Government Business 23.1

FLOODING

FLEET MANAGEMENT

SPORT & RECREATION

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 23.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government HOUSING & PLANNING

INVESTING IN PLANNING

Despite the bleak outlook, does planning hold the key for our economy?

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

DECARBONISING LOCAL ROADS FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Looking at the task of reducing air pollutants in 2016

ESTATE MANAGEMENT FOR FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY Why ignore the potential efficiency savings present in public sector estates?

tT etsetsG a t l a l e h e T Th ta s adnad nd w a e s n w T e nG ns iork cto w e e t o m r a r p f 9 62 on p7

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COMMENT

FLOODING

FLEET MANAGEMENT

SPORT & RECREATION

www.governmentbusiness.co.uk | VOLUME 23.1

Business Information for Local and Central Government HOUSING & PLANNING

INVESTING IN PLANNING

Despite the bleak outlook, does planning hold the key for our economy?

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

DECARBONISING LOCAL ROADS FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Looking at the task of reducing air pollutants in 2016

ESTATE MANAGEMENT FOR FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY Why ignore the potential efficiency savings present in public sector estates?

ststGT tete e elala ThTh ta dad s an wd s an wne GT ne n orks ectio otew prm fra 9 p62 on p7

PLUS: CONFEX | ECOBUILD | FRANCHISING | OUTSOURCING | PAYROLL

Comment

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An umbrella of funding is not enough to calm the storm Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a funding package of more than £40 million ‘to fix those defences overwhelmed by the record rainfall . . . and to make them more resilient to further bad weather’ in the aftermath of Storm’s Desmond and Eva in December.

The promise of extra funding brings the overall investment just shy of £200 million.

Among a number of programmes and support initiatives, the money will help improve York’s Foss Barrier, expected to cost £10 million, while the remaining £30 million will target defence reparations on the Wharfe, Calder, Aire, Ouse and Derwent.

While the funding is essential for those affected by the storms, it is imperative that the government takes a longer look at flood prevention investment rather than focussing merely on the puddle surrounding their feet.

Floods that are meant to arrive every 100 years are becoming somewhat common. While immediate investment is necessary, hope and promises for the future will surely top the New Year’s wishlist of those affected.

A resolution to defend rather than repair is what the country needs.

While the government is not to blame for climate change, at least not solely responsible, they are accountable for keeping people safe. Following a leaked document in which the Association of Drainage Authorities (whose membership includes the Environment Agency) complained that the agency’s funding to maintain ‘flood assets’ had fallen 14 per cent and ‘downward adjustments’ had also been made to ‘intended revenue spending commitments’, the government risks facing a political storm.

Whitehall’s priorities for the New Year must include prioritising the country’s priorities.

From all at Government Business, I wish you a Happy New Year.

Michael Lyons, acting editor

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

Business Information for Local and Central Government

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

226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Fax: 020 8532 0066 Web: www.psi-media.co.uk EDITOR Angela Pisanu ACTING EDITOR Michael Lyons PRODUCTION EDITOR Richard Gooding ASSISTANT EDITOR Tommy Newell EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Rachel Brooks PRODUCTION DESIGN Jo Golding PRODUCTION CONTROL Sofie Owen WEB PRODUCTION Victoria Leftwich ADVERTISEMENT SALES Francine Bryan, Steve Day, Kylie Glover, Nichola Halle, Neil Haydon, Michael Kennedy, Bernie Miller, David Morgan, Paul Taylor PUBLISHER Kelly Scott ADMINISTRATION Charlotte Cassar, Vickie Hopkins REPRODUCTION & PRINT Argent

© 2015 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 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

3

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CONTENTS GOVERNMENT BUSINESS 23.1 06 GB NEWS

12

Relaxation on shared ownership criteria; Nottingham and Derbyshire devolution bid: and 475,000 homes awaiting building

10 FLEET MANAGEMENT

When considering cost management, company car selection is crucial, says FIAG’s Geoffrey Bray

12 COMMERCIAL VEHICLES Decarbonising road transport and reducing air pollutants will be a major challenge in 2016, says Rachael Dillon

Contents

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

45 NATIONAL FRANCHISE EXHIBITION

Aspiring entrepreneurs can start the New Year exploring exciting business opportunities at this years event

48 CUSTOMER CONTACT

Katherine Potter of the Forum discusses the factors which affect planning for health authorities

50 LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES London’s Olympia will host the top event in the learning and development calender

CONFERENCES & EVENTS 15 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT 53 London & Partners discuss why public Claudia Jaksch discusses how increasing the sustainability of local government estates can result in potential savings of £180-200 per m² per year

20 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ‘16

Returning to the NEC on 22-24 March, Facilities Management 2016 will welcome delegates with a host of guest speakers

63 HOTELYMPIA

28 HOUSING & HEALTH

67 SPORT & RECREATION

31 ECOBUILD ‘16

72 GT NEWS

Taking place on 8-10 March, Ecobuild is the leading UK conference and event in the UK construction calender

35 FLOODING

The Sport and Recreation Alliance look back at the important decisions from 2015 that will affect sport and physical activity in 2016

Online bus pass access; G-Cloud 7 sales down; and more surveillance questioning

74 WEB DESIGN

Government Business looks at the government response to the flooding that has affected much of the county

With the internet and social media proving more popular than ever, now is the time for local councils to get digital, argues Nigel Hillier of Vision ICT

38 HEALTH & SAFETY EVENT

77 FRAMEWORKS

‘Three days to save a life’ is the overall theme for the 2016 Health & Safety Event which takes place at Birmingham’s NEC between 22-24 March

40 OUTSOURCING

The National Outsourcing Association predict what UK outsourcing will look like in 2020

42 PAYROLL 77

International Confex, opening on 2-3 March, is the place where event organisers plan for the year ahead

Amid cuts to local authority funding, the Royal Town Planning Institute makes the case for investing properly in planning Online housing tools help improve housing and the health of residents, says Bob Mayho of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

40

57 INTERNATIONAL CONFEX

The UK’s greatest hospitality event, returns in early 2016, promising more product innovation with the most comprehensive range of suppliers yet, plus the UK’s most celebrated chefs

23 HOUSING & PLANNING 35

sector event buyers should look no further than London as a destination for any conference, meeting or event

2016 has the potential to be a year of change for payroll up and down the country, says Diana Bruce of the CIPP

Government Business

The Crown Commercial Service framework agreements provide access to public sector bodies across a range of roles for the provision of government goods.

Government Business looks ISS at the latest Turn to UE 14.1 agreements p latest age 72 for t and the recent g h techno overnment e news regarding logy ne w s the government’ procurement

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GB News

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NEWS IN BRIEF A third of major public sector projects may be ‘unachievable’, says NAO A third of major public sector projects due to be finished by the end of this Parliament may be ‘unachievable’, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO).

The NAO examined the 149 projects currently in the Government Major Project Portfolio and found that a significant chunk were classified as either ‘red’ or ‘amber-red’, meaning successful delivery is either unachievable or doubtful unless action is taken.

Across the 106 major projects due to be completed in the next five years, 37 were rated red or amber‑red. The report suggests that this in part due to more risky projects entering the Portfolio, however, of the 56 these that had remained on the portfolio from 2012 to 2015, 17 had red or amber-red ratings in June 2015 compared with 12 in 2012.

The NAO noted that the ‘public sector has had a poor track record in delivering projects successfully’. Key recurring issues highlighted in the report include: an absence of portfolio management at both departmental and government level; lack of clear, consistent data with which to measure performance; poor early planning; lack of capacity and capability to undertake a growing number of projects; and a lack of clear accountability for leadership of a project.

Amyas Morse, NAO head, said: “I acknowledge that a number of positive steps have been taken by the Authority and client departments. At the same time, I am concerned that a third of projects monitored by the Authority are red or amber-red and the overall picture of progress on project performance is opaque. More effort is needed if the success rate of project delivery is to improve.”

Responding to the report, a Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We set up the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) to save taxpayers’ money and improve public services.

This is helping achieve over £3 billion of savings in 2014/15 alone.

“We will continue to drive for improved performance through the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, which will be a single centre of expertise for project development, financing, assurance and support in government.”

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

EMERGENCY SERVICES

Responsibility for fire and rescue services moves to Home Office Ministerial responsibility for fire and rescue services has been transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to the Home Office.

The move is part of government plans to improve joint working between the police and fire service and will see Mike Penning assume responsibility for the portfolio, becoming the Minister for Policing, Fire, Criminal Justice and Victims.

The government claims that the transfer of responsibility will pave the way for improvements in local fire and policing services by providing clear leadership, supporting greater collaboration and allowing the government to share best practice more effectively.

Penning said: “As a former firefighter and now Minister for Policing, I know from first-hand experience how well the police and fire service can work together.

We believe that better joint working can strengthen the emergency services and deliver significant savings and benefits for the public. This is about smarter working, reducing the cost of back office functions and freeing up the time of front-line staff.

“We are demonstrating at national level what we are asking emergency services to do at local level. As the Minister responsible for both fire and policing, I will be looking to ensure that both services learn from best practice, wherever it is found.”

Jeremy Hilton, chair of the Local Government

Association’s (LGA) Fire Services Management Committee, said: “The fire and rescue service is a high performing public service embedding within the local government family and run by local councillors who sit on English fire and rescue authorities.

“The LGA’s view is that transferring government responsibility from the DCLG to the Home Office must not undermine the superb job our firefighters provide in times of emergency.

“I look forward to working closely with the new fire minister in supporting our firefighters and fire and rescue authorities in the excellent work they do.”

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EDUCATION

Brighton and Hove considering changes to school holiday dates Brighton and Hove City Council is considering changing school holiday dates to give lower income families the chance to go on more affordable holidays.

The Council’s children, young people and skills committee are set to discuss the possibility of reducing the summer break by a week and introducing an extra holiday in the autumn term when travel prices drop.

Additionally, the committee will also consider the possibility of coordinating inset days into a long weekend or stand alone weeks break at another time in the year.

While head teachers used to have more freedom to grant pupil’s time off during term time, they are now required to take a much tougher stance on requests for authorised leave from parents. Parents now face fines of £60 if they take their children out of school during term time without permission, which increases to £120 if not paid within

21 days and can result in prosecution and a possible prison sentence if left unpaid.

Committee chair Tom Bewick said: “If there is something we can do to offer lower-income families in particular the chance to take holidays that would otherwise be unaffordable then I think it’s worth exploring.

“Being able to take a cheap family holiday in March, for example, would make a huge difference to thousands of local people – including of course our teachers.

“I often hear people saying the six-week summer holiday is too long and also that the autumn term is too long. Creating an extra week’s holiday in October or November, for example, might be a way of addressing both these issues.”

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HOUSING

NEWS IN BRIEF

GB News

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Worcestershire proposes extending unpaid leave policy for staff

Government to directly commission affordable housing The government has announced plans to directly commission the building of affordable homes on public land.

The first wave of development is expected to see 13,000 houses built across five sites: Connaught Barracks in Dover; Northstowe in Cambridgeshire; Lower Graylingwell in Chichester; Daedelus on Waterfront in Gosport; and Old Oak Common in north west London.

These developments will begin this year and the government has promised that up to 40 per cent will be affordable ‘starter’ homes.

Announcing the plans, Prime Minister David Cameron said direct commissioning will speed up development by allowing smaller firms to build on government sites where planning permission is already in place. This is expected to support smaller builders as well as new entrant to the market who are ready to build but lack the resources and access to land.

Cameron said: “This package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades – government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.

“Backed up with a further £1.2 billion to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “When it comes to building new homes, the availability of small sites is the single biggest barrier to SME house builders increasing their output.

“Any measures that the government can introduce that will increase the number of small sites suitable for SME house builders will help address the housing shortfall.

“It is also encouraging that the majority of these sites will already have planning permission in place as obtaining permission is all-too-often a lengthy and protracted process – avoiding this time delay should help house builders increase their supply much more quickly.”

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HEALTH AND CARE

Cross-party commission proposed to review health and care funding A cross-party commission to review future funding and structure of health and care services in England, has been proposed in the House of Commons by former minister Norman Lamb on 7 January.

Lamb, current Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health and recent Minister of State for Care and Support, spoke in the House of Commons under the Ten Minute Rule Bill and has received support from the NHS Confederation.

NHS Confederation chair, Stephen Dorrell, wrote to Lamb expressing his support and outlining four arguments that he believes support the case for ‘a new Beveridge Report’, which remains one of Lamb’s priorities.

The four arguments are: the need to develop new funding and management structures

that deliver more joined up and supportive care, reflecting the needs of individuals; the implications of the less‑than-10 per cent growth in public funding for health and social care service versus the expected 50 per cent increase in cumulative demand, and the ‘artificial distinction’ between the health and social care; ensuring time is ‘well spent’ on working out an agreed framework for the commission on a cross‑party basis, to ensure ‘sufficient breadth of political and professional support’; and the need to consider how ‘the whole health and care spend’ can be used to get best value for public money.

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Worcestershire County Council is considering changes to its employees’ terms and conditions, meaning staff could be forced to take three days of unpaid leave a year.

A Mandatory Unpaid Leave policy has been in place since 2011 with the understanding that it would expire in 2016. However Unison has warned that the council is proposing to extend the arrangement for a further two years, albeit without any ‘detrimental’ alterations.

Unison will be balloting its members over the proposals, saying they represent a ‘lessening’ of local government terms and conditions of employment.

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475,000 homes with planning permission still waiting to be built New research has revealed that there are a record 475,647 homes in England which have been given planning permission but have yet to be built.

The research, published by the Local Government Association (LGA), showed that the backlog has grown rapidly in recent years – from 381,390 unimplemented planning permissions in 2012/13 to 475,647 this year. It also found that councils approve nine in every ten applications but developers are taking longer to complete work on site.

Cllr Peter Box, LGA Housing spokesman, said: “These figures conclusively prove that the planning system is not a barrier to house building.

“While private developers have a key role in solving our chronic housing shortage, they cannot build the 230,000 needed each year on their own. To tackle the new homes backlog and to get Britain building again, councils must have the power to invest in building new homes and to force developers to build homes more quickly.

“New homes are badly-needed and councils want to get on with the job of building them. If we are to see a genuine end to the crisis we have to be given the powers to get on with it.”

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FLOODS

DEVOLUTION

The government has pledged more than £40 million to rebuild and improve flood defences in the aftermath of Storm Eva. The package brings the total investment in recovery from both Storm Eva and Storm Desmond to nearly £200 million. £10 million of the new funding will be reserved to improve the Foss Barrier in York, with the other £30 million to be spent repairing defences on the Wharfe, Calder, Aire, Ouse and Derwent, including clearing blockages in rivers.

Grants will also be available to reimburse fire and rescue authorities that have incurred large costs protecting flooded communities.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I have seen at first-hand the devastation caused by flooding. And that’s why this work to repair and improve flood defences is so vital.

“We are already spending £280 million over the next six years to protect thousands of houses from flooding in Yorkshire as part of our £2.3 billion investment to protect 300,000 houses across the country.

“But now more than £40 million will be spent to fix those defences overwhelmed by the record rainfall we’ve seen in recent weeks and to make them more resilient

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have published draft plans for a devolution deal, seeking to create a combined authority for the region.

The proposals were sent to Chancellor George Osborne and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark before Christmas and seek to create a combined authority of 19 councils across the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area.

The deal has promised to give a number of benefits to the area, including 55,000 new private sector jobs, 77,000 extra homes and an investment fund to support infrastructure projects. If the plans go ahead, the proposed North Midlands Combined Authority would be the first to include district, borough, city and county councils.

Anne Western, leader of Derbyshire County Council, said: “We can’t stress enough the size of the prize on offer for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and the benefits devolution would bring for local people. So we’ve taken the decision to publish the draft agreement so people can get a better understanding of what it will mean for the area.”

Alan Rhodes, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, added: “We have excellent proposals on the table, the majority of which have already been agreed, which offer a once in a generation opportunity to secure the jobs, growth, new homes and better quality of life we all crave for our communities.

“The benefits to the local economy and local people are clear − we just await the green light from the Chancellor.”

Government pledges £40m to repair and improve flood defences

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire publish plans for devolution deal

to further bad weather.” However, the cash injection has been described as a ‘short term, sticking plaster approach’

by Labour’s environment, food and rural affairs spokeswoman Kerry McCarthy.

She said: “The government has been woefully complacent about the flood risk, ignoring warnings from its own experts. Today’s announcement of £40 million won’t go very far at all.”

Liberal democrat leader Tim Farron was also critical, describing the extra funding as a ‘small down payment’, as the estimated repair bill is more in the region of £500 million.

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CIVIL SERVICE

Cabinet Office considering higher pay bands for civil service The Cabinet Office is reportedly developing plans to introduce higher pay bands for commercial project managers within the civil service.

The plan was originally floated by civil service chief John Manzoni last year and Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock has voiced support for the idea.

Senior civil service pay typically tops out at £200,000, with the head of the civil service, Sir Jeremy Heywood, getting £195,000 a year. There are a small number of senior officials paid more, but civil service posts with renumeration above £145,000 a year are currently subject to Treasury approval.

Under the proposed higher pay bands, commercial specialists spanning finance and IT could earn in excess of £300,000. The plans to increase pay is designed to attract a base of specialist commercial skills to push forward major projects, such as High Speed 2, which are often outsourced to contractors instead.

Bespoke terms and conditions would be drawn up along with the new pay bands, and details such as whether

these commercial specialists would be eligible for civil service pension entitlements are yet to be decided.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Developing commercial, digital and other specialist capability is a key priority for the civil service, to ensure that we attract and retain talented specialists.

“We are developing proposals to build clear career paths, high quality learning and development products, and reward packages that allows the civil service to improve specialist capability and therefore the delivery of public services.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, responded to the news saying that taxpayers would likely be ‘instinctively concerned’ about the new salary bands.

He warned that ‘ministers must be mindful of the need to keep a lid on unjustifiable large pay packages’.

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LITTER

Littering fines set to rise to £150 People who are caught littering could face fines of up to £150 under new plans set out by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The plans suggest the minimum fine is set to double to £100, whilst current penalties range between £50-£80. Ministers claim the regulations could result in a ‘clutter‑free legacy for England’. Marcus Jones, Communities minister, said those who drop litter would be ‘hit in the pocket’.

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Fleet Management Written by Geoffrey Bray, FIAG

10

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

COST MANAGEMENT

Counting the cost of company car selection Geoffrey Bray, chairman of the Fleet Industry Advisory Group, explains that company car selection is critical in the public sector focus on cost management Cost management is the number one priority for all in the public sector and that includes the company car arena and where employees use their own cars on work-related journeys.

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave the clearest indication in his recent Autumn Statement and Spending Review that there was to be no relaxation in the tightness of the public sector purse strings.

Company cars remain a popular employee benefit and, although numbers have steadily declined over the years, the brake has been applied to that reduction. The most recent data from HM Revenue and Customs reveals that total numbers are static with 940,000 employees paying company car benefit‑in‑kind tax. What’s more those numbers could increase with salary sacrifice car schemes becoming increasingly popular across the public sector as employers seek to strengthen their employee benefit schemes.

Company car benefit-in-kind tax rates

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

are known until the end of the 2019/20 financial year, and they rise year-on-year.

BETTER VALUE IN LOWER EMISSIONS Company cars remain popular because, to be blunt, they deliver better value to employees than cash. Basic and higher rate taxpayers pay tax and National Insurance on a salary of 32 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. However, even when the appropriate percentage of company car tax has risen to 16 per cent (0-50 g/km models) in 2019/20, the effective tax rate on a company car is 3.2 per cent of the list price per annum for a basic rate taxpayer – 6.4 per cent for a higher rate taxpayer.

Government financial forecasts highlight that the amount of revenue it will raise from company car benefit-in-kind tax and employers’ Class 1A National Insurance levied on benefits-in-kind will rise significantly

in the coming years due to the increases already announced. From collecting around £2.3 billion in 2015/16, the amount raised will increase to more than £4 billion in 2019/20.

Therefore, to keep costs in check it is vital that employers select the lowest emission cars, whilst continuing to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose. What’s more, the lower a car’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions the better its MPG thus delivering fuel bill savings.

Since the advent of the CO2-based company car tax system more than a decade ago, diesel cars have faced a three percentage point penalty. As long ago as the 2012 Budget, the Chancellor had signalled that the supplement would be removed from 2016/17 putting ‘oil burners’ on an even tax footing with their petrol-engined counterparts.

However, in an unexpected move the Chancellor used the Autumn Statement to reverse that three-year-old decision.

Amid the ongoing furore over the relevance of the current new vehicle emissions testing regime and moves at a European level to introduce a system linked to real world driving, the Chancellor said the three per cent supplement would be retained until April 2021.

Mr Osborne told the House of Commons that the supplement would be retained until new European Union-wide emissions testing procedures would ensure new diesel cars met air quality standards even under strict real world driving conditions. That decision is a blow to both company car drivers and employers who thought they would make savings in benefit-in-kind tax and Class 1A National Insurance contributions respectively as a consequence of the supplement being axed.

Nonetheless, while diesel power has been the dominant fuel source for fleets, reducing annual fleet mileage and improvements in the MPG of petrol-engined company cars means that it is essential that businesses don’t always assume it is the most cost-effective choice.

Furthermore, amid claims that ‘carcinogenic diesel is the biggest culprit’ in the fight to improve air quality and reduce vehicle pollution, potential measures to reverse the ‘dieselification’ of the UK car parc are being discussed by legislators.

It is vital yers plo that em e lowest h select t cars, whilst n emissio ing to ensure continu remain fit they rpose for pu

About FIAG CLARITY IN AIR QUALITY The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) recently published a consultation document on draft plans to improve air quality in towns and cities across the country. Proposals includes the nationwide roll-out of Clean Air Zones or Low Emissions Zones, as already seen ringing London with an Ultra Low Emission Zone due to be introduced in the capital’s centre in September 2020.

Although individual local authorities will be left to decide whether to introduce

government grant aid up to £5,000 and fleet choice will continue to further increase with an additional 40 models expected to come to the market over the next three years, according to the Department for Transport.

