector organisations are particularly appealing targets due to the sensitivity of data involved and the widespread havoc an attack can wreak. Cyber criminals have also been mimicking official government communications and taking advantage of the public through false vaccination invitations.

It’s a lot for IT teams to deal with, and they’ve been doing it continuously

throughout this pandemic. We surveyed IT professionals from around the world and across a range of sectors to find out more about their experiences and get their insights on how the sector is evolving.

Rising to IT challenges and sector growth Despite the difficulties of the past year and a half, the sector has remained resilient and surprisingly optimistic. Of the 287 IT professionals we spoke to for our IT Pro

Technology

Day 2021 survey, almost half (48 per cent) said they were proud of what they do, 44 per cent said they love what they do, and four in ten (41 per cent) believe this year has proven they’re more capable than they realised. There’s also a great deal of confidence in the opportunities the future holds, with an overwhelming 81 per cent of those surveyed saying they believe there will be multiple opportunities to develop and enhance their careers in the next year.

In addition, 67 per cent of respondents said they expect their level of responsibility at work to increase over the next year, demonstrating the value of career progression to IT professionals, as well as highlighting the fast growth of the sector and high demand for IT skills. And when it comes to career progression, there’s a growing awareness of the role nontechnical skills play in professional development.

Collaboration skills, for example, listening to others, teamwork and networking are seen as the most important nontechnical skills, with 66 per cent of respondents picking these as most crucial for advancement.

IT professionals can also see how skills developed at home, or in daily life, can bring value to the workplace, with 70 per cent saying they have a hobby which helps them in their day-to-day role. Time management, communication skills, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving skills, drawn from everyday life, were all seen as important and useful to IT work.

The future of public sector IT When it comes to looking to the future, IT professionals acknowledge the big cybersecurity challenge they face but are positive about their sector’s ability to adapt.

Whilst 53 per cent of those surveyed pointed to cyber threats as the biggest challenge they expect their organisation to face in the next year, tech professionals also anticipate the evolution of IT operations into the ‘next normal’ to address this issue, among others, and better prioritise investments.

Specifically, 68 per cent believe they will see their organisation invest in new tools and processes to better address security, compliance, and risk; 44 per cent expect more collaborative technologies; and 40 per cent anticipate the adoption of nextgeneration IT operations solutions.

Coronavirus hasn’t vanished, and IT professionals are still working hard to build and maintain the infrastructure needed by public sector organisations. But the pandemic has proved the resourcefulness and resilience of the discipline and the people who are part of it. As society increasingly relies on tech to navigate new challenges and address historic issues, their skills and adaptability will only grow in importance. It’s through their expertise that we’ll build a better world. L

Sascha Giese is Head Geek™ at SolarWinds.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.solarwinds.com

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COP26

Adapting to survive – What did COP26 achieve?

Laura Hughes, partner at Browne Jacobson, discusses the key takeaways for local government at November’s COP26

As the dust settles on COP26 many However, COP26 had four key themes. have reflected on the successes Whilst three of the themes (securing for local government in terms of global net-zero by mid century, mobilising their presence, recognition and finance and working together to deliver) influence at the Conference. are engaged in the section For example, the Local Government of the Net Zero Association called for a specific day Strategy on Local at COP26 for local government, Climate Action, The and 11 November 2021 was duly the fourth, govern designated the Cities, Regions wants ‘ ment and the Built Environment to emp to continue Day. The LGA attended COP26 leaders ower our loc and had a presence in both to al the green (public facing) which wtake the actio ns zone and the blue (UN) zone, ill le biggest ad to the hosting a number of events. g Ahead of COP26 the in emis ains government published its sio reductio ns Net Zero Strategy ‘Build Back n Greener’. The strategy has a section, part 4v on Local Climate Action. Paragraph 10 indicates that the government wants ‘to continue to empower our local leaders to take the actions which will lead to the biggest gains in emissions reduction, including the potential opportunities in building back greener and meeting our ambitions to level up the country’.

Andy Burnham, the elected Mayor for Manchester, spoke in the main conference session and urged central government to ‘have the courage to let go, to hand the baton to cities and regions’ as ‘this is a race which can only truly be won from the bottom up’.

