Government Business 21.4

PARKING

FLEET MANAGEMENT

ENERGY

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 21.4

Business Information for Local and Central Government FLOOD MANAGEMENT

GROUND WATER FLOODING Understanding and mitigating the risks

WASTE MANAGEMENT

REFOCUS ON RECYCLING

The bumpy road to recycling excellence

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

GREEN VENUES How can you ensure the environmental credentials of your conference venue are genuine?

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e’s chang x E y c i Pol logy Techno sto e Manif p89

FINANCE | FRANCHISING | CATERING | FLEET MANAGEMENT | EVENTS

Williams Conference Centre Williams Grove Oxfordshire OX12 0DQ

A UNIQUE AND FIRST CLASS VENUE The Williams F1 Conference Centre is a unique and first class venue and is likely to be one of the most stimulating conferencing facilities you will encounter.

Purpose built to eliminate compromise, the Williams F1 Conference Centre provides a broad spectrum of flexible and scalable meeting rooms designed to accommodate every requirement, be it a meeting for two, a training event or a conference for 200. Every resource available will be at your disposal while at the venue, from the latest in technical and audio visual facilities, wireless internet and business services to tailor made team building and hospitality activities and bespoke catering.

Complementing the working facilities is the Williams F1 Grand Prix Collection, available to your group as an integral part of your event. The Williams F1 Grand Prix Collection houses over 40 of the team’s seminal racing cars from over a quarter of a century of racing.

The Williams F1 Conference Centre can make one promise to its clients, that of flexibility. As a purpose built conference and training venue the rooms accommodate many different size and types of events. Whether you are launching a product, providing training, holding a conference, or running an activity day our facilities can be tailored to meet your needs. The Centre boasts ten meeting rooms, all of which can be configured in a range of different ways to suit your event. The types of events that have been held at the Williams F1 Conference Centre include conferences, meetings, training, seminars, product launches and demonstrations,

exhibitions, breakfast meetings, business lunches, team building days, drinks receptions, fine dining diners and lunches, award ceremonies, Christmas and special occasion events, race day hospitality.

The team at the Williams F1 Conference Centre are on hand to guide you. Their wealth of knowledge and depth of experience, gained over a number of years working within the conference and events industry, will be at your disposal to help you execute a first class event. The team will work with you to understand your business needs and event requirements to enable us to deliver a truly seamless, enjoyable event for your guests.

If your agenda is purely pleasure, why not visit for a very special day out? Aside from our corporate facilities, we also offer half-day tour packages. The package captivates the very essence of the team in a fully automated tour of the museum, technology exhibition and trophy room.

Alternatively, if you are looking to fully immerse yourself in the heart of Formula One, attend our race day hospitality or hire some of the activities available at the Williams F1 Conference Centre for a memorable experience.

The Williams F1 Conference Centre offers absolute taste to its clients. Whether you’re looking for a light working lunch or a fine dining experience, we can cater for it. With a professionally-trained chef on site, our menus captivate the essential ingredients of creativity, imagination and sophistication, and always take great care to source only the finest natural and organic ingredients.

If you have found us through Government Business Magazine and hire one of our meeting or events rooms you can receive complimentary Danish pastries on arrival, valid till 31st December 2015.

Contact Faye Bellamy Business Development Manager, Williams Conference Centre T. +44 (0) 1235 777900 T: 01235 777735 F: 01235E.777183 E: faye.bellamy@williamsf1.com facebook.com/WilliamsConferenceCentre conferences@williamsf1.com W.www.williamsf1.com/Conference-Centre williamsconferencecentre.com @WilliamsConfCtr

COMMENT PARKING

FLEET MANAGEMENT

ENERGY

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 21.4

Business Information for Local and Central Government FLOOD MANAGEMENT

GROUND WATER FLOODING Understanding and mitigating the risks

WASTE MANAGEMENT

REFOCUS ON RECYCLING

The bumpy road to recycling excellence

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

GREEN VENUES How can you ensure the environmental credentials of your conference venue are genuine?

est The latlogy techno p79 news

ge’s Exchan Policy ology Techn esto Manif p89

FINANCE | FRANCHISING | CATERING | FLEET MANAGEMENT | EVENTS

Comment

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

Ironing out recycling issues With the EU Waste Framework Directive looming, which requires the separate collection of paper, plastic, glass and metals from 2015 – and changing regulations governing the quality of mixed recyclables being processed, much is being asked of local authorities in the waste management and recycling area. With budgets squeezed, many local authorities are worried at the thought of having to do even more with recycling with even less money.

These and other issues were debated at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management’s annual conference this month, which also saw resource minister Dan Rogerson reinforce the government’s commitment to tackling waste crime, citing new sentencing guidelines and an extra £5m of government funding made available this year for enforcement.

Local Authority recycling and waste management issues are explored by Steve Lee of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management on page 15.

Demonstrating an inventive way to put recycled materials to good use, Britain’s first house made almost entirely of rubbish has opened its doors in Brighton.

Whilst it looks ordinary, it contains 19,800 toothbrushes, two tonnes of denim jeans, 4,000 video cassettes, and 2,000 carpet tiles. It also contains thrown-away concrete blocks, timber, vinyl banners, pieces of polystyrene, bicycle inner tubes and even old coffee grinds. Read the full story on page 9.

Angela Pisanu, 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 £120 a year, please contact Public Sector Information, 226 High Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055, Fax: 020 8532 0066, or visit the Government Business website at:

Business Information for Local and Central Government

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

226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Fax: 020 8532 0066 Web: www.psi-media.co.uk EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Danny Wright EDITOR Angela Pisanu EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Arthur Walsh PRODUCTION EDITOR Richard Gooding PRODUCTION CONTROL Jacqueline Lawford, Jo Golding WEB PRODUCTION Reiss Malone ADVERTISEMENT SALES David Barclay, Steve Day, Nichola Halle, Michael King, Bernie Miller, Michael Marius, David Morgan, Ash Seaman, PUBLISHER Kelly Scott ADMINISTRATION Victoria Leftwich, Charlotte Cassar REPRODUCTION & PRINT Argent Media

© 2014 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 14700735

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

3

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Contents

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

CONTENTS GOVERNMENT BUSINESS 21.4 07 GB NEWS

07

£2.61 million for Green Deal Home Improvement Fund; More flood defence funding needed, MPs warn; Osborne announces new planning rules

11 FINANCE

45 CATERING

15 WASTE MANAGEMENT

47 FRANCHISING

19 ENERGY

57 CONFERENCES & EVENTS: GREEN VENUES

Local Energy’s Karen Lawrence gives updates on the Green Deal and phase two of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

23 ECO TECHNOLOGY SHOW A preview of the Eco Technology Show where energy minister Greg Barker will give the opening keynote

19

25 FLOOD PREVENTION

Mark Fermor examines how a new national ground water flood risk map is helping local authorities to determine the risk of groundwater flooding

29 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

The BIFM’s Mike Packham explores the benefits of Building Information Modelling and ‘Soft Landings’ processes for FMs

25

65

The BPA’s David Smith reports on the recent Parkex event where Robert Goodwill led a seminar on the government’s current and future parking policy

CIPFA’s John Maddocks reports on a new group set up to pioneer Integrated Reporting across different types of public sector organisations Steve Lee of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management explains why recycling rates in the UK have been flatlining and what can be done to improve matters

15

41 PARKING

33 TRANSPORT

ACFO director Jullie Jenner talks us through the implications of tax changes in the Chancellor’s 2014 budget; Simon Morgan from the Institute of Highway Engineers examines new local highways traffic sign legislation that comes into force in 2015

79 GT NEWS

Government pledges to make IT contracts more transparent; Ignoring G-Cloud ‘costs councils millions’

83 INFORMATION GOVERNANCE

The increasing importance of information governance within UK government

Government Business

The Automatic Vending Association explains how a new pound coin will affect vending The highly transferrable skills often demonstrated by public sector professionals are very sought after by franchisors writes the BfA’s Paul Stafford

How can you ensure a venue’s green credentials are genuine? Jon Proctor of Green Tourism examines the issue

65 CONFERENCES & EVENTS: SQUARE MEALS A preview of Square Meal’s Venues & Events Live 2014 on 17-18 September

69 SPORT & LEISURE

Local authorities and other leisure providers will be able to find solutions to some of the key challenges they are facing at Leisure Industry Week

71 EMERGENCY SERVICES SHOW

The Emergency Services Show on 24-25 September at Birmingham’s NEC, is particularly relevant to those involved in resilience and emergency planning

92 PRODUCTS & SERVICES 89 TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

ISS

Turn to UE 12.4 p latest gage 79 for th techno overnment e lo and fe gy news atures

Government Technology takes a look at Policy Exchange’s recently published Technology Manifesto, a roadmap for how the UK could become a leader in the global digital economy

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

5

AGGREGATED SCHOOL MIS DATA, ON DEMAND Groupcall XVault - School MIS data aggrega�on database for Local Authori�es and Academy Groups Automa�cally and securely collects school MIS data and delivers it to XVault Specifically designed for the educa�on sector Provides aggregated school MIS data for analy�cal, monitoring and repor�ng Data can be scheduled and delivered at a date/�me to suite you or on-demand Safe, secure and encrypted transmission of data between des�na�ons Simplis�c repor�ng interface Easy to deploy and provides scalability for future growth Used in more than 17,000 schools throughout the UK

Specifically designed for the Educa�on Sector, Groupcall XVault is a data aggrega�on tool that collects informa�on from mul�ple sources, providing easy access to all school data for analy�cal, monitoring and repor�ng purposes.

Groupcall XVault is being u�lised by a wide range of Local Authori�es in the UK, who recognise that immediate access to aggregated school data offers wider benefits across many of their departments. XVault and XVault Repor�ng is also the solu�on of choice for Academy Trusts, who face the challenge of pulling together school data from disparate geographical loca�ons and a wide range of MIS systems.

The system operates by offering scheduled or on-demand access to MIS data collec�ons and processes change events raised by schools. Data is stored in the XVault SQL database that can be interrogated by web services, SQL views and XVault Repor�ng.

The aggregated data within XVault also provides added benefits for those teams within your authority or federa�on that require immediate access to data such as FSM (Free School Meals), LAC (Looked A�er Children), A�endance, Troubled Families and much more.

In addi�on, Groupcall has developed a repor�ng interface (XVault Repor�ng), which provides non-technical members of staff with instant access to per�nent aggregated school MIS data.

“

Successful data integra�on is now business cri�cal in Warwickshire and is becoming more so on a daily a basis. We would not be able to offer the services that we do to our schools or the Local Authority without the use of Groupcall Xporter and XVault.

”

For more information, please call 020 8502 7344 (option 1) Email: sales@groupcall.com or visit www.groupcall.com/xporter

GC0514

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ECONOMY

NEWS IN BRIEF

GB News

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

Report calls for spending review transparency

Osborne: “Let’s create a northern global powerhouse” The Chancellor said in a June speech at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester that the government would intensify efforts to boost the northern English economy. He proposed a devolution of powers and budgets to regional seats whereby cities like Leeds and Manchester would have a similar style of governance to London, as allowing London’s dominance to grow is “not healthy for our economy.”

He said: “A true powerhouse requires true power. So today I am putting on the table and starting the conversation about serious devolution of powers and budgets for any city that wants to move to a new model of city government – and have an elected mayor.”

He also made the argument for HS3, a

high-speed rail link between Manchester and Leeds. Osborne said that with better transport links between its cities the region could “take on the world”, and that while the plan could cost as much as £7 billion it may be cheaper if existing rail infrastructure is updated. He argued that an east-west rail link should be considered during a review of the second phase of the HS2 project.

The planned HS3 network would make it significantly quicker to travel between Leeds and Manchester. Osborne said: “We need an ambitious plan to make the cities and towns here in this northern belt radically more connected from east to west - to create the equivalent of travelling around a READ MORE: single global tinyurl.com/n6d3ze5 city.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission says in a new report that there should be greater transparency around future government spending reviews in order to ensure that fair decisions are made. The Commission argues that while efforts to measure how different groups are affected by policies are improving, more needs to be done. It also recommends that the Public Sector Equality Duty be used early to help target funds.

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/kopxeuy

Highest proportion of female councillors in North-East The Local Government Association’s (LGA) 2013 councillor census shows that the north-east of England has the country’s highest proportion of female councillors at 41 per cent, five per cent more than London.

The south-west had the greatest gender imbalance with only 29 per cent of councillors female.

However, the north-east ranked bottom of the table for ethnic diversity – all councillors who responded to the survey were white.

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/kbym6e8

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

£2.61 million for Green Deal Home Improvement Fund The first week of the government’s new Green Deal Home Improvement Fund saw £2.61 million given to homeowners, according to industry estimates. The fund, which gives English and Welsh households as much as £7,600 cash back for improving the efficiency of their homes, received 1,736 applications since launching in June.

Ed Davey, Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, said: “We’ve changed the Green Deal to make it simpler and faster for people to make their homes more energy efficient – you could get up to £7,600 back, straight into your bank account.

“I want as many people as possible to benefit from this unmissable offer. It won’t be around forever, so sign up now and get your home ready for the winter.”

Choices available under the scheme include: up to £1,000 for installing two measures from a list of approved options; grants of up to £6,000 for the installation of insulation for solid walls; and refunds ranging

to £100 for a Green Deal assessment.

Richard Twinn, policy and public affairs officer at the UK Green Building Council, said: “It’s promising to see a huge amount of interest in the new Green Deal incentives within the first week. £2.6 million represents more than half of what was spent during the original cashback scheme which was available for over a year – clearly demonstrating that READ MORE: the word tinyurl.com/lj75kuc is out.”

Local health data should inform licensing laws, LGA says The Local Government Association (LGA) has issued a statement in support of a Private Members’ BIll calling for reform to the Licensing Act in England and Wales. The proposed measure would give councils the ability to limit the opening hours of late-night pubs, clubs and off licenses based on the prevalence of alcohol-related health issues in their area. Scottish councils have had these powers since 2005.

The LGA says that the proposed amendment would reduce alcohol‑related hospital admissions by allowing councils to consider health data when making decisions on licensing.

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/npln54d

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

7

TAKING CARE OF DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS

KYOCERA [k{ey}-o-sĂŠe:ra] noun ^

1. A specialised body of people: leading experts in the field of document management solutions.

See reliability. 2. Business with an efficient and caring approach: associated with the economic benefits of reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). 3. Guardians of the world’s most precious documents: providing security in the storage and transfer of vital information. 4. Future proofing every business from home office workers, through SMEs, to multinational corporations: solutions for the public and private sectors. 5. Championing sustainability and awarded the Blue Angel eco-label.

Redefine your document solutions:

kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk Eldon Court, 75-77 London Road, Reading, RG1 5BS Call: 08457 103104 Facebook: KYOCERADocumentSolutionsUK Twitter: @KYOCERADUK

FLOODING

RECYCLING

More flood defence funding needed, MPs warn MPs have warned Environment Secretary Owen Paterson that failure to reverse cuts to the flood defence budget could lead to England being badly affected by floods again.

A report released by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) said that “overall funding does not reflect the increased flood risk” as a result of climate change and that funding allocated for defences was the “bare minimum.” The government cut the flood defence budget by 25 per cent in 2010.

The report also says that flooding in Somerset could have been made less severe if measures had been taken to dredge the affected area.

Conservative MP and Efra chair Anne McIntosh said: “Ministers must take action now to avoid a repeat of the devastation caused by winter floods.”

“We have repeatedly called on the government to increase revenue funding so that necessary maintenance can be carried out to minimise flood risk, yet funding remains READ MORE: at a bare tinyurl.com/p6r4ejj minimum.”

Britain’s first house made almost entirely of rubbish has opened its doors.

The house looks ordinary but its components are anything but. They include 19,800 toothbrushes, two tonnes of denim jeans, 4,000 video cassettes, and 2,000 carpet tiles.

The project, launched in 2012, is backed by TV designer and presenter Kevin McCloud who, with University of Brighton lecturer and architect Duncan Baker-Brown, worked on a similar build in London for a TV programme in 2008.

PLANNING

MEDIA

GB News

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

House made of recycled rubbish unveiled Baker-Brown decided to build the first waste house in the grounds of the university’s campus in Brighton with the help of university students, school children, private companies and a recycling organisation.

The house is now built – using thrown‑away concrete blocks, timber, vinyl banners, pieces of polystyrene, bicycle inner tubes and even old coffee grinds.

The aim is to show how low-carbon homes can be built cheaply and quickly using waste including surplus material from building sites.

Osborne announces new planning rules

Pickles slams ‘Stalinist’ council press ban

The Chancellor’s Mansion House speech in June revealed that new planning rules would force councils to allow developers to build houses on brownfield (former industrial) sites.

The new rule is expected to lead to local development orders being placed on 90 per cent of all brownfield sites that are suitable for housing.

George Osborne said: “This urban planning revolution will mean that in effect development on these sites will be pre-approved – local authorities will be able to specify the type of housing, not whether there is housing.

“And it will mean planning permission for up to 200,000 new homes – while at the same time protecting our green spaces.” He pledged nearly £500 READ MORE: million to tinyurl.com/kay33zr the initiative.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has said that local authority councillors have been told not to speak to journalists in a “Stalinist” command from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).

The organisation’s recent media policy statement recommends councillors against speaking or writing to journalists without obtaining prior permission from their local authority’s clerk, and forbids them to use their title when speaking to the press in a private capacity.

Pickles advised non-compliance to protect free speech: “Freedom of speech is a vital part of local democracy. Councillors must be able to challenge waste and inefficiency, and should not have to get permission from state officials to speak to the press. I am making clear its contents are utterly opposed by the government and it should be withdrawn immediately. We should be championing the independent free press, not trying to suppress it.”

NALC chairman Cllr. Ken Browse countered that the guidance which was published in 2013 “does not bar councillors from speaking to the media, but explains the legal framework that governs them.”

Mark Whitehead of the National Union

of Journalists said: “It’s very difficult to see how it would work in practice or how it would help promote free discussion and accountability. Politicians are natural communicators. Council policy should be aimed at helping them do so effectively, not making them jump through bureaucratic hoops.

“A sensible media relations policy would ask councillors to make sure they are speaking with proper authority before making statements to the press. Beyond that, it’s up to politicians to work out their best communications strategy – taking advice if necessary from their READ MORE: professional tinyurl.com/k4mmcgz PR staff.”

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

9

Advisory and Assurance services to Local Government Given the breadth of services, the high expectation and the level of demand placed on Local Authorities this makes for a challenging operating environment. All this coupled with an ever diminishing resource base.

The team at Baker Tilly is well versed in helping Local Authorities be the best that they can be. The experienced team has a practical approach and prepared to work in a way that suits each Local Authority.

With teams throughout the UK and a full range of specialist advisory and assurance services on offer, we are able to deliver innovative and sector leading solutions to our diverse portfolio of clients, wherever you are based.

• Commercialisation, commissioning and collaboration • Contract and project management • Finance function review and transformation • Fraud risk services • Governance and risk management • Internal audit and assurance • Service improvement • Social value and impact measurement • Taxation and VAT • Technology risk services

www.bakertilly.co.uk Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP, Baker Tilly Tax and Advisory Services LLP, Baker Tilly Corporate Finance LLP, Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery LLP, Baker Tilly Risk Advisory Services LLP, Baker Tilly Creditor Services LLP and Baker Tilly Tax and Accounting Limited are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services because we are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide. Baker Tilly and Co Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct a range of investment business activities. © 2014 Baker Tilly UK Group LLP, all rights reserved. 0374

If you would like to know more about how Baker Tilly can help your Local Authority contact: Matt Humphrey Partner and National Lead for Services to Local Government Baker Tilly Risk Advisory Services LLP T: +44 (0)776 468 8248 matthew.humphrey@bakertilly.co.uk

INTEGRATED REPORTING

A new group has been set up to pioneer Integrated Reporting across different types of public sector organisations to help demonstrate its application and share experience. CIPFA’s technical manager John Maddocks reports Integrated reporting, which is referenced as <IR>, promotes a more cohesive and effective approach to corporate reporting, aiming to improve the quality of information available to key stakeholders. Part of the argument for <IR> is that while financial reporting continues to grow in complexity, it fails to fully capture the value created by an organisation’s activities. <IR> seeks to address this by bringing together diverse but currently disconnected strands of reporting into a coherent integrated whole.

The goal of <IR> is to provide a more balanced and connected explanation of an organisation’s ability to create and sustain value. It draws on a variety of sources and approaches, including existing financial reporting, narrative reporting and governance and sustainability reporting.

The potential benefits include improved

effectiveness and efficiency through a more complete understanding of resource use, activities and impacts.

An important element of the <IR> approach is the organisation’s creation of ‘value’ through its use of a number of ‘capitals’ (financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural). <IR> seeks to clarify the relationships between these ‘capitals’ (or resources), the organisation’s business model and external factors. <IR> spans financial and non-financial information, and connects strategy and planning with governance, key drivers, risk, change, performance and outcomes. This should prove of value to a range of stakeholders interested in an organisation’s ability to create value over time,

including employees, customers, suppliers, business partners, local communities, legislators, regulators and policy-makers.

The first version of the International Integrated Reporting Framework was published in December 2013. It is a principles based framework, allowing organisations to innovate and develop their reporting in the context of their own organisational model and the social and economic environment within which they operate.

A PUBLIC SECTOR PERSPECTIVE The potential of <IR> in respect of clarifying the relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes and identifying ‘value’ has particular relevance for many public service organisations facing considerable financial and service delivery challenges. It also offers a method for reviewing complex multi-service delivery and identifying outcomes across a range of activities.

In addition, public sector organisations already publish a wide range of data on their broader impacts and performance. One of the key opportunities (and challenges) for public sector organisations is to use <IR> and understand and clarify the connectivity of all of this information, with the aim of presenting a more complete and coherent picture. And with this is an opportunity to develop a more concise form of reporting.

CIPFA has undertaken a preliminary analysis of the issues involved in applying <IR> in the public sector, and explored these through roundtable events with representatives of UK public sector organisations, as part of a series run by the Consultative Committee of Accounting Bodies 

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by John Maddocks, technical manager, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

A NEW APPROACH TO CORPORATE REPORTING

Finance

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

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INTEGRATED REPORTING

The goal of Integrated Reporting is to provide a more balanced and connected explanation of an organisation’s ability to create and sustain value  (CCAB). CIPFA’s conclusion is that <IR> principles can readily be applied in the public sector, although there are some sector‑specific issues to be considered in more detail to facilitate this. Examples of aspects to consider include the nature of public sector accountability, the role of taxpayers, the intergenerational financing of services and the diversity of accounting and reporting

approaches. The results of this and other work on <IR> by CIPFA are available on our website.

A PUBLIC SECTOR NETWORK The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) is the global body set up to promote <IR> and it already has in place a successful <IR> Pilot Programme, involving over 100 businesses drawn from

Finance

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

26 countries. While there are some examples in the pilot programme of public service organisations adopting an <IR> approach, the initial focus of the IIRC has been mainly on corporate reporting and investors.

In response to this gap CIPFA and the IIRC announced last month that they are creating a new international Public Sector Pioneer Network to help identify and address key sector-specific points, and so facilitate the application of <IR> to a broader range of public sector organisations. A steering group, set to comprise a mixture of participants and external organisations, with a secretariat provided by CIPFA and the IIRC, will oversee the Public Sector Pioneer Network.

The ambition is that the Public Sector Pioneer Network will enable its members to share ideas and learning as they develop their own approach to <IR>. The network is projected to run over two years and cover two reporting cycles. Pioneer Network members are expected to benefit from engaging in network meetings, conference and seminars and webinars, as well as gaining insights from the IIRC team and its Committees on interpreting the Framework in the context of public service delivery.

Network members will also benefit from the work done and resources already in place through the original <IR> Pilot Programme.

Speaking on the announcement of the new pioneer network, IIRC Technical Director, Lisa French said: “This network is a key opportunity for public sector organisations to use <IR> to understand and clarify the connectivity of the information they already publish.

“The aim of many public sector bodies to present a more complete, coherent and concise picture will be aided by the International <IR> Framework.

“The Framework was developed through the IIRC Pilot Programme, and its principles are readily applied to the public sector.

This sentiment is echoed by the public sector organisations already reaping the benefits of <IR>. This network of pioneers will shape the public sector perspective of <IR> as well as serve to encourage peers in the public sector to adopt it.”

Our hope is that the public sector will be able to full utilise <IR> to help it adapt and succeed in the challenging financial environment it faces. If <IR> can help better communicate the value that public sector organisations provide to Government and to taxpayers then in the long-term it could be a massive asset to such organisations across the world. 

Organisations interested in finding out more about the network and/or in exploring opportunities for participating and engaging with the network can email:ir-pioneers@cipfa.org FURTHER INFORMATION www.cipfa.org

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

13

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TIME TO REGROUP ON RECYCLING AND RESOURCES

Steve Lee of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) explains why recycling rates in the UK have been flatlining in recent years and what can be done to improve matters After over a decade of progress on recycling, during which time the UK has become the ‘fastest improver’ in Europe, there are worrying signs that the future may be a little more bumpy than we expected.

In its recent evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Select Committee on waste policy in England, The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management warned that the UK may not meet the EU Waste Framework Directive recycling target for municipal solid waste (MSW) of 50 per cent by 2020.

While recycling rates in some parts of the UK, and most notably across Wales, are already hitting or exceeding the 50 per cent mark, there is growing evidence that recycling is flatlining in England and Northern Ireland, and in some cases declining.