There are also nine light commercial vehicles that qualify for the government’s plug-in van grant of up to £8,000 but sales, while rising, extend to under 1,000 vehicles in 2015. Supporters of electric vehicles point to their ability to deliver financial savings versus conventionally powered

Company cars remain a popular employee benefit and, although numbers have steadily declined over the years, the brake has been applied to that reduction Clean Air Zones in their respective areas, the government intends to develop a framework that aims to provide clarity and consistency of approach as opposed to the current city by city approach.

That means that if a network of emissions‑based urban access controls develops across Britain, fleets and individuals will be able to make vehicle decisions against consistent criteria. DEFRA intends to set out the full framework for Clean Air Zones in early 2016 and will work closely with local authorities. Another key policy across government and highlighted in the consultation document is the increasing electrification of company car fleets.

The government is making millions of pounds available to public sector fleets – as well as the private sector – to encourage demand for plug-in vehicles and is also investing in a recharging infrastructure. It has already said that by 2040, all new cars and vans will be ultra-low emission vehicles delivered by a variety of technologies, including plug-in hybrids, pure electric vehicles and hydrogen – both Hyundai and Toyota have cars fuelled by the latter on UK sale.

The UK is the fastest growing market for electric vehicles in Europe spurred on by a government with a long-term commitment to ultra-low carbon motoring – and it is the corporate sector that is leading the charge.

Plug-in car registrations accelerated rapidly over the first 10 months of 2015, growing almost 120 per cent year-on-year to 22,820 units, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

While that figure represents a tiny fraction of the 2.27 million new cars registered in the first 10 months of 2015, it signals an accelerating trend for 100 per cent electric and hybrid (petrol and diesel) electric models. From city run-arounds and family hatchbacks, to 4x4s and sports cars, there is already a wide range of vehicles to meet corporate and employee demands. There are currently 27 plug-in models eligible for

The Fleet Industry Advisory Group (FIAG) is a not-for‑profit organisation created to develop and share best practice in the fleet industry.

Fleet Management

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

Launched in April 2014, it is the brainchild of industry veteran Geoffrey Bray and a team of highly experienced professional fleet managers who collectively have around 200 years’ experience in running vehicle operations.

FIAG will provide fleet advice, consultancy, mentoring and support. FIAG will also assist with benchmarking and analysis of industry developments through the publication of white papers and the organisation of workshops.

models as well as making reductions in organisations’ carbon footprints as a policy of good corporate citizenship.

BENEFIT-IN-KIND TAX Fleet best practice dictates that vehicle operating choice decisions should be based on whole life costs because they provide the best forward estimate of the real costs to a fleet, in delivering business mileage, over a replacement cycle. Never has that been more important than in respect of plug-in vehicles where, despite, their higher P11D values, electric vehicles are potentially cheaper to operate than some conventionally powered vehicles. That is principally due to cheaper fuel costs with the Department for Transport calculating that electric vehicle running costs are as low as just 2p a mile versus 12-18p for a petrol or diesel car.

However, industry evidence from data providers also suggests that electric vehicles deliver service, maintenance and repair savings averaging 40 per cent versus petrol/ diesel models due to reduced labour content and savings on engine oil and oil and fuel filters. Plug-in hybrids deliver savings closer to 20 per cent-25 per cent versus internal combustion engine models.

Even though company car benefit-in-kind tax rates on zero-emission cars, which were zero per cent in 2014/15, will reach 16 per cent in 2019/20 in the right corporate application they deliver cost-saving alternatives to conventional powertrains. It was recently estimated that there were 14 million ‘grey fleet’ vehicles on the UK’s roads (Lex Report on Company Motoring 2015), and many of those cars are driven by public sector employees.

Industry surveys and reports frequently highlight that: from an occupational road risk management perspective the roadworthiness of those cars is rarely checked by employers; and they were older, larger and less fuel-efficient and almost certainly not equipped with the very latest safety features, when compared with company cars.

Geoffrey Bray, chairman, Fleet Industry Advisory Group

Additionally, some years ago the then Office of Government Commerce, an independent office of HM Treasury, launched a campaign aimed at raising the profile of the issues and opportunities presented by managing the ‘grey’ fleet, as well as helping organisations and employees adopt safer, more cost effective and sustainable forms of travel.

The report highlighted that in many cases allowing employees to use their own cars on business trips and reimbursing mileage was more expensive to public sector fleets than using alternatives such as company cars, car hire and public transport.

Cost management in respect of car travel starts before a mile is clocked up. Public sector organisations must chose tax and fuel efficient company cars based on whole life cost figures – and not list price, lease rate or a monthly allowance – and reappraise the rules around ‘grey fleet’ travel. Too often, employees ‘create’ journeys to boost their income.

Effective management of those who drive for work whether in a company or privately‑owned vehicle is an important element of general management – if it isn’t addressed properly, the negative impact on budgets can be very significant; and that’s without even mentioning duty of care, the environment and a myriad of other in-life vehicle factors. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.fiag.co.uk

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Commercial Vehicles

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DECARBONISATION

Decarbonising transport: planning for the future Written by Rachael Dillion, Climate Change Policy Manager, Freight Transport Association

With the future of transport fleets in question, the Freight Transport Association’s Rachael Dillon focuses on the challenge of decarbonising road transport and reducing air pollutants

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Following the monumental world deal made at COP21 in Paris at the end of last year on global warming and the increasing pressure to improve air quality, what does the future have in store for local and central government’s transport fleets?

Climate change will alter the way we live, the way we drive and how we will deliver goods. The problem may seem far afield now – for example, in low lying islands in the Pacific.

However, recent devastating floods across parts of northern England and Scotland is a reminder that the issue of climate change is also closer to home.

The UN deal at Paris underlined the need for collective action and also the importance for businesses to be proactive – more than 100 companies including Ikea, Coca-Cola, Walmart and Kellogg’s pledged at Paris to set emission reduction targets.

Similarly, there is a strong network of cities across the world, known as C40, committed to addressing climate change of which

London is a member. Bristol also became the UK’s first ever European Green Capital in 2015 and has announced it will be carbon neutral by 2050. There are a whole host of initiatives that demonstrate the public sector’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and operating cleaner fleets.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE The government believes that the UK is progressing well on transport as it already has the largest market for ultra-low emission vehicles in the EU, and the fourth largest in the world. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) wants to ensure that every car and van is a zero emission vehicle by 2050. Similarly, Transport for London launched its Ultra Low Emission Vehicle Delivery Plan last summer with Boris Johnson proclaiming his vision of London as a world-leading, ultra‑low emission vehicle city a reality.

Logistics companies are exploring options to decarbonise using operational actions such as driver training, improved routing and scheduling and tyre management and also looking at alternative fuels.

The Low Carbon Truck Trial co-funded by the government and businesses has put more than

The l at UN dea rlined de Paris uneed for the n ction and ve a collecti e importance also th sinesses to for bu oactive be pr

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

300 natural gas HGVs on the road and helped to support the provision of over 20 public gas refueling stations. But in order for there to be a change in the way we travel and deliver goods, the public sector needs to lead by example.

For instance, the London Borough of Hackney operates freight vehicles with used cooking oil and Reading has a successful bus fleet running on compressed natural gas and biomethane.

Camden Borough Council was an early adopter of gas vehicles and opened one of the first public access refuelling stations.

London Fire Brigade installed electric vehicle charge points at over 70 fire stations for public use over the summer.

Moving away from fossil fuels and to alternatives is obviously easier said than done – budgets are tight. The operational difficulties of new technologies and fuels are shared by both business and the public sector and we should work collectively to solve these issues.

It is inevitable that under pressure to act, local and central governments will stipulate (if they have not already) that procured transport must be greener.

The logistics sector has not rested on its laurels. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) manages the Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS), a leading free voluntary initiative to record, report and reduce carbon emissions from freight transport and is supported by our industry partner Bridgestone

UK. Five years ago, the UK introduced the Climate Change Act and the government published a low carbon transport strategy.

FTA and 12 leading members formed a working group on how the logistics industry could decarbonise which led to the development of the LCRS. The scheme plays a vital role in providing evidence to the government that industry can voluntarily reduce carbon emissions without the need for regulation. The LCRS also helps FTA members to get started on recording and reporting emissions and boosts their green credentials.

Currently the scheme has over 100 members accounting for more than 75,000 commercial vehicles. It includes large and small hauliers as well as local authorities and waste companies.

FTA collects simple fuel and business activity data from members on an annual basis.

Our most recent report shows that LCRS members are making significantly better progress in reducing emissions when compared to industry as a whole.

CARBON SAVINGS The Department for Transport is currently reviewing the role of the transport sector in contributing to the fifth carbon budget (2028-2032) and a new government Carbon Plan, which needs to be agreed by December 2016. HGVs account for 22 per cent of surface transport emissions and it is expected that substantial carbon savings may need to be made within the sector. The

UK has met its first three carbon budgets, largely due to the recession, but it will be tougher to meet targets after 2020; this is where freight comes under the spotlight.

The UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) reports that deep emission cuts in transport by 2050 requires electric to power batteries or produce hydrogen for fuel cells. Plug-in electric small urban delivery trucks will be technically feasible and cost‑effective in the 2020s. Hydrogen is an option but heavier HGVs will require large storage tanks. Gas is reported to be unlikely to make sufficient emissions cuts in the long term.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (CfSRF), of which FTA is a consortium member, has already undertaken a study for the Committee on Climate Change on freight carbon reduction. The Centre estimates HGV emissions could reduce by as much as 34 per cent compared to current levels by 2035 with a range of operational and logistics improvements.

The CCC-commissioned CfSRF to assess the scope for demand-side measures (actions that are not linked to the technical specification of the vehicle) to reduce emissions. Around 42 per cent of the estimated savings could be from improvements to logistics operations such as improved routing, use of consolidation centres, higher loading factors, a reduction in empty running and use of longer, heavier vehicles. Another 42 per cent could be from driver monitoring and fuel efficiency training. The remaining savings came from

The FTA manages the Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS), a leading free voluntary initiative to record, report and reduce carbon emissions from freight transport and is supported by our industry partner Bridgestone UK

aftermarket improvements to vehicles.

This is an ambitious target – FTA agrees that a broad array of measures will be needed to help the freight sector decarbonise. Alternative fuels and low carbon technologies will also be needed to make significant improvements, whether this is via gas, electric or hydrogen.

If the government is serious about helping, then there needs to be a much greater percentage of funding being allotted to the sector than has currently been seen. Too much focus is spent on the private motorist – all very well, but freight is an essential mode of transport to deliver the goods and services the UK needs. Heavier vehicles require more dynamic efficiency improvements.

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AIR QUALITY Perhaps a more pressing challenge for 2016 for the public sector is air quality.

The UK has been seeking to address air pollution for many years but its efforts have not been as successful as required under EU law. In April 2015, the UK Supreme Court ruled in favour of lawyer activist group Client Earth that the UK government was in breach of its legal requirements to improve air quality in cities around the country.

Since then the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has consulted on plans to establish Clean Air Zones (CAZs) to minimise nitrous oxides. London is to introduce the Ultra Low Emission Zone from 2020 allowing only Euro VI vehicles into central London. There is now an increasing likelihood that other major UK cities such as Manchester, Glasgow or Birmingham could establish similar requirements in the same timeframe.

Whilst setting up CAZs will be burdensome, local authorities will also be faced with the challenge of making sure that their own fleets are of the latest standard in a time where budgets are tight.

The Volkswagen (VW) car emissions scandal has also prompted much scepticism in this area. The FTA believes that the immediate concern for local authorities is to meet EU requirements and avoid fines, longer term they will be looking to continue to reduce emissions. For some pollutants such as Particulate Matter there is no ‘safe’ level – the more you reduce them, the more human health is improved.

As climate change policy has increased in the UK, FTA has called for the government to tackle both carbon emissions and air pollutants together rather than separately to avoid unintended consequences.

The rise of diesel cars to meet carbon targets has only made air quality worse.

We need to focus on a whole range of operational and technological actions that can reduce fuel usage to not only make the air cleaner but also contribute to saving the planet. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.fta.co.uk

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

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ESTATE MANAGEMENT

Written by Claudia Jaksh, Sustainability: Infrastructure & built Environment, Policy Connect

Delivering devolution through sustainable estate management

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Taking into account their ‘Leaner and Greener’ report, The Westminster Sustainable Business Forum’s Claudia Jaksch discusses how increasing the sustainability of local government estate can result in potential savings of £180-200 per m² per year In his Comprehensive Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a reduction in central government funding to local government by 24 per cent in real terms over the next five years.

At the same time measures to enable local governments to become self-sufficient by the end of this Parliament were promised.

This so-called ‘devolution revolution’ offers local government new powers to determine parameters for growth; nevertheless, it also demands substantial efficiency savings from local authorities.

The Westminster Sustainable Business Forum (WSBF) has already been very active in lobbying for policy improvements in this area, arguing for managing public estates in a more sustainable way in order for local government to deliver considerable operational cost savings. The report’s ‘Leaner and Greener: Delivering effective estate management’ and ‘Leaner and Greener II: Putting buildings to work’ highlighted

the extraordinary potential of efficiency savings within public sector property management, both in monetary and carbon terms.

LEANER AND GREENER It is estimated that central and local government together own property worth £370 billion, with annual running costs of over £20 billion. At the same time, the public sector accounted for two per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 with the main chunk of emissions stemming from heating public buildings.

One of the key aspects in successfully delivering the ‘devolution revolution’ and meeting the UK’s emissions reduction targets will be effectively combining the reduction of running costs of public sector buildings

while also downsizing their carbon impact through better facilities management.

So how can local government can be ‘transformed’ in practice and deliver both economic and environmental savings, while maintaining the same quality of services? ‘Leaner and Greener’ highlighted key steps that local government and its public sector partners can take to achieve this and today, in the face of the ‘devolution revolution’, these recommendations are even more important.

The ‘Leaner er’ en and Gre hlighted hig reports potential the vings a s t n e i of effic the public within property sector gement mana

REDUCING SPACE The central government estate has already shrunk by over two million square metres since 2010, which has translated into an estimated £600 million savings in running costs each year. E

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ESTATE MANAGEMENT  Nevertheless, there is evidence that the public sector as a whole and specifically local government could further improve the efficiency of its estate management and reduce the size of the public property portfolio, thereby lowering the associated operational costs. The ‘Leaner and Greener’ reports demonstrated that this kind of property rationalisation is one of the most effective ways to deliver a trinity of benefits: lower costs, lower carbon emissions, and better services.

Indeed, the efficiency gains achieved by reducing the space that local government services occupy should be a priority for their property teams across the UK by following best practice examples of low-cost and flexible working practices. A flexible work force means less desk space is needed in the office.

The efficiency gains achieved by reducing the space that local government services occupy should be a priority for property teams Implementing technologies to facilitate remote working with the support of ‘drop in offices’ where staff from any agency can call in to use desks can also reduce the current space needs.

Furthermore, the introduction of sustainable measures for a typical administrative building, with staff on average public sector wages, can deliver financial savings in the range of £180-200 per m² per year from lower energy spending. Not only do these green measures save money, but they also deliver additional

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‘soft benefits’, including improved productivity and reduced illness, all of which add to the quality of service and economic efficiency.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP Recently, local government has been supported by the One Public Estate programme, a partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Cabinet Office Government Property Unit (GPU) to deliver ambitious programmes E

Lighting up the streets of Edinburgh

By Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport and Environment Convener, City of Edinburgh Council.

In Edinburgh, our aim is to build towards a sustainable future, cutting carbon emissions and meeting greenhouse targets over the coming years.

To do this, we need to invest in infrastructure that both meets the needs of our citizens and that provides us with more efficient, economical alternatives to some of our existing resources.

From our growing network of cycle routes to new and improved recycling facilities for residents, or the implementation of our own Sustainable Energy Action Plan, we are mindful of our own carbon footprint in many of the decisions we make.

Reduce carbon emissions In terms of street lighting, we power more than 60,000 lamps across the city, so it makes absolute sense to take Picture courtesy of Marketing Edinburgh

advantage of developing technology to deliver changes that will reduce carbon emissions, not to mention saving us millions in energy costs.

Each year, we spend around £3m lighting the city’s streets, and with energy costs expected to double in the next 10 years alongside rising Carbon Tax charges, this figure is likely to increase significantly.

By converting to new, energy‑efficient LED lights, we expect to save up to £77m over the next 20 years, calculated on maintenance savings and reduced energy use, which is a major benefit in light of continued financial challenges facing the Council.

Positive impact What’s more, the white light sources will have a positive impact on the city’s environment, with lanterns lasting around 20 years compared to the

two-to-four-year life span of existing lamps. They’re designed taking account of environmental regulations and can be recycled at the end of their life, helping us to meet our carbon footprint and environmental targets.

Changing the old yellow lamps to new white lanterns is also proven to enhance community safety by providing a crisper, cleaner light, which is of utmost importance to the Council.

This project will build on experience from a pilot in 2014, which saw 7,000 obsolete lanterns replaced with LED lights, saving us £275,000 in energy costs throughout the year.

By trialling the technology we were able to assess its impact on energy use, allowing us to formulate a business case for rolling the new lighting out across the city.

We have also learned lessons from the trial, when some residents found lights to be too dim or that they were limited in coverage of surrounding areas. As a consequence, we plan to install brighter LED lanterns, which distribute light over a wider surface area, with the facility to remotely adjust lighting levels.

Major project This major project will be carried out over a three-year period and it is our intention to begin installing the new lanterns in early 2016. Once complete, the changes will have a major impact on the Council’s energy use, not to mention our carbon footprint, and I look forward to seeing those savings invested in the services and facilities that matter the most to people in Edinburgh, creating a brighter, greener future for the city.

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Robertson, the Infrastructure, support services and Construction Company has a long and healthy relationship with Tayside Group. Providing an exceptional service in the Security and Cleaning provision across private and public sectors, assisting to delivering outstanding results for our clients. It’s been a pleasure to work with Andrew and his team over the last 10 years and we look forward to continuing with the successful relationship. Mark Blyth, Commercial Director,Robertson Construction “At Kinnes Shipping we know the importance of Security in the Shipping Industry and when we have a reqirement we look no farther than Tayside Security. We have been using their services for more than 25 years, safe in the knowledge that our clients will be afforded a service second to none.”Murray Ross, Director, Kinnes Shipping Ltd

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Having only opened a brand new flagship office in Perth in July it was imperative that we appointed a local contractor who could maintain the property to the highest standards, Tayside Group provide a one stop shop for all our cleaning and maintenance needs, Andrew and his team continue to exceed our expectations”. Barry Moynihan, Facilities Manager, Keir Services

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ESTATE MANAGEMENT  to increase local efficiency savings and support economic growth by joining up councils to use their assets more effectively.

Although constraining financial and contractual arrangements have often hampered such co-operations in the past, these partnerships are set to become ever more crucial to local authorities operating with diminishing budgets. Sharing property by different public sector service providers enhances the extent of efficiency savings by enlarging the size of the managed estate; and co-location of front and back office services allows cost-effective working through widening the scope of property facilities management and procurement contracts.

For example, the standardisation of back office and support facilities enables cost savings through efficient property management and downsizing of the estate. Pooling capital resources also allows greater investment into joint property, improving the quality of public sector estate. Joint property management will then deliver operational cost savings through enhanced efficiency of its property use, which will contribute towards the improvement of frontline services and customer satisfaction.

‘Leaner and Greener’ described a variety of solutions for joint property management, ranging from a local public sector property management board to a Pooled Asset Vehicle for the estate of all local public service providers.

ESTABLISHING CENTRAL CONTROL Further, efficiency savings can be delivered by centralising control over property within single departments – for example a ‘Central Property Unit’. This can act as a corporate landlord for service departments by arranging accommodation requests, managing building improvements, procurement processes and the negotiation of property contracts.

At present the majority of local government, health, police and fire authorities rely on their own in-house property and facilities management services to plan and operate property portfolios.

Whilst increased financial constraints have already driven the public sector to share certain services with their partners, there are few examples of sharing staff and property resources.

The creation of a corporate asset management service and facilities management function would enhance the economies of scale by uniting often fragmented local government property portfolios and removing the control over property from individual departments within local government can help establish efficient property management across all of the estate and strategically address target inefficient property use. The experience to-date shows that more centralised and consistent facilities management of buildings has the potential to deliver significant efficiency savings.

DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING The establishment of a central data pool can support strategic planning as well as practical project delivery objectives within public estate management. Strategic planning and engagement of partners could benefit data-driven approaches to generate an understanding of the scale of potential savings.

Cooperation in procurement could cover a county or city‑wide area, while the co-location of front-line facilities will be most effective at community level. In order to establish a clear understanding of how customers use and access public services, public sector organisations should partner to develop customer insight. This can be achieved by generating a snapshot of the way that the supply of services delivered from public sector assets is matched to the demand from the customer.

However, it is vital that planning informs the collection exercise and there are various intelligence-gathering tools that public sector organisations can utilise to map public service demand for certain services in an area.

This approach enables public sector organisations to determine the future needs of their service and strategically develop their estate to support the service. Further, an essential element in building a strategic understanding of locality-based asset management is a comprehensive understanding of what property is held, what its value is, the contractual terms under which it is occupied, and its fitness for purpose in terms of physical condition, operational suitability and utilisation.

In order to ensure cost-effective data collection, public sector organisations should assume a pragmatic approach to how much data is required to inform strategic decisions. As argued in ‘Leaner and Greener’, collecting seven to ten key data types is a manageable aspiration that does not create too heavy a burden on resources. This data includes information about the property’s location, its use, size and space utilisation, condition and maintenance backlog, ownership status and contractual information linked to the property and valuation, as well as basic sustainability data, such as its Display Energy Certificate (DEC).

In particular with respect to sustainability data and efforts to reduce the carbon impact of public sector buildings, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation on the DEC regime for public buildings and actions that will be taken on its basis. The consultation included proposals that could see the removal of the legal requirement to display DECs for 54,000 public buildings throughout England and Wales. With DECs having helped public bodies reduce energy use and concomitantly to an extent that outweighs the cost stemming from their administration, their abolishment would send a fata signal and effectively counteract efforts to achieve efficiency savings within the public sector, both in financial and carbon terms.