The final text of the Glasgow Climate Pact which emerged from COP26 explicitly recognises the important role of local communities and civil society in addressing and responding to climate change; and highlights the need for multilevel and cooperative action.

Local Government took action and spoke out, and on the face of it the UK government and the Conference of Parties itself took note. Whilst it remains to be seen how much of what is in the Net Zero Strategy around rationalisation of funding streams, and greater working together between central and local government comes to pass, there does seem to be collective agreement that local government is key to reducing our reliance on carbon, and achieving net zero.

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adaptation, is notably absent.

Indeed, adaptation is not mentioned more than minimally in the whole of the Net Zero Strategy.

Adaptation was though a key output in the Glasgow Climate Pact, with the Conference noting ‘with serious concern’ the adverse impact of increasing temperatures on people and nature. It

COP26

‘emphasises’ the ‘urgency of scaling up action and support’ to ‘enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change’ and ‘urges parties to further integrate adaptation into local, national and regional planning’.

What it the government policy on adaptation?

The Climate Change Act put in place a policy framework to promote adaptation in the UK, which includes publication of a National Adaptation Programme, on a five yearly basis and which was last was published in 2018.

The 2018 National Adaptation Programme does have a chapter on local government.

It talks in similar terms to the Net Zero Strategy about how adaptation can best be done at the local level, and about how the government will drive collaboration between central and local government.

The language used is already outdated three years on, and the content is short on detail. So where are we on adaptation.

Storm Arwen has demonstrated we still have some way to go. At the time

The final text of the Glasgow Climate Pact which emerged from COP26 explicitly recognises the important role of local communities and civil society in addressing and responding to climate change of writing, some 18,500 homes are still affected in Northumberland and have no power and water, some six days after the storm hit. Northumberland County Council is currently operating 12 community hubs offering a variety of hot food and drinks, hot showers, warmth (basically somewhere to sit out of the cold), and phone charging, and taking various other steps to manage the situation.

All of this has been happening in late November/early December when temperatures have been sub zero on a daily basis. Little of the seriousness of this situation is being reported in the national media. It has not even been properly addressed by a government minister.

There has certainly been no government support for the people affected.

Those living in the areas affected would say that this lack of reaction to serious events in the north is not uncommon (no wonder the levelling up agenda is met with scepticism in the north). For the most part, they have confidence in their local authorities to deliver on both net zero ambitions, and on adaptation. But they would also say that local authorities cannot do it alone and that government cannot simply hand responsibility over to local areas with little or no additional support.

Local government has shown itself able to get its voice heard so that the value of local delivery is addressed. Unless it wants more cases like that currently playing out in the north, it now needs to make some noise about government resourcing and supporting adaptation efforts properly at the local level. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.brownejacobson.com

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Leading with Science® to deliver excellence across vital public sector works supporting the Government’s long-term infrastructure strategies.

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Frameworks

Supporting building and civil engineering projects Central government and the wider public sector can access a wide range of technical advisory services in support of building and civil engineering projects of all scales and sizes through the Construction Professional Services framework agreement Public sector organisations and their arm’s length bodies can access all types of construction professional services throughout the lifecycle of their construction project.

The Crown Commercial Service designed the flexible contract structure to provide solutions that are specific to the customer’s needs while promoting collaborative working practices by bringing together the industry and the end user.

Services offered through this framework will include, but are not limited to: project management; cost management; engineering, for example civil, structural, electrical; architectural and design services (design of buildings, spaces and infrastructure); and environmental and sustainability services, for example: carbon neutral efficiencies which will help you to achieve carbon neutral.

The four year agreement supports key government policies and strategies including: the construction playbook; building information modelling (BIM); life cycle cost; prompt payment; social value and carbon net zero.

Amongst the benefits of the agreement, CCS lists a flexible application allowing the use of all common construction procurement methodologies including traditional, two stage design and build, as well as a range of flexible industry standard call off model form contracts including: New Engineering Contract (NEC); Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT); and Project Partnering Contract (PC2000).