CAUSES There are a number of factors contributing to this stalling. While there is no doubt that the UK has done a good job to date, with a high percentage of householders engaged and active on recycling, we have now pretty

much picked the low hanging fruit. As well as keeping our current recyclers engaged, any future increase will mean tackling some of the more difficult performance areas, include engaging harder-to-reach and transient audiences, and developing effective services for challenging housing stock including flats and privately managed estates.

Driving up recycling in these population groups will be more resource intensive, requiring targeted communications and engagement, and service models that make it easy for residents to engage in the right recycling behaviour.

The pressure to deliver this push, however, is coming to bear at a time when local authorities are facing unprecedented budgets cuts and the focus on recycling is moving from quantity to quality, putting existing collection services and performance under the spotlight.

Written by Steve Lee, chief executive, CIWM

RECYCLING

QUALITY AND QUANTITY Against the backdrop of the EU Waste Framework Directive requirements to separately collect paper, plastic, glass and metals from 2015, and changing regulations governing the quality of mixed recyclables being processed by Materials Recycling Facilities, we are in the middle of an important debate about how (and whether) higher quality recycling can be achieved by local authorities at the point of collection without compromising on the quantity collected.

It is a politically charged debate, with multiple agendas playing into the mix. Faced with ongoing budgets cuts, local authorities are worried by the prospect of being asked to do even more on recycling with even less money, particularly in England where the lack of statutory targets weakens the ‘business case’ for investment in recycling at a time when other services are facing significant cuts.

In Wales and Scotland, where the national governments have expressed a strong policy preference for source separated collection, councils who have opted for, or were considering, co-mingled collections for financial and/or performance reasons are concerned at the potential prospect of having to change their approach.

Overall, there is a strong feeling among many authorities that policy at a national level across the UK does not sufficiently recognise the tension between recycling quality and quantity and overestimates local government’s ability to deliver further performance improvements.

ECONOMIC FACTORS There are other longer term pressures; the EU Directives driving waste and resource management, especially diversion from landfill and increased recycling are currently being reviewed. Early indications from the EU Commissioner for the Environment are that recycling targets could be increased to 70 per cent or even 80 per cent in the future.

Population growth, economic conditions and consumption patterns are also major influencing factors.

According to EU statistics, the UK’s population grew faster than any other EU member state in 2013 in terms of absolute numbers of people, and while household waste arisings have been falling in recent years, there are signs that this is reversing.

A recent survey of 25 local authorities by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) found that residual waste arisings had showed an overall 0.8 per cent increase between 2012/13 

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RECYCLING  and 2013/14, and other authorities are reporting a similar shift. Given that the downward trend in the amount of waste we generate had been linked by many to the economic downturn, there is the potential for a further growth in waste volumes as the UK economy continues to recover.

A UNIQUE ROLE So, we are in a very important transition stage between waste and resource management and if we can navigate these difficult waters successfully, there are some big prizes to be won. Quite aside from the growing focus on ‘big picture’ global concepts and issues such as the circular economy and resource security, the EU Commission estimates that better waste and resource management in Europe could contribute an additional three per cent to GDP, and local authorities have a unique role to play in realising this benefit at a local level by providing UK householders with one of the few ways in which they can make a personal day-to-day contribution to creating a more sustainable future through recycling, re-use and waste prevention.

They can also help by exploring and supporting the local economic benefits of better resource management, for example by helping local businesses gain competitive edge through improved resource efficiency or by collecting recyclable materials that can be reprocessed and used locally to boost jobs and growth.

Additionally, they can work to provide a stable and high quality supply of recyclable materials to benefit the wider UK economy.

COOPERATION Local government should not think it is expected to rise to these challenges alone.

Over the course of the last 12 months, we have seen wider recognition across the sector that some of the underpinning economics of the current system are not working. The Producer Responsibility regime is under scrutiny, with many questioning whether enough of the revenue resulting from the recycling of packaging materials flows back to those tasked with their collection. There is growing debate about who carries the risks associated with fluctuating market prices for recyclates and whether both the risks and the revenues can be better shared between the public and private sector. There is talk about how taxation can be used to ensure that there is a sufficient price differential between virgin and secondary resources to stimulate demand for recycled materials and make the business case for recycling more compelling.

And, there are also more and more examples of local authorities working in partnership – not just to deliver core efficiency savings but also to realise the benefits of a joint approach to the market on equipment, infrastructure and recyclate contracts.

The sector also has a strong line-up of organisations and bodies that can and are weighing into the fray. The Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP) confirmed at the CIWM conference last week that it will be reinvigorating the national Recycle Now campaign, providing overarching national messages to underpin and support local communications activities. Bodies such as CIWM, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, the Environmental Services Association and the Resource Association have worked together to bring pressure on the government on issues such as support for and investment in waste infrastructure. And, in the absence of English policy guidance from Defra on the separate recycling collection regulations, a joint working group comprising Local Authority Waste Networks, LWARB and WRAP, with a range of other organisations in support, produced a ‘routemap’ to help local authorities assess their collections against the requirements. This is perhaps the real glimmer of hope on the immediate horizon; the fact that the different parts of the waste and resource management industry are starting to rally together, joining ranks to tackle the challenges and to speak to the policy makers with a more unified voice. 

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CARBON REDUCTION

Keeping up with the the latest green policies coming out of central government can be quite a challenge for local authorities.

Local Energy’s Karen Lawrence gives updates on the Green Deal and phase two of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, and sheds light on new community energy schemes

Written by Karen Lawrence, head of consultancy, Local Energy

NETWORKS FOR LOCAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY

If you are responsible for energy, climate change or sustainability, how do you stay up to date with the latest green policy and strategies coming out of central government?

How do you ensure that your local authority is helping your local community to reduce fuel costs and tackle climate change?

Are you aware of all the potential grants and funding streams available to your organisation? What is everyone else doing about energy efficiency and renewables?

There are plenty of subscription services and websites offering the latest news but, if you’re anything like me, most of those updates probably remain unread in your inbox, waiting for a quiet moment that never comes.

The public sector-only Local Energy Efficiency Network aims to keep members informed of the most relevant developments in the sector; through monthly newsletters and our website, but also by offering a more engaging way to keep up to speed, with the opportunity to meet colleagues in similar roles, discuss the challenges we face and share successes achieved.

We’ve just completed our first three network events of the year in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, covering subjects of interest to a wide range of professionals within local authorities, NHS Trusts, central government departments and other public sector organisations. The focus, as always, was on energy efficiency and carbon reduction, both within the public sector estate and across the wider community, plus some very interesting discussions on Green Deal Communities and the new Community Energy strategy.

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CARBON AND COMPLIANCE The opening sessions at each event looked at the CRC Phase 2. For organisations who qualify, there are some significant changes for this Phase, not least the increase in the cost of carbon allowances from £12/ tonne to £16.40/tonne, but also the opportunity to buy in a ‘forecast sale’ at a reduced y t i n price of £15.60/tonne.

Commuhemes c s This demands some y g ener ouncils a financial forecasting to establish whether offer c meeting to s to buy upfront n a , e s m ie t i r o i or wait until the r p wider ommunity ‘buy‑to-comply’ sale, c s a but a decision must h c r u s tion o be made before the integraomic end of April each year, econ tion when the forecast sale a window closes. If you regener have not already considered your purchasing strategy, it’s too late for 2014-15 as the forecast sale has ended (you can buy your allowances in the buy-to-comply sale in 2015) but it’s certainly something to be aware of for next year.

Following the exclusion of schools from the scheme in England, many local authorities have not qualified for Phase 2. E

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CARBON REDUCTION  We looked at how this might impact on the energy efficiency agenda, and what other ‘carrots and sticks’ might be employed to bring forward energy saving projects. DECC has some interesting grant funding available through the Heat Networks Funding Stream (funding round 3 is open for applications 12 May - 27 June) and the brand new Electricity Demand Reduction Pilot (full details expected in June).

FINANCING PROJECTS The Green Investment Bank (GIB) has a specific target to invest in non-domestic energy efficiency, and has developed a couple of products for the public sector to address this. For local authorities, the GIB offers a ‘Green Loan’ for LED street lighting conversion, with sculpted repayments – designed to be more cost-effective than Public Works Loan Board funding in some cases. Speakers from the GIB addressed our London and Manchester events and, as well as the local authority offer, they presented an NHS case study where the GIB funding mobilises private sector investment to install CHP, boiler and heat recovery systems into a hospital whilst putting more than £20 million back into patient care over the 25 year operation of the project.

Energy

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

The Local Energy Efficiency network has around 70 member organisations currently, including county, district and unitary councils, NHS Trusts, police authorities and universities. All public sector organisations are welcome to join free of charge

strategy. It was very encouraging to hear about the focus on community benefits and social outcomes, and the various grant funds and working groups being put in place to support community schemes.

According to the Strategy document, the Government “wants to see all authorities showing leadership to help deliver community energy projects” and “urges all local authorities to fully explore partnership and investment opportunities for community energy in their local area.” The Secretary of State has written to all local authority leaders in England explaining the strategy and encouraging local government to support it.

The strategy identifies three main areas of help that local authorities can offer: guidance, co-ordination and administrative support; partnership and investment; and THE CHALLENGE OF THE GREEN DEAL planning and local energy strategy.

Keeping up with the changes to the Green Community energy schemes also offer Deal and ECO has been quite a challenge for local authorities a means to meeting wider everyone recently, so Local Energy’s Chief priorities, such as community integration or Executive Dr. Andy Johnston presented an economic regeneration. They can also play overview of where we are now, and a stronger role in supporting local described how the focus has authority attempts to reduce fuel shifted towards ‘blended’ poverty. DECC has said that funding solutions. As a a national communities c i Publ ies Green Deal Provider, and local government d o b Local Energy has been conference will take place r o t c se y l g n delivering ECO funding later in 2014, facilitating i s a e for nearly a year now, local authority and are incr as key n and we are also community feedback e e s essful c offering cashback and to inform further c u s e to th ntation of Green Deal plans to policy development. residents in Hampshire At all three events pleme policy m i y as part of a local authority we also heard from g r e en scheme, so we have a other speakers, including very good insight into the the Community Energy issues surrounding delivery of Coalition, Pure Leapfrog and Green Deal as a whole and how to Local Energy Scotland, which sparked make local authority schemes work best. lively debate amongst the delegates. For We then heard from two of the winning some, this is a very new area, so it was Green Deal Communities bidders: one good to have the chance to ask questions County Council and one District Council. and explore the opportunities for public Their projects are quite different in scale sector involvement in community energy. and ambition, but both face significant challenges in delivering their schemes – FREE SUPPORT and spending the funds awarded – before Local Energy is offering free support to local the DECC deadline in March 2015. authorities who are working in partnership with their communities to start an COMMUNITY ENERGY energy project. NALC (National Association At our London event, we were very pleased of Local Councils) and the LGIU (Local to have a presentation from the head Government Information Unit – Local Energy’s of DECC’s new Community Energy Unit, founder organisation) have joined forces talking about the Community Energy to offer their members free support to

develop Community Energy schemes. The support will be for a limited number of councils and allocated on a first come, first served basis for different types of councils.

We’re aiming to offer support for up to ten councils and we’re looking for a representative sample across Parish, Town, District, County, Unitary and Metropolitan Authorities. We will prioritise applicants who can demonstrate cooperation across the tiers of government and a community that has already expressed an interest in community energy.

We’re not prescriptive about the type of support available, as this will depend on the local requirements, but we anticipate that it will include help to apply for government funding; share good practice; identify technologies; and understand legal requirements.

The support will be delivered by Local Energy. If your council is interested in participating please contact Andy Johnston (andy.johnston@lgiu.org.uk) for further information.

JOINING THE NETWORK The Local Energy Efficiency network has around 70 member organisations currently, including county, district and unitary councils, NHS Trusts, police authorities and universities. All public sector organisations are welcome to join free of charge.

The network began as Carbon Trading Councils back in 2008, to examine how a carbon trading scheme might operate (even before the CRC came into being). Since then, the network has progressed through Carbon Saving Public Sector – still focusing largely on the CRC and the use of renewables to reduce carbon emissions, the Feed in Tariff and nondomestic Renewable Heat Incentive – to this year’s network, which aims to reflect the change in policy focus away from carbon and towards energy efficiency.

Public sector bodies are increasingly recognised as key to the successful implementation of energy policy and significant opportunities are coming to improve local housing, generate income from renewable energy and position the public sector as a leader in tackling fuel poverty, energy security and climate change. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.localenergy.org.uk

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

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Energy

EVENT PREVIEW

ARM YOURSELF WITH GREEN TECHNOLOGY

Greg Barker MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, will give the opening keynote speech on the economic benefits of shifting to a lower carbon economy at the Eco Technology Show The Eco Technology Show will return to the FUNDING Brighton Centre on 26-27 June. Now in its For local authorities looking to develop third year, it is ideal for public sector and lo carbon solutions, the show will provide local government professionals to discover a comprehensive overview of the funding realistic ways to achieve savings and deliver opportunities available. Carbon Limiting genuine and on-going benefits to businesses, Technologies will outline the European cities and communities. Entrance is free and funding schemes available and the includes over 70 talks and 140 exhibitors.

Technology Strategy Board, will present With energy prices rising and local councils’ the funding schemes and competitions budgets shrinking, public sector officials will available to support eco technology have the opportunity to learn practically about and future cities; a subject at the heart how they can slash both operational and of many local government agendas. utility costs, as well as minimise the impact of their organisation INVESTMENT The on the environment.

The show will also showcase o

practical case studies to 2014 Ec gy o l o KEYNOTE prove that investment n h Tec for l A highlight of the two-day in eco technology can a e d i event will be the opening Show istor and local bring real returns. John keynote speech by Greg Harrison, executive ec public s ernment to Barker MP, Minister director of resources ic gov t of State for Energy and at Peterborough City s i l a e r r Climate Change, on the Council will explain the discove achieve economic benefits of shifting authority’s successful o t s y wa to a lower carbon economy. savings investment in energy energy DECC also have their own series efficiency and renewable of talks explaining the benefits energy infrastructure. On a larger of the newly launched Domestic RHI scale of investment, Colin James, and the new changes to the non Domestic RHI. head of capital & infrastructure at West Sussex A new big debate area situated at the County Council and John Swinney, director heart of the show will cover topics such as: of Carillion Energy Services, will together Creating an economy that works; Innovations present how the combined purchasing in building and transport and how they fit power of local authorities, businesses and with the Circular Economy; Our Energy Future: individuals in Sussex has resulted in a plan to Fracking, biofuels or renewables; and the install £60 million worth of renewable energy future opportunities for community energy. and energy efficiency measures.

FUTURE CITIES Looking ahead to cities of the future is a major part of the show’s agenda with Sarah Tromans, lead specialist, Future Cities for the Technology Strategy Board who will showcase how the board can help with innovations that pave the way to becoming a future city. Edward Clarke, analyst and joint author of the ‘Low Carbon Cities’ report for Centre for Cities will discuss the practical ways that city leaders can develop a low carbon economy. The Brighton & Hove city region is jumping on board with plans to develop a ‘superfused’ economy using the City Deal.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS Other highlights include the Communication Hub where you can attend one of the networking sessions held in this area over the two days and meet like-minded individuals around a range of topics including Future Cities, Buildings, transport, Energy, Innovation, Water & Water and Community Energy. See an entire floor of the latest electric and low-emission vehicles in the Transport Zone including BMW’s electric i3 and i8 hybrid supercar, Mitsubishi’s Outlander – the world’s first plug-in SUV, the ground-breaking Tesla Model S plus a range of electric bikes.

Nicola Gunstone, the show’s commercial director, is positive: “With the Government slashing budgets, operating efficiently and saving energy is at the top of every local authority’s agenda. Now in its third year, The Eco Technology Show showcases ideas and innovations that provide significant opportunities for improving resource efficiency, energy management and making a real difference to the towns and cities we live in. It will be a day well spent for anybody working in the public sector.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.ecotechnologyshow.co.uk

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Flood Management

GROUND WATER FLOODING

Previously overlooked by the media in favour of more dramatic cases of flooding, groundwater flooding causes two to four times the damage to buildings and more economic harm. Expert hydrogeologist Mark Fermor examines how a new national groundwater flood risk map is helping local authorities to determine and mitigate the risks The Environment Agency estimates that 2.4 million properties in England are at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, with a further 2.6 million properties susceptible to surface water flooding. In addition, there are a substantial number of properties at risk of flooding from groundwater which are not highlighted on current Environment Agency flood maps, but which are shown for the first time on a new National Groundwater Flood Risk Map published by ESI â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the an independent scientific environmental consultancy specialising in water, land, and sustainable development.

With the recent UK floods impacting large parts of southern England, many Government agencies and local authorities are unfortunately all too familiar with the devastating effects of groundwater flood damage. Previously overlooked by the media in favour of more dramatic cases of flooding, groundwater flooding causes two to four times the damage to buildings, and significantly more economic harm as it can have a serious impact on infrastructure and can take some considerable time to recede.

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and their partner organisations, the impact of a flood is measured not only in damage to property and infrastructure, which can be partially offset by insurance of course, but also the potentially serious knock-on effects in terms of business interruption and the effect on lives.

Mark Fermor, expert hydrogeologist and Managing Director of ESI, explains the science behind groundwater flooding, and how Government agencies and local authorities can now assess flood risk to mitigate against flooding and reduce the impact on their operations, as well as potential financial losses.

water Ground occurs g floodin b-surface u when s erges from m water eound at the the gr e, or into surfac ound and r Made G ctures stru

THE SCIENCE Groundwater flooding occurs when sub-surface water emerges from the ground at the surface, or into Made Ground and structures. This could be as a result of persistent rainfall that recharges aquifers until they are full, or may be a result of high river levels or tides driving water through near-surface deposits. Compared to surface water flooding, groundwater

Written by Mark Fermor, expert hydrogeologist and Managing Director of ESI

GROUND WATER FLOODING

flooding can last considerably longer, with incidents lasting anything from a week to several months, which is why it can prove substantially more costly to infrastructure projects than other types of flooding.

Although emergent groundwater tends to be clear and relatively clean compared to muddy fluvial flood waters, it has the potential to be contaminated by sewers and brownfield sites. Groundwater flooding can also be the catalyst for many surface water floods, as it prevents rainfall infiltration.

GETTING A CLEAR PICTURE Despite many Government agencies and local authorities being highly reliant on current and accurate flood risk guidance to prevent and predict the costly aftermath of groundwater flooding, until now there has been no national-scale authoritative map of groundwater flood risk.

The previous milestone achievement in this field was the publication by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in 2007 of a national Susceptibility to Groundwater Flooding dataset at a scale of 1:50,000. This indicates areas where geological conditions could enable groundwater flooding to occur and where groundwater may come close to the ground surface. The BGS clearly states this resource was never intended to be used to estimate risk, but in the î &#x2026;

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

GROUND WATER FLOODING  absence of any other resources, it has been repeatedly relied on for just that purpose.

In October 2013, ESI addressed groundwater flooding issues in England and Wales by publishing the first national authoritative Groundwater Flood Risk Map. ESI has drawn upon the considerable experience from within its team of specialist hydrogeologists to overcome constraints of the previous work available, and has developed its model using best practice algorithms and calibrated risk predictions, using site-specific evidence of real flooding events from many parts of the country to achieve an authoritative national map of groundwater flood risk.

CASE STUDY: CITY OF OXFORD The River Thames flows directly through the city of Oxford where there is a long history of flooding. Groundwater plays a significant role in this, and with urbanisation putting increased pressure on land availability, development has been driven towards the floodplain. This has resulted in more than 3,600 homes, roads and other critical infrastructure being located in the River Thames floodplain to the west of the Old City.

By introducing the probability of a flood event (based on the 1 in 200 year groundwater levels) and severity of the flood event consequences, ESI’s new Groundwater Flood Risk Map can determine the risk of groundwater flooding. What’s more, the model has identified that the areas at risk from groundwater flooding are considerably less than previously flagged by others – a finding that will potentially have a major impact on those with responsibility for land management and development, as well as those currently living and working in seemingly ‘at risk’ areas.

In the case of Oxford, the majority of the historical city can now be recognised as lower risk, helping infrastructure owners and planners to focus on other priorities, whereas in the high risk areas resources can be focused on suitable development to avoid costly problems arising, or early warning and mitigation measures to reduce impacts in the case of existing property.

CASE STUDY: COMPTON, BERKSHIRE The village of Compton in Berkshire is located in the catchment area of the River Pang and has a long history of inundation. This can lead to overflowing sewers and basement flooding which has led some residents to install pumps in their properties as a mitigation measure.

The new National Groundwater Flood Risk Map can help identify properties in Compton that are at risk so that residents can plan accordingly and water companies can best prepare staff and partners serving the area. The obvious benefit of the map is that it allows the user to get a large scale understanding of the groundwater flood risks of a region and an indication of the potential flood risks at a given site. This is a powerful screening tool in the early stages

Flood Management

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

Although emergent groundwater tends to be clear and relatively clean compared to muddy fluvial flood waters, it has the potential to be contaminated by sewers and brownfield sites of planning for all major projects, including utility connections. In the case of villages like Compton, the map assists with clarification of how much risk is faced in different parts of the district, helping those living and working locally to plan ways to avoid exposure to flooding wherever practical, and use of the predicted groundwater level frequency distribution helps those designing infrastructure projects when used within their geographic information systems (GIS).

Already proving popular with Government agencies, local authorities, and a variety of organisations allied to the public sector, the new Groundwater Flood Risk Map and related GIS data should see a step-change in the way that groundwater flooding is considered. In my opinion, a move to a risk-based model with more in-depth and appropriate information can only be a positive thing when planning for the future.

By providing the very best and most accurate data, ESI is able to allow Government agencies, local authorities, and their partners to mitigate and manage potential issues as they wish. Groundwater flooding issues are certainly more localised than previously thought, but projects within risk zones need groundwater to be properly considered in order to avoid problems.

In the face of the recent prolonged flooding in southern England, I would recommend all municipal professionals revisit their flood risk management and continuity plans.

When floods occur it’s often too late to make effective plans, which is why good preparation is key. Maps of groundwater

flood risk zones can be obtained now for the first time from sources such as landmark. co.uk at a low cost to provide initial indication of the level of risk faced at a property or site. Advice and guidance is also available through specialist firms who understand flooding risks and their management.

SPECIALIST HELP At ESI we work alongside a number of local authorities UK-wide on groundwater and flooding issues, in particular with Lead Local Flood Authorities who have primary responsibility for developing, maintaining and applying a strategy for local flood risk management in their areas and for managing the risk of flooding.

We have offered to licence the Groundwater Flood Risk Map free of charge to Lead Local Flood Authorities in England and Wales who join our User Group and commit to providing feedback and data to help improve the national database and future editions of the map.

The ESI Local Authority User Group will provide Lead Local Flood Authorities with access to vital information which will further help them to fulfil their responsibilities in respect of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The resource can be exploited by participating Authorities internally, and will also enable members of the public concerned about groundwater flooding to consult the map at their local Council offices.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.esinternational.com

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

27

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Written by Mike Packham, BIFM

A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL TOOL The British Institute of Facilities Management’s Mike Packham explores how Building Information Modelling (BIM) and ‘Soft Landings’ processes can make the task of managing buildings simpler At the tail end of 2013 I picked up the telephone; the person on the other end was from BIFM (British Institute of Facilities Management) and they were asking me to lead on their work on Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its sibling ‘Soft Landings’.

Like many, I had been passively aware of BIM/Soft Landings for some time, having encountered them on a couple of projects, but was yet to see the full impact in action – a situation that I suspect will be familiar to many of us that are involved in the facilities management (operational) side of things.

A few months on, a lot of research and a couple of conferences later, I am not sure that things are much clearer. It all sounds so simple and logical. ‘BIM’ is the process of Building Information Modelling and is the action or creation and maintenance of a database of information relating to a building.

‘Soft Landings’ is the process for a graduated handover of a new or refurbished building.

When written down it seems odd that there is still confusion or hesitancy around both.

From my perspective this is where the confusions, and perhaps cynicism, starts

to come into play. As you can see from the above definitions both BIM and Soft Landings are, in reality, processes and not software systems as seems to be the common default assumption, in respect of BIM at least, where I suspect that we have all been seduced at one time or another by those snazzy 3D walk-through visualisations.

we too are wrestling with ‘big data’. For us the data about our buildings derived from BIM systems. There is always excitement when systems allow us to process and analyse masses of data but, as other professions have found, this needs to be usable on a regular day-to-day basis. Once we have derived the information needed to develop the asset register, etc. (i.e. the information we need for daily operational purposes) do we need to refer to the BIM system again?

Certainly when there is need for a major refurbishment or fit-out when we might need to know about duct runs, cable routes and the like. With this comes the danger that separate data sets are not working together and therefore one, over time, becomes defunct.

This poses the question as to whether 

ee Many s Soft BIM andas being s Landing y opinion is M linked. y’re not, but it that the ense for them makes s considered to be ether tog

BIG DATA The misconceptions don’t stop there. Many see BIM and Soft Landings as being inextricably linked. My opinion is that they’re definitely not, but it makes sense for them to be considered together. Both are processes which we as practicing facilities managers should recognise the potential value of in our day-to-day working lives – although my suspicion is that Soft Landings is going to come out as the biggest winner insofar as facilities managers are concerned.

Furthermore, like many other professions,

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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FM SOFTWARE  there is a need for a ‘BIM-Lite’ module, one that can be accessed easily and is therefore useful on a practical level more regularly.