Rather than abolishing DECs altogether, the government should use its position to help the market recognise the importance of high‑performance buildings more widely by proactively leading on a visible enforcement of DECs for all public buildings as we recommended in our report ‘Building Efficiency: Reducing energy demand in the commercial sector’. I am looking forward to working with the government and DCLG to help make DECs a useful benchmarking tool to improve public and commercial sector efficiency in the future. L

Facilities Management

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Facilities Management 2016

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EVENT PREVIEW

Facilities management creating a buzz for 2016 The UK’s national facilities event, Facilities Management 2016, will be returning to the NEC on 22-24 March, with new educational content, an expanded show floor and a host of leading speakers

Daniel Gray, Facilities Management event manager, said: “We received great feedback last year and couldn’t be happier with how the 2016 show is shaping up. This will be Facilities Management’s third year and it’s really important to us that we keep the momentum up and continue to exceed the high expectations of our visitors and exhibitors. We have revamped our conference programme, making it much more specific and focused on the critical needs of FM professionals working in all areas, including the public sector and more.”

New for 2016, show organiser, Easyfairs

appeal to facilities professionals across all sectors including manufacturing, facilities management services, education and of course, healthcare and local government.

Gray comments on this new partnership, saying: “I am thrilled that Magenta Associates is working with us to create a world-class seminar programme. The show is part of an increasingly fast moving sector and therefore our content has to keep pace.

Magenta has in-depth industry knowledge and an excellent network of contacts which will enable us to provide our visitors with the ultimate show experience.”

Those in attendance will have full access to the Networking Bar throughout the event, where they will have the opportunity to meet with industry peers and network with like-minded individuals has commissioned Magenta Associates, a specialist communications, public relations and content agency for the built environment sector, to develop and manage the seminar programme. Visitors will be presented with over 25 educational sessions focusing on the 2016 themes - People, Politics and Policy.

The content will be specifically designed to

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

PEOPLE, POLITICS AND POLICY Within the ‘people’ strand of talks, Julie Kortens, senior business executive at Channel 4, and BIFM chairman, will discuss ‘how to build a personal brand’. Tim Oldman from the Leesman Index will also give his presentation ‘productivity is the holy grail for FMs but are they doing enough to create the right environments for people?’

The second theme will explore the common political trends affecting organisations within facilities management and will begin with a live panel debate exploring ‘What is vested outsourcing and what potential does it have in the FM sector?’ Panellists include Julie Jackson, head of Re-Engineering at OCS, Scott Newland, chief operating officer at European Customer Synergy and Dave Wilson, FM consultant. The head of Facilities Management at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital will talk about how they have changed their systems and processes to cope with suspected Ebola cases, and other infectious diseases.

With policies, such as new legislation, potentially having widespread implications, this part of the programme will look at the impact major policies are having on organisations and clients. This will kick off with a live panel debate from service providers, clients and consultants who will explore ‘the introduction of the Living Wage and Travel to Work time: what impact is this having on FM service providers and their clients?’ Panellists will include Guy Pakenham, Managing Director at Cordant Cleaning and Phil Smith, Corporate Relationship Director at Facilicom UK and a founding member of the Living Wage Recognised Service Providers’ Leadership team.

Greg Davies from Assurity Consulting will give a legislation update from the past year and look into the future as he explains what

Facilities FacilitiesManagement Management2016

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facilities managers need to know. Also presenting will be Dave Whittle, chief executive officer at Positive Response Communications who will discuss ‘managing lone workers in retail and other environments’.

EXHIBITORS Facilities Management 2016 will once again welcome back some of the biggest names from the industry, alongside a host of exciting new additions. Exhibitors already on board include Angel Springs, Gritting.com, Tradepoint and many more.

As always innovation will be at the core of the show. For instance, Nationwide Hygiene Group will be showcasing its new washroom range, which offers a complete washroom solution from fragrance, hand and surface solutions, through to washroom paper and chemicals. The innovations include ‘Green Air’ non-aerosol fragrance units, deluxe 2 ply white hand towels and deluxe embossed 2ply and luxury quilted 3ply toilet rolls for the more exclusive washrooms.

SEBO will be presenting its new range of commercial upright vacuums which have been designed to maintain the current performance values, whilst working within the power constraints soon to be imposed by EU legislation in 2017. Higham Roofing will use the show to exhibit its ‘HighScan’ drone survey. This provides a sustainable and cost effective approach to scientifically measuring the condition of flat roofs, in order to detect wet insulation, defective insulation, lack of insulation and thermal performance of the roof and its components.

Angel Springs Ltd will be displaying its range of bottled and mains fed water coolers. This includes its Angel Counter Top Eco-boiler T5 and its Glacier Bottled Freestanding Water Cooler. Gritting.com will also be at the show to demonstrate its gritting service for winter maintenance.

Cleaning City will be presenting its high quality and innovative cleaning equipment, machines and products. On show will be the Banana Cone, its award winning wet floor warning sign, plus a live demonstration of its I-mop, a versatile scrubber dryer, which is more cost effective than the traditional mop and bucket method. Direct Telecom Services will be showcasing its extensive range of two-way radio solutions. This will include

Facilities Management 2016 will once again welcome back some of the biggest names from the industry, alongside a host of exciting new additions

The remit of facilities managers is getting wider, with more skills and knowledge expected to be incorporated within the role. With this in mind Facilities Management 2016 will also once again be run alongside two complimentary shows. The first of these is Maintec 2016, the UK’s longest running maintenance, plant and asset management event.

Maintec returns, for its 41st year, with a new conference programme, an expanded show floor and a host of top industry suppliers.

Health and safety is another key consideration for FM professionals working in the public sector. After all, the sector employs 5.358 million people and many of its buildings are also frequently used by the general public. Issues such as asbestos control, fire risk assessments and Legionnaires’ disease management are all on facilities managers’ agendas.

So fittingly, Facilities Management is also co-located with the Health and Safety Event, run by Western Business Exhibitions, a leader in the health and safety sector. This event provides the perfect networking and educational opportunity to facilities professionals, who are responsible for running a safe and efficient workplace in the UK. Visitors will be able to access all shows with one badge which further demonstrates the commitment Facilities Management has to providing an educational and highly time efficient event.

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES In addition to having three shows under one roof, those in attendance will have full access to the Networking Bar throughout the event, where they will have the opportunity to meet with industry peers and network with like-minded individuals. Don’t miss the Facilities Management 2016 official networking drinks on Wednesday 23 March. L FURTHER INFORMATION Contact Daniel Gray on +44 (0)20 8843 8800 or email daniel.gray@easyfairs.com. www.fm-birmingham.com

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PLANNING INVESTMENT

Planning for tough times

Housing & Planning

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

Amid cuts to local authority funding, Mike Harris, deputy head of policy and research at the Royal Town Planning Institute, makes the case for investing properly in planning The Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) view is clear though: cuts to planning are a false economy. Investing in planning is critical to delivering better quality built environments, including the housing we need.

Better places are better for the economy, health and the environment. In other words, planning is not just about ‘planning’; it’s about achieving a range of policy objectives shared by local and national government. But let’s start with the funding situation and how this is impacting on our ability to deliver better places.

With the recently announced ‘devolution’ of business rates, we need to continue to make the positive argument that local authorities should see investing in a strong planning department as a way of bringing revenue into their areas

CUTS TO PLANNING We’ve had a general picture of the squeeze on local authority planning for some time. A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) in November 2014 found that planning and development services in county councils and single-tier authorities have seen the largest spending reductions across the whole of local government, in part due to the end of a number of government-funded regeneration programmes aimed at deprived communities.

According to the NAO, on average, planning departments in these authorities have had their budgets nearly halved since 2010.

The development community has also been increasingly vocal about the impact of cuts to planning, for example the most recent British Property Federation (BPF) and GL Hearn survey pointed to a ‘planning system on the brink’.

According to the BPF, half of all local planning authorities think that the environment for planning has got worse or much worse since 2010, and more than half think that E

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Written by Mike Harris, deputy head of policy and research at the Royal Town Planning Institute

As predicted, the autumn’s comprehensive Spending Review was tough for local government. Get beyond the big headline numbers and a worrying picture is emerging for the places where we live and work. As is well-known, planning departments have experienced some of the deepest cuts of all local authority services over the past few years. It’s not difficult to understand why; local authorities face difficult choices, so why prioritise seemingly less critical, less visible planning and development functions over other frontline services?

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

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

Housing & Planning

PLANNING INVESTMENT

 a lack of resourcing will present significant challenges to delivery over the next year.

This difficult picture is confirmed by work that the RTPI has done in the North West of England, working with Arup, the global engineering, design and planning company.

One of the reasons we focused on the region is, of course, that this is where the government hopes to drive the Northern Powerhouse – but without properly-resourced

and investments are being delayed and deferred, impacting on delivery and growth.

In many places, local planning services are surviving on the goodwill and professional integrity of planning officers.

This is not sustainable. It’s not just about the time taken to process planning applications, important though this is, it’s also about the ability of local authorities to set out positive plans for their areas that

Ultimately, we need to stop seeing planning as a narrow regulatory process to be conducted as rapidly as possible (important though efficiency is), and start understanding it as an investment in the economic future of places planning will it have the steam to deliver?

Our research, ‘Investing in Delivery’, again identified significant reductions in local planning authority budgets and staffing since 2010, with a third fewer planning staff overall. Similar work by the RTPI in Scotland points to a 20 per cent reduction in planning staff over the same period. The most important conclusion from this work though is that cuts in local planning are now resulting in delays bringing forward development, undermining the government’s ambitions for the delivery of housing and economic growth more broadly. Developers are more uncertain, risk has increased,

can set the context for development and provide greater certainty for developers.

NEW INITIATIVES So, what to do about it? How can we avert and even reverse the decline of investment in planning?

There’s been a lot of discussion around whether local authorities should have the freedom to set higher fees for dealing with planning applications.

So far, the government isn’t convinced.

Our work in the North West – we talked to developers and consultants as well as local authorities – didn’t find much support for this

idea either. Instead, we’ve argued that local authorities should strive to reinvest in their planning services, in the recognition that these services are an increasingly significant source of income for authorities, not just through application fees but also through initiatives such as the New Homes Bonus. We also need to encourage and support local authorities to learn from each other, not only about how to manage cuts but also how to develop a strong positive planning and development culture that has local political and community support.

As we argued in our North West research, we now face a choice between exacerbating a cycle of decline in more local planning authorities, or establishing a positive cycle of reinvestment in public sector planning in order to drive housing delivery and development. With the recently announced ‘devolution’ of business rates, we need to continue to make the positive argument that local authorities should see investing in a strong planning department as a way of bringing revenue into their areas and improving local finances, as well as delivering better places for their communities.

PLANNING IN TOUGH TIMES Planning is crucial to meeting local housing need. Moreover, there’s the economic benefit from house building. According to research by Savills, a substantial increase in house building of 100,000 homes a year would create jobs, boost tax revenues and cut government borrowing by £23 billion over the life of a Parliament. E

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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

Chris Marsh FRICS MRTPI Christopher Marsh & Co Ltd www.suspc.co.uk marshc@suspc.co.uk 07940 063781

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PLANNING INVESTMENT  What’s been largely missing from the political parties’ various proposals to boost house building (let alone the numerous ideas put forward by think tanks and others) is recognition of the investment in the planning needed to make this happen.

Planning is also critical to local sustainable economic growth. Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the cuts is how there is less time for the proactive strategic planning by experienced teams that can shape and stimulate, rather than just react, to development proposals. This undermines the extent but also the quality and attractiveness of development, and so the economic

One survey of Local Government Association members reported that a third of councils now say they have very little or no scope to reconfigure services further.

THE VALUE OF PLANNING While such efficiency measures are important, they don’t represent a way out of the crunch.

Ultimately, we need to stop seeing planning as a narrow regulatory process to be conducted as rapidly as possible (important though efficiency is), and start understanding it as an investment in the economic future of places.

We need to recognise the value of planning.

Many local authorities get this, others

It’s been estimated that poor quality housing costs the NHS at least £760 million and society £1.9 billion annually. How much of this money could we save by investing not in in better quality housing, but in better, healthier places generally? value of places. In other words, we are throwing away money from development.

At the very time that policymakers have accepted the case for devolving more powers to cities, we may be failing to recognise that cuts to local planning threaten the ability of cities to invest in their own future economic success and to improve the UK’s lagging economic productivity. As such, the economic dividend that proponents of city devolution claim would be released by Whitehall letting go of the purse strings – up to £222 billion by 2030 according to one recent report – are unlikely to be fully realised without also investing in the ability of these cities to plan effectively.

Planning produces wider social benefits that save the taxpayer money. To take just one example, healthy places not only promote better individual health, they also reduce the costs of ill-health. It’s been estimated that poor quality housing costs the NHS at least £760 million and society £1.9 billion annually.

How much of this money could we save by investing not in better quality housing, but in better, healthier places generally?

The argument here is of course that investing in planning can be a preventative investment, in this case in healthy place‑making. As the cuts continue it’s an argument we need to make more forcefully. From this, we need to think more about the value of planning. Local planning departments are doing more with less, but the extent of the further cuts now facing local authorities means that the scope for efficiencies is coming to an end (if they haven’t already).

Outsourcing, mergers, shared services and streamlined customer-focused processes have been introduced by many local authorities, and there may not be a huge amount more that can be done as resources continue to tighten.

we need to do more to convince. It’s not just about the money, it’s also about the approach to planning that we take. When planners are empowered not only with the resources but also the political leadership and support they need to undertake proactive planning, planning can boost the quantity and quality of development.

We certainly see this in the UK – in cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Norwich and many others. But this kind of positive planning, where local authorities take the lead on making development happen, seems to be more common in countries such as France,

Germany and the Netherlands, in places such as Lille, Hamburg and Nijmegen among others.

It’s no coincidence that all of these countries manage to build more homes than we do in the UK, and often to a higher quality.

The risk is that further cuts mean moving further away from this kind of planning.

As a result, we need to continue to make the case for adequate resourcing of planning not as ‘special pleading’ but instead as a fundamental investment in people and places that benefits the economy as well as society.

Planning, it turns out, is not the problem; it’s the solution, so let’s invest in it properly.

Housing & Planning

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

ABOUT THE RTPI The Royal Town Planning Institute is the UK’s leading planning body for spatial, sustainable and inclusive planning and is the largest planning institute in Europe with over 23,000 members.

The term ‘town planning’ was first used in Britain in 1906. The statutory practice of town planning stemmed from the Housing, Town Planning, etc Act 1909, which permitted local authorities to prepare such schemes for land in course of development, or likely to be developed.

On 11 July 1913 a provisional organising committee was established in London and an invitation was sent out to potential members to join a Town Planning Institute.

A first meeting was convened and chaired

by Thomas Adams on 21 November 1913. A Council was elected and met the following month. Adams was elected the first President on 13 March 1914. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.rtpi.org.uk Mike Harris, deputy head of policy and research at RTPI

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Housing & Health

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

RESOURCES

Housing and health resources Written by Bob Mayho, Principal Policy Officer, CIEH

Online housing tools help improve housing and the health of residents, says Bob Mayho, Principal Policy Officer for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health We spend a considerable amount of time in our homes but how many of us stop to think about what effect living conditions can have on our health and well-being? Not everyone is fortunate enough to own their own property and there are more and more people who are reliant on the private rented sector in order to secure a roof over their heads, in particular the most vulnerable in society.

The private rental sector is booming and has been rapidly expanding over the past few years, second only to owner-occupation in terms of housing tenure. The vast majority of landlords provide decent accommodation

PHYSICAL HEALTH Housing is a key interest for the CIEH as its EHPs working for local authorities that are on the front-line inspecting accommodation in the private-rented sector. Where problems are found, such as unsafe staircases, broken boilers or unsanitary kitchens, EHPs have powers

There are a substantial number of properties in the UK that have a negative impact on health and well-being and the private rented sector has some of the worse conditions of all housing that is safe and secure and it is important that we recognise this fact. Nonetheless, there are a substantial number of properties in the UK that have a negative impact on health and well-being and the private rented sector has some of the worse conditions of all housing.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), supported by Public Health England (PHE), therefore created the ‘Housing and Health Resource’. This is an online resource intended to help local housing officers make the link between bad housing and poor health, as well as provide the tools and tactics to help them address harmful housing conditions. The ultimate aim is to help housing officers improve the health and

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well-being of tenants in their local areas.

The CIEH is a professional membership organisation representing and maintaining professional standards for Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) working across the public and private sectors.

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

under the Housing Act 2004 to hold the owner to account and force them to make repairs.

As we mentioned previously, the private rental sector has been rapidly expanding and there are now approximately four million households in the sector. The number of people renting has nearly doubled in the past ten years and the sector is increasingly being used by local authorities and agencies to house homeless and vulnerable people.

Additionally, the number of families with young children now renting has more than doubled in the same period.

Whilst the vast majority of privately rented accommodation is safe and secure, evidence from the 2014 English Housing Survey

demonstrates that proportionately the poorest housing standards are in this sector, which is of further concern. Homes can fail the ‘Decent Homes’ standard because of problems such as disrepair or outdated fittings, poor sound insulation etc. These issues therefore can have a detrimental impact on our physical health and safety, leading to slips, trips and falls.

Particular risks are associated with houses converted into flats or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), where too many people share a limited amount of facilities.

There is evidence to suggest that where people are found to live in poor housing conditions, such as overcrowding, damp carpets and walls, indoor pollutants and no reliable source of heat or ventilation, have all been shown to be associated with physical illnesses including respiratory disease, hypothermia and heart disease.

It is estimated that poor housing costs the NHS at least £2 billion per year so we can we already see there is a significant financial impact of poor housing and a significant re-evaluation from the previous £600 million that was quoted.

OTHER ISSUES But it’s not just physical health we’re concerned about. Mental health issues are rising up the national agenda and are increasingly being included into conversations around the problems connected with poor housing.

The evidence on the links between poor housing and mental health is generally less developed compared to physical health impacts. However, there is strong evidence of a relationship between cold homes

and mental health, and some evidence of pathways that might link poor housing conditions to mental health outcomes.

Living in poor housing conditions has been shown to increase stress, as well as reduce empowerment and control, each of which

which can be used to inform decision-making or targeting resources and policy initiatives.

Another critical component of the online resource is the wide range of case studies, where local authorities across the country have shared details of their innovative

The online resource is a brand new approach to deal with housing conditions as not only does it inform housing professionals of the theory but at the same time provides practical tools to help them deal with the issues in their local areas have clear links with mental health outcomes.

There are also tenants who have a lack of security regarding tenure and often fear the risk of retaliatory eviction by landlords, which can cause undue stress and anxiety.

Overcrowding is another issue which has links to stress, tension, anxiety and depression.

A lack of privacy, particularly for adolescents, disrupted sleep patterns and chaotic sleeping arrangements are all underlying causes that can have an adverse effect on mental health.

It is estimated that mental illness costs England at least £105 billion each year and if we could extrapolate how much of this figure is caused by poor housing, then the £2 billion figure we quoted previously with regards to the cost of physical health caused by poor housing could increase dramatically.

THE ONLINE RESOURCE As you can see, there is clear evidence linking housing conditions to our health and well‑being. Both the CIEH and PHE, therefore, wanted to provide local officers a robust online resource that would boost their knowledge and expertise so as to enable them to spot the signs of poor housing.

Additionally, this online resource would also arm local officers with tactics to help stop and prevent these type of things from happening.

In essence, the online resource, which was launched in October 2015 at the CIEH’s National Conference, is a specially designed website that allows easy access to information on three central health topics and their relationship between housing, including: physical health; mental health and well‑being; as well as community and place.

Within each of these themes, there is further information looking at key issues that link to housing and health, such as fuel poverty, crime and access to green spaces.

From there, housing officers will then be able to review a ‘policy and guidance’ section, which highlights national policy strategies and frameworks, as well as government departments and agencies, which will help people understand key governmental policies.

In time the online resource will also provide advice and guidance upon developing a housing and health profile for local areas

schemes to address poor housing in their local patches. Liverpool and Thurrock are just two examples within the online resource of local authorities carrying out pioneering housing schemes to improve health and well-being.

Liverpool Council’s multi-organisation ‘Healthy Homes Programme’ aimed to improve housing conditions in the city, as well as engage with residents to offer health and well-being related services. Deprived areas of the city were pro-actively targeted, with advocates visiting every property and where health issues were discovered, referrals were made to a range of partners, while a team of Environmental Health Officers dealt with the sub-standard housing conditions.

As a result, in Liverpool there have been more than 28,000 referrals to various partners and this has led to more than 6,000 home risk assessments, which has then identified nearly 4,400 serious housing hazards that have been remedied. Furthermore, nearly £5.4 million of private sector investment has been made by landlords in Liverpool towards improving the condition and safety in properties.

In the face of on-going regeneration in Thurrock, the local authority’s housing service wanted to try a new way of working to improve housing conditions in its private sector but also improve residents’ access to a range of other services, including local health provisions.

Having received 100 per cent funding from Thurrock’s Public Health budgets, the new Well

Homes scheme saw the appointment of a ‘Well Homes Advisor’ who visited people in their homes. During the visits, the Advisor would provide information about a broad range of housing, safety and health services, with a focus on what would make them feel better at home. Where problems were discovered, residents were then referred, signposted or offered one of the new range of Well Homes financial offers, such as improving security measures or gardening services.

Housing & Health

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

WELL HOMES In the first year, the single Advisor completed 466 assessments and visited more than 1,500 people, with 85 per cent of residents confirming that they felt healthier and safer at home, as a result of their Well Homes assessment. At the end of its first year and with an initial investment of £45,000, the Well Homes scheme has led to savings of more than £640,000 for the NHS and other services, as well as removing more than 120 severe housing hazards. These successful results have resulted in a further two years of guaranteed funding from Public Health.

To ensure the continued success and relevance of the ‘Housing and Health Resource’, both the CIEH and PHE will continue to update the online resource to reflect any changes at a national government level and any new lessons learnt. And at the same time, the two organisations want housing professionals to share their experiences so the online resource can continually be fresh and engaging.