Lots There are 26 suppliers on the agreement, spread across six Lots. Lot 1: Built Environment provides construction advisory services to support a wide range of projects and programmes in the built environment. Lot 2: Urban Regeneration provides construction advisory services to support a wide range of urban regeneration and infrastructure projects and programmes. Lot 3: International provides construction advisory services to support

a wide range of projects and programmes in locations world-wide. Lot 4: High Rise provides construction advisory services to support a wide range of high rise projects and programmes. Lot 5: Defence provides construction advisory services to support a wide range of projects and programmes including those of a sensitive nature where strict security regulations are needed regarding access to classified data, materials and

sites. Finally, Lot 6: Environmental provides environmental and sustainability technical advisory services in support of construction related projects and programmes.

The Construction Playbook The Construction Playbook sets out key policies and guidance for how public works projects and programmes are assessed, procured and delivered. It captures commercial best practices and specific sector reforms outlining the government’s expectations of E

The year ag four re suppor ement ts govern ment p key o strateg ies inclu licies and ding th constru and bu ction playboo e ilding in k f modellin ormation g (BIM)

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These are set out in 14 key policies for how the government should assess, procure and deliver public works projects and programmes which all central government departments and their arms length bodies are expected to follow on a ‘comply or explain’ basis.

Commercial pipelines: Contracting authorities’ commercial pipelines will be supported with a new central government procurement pipeline for public works projects. Pipelines will help suppliers to better understand the government’s long‑term demand and prepare themselves to respond to contract opportunities.

Market health and capability assessments: Projects and programmes will conduct an assessment of the health and capability of the market early on during the preparation and planning stage. This will enable project and programme teams to identify potential opportunities and limitations in the market, take advantage of emerging technologies and innovation, and consider what actions would increase competition and improve market health.

Portfolios and longer term contracting: We will develop long‑term plans for key asset types and programmes to drive greater value through public spending. Longer term contracting across portfolios, where appropriate,

Since 2018, the London Borough of Southwark and the City of Lincoln Council have received four tranches of funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Local Digital Fund to carry out a discovery project and deliver a new digital service for housing repairs will give industry the certainty required to invest in new technologies to deliver improved productivity and efficiency savings. Contracting authorities should demonstrate that this does not come at the expense of an innovative and competitive market.

Harmonise, digitise and rationalise demand: Demand across individual projects and programmes will be harmonised, digitised and rationalised by contracting authorities.

This will accelerate the development and use of platform approaches, standard products and components. Combined with longer term contracts, this will transform the market’s ability to plan, invest and deliver digital and offsite manufacturing technologies.

Further embed digital technologies: Contracting authorities should use the UK BIM Framework to standardise the approach to generating and classifying data, data

Frameworks

 how contracting authorities and suppliers, including the supply chain, should engage with each other.

security and data exchange, and to support the adoption of the Information Management Framework and the creation of the National Digital Twin.

Early supply chain involvement: Early supply chain involvement should now be used in developing the business case for projects and programmes. Involving the supply chain early in the project lifecycle will reduce downstream issues and help to develop clear, outcome‑focused designs and specifications.

Outcome-based approach: Contracting authorities should focus on outcomes, rather than scope, in their specifications. A new Project Scorecard is being developed to support projects and programmes in setting clear outcomes that align with government’s strategic priorities. In line with the government’s transparency agenda, the three most relevant key performance indicators E

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Benchmarking and Should Cost Models: Projects and programmes should undertake benchmarking to analyse information from past projects and programmes. This provides decision makers with key insights and data to make more informed and intelligent investment decisions. Projects and programmes should produce a Should Cost Model to better understand whole life costs and value.

Delivery model assessments: Contracting authorities should follow an evidence‑based process to decide the most appropriate delivery model and structure for a specific project or programme. The right delivery model enables clients and industry to work together to deliver the best possible outcomes.

Effective contracting: We will ensure that contracts are structured to support an exchange of data, drive collaboration, improve value and manage risk. They will set clear expectations for continuous improvement and be consistent with the principles in this Playbook.

Risk allocation: Proposals for risk allocation will be subject to consideration and scrutiny to ensure they have been informed by genuine and meaningful market engagement.