CLASSIFICATION On the subject of data, the inter-changeability between different projects for the purpose benchmarking and the like is often quoted as one of the key benefits of implementing BIM/Soft Landings. Certainly it is something that I think we should all do much more of, but for this to happen on a like-for-like basis, without the need for potentially extensive data manipulation, then there needs to be a common classification system or data protocol in place. Unfortunately we’re not there yet with many of the BIM systems being based around something called Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) – but there are other classifications in existence, for example, Uniclass.

Without a standard classification system, how do we know that all the data has been captured in the same way? Fortunately this has been recognised and the BIM Task Group has initiated a research-based study aimed at developing a standard classification methodology that encompasses both buildings and infrastructure.

Specific challenges aside, there are also the typical hurdles to overcome when you are trying to make a change to the way people work and the tools they use such as language and communication.

Over complicate it and you risk people not adopting it as part of every-day operational process and procedure. Also, the need for collaboration is implicit in both the BIM and Soft Landings processes across the entire supply chain from design through construction and operation to the end-user. We have long sought a more collaborative approach but again, if we’re talking different ‘languages’, then we’ll always find this difficult.

IMPACT In summary, is BIM and Soft Landings something that is going to have a positive impact on our day-to-day lives in the long term? I think so. The potential benefits are well documented and when you look at the processes written down they make an awful lot of sense.

However, with any change there are going to be challenges along the way to ensure adoption. The areas outlined above need addressing if we’re going to see BIM in its best light. We are still in the early stages and there has already been a lot learnt, and there be more lessons moving forward.

Done correctly we can see that both these processes implemented as intended have the potential to service FM for the good but there is a long road ahead of us and I suspect there will be a couple of bumps along the way.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.bifm.org.uk

Facilities Management

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

What is Building Information Modelling?

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places. Building Information Models (BIMs) are files (often but not always in proprietary formats and containing proprietary data) which can be exchanged or networked to support decision-making about a place.

Current BIM software is used by individuals, businesses and government agencies who plan, design, construct, operate and maintain diverse physical infrastructures, from water, wastewater, electricity, gas, refuse and communication utilities to roads, bridges and ports, from houses, apartments, schools and shops to offices, factories, warehouses and prisons, and so on.

About the BIM Task Group The Building Information Modelling (BIM) Task Group is supporting and helping deliver the objectives of the Government Construction Strategy and the requirement to strengthen the public sector’s capability in BIM implementation with the aim that all central government departments will be adopting, as a minimum, collaborative Level 2 BIM by 2016. The BIM Task Group believes that significant improvement in cost, value and carbon performance can be achieved through the use of open sharable asset information. It will also be helping the supply chain unlock more efficient and collaborative ways of work throughout the entire project and asset life-cycle end to end. The task group brings together expertise from industry, government, public sector, institutes and academia.

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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FLEET MANAGEMENT

FLEET MANAGER DECISION-MAKING With cost reduction high on the agenda for public sector fleet managers, ACFO director Jullie Jenner talks us through the implications of tax changes in the Chancellor’s 2014 budget New car sales are acknowledged as a barometer of the health of the UK economy, so it is good news that there is firm evidence to show organisations are replacing vehicles at levels not seen since before the 2007 recession.

Fleet registrations are up 9.6 per cent year‑on-year in the first four months of 2014 with business sales – registrations to employers running fewer than 25 vehicles – up 19.2 per cent over a similar period, according to official figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

What’s more, the SMMT is so confident that the upward curve will continue that it has increased its 2014 new car sales forecast and is predicting that registrations this year will be 6.1 per cent up on last year at 2.403 million units.

That is undoubtedly excellent news for motor manufacturers and franchise dealers, but cash and credit remain tight for many organisations.

As public sector budgets continue to be under the spotlight so fleet manager decision-making is a balancing act of tightrope proportions.

So, do fleet operators continue to manage existing vehicles despite the ageing process meaning service, maintenance and repair costs are likely to escalate, or do they invest in new vehicles powered by the very latest fuel efficient, emissions-busting engine technology and featuring the very latest safety equipment and other gizmos?

BENEFIT-IN-KIND TAXES As ever it is a tough call and each fleet will have a different solution, but one issue that is critical in the company car decision-making process is future benefit-in-kind taxation rates.

Cost reduction remains the number one priority for all fleet decision-makers so using whole life costs as the basis to select new vehicles versus existing models is a key parameter in the detailed analysis

that must be undertaken alongside the wider business need.

ACFO was therefore delighted that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne responded in the March Budget to our requests for company car benefit-in-kind tax rates to be announced well into the future.

Historically, only rates for three years, and occasionally four years in advance have been known.

At meetings with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs officials, ACFO repeatedly asked for benefit-in-kind tax rates to be known for what, in the vast majority of cases, will be the entire operating cycle of a vehicle.

Through the recession years since 2008, businesses have moved to longer replacement cycles with company cars driven into a fourth and even a fifth year in some cases, which has left employees and businesses in the dark as to what their benefit-in-kind tax bills will be in their final year or two.

INCREASING RATES While Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in his Budget statement that he was using the company car tax system to “increase the discount” for ultra low emission vehicles – defined by the Government as models with CO2 emissions of 75g/km and below – the reality is that benefit-in-kind rates for those vehicles will increase at a significantly faster rate over the next five years than for higher emission cars (see table below).

For example, an employee choosing a pure electric Nissan Leaf (0g/km) will have nought per cent tax liability in 2014/15 rising to paying 13 per cent of the model’s P11D value over the next five financial years. Meanwhile, an employee choosing a Toyota Plug-in hybrid (49g/km) will see their tax charge rise from five per cent in 2014/15 to 13 per cent in 2018/19 – an eight percentage point increase and a 160 per cent increase in their tax liability.

An employee selecting a vehicle with emissions of 51‑75g/km (the Government’s Vehicle Certification Agency currently lists just one vehicle as being on sale in that emissions bracket, the Porsche Panamera Hybrid at 71g/km) will see the percentage of car P11D value taxed rising from five per cent in 2014/15 to 16 per cent in 2018/19, which represents a 220 per cent increase.

Move up a further tax band threshold and the driver of a Lexus CT200 Hybrid (87g/km) will see the tax charged moving from the 11 per cent bracket to the 19 per cent bracket over the next five years – a 73 per cent increase.

That eight percentage point rise for the Lexus driver is identical to the rise for the employee at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta 1.0 Zetec (99g/km) and for other drivers choosing cars with emissions up to 185g/km as above that level the percentage increase tails off due to the P11D value tax ceiling at 37 per cent.

However, because the Government has chosen to abolish the diesel tax surcharge in 2016/17 the tax ‘winners’ will be employees at the wheel of diesel models. An employee choosing a BMW 116d Efficient Dynamics (99g/km) will see the tax charge rising from E

Written by Julie Jenner, director, ACFO

to increases in the percentage rates linked to CO2 emissions and those currently at the wheel of a zero emission electric car will see a massive 1,300 per cent increase.

Company car benefit-in-kind tax changes announced in this year’s Budget have sent confusing signals to fleet decision-makers and drivers with those at the wheel of lower emission cars (120g/km and below) facing the highest tax increases over the next five years.

Cost n reductiomber nu remains all fleet one for -makers decisionwhole life so using select new costs toes is a key vehicl meter para

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD The Chancellor’s announcement of tax rates to the end of 2018/19 further aids fleet managers and company car drivers’ decision making as vehicle selection can be based on the clear knowledge of what benefit‑in‑kind tax bills for drivers and Class 1A National Insurance liability for employers will be for the lifetime of a vehicle.

However, fleet managers must return to the drawing board in compiling company car choice lists if benefit-in-kind tax increases over the next five years are to be kept to an absolute minimum for employees with some facing a tripling in their liability due

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

33

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

FLEET MANAGEMENT

While Osborne announced his intention to discount low emission vehicles, the reality is that benefit‑in-kind rates for those vehicles will increase at a faster rate  15 per cent to 20 per cent, a 33 per cent increase over the next five years having actually reduced in 2016/17 compared with 2015/16.

Motor manufacturers should be applauded for technological advances that have driven down CO2 emissions and improved MPG to extraordinary levels in recent years. But with the average price of petrol now more than 6p per litre lower than the average price of diesel, according to website petrolprices.com,the time has perhaps come for more fleets to consider petrol models if they fit into their whole life cost profile.

For example, the petrol-engined Mazda3 1.5 100 SE is available with emissions of 119g/km and combined cycle fuel economy of 55.4mpg. Additionally, the Toyota Yaris delivers emissions of 111 g/km and fuel economy of 58.9 mpg. Move up the company car hierarchy and a BMW 320i is available with emissions of 124 g/km and combined cycle fuel economy of 53.3 mpg.

ELECTRIC For a fleet with the ‘right’ mileage profile, now could be the time when diesel power’s dominance of the fleet sector starts to be reined in. For a particular group of drivers, petrol power may deliver much sought after cash savings in benefit-in-kind tax and fuel.

The Government recently announced that it would be spending £500 million to boost the ultra low emission vehicle industry and help drivers both afford and feel confident using electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

That cash includes further support for the Plug In Car Grant that gives fleets up to £5,000 off the cost of an electric vehicle and backing for the Plug In Van Grant that gives a discount of up to £8,000.

Notwithstanding that cash support, ACFO continues to believe that for many fleet chiefs, particularly with the requirement for microscopic cost analysis, such technology is an expensive step into the unknown.

ACFO’s recent and highly successful Electric Vehicle Seminar demonstrated that there was huge interest from the fleet community in such technology, but it also highlighted that any utilisation was likely to be niche amid concerns around high list prices, operational costs and future tax rises for such models.

With cost management the number one priority across the public and private sectors, many organisations in the private sector have recognised that employees driving their own cars on business trips – the so-called ‘grey fleet’ – is a huge financial, as well as duty of care, burden.

EMPLOYEE MILEAGE It is time that the public sector also looks at why it relies so heavily on employees driving their own cars on business trips.

Taking the financial argument first: HM Revenue and Customs’ tax‑free mileage rate for an employee using their own car on business is 45p a mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p a mile thereafter.

The figures – the tax-free Approved Mileage Allowance Payment – are fully audited based on a matrix of costs.

Why, therefore do many public sector organisations pay a significantly higher mileage reimbursement rate? Although, a number of public sector employers have cut their mileage rates given the overriding requirement to cut costs.

However, it is not sufficient for public sector organisations to consider mileage allowance levels; they should also focus on their compliance with duty of care legislation as to whether from a health and safety viewpoint they can ‘afford’ to allow a member of staff to drive their own vehicle on business.

If employees, whether in the public or private sectors, are allowed

Transport

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

to drive their own cars on business then it is essential that their employers have a comprehensive document-related audit trail in place.

That involves, for example, checking driving licence validation regularly; ensuring any driving offences resulting in points or a ban are immediately reported; checking the correct insurance cover is in place as well as valid road fund licences (Vehicle Excise Duty), and that the vehicle is serviced and maintained in accordance with manufacturer recommendations and a valid MoT is in place if the vehicle is more than three years old.

SAFETY Recently, the Health and Safety Executive published an updated version of its long established managing work-related road safety best practice guide, ‘Driving at work: managing work‑related road safety’, which was first published more than a decade ago. This is the definitive guide for any organisation with employees who drive for work in helping them prevent needless crashes and casualties and drive down costs.

The cost of compliance and the financial cost of reimbursing staff are two of the key reasons why many private sector organisations are doing the maths and calculating that actually it is better value, and safer from a duty of care perspective, to axe the ‘grey fleet’.

They have conducted studies and concluded that providing a company car, utilising vehicle rental for business trips, encouraging the uptake of public transport or utilising video/tele conference facilities are, all round, far more astute options.

The fleet industry is forever throwing up new challenges and opportunities, but some things never change. Cost will always be the decisive decision-making factor. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.acfo.org

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ROAD SIGNS

MORE FLEXIBILITY TO MEET LOCAL SIGNAGE NEEDS

Simon Morgan from the Institute of Highway Engineers examines new local highways traffic sign legislation that comes into force in 2015, which brings both benefits and challenges to local authoritIes The new edition of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) is expected to completely replace the existing 2002 version in March 2015, and follows on from six years of policy review and consultation by the Department of Transport (DfT).

Key to the new TSRGD is a focus on local authorities being granted greater flexibility and discretion to implement local signage without the need for frequent individual authorisation of signs by DfT. LOCAL AUTHORITIES Chair of IHE’s Traffic Signs Panel, Simon Morgan looks at the new TSRGD proposals in greater detail and explains the impacts to local authorities.

Mr Morgan said: “The TSRGD revisions are extensive. In addition to providing greater flexibility for local authorities, it will also provide them with greater discretion about the design and placement of traffic signs and whether or not to illuminate them, within a national framework.

“The new TSRGD focuses very much on flexibility and expects authorities to follow guidance in the Traffic Signs Manual to find examples and best

practice. This comes with both benefits and challenges to the local authorities.

“Whilst the signage clutter on local roads looks set to reduce following the introduction of the 2015 revision, there are also concerns that local authorities have less certainly over whether the new signs they erect will be enforceable.

“The IHE will continue to work closely with local authorities to ensure they are provided with the best possible training and guidance on the new regulations.

We’re keen to help both local authorities and traffic practitioners understand the new TSRGD and what it means to them.

“Our sold-out UK wide, TSRGD seminars which we ran in conjunction with the DfT this spring, were attended by around 1,000 delegates. The IHE is also running its annual Traffic Signs Conference this November to update on the progress of the new TSRGD and the result of the consultation process.”

Transport

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

A ‘BUILDING BLOCK‘ APPROACH Mr Morgan said a new feature of the revised TSRGD was its ‘building block‘ approach which prescribes elements for many types of sign, rather than illustrating them individually.

“The building block approach allows much greater flexibility because it allows local authorities to ’mix and match‘ different elements to best suit local needs.

“Through this document, the DfT will prescribe a much wider range of signs for local authorities to use, rather than having to individually authorise many that are currently needed.”

He said it was important to note that only new signs were affected by the new TSRGD. All existing signs and crossings would remain for their expected design life.

“Most signs, with the exception of direction signs, will remain identical or very similar in appearance to present signs. However, there are many important changes within the proposed new TSRGD that make it very different from the existing legislation.”

THE PROPOSAL FOR TSRGD 2015 An industry-wide consultation into the new TSRGD proposals closed on June 12. As a result of feedback from leading industry bodies including the IHE, these proposals may be modified. At this stage, the proposed TSRGD changes include how signs are used, with changes expected to be made to the number of signs, whether they are electrically lit and whether they are used with road markings or not. There will also be an entirely new ‘building block’ format. The new format is due to contain far fewer complete sign illustrations, but more building blocks that can be used in any arrangement to help authorities decide what is appropriate for the local area.

Upright signs and road markings would be independent of each other. Local authorities will need to read guidance and then decide for themselves whether, for example, a parking bay needs an upright sign with it. Additionally, no new Pelican crossings are to be installed, and parking bays will be indicated by almost any type of white marking, colour of road surfacing or block pavers. Except for blue badge (disabled) bays, authorities can make them any size they wish.

Under these proposals, electrical lighting would no longer be mandatory on most signs. The requirement to electrically illuminate most signs has been removed and left to the individual authority’s discretion.

The ‘Guildford Rules’ for directional signs would no longer apply. These rules, which were first introduced in 1994 following extensive experiments in the Guildford E

The tion new edi affic of the Tr lations gu Signs Real Directions er and Gen ted to replace is expecxisiting 2002 the e sion in ver 015 March 2

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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ROAD SIGNS  area, are to be swept away and these signs returned very close to the pre-1994 situation.

Also, different widths of arm on map-type signs are to be abandoned. This differentiation between routes of different status, which dates back to the Worboys Report of 1963, and the work of the graphic designers Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert is also to end.

Single and double yellow lines (and school ‘keep clear’ markings) would no longer need a traffic order. Authorities will be able to go out and paint them, but are encouraged to first consult those affected. Certain cycle measures (such as allowing cyclists the ‘wrong way’ down a one-way street) are also exempt from the requirement to make a traffic order.

Most signs for road works and other temporary situations to be illustrated only in guidance documents. The TSRGD will prescribe these by means of a written definition.

Also, under the new rules pedestrian crossing regulations and two other minor statutory instruments would be combined and brought together into one document.

GUILDFORD RULES Mr Morgan said there were concerns about ending the ‘Guildford Rules’ for directional signage: “We are just coming to the end of a 20-year transition period following the introduction of this type of direction sign in 1994.

“Whilst the ‘Guildford Rules’ are not universally popular, it seems imprudent to abandon them totally without any research or consultation and precipitate a further 20-year period of a mixture of

signs following different principals.

“Proposed changes to directional signing could also make signs less clear and potentially unsafe.

“Currently a map-type sign can be used to clearly show the priority route through a junction. In future, this would not be allowed and safety could be compromised and additional warning signs might be needed.

“It’s vital that local authorities are well‑prepared for these changes to the TSRGD,

Transport

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left to the individual authority’s discretion.

It is anticipated that parking enforcement will become less subject to challenge, as the 2015 TSRGD is designed to make it less easy for motorists to get out of parking tickets and moving traffic offences on technical problems with the signs or markings. The changes are also expected to assist local authorities to drive schemes forward by cutting red tape.

“Greater local authority flexibility in determining signage particularly for

While the new TSRGD gives local authorities greater flexibility and discretion to determine which signs are appropriate to their local area, it must not be done at the risk of driver safety as they are soon to replace practices that have been in place for up to fifty years.”

BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES The introduction of the new 2015 TSRGD is expected to bring cost‑saving benefits to local authorities. ʺFollowing the introduction of the new edition, we can expect to see less road signage clutter,” Mr Morgan says. “With fewer signs needed, the cost of signage will reduce for local authorities and signage clutter on local roads can be minimised.

“Reduced energy usage is also expected to be another benefit to local authorities now that the requirement to electrically illuminate most signs has been removed and The ‘building block’ approach of the new TSRGD allows much greater flexibility because it allows local authorities to ’mix and match‘ different elements to best suit local needs

parking signs and pedestrian zones, also means far fewer signs will require individual authorisation by DfT. “This will allow local authorities to implement schemes faster and with less staff time.”

SAFETY Mr Morgan warns that while the new TSRGD gives local authorities greater flexibility and discretion to determine which signs are appropriate to their local area, it must not be done at the risk of driver safety: “It’s important that authorities are not tempted to go for the minimum cost option by reducing signing or lighting, even when drivers need more than one sign or need a sign to be illuminated to be able to see it at night.

“The new 2015 edition will be put in place to assist local authorities and uphold the safety of road users. It’s vital that chief officers and elected members give this due consideration when it comes to reviewing and challenging new signage schemes under this directive.”

There is also the potential that under the new regulations, local authorities could have less certainty over whether the new signs they erect will be enforceable or whether parking adjudicators or magistrates will find some problem with them.

“The revised TSRGD focuses very much on flexibility and expects authorities to follow guidance in the Traffic Signs Manual to find examples and best practice.

“This guidance from the Department for Transport must be published in a timely manner after the new TSRGD comes into force to avoid any uncertainty in traffic signage or enforcement.

“The clearer this guidance, the better able local authorities will be able to resolve any grey areas or issues which may arise when the new legislation is introduced in early 2015.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.theihe.org

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Advertisement Feature

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SOFTWARE

OPEN SOURCE ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING Disconnected data and systems are becoming a greater challenge for many organisations across the UK public sector.

Joined-up and modular open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) could be the solution

Stuart Mackintosh, Director, Opus VL

Technological progress and the increasing drive for community empowerment mean that the public sector is held to account for every decision they make about the integration and ‘openness’ of the technology they choose; a responsibility that is not just related to the ‘Big Data’ applications, but runs through to local authorities and departments. The issue is usually not a lack of choice of software, but budgetary constraints and the in-house technical capability to assess the need and options. Historically, the outcome has often been fragmented systems with complex functionality delivered through spreadsheets.

The Cloudstore provides many low-cost options but despite being more attractive than previous capital expense models, they can still present barriers, with risks of lock-in, long-term financial commitments and issues with migration.

EASY-IN, EASY-OUT Open source solutions can offer a hop-on, hop-off solution to enable exploration and discovery of features before any budget is spent. In any case, with all true open source software, lock-in and lock-out is not an issue, plus guaranteed access to the software code, technological evolution and migration allows users to extend and develop applications as the organisation evolves.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software integrates internal and external information flows into one single, comprehensive suite of applications. By providing an integrated real-time view of an organisation’s core activities, an ERP system plays a vital role in

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

customise the system to meet specific needs.

Where functionality is highly specialised and unique, functionality can either be built within a custom module, or through externally integrated systems as appropriate.

Communication tools are a major feature of many contemporary cloud applications; Odoo enables internal or external people to be notified through built-in features as and when needed as part of the workflow. Having no cost of acquisition and providing the ability for data to be freely imported and exported, the application has gained significant public sector support across the EU.

Open ons soluti source a hop-on, r can offef solution to hop-of exploration enable ures before of feat udget is any b nt spe

managing the core commercial functions of a business.

Over the last ten years, the open source ERP market has matured significantly. Although some applications are deeply focused on a single application, there are now rising champions of modular architecture, offering many focused modules that work across a single and joined-up business information schema. A good example is Odoo, a powerful framework containing over 1,500 offthe-shelf business applications, including customer management, HR, time and expense management, project and WBS, finance, website CMS and case management.

Until very recently, Odoo was known as OpenERP. However, the company who created the application has chosen to change the brand, as the acronym ‘ERP’ could limit the perceived functionality to that of the popular mainstream software offerings currently used by many departments.

Odoo offers a cloud pay-per-user model in addition to the option to install locally or on your own cloud at no charge. Over two million installations have been registered over recent years with the level of adoption estimated to be higher, supported by hundreds of full time Odoo staff and a community of over 3,000 developers continually improving and innovating business functionality.

A standard Odoo installation covers typical business scenarios, with the option to

LEGACY DATA AND SYSTEMS Commercial pressures may prevent running concurrent systems; however, using an open source system can allow parallel running without paying support for both.

Software licensing can account for 30 - 40 per cent of a council’s budget for generic software, with further investments required for customisations. Choosing the flexible open source route and its low cost of acquisition will leave budget for data or process migration, implementation and training.

Adoption of open source across Government has been quietly gathering pace, effectively reducing the grip of the legacy vendors and encouraging greater interaction with the SME market. In 2005, a Maastricht University survey of twelve countries found that 49 per cent of local authorities across Europe used open source software while 70 per cent said they expect usage to increase. More recently, the London Borough of Hounslow is wholeheartedly embracing open source; the council’s aim was to have at least 30 per cent of its key applications running on a ‘multi-tenanted, nonproprietary, public cloud’ platform by May 2014.

Government CTO Liam Maxwell stated that: “Open source is at the heart of our commitment to deliver digital public services designed around the needs of citizens,” and Francis Maude has restated his intention to move more government services to open source in 2014. Technology giants, IBM and CGI recently announced significant investment in open source, plus HP has recently broadcast plans to invest $1 billion in open source technologies over the next two years.  FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01788 298450 www.opusvl.com

PARKING POLICY

PARKING MATTERS In June, the parking profession gathered for their annual trade show and exhibition, Parkex.

Anyone who attended would have been impressed, not just by the range of products and services on show but by the innovative way in which the operators and manufacturers are getting their messages across.

But it wasn’t just exhibitors who were making themselves heard. The BPA’s voice has seemingly reverberated around Westminster recently and this year’s Parkex Seminar Theatre Hub opened with an opportunity to hear from Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, on the government’s current and future thinking on parking policy. As you would expect, there were many people in the audience who were very interested in what the Minister had to say. And he certainly didn’t disappoint.

“If it looks like a parking bay, it is a parking bay,” he said at one point,

confirming that there will be changes to give local authorities greater freedom and make life simpler for motorists. He was referring to the current review of Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2015 (TSRGD 2015) upon which the BPA has contributed to, working closely with colleagues in the Institute of Highways Engineers in developing our response.

REGULATION The BPA supports the general approach to POLICY TSRGD 2015 to provide less regulation The establishment of Parking on Private Land and more flexibility for highway Appeals (POPLA), providing motorists authorities and local councils but with independent and free also that appropriate guidance appeals, was highlighted as e h T must be published at the an example of the high x e k r a same time as the new standards that are often 2014 P heatre T r TSRGD. It is important promoted by parking a n i m a h Se t i w for local authorities to professionals. Mr d e en consult local people Goodwill concluded E Hub op Robert

Written by David Smith, British Parking Association

David Smith of the British Parking Association reports on the recent Parkex event where Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport led a seminar on the government’s current and future thinking on parking policy

and stakeholders before introducing new or changed parking controls to avoid criticism that controls are unclear or unwanted.

There is a clear need to reduce sign clutter and allow parking places without upright signs so long as the motorist is properly informed about the prevailing parking rules and has the opportunity to comply.

We have urged government to play a role in informing the statutory adjudication services of these changes and have offered to work with DfT and the Information Commissioner to understand better how mobile traffic management cameras can be properly deployed.

Mr Goodwill’s speech continued with praise for the private parking sector for showing that industry self-regulation can succeed and it was noted that parking professionals are providing well-designed, fair and proportionate parking services.

Parking

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

from speech Parliamentary ll, Goodwi er‑Secretary Und for of Stateort Transp

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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PARKING POLICY  that the Government recognised that the sector is providing well-designed, fair and proportionate parking services.