The online resource is a brand new approach to deal with housing conditions as not only does it inform housing professionals of the theory but at the same time provides practical tools to help them deal with the issues in their local areas.

Poor housing conditions affects health and well-being, but if all stakeholders pull together and fully utilise the ‘Housing and Health Resource’ then this will go a long way to creating healthy and happier tenants and local communities. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.cieh.org

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Ecobuild 2016

EVENT PREVIEW

Constructing a more efficient future Innovations from the construction industry to deliver a range of government targets including housing, infrastructure and energy efficiency will be discussed, debated and displayed at Ecobuild 2016 The UK’s largest show dedicated to construction and energy will provide public sector visitors with access to the very latest, invaluable industry insights and projections relating to all aspects of the construction sector through a mix of a high-level conference, CPD‑accredited learning hubs and more than 800 exhibitors showcasing a wide range of new products, materials, solutions and services.

Attracting more than 40,000 industry professionals from across the whole supply chain each year, Ecobuild is the leading exhibition and conference for the UK construction and energy market.

It attracts a broad range of visitors from architects to local authorities, and developers to energy assessors.

The 2016 event will see an evolved proposition for the event to focus on areas of industry growth and market priorities such as housing, infrastructure, next generation innovation, technology and people.

DEDICATED DAYS TO HOMES, ARCHITECTURE AND NEXT GENERATION Ecobuild 2016’s high-level conference is split into three daily streams. The first day’s stream of Homes explores the most pressing, divisive and important decisions that the industry must take to deliver comfortable, sustainable, resilient places and homes. What do new‑build and retrofitted homes and communities need to deliver, and at what cost?

Chaired by broadcaster Cathy Newman, speakers include Tony Pidgley, chairman of Berkeley Group; David Sheridan, chief executive of Keepmoat, and Rowan Moore, architecture critic for the Observer. All three will provide a unique and inspiring look at what makes good housing.

The second day focuses on Architecture and looks at the changing role of the architect, the importance of architecture across the built environment, the need for change and some of the most interesting and inspiring architectural projects.

Speakers include Sadie Morgan, founder of dRMM and chair of the HS2 Design Panel, Simon Allford of Sterling Prize winners AHMM, Xavier de Kestelier of Foster & Partners, and writer, journalist, essayist and film-maker, Jonathan Meades.

The Next Generation day looks to the future: how smart technology, changing demographics and wellness will drive design and construction in the future as well as how to address the skills gap and attract young talent to the industry. Ecobuild’s most exploratory, provocative and inspiring day – it is a must for all those with an interest in ‘what’s next’.

Among the speakers, David Hancock, head of Construction, UK Cabinet Office will talk about how to inspire talent and nurture the next generation of skills while Richard Francis, prinicipal, The Monomoy Company will deliver a speech entitled ‘What’s good for the next generation of buildings?’

Each stream will include input from the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC), Ecobuild’s lead partner for 2016, which will be addressing the future of the built environment.

Following the agreement of a new global deal at the recent climate conference in Paris, UK-GBC will be explaining the role the private sector can play in helping ensure the pledges made are delivered.

UK-GBC Chief Executive Julie Hirigoyen will pose five future challenges for the construction industry on each of the three conference days to a panel of industry leaders and future leaders, inviting them to respond with practical ideas on delivery.

UK-GBC will also provide more bite‑sized content at the UK-GBC Lounge.

These experts will provide visitors

Ecobuil with a solid understanding of d how international agreements will hav work and how UK businesses e three d can benefit from expanding i themes stinct their horizons. Enterprise the key reflecting Europe Network will also growth on hand at Ecobuild areas be in const 2016 to help SMEs make Homes, ruction: the most of business Archite opportunities in the EU and Ne cture and beyond. The Network is organising a structured Genera xt tion B2B matchmaking event

EXPANDING HORIZONS Ecobuild is working with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to help businesses expand their reach by fostering connections with customers in international markets.

UKTI are bringing 12 international trade advisers and five international buyers (from Brazil to the UAE) to Ecobuild 2016 who will available for one-to-one meetings with UK companies interested in growing internationally or expanding into new markets.

on the second day of the show to create new business development opportunities between exhibitors and visitors.

ESSENTIAL EDUCATIONAL OFFERING Ecobuild 2016 will also feature six CPD-accredited learning hubs; Building Performance, Design, Energy, #buildcircular, Infrastructure Revolution and Digital Building. A highly-provoking seminar programme, it will provide visitors and exhibitors with the know‑how to do their jobs better and the business case to help them make more informed decisions to address these challenges.

The programme will be delivered by industry leading figures and organisations including Architype, Glenn Howells Architects, Marks & Spencer, British Land, Jones Lang LaSalle, BRE, ICE, Zero Carbon Hub and Willmott Dixon Energy Services.

THE BIG INNOVATION PITCH Discover is another stand of the show that will showcase a number of exciting features and will set to be the social hub of the show.

This attraction will bring a number of events such as The Ecobuild Innovation Pitch, the AYA awards and the Discover bar which for the first time is being designed by students from the Bartlett School of Architecture.

Following last year’s great success, Ecobuild’s Big Innovation Pitch is back for its second edition. The pitch will continue to unearth innovation across the design, construction, energy and engineering sectors.

It is a great opportunity to have your product or solution considered, and E

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

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EVENT PREVIEW  if chosen, to potentially be trialled by M&S and become established as one of the leading innovators within your industry.

Entrants to the Big Innovation Pitch will get their work seen by the M&S judging panel, who will then select a shortlist of 12 to proceed to the second stage, but 20 entrants will be invited to have their work displayed at Ecobuild. The shortlisted will be invited to meet the judging panel and pitch their products directly. The finalists will be given the exclusive opportunity to present their product to the industry, in a conference session hosted by Countdown’s Rachel Riley. The judges will select and announce the winner at the show.

Ecobuild has announced the creation of a major new destination as part of its 2016 show, a feature that will be designed by students from the Bartlett School of Architecture.

The Discover Bar will be a key social area for the show, facilitating networking and meetings. It will also be home to a display of ingenious materials which are coming to the construction industry to meet future needs.

In line with Ecobuild’s focus on design and next generation, a competition is being staged, in conjunction with stand sponsor Medite-SmartPly, to create the Discover Bar. The competition will challenge students from renowned architecture school The Bartlett to create a highly engaging design for the

area which will make it a distinctive oasis within the busy exhibition floor, honing their design skills in a real life application whilst providing exposure for their work.

The winning design for Discover will maximise the use of sustainable materials, including Medite MDF and SmartPly OSB, in line with Ecobuild’s goals to ensure that the show minimises environmental impact.

The architectural students will also have to show how materials used will be disposed of after the show as part of their submissions.

In addition to being the show’s social hub, all shortlisted entries across 13 categories of the BD Architect of the Year will be displayed within Discover, before the winners are announced on the evening of Ecobuild’s Architecture day.

INCREASING RESOURCE EFFICIENCY Resource is a show that is collocated with Ecobuild. It is devoted to increasing resource efficiency across all aspects of the construction industry and beyond. Resource is unique in its focus and scale, being the largest learning and networking opportunity for businesses and public sector bodies looking to reduce waste and reuse materials, recovering value from what was traditionally ‘waste’.

Resource brings experts from across the sector together in one place, providing a wide range of thought-provoking content for all construction professionals;

Ecobuild 2016

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from designers and manufacturers to retailers, recyclers and local authorities.

The newly introduced #buildcircular theatre acts as the learning, innovation and networking hub for those interested to explore which circular economy principles could and should be adopted in the built environment, from building design, materials lifecycle thinking and construction through to intelligent demolition. #thinkcircular, the main stage debate of Resource, will examine practical, achievable, economically viable ways to adopt circular economy models. The largest and most comprehensive event of its kind, it is the global epicentre of learning and debate – a unique opportunity to further strategy and approach to resource efficiency that will generate new revenue and reduce the costs of waste.

Reflecting the construction industry, Ecobuild is constantly evolving; ensuring that it continues to provide relevant, dynamic content and create opportunities to make new connections.

Public sector visitors will find a wealth of specialist support and solutions – and much more besides – at Ecobuild 2016.

Ecobuild 2016 is co-located with Resource, the leading resource efficiency event, from 8-10 March at London’s ExCeL. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.ecobuild.co.uk

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Connecting water assets and people

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HEAVY RAINFALL

Flooding

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

Damp optimism after winter rainfall Following the extreme weather that has affected much of the UK in recent months, the government has announced substantial investment to support households and businesses. Here, Government Business analyses the government response and what more needs to be done Heavy flooding at the start of December brought chaos to parts of Cumbria, turning many roads into rivers and causing damage to houses and businesses. With the worst affected areas including Carlisle, Keswick, Kendal, Cockermouth, Appleby, Glenridding and St Michael’s, it has been estimated that over 5,000 homes were flooded.

In the wake of Storm Desmond, Environment Secretary Liz Truss set up the Cumbrian Floods Partnership to analyse how defences can be improved in the communities hit by record rainfall. The Partnership is made up of community groups, the Environment Agency and local authorities, and will look to further reduce the impact of extreme weather.

Truss said: “After seeing first-hand the impact of the flooding in the north of England, it is clear that the growing threat from more extreme weather events means we must reassure ourselves, and those communities at risk, that our defences, our modelling and our future plans are robust.

“We are already spending £2.3 billion over the next six years to better protect 300,000 homes from flooding, but we need to be sure we have the very best possible plans in place for flood prevention and protection across the whole country.”

Prime Minister David Cameron has since promised a funding package of more than £40 million ‘to fix those defences overwhelmed by the record rainfall’ and to make them ‘more resilient to further bad weather’ in the aftermath of Storm’s Desmond and Eva. The promise of extra funding brings the overall investment just shy of £200 million.

Among a number of programmes and support initiatives, the money will help improve York’s Foss Barrier, expected to cost £10 million, while the remaining £30 million will target defence reparations on the Wharfe, Calder, Aire, Ouse and Derwent.

BUILDING BRIDGES Following the heavy rainfall, 22 bridges in Cumbria remained closed due to damage at the start of the new year, forcing engineers to assess a total of 1,600 bridges across

the county. The closed bridges, including important crossings in Carlisle, Penrith and Cockermouth, are in need of underwater inspections, which are being hampered by river levels and the speed of flow.

As part of the £40 million investment to help repair flood damaged roads and bridges, Highways England experts will help communities recovering from floods by assisting with repairs to damaged transport links. They will focus on three major engineering projects, including: rebuilding the A591, the road which runs north to south through the heart of the Lake District; examining the replacement of Pooley Bridge; and investigating how Eamont Bridge in Penrith can be rebuilt to be more resilient against future flooding.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “This has been a very difficult time and I have enormous sympathy for people flooded out of their homes at Christmas. A good local transport system is the lifeblood of this region and Highways England’s engineering

keeping a close watch on the potential impact of more wet weather tomorrow and Monday in the south-west and north-east of England. Our teams are working around the clock to repair flood defences, protect communities, and pump away flood water.”

THE CASE FOR CARLISLE Carlisle is situated on the flood plain of the River Eden with three rivers meeting in the city.

The catchment is made up of the rivers Eden, Eamont, Irthing, Petteril and the Caldew, as well as smaller rivers and streams draining into the Eden estuary.

The catchment covers approximately 2,400km2 and is home to approximately 244,000 people. Carlisle has a history of flooding with flood events recorded as far back as the 1700s. In recent years there have been significant floods in 1963, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1984.

On 7 January 2005, following a month of heavy rainfall, Carlisle experienced two months of rainfall in just 24 hours onto

In the ten years since the 2005 flooding, more than 30 flood gates and 10km of raised flood defences were installed to contain flood water expertise, backed by £40 million funding from the Department for Transport, will support the work already being done to repair local roads and bridges damaged by the storm.”

Over 40 additional Environment Agency pumps have been dispatched to the north of England to ensure that flood water is pumped away as fast as river levels will allow.

Craig Woolhouse, director of Incident Management at the Environment Agency, said: “We will continue to work with local authorities to support communities that are recovering from the devastating impacts of flooding and our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by these terrible floods.

“In many parts of northern England the overall situation has improved but we are

already saturated ground. Three people died after the storms flooded homes and cut off power to thousands. A 63-year-old man was crushed after a barn collapsed on his caravan in Cumbria, and two elderly women died in flooded properties in Carlisle. At the time, The Environment Agency described the chances of it happening again in Carlisle where three rivers meet as ‘once in two hundred years’.

Craig Cowperthwaite, from the Agency, said: “The old flood defence system was good, it didn’t fail, it was just the sheer amount of water that overwhelmed our defences. I don’t think anyone thought that would happen.”

Consequently, the Environment Agency, who had already been looking at improving the defences for the city, provided E

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HEAVY RAINFALL

Flooding

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

 £38 million to be spent ensuring this level of flooding could not take hold of Carlisle again. In the ten years since the 2005 flooding, more than 30 flood gates and 10km of raised flood defences were installed to contain flood water, while United Utilities spent £13 million replacing 2.49 miles of drains and pumping systems.

Cowperthwaite commented after the funding that it was ‘money well spent’ and that Carlisle was now ‘a well protected city’. It would appear that when David Cameron visited Carlisle on 7 December, he may have been a tad embarrassed.

The £38 million pledged and spent in 2005 failed to stop this winter’s weather – extreme as it was. More rain fell than anyone could have imagined (measuring 14 inches at Honister Pass in the Lake District), but the solutions in place didn’t solve the problem.

RECOVERY SCHEMES The Bellwin Scheme enables councils to get financial assistance in the wake of exceptional events, such as flooding. This is in addition to record government investment in flood defences, with a clear commitment to build 1,400 more flood defences and protect 300,000 more homes from flooding across the country.

The Bellwin scheme compensates authorities for the exceptional costs incurred in incidents such as flooding. Authorities are eligible for costs under Bellwin when they have spent more than 0.2 per cent of their calculated annual revenue budgets on works.

As councils continue their clean-up operations, Communities Secretary Greg Clark confirmed that the Bellwin Scheme would be opened, so councils can apply to have 100 per cent of their costs above threshold reimbursed. Eligible authorities include: councils; police authorities; fire and rescue authorities; and National Park authorities.

Speaking in December, Clark said: “We’re determined to stand squarely behind affected communities for the long haul, to help them get back on their feet and into their homes as quickly as possible. That’s why today we’re taking the first step on the road to recovery by offering support through the Bellwin scheme so councils starting the clean-up operation can be confident that they will get the support they need.”

The government’s Communities and Business Recovery Scheme is also available to help households affected by the storms. As part of this scheme, the government has provided funding to affected local authorities worth over £500 per household to help with recovery costs, such as provision of temporary accommodation.

It is for each local authority to decide how to spend the recovery funding received from DCLG, to best meet local need. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency

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Health & Safety Event

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

EVENT PREVIEW

Three days to save a life ‘Three days to save a life’ is the overall theme for the 2016 Health & Safety Event that takes place at Birmingham’s NEC between 22-24 March The Health & Safety Event, the UK’s fastest growing in the sector, has expanded once again for 2016 and will offer visitors even more in the way of educational content, interactive forums and product manufacturers and service providers. The event is now in its third year and, having canvassed visitor feedback, there are some major additions to the types of activities taking place, the range of disciplines covered and even the layout of the event and the visitor amenities on offer.

According to Tim Else, event director: “We have taken on board the request from our visitors that they have somewhere neutral to spend some time during the show, to check their emails or do some work on a laptop.

Therefore, we have included a spacious visitor lounge complete with free Wi-Fi so that their visit doesn’t result in them missing important work correspondence. Similarly, responding to visitor requests we have partnered with NEBOSH on an Education Pavilion which will house stands from educational establishments but also host an ‘Ask the Expert’ facility across the three days of the event.”

being a host of topics that are on the cutting edge of where the sector is moving to, be that in terms of legislation or technology.

Picking out just three of the seminars emphasises the diversity of subject matter and depth of expertise on offer during the event.

On March 22 Chris Green will look at the latest legislative updates and has advised that he is looking very much to concentrate on the change to the sentencing guidelines that takes place in February 2016.

Chris says: “The timing of the Health & Safety Event is perfect in my experience. The changes to the size of potential fines, which are linked now to company turnover, that the sentencing guidelines are potentially going to implement means that there is more discussion of this topic at board level than I can ever remember.”

Chris believes that those attending his session will be able to return to their places of work and advise their boards or senior managers more accurately. But equally,

Free on educati jor is a ma isit the to v reason nd the 2016 event a mme is well progra address the o timed tt legislative lates nges cha

CONFERENCE SESSIONS Free education is a major reason to visit the event and the 2016 programme is particularly well-timed to address the latest legislative changes. The main conference theatre will host a programme which has been curated by the combined expertise of the British Safety Council (BSC) and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM).

There are many highlights but one session which stands out is that presented by Rory Underwood, the ex-England rugby international and ex-RAF pilot who will speak on the morning of the 24 March.

Rory will use his experience of flight safety to provide a talk on behavioural safety, as well as using analogies from his experience of international rugby and as a jet pilot to highlight issues in successful management and leadership, in a health and safety context.

Following his presentation Rory will be available to meet on the Alcumus stand.

The full educational programme is online to view but there are many high profile, hugely respected presenters speaking as well as there

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he views the event as being a 360 degree exercise as his interaction allows him and his company Weightmans LLP to understand what practitioners are facing and thinking.

HEARING FROM EXPERTS Addressing a completely different subject, and exampling the varied nature of expertise available, is Mike Gillespie whose seminar on 23 March addresses information security, business continuity, information governance and physical security and training. Seemingly a fish out of water when speaking to health and safety professionals, Mike, the founder of Advent IM and independent holistic security consultancy, connects the two worlds very easily.

He says: “Regarding cyber security and information security and the attitude towards it, we are where the health and safety industry has come from, we aren’t taken seriously at board level.

“Financial risk is discussed at board level, so increasingly is health and safety risk and cyber risk really needs to be considered a natural topic for good corporate governance but largely currently it is dismissed as there is an enormous lack of understanding of how

to manage information, and the dangers of not doing so, in the modern age.”

Emphasising his point Mike references an automotive vehicle recall that took place recently because a Wi-Fi enabled car management system was not secure which could have led to car accidents. As can be appreciated at this point the lines are blurred

getting architects to design out health risks in their buildings and the materials they use and he will also address mental health.

Clive comments: “I see the audience at the Health and Safety Event as being very much the kinds of people who might attend our ‘Summit of the Do’ers’. After we have got buy-in from the CEOs then we

Brand new for 2016 is ‘Lions Lair’. Based loosely on a popular TV series during which budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of experts, the ‘Lions Lair’ will be a fun, interactive activity but behind it sits a serious point about who is responsible for such a problem which emphasises Mike’s point about essentially it all being risk related. A thought provoking presentation, not to be missed.

Finally on 24 March Clive Johnson of Land Securities will address the topic of health in the construction industry. Recently Clive founded the Health in Construction Leadership Group in order that ‘health’ in the sector be afforded the same weight as ‘safety’.

The group is hosting a breakfast in January where 200 CEOs of construction companies and their clients, will hear more about the problems surrounding health in the sector and Clive will be feeding back on this event in March. He will also be talking about the wider activities that his group are looking at, addressing such areas as

need people with expertise, empathy and skills to help us implement these initiatives and that’s very much the kind of people I am looking to engage with in March.”

LIONS LAIR Alongside the traditionally more passive educational content, there are also several interactive programmes that run during the event. Brand new for 2016 is ‘Lions Lair’.

Based loosely on a popular TV series during which budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of experts the ‘Lions Lair’ will be a fun, interactive activity but behind it sits a serious point. ‘Lions Lair’ is designed to encourage innovation but also to allow visitors to witness innovative products, services and concepts being presented simply and quickly

by experts, plus these experts being quizzed by an informed panel. On 24 March the ‘Lions Lair’ winner will be announced which, it is hoped, will make more people aware of the great leaps that are being taken in health and safety technology that, returning to the theme of the whole event, could save a life.

The event will also feature once again at the Safety Dialogue Theatre. Sponsored by 3M, the number of debates will be increased to four 30 minute sessions per day. The format sees a round table discussion involving a live panel during which experts discuss the latest issues and open up the floor to questions from the audience. Topics for discussion will be: Hearing protection; RPE/Fit Testing; Behavioural safe and training competence.

Returning once again and with a superb programme of speakers is the Safer Logistics Theatre. Sponsored by Toyota and A-Safe, the theatre will host seminars by such respected bodies as the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the United Kingdom Warehousing Association and the British Standards Institution who along with A-Safe will present a seminar on a new industry standard for barrier protection.

While the full programme is still being finalized RTITB will be tackling the issues of driver behaviour and risk taking and the FLTA will also be focusing on Fork Lift truck related issues.

Health & Safety Event

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

CO-LOCATIONS At the heart of all this activity The Health & Safety Event is centred on an exhibition that includes the most well recognised trade bodies, manufacturers and distributors, training providers and consultants in the health and safety sector, giving visitors access to new information and experts.

Giving the event an even broader appeal is its co-location alongside the Industrial Maintenance themed event ‘Maintec’ and the Facilities Management event. This co‑location allows those from a wide range of industry types and sectors to access targeted information in one visit. The ‘three days to save a life’ theme is in reference to all of the activity taking place at the NEC during 22-24 March.

The final word belongs to Tim Else, event director, who concludes: “It may be that the vital piece of information that helps one of our visitors to save a life comes from attending a seminar or from a fellow visitor during a Safety Dialogue session. It might be that they see a new piece of technology highlighted as part of Lions Lair or being demonstrated on a stand.

“We feel by offering our visitors a cross‑section of activities to attend, experts to talk to and equipment to test, feel and handle that we are doing everything we can to continually improve the health and safety knowledge and performance of businesses within the United Kingdom.” L FURTHER INFORMATION www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk

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Outsourcing Written by Kerry Hallard, CEO, National Outsourcing Association

Make way for the new outsourcing ecosystem With the future of outsourcing more unclear than ever, the National Outsourcing Association focuses upon the future of outsourcing, gauging what UK outsourcing will look like in 2020 The outsourcing world is rife with disruption, with traditional business models being overturned rapidly and new technologies transforming convention at a terrifying pace.