Inappropriate risk allocation has been a perennial concern of suppliers looking to

The Construction Playbook sets out key policies and guidance for how public works projects and programmes are assessed, procured and delivered do business with government and a more considered approach will make us a more attractive client, deliver better value for money and incentivise suppliers to focus on delivering agreed contractual outcomes.

Payment mechanism and pricing approach: The payment mechanism and pricing approach goes hand in hand with risk allocation and will similarly be subject to greater consideration and scrutiny to ensure it incentivises the desired behaviours or outcomes. This change is fundamental to making the construction sector a thriving and dynamic market that is sustainable in the long term and achieves the wider vision of this Playbook.

Assessing the economic and financial standing of suppliers: As part of the selection process, public works projects will comply with a minimum standard when assessing the risk of a supplier going out of business during the life of a contract. Consistently applying a minimum standard of testing will provide a better understanding of financial risk and leave us better able to safeguard the delivery of public works projects.

Frameworks

 (KPIs) from each of the government’s most important contracts will be made publicly available.

Resolution planning: There will now be a requirement for suppliers of critical public works contracts to provide resolution planning information. Although major insolvencies are infrequent, this change will help to ensure government is prepared for any risk to the continuity of critical public works projects posed by the insolvency of critical suppliers.

A new digital service for housing repairs In a recent case study, the Crown Commercial Service shared how the London Borough of Southwark and City of Lincoln Council partnered to use the Digital Marketplace to develop a new digital service for housing repairs Since 2018, the London Borough of Southwark and the City of Lincoln Council have received four tranches of funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Local Digital Fund to carry out a discovery project and deliver a new digital service for housing repairs.

The discovery project’s aim was to define a common service pattern for housing repairs in socially rented properties and to understand E

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 the barriers to the adoption of digital repairs services. In September 2021, the minimum viable product (MVP) for the service moved into beta testing.

At each stage, the partners have commissioned suppliers through the CCS Digital Marketplace. The marketplace enables public sector buyers to find technology or people for their digital projects quickly, easily, and efficiently. Users are able to access everything from data centres and hosting individual technology specialists such as developers or user researchers.

In this case, the individual procurement processes have each resulted in the appointment of different suppliers to handle specific elements of the project according to their expertise. Many of them are SMEs with a particular focus on producing innovative outcomes.

Fraser Trickett, Organisational Change Lead at City of Lincoln Council, has been pleased with the results of using the Digital Marketplace. He said: “We had a good response rate to each of the adverts we published on the marketplace from a wide range and variety of suppliers. This variety meant we were always able to award to a supplier with the skills and culture that we were looking for, as both the project and team evolved. As we were working with multiple councils, we found the clarity of the documentation and templates were extremely useful too, taking any ambiguity out of what could have been a complicated process.”

The ambition of the partners is to produce something designed for user needs that is scalable and easily adopted by other local authorities or housing associations.

Administration costs for managing housing repairs services using traditional ‘offline’ methods can run into millions of pounds for an organisation, so the potential savings innovation can deliver are significant.

Modular Building Solutions The Department of Health and Social Care used the Crown Commercial Service’s Modular Building Solutions framework to roll-out Covid testing sites across the UK. As a result of the pandemic, the demand for testing sites began to rapidly increase. In an effort to protect and safeguard public health, the Department of Health and Social Care was tasked with the job of facilitating a rollout of testing sites across the UK. Modular buildings provided the ideal solution for DHSC as they are significantly quicker to build and offer improved safety, reduced risk, and greater certainty of completion on time and budget.

DHSC used the Modular Building Solutions framework to source suitable suppliers who could meet their requirements. This framework has been designed to help the entire public sector with their permanent or temporary modular and portable buildings, which can be purchased or hired, and designed and fabricated to the customer’s exact specification.

Premier Modular secured one of the contracts with DHSC. Their initial contract required 25 testing sites across the UK and was soon extended to up to 50 sites nationwide – from Portsmouth right the way up to Inverness.