Quite a different message to the one emanating from Westminster last year when a significant series of public attacks by ministers in the Communities & Local Government Department in relation to local authority parking enforcement were completely at odds with that of the Department for Transport. Those working in the parking profession found it strange that one department could speak so publicly about the policy of another, particularly when the ideas coming from DCLG were not particularly well thought through. One such idea involved allowing motorists to stop on double yellow lines for up to 15 minutes, so they could pop in to buy a newspaper of pint of milk. All of this, they felt, would help revitalise the high street by encouraging more people to visit their town centres.

What this fails to understand is that delivery vehicles are already permitted to stop on yellow lines in order to service local businesses. Disabled people displaying blue badges are also able to stop on yellow lines for up to three hours in England and Wales. By allowing anybody to park on yellow lines – quite apart from the confusion that this would create for the average motorist – it would discriminate against those vehicles which are most needed to maintain close access to premises. If this is about revitalising the high street, denying delivery vehicles the ability to unload goods to adjacent shops will damage it far more than encouraging car-borne traffic to park a short way away from their destinations.

Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, praised the private parking sector for showing that industry self-regulation can succeed

message is driven home that local authority parking managers work very hard to deliver their objectives of reducing congestion and improving road safety through good parking management, but also strive to promote economic success in their towns and cities.

We have also worked with the Ministry of Justice as they introduced changes to bailiff regulations, which came into force on 6th April. Although we would have preferred to have seen some independent regulation of the sector, we have accepted the government’s philosophy around light touch regulation and worked with them to ensure

Promoting innovation, technology and sustainability will drive up standards and help make parking a recognised profession SAFETY The Government had previously made its position on the use of CCTV very clear by expressly stating that it intended to abolish the use of CCTV cameras for parking enforcement.

At Parkex, Mr Goodwill stressed the need for the public to have confidence that cameras should only be used to promote safety and to tackle congestion, highlighting four key areas: around schools, in bus lanes, at bus stops, and on red-routes.

Add to this Mr Pickles proclamation whilst on a visit to Bedford recently that he didn’t actually mind the use of camera vans if they concentrate on dangerous places and it seems as though the BPA’s decision to seek clarity on government policy on parking and lobby against a complete ban on CCTV has paid dividends.

The BPA has worked closely with DCLG and DfT during this period to ensure that the

a smooth transition to the new regulations.

Our work continues with stakeholders representing the motorist and the consumer, involving them in the decision-making process of the Association. Our attendance at the party conferences in the autumn underlines the importance of working with politician stakeholders to define how parking should be delivered and how policy should be manufactured for the sector. This year’s fringe events will have a theme around the local authority parking agenda and examine how good parking management enhances the High Street whilst bad parking management can damage it.

MASTER PLAN We have recently launched our 5th Annual Master plan, which sets out what we believe the parking profession must do together to raise standards. If we achieve these aims, we

Parking

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

feel our members will be able to provide better services for the motorist, as we ultimately want to ensure that the customer is always at the heart of our thinking.

People have the right to expect a high standard of parking management and service providers have a responsibility to provide this in a professional manner.

Motorists have a responsibility to learn and observe parking rules and regulations, and parking operators and parking service providers have a right to expect compliance from people who use and benefit from those parking services.

Local councils have a duty to serve and respond to local needs and should have the right to do so in a responsible manner.

We will strive to deliver better value to our members by working closely with stakeholders, members and government to achieve our vision of excellence in parking for all. Promoting innovation, technology and sustainability will drive up standards and continue to make parking a recognised profession.

These objectives are by no means exhaustive, and the changes in our Master Plan each year continue to reflect our profession as it develops and matures.

By continuing to work in a consultative and constructive manner, we aim to achieve the best outcome for the motorist and the wider parking profession.

WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT The BPA continues to work closely with our Scottish, Welsh and Irish members who participate through strong groups that meet regularly in those countries. We have worked closely with the governments of those countries; and in particular in Wales have achieved some of our Master Plan objectives including the introduction of moving traffic contraventions. In Northern Ireland, we continue to work well with the Republic in developing that relationship, launching a joint Master Plan with the Irish Parking Association in September. In particular, we have worked with the ministers in Northern Ireland to find a solution to the private parking sector issues there.

Informing and influencing government on matters relating to the design, economics and regulation of parking and traffic management is a key objective of the BPA’s and we actively seek to raise awareness of current issues and provide important information to help key decisions and policies made in government at both a local and national level. We continue to seek engagement with stakeholders who have similar objectives, with the overall aim of delivering a considered and respected voice in relation to parking and traffic management matters. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.britishparking.co.uk

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

VENDING

HOW WILL A NEW POUND COIN AFFECT VENDING?

With a new pound coin set to be introduced in 2017, the Automatic Vending Association (AVA) answers some of the most pressing questions about how the changeover will work In his 2014 budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced the launch of a new £1 coin in 2017. There are 1.538 billion £1 coins in circulation, of which 3.1 per cent are counterfeit. The value of these counterfeit coins is estimated to be £47.7 million, and counterfeit is on the rise – last year, the Royal Mint took £1.7 million in counterfeit coins out of circulation. The coin’s design is 30 years old, and so precedes modern counterfeiting technology.

AVA SUPPORT The Automatic Vending Association understands the requirements of The Royal Mint to maintain the integrity of the £1 coin, and it comes as no surprise that because of the increased level of counterfeiting, a new public consultation will be launched by the Chancellor for the introduction of a new £1 coin.

Speaking of The Royal Mint’s decision to introduce the new coinage, Jonathan Hilder, Chief Executive Officer of the Automatic Vending Association, said: “It is imperative that the vending industry works with all interested parties to ensure that the security and implementation of any proposed new coinage can be undertaken with minimal impact on vending users and at the lowest possible cost to our industry, due to its large machine base.

“The Automatic Vending Association’s established working relationships with both The Royal Mint and The Treasury allow us to do just this, and we very much support the development of a new £1 coin which will be more secure than its predecessor, which will incorporate new technologies.

“The Association’s involvement will also provide a better conduit of information for The Treasury and the Government, assisting with their understanding of the vending industry of Great Britain.”

The AVA welcomes the opportunity to be involved from the start of this process to develop the new £1 coin, and will look at the proposed introduction and composition of the coin.

WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE CHANGED? The level of counterfeits is rising and the integrity of the coinage must be protected, so this is not an unexpected decision by the Treasury – it’s

Catering

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the AVA knows what the new design and specification will be, we will be able to cost it. As soon as the industry has the solution, an engineer will need to visit each machine and upgrade the software. If it requires new hardware, then the engineer will need to make this change as well – so it’s set to be a busy two years for the vending industry.

WHAT WILL IT COST THE INDUSTRY? This is unclear because we don’t know the final design and specification. However, the cost to the vending industry of the introduction of the 5p and 10p coins has been £25 million. The cost to introduce the new £1 coin will be more. The overall cost set out in the Treasury Economic Impact Assessment for the 5p and 10p for the whole coin operated industry was £80 million. The British Parking Association (BPA) has stated that the cost for them will be £50 million.

IS THERE ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE THE NECESSARY CHANGES? The time period will be fine if we are able to undertake and complete the consultation this summer and have samples to give to the coin mechanism manufacturers before the end of the year. Should there be any delays in the process, then the AVA will need to look at the timelines.

WHO WILL BEAR THE COST OF THIS? The UK vending industry will bear the cost of this change, but the AVA has already suggested to the Treasury that because this is the second change in less than five years we would appreciate some help for our businesses which are coming out of recession. So, creating a special 100 per cent allowance of all the upgrade costs against tax in the year in which they were incurred would be useful. The AVA will continue to discuss this with the government to see how this could work.

just a little earlier than the AVA had hoped for.

A new, secure coin should remove this cost from business, although vending does not suffer too badly from this because rogue coins are rejected and consumers tend to use them elsewhere.

HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE VENDING INDUSTRY? It will mean all vending machines which accept coins will have to be altered. Once

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS? Over the summer, the Mint and the Treasury will consult with the AVA and other interested parties such as the BPA, British Retail Consortium and others. This will be twofold – to look at the timeline and how to reduce the economic impact; and the design and specifications of the new coin.

The overall effect of this must be that we have a more secure coin that can be implemented at the lowest possible cost to the industry and the AVA will help achieve that.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.ava-vending.co.uk

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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l u f s s e c c u s The most n o i t a r e t l a t garmen K U e h t n i e s franchi Who? • Are you ambitious to run your own business?

• Customer driven and well organised?

• Can you follow a proven business system?

How? All Zip Yard franchises are finished to a distinctive specification and you are presented with a fully operational and fully supported business with trained staff and comprehensive brand marketing from day one.

Support Includes: • • • • •

Marketing and promotion tools Group purchasing power Internet and web support Ongoing training programmes Continued concept and product development • Day to day troubleshooting

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“After meeting the franchisor, Nigel Toplis, we were very impressed by the professionalism of the franchise. Since opening the reaction from customers has been amazing and business is going so well that we are looking to open a second Centre, and possibly a third after that.”

Richard McConnell, The ZipYard Altrincham

For further information call Emma Downes on 01530 513307 e: edownes@thezipyard.co.uk w: www.thezipyard.co.uk * The exact shop fit cost will be determined by the size and standard of the premises

FRANCHISING

Franchising

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

A WELL-PROVEN BUSINESS MODEL

Owning and running a franchise business is all about transferrable skills. And that’s perhaps best illustrated in the abundant and diverse range of businesses that operate under the ‘management franchise’ category.

Essentially, a management franchise is a business that is own and run with a broad oversight, rather than being involved in delivering the day-to-day activities. The franchisee’s role is to use the experience and expertise gained during their career to lead a company, manage a team effectively, with a keen focus on business development and a strong steer on the financials.

OPTIONS That encompasses a lot of options in franchising: homecare providers, procurement experts, cost management services, commercial cleaning,

recruitment, financial services, property services – and that’s far from an exhaustive list. If someone has the right skills, then the chances are that they can find a franchise to fire their passion and inspire them.

Even better, this is a potentially lucrative sector: many white collar franchises have six-figure turnovers, and turnover of more than a million is not uncommon for more established businesses, with attractive profit margins.

And with an ethical franchise, the franchisee will have initial and ongoing training, support back-up to call on

when needed. Then when they decide to move on, retire or realise the investment, the business can be sold to an approved buyer, allowing the franchisee to retain the profits from the valuable asset they have created.

ENTREPRENEURIAL FLAIR There are of course no guarantees and it requires a lot of hard work. The franchisee is likely to work long hours at the beginning as they establish the business; they’ll need a certain degree of entrepreneurial flair to grow; very strong self-motivation, drive and determination; and a great set of skills from your career to date. 

Written by Paul Stafford, BPA

The highly transferrable skills often demonstrated by public sector professionals are very sought after by franchisors seeking their next franchisee, writes Paul Stafford of the British Franchise Association

47

pali

Head Office t: 0151 691 1170 e: search@paliltd.com www.paliltd.com www.pali-franchise.co.uk

the franchise

Franchising for Public Servants "Pali" is an acronym of "Property And Land Information" which describes our product pretty accurately.

The information we provide on property and land is gathered from many sources; mining companies, water companies, environmental companies etc but our mainstays are the three hundred and eighty Local Authorities whose offices and websites we visit daily.

Pali have been providing a service to solicitors and conveyancers since 1999 and have been franchising our service since 2006.

Now that the housing market is recovering we have a requirement for further franchisees throughout England and Wales. Due to government cutbacks many public authorities are making staff redundant. In many cases these staff members have the skills and aptitude required to become a successful Pali Franchisee and run a successful company. Most of our franchisees started off working from home but quickly moved into professional offices.

Although their clients never visited these offices the franchisees found it to be a more productive environment to work from. Also, within a very short period they were employing staff. The numbers depended on the aims and ambitions of the particular franchisee.

The Pali franchise is ideal as a partnership giving the flexibility to build a great "Work Life" balance with little stress or pressure.

So if you are considering a change of direction for you and your family and would like to earn more than you currently do why not give us a call on 0151 691 1170 or email nicksnr@paliltd.com to find out more?

“

I bought my PALI franchise in 2007 and have never looked back. I can thoroughly recommend a PALI franchise as it gives you a good income, flexibility and support when needed.

Pali Basildon

”

FRANCHISING  For those wondering if they have what it takes, it’s worth examining exactly what those skills are, and why a public sector background can be ideally suited to management franchise success.

SKILLS TEST The franchisee will need to look at their management experience and demonstrate how it will switch across to business ownership success. That might include skills like people management, leadership, problem-solving, recruiting and budgeting – all are highly transferrable, are regularly demonstrated by public sector managers, and are very sought after by franchisors seeking their next franchisee.

The more boxes someone can tick, the more attractive they’ll be as an ideal prospective franchisee. Keep in mind that joining a franchise is a two-way process; the franchisor needs to make sure the appointment is a good fit, and if there’s no quality control check on the franchisee, signing up is not advised. A brand that allows anyone to become a franchisee without making these checks is likely to be going downhill.

It’s often said that franchising is suited to people with an enterprising nature rather than an entrepreneurial ego: it revolves around proven systems, processes and procedures that someone else has demonstrated can lead to success. That’s usually a huge plus point for a prospective franchisee from a public sector background, where systems and processes are routine and there are clear reasons for following them.

CONTRIBUTION And that’s not to say that the franchisee can’t contribute – a good franchisor (the owner of the brand) welcomes the ideas of their franchisees and has two-way communication channels to encourage them to be shared.

It’s important to remember that what is involved is paying for a business model that has been tested in the marketplace and working within its parameters, whilst adding innovative ideas where possible.

It’s also worth remembering that franchising is set up to let people run their own business in a field in which they have little or no direct professional experience. Its model provides support in running a business as well as training, so even if the franchisee has little or no such direct career history, help is available via telephone, email and in person to plug any gaps they may have.

Interchangeable skills are all-important, and should be considered carefully when looking to make the right impression on a franchisor.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE Lifestyle is one of the key considerations to think about when looking to transition to franchise business ownership. Even within a broad category like management franchises, there are numerous and 

Franchising

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

Case Study 1: Jill Adams

Jill Adams took the plunge and launched her SureCare franchise in Exeter and East Devon after an extensive background in the care industry. Jill had been a care manager with North Hertfordshire District Council and, during this time, had led a pilot for homecare within several sheltered housing schemes.

Jill said: “I had worked in the care industry for the best part of 20 years and as care manager was responsible for 24 sheltered schemes and 120 staff.

“When we moved to Devon, I became interested in running my own business and considered different options before deciding on a franchise.

“The franchise model appealed to me because you did not have to reinvent the wheel. I was able to take advantage of policies and procedures already in place and the company kept me up to date with new regulations and changes to the law.

“When I launched the franchise in 2001, we were regulated by the local social services rather than Care Quality Commission as it is today.”

Jill’s franchise is different to most others within the company. She explains: “We are situated on a working farm from which the business operates and staff enjoy coming here for meetings and training.

“Also because of our rural location, there is no such thing as a 15- or 30-minute visit. We don’t carry out any visits of less than an hour. We only provide care services to older people and adults with disabilities, learning

difficulties or brain injuries. A lot of the time, we are enabling family carers to have a break, maybe the chance to meet friends or play a round of golf.

“Operating a franchise is a way of life and it is very hard to switch off. It is not a 9 till 5 job, but it can be a very rewarding existence.

Running a farm and a care franchise are similar in that both are a seven-days-a-week business.”

Jill, who employs 20 staff, said that the biggest challenge she had faced as a franchisee had been recruitment. “Recruiting good people is undoubtedly the hardest but also the most important part of running any business. I have deliberately stayed small and have been very fortunate with many of the people I have employed.”

In terms of advice to would-be franchisees, Jill offers a number of useful tips: “Firstly, make sure you have the capital to invest and grow your franchise business and then don’t expect returns straightaway.

It takes time to build any business.

“It is also important to make yourself take regular breaks in order to stay fresh and have the energy to develop and grow your business.”

Jill concluded: “I have enjoyed running my franchise over the past 12 years. I have a good team and we have got to know our clients very well. We offer a valuable service and it is very satisfying to know that we are making a difference to people’s lives.”

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Are you looking for…

A new challenge? A fresh start?

Or a change of direction?

A rewarding business opportunity which revolves around people

Have you ever dreamt of owning your own business?

If so, a Heritage Healthcare Franchise could be the perfect solution for you.

Heritage Healthcare has a rewarding opportunity for you to own and operate your own franchise within the rapidly expanding care sector. We will give you all the training and guidance required to run a successful homecare franchise.

We are looking for committed, ambitious and motivated people who have the desire to own, operate and develop their own business and would like to join the company in providing excellent quality care that enables people to enjoy independent lives in the comfort of their own home.

Interested in learning more? Visit our website and download an information pack or call Michelle Fenwick (Head

of Franchising) on the franchise hotline.

Franchise hotline:

CALL NOW

01325 370 707

Visit www.heritagehealthcarefranchising.co.uk or Email: michelle@heritagehealthcare.co.uk

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

FRANCHISING  sometimes substantial variations on the day-to-day life of the operator depending on whether their customers are other businesses or individual people.

For example, a franchise that specialises in B2B products and services such as a procurement or recruitment consultancy, will generally operate during normal office hours, Monday-Friday. The franchisee is likely to have some administrative duties outside those times, but the business will effectively close when clients do. On the other hand, a gym or retail outlet will open during evenings and weekends, and though of course the franchisee won’t need to be on-site as staff will be looking after things, they may at the least need to be contactable in emergencies.

Similarly, a B2B franchise will frequently be home-based, at least to start off with, or operate from a small office. They’ll need less stock and therefore typically have lower start-up costs and working capital requirements than a premises-based business. In mitigation though, a coffee shop or retail franchise will usually come with a big, national brand and substantial customer loyalty behind it.

There’s no right or wrong here. What’s important for the franchisee is to consider what they’re comfortable doing and what they are passionate about.

Case Study 2: Richard Bryan Whitley Bay resident Richard Bryan, who spent nearly 30 years working in the local public sector, joined the franchise Wilkins Chimney Sweep in 2013. Richard, 48, who has lived in Whitley Bay all his adult life, is married to Michelle and has two children.

A degree in housing studies led Richard to a career working in housing management with Homes for Northumberland, where his responsibilities ranged from allocating properties to overseeing maintenance and estate security, through to grass cutting and rent collection. He took voluntary redundancy from his last post, meaning he was able to dovetail his exit from one business and entry into franchising with no interruption or down time.

Although Richard had no experience of sweeping chimneys (as the franchisor prefers), he was keen on DIY, having renovated a few of his own rental properties over the years.

He researched his purchase thoroughly, speaking Bryan not only to franchisors

ally “I’ve re y first m enjoyedew career n year in grets about – no re the security leaving he public of t sector”

MONEY TALKS So, how much is needed to get started? d Typically, a management Richar franchise is going to cost anywhere from around £25,000 to get off the ground. That figure will rise to comfortably over £100,000 for a premises-based business, including fitting, stock and initial rent; the majority are probably somewhere in between.

The initial fee pays for training in the business, installing the systems to get started and will sometimes also include launching marketing materials/ strategies. Each franchise is different, so it’s important to check what’s included carefully when weighing up the options.

It can be a sizeable investment, but it’s worth repeating that once the franchisee owns the business, if they can successfully build up a saleable asset, then not only do they reap the rewards of their own hard work, they are also creating a nest egg for the future. Most franchise contracts are for five years, with options to renew, while many premises-based franchises offer 10- or even 20-year agreements.

Usually the franchisee will need to have around one-third to one-half of the total start-up cost in liquid capital. Banks look very favourably on the franchise model, because it offers them historical, verifiable data on 

Franchising

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

Louise and Peter Harris but also to current franchisees, asking them about the job, the training and crucially, the profitability and sustainability of the business model.

Of the change in direction he took, Richard says: “I’ve really enjoyed my first year in new career – no regrets about leaving the security of the public sector. It’s been hard work but I’m pleased with the business I have created, and I’m now a member of trade body APICS and HETAS approved – but still learning on a daily basis.

“Business is going really well; on my very first day a guy followed me down the road in his car...I was rather taken aback until I realised he wanted to book me as a sweep!

“I’ve also had some articles in the local papers, organised by the franchisor’s PR agency and I’ve even been interviewed on BBC Look North, both of which have given me sweeping jobs and some possible joint ventures with local firms.

“One thing I didn’t expect was the huge amount of old friends, way back to my school days, who have seen me in the paper and got in touch for me to sweep their chimneys. I think it really helps that they know and trust me and hopefully they’ll tell all their friends about me too! Yes, life is good; I’m very excited about the future.”

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

“

I really enjoy what I do.

Being my own boss is something that I’ve always wanted

”

Colin was delighted when the Plan-it Cards Brighton Franchise Territory became available to purchase. “Having worked as a local leisure centre manager I had been considering a career change for some time. This opportunity gave me the best of both worlds “in business for myself but not by myself.”

Call 01428 714700

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FRANCHISING  what a new business owner can achieve by looking at existing franchisees’ accounts.

For established brands, they’ll lend up to around 70 per cent of the start-up cost; for newer brands, it will be around 50 per cent.

One last consideration here: as franchising matures in the UK, more re-sale businesses are coming onto the market (the majority of franchises are now re-sales in fact).

Management franchises offer excellent re‑sale potential because of their structure – the staff performing day-to-day operations do

in the last 20-plus years consecutively, including throughout the recent downturn; and from 2008 to mid-2013, the sector’s revenue and number of jobs both increased by 20 per cent – while the nation’s economy contracted by 2.5 per cent. It’s now a £13.7 billion industry, responsible for more than 560,000 jobs and almost 40,000 individual businesses (per the NatWest/British Franchise Association Franchise Survey 2013).

The chances to join that success are abundant and the sector has been buoyant

Once the franchisee owns the business, if they can successfully build up a saleable asset, then not only do they reap the rewards of their hard work, they are creating a nest egg for the future not change when the ownership changes, so they can continue to make profit from day one if the business is already successfully trading.

The franchisee’s job will be to grow rather than establish the company in their local area.

throughout 2014 too. But it can still be helpful to approach things calmly, do an abundance of due diligence on potential franchisors and speak with existing franchisees to find out what life is like within the network.

GROWING GAINS Franchising has shown how well it works in recent years: approximately 90 per cent of franchisees have recorded profitability

THE BRITISH FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION The British Franchise Association is the non‑profit trade association for franchising in this country and it accredits franchises

A rewarding business opportunity which revolves around people

Franchising

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

Advantages of franchising  Around

92 per cent of all UK franchisees reported profitability over the last 12 months.  The business format is proven  You have the opportunity to build your capital as well as your earnings.  It is your business and you are the owner manager, providing you follow the system, you decide what goes.  The major banks are very supportive of good franchising. against a strict set of criteria before they can join as a member. Those businesses offer franchisees the best chance of success because they have been judged to operate ethically and provide the right support. The BFA’s website lists all current members and also contains numerous tips and advice on joining a franchise, including 50 questions to consider asking a franchisor before signing up.

If the franchisee get it right, they could be managing their own healthy business before too long.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.thebfa.org

Are you looking for…

A new challenge? A fresh start?

Or a change of direction?

Have you ever dreamt of owning your own business?

If so, a Heritage Healthcare Franchise could be the perfect solution for you.

Heritage Healthcare has a rewarding opportunity for you to own and operate your own franchise within the rapidly expanding care sector. We will give you all the training and guidance required to run a successful homecare franchise.

We are looking for committed, ambitious and motivated people who have the desire to own, operate and develop their own business and would like to join the company in providing excellent quality care that enables people to enjoy independent lives in the comfort of their own home.

Interested in learning more? Visit our website and download an information pack or call Michelle Fenwick (Head

of Franchising) on the franchise hotline.

Franchise hotline:

CALL NOW

01325 370 707

Visit www.heritagehealthcarefranchising.co.uk or Email: michelle@heritagehealthcare.co.uk

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RECRUITING NOW! Join One Of The UK’s Most Successful Franchises ‘My C2C Franchise Raked In Over £200,000 Last Year’ Billy Harley, C2C Franchisee

We are now offering superb opportunities for enterprising, motivated individuals to partner with us as we develop the proven Additional Resources recruitment model.

The Additional Resources Associate Program offers New Recruiters or experienced Recruitment Consultants a one stop solution to run their own recruitment desk. This is a unique opportunity and one which provides all the recruitment software, candidate sourcing facilities, vacancy canvassing service and full back and front office support for a low monthly fee.

Our back office support includes invoice factoring for contractors, invoice and debtor management, timesheet management and payroll services, professional indemnity insurance, ongoing training. We can have you up and running within 48 hours at your very own recruitment desk where you decide on hours, sector/s of expertise and the location in which you work.

And the best bit is our Associate Scheme is ‘Invest As You Go’. One of the main differences between our Associate Program and traditional franchise models is that there is no large initial investment of 10’s of thousands of pounds, we operate an ‘Invest As You Go’ model with no long term tie-in period.By working on an ‘Invest As You Go’ basis you are able to build the fee income at your pace without the added pressure of a large initial investment.

Call Our Priority Lo-Call Number NOW!

0845 052 3402 www.cloudy2clearfranchise.com

Profitability Your main aim is to become profitable as soon as possible and by setting your recruitment business up as part of the Additional Resources Associate Program you are much more likely to achieve this.

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08450 6000 60 www.mactools.co.uk franchise@mactools.co.uk

“After days out with other franchisees I saw what can be achieved. The rewards, job enjoyment and satisfaction were obvious and lead to an easy decision to pursue the chance of becoming a Mac Man” Steve Marchant - Mac Tools Northampton

FRANCHISING

Franchising

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

Case Study 3: Karen Bowe Karen Bowe took on a Concentric Lettings franchise in January 2012 following a career in the social sector for her local council. It was a radical change in direction for her to go from public sector worker to business owner, and unlike anything she had previously experienced.