In fact, the changes that have occurred in the outsourcing industry over the past 12

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The line between business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing is becoming increasingly blurred, as technology increasingly becomes the enabler for service delivery

opinions on the future trends and technologies that are expected to disrupt outsourcing between now and the next decade.

The findings were extremely positive, indicating a future brimming with opportunity for some. Firstly, our research suggested that outsourcing’s popularity will grow between now and 2020, with 70 per cent of buyers planning to increase their use of outsourcing and just 10 per cent indicating that they will be scaling back (none of whom expected to decrease the amount they outsource significantly). So much for the impending death of the industry!

months surpass the number of changes seen within the last 12 years, with long term impacts that could significantly affect both the private and the public sector.

In reaction to these changes, some have said outsourcing is set to become the

WHY OUTSOURCE? There are a number of conventional reasons for why organisations outsource: increasing operational flexibility, gaining access to new skills and, of course, cutting costs.

With ‘Outsourcing in 2020’, we saw for

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

industrial revolution of the 21st century, while others claim the end of the industry is nigh. In order to ascertain what the future actually has in store, the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) launched ‘Outsourcing in 2020’: an industry-wide

research campaign set to discover what the face of modern outsourcing will look like in five years’ time. 134 organisations participated – one-third buyers, one-third service providers, one-third advisories and consultancies – to share their expert

RPA involves the use of robotics to automate highly repetitive, high-volume tasks, potentially offering a cheaper alternative to the more traditional full time equivalent (FTE) model. Its uptake in the outsourcing industry has already begun, with some analysts predicting this will drastically reduce the amount companies outsource offshore. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a much more advanced form of computers acting as humans – as technology progresses, the potential uses of AI are likely to stretch much further into cognitive computing.

Data analytics, cloud‑based technologies and digital transformation were highlighted as trends that will be adopted more in the future, closely followed by RPA and AI. Interestingly, 44 per cent of suppliers stated that AI will eventually prove to be more of a game‑changer than RPA, while only eight per cent of those on the buy-side said the same.

In any case, it’s safe to say there will be plenty of new investment in these areas over the next five years. Meanwhile, respondents indicated that they are less likely to invest in reshoring and backsourcing; our results suggest it’s unlikely there will be a significant increase in offshoring either.

The future of contracting was another hot topic covered by our research. There was strong feeling among both buyers and suppliers that outsourcing contracts will be centred more on outcomes in 2020, with 89 per cent of respondents believing this to be the case. Of those surveyed, 69 per cent thought that service providers will be contracted as systems integrators sharing more risk with their clients and 57 per cent expect procurement to become a more important part of the contracting process.

The majority of service and support providers also think notice periods, and outsourcing contracts themselves, will become considerably shorter as we approach the next decade.

As ogy technol s, the se progres l uses of a potenti Intelligence l Artificia re likely to (AI) a uch further m stretch cognitive into uting comp

the first time that the drivers motivating companies to outsource are changing, and in a thoroughly contemporary manner. Cutting costs was unsurprisingly still the prime driver, with 35 per cent of respondents citing this as their number one reason to outsource.

However, this was immediately followed by ‘improving the customer experience’ (23 per cent), and ‘transitioning from legacy IT to as-a-service models’ (17 per cent) where organisations pay for services as and when they use them.

As 2020 approaches, expect to see an increasing number of organisations outsourcing primarily for service improvements and other value-adding benefits such as these.

We also asked the industry what business trends they expect to become more prominent.

The adoption of new technologies was one particular area of interest, robotic process automation (RPA) being a prominent example.

Outsourcing

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

who understand what buyers of outsourcing want – customer-centricity – and know how to use technology in order to achieve this. Data has a crucial role to play here.

Those providers must know how to mine it, refine it and keep it secure on behalf of their clients, if they are to be successful in 2020.

The problem concerning these best-of-breed partners is how and where to find them. In reaction to these findings, NOA members on the buy-side have expressed concern that some of their own service providers do not flexibly cater to their changing needs and are not proactively introducing the latest technologies into their existing outsourcing contracts.

The NOA’s research has demonstrated that there’s a new outsourcing ecosystem in the making. The line between business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) is becoming increasingly blurred, as technology increasingly becomes the enabler for service delivery.

Outsourcing as a practice is also becoming both more competitive and more collaborative, with both service providers and their clients favouring shared risk in order to reap greater rewards. Having said that, the extent to which sharing risk is possible is limited, particularly where the public sector is concerned. Profits and losses can be split, but it is the reputation of the client that is ultimately on the line.

We also expect to see fewer megadeals as the years go on, with the length of the average contract likely to get shorter. Having said that, a few savvy buyers in the public sector are using this fact to their advantage. They know many service providers are still seeking these long term deals and are using this as leverage when negotiating new contracts with them.

As the ecosystem develops, the more flexible, best-of-breed outsourcing partners are set to gain significant market share from their larger competitors; established outsourcing giants will need to partner up with their smaller adversaries or, in some cases, face extinction. The speed and willingness with which these companies adapt and develop new skills will determine who wins and who loses in 2020.

Some big outsourcing names will disappear in the next decade as a result.

The full ‘Outsourcing in 2020’ research report will be available in the Outsourcing

As the ecosystem develops, the more flexible, best-of-breed outsourcing partners are set to gain significant market share from their larger competitors LOOKING AHEAD So what do these findings mean for the future of the outsourcing industry? Big opportunities for some, the end of the road for others. Those that stand to gain the most are the best-of-breed service providers

Yearbook 2016. To receive your free copy in the first quarter of 2016, visit the NOA website and register your interest. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.noa.co.uk

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Payroll Written by Diana Bruce, senior policy liaison officer, CIPP

FINANCE

Public sector workforce reform 2016 has the potential to be a year of change for payroll departments up and down the country, says Diana Bruce of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals Reduced borrowing and reducing the deficit are at the core of government plans and with that we have seen, and are continuing to see, many departmental cuts for the public sector.

There was some promising news this year though of an average pay award of one per cent for four years from 2016-17 which is estimated to protect around 200,000 public sector jobs. It would also be easier to name the regulations that are not under review and since the ‘all conservative’ government took the realm this year, there have been a record number of consultations published.

The recent combined Spending Review and Autumn Statement, announced 25 November 2015, gave some bits of positive news for the public sector such as protecting the police budget and providing additional funds to the NHS. One area of change has the broad tag of ‘public sector workforce reform’.

Payroll departments are under constant pressure to keep up to date with the various amendments which are to ‘ease the administrative burden for employers’, a term not used so much now with the overarching

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promise and focus by the Chancellor to ‘run a surplus’. So with the four year public spending plans set out to deliver that surplus, what are some of the areas of change that lie ahead for public sector payroll professionals?

EXIT PAYMENTS In May 2015, the government published a consultation on capping redundancy payments for the best‑paid public sector workers to below six figures as part of the Enterprise Bill. The core elements of the proposals are to apply a £95,000 cap on the total value of exit payments made to employees in the public sector and apply the cap to all forms of exit payment including cash lump sums, early access to an unreduced pension, payments in lieu of notice and non‑financial and other benefits. The policy

would apply to all public sector bodies with a small number of bodies granted an exemption.

In November 2015, the government published its response which confirmed that they will pursue a £95,000 cap on pay-outs and draft Public Sector Exit Payment Regulations 2016 have now been published, imposing the cap.

Their intention is to keep the level of the cap under review and should they decide to change the level, regulations will be made to allow for full parliamentary scrutiny of the potential impact.

The cap does not replace other arrangements for determining the level of exit payments where these are below the level of the cap and individual schemes will have the flexibility to set a lower limit where it is more appropriate to do so.

Legislation will also extend to contractual

The ent governmblish a will est w a ne body er‑led employ prenticeship p to set a ards which stand ll be wi dent indepen

Payroll

In May 2015, the government published a consultation on capping redundancy payments for the best-paid public sector workers to below six figures as part of the Enterprise Bill

compensation arrangements to ensure all forms of public sector exit payments fall under the scope of this measure.

At Autumn Statement 2015, the government said that they will continue to modernise the terms and conditions of public sector workers by taking forward targeted reforms in areas where the public sector still has far more generous rights than the private sector. As part of this, there will be further cross‑public sector action on exit payment terms to reduce the costs of redundancy pay-outs – so further consultation to come on this area.

APPRENTICESHIP LEVY The Autumn Statement gave us a little more detail about the funding of apprenticeships through a levy, which was originally announced earlier in the year in the Summer Budget. Payable by larger employers, the apprenticeship levy will be introduced in April 2017 and set at a rate of 0.5 per cent of an employer’s ‘pay bill’ – a new term?

Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment, which means that the levy will only be paid on any pay bill in excess of £3 million. So less than two per cent of UK employers will actually pay the levy but the element that needs to be recognised is that many will still have to administer it.

The levy will be paid through PAYE and during the initial consultation process, the majority of CIPP members who responded to our survey to inform our response, were opposed to the levy being collected through the payroll.

One respondent said: “Unless the levy is earnings, nothing should go through

the payroll including this. A payroll system is just that, it isn’t an all function accounting system to communicate and ease the government’s burden.”

The aim is that the levy will put control of apprenticeship funding in the hands of employers and will encourage employers to invest in their apprentices and take on more. Employers in England who pay the levy and are committed to apprenticeship training will be able to get out more than they pay into the levy, through a top-up to their digital accounts. Employers who do not pay the levy will still have access to government support for apprenticeships.

As well as increasing the numbers of apprentices, the government will ensure quality is increased too. They will establish a new employer-led body to set apprenticeship standards and ensure quality, which will be independent of the government and will advise on the level of levy funding each apprenticeship should receive. Funding caps will be significantly higher for programmes that have high costs and are of high quality. There will be more consultation on the details later in 2016.

EFFICIENCY CHALLENGE In August the government wrote to millions of public sector workers asking for their ideas on how to ‘do more for less’. They received over 22,000 suggestions and a number are being taken forward to significantly improve public services as well as to reduce costs.

They include supporting schools to save money on common items such as stationary or furniture, this included exploring the option of price-comparison websites to reduce the time and resources invested in securing cost-effective deals.

There will also be an increase in digital communications from Companies House as part of the ambition to be 100 per cent digital, including developing a voluntary system for companies to opt into to receive statutory and non-statutory notices by digital channels.

Also under the efficiency challenge, specifically for local authority, is the promise of guidance to ‘rein in excessive salaries’.

The sentence buried in the 200 page Spending Review and Autumn Statement document says: “The median annual salary for a County Council, Metropolitan Borough, London Borough and Unitary Council Chief Executive is reportedly higher than the Prime Minister’s salary and so the government is to issue new guidance to local authorities to encourage them to rein in excessive salaries and do more

to drive efficiencies for local taxpayers.”

PAPER PAYSLIPS In line with all things digital, paper payslips in Whitehall are to be abolished, saving at least £500,000 a year in unnecessary printing costs.

Most departments are already issuing electronic payslips, but paper payslips will be phased out completely over the next few years, with the exception of a minority of cases where individuals still have a good reason to access them.

SICKNESS ABSENCE Public sector sick pay has been estimated to cost around £4.5 billion a year and terms are more generous than typical private sector arrangements. So there will be a review into sickness absence in public sector workforces before consulting on how to reduce its impact on the delivery of public services. In addition, considering legislation where necessary to move to a more modern and productive state.

Furthermore, the government plans to expand the Fit for Work service to support more people on long-term sickness absence with return to work plans. The Fit for Work service was created on the back of the ‘Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence’ conducted by Dame Carol Black and David Frost, published in November 2011.

COUNCIL EMPLOYEES’ PAY OFFER And on a final note, council employees have been offered a two-year pay increase from 1 April 2016. The majority of employees – those on salaries starting at £17,714 per annum – would receive an uplift of one per cent on 1 April 2016 and a further one per cent on 1 April 2017.

Those on lower salaries would receive higher increases to take account of the new National Living Wage which comes into force on 1 April 2016.

The National Employers, who negotiate pay on behalf of 350 local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, made the offer which will affect over one million employees, to unions on 9 December.

The pay offer does not apply to council chief executives, senior officers, teachers or firefighters, who are covered by separate national pay arrangements. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.cipp.org.uk

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

Why work for someone else when you could be your own boss?

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Take control of your own future Your own business from: £136 per week Barbers Box is a mobile barbering unit,which is uniquely designed to potentially be the future of barbering.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a trained hairdresser or not, with a Barbers Box franchise we can train your up as a barber.* With the Barbers Box you get everything you need to set up shop (excluding tools e.g scissors, clippers etc...)

From a generator to power the Barbers Box right down to your first aid kit, so you can get going straight away.

Potentially lower overheads compared to owning a salon, the Barbers Box could provide you with a greater profit margin.

Being able to set up virtually anywhere, on different days gives you the chance to go to your clients and get a busier clientele base, unlike owning a salon. A mobile unit with a high end salon feel inside.

The Barbers Box interior is fitted out to the highest standard, black leather-look padded wall, LED lights around the mirrors, LCD TVs and purposely made waiting area.

Start your future, your way TODAY 01978 710100 | info@barbersbox.co.uk | www.barbersbox.co.uk *(additional charges)

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

EVENT PREVIEW

Kick starting careers with franchising in 2016

National Franchise Exhibition

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

The forthcoming National Franchise Exhibition and The British & International Franchise Exhibition mean aspiring entrepreneurs can start the New Year exploring exciting business opportunities Pip Wilkins, Head of Operations at the bfa states: “Because franchising is based on proven, replicable business models, it offers a far higher chance of success than going it alone. If you’re looking to start your own business, this is a sector you should be considering. In fact, growth from 2003 to 2013, when the most recent comparable data is available, shows that franchising expanded by 42 per cent in terms of its turnover, well ahead of the 11.5 per cent growth in real GDP.”

With recent research by Groupon revealing that a third of UK adults are or want to become entrepreneurs, events such as The National Franchise Exhibition on 19-20 February at the NEC Birmingham and The British and International Franchise Exhibition on 11-12 March at London Olympia are an essential stepping stone to help turn this ambition into a reality.

As a nation of aspiring business owners, UK employees cite a desire to be their own boss and a dislike of working for others as the motivation for pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. However, with almost half of start-up businesses failing in the first five years, franchising should be on the top of every would-be business owner’s list.

Operating in the UK for over 60 years, today franchising generates over £13 billion in

annual revenue, and employs over 500,000 of the British public. Franchising also offers a proven business model with exceptional success rates according to the British Franchise

THE WORLD OF FRANCHISING Showcasing at the NEC Birmingham and London Olympia, The National Franchise Exhibition and The British and International Franchise Exhibition will bring together franchise experts and well-established brands with potential franchisees from across the UK and beyond. Both exhibitions give visitors the chance to learn about the world of franchising and provide an essential stepping stone to becoming a successful and supported business owner.

Hundreds of successful global and national franchise brands across a wide range of sectors will be exhibiting such as property, care, travel, retail, food and drink, vehicle-based franchises and many more.

With exclusive support from the bfa, only franchises with a proven commercially viable business model and who have met the associations strict code of ethics can exhibit.

Wilkins notes: “One trait that many franchisors look for is passion. Potential franchisees need to be driven and passionate about the product or service they are looking to invest in. Starting a franchise

“The National Franchise Exhibition and British and International Franchise Exhibition are ideal opportunities for anyone eager to start their own business” Association (bfa) who regulate the industry.

Their latest report shows that 92 per cent of franchise businesses register profits, and between 2008 to mid-2013 at a time when the country’s economic output shrank by 2.5 per cent, franchising grew by 20 per cent.

business from scratch is no mean feat, there will be long hours and hard work to get the business up and running so good franchisors want to know their franchisees share their passion to drive the business forward even in the toughest of times.” E

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We dare to be different Home Instead Senior Care specialise in providing older people with non medical care in their own homes.

As a franchise owner, you can make the most of the opportunity to build a market leading, profitable business, while helping people live a better quality of life.

You will benefit from the award-winning support of the Home Instead Senior Care franchise team and a rapidly growing demand for our services. No previous care experience is necessary, All you need is a head for business, great people skills, lots of drive and a determination to succeed.

Over 165 UK franchises Achievable turnover in excess of ÂŁ1m* per annum with expected net profits of 15-20%** Finance available from our banking partners

*Please note, we cannot guarantee any level of financial achievement and individual franchisee performance will have a significant influence on the success of the franchise. **Before franchise owner earnings and finance costs

EVENT PREVIEW

Returning to the 2016 exhibitions are the popular McDonald’s Open Sessions, which allow visitors to meet with McDonald’s staff and gain an insight into working with one of the world’s biggest brands  Attendees to the exhibition will be able to experience a variety of free and informative features throughout both exhibitions facilitated by industry professionals. This will include an extensive seminar programme featuring experts from the bfa, legal and financial professionals, as well as from experienced franchisors and franchisees. The seminars aim to equip visitors with a fundamental base of knowledge to build a successful franchise and answer any burning questions.

Adrian Goodsell, director of Franchise Sales at Venture Marketing Group, explains: “The National Franchise Exhibition and British and International Franchise Exhibition are ideal opportunities for anyone eager to start their own business. They offer an all-encompassing experience enabling you to obtain advice, meet face-to-face with brands and see how franchising has successfully worked for others.

With extensive research proving a third of the UK’s workforce wishes to work for themselves, visiting the exhibitions can be the first step to owning a successful business.”

LEARNING FROM THE BEST In addition to the huge range of national and international brands available to meet, the exhibitions offer a range of free and informative seminars, workshops and panel discussions facilitated by industry professionals. A comprehensive seminar programme is free to attend, and will be loaded with free expert advice from leading figures within the bfa.

The seminars include the ‘Real Franchise Stories’ panels, giving visitors direct insight into the day-to-day activity of running a successful franchise. A panel of knowledgeable franchisees will be on hand to give detailed accounts of their personal journeys to self-employment. Also returning to the 2016 exhibitions are the popular McDonald’s Open Sessions, which allow visitors to meet with McDonald’s staff and gain an insight into working with one of the world’s biggest brands.

Keynote speakers will be present throughout the two events, sharing the secrets of their

success. In addition, the ‘Growing Your Own Business’ seminars and workshops are an excellent source of information for those who want to be their own boss. Advice varies from crowdfunding, SEO trends, publicity generation, using social media to build business and boosting sales.

For visitors concerned about finance there will be free, independently run clinics offering advice and guidance on everything from getting a start-up loan, creating a business plan, to balancing the books.

Also running throughout the two day exhibition will be the popular Careers Clinic, offering drop in sessions to help visitors establish key skills and match them to the best suited opportunity available. L

National Franchise Exhibition

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

The National Franchise Exhibition takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on 19 & 20 February 2016 and The British & International Franchise Exhibition will return to London’s Olympia on 11 & 12 March 2016.

Visitors can gain free entry for both events by registering online at www. franchisetickets.co.uk and entering the promotional code GOV1 (saving £25).

Friday 19 February | 10:00 - 17:00 Saturday 20 February | 10:00 - 16:00 FURTHER INFORMATION www.franchiseinfo.co.uk

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Customer Contact Written by Katherine Potter, , The Forum

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

PUBLIC SERVICES

Working to transform the public service Katherine Potter of the Forum discusses factors, including competition and customer choice, which affect planning for health authorities Great strides are being taken in public service to achieve more with less through effective resourcing and knowledge management.

Everyone can learn from the following innovative approaches to engagement, with huge scope for taking this best practice into other areas of public service.

Why is the industry’s leading Customer

Strategy & Planning Conference addressing health and public service this year?

Because competition and customer choice are increasingly key issues within

public service – not least in the NHS, where the landscape is fast changing. Services are now commissioned with limited budgets and go out to be competitively tendered.

As Richard Abdy, Workforce Scheduling & Planning Manager at the North East Ambulance Service explains, this attracts competition from across the public and private healthcare providers, attracting new players into the market, who offer different operating models. These, coupled with new processes and technologies, look to be more efficient and effective and are helping to introduce new approaches into public service.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING & ENGAGEMENT Take the NE Ambulance Service, finalists in this year’s Customer Contact Innovation Awards, who showed a great demonstration of how the drive of two individuals made a real difference. The way they have focussed on exceeding their goals and targets by making things easier for their staff, and achieved this by utilising the knowledge, tools and people they already have is something everybody can learn from.

With no budget, and in just three months, they developed a knowledge sharing system that is literally saving lives.

Grea strides t being t are in publi aken to achiec service with les ve more effectiv s through e and knoresourcing managewledge ment

WHAT DOES THE LAMP PROVIDE? The LAMP provides an accessible portal, on SharePoint, giving access to updates and operational tools ranging from workforce management news to a multi-media training hub. It is fully auditable and can provide insight from frequency of usage.

Creativity and the drive to deliver the best possible patient care has seen the system be embraced across the 350FTE control centre in three sites, with strong engagement ensuring the system is accurate and up-to-date.

By recognising the difficulties faced in front line roles, listening to feedback and making things easier, LAMP has helped the trust achieve £18,000 savings, raised service levels from 93 per cent to 98 per cent (against a national average of 91 per cent for 111 services) and increase quality.

CREATING CAPACITY FOR CHANGE Ingeus UK, also finalists in the 2016 Innovation Awards, is another great example of new approaches to engagement.

Ingeus has supported over 200,000 people into sustainable work since 2002, often overcoming significant barriers to employment. This publicly‑funded service delivered a change programme that has released resource to focus on what really matters.

By automating routine activity, which needed rigour and consistency, they created

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Customer Contact

NE Ambulance Service has developed a knowledge sharing system that has the potential to save lives

capacity for a virtual, centralised team of flexible people, who offer the human touch. In 2015, 92 per cent non-value added tasks were automated, including 30,000 sustainment payments, which account for 85 per cent of revenues. ‘Scott the bot’ gives a personal face to automation, those affected had a voice throughout the changes and the skills to deliver projects and technology were developed in-house, ultimately getting more from IT than anyone imagined was possible.