Each standalone testing site had a 110sqm purpose-designed testing building prefitted with eight patient cubicles, hygienic walls, separate staff entrance and exit, test collection, and drop off zones and a family testing room. Premier was also contracted to supply a number of other facilities for the testing sites, including a PPE room, stores, test preparation, staff rest room, kitchenette and toilets. They also provided essential services such as a water supply, alarm systems and electricity generators, reducing procurement time for DHSC.

As modular buildings are constructed off-site, Premier was able to continue operating safely and at capacity from the very start of the pandemic in March 2020. They maintained social distancing measures in a controlled factory environment, which helped to reduce the number of subcontractors operating on construction sites during the pandemic. They were also able to recruit around 100 new workers during the pandemic because of the increase in demand for temporary modular buildings.

The geographical spread of testing sites required strong logistics and detailed project management from Premier. Their team reduced site installation to as little as three days, including testing, commissioning, service connections, handover, and inductions.

Paul Jones, Category Lead at the Crown Commercial Service, said: “I was completely overwhelmed and proud of the response and collaboration between suppliers and all the hard working teams shown in the response to the covid test sites. The engagement and support given to the client to turn a difficult requirement into a fast and slick deployment really showed the benefits of dealing directly with the building manufacturers. The team work shown during this project has made the Alliance strong and we are seeing that positivity in the procurements we are doing currently.”

Ian Astley, Regional Director for Premier Modular, said: “Working with CCS on the Covid-19 testing site schemes was a really positive experience, despite the extremely short lead times for each project and the wide geographical spread of the sites. The criteria for the submissions were clearly defined and the scope very well presented.

The DHSC and CCS were, as always, a pleasure to work with throughout and we look forward to collaborating on future modular building projects.” L

Frameworks

Crown Commercial Service designed the flexible contract structure to provide solutions that are specific to the customer’s needs while promoting collaborative working practices by bringing together the industry and the end user

FURTHER INFORMATION www.crowncommercial.gov.uk

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Are You Prepared?

ISDN / PSTN Switch-Off 2025 Have you considered what exposure or risks the ISDN / PSTN Switch-Off 2025 poses to your organisation?

Your telecoms network will have been built historically on these technologies. However, what you are using and where it is located may be an enigma.

Voice calls, security, well-being and any equipment reliant on these services will be affected. The longer action is delayed, the more problematic the situation may become.

From a completely independent viewpoint, Segmentation Group, with our depth of knowledge in legacy services, can help you gain clarity and remain in control.

Call us on 03300 240480 for a free consultation or email us at info@segmentationgroup.com www.segmentationgroup.com/isdn-/-pstn-switch-off-2025

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Futurebuild 2022

Futurebuild 2022: The home of innovation Net zero pioneer Futurebuild brings together the brightest minds, the disruptive thinkers and most exciting innovators to transform the industry Futurebuild is the built environment event where leading brands can share innovations, from products, to processes and solutions, with thousands of industry influencers and shapers.

Taking place at London’s ExCeL from 1 March 2022, Futurebuild 2022 will be curated into six sections, providing delegates with innovative solutions that are addressing the biggest challenges facing the built environment.

These sections are: Buildings, Energy, Critical Infrastructure, Interiors, Offsite and Resourceful Materials.

The renowned Keynote Stage programme will also cover these key topics, providing visitors with all the knowledge and advice you need. The sessions will be delivered by the leading experts from the show’s industry partners and associations.

Buildings The Buildings section, sponsored by Procore, covers all aspects of building including new build, refurb and retrofit across domestic and commercial projects.

Visit to find innovations from manufacturers and builders’ merchants from across a wide spectrum of building products including roofing, claddings, renders and bricks, insulation and glazing. You can also explore the latest building technology, legislation and products.

The Buildings seminar sessions will feature the leading partners in the industry, including

RIBA, Good Homes Alliance, Passivhaus Trust, Buildings for 2050, Building Performance Network and sponsor; Procore. The keynote stage stream will enable visitors to take action to tackle the biggest challenges. Sessions will explore the latest thinking and initiatives in building quality and performance – learn about the updates to building regulations, the latest thinking around retrofit, and how to deliver a low carbon built environment.

areas and so these must be places that work for people.