She was used to working in a team, for a big organisation, with holidays, sick leave, security and very little pressure; running your own business from scratch alone is very different!

Amongst other changes, she’s had to get used to motivating herself and developing her commercial acumen.

She explains: “I could not believe the isolation of sitting in your own office on your own, being the only one responsible for making stuff happen, it felt quite overwhelming at first.

“But then I realised that I was not alone, I was part of a network and this kept me strong. We have a ‘bell policy’ here and I love it; when someone in the network does something great we just have to ring the hub and

“

bells will start ringing, we even have our own bell here now that we ring ourselves when we do a good deal!

“There is always someone to talk to, I join the fortnightly group Skype meetings and discuss with all the other franchise business owners what is

working for them, and love the sharing nature of those calls. I have a weekly Skype with my franchise development manager Mark and trainer Jo at the hub and they are always on call whenever I have any little questions too, so you are never alone really.

I’m so glad of their support.”

Karen has embraced being part of a wider network, regularly helping out new franchisees. Her eagerness to gain extensive knowledge has paid dividends – she was named as the company’s best new starter in the 2012 company awards.

Her transferable skills have been all-important to her success; coming from a consultancy background, Karen finds it very easy to talk candidly with landlords and to get the point across as to what needs to be done to make sure that their property is safe and compliant, and how to let the property quickly; landlords enjoy her no-nonsense approach to business – not sales speak, but straight to the point and honest.

I really enjoy what I do.

Being my own boss is something that I’ve always wanted

”

Colin was delighted when the Plan-it Cards Brighton Franchise Territory became available to purchase. “Having worked as a local leisure centre manager I had been considering a career change for some time. This opportunity gave me the best of both worlds “in business for myself but not by myself.”

Call 01428 714700

to find out how you can make a change in your life.

Join the Plan-it Cards Team! www.plan-itcards.co.uk

J588 PLANIT Government Advert.indd 1

3/6/14 17:28:08

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Implementing & encouraging recycling has gone a long way towards us achieving our goals

De Vere Venues New Place Southampton, Hampshire About De Vere Venues New Place De Vere Venues New Place can be found nestled within 32 acres of pristine parkland, just a short distance from Southampton, Hampshire. Built in 1906, New Place was the last of four iconic houses in the region which were designed by renowned architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Blending traditional charm with a contemporary twist, the Grade II listed manor house provides the perfect balance of 40 high-specification meeting and event spaces, acres of outdoor space for teambuilding activities and unrivalled leisure facilities including 110 stylish bedrooms, in-house restaurant and health club with indoor pool and tennis courts. With free, ultra-fast Wi-Fi connection, New Place is the perfect location for corporate events of all kinds.

In addition, the venue is close to public transport links from London, as well as Winchester and Portsmouth, providing easy access from business hubs across the UK.

Early recycling De Vere Venues New Place has been lovingly restored and maintained to include many of the grand property’s original features wherever possible, the magnificent Bristol Room being the most prominent example of this, still containing many original fittings from the 17th Century Langton Mansion which was demolished in Bristol in the early 1900’s, with materials being transported to New Place via horse and cart in 1906. The showpiece of the Bristol Room is the inlaid Mahogany door which bears the Langton family Coat of Arms and John Langton’s Merchant mark. Both The Lutyen and Franklyn rooms also contain ornate original ceilings, fireplaces and paneling from the Langton Mansion – a very early example of the popular up-cycling movement!

De Vere Venues New Place have continued their commitment to creating cleaner, greener spaces for guests to rest, work and play, achieving a Bronze Award in July 2011 and most recently a Silver Award in 2013.

Where we are today Each month, the entire New Place team gather together to ‘Go Green’, this includes staff from departments including front-of-house, operations housekeeping and the chefs and our General Manager, to evaluating areas in which we can improve our environmental credentials and discuss ways in which we can reduce our carbon-footprint both as a business and on an

individual basis. We also set goals for each department both inside and outside of the workplace, from recycling office waste through to encouraging our 80 strong team to develop car-sharing-schemes and travel to work as regularly as possible via public transport.

Implementing and encouraging recycling throughout the venue has gone a long way towards us achieving our goals. With hundreds of guests coming through our doors each day it’s vital that we clearly label recycling and waste points, separating materials and food-waste accordingly.

“We are constantly looking for new, innovative ways in which we can be greener as a business, and in turn striving for Gold level accreditation in 2015.”

Our housekeeping team have worked tirelessly to reduce the levels of disposables in our bedrooms and enhanced our existing policy on towel usage and replacement, reducing our laundry loads as well as water and electricity consumption.

The most significant job was done by our maintenance department, who’ve fitted water reducers to each of the bathrooms onsite. We also looked at the lighting within the 110 bedrooms, replacing the existing 50 watt bulbs with 35 watt lighting, and eventually upgrading to LED lighting across the entire venue. Although there is a higher cost for this, the reduction in wattage and replacement of the lamps quickly covered our initial investment.

In the Health Club we have upgraded to glass pool filters rather than the original sand filters, which were far less efficient. Additionally, we have reduced the temperature of the pool, although, guests would never guess this of course!

In the kitchen, our chef’s work with regional suppliers to source great tasting, quality food, which include delicious cheeses from Winchester and meats from near-by Bishops Waltham. Our new herb garden and fruit trees, including plumb trees and strawberry plants allow us to grow some ingredients on-site for a true pot-to-plate experience. This ensures that costly food-transportation and environment costs are reduced – something we are passionate about across the entire De Vere Venues portfolio.

Over 30 great venues, one address deverevenues.co.uk

Mark Sampson, General Manager - De Vere Venues New Place

GREEN VENUES

IN-CREDIBLE GREEN VENUES

Conferences & Events

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

When booking a conference venue and accommodation based on its environmental virtues, how can you ensure its green practices are genuine?

Jon Proctor, technical director of Green Tourism examines the issue ‘recycle-able’ and now other words such as ‘sustainable’ and ‘carbon neutral’ are used to try to extol the virtues of some products or services. These often give a false reading about how ‘green’ a product or service actually is.

SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability is more a state of mind than a scientific discipline. Everyone thinks they are being relatively sustainable even if their concept is economically rather than ecologically driven.

The science behind sustainability is mired with statistical processes and complicated cradles for calculations

and methodologies. Sustainability is in essence about taking enough but no more and this goes against almost all the economic drivers (and measures of value) we use.

Of course there are some instruments which try to prevent our excess such as the airport taxes and to a lesser extent fuel tax, but often this doesn’t really make a difference or at least it doesn’t necessarily act fairly.

MAKING THINGS SIMPLE So what’s the solution? We think its about making things simple (and genuine) based upon proven fundamentals and always being vigilant about claims or processes which ‘jump on the band wagon’ in order to gain market share.

Over the last 10 years at Green Tourism, we have seen 

Written by Jon Proctor, Green Tourism

For too long we have talked the talk without properly walking the walk, yet all the evidence from environmental reporting and climate change points to significant cost savings both to the individual, the business and the wider society. Over the last 10 years we have seen the climate debate move from one of recognition of the problem to a growing realisation that human society will need to adapt to retain any semblance of our present luxurious lifestyles.

Are we adapting? And are we adapting quickly enough? Sadly not at this point, and one of the main reasons in the tourism industry is ‘Greenwash’. This is where false claims are made and wording is used out of context in order to help sell a product or service.

Historically words such as ‘natural’,

ability Sustain sence is in es aking about t t no more bu enoughs goes against and thi ost all the alm c drivers i econome use w

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SPACE TO INSPIRE ANY EVENT iPro Stadium situated in the centre of the country is an exceptional venue for holding inspiring exhibitions, corporate conferences, business meetings, product launches, exclusive dinners, award ceremonies or any event looking for a unique offering.

Tailored events with memorable experiences and fabulous service.

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www.iprostadium.net @iproevents iProStadiumevents

TAILORED EVENTS

Conferences & Events

GREEN VENUES

“QHotels have a commitment to the environment and strive to be as environmentally friendly as possible, making sure we provide an excellent guest experience whilst maintaining our Green credentials” Philip King, Director of Property, QHotels Aldwark Manor, QHotels

 other certifications establish themselves around Bronze Silver and Gold levels some of them are good, others are sadly misdirected.

Probably one of the most annoying developments is the use of ‘self assessment’.

This is a misuse of the term assessment and should really be ‘self-declaration’ or something similar. Getting something assessed is intrinsically about having another set of eyes look over your work. We all rely on assessments at school but no-one would ever consider pupils self assessing themselves for their exams or coursework. What makes our industries any less important?

AUDITS For example, very recently we came across an internet giant, wishing to take advantage of the growing green marketplace, telling customers that they do a green tourism audit based upon a self-declaration without even visiting the business. All this smacks of basic ‘Greenwash’ and this is terribly undermining of genuine approaches to be more sustainable.

Green Tourism does a site inspection (audit)

every two years on all of our properties.

This is the only way to police a single and especially a multi-tiered certification programme (Bronze, Silver, Gold). We are continuously developing and raising standards, in fact, this autumn we are now just about to roll out version 5 of our programme.

So, how does Green Tourism prove it is a strong and very genuine programme?

One area we have been working on is in carbon dioxide emissions. The UK is very good at carbon reporting and has some great statistics on the average CO2 per kWh for electricity as well as other fuels, even water supply and treatment. We use these figures in a carbon calculator to establish kWh/m2 and CO2 per overnight, per visitor, per delegate and per pitch.

PROPERTY PERFORMANCE Along with version 5 of our criteria we are also rolling out version 1 of our benchmarking tool. It is based upon CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers) standards and over 15 years 

Jon Proctor, technical director, Green Tourism

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Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel Old Shire Lane, Waltham Abbey Essex, EN9 3LX Tel: 01992 717170 www.WalthamAbbbeyMarriott.co.uk

A location that drives success Located at junction J26 of the M25 with easy access to central London and Stansted Airport.

A choice of 14 flexible meeting rooms for up to 280 guests, all with natural daylight and air conditioning.

Dedicated event organisers who will take care of all the details to deliver what is important to you and your colleagues.

Day Delegate Rates from £26pp and 24hrs Rates from £130pp.

T&Cs. Subject to availability.

Corporate & Social Events The Crown Moran Hotel is the place to meet for all corporate and social occasions • Preferential bedroom rates • Air conditioned rooms • Event rooms for 2 - 300 people • Daily Delegate packages available from £39 per person • Social event packages available from £28 per person 142-152 Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood, London, NW2 3ED Tel: 020 8452 4175 Email: cb.crown@moranhotels.com

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GREEN VENUES

Norton Park, QHotels

 of data collected by Green Tourism on the performance of different property types.

Very necessary for us at Green Tourism, as we certify properties from luxurious hotels like the Savoy through to budget and small serviced accommodation self catering properties, youth hostels, camp sites and conference centres – all the way to tiny B&Bs. From this we establish a set of ready reckoners which will allow a customer to calculate the carbon associated with their conference overnights, travel and conference venue. We will also have a travel calculator for tourists. Did you know for example that a return flight to Florida will use as much carbon as staying for over 100 nights at one of our typical properties and closer to a whole years’ accommodation at some of our best sites?

QHOTELS QHotels is a relatively small hotel group with fewer than 25 properties. They are a high quality group (4 stars) and are located throughout the UK. They have a strong focus on reducing carbon and were considered the best hospitality business involved with

Clients ble be a should e their to mak decisions ing purchastors that are the Carbon Trust as best practice with on fac transparent usshared measured through and attended a number their annual energy of internal workshops honest, nsullied by use. In addition they and training sessions and u washing have established a QHotels has been recognised n e e gr partnership with a biomass for its efforts in sustainability and

company, have installed biomass boilers in three of their properties and have electric hook up points for electric cars in most of their portfolio.

Philip King, Director of Property for QHotels says: “QHotels have a commitment to the environment and strive to be as environmentally friendly as possible, making sure we provide an excellent guest experience whilst maintaining our Green credentials.”

It was back in 2008-9 that QHotels partnered with Green Tourism. Having considered a number of organisations it was felt that they were the most widely recognised and pro active organisation in the hospitality Industry.

STAFF AWARENESS Over the years Green Tourism has helped QHotels to embed staff awareness and to create a culture of sustainability through site audits, support and advice. They have

carbon reduction by being awarded the Carbon Standard in 2010, then AA eco hotel group of the year 2011-12.

Some of the measures taken to achieve this have been: targeting and monitoring energy use with staff awareness and training; M&E Planned preventative maintenance programmes ; the sensible use of LED lighting in cost effective applications; boiler installation and optimisation; and waste reduction and recycling.

PREMIER COTTAGES & JURYS INNS Another example is Premier Cottages – a marketing and development group for self catering sites across the UK. Many of their members have fabulous 5-star establishments which combine sustainability into building restorations and renovations. The majority have installed some energy saving practices, 

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

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Jurys Inn Glasgow Situated on Jamaica Street, our newly refurbished four star hotel in Glasgow is within a ten minute walk of three major stations – Glasgow Central, Queen Street and Argyle Street making it the ideal hotel for transport links within the city centre. With an easy three minute train ride (or 15 minute walk) to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and The HydroEntertainment Arena, Jurys Inn Glasgow is perfectly placed for both business and pleasure guests.

Our four star Glasgow hotel is also a stone’s throw away from a plethora of restaurants and bars, a three minute walk from St Enoch shopping centre and just around the corner from The Arches, a unique bar, club and arts venue located beneath Glasgow’s Central Station.

Hotel Rooms Jurys Inn in Glasgow boasts 321 comfortable, stylish and affordable hotel rooms able accommodate up to three adults or a family of four (two children, two adults). All our Glasgow hotel rooms are en-suite and come with complimentary toiletries, a flat screen TV, free WiFi, air conditioning and room service available 24 hours. To ensure a comfortable night’s sleep, our rooms are equipped with large soft beds, with extra pillows and linen available on request.

Hotel Food and Drink Enjoy a little Scottish flavour at The Grill Bar, our newly refurbished bar and restaurant, and relax with a drink or a tasty Scottish dish. If you want a two or three course meal, we have a fantastic contemporary restaurant with a range of delicious dishes on the menu. For our younger guests, we also provide a kids menu.

Hotel Business Trips If you are a visiting Glasgow on business, we have 10 fully equipped meeting rooms able to accommodate up to 110 people, depending on layout. Our business packages offer tea and coffee refreshments, lunch options and dedicated event staff on hand to ensure your meeting runs as smoothly as possible. So whether you are planning a meeting, training session or a sales presentation, Jurys Meetings are perfectly tailored to your business needs.

To book online go to www.jurysinns.com For further information contact our sales office on 0141 314 4820 or e-mail Lynsey_mclelland@jurysinns.com 80 Jamaica Street, Glasgow, G1 4QG

henleyconferences.co.uk

Conferences, training, seminars.

A beautiful, unique, grade II listed venue

Central location, easily accessible by foot, bike, public transport, from city centre or Temple Meads train station.

Run by the Southville Community Development Association a registered charity, proud holders of the Social Enterprise Mark and Gold grading from the Green Business Tourism Scheme.

Facilities:  Excellent bespoke catering  Ramped access from 17-space car park, including two disabled badge holder spaces  Bicycle storage  Accessible lift and WCs  Equipment hire – digital projector, TV/ DVD, flip charts  Business support services available, printing, photocopying, faxing.

For the ideal venue look no further!

Greenlands provides a beautiful riverside location for conferences, events and meetings.

The Southville Centre reinvests surplus back into environmental, social and cultural projects; by booking our venue you can be assured you’re making an ethical procurement choice.

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For more information on room availability and rates contact us on 0117 9231039 or visit www.southvillecentre.org.uk

Telephone: 01491 418810/ 414550 Email: conference@henley.com www.henleyconferences.co.uk

Henley Conferences, Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 3AU

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GREEN VENUES  a great many with photovoltaic electricity, biomass heating, LED lighting and solar hot water. A few even have wind turbines.

Jurys Inns, another one of our members, is a group of hotels based primarily in city centres. Their main market is corporate guests and have been very focused on energy efficiency. Many of their properties are well insulated and most recently have retrofitted LED Lighting, they take advantage of good public transport options and all have a green table or display to highlight their actions and opportunities for the customer.

BUILDING TRUST These above are just a few of our 2,500 plus members, all of whom now use the internet as a primary marketing distribution and communications method. The social revolution which underscores the development of the internet has many positives but also some significant challenges.

More than ever before, in this digital age, messages and assumptions gain enormous, widespread distribution – reputations are created in really short periods of time and can be destroyed by opinion in minutes whilst billions watch, and have opinions.

Clearly, real trust is a fundamental and

desperately-needed issue. It cannot be created by words alone. Potential clients should be able to make their purchasing decisions on factors that are honest, transparent and unsullied by greenwashing.

This is why, at Green Tourism, we undertake the painstaking and thorough work of inspecting tourism properties and auditing their total range of green practices before we issue any certification. Moreover, we are so committed to helping our members

provider alike, to claim the benefits of a healthy, honest green tourism industry.

HOPEFUL SIGNS However, it’s not all doom and gloom. I take great inspiration from the speed of communication and the growth of social media and the speed and success of social campaigns. If we can unravel what is genuinely sustainable then we have the potential to make rapid and important changes to the

Conferences & Events

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

Sustainability is in essence about taking enough but no more and this goes against almost all the economic drivers (and measures of value) we use to take advantage of green opportunities – we even use our vast professional experience to help and advise them on their journey to maximum economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability.

In effect we take the role of being their professional sustainable tourism partner, It’s simply our contribution to the integrity of worldwide sustainable tourism – delivering the clear, un-greenwashed, undiluted message that helps everybody, tourist and tourism

benefit of a sustainable future. For me it is not about if we can live sustainably but when.

Lets hope that in our journey we don’t lose too much of the great diversity of cultures and ecology which we have inherited and we learn from the many personal stories of sacrifices made for our future and a peaceful and balanced relationship with our planet.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.green-tourism.com

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Advertising Profiles

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

Good communications – the key to implementing a successful social media strategy Increasingly citizens are expecting the same experience from public services that they are already getting from household brands. This includes being able to communicate with the organisation in any medium they choose, be it phone, text, web, email or even social media.

Responding to this, many public sector organisations are communicating with citizens via social media, but often without a coherent, cross organisation strategy. This can lead to contact centre managers feeling side-lined. Natalie Keightley, Avaya’s contact centre product and marketing lead provides advice on how to avoid this common scenario.

Social media is habitually seen as an extension of the marketing and communications function and it is not uncommon for marketing departments to create new social media strategies without fully consulting the contact centre manager.

Many public sector organisations, like those in the private sector, are finding themselves in a situation where the contact centre manager is retro-fitting the contact centre response to the social media strategy. The result of such a disconnect can be damaging, leading to poor

agent response to social media enquiries.

Additionally, most citizens want an omnichannel experience, where regardless of the means they use to contact the service, the contact centre agent knows all about their previous interactions. This requires a joined-up approach that includes social media.

Creating a social media strategy and policy that works for the citizen, contact centre and the marketing department is essential for its success. The key is joint planning and collaboration between the departments.

With adequate communication and good team-work contact centre managers can ensure the social media strategy effectively fits the contact centre competencies.

To do this it is important to understand the outcomes that everyone wants so that realistic expectations can be set. Part of this is about understanding the existing social media capabilities of the contact centre.

Contact centre managers need to be honest about what agents can do, how much training is required and what new technology might be needed for the social media side of the contact centre to be running at peak.

Social media is blurring the edges between marketing, customer service and other departments within government bodies. Public sector organisations need to be prepared for this when they first launch their social media programme.

Developing a coherent programme that works effectively requires inter-department collaboration, and if done well, will result in valuable insights, marketing lift and ultimately improved service.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.avaya.com/uk

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With bright LEDs and controllable volume levels, Funky Moves are suitable for indoor and outdoor use Game and lesson plan ideas included with each set

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EVENT PREVIEW

INSPIRATIONAL IDEAS FOR CORPORATE EVENTS

Conferences & Events

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

On the 17 & 18 September, Square Meal’s Venues & Events Live 2014 will take over the stunning surroundings of Old Billingsgate, and bring with it inspiration for anyone who organises any kind of event as part of their job Preparations are gathering pace for the 10th anniversary of the event industry’s most anticipated annual exhibition, Square Meal’s Venues & Events Live 2014.

On the 17 & 18 September, the show will take over the stunning surroundings of Old Billingsgate, and bring with it inspiration for anyone who organises any kind of event as part of their job.

Being Square Meal, expect plenty of delicious food and drink, from the Gallery floor filled with London’s hottest restaurants, to foodie features, cocktail and fizz masterclasses, and some very special features. As well as this, there will be the return of the acclaimed Canapé Cup, where lucky judges can sample exclusive bites from the UK’s top caterers.

Filling five colourful floors, the show will be packed with exciting exhibitors providing inspiration for any kind of event. There will be silent discos from the Urban Soul Orchestra, noodle magic with cookery experience School of Wok, a taste of ‘Game of Thrones’ theme nights at The Ivory Vaults, and a peek at the grand event spaces of Piccadilly institution Fortnum & Mason, all brand new and exclusive for 2014.

“Whether you organise the annual Christmas party, or twenty high-level conferences a year, visitors will find everything under one roof at Venues & Events Live,” said Head of Marketing, Rachel Harty. “We’re making sure that the show’s tenth anniversary goes off with a bang, with even more creative features, celebrity seminars, and the very latest event trends and ideas to keep you at the top of your game.”

er “Whethse the ani you orgChristmas annual or twenty party, conferences el high‑levr, visitors will a yea verything find e r one unde roof”

INFORMATIVE AND INSPIRING Now in its ninth year, the show is firmly established as the most innovative, informative and inspiring exhibition in the industry calendar. It attracts over 7,000 visitors, who get the opportunity to discover the UK’s top venues, hear ground-breaking talks from some of the event industry’s biggest names, taste delicious food and drinks and, most importantly, get inspired to create outstanding events on any budget.

From the atmospheric arches of 

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EVENT PREVIEW “For anyone who organises events as part of their job, we promise that you’ll find inspiration with just a few hours out of the office, whether you need the perfect venue, a cool caterer, or the newest in event technology.

Venues & Events Live is the only show that takes the business of events seriously, but is actually enjoyable to attend as well.”

Warren Campbell, the GM of sustainable venue 15 Hatfields, said: “Square Meal is known as the bible of central London events. If you’re not at Square Meal then you haven’t got presence in this market, and that’s well known throughout the industry.”  the vaults, to the light-filled gallery and the marquee on the terrace on the banks of the Thames, Square Meal’s Venues & Events Live brings over 250 top venues and event suppliers from London and around the UK all under one roof.

Informative features, such as: Fizz For Events and Mixology For Events will allow visitors to join any of the tastings sessions to find the best drinks for your events without breaking the budget.

No need to book, simply register to attend.

The Ideas Hub will allow visitors to get tailored advice on finding the perfect private room or venue with the Square Meal Concierge team.

Find out more about Square Meal Rewards and pick up Square Meal Rewards points.

Quiz Square Meal’s ‘Gurus’, who will be ready

Conferences & Events

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

CATERING FOR ALL EVENTS Get unlimited inspiration for a year’s worth of outstanding parties, conferences, corporate hospitality, teambuilding, training days, company away days, hotel bookings, press conferences, residential conferences, restaurant private room bookings, meetings – large or small, off-site activities, product launches, drinks receptions, gala dinners, road shows, summer parties, Christmas parties, corporate parties, private dinners, weddings, in fact, any sort of event.

The show features 250 top exhibitors, showcasing some of the top venues in London and throughout the UK. 

and waiting to answer any conundrums you have on venues, restaurants, drinks, social media, photography, and marketing.

BITESIZE SEMINARS There will also be Bitesize Seminars which include a line-up of some of the industry’s top names, who will be delivering 30 minute seminars on everything from hot new restaurants to wedding trends. Head of Marketing Rachel Harty added: “We believe that no other event industry show can deliver such a strong and varied corporate audience of event organisers. The location in the heart of the City means it is easy for our core visitors to attend, most of whom are subscribers to our Venues & Events guide and have significant events budgets to spend.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.venuesandevents.co.uk

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· Sustainable building.

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To make a room booking and for more information visit

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Leisure and Fitness

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

Safeguard your building and staff with Codelocks

Becoming educated on body composition is key

Codelocks is an innovative designer and manufacturer of electronic and mechanical push button locks for doors, cabinets and lockers.

Whether controlling access to certain areas or safeguarding confidential or dangerous materials, the locks offer users a convenient standalone solution without the trouble of issuing keys or cards. The locks are stylish, very easy to fit and are sold with ‘everything you need in the box’ to fit them, including parts, instructions and templates.

The KitLock range from Codelocks is a stylish and convenient alternative to traditional locks and keys that use a four-digit code rather than a key to secure lockers and cabinets in gyms, leisure centres, spas, schools, hospitals, data centres, offices, warehouses – any cabinet and locker application.

To access a locker simply key in a four-digit code on the

Understanding correct body composition is key when developing the fitness and health of individuals. Not only is it far more accurate than BMI, but by monitoring changes in fat, lean mass and fluid, it also creates a healthy understanding of what is happening inside the body and how the body works, motivating people to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Data is available from children age of six to adults of 70.

Results can be downloaded via Bluetooth directly into Windows software or a portable printer for instant analysis. The portable printer allows results to be printed quickly and is something tangible to keep and show.

The test is performed by laying the subject down and applying

keypad, then ‘lock and go’.

If the code is forgotten the locker can be opened using a ‘technician code’ – significantly reducing the time employees spend managing locker issues.