Crucially, the removal of routine tasks has freed individuals to truly embody the organisation’s values, with their solution‑focused approach to telephone support and passion for going the extra mile to make a difference to the lives of their clients.

AN ENGAGEMENT JOURNEY A final example comes from the NHS Business Services Authority Building, where turn-round times for applications are two days quicker and £180,000 in

2016 which will be held in Stratford upon Avon on 25-26 April 2016.

This event showcases organisations that are leading the way, making customer contact a pleasure for customers and contact centres a great place to work. The agenda and videos of previous conference presentations can be seen on The Forum website.

ABOUT THE FORUM As champions of best practice and professional development in customer contact, we are widely recognised as an innovative, inclusive and independent community of professionals who stimulate collaboration, continual learning and customer focus. Our team of independent experts offers advice and support, enabling our members to make a tangible impact in their organisation and show how the capability of each support function is fundamental to the business, through

Competition and customer choice are increasingly key issues within public service – not least in the NHS, where the landscape is fast changing annual cost savings has been delivered.

Mark Dobson, Patient Services Manager, explained: “What’s been really successful is sharing resources between areas.

People have got used to not just working in one area, it’s part of the job now.”

David Roberts, Contact Centre Services Manager, concluded that ‘minds have changed’, which must be the ultimate accolade for a successful innovation that has delivered outstanding results already.

These examples have all been taken from organisations working with the Forum, finalists in the Customer Contact Innovation Awards or presenting at Customer Strategy & Planning

specialist accreditation, qualifications and standards benchmarking.

We provide opportunities for improvement, development and recognition in three specific communities of continuous improvement: Professional Planning Forum, Quality & Customer Experience Forum and the Data, Analytics and Insight Forum.

We also run the Customer Contact Innovation Awards and Customer Strategy & Planning `conference, which will be held in Stratford upon Avon on 25-26 April 2016. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.theforum.social

Top Tips for doing more with less through effective resourcing and engagement Recommended by Adrian Hawes and Keith Stapleton, Associate Consultants at The Forum Commission an independent, root and branch diagnostic review to build up a robust picture of how the operation works now and where opportunities exist.

Ensure customer care and staff well-being is at the core of the thinking. It is only through a truly collaborative approach that the step changes in performance can become a reality.

Policies and procedures set the tone.

If they are fit for purpose, they will enable an effective mind-set to resourcing. They provide a platform for the approach to be sustainable, robust and agile.

Create a planning life-cycle which focuses on aligning resources to fluctuations in demand. Understand in detail the drivers of activity and volatility and how these change based on seasonality, location and activity type.

An effective resource planning function, will enable the Operations Managers to focus on the day to day management and development of their people.

The ability to engage stakeholders and translate complex models and numbers in to meaningful scenarios, recommendations and decisions is a fundamental part of this resource planning role.

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Learning Technologies

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

EVENT PREVIEW

Europe’s leading L&D exhibition and conference The largest, best attended and most relevant exhibition and conference in the learning and development calendar returns on the 3-4 February for more exciting conferencing and exhibitions Learning Technologies and Learning & Skills will be returning to London’s Olympia on 3-4 February 2016. Learning Technologies, co-located with Learning & Skills, is Europe’s leading showcase of organisational learning and the technology used to support learning at work. The event has continued to grow in importance, value and attendance year upon year.

The event attracts 7,500 visitors, and 250 exhibitors across two exhibition halls packed with the latest learning technologies, innovation and best practice. The event will be a unique and exciting environment for all those involved in workplace learning.

The Learning Technologies Exhibition and Conference, now in its seventeenth year, focuses on the technologies used in workplace learning and will be supported by the colocated Learning & Skills Exhibition, returning for the seventh successive year, which covers the entire spectrum of organisational L&D. NOTEWORTHY SPEAKERS The Learning Technologies Conference is a five-track event with sessions led by experts in the field of L&D. A new expanded format is designed for learning, engagement and interaction and there will be more than 70 inspirational speakers and facilitators and 500 delegates.

The 2016 conference includes keynote addresses from the internationally renowned leadership thinker, executive coach and best-selling author, Dr Marshall Goldsmith and global thought leader on the Digital Era, Ben Hammersley.

The conference will be introduced by Donald H Taylor, chairman of the Learning Technologies Conference and 25 year veteran of the learning, skills and human capital industries. Taylor commented: “This will be our biggest conference to date with the five track format designed for learning, engagement and interaction – with keynote addresses, case studies, café sessions, theory presentations, practical debate, Google hangouts and outstanding collaborative and networking opportunities.”

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WHAT’S ON The event will follow five seminar tracks.

Track 1 will examine major developments in new technology, but will also focus on other provocative issues too. Former global L&D director Stephan Thoma and EMEA L&D leader Jeff Turner will provide their thoughts on the notion of learning today, with regard to business, culture and the need for growth.

Furthermore, David Kelly, vice president and executive director of the eLearning Guild, who has over 10 years of experience as an

The event attracts 7,500 visitors, and 250 exhibitors across two exhibition halls packed with the latest learning technologies, innovation and best practice internal learning and performance consultant and training advisor, will shed light on advanced and emerging technologies. The seminar will also include discussions about the future role of instructional design, and the lessons we can learn from the successes and failures of L&D in large companies.

Track 2 will explore good practice in learning and development through overview presentations, case studies and discussion.

This track features noteworth speakers such as organisational learning and talent manager Andrew Jacobs, a recognised leader in learning and Lynne Rutherford, group vice president of Talent Management. Rutherford and Jacobs will narrate the importance of maintaining a learning strategy and the vitality of taking into account learning and development throughout the learning process.

Furthermore, Nigel Paine, managing director of nigelpaine.com Ltd, will outline areas where leadership development is failing and what can be done to solve it. This track also features issues as wide ranging as running major projects, embedding learning in the organisation and advice about how to create video and content design methodologies.

Track 3 is concerned with exploring the practical issues facing organisational learning and development. Expect to hear prominent speakers such as Mike Booth, Vodafone Technologies Manager, who will be leading a discourse about the benefits of mobile-first learning and communications for engagement and results. Additionally, Rhys Giles, learning technologies manager at Dixons Carphone, Europe’s leading specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer, will be shedding light on the weightiness of creating a social and micro learning enterprise culture within the learning operation. Issues which will also be elaborated upon in this seminar will include adaptive learning, learning management systems and a practical exploration of how L&D can market its services more effectively.

Track 4 includes an interactive examination of practical topics for a learning and development professional. Most notably, comedian, screenwriter and executive coach of The Spontaneity Shop Deborah Frances‑White, who recently produced her own BBC Radio 4 Series – ‘Deborah Frances‑White Rolls the Dice’, will be considering ways of creating the ideal learning state and

why such an idea holds significant value in the workplace. Furthermore, Pete Jenkins, founder of Gamification+ Ltd and an entrepreneur in residence at the University of Brighton Business School will also be present. Jenkins will be providing details on the role of gamification in learning and how the learning process can benefit from the application of game playing elements.

Topics also expected to appear include content development, performance support and the role of emotion in learning.

Track 5 will be provocative and consider things that haven’t necessarily been dealt with in the previous conferences. This track features a number of eminent figures including David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group and David Perring, director of research. Wilson is a major commentator on the HCM, talent and learning technology industry and a strategic advisor to many major corporate and supplier organisations in the UK and Europe. Perring not only possesses 25 years of experience working with Europe’s leading brands but is also the author of several research papers and articles on learning & HR technology.

Wilson and Perring have collaborated to lead a discussion following the learning landscape. The talk will examine the learning market and identify factors considered to be ‘game changers’ and ‘game makers’.

Dr Tesia Marshik, assistant professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has produced leading research focusing on the development of students’ motivation, self-control skills and teacher‑student

relationships and how such factors interact to influence a students’ development and academic adjustment. Marshik will be giving a discourse considering learning and the mind. In particular the speech will elaborate on the presence of an unconscious bias within the mind and seek to challenge the way we ‘think about thinking’.

This year’s conference features a ‘Google hangout’ room on top of the five tracks that form the regular programme. Sessions will run parallel to the scheduled programme discussing topics that have come up during the course of the conference, exploring them in more detail.

Learning Technologies

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

Exhibition and Conference for the sixth year in succession. The Learning & Skills Exhibition showcases the entire spectrum of methods, products and services for workplace learning with a focus on people development, learning and performance, learning resources and HR systems and services and is built around a multi-streamed programme of free seminars in two theatres on the exhibition floor.

The combination of Learning Technologies and Learning & Skills provides access to 250 exhibitors – all of the leading learning providers – and 160 free-of-charge seminars.

Nowhere else in Europe will you find all

‘Google hangout’ sessions will run parallel to the scheduled programme discussing topics that have come up during the course of the conference, exploring them in more detail Unlike the exhibitions which are both free to attend, a fee is charged to attend the Learning Technologies Conference. Booking rates and available discounts are listed on the conference web site. Additionally, delegates booking between 1 January and 27 January can choose either the Mophie power reserve 2x, Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV stick as part of their delegate booking.

THE LEARNING & SKILLS EXHIBITION Learning & Skills 2016 is again being co‑located with the Learning Technologies

these suppliers to the L&D industry in one place. The events are by far the most comprehensive and important gathering of L&D professionals and suppliers in Europe.

Attending the exhibitions is free of charge, however visitors are encouraged to register in advance to gain fast track entry. There is free passage between the two exhibitions and visitors only need register with one of them. Registration is available online. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.learningtechnologies.co.uk

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LONDON & PARTNERS

Written by Ellie Wilson, London & Partners

Looking no further than London

Conferences & Events

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

London as a destination has pretty much everything. Here, London & Partners discuss why public sector event buyers should look no further than London as a destination for any conference, meeting or event they will be placing No matter what the size or budget, London is the perfect destination to host your event in 2016. From immersive game experiences to incredible rooftop venues and unique conference centres, the city has something to offer every event planner. Hosting a function in London is not only easy and convenient, it also gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy and experience this world-renowned capital.

There’s no better time than now to start planning your 2016 events in London.

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

With ever-rising numbers of business and leisure visitors to London, a variety of new hotels are opening across the capital. Amongst the hotels opening in 2016 is the InterContinental London – The O2, with 20 multifunctional meeting rooms and a 3,000sqm ballroom, which will hold up to 3,000 delegates.

On the doorstep of the UK’s second largest arena, InterContinental London – The O2 will officially launch in January and will boast an indoor pool, two restaurants and 18th floor Sky Bar, with panoramic views across the Thames to Canary Wharf and beyond, making it the ideal location to host an evening reception or meeting for networking drinks.

Tracy Halliwell, director of Business Tourism and Major Events at London & Partners, the city’s official convention bureau, said: “With the rising number of business and leisure

visitors to London and strong occupancy levels across the city, hotel companies are investing in new properties, catering for the demand for both low-cost and high-end hotels. With properties right next to many tourist attractions, these investments will help to attract more visitors to London as well as provide new facilities for both local and international businesses to host meetings and conferences across the city.”

Another new property is The Curtain Hotel and Members Club Shoreditch, which will be the exclusive Gansevoort Hotel Group’s first London property. It will feature 120 warm and spacious guest rooms including six suites, each with natural light, hardwood floors and steam showers. The venue will also offer a screening room, music venue and a ballroom.

2016 will also see a number of new restaurants opening across the city, with some great function spaces, such as the Barbecoa St James, a new 9,000ft restaurant, set within an iconic new space at the historic Prince’s House.

The restaurant uses only the finest cuts of meat, all hand selected by in-house butchers who search the length and breadth of the UK to find the very best produce for its distinctive dishes. For something more intimate and different, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery will be opening its new restaurant Pharmacy 2. This new venture will offer a fine dining experience in the evening, with Hirst’s ‘Pill’ pictures decorating the walls.

LONDON FOR CULTURE With eight out of 10 visitors to London citing culture as their main reason for visiting, London is well and truly a global cultural powerhouse. And with 2016 featuring blockbuster exhibitions, anniversaries and commemorations, alongside world-class

theatre, the city is expected to remain as captivating and attractive as ever for business visitors and event planners alike.

Fire! Fire! the Museum of London’s exhibition celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, will be looking at the impact the blaze had on the city.

Buckingham Palace will be celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday with a retrospective entitled ‘Fashioning A Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen’s Wardrobe’.

Another blockbuster exhibition to come in 2016 is ‘EXHIBITIONISM’ at the Saatchi Gallery, which will be the first international exhibition on The Rolling Stones. Finally, the new Tate Modern will be opening in June 2016 and will offer more space for new kinds of art as well as being a memorable new addition to London’s skyline.

LONDON FOR TECH Playing host to 40 per cent of European headquarters and over 40,000 tech businesses, London is now the tech capital of Europe. The latest Cities of Opportunity Index from professional services firm, PwC, named London number one and said the city is ‘technologically on the top of its game’. The report also listed London as the world leader in economic influence, technology access, reputation as an urban gateway, and its development and design capabilities.

The UK capital claimed the number E

W eight o ith visitors ut of 10 t citing c o London their m ulture as a visitingin reason for , a globa London is lc powerh ultural ouse

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

A unique venue for your special event TRINITY HOUSE, conveniently located on Tower Hill near underground stations, overlooks Trinity Square Gardens towards the Tower of London and is the working home of the General Lighthouse Authority for England and Wales.

Behind the Georgian exterior is a suite of five elegant south‑facing rooms showcasing a myriad maritime treasures and available on an exclusive hire basis with seating capacities for 130 / 60 in the two main rooms.

Please visit www.trinityhouse.co.uk/events or email Events Manager, Edgar King at: Edgar.King@trinityhouse.co.uk for more information.

Tower Hill, London, EC3N 4DH

The host venue for: Away Days & Workshops - from 20 Conferences - from 300 Election Counts Graduation Ceremonies - from 1,000 Meetings - from 20 Orientation Days - from 1,500 Product Launches - from 1,000 Training - from 20

Contact

Katy Harding T +44 (0) 20 7069 4707 E katyharding@excel.london

www.excel.london

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LONDON & PARTNERS  one position ahead of New York, Singapore, Toronto, and San Francisco.

Event planners can harness the city’s vibrant tech scene for their own benefit.

Russ Shaw, of Tech London Advocates, said: “London’s technology credentials are unrivalled right now in Europe. Tech City now spans the entire capital and with that comes ready access to some of the world’s most inspirational tech speakers, the opportunity to embed cutting-edge technology into your events, as well as a vital pool of potential sponsors on the doorstep.”

In 2014, London launched London Technology Week. Hailed a huge success by leading technology entrepreneurs, the event returned for 2015 with close to 43,000 attendees from all over the world taking part in the week’s 240 independently‑run

doorstep, potential event sponsors close-by, financial investors and clients who could register as delegates to attend the event.

In 2015, London’s ExCeL welcomed Europe’s biggest medical association meeting, the European Society of Cardiology Congress, which hosted a record-breaking number of attendees (32,773). The Alzheimer’s Association is also holding its annual conference in London in 2017.

Darren Mendola, senior director of Conference Services at the Alzheimer’s Association, said: “London has everything an international conference attendee needs: stunning historic attractions, excellent transport connectivity and high‑tech, high-capacity events spaces.”

London offers an abundance of academic venues to hold meetings and events,

London is a world-renowned creative hub and the city is leading the way in bringing creativity to the forefront of meetings and events events. The third edition of London Technology Week will be taking place from 20-26 June 2016, making it the perfect time to host your tech event in the capital.

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

With the likes of AdWeek Europe and TechCrunch Disrupt hosting their events in London, organisations like Tech City and EdTechUK, and a huge pool of international talent to choose from there is no doubt London’s tech sector is, and will continue to thrive.

LONDON AND LIFE SCIENCES Life Sciences is a key growth sector for London, and one in which the city has natural strengths. The Mayor of London launched MedCity in 2014, in partnership with the capital’s three Academic Health Science Centres – Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre, King’s Health Partners, and UCL Partners - with the aim of promoting and growing the world-leading life sciences cluster of England’s greater south east (London, Oxford, Cambridge).

With four of the world’s top 10 universities (QS World University Rankings), London is a centre of excellence for biomedical research. This expertise is of huge benefit to meeting planners as it provides them with influential, expert speakers on the

including ExCeL London, the award winning convention and events venue in East London. Offering an incredible 100,000m2 of flexible event space, including London’s International Convention Centre, ExCeL will also open a new training and meeting facility in 2016. Made up of 29 training rooms and featuring panoramic waterside views across London, CentrEd at ExCeL will have a private entrance and dedicated reception area, as well as dockside balcony access.

James Rees, ExCeL London executive director, said: “We will be able to provide delegates with a one-of-a kind space within London.

One that’s easily accessible and conducive to learning, with access to green spaces and fresh air, alongside the tranquil, waterside setting of Royal Victoria Dock. We are very excited about the launch of CentrEd at ExCeL which we believe will provide all the right ingredients to deliver a complete meeting experience.”

London also offers smaller venues to suit more intimate gatherings. Around King’s Cross, The Wellcome Collection offers eight different space which are suitable for any events from 12 to 200 delegates.

The Royal College of General Practitioners also has a variety of venues, catering for up to 300 people.

Over near Regent’s Park, The Royal College of Physicians is an award-winning, modern

building, with a private garden, featuring no less than 18 meetings spaces. Located across three sites in London, Queen Mary University also offers a variety of event spaces for as little as 10 guests, and up to 800.

Conferences & Events

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

INNOVATIVE EVENTS London is a world-renowned creative hub and the city is leading the way in bringing creativity to the forefront of meetings and events, so it is no wonder so many ground-breaking events are choosing London as a host city.

In January, London & Partners, in partnership with Artichoke, will be launching London’s first light festival, Lumiere. Supported by the Mayor of London, the event will see international artists take over the city and illuminate architectural landmarks with 3D art projections, interactive installations and other extraordinary light works.

In September 2016, London’s ExCeL will play host to the inaugural edition of New Scientist Live. The four-day conference will illustrate how science and technology improve lives, shapes society and drives economic growth. Featuring world-renowned experts and famous faces from the world of science, engineering and technology, New Scientist Live will offer interactive demonstrations of cutting-edge technology and provide unparalleled insights into the objectives and aspirations shaping our futures.

2016 will also see Advertising Week Europe coming back to London for the fourth year.

The world-famous event is a hybrid of inspiring thought leadership featuring the industry’s best and brightest and engaging special events. With such a broad spectrum of high-profile events, it comes as no surprise that Cvent, the cloud-based event management platform, recently named London as the top meetings destination in Europe.

Commenting on the announcement, London & Partners’ Tracy Halliwell, added: “2015 has been a great year for the city with amazing events including the European Society of Cardiology’s congress and another hugely successful London Technology Week.

“The meetings and events industry is constantly evolving and we are thrilled to see that our strategy to keep London at the forefront of innovation is delivering significant returns for the city.” L FURTHER INFORMATION conventionbureau.london

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EVENT PREVIEW

Confex 2016: welcome to the ideas factory

International Confex

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

International Confex opens its doors on the 2-3 March at Olympia London and is once again the place where people who organise every sort of event plan for the year ahead Visitors will see every aspect of the events management process represented, from venues and destinations, to new technology, delegate management systems, audience engagement applications, catering and staffing. Confex is once again a place where you can create your next government or community event from concept to delivery.

This year’s International Confex will be themed ‘Ideas Factory: Innovation that Shapes the Industry’ with the educational programme, event branding and exhibitor marketing all promoting the importance of ideas and innovation in shaping the look and feel of events to come. Organisers of the show have been encouraging exhibitors, association partners and event visitors to get behind the theme to create an ‘ideas-driven’ environment in keeping with the need for events to inspire as well as educate and inform.

The imagery they have used this year reflects how the Ideas Factory works; through inspiration from their participating companies and seminars, it is their endeavour to give you all the tools which will empower you in creating original events. Confex aims to engage you with their showcase of the events industry, driving you to innovation and professional success. Confex 2016 will be the most exciting yet; visitors to the event will be encouraged and energised by what they have seen and will be able to implement their new ideas in all their areas of expertise as a result of attending this year’s show.

The theme will also be implemented across UK Events Week; a festival of events taking place in the week of International Confex, which will see more education, events and networking, all with the aim of promoting the industry though the medium of events. Several of the sessions within UK Events Week will look at innovation within meetings and experiential events, and how to manage and create ideas within business.

The theme of innovation will be visible across International Confex. One of the features of the show will be Eventech 16, a showcase of tech innovations for the future and a chance for event organisers to see how technology is helping them to create the best experiences for their guests.

Equally, there are some existing plans from exhibitors who will be showcasing the innovations being made at venue and

For organisers of government events, there will be the latest new venues and technology aimed at conferences used for communication to networks across the UK destination level, as well as throughout the event support chain, and how these are giving more diversity and choice to organisers.

THE ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME Meanwhile, Mastercard has confirmed one of the stand out sessions of UK Events Week, with their head of European Marketing flying in from Italy to host a question and answers session for event organisers. Other significant events of note will include a CEO Dinner hosted by Nick de Bois and attended by some of the leading CEO’s in London, discussing their vision of the events industry.

There will also be two breakfast sessions before International Confex on the Wednesday and Thursday, the first looking at technology innovation and showcasing some of the future tech on offer for 2016 and beyond. The second session will look at the latest new private dining and restaurant venues event organisers may want to consider for the coming year.

The Association programme is also looking strong again this year after the show delivered over 350 association buyers in 2015 through its partnership with Association Network. This section of the show is concerned with meetings organised by associations, from medical, to government and professional and is the perfect place to share knowledge and information from fellow organisers of this kind of event.

Confex continues to develop its partnerships within the industry. Following on the tail of the excellent partnership with MPI UK&I and its CMP programme, the show has confirmed a partnership with ISES UK to support the event tech hub with a ‘sign posting’ activation that helps event organisers find the creative solutions they need for their events. The MIA will once again host its AIM Pavilion and EVCOM will host its annual board meeting and a membership refresh seminar during the show. E

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International Confex

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

EVENT PREVIEW in excess of 12,000 event professionals at the show. They love Confex because it’s an exciting, innovative and dynamic environment that suits events people. Our research always tells us that they visit Confex for inspiration, now we’re capturing that energy in everything we do with the show.”