Featuring sessions from the leading partners in the industry including Landscape Institute, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, CIWEM, TCPA, Urban Design Group and sponsor ACO, the Critical Infrastructure sessions will cover the biggest challenges across blue, green, grey and social infrastructure.

Energy The Energy section, sponsored by Kensa Heat Pumps, unites all professionals engaged in designing, specifying, supplying and installing services and products involving energy production and use. The section of the event will feature sessions from the leading partners in the industry including CIBSE, MCS, BEIS, Arup and LETI. The Energy sessions will deliver the latest thinking on the technologies which will decarbonise the built environment, shining a light on the interconnections between energy generation, demand management, EVs and charging infrastructure, storage, behaviour change The Crit ic and energy reduction a l Infrastr in buildings, the ucture decarbonisation of heat section will include and the delivery of a smart and flexible infrastr all aspects of ucture energy system. E

Critical Infrastructure What we do with our critical infrastructure – physical, social and economic – is where we can deliver many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 according to the UK Government’s commitments.

The Critical Infrastructure section, sponsored by ACO, will include all aspects of infrastructure including green, blue, grey and social infrastructure solutions. This section will explore all aspects of the city and surrounding city influences, acknowledging that increasing percentages of the population will live in urban

in green, blue, g cluding rey social in frastruc and solution ture s

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Futurebuild 2022

 Offsite The Offsite section, in partnership with Explore Offsite, provides delegates with the opportunity to find the most innovative offsite products, materials, solutions and processes that are taking the offsite industry by storm. The seminar will feature sessions from the leading partners in the industry, including the MPBA, STA, MPA British Precast and LSFA. The Offsite seminar sessions will explore the use of offsite technology to effectively construct a better, sustainable environment and show how the industry is responding to unprecedented demand through greater investment in lean manufacturing systems.

Resourceful materials The Resourceful Materials section, sponsored by Covestro, addresses the needs of visitors in search of solutions and innovations in material efficiency. The challenge is to balance the environment crisis against the needs of the population for more buildings and infrastructure. By switching to greener materials that go into construction and improving efficiency, lifetime emissions for buildings can be slashed 44 per cent by 2050.

It will feature sessions from the leading partners in the industry, including BM TRADA, ASBP, 540 World, The Concrete Centre, the IET and sponsor, Covestro. The Resourceful Materials sessions will explore ways in which the construction industry supply chain will play a critical role in enabling the UK’s recent net zero carbon targets move from an ambitious statement towards a reality.

president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and executive director of WSP. Philip Dunne, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, will also chair a panel discussion on a future where embodied carbon has already been effectively regulated and the outcomes are being put into practice.

The panel, including Will Arnold, head of Climate Action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, and Leigh Johnson, head of Design and Masterplanning, Homes England, will discuss the impact this regulation will have had on the UK’s pathway to net zero, the ways in which we design, build and retrofit buildings will have changed and what it will have meant for building users, clients and developers. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.futurebuild.co.uk

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Intelligent Buildings The Intelligent Buildings Spotlight area will help inform the industry on the smart products and technologies that are making buildings more intelligent, inspiring incorporation of the latest thinking to minimise environmental impact and reduce costs for the end user. From building and home automation solutions to energy management systems, safety and security access control – does your company provide smart technologies for buildings? Get in touch now to showcase your solutions to over 20,500 specifiers.

Beyond COP26 COP 26 has been the key focus for 2021, a year when the world would come together to agree and affirm its collective actions to limit the impact of climate change. In 2022 the many pressures on us to act now are still with us. The physical impacts of climate change that we are already experiencing highlight the need for developing long-term resilience at the same time as reducing emissions, restoring natural resources and biodiversity, ensuring a sustainable food supply and recognising the impacts of climate change on human health and wellbeing. While the COP has agreed global targets and actions, we also need to act locally and put our own house in order.

Following the sponsor’s welcome. The first session of Futurebuild will be a panel discussion focusing on the actions that the UK construction industry will be taking – starting now. It will be chaired by Shaun Spiers, executive director of the Green Alliance, with panellists including Sunand Prasad, chair of the UK Green Building Council, and Rachel Skinner, past-

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