Go Keyless. Go KitLock.

Codelocks is a member of the Master Locksmith Association (MLA) and the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI). Visit Codelocks at LIW, stand number L280. KitLock is a Codelocks Ltd brand.

FURTHER INFORMATION +44 (0) 1635 239645 www.codelocks.com sales@codelocks.com

Jaymart’s new sports division makes an impact in the world of fitness Jaymart’s new sports and leisure division is already making an impact in the world of fitness.

Tottenham Hotspur FC training centre and St George’s Park National Football Centre in Burton-on-Trent are amongst the many establishments that have opted for Jaymart’s renowned, robust rubber Bladerunner – the optimum eco-friendly choice for longevity, comfort, and shock and sound absorbency.

National sports and leisure manager, Nick Bunyard, has expanded his sales force and is growing his product portfolio in order to offer an enhanced package and improved customer service for the sports and leisure arena.

CrossFit boxes now benefit from Jaymart’s new Xfit weightlifting mats, which give great force reduction on bumpers and provide a secure footing.

Shockpad underlays and line/logo marking are also available for

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two electrodes to the hand and the foot. A small electrical frequency is then passed through the body and measurements of the resistance and reactance to the flow of the current are made.

Based on feedback from its large customer base, not only is Bodystat easy to use, it is also non-invasive with good reproducible qualities that don’t require any degree of skill or training.

Established in 1990, Bodystat is a British company and is the developer of one of the world’s leading bio-impedance systems and a proud partner of UK Active.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01624 629 571 www.bodystat.com

0161 799 1222 07903 779516 24HR EMERGENCY CALL OUT

info@universalpool.co.uk

The Complete, Nationwide, Swimming Pool Repair and Refurbishment Service – BOTH UNDERWATER AND CONVENTIONAL

sports and leisure installations.

Included in the increasing versatile range are roll and interlocking solutions, highimpact acoustic/force reduction rubber tiles, throw-down sports mats, several indoor and outdoor sprint track solutions, artificial grass lanes, stretch mats, foam jigsaw matting and much more.

Jaymart’s multi-discipline, tough sports and leisure safety flooring range will be showcased at Leisure Industry Week, stand number L370.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01373 864 926 paul.farrell@jaymart.co.uk www.jaymart.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

Tiling Design service Walls Floors Cladding Swimming pools and wet areas Diamond core drilling Structural repairs Design and specification Plant engineering Poolside equipment Hydro pools Delive rin h Private and public igh qua g lity work, d schools edicate d service and and hospitals except ional www.poolrepairs.co.uk value

EVENT PREVIEW

AT YOUR OWN LEISURE

Leisure and Fitness

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

Local authorities and other leisure providers will be able to find solutions to some of the key challenges they are facing – such as continuing to offer an outstanding leisure and fitness services on a pinched budget – at Leisure Industry Week Just a few months away, Leisure Industry Week (LIW), the biggest show of its kind in the UK, is already preparing to build on the success of past years, returning to Birmingham’s NEC from 30 September – 2 October to provide the ultimate showcase of the newest products, innovations and education in the industry.

This annual event splits exhibitors into six core leisure sectors; Health & Fitness, Pool & Spa, Play & Attractions, Eat & Drink, Leisure Facilities and Sport. The show will compare new innovations, provide an insightful education programme, including some keynote speeches not to be missed and a number of demonstration areas where visitors will be able to see the latest exercise classes and products in action.

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES Leisure Industry Week is more than just an exhibition, it’s the annual meeting place for the entire leisure industry and the ideal place to see what’s new, keep up with the latest trends and explore everything the market has to offer. To accommodate this there will be a range of networking events, morning workouts, seminars and hosted lunches to allow industry professionals to cement existing relationships and create new ones.

LIW is supported by many trade associations from across the leisure sector including BALPPA, ukactive, the STA and SkillsActive. All will be hosting various member programmes and networking opportunities, drawing people together, sharing ideas and reporting news.

James Samuel, Event Director, says: “For the three days of the show, the NEC will be the go to place for leisure professionals to meet and discuss collaborative opportunities.

Creating opportunities to meet and talk in a relaxed, social environment is just as important as the creation of more formal meeting spaces. We work very hard at LIW to get this balance just right.”

POOL & SPA SECTION MAKES WAVES This year’s Pool & Spa sector will provide the annual meeting place for the UK’s commercial pool and spa professionals. The STA Swim Zone will be back, providing an exciting programme of demonstrations from all aspects of pool utilisation. The STA will be launching and demonstrating their new Photometer, a digital technology allowing real time analysis, alerts and reporting, live in the swimming pool. Visitors will also be able to see a number of live swimming, lifesaving, fitness classes and pool plant

demonstrations, as well as hearing from some of the UK’s leading suppliers of aquatic services and products to the leisure industry.

Theo Millward, Operations Director at STA, says: “We are committed to providing the industry with ever more efficient and effective resources that will help to ease the burden of pool and spa professionals.

The launch of our Photometer is just the latest example of how STA is proactively seeking new and exciting solutions to meet the demands of today.”

In addition to the STA’s pool, there will be a number of demonstration areas positioned throughout the show, where visitors are invited to view the latest products and exercises classes performed by the industry’s leading exercise professionals. These include; the Specialised Exercise Arena, sponsored by Tabata, the CPD Master Class Arena, sponsored by Star Trac and the Functional Training Zone.

The LIW Live Stage, a really popular addition to last year’s show, will be making a key contribution again this year. The schedule will include live question and answer sessions with high profile sports stars and new innovation demonstrations. A full programme will be made available on the LIW website once confirmed, so watch this space.

“For the duration of the show, the NEC will become a Mecca for anybody involved in the leisure industry,” comments Samuels. “There will be so much to see and do that visitors are advised to pre-plan their trip. The LIW website provides a comprehensive guide to everything happening at the show and the LIW app (available for download from the LIW website just ahead of the show) has been developed to help visitors schedule activities and meetings.”

EDUCATION CONTENT Following research conducted post LIW 2013, UBM, exhibition specialist and owner of LIW, has structured an education programme to help operators, local authorities and other leisure providers to find solutions to some of the key challenges they are facing. These include, being able to continue to offer an outstanding service on a pinched budget, retaining members and keeping one step ahead of the local competition. Education sessions will run across the three days of the show, taking place in four dedicated Theatres on the exhibition floor.

Samuel adds: “In addition to a full programme of seminars we will also be announcing a number of international speakers who will deliver keynote sessions.”

One such speaker is Thomas Plummer. Based

in The States, Plummer is the author of four best-selling business books, including Making Money in Fitness, which sells hundreds of copies every month around the world. Thomas also founded the national Fitness Business Alliance, a consortium of 17 companies which has been offering a traveling roadshow and seminar service around America for 20 years.

In addition, Plummer is a member of the IHRSA Silver Anniversary Committee and has been working in the fitness industry for more than 30 years. At LIW 2014, Plummer will share some of his many tips and theories, helping operators to maximise the opportunities available to them to grow their business.

All education sessions are free to attend and are seated on a first come first served basis.

The only exception to this is the REPs National Convention sessions which can be pre-booked.

This year, additional attention has also been paid to the quality of the audio in the Theatres to ensure the best possible visitor experience.  FURTHER INFORMATION www.liw.co.uk

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Come and visit us at the Emerg ency Ser vic es Sho w, Stand M2

De Lage Landen: Your healthcare partner of choice Leasing helps you make the most of your budget — We help you make the most of leasing.  Healthcare expertise. We offer deep local knowledge in the market you are active in, coupled with a broad industry perspective.  Innovative solutions. Entrepreneurial by nature, we take an innovative view on future leasing and the challenges you face.  Stable partner. As a fully-owned subsidiary of the Rabobank Group, which has the highest credit rating of all privately owned banks*, we give you access to secure financial support. *Awarded by rating agencies Moody‘s, Standard & Poor‘s, Fitch and DBRS.

Be on the lookout for our ‘new look’.

We will be unveiling a new corporate brand in September. From then on, we will simply be known as ‘DLL’, with a new logo to support our evolved identity. Our members at Stand M2 will be able to provide you with more information about this exciting chapter for both our company and for you.

Healthcare Sales Desk Tel: +44 (0) 1923 810905 sales.hc.uk@delagelanden.com www.delagelanden.com 14HCG727

Emergency Services Show

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

EVENT PREVIEW

RESILIENCE AND EMERGENCY PLANNING

Now in its ninth year, the Emergency Services Show, taking place on 24-25 September at Birmingham’s NEC, is particularly relevant to those involved in helping to protect public safety in the UK, including those involved in resilience and emergency planning After a winter of widespread flooding and devastating storms, those involved in all aspects of the rescue operations are reviewing what lessons can be learned to improve resilience and emergency planning.

What improvements can be made within the UK’s emergency services to better protect public safety in terms of co-working, communications, equipment and training?

The free-to-attend Emergency Services Show taking place at the NEC, Birmingham on 24 and 25 September offers one very practical

way to prepare for future incidents.

The event will allow visitors to network with emergency services and rescue organisations and meet with government departments such as The Civil Contingences Secretariat, The Environment Agency, Flood Forecasting Centre and The Met Office. It will also allow delegates to gain a deeper understanding of the support available from NGOs and charities like The British Red Cross, and receive training in the latest rescue and lifesaving techniques. What’s more, the latest equipment,

vehicles and technology will be on display.

There will be live rescue demonstrations and over 80 support responders, voluntary sector partners and NGOs, as well as specialists who can assist in the recovery phase following a major incident and free College of Paramedic workshops.

LAUNCH OF RESILIENCE DIRECT The Civil Contingencies Secretariat, part of The Cabinet Office, will be launching ResilienceDirect a new online mapping tool for UK resilience professionals on their stand shared with Ordnance Survey and DCLG RED. The service provides a secure platform for sharing information in both emergency response and planning. It can be accessed through mobile devices and is free at the point of use to the resilience community.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE ZONE The promotion of multi-agency working between the key emergency responders and their partner agencies is the heart of the show, with a dedicated networking area – the Emergency Response Zone – featuring over 80 emergency services-related charities and not-for-profits. Among the many organisation represented are: The British Red Cross, CFOA National Resilience, National 

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CARE OF POLICE SURVIVORS (COPS) ‘Rebuilding Shattered Lives’ will be COPSmergency E , at the ices Show , Serv irmingham er b NEC Bth Septem 25 t Stand , h t 4 2 a y 2014, ase stop b le o t P o 5 ll 0 Z2 ay he and s e team th

53 police officers, 2 PCSOs and a civilian pilot have lost their lives on duty since 2009, between them they left 80 children affected by the loss of a parent. Over 200 children have been bereaved since the year 2000 after one of their parents died on duty. Five of those children had yet to be born and never had the opportunity to know their father.

In the immediate aftermath of the death of a serving officer the support from the police service is excellent, but sadly they do not have the resources, in most cases, to provide that support beyond the first few weeks. Yet it often takes six to twelve months for the reality of bereavement to hit home and three to five years for life to return to a semblance of normality. Police officers are trained to help victims but they often struggle to come to terms with losing one of their own colleagues, and with how to help the surviving family.

Care Of Police Survivors is a registered charity which supports the families of police officers who have lost their lives on duty. COPS provides peer support by connecting bereaved families with others who truly understand how they feel, by virtue of being in the same situation themselves. Formed in March 2003 by Christine Fulton MBE, the widow of murdered Strathclyde officer Lewis Fulton and retired detective Jim McNulty, the charity is unique in that it is run by survivors for survivors. They are the only ones who truly understand how it feels to kiss an officer goodbye when they leave for work, only for them never to return.

We provide a shoulder to cry on, someone to listen and reassurance that the range of emotions and feelings being experienced by new survivors are normal. The best therapy is often just to talk to others who have been through similar experiences, but we also have the facility to access trained counsellors should the need arise. Although independent of the Police service, COPS also helps survivors remain part of the police family.

to relax and talk to others who share their situation.The weekend concludes with a Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire where senior officers join our survivors to pay tribute to, and remember their officers.

All police family are welcome to attend, we particularly like officers to attend in uniform, as a visible show of support for our families.

Please see out website at www.ukcops.org for further details of this year’s event. Although spread throughout the UK (and sometimes further afield), we maintain contact with our survivors through regular newsletters, our web site and various social media channels.

We also hold specific events throughout the year where parents, spouses, siblings and children can meet and gain comfort and support from each other. For some, these are the only times they feel able to speak openly about their officer.

Sadly, Jim McNulty died in 2004, and a considerable sum of money was donated to the charity in his memory. When explaining some of the more mundane things a surviving child might miss out on after a police officer parent died on duty, he often made the point that the parent might well have been the one to teach them to drive.

Jim had a passion for driving, having been both a police driving instructor and a nationally recognised expert witness for car crime.

In his memory, COPS now pays for each surviving child to have ten driving lessons, courtesy of the Jim McNulty Memorial Fund.

One of the most rewarding aspects for those involved with the charity has been watching children, whose lives have been shattered by the loss of a parent; grow into confident young adults, being supported by their child survivor friends and supporting them in return.

The main event of the COPS year is the ‘Survivor Weekend’ held annually in July in Leicestershire. Families attend from all over the UK for a weekend of seminars, social events and a chance

There is no membership fee when you join the COPS family; the price paid is already too high. It is never easy to lose a loved one, but our aim is to ensure our survivors can remember their officer the way they would wish to be remembered, with a smile.

Care Of Police Survivors (COPS) PO Box 5685, Rugeley WS15 9DN Registered Charity No.1101478 – Scottish Charity No.SC038541

E-mail: admin@ukcops.org // Web: www.ukcops.org facebook.com/ukcops Twitter: @uk_cops

EVENT PREVIEW  Ambulance Resilience Unit, AA Special Operations and the Flood Forecasting Centre.

Other exhibitors of particular interest to all those involved in resilience and emergency planning include: EMERGENCY PLANNING SOCIETY Since its creation in 1993, the Emergency Planning Society has become the driving force in the world of resilience. Through regular consultation with the Government it provides a voice for its members to influence change at the highest level. Members come from all areas of the resilience profession and the Society provides a forum through its extensive network of regional branches to share experiences and disseminate good practice.

As well as exhibiting at the Emergency Services Show, the Emergency Planning Society will be co-locating its AGM and annual conference at the NEC. CFOA NATIONAL RESILIENCE The UK’s Fire and Rescue sector remains at the forefront in terms of emergency planning, response and recovery, and its National Resilience programme is designed to strengthen the nation’s ability to handle emergencies and crises through the delivery of a co-ordinated response to a range of serious, significant or catastrophic incidents that have wide spread impacts or are of national significance.

Over the course of the show, a team of

The Emergency Services Show provides a unique opportunity to see, touch and discuss the latest technology, ideas and initiatives focused on improving public safety and assisting all blue light services, voluntary workers and service providers

experienced cross-capability officers will be available to discuss aspects of CFOA National Resilience with visitors.

COMMUNICATIONS The Home Office ESMCP will replace the communication service delivered by Airwave with a new national mobile communication service for all three emergency services and other organisations that use the Airwave service. This will be called the Emergency Services Network.

ESN will take advantage of the latest mobile technologies to provide a national critical voice and broadband data services.

The British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (BAPCO) will be providing updates on public safety communications including the future of 999, Apps for Public Safety, Multi Agency Information Transfer, Future use of Spectrum and Body Worn Video.

New for 2014, this feature brings together The RNLI, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, RAF Search & Rescue, British Cave Rescue Council, Mountain Rescue England & Wales and the Association of Lowland Search 

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Emergency Services Show

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

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BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

IAWP 2015

CENTENARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE CARDIFF 23 - 27 AUGUST 2015 Come and exhibit at this prestigious event, or consider some form of sponsorship This will be the 53rd training conference for the International Association of Women Police and will mark 100 years since it was founded.

It will also celebrate 100 years of women police officers in the UK.

See website, www.iawp2015.org for full details or contact Carolyn Williamson on carolyn@iawp2015.org or 0844 414 0448

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EVENT PREVIEW

 & Rescue. Several of these organisations will also be presenting seminars.

What’s more, visitors can also access some of the most respected training providers in the industry. Among this year’s exhibitors are Babcock International and Serco, which brings together the International Fire Training Centre and the Emergency Planning College.

The show also features a wealth of training equipment providers, showcasing their latest innovations with hands-on demonstrations.

Other must-visit stands include the Institute of Civil Protection & Emergency Management; the National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU), Public Health England; Training4Resilience, and the Joint Emergency Services Operability Programme (JESIP).

TECHNOLOGY The Emergency Services Show provides a unique opportunity to see, touch and discuss the latest technology, ideas and initiatives focused on improving public safety and assisting all blue light services, voluntary workers and service providers. Exhibitors include leading names in fire fighting equipment, search and rescue, extrication, first response, communications, IT, protective

clothing and uniforms, vehicles and fleet, vehicle equipment, outsourcing, training, community safety, station facilities, water rescue and medical supplies.

Emergency Services Show

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

w The shos a feature raining of t wealth nt providers, e equipm casing their show novations latest inhands-on with trations demons

SERIOUS THREATS UK Government Decontamination Service is provided by the Food and Environment Research Agency. The service helps the UK prepare for the recovery following a deliberate act involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) materials, or an accidental release of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) in excess of local capability and/or knowledge. It does this by providing advice, guidance, management support and access to a Framework specialist suppliers able to carry out decontamination operations, and ensures that responsible authorities have ready access to these services should the need arise.

Also exhibiting is the Tactical Training Centre, a nationally approved (College of Policing), modern multi-functional firearms training facility, as will the National Ballistics Intelligence Service, which delivers fast-time forensic intelligence, as well as tactical

and strategic intelligence to tackle all aspects of firearms related criminality within the UK. The Bluecher Group, a world market leader for CBRN protection, over 12 million of Bluecher’s SARATOGA® brand protective suits and systems are in-service in over 40 countries. For even the most demanding tasks, users – including such groups as OPCW inspectors, who are confronted with real CBRN hazards every single day – rely on Bluecher SARATOGA® technologies.

GETTING THERE The NEC is physically linked to Birmingham International Station and Birmingham Airport and is directly accessible from the UK motorway network.

Parking for visitors and exhibitors will remain free of charge. Coaches will run from Birmingham International Station to the exhibition halls. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.emergencyuk.com

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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DATA SECURITY

EU data chief on need for data protection European data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx has said that European citizens required greater protection of their privacy online, arguing that wide-scale surveillance

by GCHQ-style organisations undermines faith in government and business. Hustinx said in an open letter to European Council president Herman Van Rompuy: “The importance of data protection in building the European idea of freedom, security and justice cannot be overstated. The allegations of mass surveillance by security services have rocked the trust in the ability and willingness of governments and businesses to protect individuals’ personal information.

“Recent judgements from the European Court of Justice, on the Data Retention Directive and on the right to request removal of data on search engines, have banished any lingering doubts over the need for EU activities to uphold the fundamental rights to privacy and to data protection. This is of strategic relevance not only for future policies in justice and home affairs but for the EU’s wider agenda for growth and investment in the digital economy.

“It is therefore vital for a strong and modernised data protection framework in the EU to be adopted as soon as possible, and for privacy and data protection considerations to be mainstreamed into all new policies READ MORE: and tinyurl.com/laxye8s legislation.”

OUTSOURCING

Government pledges to make IT contracts more transparent

The government has said that it will work to be more transparent when outsourcing IT services, and that information on the performance, costs and revenues of suppliers will be more easily accessible. This follows a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report in March which identified a failure to properly manage private companies charged with providing services. The report was called for after hearings with suppliers Atos, Capita, G4S and Serco and with the Cabinet Office, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice.

The report said: “Government needs a far more professional and skilled approach to managing contracts and contractors, and contractors need to demonstrate the high standards of ethics expected in the conduct of public business, and be more transparent about their performance and costs.”

Treasury minutes for June of this year reveal Government responses to the PAC

GT News

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

report. Proposed measures include using the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) to make contracts more open, and making it more difficult for government departments to use commercial confidentiality as an excuse to withhold information.

A government statement said: “Some information held by government will be commercially sensitive and will require careful handling to protect government’s long-term commercial interests. But the presumption should always be in favour of disclosing information wherever possible.”

The Cabinet Office, along with government departments, has pledged to roll out wider use of open-book accounting over the next six months, with the long-term goal of making this practice mandatory where it can ensure value for money without negatively READ MORE: affecting tinyurl.com/ontpvkq SMEs.

G-CLOUD

IT PROFESSION

Ignoring G-Cloud ‘costs councils millions’ Numbers of women in A recent Freedom of Information request on all 27 UK county councils has revealed that the government’s pay-as-you-go digital procurement framework G-Cloud is being underused at a potential cost of millions.

In 2012-13, county councils spent almost £440 million on IT, only £385,000 of that money being spent through G-Cloud, which Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude says is “quicker, cheaper and more competitive” than traditional long-term IT contracts.

Hampshire County Council spent £38 million on IT over the period considered, but made no purchases through G-Cloud, while Kent County Council, the biggest spender on IT, only spent £94,750 through the framework.

Since G-Cloud was launched in 2012, £175.5 million on sales has been made through it, two thirds of the contracts going to SMEs. However, 80 per cent of these purchases were made by central and not local government.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Today, more councils than ever before are using cloud services because of the

benefits they bring. However, we know more needs to be done to raise awareness of its potential and encourage use. Only then can organisations benefit from access to the most innovative, cost-effective solutions by a wide range of suppliers and pass these savings on to the taxpayer.”

County Councils Network chairman Mark Hawthorne responded by arguing that because of existing IT contracts, G-Cloud is not currently the best choice for all councils: “While the G-Cloud offers a number of contract solutions, for some councils the framework is unable to deliver best value due to the existing nature of their IT contracts where management is already outsourced and would have to be recreated at significant cost to make the G-Cloud the right solution for them.

“It would be wrong to assume that non take-up of G-Cloud services represents a missed READ MORE: saving tinyurl.com/lg74ha7 opportunity.”

tech fields declining

A new study says that the gender gap in the UK’s It industry is increasing, with women making up just 16 per cent of the IT workforce. The Women in IT scorecard published by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT examines trends from school to the job market, finding that only 6.5 per cent of students who sit the computing A-level are female, despite the fact their exam results in the subject are higher on average than boys’.

The BCS report also claims that female IT specialists earn 16 per cent less on average than men, and that women are less well represented in the UK IT industry than in other European countries.

BCS Women chairwoman Gillian Arnold said: “The continuing decline in women entering the IT profession is a real threat for the UK and an issue that we clearly READ MORE: need to tinyurl.com/k2mn7hn address.”

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BROADBAND

INTELLIGENCE

GCHQ free to monitor private internet use The government has said that the intelligence service GCHQ is allowed by law to intercept use of Google, Facebook and email by British citizens without the need for special warrants.

A loophole arising from the fact that the companies are based abroad means that activity on these sites is classed as ‘external communications’, according to Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism director Charles Farr. This is in contrast to internal communications between citizens, which require a special warrant for interception.

The policy was made public as part of a legal challenge brought by civil liberties organisations like the campaign group Privacy International. This is the first time the UK government has made comment on the legal framework that allows the mass interception of internet communications.

Mr Farr said that as when someone uses

Successful bids for £10 million broadband fund announced

Google or Facebook they are sending information overseas, it can be collected by GCHQ; however, the external communications “cannot be read, looked at or listened to” except in READ MORE: rare tinyurl.com/ojscgno instances.

GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Socitm: LOCALGOV.UK a ‘flawed concept’ The Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) has said that attempting to bring together all local government services through a single LOCAL.GOV.UK portal is misguided. The organisation says that while, in the light of GOV.UK’s success, the idea is appealing, it “should not be attempted” as local authorities are independent bodies with whom citizens have direct transactions such as paying local taxes. Socitm says that “a direct, digitally enabled relationship with the accountable body is therefore essential.”

The society argues that a LOCAL.GOV. UK site would go against the aim of the Localism Act 2011, and that council-run digital services are more effective than a centrally run site could be. It also claims that the cost savings would not be as great as is widely assumed, as the most expensive part

of the process is integrating websites with back office systems. However, Socitm is more positive about a common platform which would allow software tools and applications used at the local authority level to be shared, and in 2013 welcomed an offer from the Government Digital Service (GDS) to make GDS assets available for use by councils.

Socitm president Nick Roberts said: “We’d all welcome reducing dependence on proprietary systems and moving towards open source, publicly owned solutions and clearly GDS can support collaboration to evolve exemplar transactions. The key will be in using standard APIs to enable the integration of a transaction code built once on a shared platform, say GOV.UK, with existing local READ MORE: authority tinyurl.com/ky4xg36 platforms.”

HEALTH DATA

‘Technology revolution’ for DoH The Department of Health has set out plans for a ‘technology revolution’ in 2015, explaining how it intends to use technology and data to “enable more efficient and joined up working.”

The plan contains a mapped out schedule for each quarter in 2014-15. The aim for the first quarter is to “set direction for Secretary of State’s 2014-15 technology deliverables and establish a National Information Board and sub-groups to develop a strategic

decision-making and commissioning forum,” while the second quarter would see the completion of an audit of the department’s transactional services against the Digital by Default service standard.

In the third quarter the DoH aims to complete the integration of all health bodies’ websites into the GOV.UK portal, and in the last quarter it intends to complete up to 8,000 genome sequences as part of a disease research initiative.

GT News

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

The government has published a list of the successful bids for a £10 million innovation fund to roll out superfast broadband in remote areas in the UK. Eight projects drawing on a range of technologies have been shortlisted for feasibility assessment.