 Liz Agostini, event director, said “We’ve got a brilliant group of people working with, for and alongside the show, from our exhibitor partners to our associations, and of course our outstanding Steering Group.

All of them are passionate about Confex and

want it to represent and reflect the very best of the industry and are bringing their ‘A’ games to the show.

“We’re expecting well

EDUCATION PROGRAMME International Confex is continuing its ‘Ideas Factory’ theme through another exceptional programme of education. The content has been curated to deliver advice and information immediately relevant to the event organiser of 2016, addressing subjects such as security, technology, audience profiling and governance, all amid a series of live examples and speakers from within and outside of the events industry. The programme will also look to the future and provide new ideas across operational, technological, venue and catering streams.

The educational content will focus on the power of the moderator, teamwork, maximising sponsorship potential and getting the speaker choice right for your event.

tional Interna x is Confe g its in continuactory’ ‘Ideas F hrough theme txceptional re anothe ramme of prog ation educ

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

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At 10.00-10.45, Hans Etman, Masters in Moderation, will present ‘The Power of the Moderator – conference glue’, which will be directly followed by ‘Events for member value – serving your agenda, members and industry’, by Mike Treacher, GSMA. From 12.00-12.45, the discussion will focus upon ‘Teamwork – Venue, Destination and Association in partnership’, while after lunch Jackie Fast, Slingshot Sponsorship, will focus upon how associations maximise sponsorship potential in 2016. The talks conclude with Nick Gold of the European Association of Speaker Bureaux, presenting ‘Horses for courses – getting the speaker choice right’.

The day will be broken up with a networking lunch, which will allow attendees time to meet with colleagues and peers in an environment conductive to networking.

Liz commented: “Our visitors see huge value in our educational programme and we’re once again delighted to produce a programme of unique, relevant and inspirational content that will inspire our visitors with new ideas. We’re bringing in speakers from outside the events industry and seeing what we can learn and share with other markets and sectors that also care about creativity, innovation and communication.”

For organisers of government events, there will be the latest new venues and technology aimed at conferences used for communication to networks across the UK. Large developments have been made in webinars, most adopted by organisers of government meetings, and the show will also showcase some of the best innovations in road shows and educational tour production.

For organisers looking at experiential events and brand activations there will be a series of sessions that look to understand the new Millennial audience, the behavioural trends of delegates in 2016, and how creativity can be captured, enhanced and evaluated in meetings and events of the future. Meanwhile Eventech 16 will take centre stage in the technology zone, and include sessions from thought leaders both within and outside the events industry.

The EIG group will be conducting the finals of its MyEvent.Vision competition live on stage with the support of its advisory board of leading event personalities.

It will also be launching details of its winning entry for 2015, the first of a number exclusives at the show. There will also be sessions on sponsorship, event marketing and operational learning ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Finally, there will be a special session on security and the information and advice event organisers need to run their event positively in the wake of security and terrorism concerns across the world.

Reflecting upon last year’s show, Kathleen Warden, director of Conference Sales at SECC, concluded: “International Confex was a great

International Confex

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

show this year. The buyers were good and the educational content entirely relevant.

It is going from strength to strength.”

UK EVENTS WEEK Organisers of International Confex are promising to light up the events industry this spring with the launch of UK Events Week, a week-long celebration and spotlight on the entirety of the UK Events Industry taking place from 29 February to 4 March. The week, which includes International Confex and the Event Production Show, comes fittingly at the culmination of Britain for Events, the hugely influential self-promotional campaign for the events industry.

UK Events Week will use events to sell and celebrate events with a week long programme of board room discussions, chat rooms, celebrations, seminars, conferences and mini exhibitions. Sessions will have representatives from key industry figures and C level executives from multi-national corporates, the top 20 event agencies, PCOs, associations, leading venues, government and media.

events already scheduled range from a Chief Executive Dinner on how chief executives view the events industry, with participants from the UK’s largest companies, to a presentation from UK

The Association programme is also looking strong again this year after the show delivered over 350 association buyers in 2015 through its partnership with Association Network UK Events Week will be curated by senior industry and media professionals including Nick de Bois, chairman of the new Events Industry Board, Mike Fletcher and Alistair Turner, ISES UK President Elect.

Broadly divided into three main streams of ‘Business’, ‘Marketing’ and ‘Industry’,

Sport on how they pull together a match winning bid team, an ideal forum for venues and destinations to look at new perspectives on the event pitch process. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.international-confex.com

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EVENT PREVIEW

Working to evolve international resilience

Security & Counter Terror Expo

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

Security & Counter Terror Expo, taking place on 19-20 April 2016, is the leading event for those tasked with protecting people, assets and nations from terrorist threats for attack. The free-to-attend Transport Security Live Conference at SCTX will showcase international case studies and the latest developments in protecting transport networks, transport hubs and passengers.

Transport Security Live brings together the key stakeholders from government, police, aviation, maritime, public transport, rail and secure transport to discover best practice, the latest solutions and developments in transport security.

Security & Counter Terror Expo (SCTX) is the world-leading event for public and private sector security and counter terror professionals. The show will open its doors for the eighth edition on the 19-20 April at London’s prestigious Olympia. Aligned with UKTI and Home Office Export Strategy, particular interest for 2016 lies within demonstrating awareness within seven key capabilities as outlined by the Home Office.

These include: border control; critical national infrastructure protection; cyber security; major events; offender management; policing and counter terrorism; and services. By focussing on these capabilities, exhibitors at the show will be able to make unprecedented in-roads into new international markets as well as meeting key domestic buyers.

The combination of a high-level conference and extensive exhibition provides a vital opportunity for public and private sectors to meet to discuss how to protect against terrorism and ensure effective threat mitigation solutions are put in place. The exclusive event will bring together over 10,000 leading manufacturers, buyers and industry VIPs from across the spectrum of government, military, law enforcement, emergency services, critical national infrastructure, private sector and the security services.

FEATURE ZONES Located on the show floor are several feature zones each dedicated to a specific area of security. Organisers of SCTX have been exploring the most pressing issues and trends

WORLD COUNTER TERROR CONGRESS The centre-piece paid-for conference will be the World Counter Terror Congress.

Over 400 internationally recognised professionals are expected to gather at this paid-for area of the conference to debate the threats we face, define operational strategies and to help shape future policy. The World Counter Terror Congress offers an excellent opportunity for the government, emergency services, academics, technology providers and vendors to unveil new developments in counter terrorism.

Public and private sector buyers, influencers and government delegations from across the globe will be attending SCTX to explore how the latest technology can be matched to their current and future needs.

At Advanced Technologies Live they will be able to see and hear more about the latest technologies and innovative solutions that the industry has to offer through a series of live demonstrations. Advanced Technologies Live offers the perfect opportunity for SME’s to present their solutions and raise their profile on a broad international platform.

Set to be larger than before, the exhibition of over 300 companies will provide a comprehensive showcase of technology, equipment and services designed to protect nations, borders, crowded places, companies, assets and individuals from the threat of terrorist attacks. There will be over 3,000 products on display, each relating to the seven key capabilities. L

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within the current state of national and international security. They include: Critical National Infrastructure Conference; Transport Security Live; Cyber Threat Intelligence; and Advanced Technologies Live.

New for 2016 is the Critical National Infrastructure Conference. This free-to-attend conference will attract hundreds of public and private sector security professionals tasked with protecting the multi-billion pound national infrastructure. The conference offers insight into infrastructure protection with talks from internationally recognised experts and the chance to explore in‑depth protection of critical physical and informational assess and networks.

With cyber terrorism on the rise, there is an increasing need to develop sophisticated defences. Hosted by techUK, the Cyber Threat Intelligence conference is expected to be a popular area of the show and will analyse global cyber security threats and best practice in mitigating them. Cyber Threat Intelligence is one of the UK’s fastest growing cyber security events, run for the first time in 2015 it attracted over a thousand delegates from the public and private sector.

The free-to-attend conference provides a platform for those tasked with preventing and responding to cyber crime and terrorism.

The global terror threat is high and transport networks are a favoured target

FURTHER INFORMATION www.counterterrorexpo.com

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

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EVENT PREVIEW

The home of hospitality innovation

Hotelympia 2016

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

Obit, Hotelympia, the UK’s greatest hospitality event, returns in early 2016, promising more product innovation than ever before, with the most comprehensive range of suppliers yet, plus all-new competitions and some of the UK’s most celebrated chefs

Registration is now live for Hotelympia, the biennial four-day show, taking place on 29 February to 3 March. Relevant for every sector of hospitality, from hotels and restaurants to pubs; cafes; contract catering; casual dining; the cost sector and beyond, Hotelympia will see to the unique needs of visitors catered for by some of the world’s most pioneering exhibitors in food and drink; catering equipment; technology; interiors and tableware; careers and sustainability-focused waste-works.

Toby Wand, managing director at Fresh Montgomery, comments: “It may seem a contradiction in terms to describe an event on the sheer scale of Hotelympia as having

For almost years th 80 i (Hotely s show has beempia) n the only sh o w tha e n t i re hospitat the fraterni l ty buildity s up to

the feel of a bespoke, tailored show, but in 2016, that’s exactly the experience we will deliver.

“How do we achieve this with so many ground-breaking exhibitors, from multiple sectors, all under one roof? The answer lies in knowing the market, understanding the trends that keep this vibrant industry ticking, showcasing companies that share in this vision, true innovators, keeping things fresh and, most importantly, relevant to you. So, whichever day you choose to spend with us, and whatever attraction, innovative new product, key exhibitor or insightful speaker is on your hit

list, this experience will be individually tailored to you, the requirements of your business and your customers. Your show.”

CATERING EQUIPMENT With over 120 exhibitors already confirmed in the equipment hall – the largest line-up ever amassed under one roof – state-of the art catering equipment is yet again set to be one of the jewels in the Hotelympia crown.

New for 2016 is a unique and impressive ‘Meet the Buyer’ Programme, created in partnership with the Catering Equipment Suppliers Association (CESA) which will see E

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Hotelympia

EVENT PREVIEW

 buyers’ requirements matched to the exhibitor whose equipment best meet their needs.

They will then be able to speak directly and confidentially to manufacturers on everything from technical specifications to energy saving benefits.

Crucially, they will also be able to compare and contrast kit and try before they buy.

Keith Warren, CESA director, said: “As the largest hospitality exhibition in the UK calendar, CESA and its membership is proud to support and continue our successful and established association with Hotelympia, which helps to fund many of CESA’s activities throughout the year.

The 2016 event is set to have the largest selection of catering equipment on show anywhere in the UK, while the new Meet the Buyer programme adds yet another compelling reason for visitors to make London the only destination they need visit for all their equipment requirements in 2016 and beyond.”

A host of leading industry lights will be offering insight-packed presentations on The Stage including: the master of service, restaurant manager of the world famous, Three Michelin-starred Waterside Inn, Diego Masciaga; Eric Partaker, co-CEO of casual innovators Chilango; leading designer and sustainable architecture pioneer, Oliver

Heath; former Hotel Manager of The London Edition, Edwin Kramer; Martin Williams of London city restaurant, M; restaurateurs and master foragers, Richard and Oliver Gladwin; Michelin-starred chef, Mark Sergeant and star of TV’s The Apprentice, now a designer in her own right, Ella Jade Bitten.

The THE HUM OF THE HUB With Discovery, Delivery and 2016 a Efficiency as key watchwords, the i p Hotelym to have technology-focused HOSPACE Hub will offer a number of panel s set event i est selection discussions around acquisition, service experience and the largng equipment efficiency for both guests and i r e t of ca on show diners. Hot-button subjects will include: distribution; reservations; re in marketing and loyalty; point-of‑sale; anywhe K up-selling; table management; the U

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in‑room technology; service automation; supply chain and inventory management.

The Hub will welcome a number of key influencers and experts onto its stage, including: Google UK’s head of hospitality, Terri Scriven, who will be talking about how sites can, with limited resources, make digital channels a boon rather than a bane; Denis Collet, CEO of Hotelympia Innovation Award winners, Orderella, who will be discussing functional technology and how its development is being driven by a whirlwind of customer demand; Digital Blonde Karen Fewell and My Ly, senior marketing manager for YO! Sushi, who will be debating the merits of digital marketing on a budget; and Tom Valentine, co-founder of Secret Escapes, who will be investigating the developing relationships between booking agencies and restaurants and hotels.

THE STAFF CANTEEN LIVE Held in conjunction with The Craft Guild of Chefs, The Staff Canteen Live – Skillery in association with Westlands, will be showcasing the skills of 16 of the country’s leading chefs, comprising some 20 Michelin stars. The line-up includes: Clare Smyth, chef patron of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay; Tom Kerridge from two Michelin-starred The Hand and Flowers and The Coach at Marlow; Claude Bosi of two Michelin-starred Hibiscus; Nathan Outlaw of his eponymous two Michelin-starred restaurant; Paul Ainsworth from one Michelin-starred Paul Ainsworth at Number 6; Tom Aikens, the youngest British chef ever to be awarded two Michelin stars and Simon Rogan one of most accomplished, unique and best loved chefs in the UK. Each day will see a changing line-up of chefs performing interactive demonstrations on stage in front of a live audience offering recipe guidance, cooking tips and sampling opportunities.

ENCOURAGING INNOVATION With class-leading chefs in mind, International Salon Culinaire returns to Hotelympia in 2016 with a brand new Chef Director, executive chef of the Royal Garden Hotel, Steve Munkley, and a host of programme changes aimed at ensuring the world’s premier culinary competition stays fresh and relevant to modern hospitality.

New for 2016 is The Skills Theatre which will give chefs at the very beginning of their careers – including apprentices and students, and those who have not competed before – the chance to experience the thrill and bright spotlight of competition with classes including butchery, fishmongery, pastry,

Royal Garden Hotel executive chef Steve Munkley

sugar‑craft and many more. Another first for Salon, front-of-house staff will now also get to demonstrate their skills and put their efforts to the test in a selection of service classes.

It’s not just about food, Hotelympia’s Drinks Cabinet and Drinks Innovation Theatre will grow to encompass craft beer, cider, spirits and wine as the drinks scene moves from strength-tostrength. The Drinks Innovation Theatre will not only house talks on the profitability of alcoholic beverages, but also how getting your hot drinks offering right can be equally as rewarding.

Toby Wand adds: “For almost 80 years this show has been the only show that the

your show; but what about the world‑class chefs that rely on these innovative machines daily? And the food and drink products – from leading suppliers and burgeoning producers – that go into making menus really stand out from the competition?

Or the beautiful flat and glassware that is the customer’s first experience of an establishment, the key design and décor elements that help set the tone, the lighting; the technology that keeps service running smoothly?

Hotelympia 2016 has these key elements and much more in abundance.”

New for 2016 is The Skills Theatre which will give chefs at the very beginning of their careers the chance to experience the thrill and bright spotlight of competition entire hospitality fraternity builds up to; the only show with the breadth of exhibitors and products needed to make business-changing decisions; the only show where you will leave with more than you arrived, buoyed by the weight of insight and innovation at every turn.

“In 2016, we’re taking the show to you.

So if it’s the very latest ground-breaking catering equipment you’re looking for, this is

Hotelympia

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

Yet again the Show Makers have been recruited from leading catering college, Westminster Kingsway, with students trained

by Lisa Campagnola, the lady behind the London Olympic Gamesmakers.

Also making a second appearance at the Hotelympia 2016 event will be Waste‑Works – a new, co-located event focusing purely on suppliers of waste solutions and services seeking to target the hospitality sector. The attraction will consist of a high‑level speaker programme, alongside a large number of specialist exhibitors. L

MAKING THE SHOW After the shining success of 2014, the Hotelympia ‘Show Makers’ – a team of specially trained young ambassadors – will be on hand throughout the four days, offering advice and guidance on forthcoming attractions and creating bespoke pathways through the show, depending on visitor criteria and interests.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.hotelympia.com

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LEISURE

Sport & Recreation

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

Fighting fit and funding physical activity in 2016 The Sport and Recreation Alliance look back at the important decisions from 2015 that will affect sport and physical activity in 2016

NATIONAL PICTURE In November, George Osborne announced in the Spending Review that funding for Sport England, the public body for grassroots sport, would remain at similar levels for the next four years as it had enjoyed in the previous cycle. UK Sport, the body that deals with elite sports funding and performance saw an increase in its government funding.

This was hugely positive as it had been feared that cuts of up to 40 per cent could be levied at sports funding. The Sport and Recreation Alliance campaigned hard to protect sports funding through its #GetYourKitOn campaign and with a mass amount of support from governing bodies, organisations and individuals managed to persuade the government to leave sports budgets relatively untouched. What this means is that, once the new national sports strategy has been implemented, Sport England will be in a good position to invest in projects

that increase participation and encourage the nation to get active, more often.

AT A LOCAL LEVEL While sports funding at an elite level is in a relatively stable position, other announcements in the Spending Review will have a more pronounced impact on sport and recreation at a local, grassroots level.

The most obvious – and potentially most important – of these is the planned changes to local government spending. This is important since local government is a major contributor to sport and recreational activity through investment in facilities and delivery of local leisure activities.

The steep reduction in the central grant to local government (a 56.3 per cent real terms cut by 2020) reflects the government’s intention to phase out this grant and to devolve control over locally-raised income (Council Tax and business rates) to local authorities.

The idea behind this is to empower local authorities to set business rates to attract business to generate economic growth and thereby generate revenue to fund local services.

While this sounds attractive in theory, the biggest difficulties are likely to be faced in more deprived areas where there is already alimited Council Tax base and where business rate concessions are already made to keep businesses in the local area. In these communities there is likely to be very little scope to raise additional revenue locally and therefore discretionary spend on sport and

It’s ly incredib that nt importaort and the sp sector as ion recreat le continues a who pported by u to be s al and local n natio rnment gove

recreation is almost certain to come under heavy pressure, particularly if other costs – notably for social care – continue to rise.

Some areas have already closed local facilities in response to funding pressures and it is difficult to see how this change to local government funding arrangements will alleviate them. If anything, it may result in wider disparities between local areas in terms of sport and leisure provision.

IS SPORT IN RUDE HEALTH IN 2016?

While funding for sport will be a fine balancing act in the years ahead, the most recent outlook on sports participation makes for more positive reading.

The Active People Survey released by Sport England in December 2015 showed that 245,000 more people were playing sport regularly compared to the June 2015 figures. The total figure for people playing sport stands at 15.74 million, an increase of 1.65 million since London was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games.

Within the statistics were the findings that there were increases in the number of people playing sport from different groups.

Women’s participation, participation from those within lower socio-economic groups and participation by those with disabilities, all increased to a degree. How these latest figures are built on will be dependent, in part, on the detail within the new sports strategy.

Written by The Sport and Recreation Alliance

Be honest, how many times have you resolved to get more physically active in the New Year? How successful you are in acting on this is mostly dependent on your own will.

However, more often than not, you’ll also be relying on your local sport and recreation clubs and facilities to help you achieve your goals. Grassroots and local sports clubs are integral to providing a happy and healthy nation; physically, mentally and socially.

It’s incredibly important therefore that the sport and recreation sector as a whole continues to be supported by national and local government, as well as adapting to an ever‑demanding and evolving customer base.

LEADING FROM THE FRONT While sports organisations can be well‑funded and given strategic direction as to how to get the best from their resources, it’s important to ensure good governance structures are in place to enable this process to happen.

Leadership, governance and managing a workforce are key aspects of any thriving E

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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Working together for a brighter future

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LEISURE  organisation and central to ensuring that the sport and recreation sector is Fit for the Future, as detailed in the Alliance’s report of the same name.

The way in which organisations are led and governed may need to adapt to an evolving and, in some cases, fast-moving external environment. The skills needed by those working in the sport and recreation sector, from national governing bodies to local programmes, might also need to develop

joined up coordinated investment’. This understanding will enable departments to recognise the valuable contribution sport and recreation can play in helping address issues in society.

Whilst asking for greater government understanding, we also recognise the need for greater accountability when it comes to the delivery and monitoring of sport and recreation initiatives. The strategy must set out who is responsible for what and how

Leadership, governance and managing a workforce are key aspects of any thriving organisation and central to ensuring that the sport and recreation sector is Fit for the Future to reflect changes in focus and demand.

To this end, the Alliance has been working hard over the last year or so to promote its Voluntary Code of Good Governance to ensure that sporting organisations have the right skills and processes in place in order to manage themselves effectively. If this is done, then the sector will be in a healthier position to deliver programmes that increase sporting participation, physical activity and contribute towards a healthy and happy society.

WHAT’S TO COME? In 2016, we’ll know more about what a new strategy for sport will entail. The Alliance made recommendations on what a new strategy should include following extensive consultations with its members and the wider sport and recreation sector.

A key part of our response was to press home the importance of government departments, ‘understanding the role sport and recreation can play in achieving their objectives and supporting this through

delivery of objectives will be measured. It must also be clear about key milestones and next steps. Alliance members similarly recognise the need to be held to account, particularly when in receipt of public funds.

Ensuring the nation is able to get out and get active in 2016 will require input from all whose services act as a touchpoint between the public and physical activity.

FIT FOR THE FUTURE The Alliance will be continuing with its Fit for the Future project, ensuring the sector is aware of the challenges and empowered with the skill and knowledge to be able to capitalise on the opportunities that will be created, to engage more people to get physically active.

Technology, as one example, should not be a threat to delivering high-quality activity; rather it should present an unprecedented opportunity to reach, engage and retain our current and future participants and consumers.

It promises to be an interesting and exciting time for those involved in delivering sport

and recreation services and activities over the next year. Throw the Rio Olympics in to the mix and there are going to be plenty of opportunities to capture the public’s imagination and get more people active.

With a strong and collaborative approach by all concerned with sport and recreation, the values that can be derived from increased physical activity can be felt across all corners of the nation and the Alliance intend to be at the forefront of this charge, to raise the heartbeat, health and happiness of the nation.