Deployment is scheduled for later this year.

The initiative aims to deliver superfast broadband to the five per cent of the population not covered by existing schemes.

The pilot projects on the shortlist include: AB Internet’s hybrid line/fixed wireless rural broadband network; Airwave’s demonstration of how four next-generation wireless systems will operate in the field; Avanti’s satellite broadband wholesale platform; and Cybermoor’s financing solution to leverage social investment into fibre for remote networks.

Rural Affairs minister Dan Rogerson said: “It is critical that we explore how to get superfast broadband out to these hard to reach areas to allow business to be more productive, innovative and competitive, which is crucial for building a stronger rural economy READ MORE: and fairer tinyurl.com/q2x9cmb society.”

DATA BREACH

Identity of patient data recipients not known A recent report from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has criticised the government for its inability to identify organisations to whom potentially sensitive patient data was released on two separate occasions. The report on the NHS Information Centre highlights “administrative failings” which have meant the identities of the recipients are unknown.

The review of 3,059 releases was called for when it was revealed that large numbers of patient records were shared with an actuarial firm. The releases were made between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2013, when the NHS Information Centre was dissolved and the HSCIC established.

A HSCIC spokesperson said: “Further investigations by the HSCIC have allowed us to establish with reasonable confidence that in one of these instances no data was released and in the other it was released properly to an individual at a primary care trust for the purpose of research. The HSCIC acknowledges that in these instances record keeping was not good enough at the NHSIC and we are taking measures to ensure this does not READ MORE: happen tinyurl.com/lgfzslr again.”

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Contact: Was Rahman, Vice President & Head, UK Public Sector & Government, email: was.rahman@wipro.com, Phone: +44 20 3655 8749

DATA SECURITY

Massive data leaks of personal information have damaged reputations and fuelled political debate. Doug Miles of AIIM’s Market Intelligence Division looks at the increasing importance of information governance within UK government, and how compliance can be automated When it first came into vogue a few years ago, ‘information governance’ (IG) was often considered to be just an updated form of records management (RM), extended to take account of the US legal discovery rules, and to an extent, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. If all electronically stored information can be requested prior to a court case or FOI application, not just content that has been specifically declared as a record, then work‑in‑progress, content on laptops and mobiles, back-ups and in particular, email archives, are all discoverable, and need to be governed.

However, in the past twelve months, data leaks and security breaches, most especially the Edward Snowdon activities, have brought the security and privacy elements of information governance strongly into play. Metadata has become an issue for front-page news and heads-of-state discuss individuals’ rights to data privacy and information deletion. Meanwhile, massive data leaks of personal information have damaged corporate reputations and hardened already strong views in some jurisdictions.

VOLUME, VELOCITY AND VARIETY We therefore need to work harder to protect live content and preserve content records, but the volume, velocity and variety of content generation makes it nearly impossible to manually maintain and enforce the policies we so earnestly set. Computers are more consistent than humans, but you still have to teach them – and trust them. We seem to be at an adoption tipping-point for automating real-time compliance processes, and for machine audit of existing content for metadata accuracy, content security, and de-duplication. Is this a silver bullet?

In a recent survey, AIIM explored the current issues around information governance, and the early adopter experience of automated classification.

Over the last 10 years, records management has been migrating from handling just physical or paper records to dealing with electronic documents, and most recently many other

types of electronic content. Traditionally though, records management only kicks in at the point where you declare a record as needing to be kept, for a certain length of time or retention period, in order to meet legal requirements. Those records will need to be secured, with controlled levels of access and may be needed as part of a legal discovery or information request process.

But in recent years the rules and the risks have changed and we now need to keep all electronically-stored information securely, compliantly and available to the compliance process, whether its work‑in‑progress documents, emails, collaboration tools, or any other repository of content.

GOVERNANCE VERSUS MANAGEMENT One of the questions we asked people in our recent survey is “has the perception of information governance in your organisation progressed from management of declared records, to an IG way of thinking across all electronically stored information for privacy, security and e-discovery.” Up until a year or so ago, only 15 per cent in the public sector took this much wider view, but another 14 per cent have adjusted their view quite recently, and a further 27 per cent have plans in the next 12 months, so that’s a very strong movement of more than half changing their outlook on this.

Of course, the basis of good

Written by Doug Miiles, director of market intelligence, AIIM

AUTOMATING INFORMATION GOVERNANCE

information governance is a sound and solid information governance policy. It needs to be comprehensive and to cover different types of content, including content-in-motion – on USB sticks, in the cloud, on mobiles, and so on.

Creating such a policy is not easy. The biggest difficulty reported in our survey was getting senior management endorsement, but there is also a problem of getting the right people at the table and freeing up time from their day jobs. Information governance is best driven by a cross-departmental team, but only 17 per cent of government organisations do this, with 28 per cent relying on the existing records management or compliance department to take the lead, and 25 per cent expecting each department to manage their own records.

Unfortunately, although the public sector is a little further forward in this respect than other sectors, only 14 per cent are prepared to say, that they have an IG policy in place which is communicated and enforced. One has to feel for the 20 per cent who have done all the work to create and agree a policy and then see that it’s largely un-referenced and un-audited. However, there is hope, as 53 per cent are working hard to achieve an organisation-wide view or have an effective IG policy in at least some departments.

Information Governance

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

RISKS AND BENEFITS Our government sector survey participants ranked the inability to respond to requests (such as FOI) as the biggest risk of a failure of information governance, followed by loss of customer/citizen confidence, or bad publicity from a data loss. Across all sectors, excess litigation costs or damages resulting from poor records-keeping rated as the number one risk. Even in the public sector, this was ranked as number three, just ahead of the loss of intellectual property or confidential information.

On the benefits side, three key issues came out strongly: exploiting and sharing knowledge resources; faster response to events, accidents, press activities and FOI enquiries; and reduction of storage and infrastructure costs.

This last aspect has soared in importance 

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Information Governance

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

Delivering innovative technology to the public sector to improve productivity and efficiency One of the biggest changes in recent times to government IT procurement is the attempted leveling of the playing field.

That’s not to say the field is absolutely even today but compared to a couple of years ago, SME technology companies now have a much improved chance of winning government contracts against the traditional monoliths such as BT or IBM. The turning point was of course the G-Cloud framework (and the ‘Cloud First’ policy), with SMEs dominating the list of accredited suppliers as the government looked to ease procurement within the public sector whilst also leveraging the power of Cloud. But a sensible policy on paper has to translate on the ground and this is where the government can be patting itself on the back for a ‘win, win’ scenario.

First off, the SME wrap, with its agility, accountability, and genuinely accessible account management, is a world away from the faceless, buck-passing of the old enterprise order. And public sector organisations need this approach as it perfectly chimes with their own, as best value is continuously mandated into their operations.

But the real cherry on the top for

Mark Hall, Redcentric

government is that they want their money to add value to UK plc – to create jobs, to boost company investment, to drive financial performance. The monoliths will just absorb the pressure of a new contract, or maybe even offshore the work. SMEs, like Redcentric, will add to their headcount, spend on their UK infrastructure, develop more support resource, and quite a lot else that would delight any business secretary.

The success of the initiative is perfect proof that if you’re good enough, you’re big enough;

that there is no risk in opting to contract with a smaller company, a lesser name. Indeed, Redcentric’s infrastructure rivals the very best, with millions of pounds invested in recent years including the development of one of the most advanced data centres in the country. It allows us to give a positive answer to the four key questions that should be asked of any Cloud services provider, within or outside of the G-Cloud framework: Do you own and manage your infrastructure? End-to-end ownership ensures full control over services and standards Do you offer 24/7/365 UK support? Problems can happen anytime and need prompt, efficient resolution.

Do you offer stringent SLAs? A supplier with full confidence in their abilities will commit to tough metrics and penalties.

Do you have a proven track record?

Providers should be able to demonstrate credible long-term performance, backed up by case studies and references.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 983 2522 info@redcentricplc.com www.redcentricplc.com

REDCENTRIC.

DELIVERING AGILE CLOUD BASED SERVICES FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR. • Over 10 years’ N3 experience within local and central government • Compliant with Information Governance Statement of Compliance – IGSoC • Accredited N3 service provider • Actively engaged with the PSN & PSNH programmes SOME OF OUR CLIENTS: • Janet connected infrastructure • Authorised to process HM Government data • Accredited to both ISO 9001 & 27001 standards • Participant within various government committees • Services available via the G-Cloud framework

0800 983 2522 info@redcentricplc.com www.redcentricplc.com Redcentric_Gov_Tech_aw_v2.indd 1

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DATA SECURITY  over the last few years as content volumes increase remorselessly and without sound policies for retention periods and admissible deletion, there is little that can be done.

Indeed, half of the survey respondents admit that their strategy for managing increasing content volume is simply to buy more discs.

COMPUTERS, NOT HUMANS So how do we overcome the problem of getting an information governance regime that works? Well the problem is with humans.

We have a habit of storing too much stuff, the ROT – redundant, obsolete or trivial. In the survey 60 per cent of stored content was deemed to have no business value.

We are bad at deleting stuff, often because we’re unsure of what is safe to delete. And we’re bad at classifying or tagging things, so we don’t get sufficient metadata to find stuff in the future. The way to fix all this is, of course, is to let the computer do it for us.

As long as we have the correct metadata attached to a piece of content, whether it’s an email, an office document, or a scanned inbound letter, we can manage it. We can allocate it to a type, with its origination date, and that will be sufficient to set its retention period. We may have to delve a little into the content of a document to tell if it contains sensitive personal information, but having done so, we can add a security

classification, and from that we can set an appropriate level of access. And by picking out keywords within the content we can tag it for search, improving findability for the future.

In the past we have expected humans to do all this, but given the volume of content coming at them, the likely hood of achieving accurate and above all, consistent classification is slim. At the end of the day, we all hate filing, and with the current analytic capabilities of the computer, we are better off automating it.

REVITALISE YOUR ECM/RM SYSTEM As a result of poor initial planning and policy setting, many ECM and records management system projects reach a point where users have lost faith, and the content within the system is as chaotic as it was before. This is particularly true of SharePoint implementations which have in the past been mostly IT led, with little thought for defined classification schemes or fileplans, and no real concept of retention policies. Many of the automated classification concepts described above can be applied as batch agents or filters to existing content, detecting and removing duplicate files, correcting or adding metadata, re-allocating security levels, and deleting content beyond its useful life or its statutory retention period.

Often these data-cleaning processes will

be part of a migration exercise to a new or consolidated ECM or RM system.

Once the data is in a better state, automated classification can be injected into various places in the system – on capture or ingestion of inbound content, as part of the business process, or at the point of archive. Here there may be a choice – let the machine take care of it completely, or use the rules‑based intelligence to prompt the operator for appropriate tagging and metadata.

In our survey, only 11 per cent of public sector respondents are already using automated classification, but a further 35 per cent are just getting started, or have plans in place. We asked those early users if the computer be relied on to be accurate. All but 10 per cent had their expectations met or exceeded for electronic documents, and the results for scanned documents were even higher.

We are inclined to agree with the 47 per cent in the survey who feel that automated classification is the only way to keep up with information volumes – but remember, you still need to set the rules for the computer, and to do that you need to have a sound and agreed information governance policy in place. 

Information Governance

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

FURTHER INFORMATION www.aiim.org

Helping organisations to transform services within a coherent digital strategy Defining a digital strategy, spotting opportunities and re-purposing IT systems to provide a competitive advantage are top of the public sector’s priority list.

Digi2al has a model based on a solid foundation of technical skills, meaning ideas can be turned into reality more quickly than a traditional marketing agency plus legacy IT approach.

Assignments are tailored to each client’s needs based on repeatable patterns and follow user-centric design principles.

Digi2al’s resourcing model reflects the digital world. Its teams are multi-disciplinary, drawn from in house and freelance experts, who deliver quickly and learn as they go.

Above all Digi2al takes ownership of client challenges, encouraging the difficult decisions needed to do the right things and move away from a set of tactical initiatives.

In traditional businesses the online channel came after existing channels (instore, advisors, call centre, agents, partners, suppliers). The user experience was never designed for customers to move seamlessly between online and offline channels.

Increasingly, an online enquiry or transaction will lead to services and

contact via an offline channel, such as a partner or supplier portal, a social media tool like twitter, a web chat, phone call or face to face appointment.

The customer will want to experience a consistent brand, personalised service and feel like the service is fully integrated.

For digital native businesses this is designed in from the start. For traditional businesses this is a challenge.

Digi2al has a model for defining digital strategy and opportunity, including incorporating offline channels. The model includes defining the right measurement, incentives and governance to the manage the digital platform over time.

A seamless user experience brings new challenges for the legacy IT systems. It may be that tools in the digital platform will need to automatically mine complex data sources to present the latest information, perform transactions in real time or pass back and forth to a third party site. These requirements are often impossible or cost-prohibitive to carry out on the existing IT systems.

Unlike the digital native business, Digi2al’s clients have decades of investment in legacy IT, which cannot suddenly change design.

The company has a model for re-purposing the existing tools and information to gradually evolve into a platform capable of enabling the digital strategy and conforming to cost, security and technology constraints.

FURTHER INFORMATION kmaxwell@digi2al.co.uk www.digi2al.co.uk

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Rob Brown, OKI business manager for managed document services their document output spend offers them the potential to make significant savings. But how can they start to take control of their document output and manage their spend more closely? Often government organisations are unclear where to start. However, OKI can implement a range of strategies and products to help them address these issues.

At the heart of these services are OKI’s smart managed document solutions – an integrated suite of software, technologies and tools to improve print and document workflow, management and security within an organisation.

Through the use of these, OKI is able to extend document processes, ensuring a fully-integrated and optimised solution.

These solutions can be divided into five key areas: Capture and distribution – focuses on the digitisation of documents, converting to paperless workflows with instant electronic access and routing by adding metadata; document and content management – facilitates access and retrieval of data to improve collaboration and response times; security and output – enables costs control and full visibility of print and copy usage; mobility – enables printing from any device; device and contract management – tracks device usage remotely.

The complete managed process begins with an OKI audit of existing practices including output volumes and printing types.

By gaining a transparent view across the print and managed document landscape a government department can see where budget is spent. The results also create the platform for an expert print vendor like OKI to enhance printer usage and drive efficiencies.

RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB OKI can help ensure the right printers are being used for the right job and to design a long-term print solution tailored to a customer’s needs. It can also highlight previously unseen overheads such as the cost of man-hours spent supporting disparate systems so further savings can be made.

The whole analysis process is designed to enhance printer usage and create a more efficient managed print strategy.

By using high-quality in-house solutions, government organisations will see an immediate impact both on the overall cost of their printing and their levels of wastage. Simply by bringing more print jobs in-house they can eliminate overruns and by raising the level of right first time print-outs reduce the need to reprint work.

The approach also establishes best practices such as setting double-sided and mono

OKI can the sure help en nters are i right prd and design se being u g-term print a lon tailored to solutionstomer’s a cu needs

MANAGED PRINT

SMARTER PRINTING FOR GOVERNMENT

In this article, Rob Brown from OKI Systems highlights the importance of driving efficiencies within the public sector and looks at the benefits of managed document solutions Government organisations are continuing to feel the squeeze of coalition spending cuts and there is no end in sight – for the foreseeable future at least. As recently as February this year, leading think-tank, The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor’s recent decision to target a budget surplus by the 2018-19 tax year, to be achieved by spending cuts meant 60 per cent of cuts in public spending were still to come. So how can departments make further spending reductions over and

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above what they have already achieved?

It’s a tough ask, yet while operational overheads were usually the first area to be scrutinised and where possible minimised – there is still one area of everyday business activity that many departments have not yet considered: the printing and management of documents.

DRIVING EFFICIENCIES So there is a clear need for government departments to drive efficiencies. Reducing

printing as default options, which together reduce paper costs – and establishing some best practice rules, such as never printing emails simply to read them.

By deploying managed document solutions, government departments ensure they work with just one contract for all their document output and management needs including purchasing printers, buying supplies or requesting maintenance. As a result, it is easier to monitor on-going costs; reduce capital investment and control budgets.

Any technical support a department may need to ensure its printers are up and running at all times can also be quickly delivered. Ensuring print operations and maintenance run smoothly, frees up the time of internal staff allowing them to focus on core tasks and work more productively.

FLEXIBILITY Managed document solutions is all about flexibility and OKI can deliver a fully integrated and optimised solution that meets the specific needs of any government organisation, whether this is through capture and distribution, document and content

and implementation process ensures that the client’s document workflow processes adapt and keep pace with changes across the organisation while delivering the anticipated cost savings.

As part of the managed document solutions approach, replacing multiple desktop printers and scanners with a smaller number of networked multifunction printers can cut energy consumption and costs for any government organisation. Departments can make use of the new OKI MC700 and MB700 Series multifunction printers, for example, to move from a manual paper‑based workflow into a digital workflow.

PRODUCTIVITY The MC700/MB700 Series provide additional levels of productivity to government departments through sXP (smart Extendable Platform), an embedded open platform offering enhanced workflow integration and document management, across the business. The new range of mono and colour MFPs provide additional flexibility, allowing organisations to select the model and options specific to their operational

With a focus on driving efficiency and maintaining control of printing, a managed document solutions approach will streamline processes and by doing this save time, costs and energy, all key benefits for any government organisation battling against the cuts management, security and output, mobility or device and contract management.

It is also a collaborative experience. As part of a managed document solutions approach, OKI will initiate a process of consultation and analysis, through which it will identify specific operational needs and recommend a flexible solution to optimise print and document output. This will have full visibility and provide the opportunity to reduce costs, while delivering workflow efficiencies and saving time and money.

SUPPORT Managed document solutions is also clearly an iterative process. OKI determines the optimal printing and document workflow solution for the organisation. It then works with its customer on a continual basis to assess its needs by analysing printer usage and recommending the right service to meet your specific requirements and to help reduce your printing costs.

OKI not only facilitates the management of your devices and consumables, it also advises on the right mix of devices and where they should be located to increase productivity.

The continual management, review

needs, for optimum print effectiveness.

Improving the way documents are handled, managed and processed will deliver significant efficiencies and cost savings to government organisations concerned, ensuring their print capability fully supports their broader objectives.

The MC700/MB700 series enables governmental organisations to move from a manual paper-based workflow to a digital workflow. The open architecture sXP enables seamless integration of workflows into the end user’s information infrastructure allowing businesses to benefit from lower costs, improved productivity and operational efficiencies.

ENHANCED CONTROL In addition, the MC700/MB700 Series helps deliver enhanced control for government departments by including software for effective device management tasks such as remote diagnostics and document output controls including print tracking and authentication.

Again, as part of a managed document solutions approach, these multifunction printers also deliver advanced security

features, including secure PIN printing, data encryption and disk wiping and a secure print with card release option.

This represents a key benefit for any government organisation, giving them the peace of mind of knowing that they can have their document output and management needs at their fingertips without worrying that sensitive documents will get into the wrong hands.

Driving enhanced efficiencies and quality production, all models have a convenience stapler as standard to facilitate post production finishing while some feature an internal finisher for automated document collation and stapling.

Advertisement Feature

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GOING GREEN A managed document solutions approach also drives greener, more environmentally friendly printing. OKI devices are all designed with a compact footprint to save on space and are based on robust and reliable LED technology for consistent quality and performance. Not only is this highly energy efficient, but it also means that professional reports, presentations, brochures and invoices can all be output easily within minutes.

According to the Carbon Trust, printers can consume 30-40 per cent of their peak power when idling between printing and standby mode. However, with the right technology it becomes easy to reduce energy consumption.

Today, OKI ensures all its printers have ‘Deep Sleep’ mode cutting power consumption to the minimum. In addition, some of the latest OKI printers also offer ‘Auto-Power Off’ technology, which automatically turns off the printer after extended periods of non-usage.

Given that many government departments are facing an increasing number of departmental spending cuts and as such, are looking for ways in which to work more efficiently, OKI’s approach to cost effective and green printing is of particular importance. Partnering with a professional vendor like OKI, government organisations can be assured document output will be managed in the most efficient and green manner – all key for departments looking to work more resourcefully.

MAINTAINING CONTROL With a focus on driving efficiency and maintaining control of printing, a managed document solutions approach will streamline processes and by doing this save time, costs and energy, all key benefits for any government organisation battling against the cuts.  FURTHER INFORMATION For further information about OKI’s products and services, please visit the OKI website, www.oki.co.uk

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Government Technology

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

If you are looking to make Channel Shift work for you then there is only one name to remember – Govtech As the momentum for Channel Shift increases, the ability to integrate customerfacing portals with existing systems is essential to ensure that the benefits from online self-service are fully extended through to the back office operation. webCAPTURE and eCAPTURE from Govtech provide 100 per cent content capture with full business process automation. webCAPTURE from Govtech accepts and transforms content from web forms using a fully automated process. It doesn’t deposit work in a queue for officers to process manually. Instead, content is validated, business rules applied and updates automatically made to your back office systems, delivering full business process automation. Associated documentation is auto-indexed and, when business rules trigger case officer intervention, this is placed in priority work queues for immediate attention. With webCAPTURE, case officers spend time only on items that need their skills and expertise. The result is a transformation in case officer productivity.

In local government, 80 per cent of web transactions routed through webCAPTURE are fully automated, meaning they are

successfully processed and completed without officer intervention. eCAPTURE from Govtech captures and validates handwritten and machine-printed content from scanned images, PDF document renditions, structured emails and other traditional document formats. Content is

converted into structured xml, business rules are applied and output is loaded into back office systems to provide full business process automation. eCAPTURE is a secure, hosted service with a 100 per cent content capture guarantee, delivering accurate content back to you in as little as two working hours.

Together, webCAPTURE and eCAPTURE extend the benefits of channel shift through to the back office and enable a declining paper residue to be managed much more efficiently. webCAPTURE and eCAPTURE are secure, hosted, cloud-based services, so there is no software to buy and no new technology to master. They can be deployed without disruption in a matter of weeks. They deliver business benefits immediately, freeing up case officers from low value administration and transforming their productivity.

Govtech is an SME established in 2005. It has over 40 government clients, including The Insolvency Service and major City and Metropolitan Councils such as Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sandwell, Kirklees and Croydon.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.govtech.co.uk

UK’s largest distributed supercomputing network to superpower Government and public sector High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales has been announced as an official HPC supplier in the UK Government’s latest online procurement programme, G-Cloud 5, enabling the venture to continue providing government and public sector organisations with supercomputing technology, training and support.

Using applications such as Big Data analytics and advanced modeling and simulation, the technology can help with town planning, medical research, crime prevention and defence to name but a few examples.

Organisations can access the state-ofthe-art technology remotely via a laptop or desktop computer, connecting to the network through a secure web browser and benefiting from its powerful processing capability, wherever they are based.

Alongside supplying this technology, HPC Wales has considerable experience in delivering the training and support necessary to help its users fully exploit it – having already trained over 1,200 users in HPC and hosting over 1,800 user accounts on the system.

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HPC Wales’ unique distributed infrastructure spans across Wales and is powered by the latest Fujitsu Primergy equipment with Intel Sandy Bridge processors, and over 17,000 cores. The network boasts a peak processing performance of almost 320 TFlops – meaning that it is capable of running 320 trillion operations per second.

The venture has been made possible with support of £24m from the Welsh Government, including support from the European Regional Development Fund, £10m from the UK Department for Business, Innovation

and Skills (BIS), and £4m matched funding from University partners.

The G-Cloud Programme, now launching its fifth version, ensures that central UK Government departments consider services from those registered as suppliers on the Cloud ahead of all other organisations in any IT procurement process. The G-Cloud Programme was formed in 2012 to introduce cloud ICT services into government departments, local authorities and the wider public sector.

Karen Padmore, operations director at HPC Wales, said: “We are delighted to announce that HPC Wales has been approved to continue to provide supercomputing services in the latest version of the G-Cloud procurement portal and we are calling on central government, local authorities and public sector organisations across the UK to get in touch to find out how the technology, training and support can accelerate their processes.”

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01248 675093 www.hpcwales.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY MANIFESTO

A TECH STRATEGY FOR AN EVOLVING SOCIETY Government Technology takes a look at Policy Exchange’s recently published Technology Manifesto, a roadmap for how the UK could become a leader in the global digital economy UK think tank Policy Exchange recently published its Technology Manifesto, outlining a vision of how Britain can become a “world leader in using technology for positive ends.” The centre-right organisation’s report homes in on three main goals: building a connected and digitally skilled society; making Britain the leading e-commerce hub outside of Silicon Valley; and developing smarter government through the use of technology and data. We take a look at the arguments and recommendations in the Manifesto.

DIGITAL SOCIETY The authors say that getting online is of key importance for citizens, with career and educational opportunities opening up that scarcely existed ten years ago. However, the UK is “still a long way from achieving this goal for everyone.” Almost ten million people do not have basic online skills like using

email or search engines. The report argues that Government should aim for the UK to have the world’s highest rate of digital skills by 2020, and that while the sum of £875 million thought to be needed to make this happen is “considerable,” this investment can lead to almost two billion in savings every year by making more services digital-only.

Broadband is another area requiring greater commitment from Government. The report says: “Instead of stipulating a specific absolute minimum speed [current policies aim for 24Mbps for 95 per cent of the population by 2017 and 2Mbps for the remaining five per cent], those not covered by the superfast broadband policy should be guaranteed access to baseline connectivity that rises relative to the median speeds of the whole country.”

Other recommendations include: reforming the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) to make it easier to roll out high-speed

Government Technology

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

broadband; prioritising internet safety education; and making a “clear commitment that it will only seek to block websites that are illegal,” so that decisions to block content are declared publicly. The authors say that data protection legislation should focus on “the use rather than the collection of data,” emphasising safety and fairness without hampering innovation, and that where public services involve the disclosure of personal data, citizens should have control over how it is used. Finally, the report calls for a “competitive grant pot” of £3 million annually to fund the upskilling of teachers.

DIGITAL ECONOMY According to the Technology Manifesto, the companies with the greatest power to boost the economy are “high-impact, high-growth technology businesses that can give birth to new industries, create thousands of jobs, and make a major contribution to UK GDP.” Some of the obstacles in the way of the digital economy are: a shortage of UK STEM graduates, combined with visa regulations that turn away digitally skilled people from 

Leading political figures have their say on public sector technology Policy Exchange launched its Technology Manifesto at a recent discussion-led event in the Google Campus in east London. Each of the main UK political parties was represented in the panel, with contributions from Nadhim Zahawi MP (Conservative Party), Chi Onwurah MP (Labour) and Dr Julian Huppert MP (Liberal Democrats).

Government Technology was there to sit in on the debate.

Speaking first was Nadhim Zahawi, who spoke about the need for Government policy to keep up with the spread of technology into every aspect of our lives: “The rise of mainstream internet access in the last 20 years has resulted in a very important fact: in 2015 most people who will be voting for the first time have only ever known a world in which the internet has existed.”

He touched on the importance of training and education, saying: “GDS’ success has shown that transforming consumer-facing services is as much about the right people as it is about

the right mindset. Technology skills are vital and that’s why I strongly welcome the new computing GCSEs and the government’s focus on technology skills.

Of the tough questions technology poses Government, he mentioned the issues of intellectual property and how to deliver a connected infrastructure for business. He finished by restating the importance of the topic: “Digital isn’t going away.”

Next up was Chi Onwurah, who outlined the problems currently facing policy makers. While she agreed with most of what was on the report, she criticised its failure to bring gender inequality to the fore, saying that the most optimistic data on the number of women in tech gives a figure of 16 per cent. She also found fault with the government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy: “[it says] from the beginning that it’s going to leave behind 10 per cent of people – what kind of inclusion strategy is it that excludes seven million people from the get go?”

She concluded: “What’s most important is not to address all the

concerns arising across Government ad hoc and reactively,” but to have a broader discussion about such issues as data ownership, digital crime and inclusiveness.

Julian Huppert rounded off the discussion with a positive outlook on the benefits tech can bring: “Nadhim said we should do tech in Government because we have to do it; Chi pointed out many of the problems with what’s happening within tech; I think we should do tech because it’s fun, because it’s worthwhile and we’re better off doing it.”

His parting shot to the audience of industry figures bemoaned the low level of digital literacy in Government: “Across all the parties, there are only a handful of MPs who really get it. The vast majority simply do not. Whatever your own personal preferences are, I would suggest that you work in your own self interests and try to make sure that people who get it, whatever party they’re from, get back into power. If you apply selective pressure, we will evolve.”

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Government Technology

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Achieving change in the public sector through improved procurement and commercial management Government is clearly achieving change in its approach to procurement and commercial management – faster procurement, less unnecessary process and more work for SMEs. Whilst regulation is being reformed, skills are being developed and investment made; progress is patchy, opportunities are being missed and commercial capabilities are scarce.

Commitment is strongest in Central Government, where controls are more directly applied from the centre. It is our experience that the further you move away from the centre the more gaps (and the more counter activity) emerge.

The gaps in skills and commitment mean that potential savings could be delayed or missed. InProc have worked with clients driving cost down and benefits up. Improving commercial relationships has delivered cost savings up to 20 per cent with minimal service degradation, yet the process and willingness to bring InProc in the door to implement change has severely delayed benefits realisation.

SMEs are winning more work. This is good: SMEs are a major driver of economic growth and the source of possible future

world leaders. The Government Cloudstore and Digital Services Framework are excellent examples of what can be achieved, and their approach needs to be extended and deepened.

But there are problems even with these great channels: experience shows that a number of procurement specialists still challenge framework validity, opportunities are not being considered as appropriate for the frameworks, ‘commissioners’ are simultaneously looking at both the GCloud and issuing ITTs through other channels, and additional processes are added to the framework mechanisms.

The other challenge the company is seeing is the assertion that ‘we are different’; even

in local Government where there is the potential for multiple organisations to buy the same commodity services.

So, there is unnecessary duplication and bespoke activity – discouraging the market (and particularly SMEs) from creating commodity services.

Finally, the company has witnessed a strong emphasis on un-managed un-controlled T&M contracts at the low end of costs for professional services, when fixed price and delivery based contracts can offer so much more value, in particular in the commercial and change space.

InProcs assists organisations to identify external drivers for change, assess the internal situation and priorities and then develop the right interventions to achieve competitive performance and innovation. The company then helps organisations build and source the capabilities to deliver the interventions.

FURTHER INFORMATION To learn more or to arrange a meeting, visit our website: www.inproc.co.uk, email: barney.smith@inproc.co.uk or call us on 0117 905 5008.

Need to revitalise your corporate identity?

OryxAlign can deliver a technology solution OryxAlign is a managed technology services provider, based in West London, supporting enterprises across the UK and internationally.

The company believes that proactive, accurate and responsive service, combined with expert technical consultancy and highly trained support engineers, are what it takes to optimise business productivity.

From 24x7 remote monitoring and support, to onsite engineering, cloud services, virtualisation, enterprise mobility management, and connectivity, OryxAlign works across all industry sectors, delivering efficient, practical and affordable managed technology services.

Devonshire Square Estate is a commercial real estate unit located in central London. The multi-use campus environment houses an array of restaurants, shops, bars and residential accommodation, curating an inspiring space for its thousands of visitors and lease-holders alike.

Historically, Devonshire Square has been a haven for manufacturing. However, it was Rockpoint Europe’s acquirement of the estate in 2006 that transformed the area into the enterprise campus it is today.

With this procurement, Rockpoint Europe inherited an aged and unreliable technology infrastructure. The estate’s physical servers

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were constantly failing, causing grave concerns for the business. In order to achieve the vision set, Devonshire Square management would need to transform the estate’s corporate image, with technology being an integral part to this reconstruction.

Devonshire Square required a managed technology services provider, who could lead this transformation, advising and project managing a bespoke solution tailored to the estate’s immediate and long-term plan.

In 2007, OryxAlign successfully tendered and won the contract to provide the technology support for Devonshire Square, marking the beginning of a 7 year partnership that still stands as strong today. Beginning in 2007, OryxAlign delivered a technology refresh of the server and desktop infrastructure. The brand new infrastructure was overseen by OryxAlign’s dedicated support engineers, providing users with an offsite IT department with an onsite presence.

In 2010 the company was commissioned to plan, design and implement an outdoor public performance wireless infrastructure.

The project involved the installation of high-powered intelligent wireless access points in high-level strategic locations.

In 2012 OryxAlign implemented a virtualised infrastructure to replace the physical server infrastructure throughout the estate.

From the initial IT infrastructure overhaul in 2007, to the current remote monitoring management and onsite consultancy, OryxAlign and Devonshire Square’s partnership goes beyond IT provision, to become a concerted and unified agreement of technology delivery. With OryxAlign’s expertise and guidance, Devonshire Square Estate has used technology to revitalise its corporate identity, transforming into an enviable and viable area of commercial real estate.

An OryxAlign support partnership guarantees the delivery of first class managed technology services.

FURTHER INFORMATION Call OryxAlign on 0207 605 7890 email to hello@oryxalign.com or visit oryxalign.com

TECHNOLOGY MANIFESTO

“High-impact, high-growth technology businesses can give birth to new industries, create thousands of jobs, and make a major contribution to UK GDP.” – Technology Manifesto  overseas; a lack of investment, in particular a failure to attract foreign direct investment (FDI); and insufficient help for startups in protecting copyright and intellectual property.

The authors recommend reinstating the two-year Post-Study Work Visa for skilled STEM graduates from overseas, removing restrictions on universities endorsing students for the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa, and doing away with the salary threshold in Tier 2 Visa requirements. Other suggestions on getting around the skills shortage include signing up top graduate employers to schemes that enable the most skilled graduates to work in or found startups, and granting employers ease of dismissal in exchange for forfeiting non-compete clauses and intellectual property claims on employees’ work.

The report advises that Government should aim to bring in half of all software FDI in Europe, and that annual reviews and technology impact assessments should be carried out to ensure that legislation keeps pace with technology. The authors also call for Government to lead negotiations on the

European Digital Single Market and to tackle crime by allocating more money from the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP).

DIGITAL GOVERNMENT With public services “under constant pressure to deliver more with less,” the report calls to intensify efforts to make government “smarter.” While the work of the Government Digital Service (GDS) has streamlined the online provision of government services and made impressive savings since its creation in 2010, the authors say that more needs to be done: “The government provides more than 770 transactional services, but around half of these do not offer any digital option at all.” The Technology Manifesto says that there needs to be a greater focus on using standardised technology across Government departments, making use of data analytics, and harnessing open data to “spur innovation.”

The authors recommend making the most used 150 government transactions digital by default and committing to the Government as a Platform (GAAP) model, in

order to reduce departments’ dependence on bespoke software. They say that the Civil Service competency framework should be updated “to ensure that every individual working in government has a baseline level of ability in critical thinking, quantitative analysis and digital skills.”

Some of the other recommendations for Government are: making electronic purchasing the default choice; eliminating paper transactions; installing an Advanced Analytics Team in the Cabinet Office; and requiring public sector bodies to declare on a government data portal what non-personal datasets they hold.

Government Technology

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

SUMMING UP The report argues that the biggest challenge for policy makers is keeping up with the staggering pace of technological change: “New technologies offer opportunities and risks that have no precedent; regulation too often reflects the pre-digital era.” The authors’ key message is that it is no longer good enough to treat technology as an adjunct to the ‘main’ policy areas: “From education to healthcare and from energy to transport, no policy area is immune from its influence. It is the foundation on which Britain’s economic future will depend.”  READ THE REPORT IN FULL: tinyurl.com/kvfztu3

MI View business intelligence solutions – business reporting and data analysis made simple Business Intelligence, or BI as it is more commonly known, has been around for decades. In the early days it was often referred to as ‘Decision Support’ as it provided information to an organisation taken from production systems that helped decision making.

It has morphed into many guises and nowadays it covers a vast area which includes reporting, analytics, data-mining, business performance management, benchmarking, predictive analytics etc.

The IT community, in response to requests for information from business users, have come up with ever more creative ways to ‘slice and dice’ data. This is what business wanted but there was a price to pay. It became complex, time consuming and costly and often didn’t deliver what was wanted nor within a useful timeframe.

Typically what an information user considers a simple request is often technically complex to answer. IT’s solution was to consolidate and the Data warehouse was ‘born’. Warehouse’s are never the source of data but are populated themselves by complex processes from business applications, creating more data and overhead to cope with that simple request.

Add to this the growth of available data driven by the growing diversity of business systems, automated data collection and insatiable demand from business users for information, and it can all become very difficult.

Why? Because most BI solutions were originally built decades ago before

this explosion in data and can still work, albeit clunkily, on relatively small volumes of data but are maintained and managed by IT on behalf of the users.

Today’s user requirement can be summarised as: ‘I need the data now and I want the tools to analyse the data myself and I don’t really know what I want until I see it’ Driven in part by the ease and power of internet search engines, the question, “why can’t all business applications e.g. business intelligence, be this easy to use”is often raised.

Technically there is no reason, but to deliver a BI application that allows an end user to slice and dice data, anyway they want, at speed, whilst maintaining data integrity, requires an architecture which works like Google, unlike most BI solutions available today.

MI View is a BI solution that is built for today’s business users, able to revolutionise the access to and use of data as well as reducing the cost of information - simply the right solution.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.totalintelligence.co.uk

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Products & Services

LANDSCAPING

LANDSCAPE

Quickgrass is the premier national supplier of artificial grass, distributing throughout the UK to commercial and domestic operations.

Quickgrass is a family run business that supplies stateof-the-art artificial lawns and provides customers with a friendly, efficient service through its telephone ordering service and online shop, based at the company’s 5000 sq. ft distribution warehouse site in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

Quickgrass synthetic grass is becoming a popular choice for commercial and local authority landscaping applications such as play zones, roof gardens, corporate spaces, traffic islands, park areas, community projects, youth projects, care homes, council buildings, shopping areas and sports facilities.

Quickgrass synthetic grass gives

A wildflower meadow sown with a mixture from Germinal Seeds has transformed unsightly weed-infested land into a riot of colour at Harefield House, near Faversham, Kent.

The company believes in protecting our national wild flora heritage and has an extensive range of wild flora mixtures and native grasses designed to suit different conditions.

One of its standard mixtures ‘WFG4 Neutral Soils’, with the addition of meadow vetchling and cornflower, created stunning results at Harefield House and attracted an increasing population of bees and pollinators. All Germinal Seeds’ wild flora mixtures have been deemed ‘Perfect for Pollinators’ by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The ‘WFG’ range of mixtures is designed to suit soil types and aspects, is very user friendly and helps users to easily identify the correct mixture required.

The UK’s premier supplier of artificial grass

a wonderful visual appearance with the practical benefits of artificial grass. It looks and feels like real grass and has the added benefit of simple low maintenance, requiring only sweeping and occasional cleaning with a hose. It looks as good as new throughout the seasons. Once installed, it doesn’t need watering or mowing and will withstand most adverse climatic conditions.

Manufactured to the highest standards and supplied from within the EU, Quickgrass comes with the European Quality Standards EN14041 and EN13297.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01527 579841 www.quickgrass.co.uk

VENDING

WASTE AND RECYCLING

Liquid Culture is passionate about all things refreshment; experts in coffee first and foremost, and specialists in providing the complete drink and snack service.

Liquid Culture supplies a comprehensive range, from vending machines to professional coffee machines, and the best ingredients and products to serve with them. The company also shares its expertise and knowledge, offering businessto-business consultancy and a ‘Your Brew Buddy’ barista training service. Liquid Culture’s colleagues are knowledgeable and friendly and always willing to go the extra mile, whether they are chatting to you about new coffee blends, delivering your ingredients, or filling and maintaining your vending machine.

Ideal for both retail and commercial venues, the Liquid Culture Espresso Tower offers exceptional quality at the touch of a button. It is exactly

Bradshaw Electric Vehicles is Britain’s largest manufacturer of industrial electric vehicles, supplying to both the UK and world market since 1975.

The Bradshaw product range includes ride on and pedestrian controlled tow tractors, load carriers, utility vehicles and personnel carriers.

The company’s tow tractor range is ideal for transporting waste and recycling or making general deliveries. With a tow load capacity of up to 25,000 kg, Bradshaw’s range of tow tractors come with options such as PVC door cab or sliding door cab, the decision is yours and will depend on the number of regular stops to be made.

The company has a number of ride on and pedestrian controlled load carriers, with a payload capacity of up to 3,000 kg, suited to your needs with many body sizes and

Liquid Culture – the experts in coffee

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Kent land transformed into a wildflower meadow

the same concept as Costa Express and Starbucks to-go but supporting the independent coffee provider. Liquid Culture can also fully brand the towers to your requirements.

So if your organisation serves refreshments to customers or staff, the company can design and deliver the optimum refreshment service. Liquid Culture strongly believes that every refreshment break deserves to be enjoyed – how totally refreshing.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.liquid-culture.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

The company’s ‘RE’ Regional Environmental range is targeted to specific areas and replicates the most common national vegetation classification. It is particularly useful for ecologists.

Germinal Seeds can also provide bespoke mixtures on request. All the wildflowers in its mixtures are UK native species and sourced in the UK. It has two mixtures that contain non- native ‘garden species’ that particularly benefit bees and pollinators.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01743 234 224 lornabishop@seal.uk.com www.germinalamenity.com

Electric Vehicles for just about every application

options available, perfect for maintaining parks and facilities.

Bradshaw also has an in house design and production team that deliver bespoke, better handling solutions. The company strives to ensure that customer care is of the highest standard and has built up long-standing relationships with many of its clients.

Whatever your requirements, Bradshaw Electric Vehicles has something to suit your needs.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01780 782621 sales@bradshaw electricvehicles.co.uk www.bradshaw electricvehicles.co.uk

STATIONERY

MUSIC

The PenAgain Twist ‘n Write pencil teaches kids the right way to write. Specifically designed to fit small hands and bring the fun back in learning to write.

A thick 2mm lead provides for long-lasting write-out that never needs sharpening, and it comes with two erasers.

The wishbone-shaped design forces the school-taught ‘tripod’ finger grasp and kids love the curvy shape and fun colours making them just want to write and doodle. This is a revolution in children’s writing tools.

Available in packs of two or four.

The PenAgain Ergo-Sof ballpen is the most comfortable writing instrument in the world.

The rubber coating feels like silk for tension-free writing with its ‘no grip’ design.

Ergonomically designed to adapt to the contour of the hand, the pen alleviates the stresses normally observed with a standard pen. The natural weight of the writer’s hand provides

Music Made is a fresh and unique method of teaching music, from foundation stage to Year 6. It provides activities, resources, advice and training for primary school teachers to create a systematic, progressive and topic-related music scheme.

Requiring minimum preparation to deliver dynamic, professional and enjoyable music lessons, this is innovative and joined up school music teaching ‘in a box’.

After teaching music in schools for over 30 years, founder Marie Leaney felt she could improve upon the musical experience of teachers and pupils alike. She decided to create her own music education scheme, and so Music Made was born. It caters for all teachers: from musical maestros to the completely terrified.

Marie works collaboratively with respected children’s composers, musicians, filmmakers, presenters, illustrators and technicians to produce modern and fun resources, which include

PenAgain ergonomic writing tools for all ages

sufficient pressure to apply ink to the paper. This eliminates the need to grip the pen allowing the thumb and forefinger to serve merely as guides.

The PenAgain may help to alleviate symptoms of writer’s cramp, carpel tunnel syndrome, arthritis and anyone who has trouble holding and writing with a regular pen or pencil.

Suitable for either right or left-handed writers, it is available in red, blue, black and silver.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01245 225758 info@gbapen.co.uk www.gbapen.co.uk

Music Made: a teaching scheme for primary schools

VOUCHERS

AUDIO VISUAL

Voucherline.com houses practically every leading brand of gift cards and paper gift vouchers in the UK. Voucherline’s sister company, Sound Solutions is a marketing agency that has been established for 20 years. Talk to Voucherline.com about its discounted reward and card membership schemes for your member benefit programs – the company’s partners are working with several local councils already so don’t miss out.

Voucherline.com is over ten years old and was one of the first websites to launch in the UK selling gift cards and vouchers.

If you don’t see the brand you need, Voucherline can source it for you, enabling you to buy all your vouchers and gift cards in one place.

Voucherline’s client list includes many housing associations and local government offices.

Other customers include American Express, Virgin,

With its powered raise and lower facility, the M-Power lectern is massively ahead of anything on the market at this time.

Enabling any presenter, no matter how tall or short and whether standing or seated, to utilise the facilities that a lectern should provide was always the first consideration in the design and developement of this unique product.

Allowing anyone to see and be seen during presentations is so simple. The push of a button lowers or raises the lectern to the ideal height for any user.

The range of materials and finishes available means that Blue AV can offer any colour of powder coating on the metal lectern and any colour and grain finish on the wooden model.

Adding connection facilities to the standard model allows

Your one stop shop for vouchers and gift cards

Barclaycard, PC World and many more household names.

Bulk discounts are offered (brand and volume dependant) and the company also provides e-codes for most of the big high street brands making it even easier and more cost effective to send out your rewards.

You will quickly get to know Voucherline’s friendly team, enabling you to relax in the knowledge that your orders are being taken care of.

FURTHER INFORMATION orders@voucherline.com www.voucherline.com

Products & Services

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

Music Made-produced DVDs and CDs. Each class teacher receives a box containing everything they need to meet – and exceed – the requirements of the National Curriculum for music.

The teaching is strongly based on practical experience and sound music principles. It also gives teachers extra confidence to deliver music activities by providing 30 hours of support and training for each school.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0) 7563 624 072 marie@musicmade.co.uk www.musicmade.co.uk

A professional lectern for just about every need the use of computer screens for preview, touch screen use and a range of connectivity that includes VGA, HDMI, CAT5 and video in component or composite forms.

The unit comes with two anti vibration microphone mountings and all cabling enclosed within the column of the lectern. An LED reading light is also part of the package when you purchase.

BlueAV can manufacture any custom model that differs from the standard range. By retaining control of its production in its own premises, the company guarantees the quality of its products, keeping control of its costs to ensure the best value is always delivered.

Contact Blue AV to explore the possibilities of having no restrictions whilst presenting.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01202 474373 Mobile: 07976 937666 blue@blueav.com www.blueav.com

Volume 21.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

93

Advertisers Index

A qualitative and quantitative market research agency with genuine experience in the public sector Jigsaw Research is a qualitative and quantitative market research agency with an exclusively senior team, providing perceptive counsel and genuine sector specific insight for its clients.

Jigsaw’s staff have an average of 15 years experience and are involved in every stage of the research process, ensuring that clients receive the best service possible.

The company offers qualitative and quantitative services in the same agency and at the same high levels of expertise, so clients don’t have to risk swapping agencies half way through a project.

Jigsaw covers a range of sectors including public sector, finance, technology and energy, so clients get the benefit of public sector knowledge enhanced by leading edge techniques used for commercial clients.

The company uses its understanding of how people behave, together with its in-depth sector and client knowledge to squeeze more from every research interaction.

It’s not just reportage, it is nuanced understanding and recommendations.

Jigsaw calls this ‘thinking in colour’ –

bringing together different methodologies, ideas from different disciplines and disparate personal experience. This means clients get better insight and better value.

Jigsaw has worked in the public sector since the late 1990s and has undertaken research for a huge range of government departments and other public sector organisations, including DWP, HMRC, Department of Health, Student Loans Company, The Army, The Navy, Home Office, HM Passport Office, Money Advice Service, Ofcom and the BBC. The company’s public sector work is

extremely varied. Communications evaluation, concept testing and stakeholder research are key areas along with customer satisfaction, segmentation and usability testing studies.

Audiences are also varied. Jigsaw has researched consumers, businesspeople, stakeholders, staff, children/youth, and difficult to reach audiences such as the very poor, and people with physical disability or mental illness.

Methodologies range from large surveys often using advanced statistical techniques, like conjoint analysis, through to qualitative projects using case studies or focus groups.

Jigsaw also applies behavioural economic thinking to its projects, ensuring that it understands the subconscious issues that impact on behaviour, and advising clients on how to put this thinking into practice.

FURTHER INFORMATION If you’d like to find out more please contact Hazel Fletcher or Alex Johnston Tel: +44 (0)207 291 0810 or visit the website at www.jigsaw-research.co.uk

ADVERTISERS INDEX

The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service Adaptive Modules 22 Additional Resources 54 Addressing & Mailing 4 Aspect Safety 44 Avaya 64 Baker Tilly 10 Blazequel 14 Blue AV 93 Bodystat 68 Bradshaw Electric Vehicles 92 Broden Media 71, 73, 75 Care of Police 72 Catlin Holdings 12 CCS UK 32 Centerprise BC CIWEM Services 67 Cloud2Clear 54 Codelocks 68 Crown Moran Hotel 60 De Lage Landen Leasing 70 DIGI2AL 85 DMS Protective 78, IBC Drive & Survive (IAM) 34 Envirotec Bathing 18 Fathom 20

94

Fleet Innovations 34 Food 4 Retail and Vending 44 Funky Moves 64 G.I.M UK 52 GBA Pen Company 93 Germinal Seeds GB 92 Glasdon UK 16 Global TMP 36 Govtech Solutions 88 Group Call 6 Henley Business School 62 Heritage Healthcare 50 High Performance Computing 88 Hills Waste Solutions 16 i2i Events Group 17 IAWP 2015 74 Inclusive Coaching 62 Inproc 90 iPro Stadium 58 Isla Components 35 Itrinegy 22 Jaymart Rubber 68 Jigsaw Research 94 Jurys Inns Group 64

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 21.4

Kyocera Document Solutions 8 Labcold 26 Lazy Lawn 55 Lexis Nexis 66 Liquid Culture 92 London House International 50 Mecho Shade 24 Music Made 93 New Place (De Vere Venues) 56 Nexus Industries 28 Nissan 76, 77 OKI Systems UK 42, 86, 87 Opus Vision 40 Oryx Align 90 Pali 48 Plan-It Cards 52 Quick Grass 92 Redcentric 84 Revolution Power 18 Rezy 46 Scarab Sweepers 44 Snak Appeal 54 Snow Factor 38

Southville Centre 62 Spacebuilder 30 Spacevac UK 30 Special EFX 67 Stanley Black & Decker UK 54 Stedall (Vehicle Fittings) 74 Stubbers Activity & Adventure 30 Swiftclean Building Services 18 Technical Surfaces 26 The Lettings Inspector 52 Total Intelligence 91 Tricerion 80 Universal Pool Services 68 Voucher Line 93 Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel 60 Weltec Biopoer UK 16 Wheelwash 16 Williams F1 Conference Centre IFC WIPRO 82

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Solo Shields Bespoke specification available

Scorpion Interlock Shields Public Order Batons

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FM 56364 BS.EN.ISO 9001:2000

DMS Protective Equipment Ltd Lingen Road, Ludlow Business Park, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1XD. United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1584 874679 Fax: +44 (0)1584 876013 Email: enquiries@dmsplastics.co.uk www.scorpionppe.co.uk

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