Sport & Recreation

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

CAMPAIGNING IN 2016 The government has touted the new strategy as the first of its kind to look beyond participation levels and the number of gold medals won at Olympic and Paralympic Games, and towards a wider understanding of the social value of sport. With five high‑level outcomes (physical well-being, mental wellbeing, individual development, social and community development and economic development) and 23 new key performance indicators (KPIs) to target, the implementation of the sport strategy will be fascinating to watch unfold throughout the year.

Amongst the changes, the Sport England Active People Survey will be replaced with Active Lives as the primary data source for measuring engagement in sport and physical activity amongst adults. This will capture a broader sense of active engagement and reflect the value of sport in a range of ways, including volunteering and watching sport.

During the first half of 2016, Active Lives will be extended to cover Sport England’s new age remit, measuring children’s engagement form the age of five years old.

Top of many people’s lists of things to watch out for in 2016 will be Sport England’s own new strategy for the next funding cycle, which will explore the arrangements of current funding models E

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LEISURE  against the new Active Lives KPIs. The Alliance is looking forward to taking part in this strategy consultation, which we expect could be launched early in the New Year.

Announced in the sport strategy, UK Sport and Sport England will, along with the other Home Nations’ Sports Councils, agree a new UK Sports Governance Code by September 2016. This new Code will be mandatory for all sports bodies seeking public funding in the next funding period. The Alliance has long promoted its Voluntary Code of Good Governance and is enthusiastic about engaging with government regarding the details of the new Code.

CHILDHOOD OBESITY STRATEGY It is anticipated that the Department of Health will publish plans to tackle childhood obesity in the New Year. The government’s focus on tackling the growing challenges of diabetes and dementia is also expected to feature heavily throughout policy proposals in 2016. The Alliance will continue to promote the benefits of sport and recreation as part of the public health agenda.

A key outcome in the new strategy framework, placed alongside and on an equal footing with physical activity, is mental well‑being. Our work through the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation reflects the drive within the sector around this agenda and highlights the great work that is already going on. The government has called for more evidence to be collected and states that it will work with the new What Works Centre for Wellbeing among other initiatives to fill this gap.

The Alliance will continue our work in this area and push for the agenda to move away from gathering more evidence to a greater focus on developing what we know works.

EU REFERENDUM Although the Prime Minister has until 2017 to announce the promised referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, there is a chance that this event could take place next year. An exit from EU membership would bring huge changes and an inevitable influence on sport, including, but not limited to, issues around match-fixing, good governance, volunteering and education and training.

Further devolution in 2016 will continue to have a significant impact on how sport and recreation policy is administered at a local level, as transport, economic and health powers are given away. Increased responsibilities, combined with cuts to already restricted local authority budgets, could mean a difficult time ahead for grassroots and community programmes.

READY FOR RIO Lastly, two major sporting events that certainly won’t go unnoticed next year and deserve a mention in this article, are the

Sport & Recreation

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

Whilst asking for greater government understanding, we also recognise the need for greater accountability when it comes to delivery and monitoring of sport and recreation initiatives 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games being hosted by Brazil. A chance for the UK’s sporting stars to shine, Rio will also provide much political capital to those in the sector wanting to seize upon the public’s feeling of national pride and unity to create support for a lasting legacy for sport in the UK. ABOUT THE ALLIANCE The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation in the UK and represents 320 members – organisations like the FA, the Rugby Football Union, UK Athletics, the Ramblers, British Rowing and the Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership.

Its role, like every trade association, is to speak up on their behalf, represent their views

and to provide them with services which make their life easier. The Sport and Recreation Alliance was formerly known as the CCPR or the Central Council of Physical Recreation.

Our members are the governing bodies of sport and recreation. Their job is to run their sport or activity, promote participation and set the rules and conditions under which it takes place.

Our job is to make that job as easy as possible. We represent their views to people who make decisions; we promote the interests of sport and recreation so that as many people as possible know about their work; we campaign on issues affecting our members. L FURTHER INFORMATION www.sportandrecreation.org.uk

Volume 23.1 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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GT News

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

NEWS IN BRIEF EU agrees on General Data Protection Regulations EU officials have agreed on the wording of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), following three years of negotiations.

The GDPR aims to set some kind of data protection consistency across Europe. Some notable changes in the proposals include: removing information from company servers when Right to Be Forgotten requests are granted; requiring companies to tell EU authorities if a data breach occurs within 72 hours of it happening; more rigorous regulations for getting consent to collect data; increasing the age of consent from 13 to 16 years-old; and establishing a single national office where complaints about data protection can be made.

Additionally, the regulations will include provision to fine companies up to four per cent of their global revenue if they do not comply to the GDPR. A critical change brought about by the GDPR is that jurisdiction will be measured digitally, not by a physical or geographical barrier, meaning companies outside of the EU will be affected by the new regulations if they collect data that belongs to an EU citizen.

The GDPR is not yet EU law and has not yet been formally agreed upon.

It is expected to be agreed upon when the EU Parliament next meets in late January 2016. If approved, GDPR will become law in 2018 across all 28 EU Member States and will supersede inconsistent laws across the EU Member States.

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/zltdwum

Local government G-Cloud sales decline by 20 per cent According to the latest figures, local government spending throughthe G-Cloud has fallen significantly by 20 per cent in November 2015.

After removing the FCO figures, data shows the government has spent just £1.45 million in purchases, almost as low as last year’s smallest spend of £1.36 million, in July.

Overall there were 173 purchases made by local government on G-Cloud through the Digital Marketplace during the month.

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/h5oz4je

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 14.1

SURVEILLANCE

Transparency calls around surveillance powers

Information commissioner Christopher Graham has said there needs to be more transparency around the remit of surveillance powers that could encroach on the public’s privacy.

Giving evidence before the Joint Committee on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, Graham advised that the Home Office should offer more clarity about the increased surveillance powers granted within the Bill to assuage public concerns about privacy violations.

He warned that the government must ensure the bulk collection of data proposed in the Bill was used effectively and suggested it was ‘very difficult to judge’ if the Bill in its current form strikes the right balance between security and privacy, due to a lack of evidence.

Graham said: “The Bill proposes that data can be required to be retained for 12 months, but there’s no particular explanation why 12 months rather than six months or 18 months is desired, as there is no indication of the use that such information is being put to over many months or years in the normal way or dealing with serious crime or terrorism.

“The challenge for the data protection framework is to make sure that information remains private where it should be private, or if it’s accessed and shared, it is done so within a regime of data protection where it is agreed.

“What I’m not prepared to sign up to is the suggestion that the state ultimately always has the right to always access that stuff just because it can. They have got to constantly make the case for necessity and proportionately for anything that invades our privacy, whether it’s commercial information or state agencies, whether information sharing in the health service or information to keep us safe and secure from a terrorist threat.”

READ MORE:

tinyurl.com/z932dcc

COMMUNICATION

GOV.UK Notify platform could be operational by February 2016 The government’s planned notification platform, GOV.UK Notify, could be operating by the end of February 2016.

The platform is designed to make it easier to keep users of government services more informed, by allowing service teams across government to send text messages, emails and letters to users, in the hope of relieving pressures on government call centres.

Government call centres receive millions of calls each year, and the new platform is expected to reduce the costs associated with these calls by updating users before they become anxious enough to contact a call centre.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has confirmed that the platform is moving into its beta phase, and, if all goes to plan, the first notifications could be sent out in late February or early March.

The first people to receive notifications through the platform will be those applying for a lasting power of attorney or getting an MOT. In a blog post the GDS said: We want to make it easy to

keep users informed, and that extends to making it easy for service teams to use GOV.UK Notify. It’ll be possible to create an account for your service team, or even just to have a play with the platform, without first speaking to anyone. As long as you’re in central government and have an email address ending in ‘gov.uk’, you’ll be able to sign up, access API keys, build templates and start sending yourself messages.

“The focus as we build the beta is around sending out status updates.

Beyond that, there’s a whole world of opportunity where someone could potentially reply to a message to automatically book, change or cancel an appointment, confirm they’d like to renew something, provide additional information - there’s a lot to explore, particularly around the rapidly evolving world of mobile phones.”

READ MORE:

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RESEARCH

NEWS IN BRIEF

Government to launch new IoT research hub

A new Internet of Things (IoT) research hub has been unveiled to drive innovation in the UK. The interdisciplinary PETRAS IoT Hub is made up of nine leading UK universities and is set to explore areas such as privacy, ethics, reliability and security over the next three years.

The project is part of the IoTUK £40 million programme that aims to advance the UK’s global leadership in IoT. The hub will be funded by a £9.8 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), along with partner contributions making up the total funding to approximately £23 million.

Ed Vaizey, digital economy minister, said: “UK universities are renowned for their creativity, and pioneering research and development. We want the UK to be a world leader in the adoption of Internet of Things technologies, and I know that bringing these universities together with partners from the UK’s thriving tech industry will be instrumental in making this a reality.”

Professor Jeremy Watson, hub director and vice-dean of University College London engineering, said: “We will maximise the economic and societal opportunities of the Internet of Things by removing barriers to adoption. Working with business, public, and third sectors will enable the PETRAS IoT hub members to investigate

GT News

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

Online bus pass purchasing availability rises

questions of safety, security, privacy and trust within real life settings.

“The UK has the potential to be the world’s most supportive environment for the development and deployment of a safe and secure Internet of Things. We will raise the bar using innovative collaborative and interdisciplinary research methods.”

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s chief executive, added: “In the not too distant future almost all of our daily lives will be connected, in one way or another, to the digital world. Physical objects and devices will be able to interact with each other, ourselves, and the wider virtual world.

“But, before this can happen, there must be trust and confidence in how the Internet of Things works, its security and its resilience. By harnessing our world‑leading research excellence this research hub will accelerate IoT technology innovation and bring benefit to society and business.”

The nine universities that make up the hub are: University College London, Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Warwick, Lancaster University, University of Southampton, University of Surrey, University of Edinburgh and Cardiff University.

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Half of the UK’s counties now enable older persons’ bus pass applications online, according to new research carried out by Socitm.

The Better Connected survey examined how easy it is to buy an older person’s bus pass, discovering that 48 per cent of councils provide a good or very good online service, while 30 per cent achieve four stars for the task, 19 per cent three stars, 33 per cent two stars and 19 per cent one star.

Tasks are assessed through a questionnaire that tests whether they are easy to find, whether essential information is available, and whether there is a coherent customer journey from search engine or home page through to completion.

Each council is then awarded a certain amount of stars according to how well they do against the above criteria. The top three performing councils were Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.

A statement from Socitm said: “The likelihood of customers applying for free bus passes having mobility issues is a good reason for making online applications available, saving trips to council facilities to present documents and all the associated inconvenience.

“However, when implementing such a facility, care needs to be taken to make it easy to use, given there are eligibility criteria and that submission of photographs is involved.”

READ MORE:

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Ministers to discuss feasibility of internet monitoring

The government is set to consider the expected costs of employing internet service providers (ISPs) to track citizen internet usage as part of the Investigatory Powers Bill.

The new proposals mean internet providers will be responsible for recording how people use the internet, including the websites they visit, services they use and other traffic passing through the network. ISPs will hold the records for up to a year, however the move is likely to cost a considerable amount of money.

TOURISM

New tourism website set for Dorset Dorset’s five lower tier councils are funding the creation of a new website to boost tourist visits to the county.

A tender has been launched for a supplier to create a website and backend ‘destination management system’, plus support and hosting facilities, after discovering it was lagging behind its rivals in the South West in attracting domestic and tourist visitors.

Dorset currently hosts nearly 15 million tourist visits annually, with

42,000 full and part-time jobs relating to the sector in the county. The Dorset local authority tourism partners involved in the procurement are Christchurch Borough Council, East Dorset District Council, Purbeck District Council, West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

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Website Design Written by Nigel Hillier, managing director, Vision ICT

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

DIGITAL SERVICES

The choices and dilemmas of local council websites With the internet and social media platforms proving more popular than ever, now is the time for local councils to get digital, argues Nigel Hillier of Vision ICT We know that local councils are at the very heart of their communities; giving neighbourhoods a voice and making people more involved in the decisions that affect them. There are over 9,000 local councils in England, meaning that over 16 million people live in communities served by local councils – around 25 per cent of the population. There are 80,000 councillors who serve these councils, making a difference in their communities (NALC).

These councils form the most local level of government and cover many rural and urban areas. The latter includes many of our larger cities but the vast majority are very small with low precepts and very low staffing levels. They are still being created today; the latest development is the first formation of Parish Councils in London since the 1960s.

They carry out work representing their local communities to other tiers of government and deliver services to meet local needs and improve the quality of life within their parish.

In order to carry out this work they have a vital role in communicating and interacting with their communities. As we all acknowledge, the internet in today’s society is accepted as the most effective way of achieving this. To encourage councils in this direction, the move for public services to be delivered online or by other digital means, and in response to a report published

by Martha Lane Fox back in 2010 entitled ‘Directgov 2010 and beyond: revolution not evolution’, the government argued for a channel shift that would increasingly see public services provided digitally ‘by default’.

EFFECTIVE WEBSITES The most recent move to ensure councils provide information digitally has come through the introduction of the Transparency

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Code (April 2015) which calls for councils with less than £25,000 precept to now put a range of financial and other information on-line through a website. This has driven thousands of small councils to develop a site for the first time.

The good news for these small councils is that the government is making grants available to support them in achieving this.

Larger councils with a precept of over £200,000 also have to map their assets and publish these on a website.

The requirements to have a website are now clear and so what should councils be looking for when developing an effective website? There are three key principals.

Firstly, the website should have a quick and easy to use content management system (CMS) to make updating the website quick and easy. Additionally, the website should be fully responsive making it easy to be viewed on mobile devices. And thirdly, the website should have clear navigation to make finding information straight forward.

Any website is only as good as the content and the information it offers its visitors and this has to be kept up to date. The days where you continue to pay the web developer to make changes to your site have long gone, or should have. There are a wide variety of CMS systems available these days from open source technologies to the individual web design companies’ hand built systems.

Low cost open source software, such as Wordpress and Joomla, are content management systems based on PHP and MySQL and feature plugin architecture and template design systems to choose from.

A variety of thoughts are expressed from clerks about how easy these systems are to use and this will depend on their starting knowledge base of IT. There are an increasing number of website companies, both national and local, who will offer the free open source website approach for a professional fee.

For many years some county and district councils have been offering a free service to their local councils, providing a template

website with shared local information. Where this is on offer, there is a very high take up and it can work well. However, as local government cuts continue to drive on, the support put into these free systems, or indeed the provision of these services at all, is decreasing. This is a very critical period for councils and websites, especially as there is now a legal obligation for small councils to have a site, and a high number currently using the free ones through the district or county. If they are removed, these small councils will need to ensure that they know early enough to apply for the government grant. This will need to be watched very closely.

Require m to have ents a webs clear soite are now council what should for whe s be looking n de an effe veloping ct websiteive ?

WORKING ON A BUDGET There are a number of good professional website companies that are specialists in working with local councils and offer a personal, supportive and on-going service which provides the support and comfort that many council clerks appreciate. The world of websites and IT is still a new field in which they are having to develop their confidence and it is very re-assuring knowing you can count on quality and expert help through a professional company whenever needed.

Other choices include, as always free websites, and these can vary considerably but one always has to ask is there ever such a thing as a free meal, how long will it last and is there the help and support you may need.

Along with this there is also the councillor or a friend of a councillor who someone knows that offers a free or very cheap site, or become part of the local community website.

Again there are examples where this has worked very well but the key questions are: how long will the service remain free, what happens when the friend moves away, or the councillor loses their seat on the council?

There are now legal obligations for areas of content to be added and so the key question is: can you rely on other people to do this and there is the need for the clerk/responsible finance officer to ensure the website content is published

within the regulation time frames?

Responsive websites web design isn’t a trend any more, it’s a must. 55 per cent of websites are now viewed on a mobile device and so if your website is not responsive then an increasingly high level of visitors will not be able have a good optimised experience. The better the experiences of visitors to the website, the better the reach of your council services and the chances you have of engaging with your communities.

Responsive web design is a technique that allows a website to react to the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on. It’s an approach to web design aimed at creating websites that offer an optimal viewing experience across multiple devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers.

COUNCILS AND SOCIAL MEDIA There is no question that social media is a powerful tool. However, wherever there is power, there is also danger. As much as social media platforms can be used for good, they can instantly turn bad as well, which is why councils tend to be more hesitant towards embracing them.

The trouble is, there is no right or wrong decision, and there is no right or wrong way to use social media. The underlining rule is that there must be the resource behind it, if you choose to use it. If you decide to embrace social media, whether you are a

council or the clerk, there is no point having it if you don’t respond and interact with it.

If councils do decide to use social media it is important to ensure there is time built in to go behind it to keep it ‘active’, then there are a few things they need to look out for. Many councils are worried about losing levels of integrity and authority by joining platforms such as Twitter and Facebook due to the fun loving and joking nature behind them. However you could spin this problem on it’s head and show more integrity by showing support of the younger generations and promoting it as a platform that they can come to and communicate their thoughts and ideas. It is also important to note that social media is no longer just a medium for the young and embraces all age bands.

As beneficial as engaging with a wider audience can be, this is also where councils need to be most on the ball. With engagement and interaction, there is bound to be hostility, you must be prepared to accept the good with the bad. If you ignore the bad and only communicate with the good, the bad will only get worse, and this goes back to my first point about having the resource to manage the platforms. As already stated in this article many councils are very small with limited staff hours and this is the real crux of the problem.

Social media can be used to ask questions and gauge opinion. Surveys

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It provides seamless, pay-as-you-go scalability. You can start small and ‘scale-smart’ adding compute and storage as needed. Reduce space/ power and cooling by as much as 90%.

You can cut capital expenses. Consolidate workloads including tier-1 database workloads, onto a single platform – cutting costs by as much as 50%.

and questionnaires are quickly and easily filled out online, and advertising them via social media could help increase levels of completion and therefore improve the validity of any studies that are conducted.

Council team meetings can also be filmed and uploaded to these platforms to help generate a true sense of transparency and help their local residents feel more involved with the decisions the council is making.

Overall, social media can be an effective tool for local councils, but they must be prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly. People are more confident to share controversial opinions and ideas behind a computer screen than they are face to face, however if you actively show an interest in such opinions and try and respond to these people, they may in the long term, develop a greater sense of respect and understanding from their local residents. This is not a textbook matter; sometimes you need to go with your instinct when it comes to what you share, but whatever your instinct is, you must believe in it, as you can’t go back on yourself once it’s been shared with the world wide web. L

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Need

Councils report that their social workers have to spend too much time travelling and performing administration tasks rather than delivering vital social care services.

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Frameworks

PURCHASING

The ins and outs of government purchasing Government Business looks at some of the latest agreements on the CCS frameworks, including: Digital Services; Personal Protective Equipment; Local Authority Software Applications; Enterprise Application Support Services; Technology Services; Non-Medical Non-Clinical; and Vehicle Hire The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) brings together policy, advice and direct buying; providing commercial services to the public sector and saving money for the taxpayer.

The CCS brings policy, advice and direct buying together in a single organisation to: make savings for customers in both central government and the wider public sector; achieve maximum value from every commercial relationship; and improve the quality of service delivery for common

buying requirements for common goods and services and bringing together smaller projects; and leading on procurement policy on behalf of the UK government.

The CCS is in place to make sure that small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) have access to government contract opportunities, making it easier for them to do business with the government, and making sure that 25 per cent of government’s spend, either directly or in supply chains, goes to SMEs by 2015.

The CCS is responsible for: managing the procurement of common goods and services, so public sector organisations with similar needs achieve value by buying as a single customer goods and services across government.

Working with over 1,400 organisations in the public sector, CCS’s services are provided by more than 2,600 suppliers.

The CCS is responsible for: managing the procurement of common goods and services, so public sector organisations with similar needs achieve value by buying as a single customer; improving supplier and contract management across government; increasing savings for the taxpayer by centralising

Additionally, CCS makes sure that departments publish details of future projects and contracts on the Contracts Finder website every six months, giving businesses the confidence and time to invest in relevant skills, labour and capabilities to win these contracts. It works to obtain simpler, more flexible EU procurement rules in Brussels to support economic growth by making the procurement process faster, less costly and more effective for both business and procurers;

this will affect more than £45 billion of central government spend (more than £230 billion for the UK public sector) every year.

This will help commissioners of public services to become more effective through the Commissioning Academy and use commercial intelligence more effectively to improve the value gained from contracts across government.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS As a guide for suppliers and buyers there is a standard set of terms and conditions for framework agreements and call-off contracts for goods and services bought under the agreement. The template for call-off contracts forms the basis of the terms and conditions in individual further competitions and can be supplemented or refined with additional terms to suit the requirement.

All CCS suppliers must submit monthly management information (MI) returns. This is done online through the MISO system. You will need to include the unique reference number (URN) for each customer listed on the return.

Failure to submit MI returns correctly or within the agreed timescales may incur admin fees.

The CCS is updating its internal Customer Relationship Management system and as a result the weekly downloadable list of URNs will be changing. The existing sheet E

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Frameworks

PURCHASING  of four tabs will reduce to three, listing all live URNs with customer details, a second detailing merges and a third detailing name changes. Legacy tabs will be added for the time being showing older changes that are not present on the new system. The sub-sector is now known as organisation type and is being updated to better and more accurately describe the organisation within its sector.

CCS has signed a preferential public sector pricing agreement with Huddle for secure cloud collaboration tools. The agreement for cloud collaboration tools will help teams securely share files, manage projects and collaborate on content, projects and programmes of work.

With UK data centres to protect the sovereignty of organisations’ data, and the ability for users to maintain a full and transparent audit trail of all activities, Huddle provides a secure platform for managing information that is rated as ‘official’ under the Government Security Classification Policy.

The technology is already used in many central and local government organisations, as well as other public sector bodies, including the NHS and a variety of arm’s length bodies and charitable organisations. Huddle’s public sector-specific pricing is available to all public sector bodies that purchase through G-Cloud on the Digital Marketplace.

Sarah Hurrell, commercial director, said: “The preferential pricing scheme we have introduced with Huddle will improve the way technology is bought across government and the public sector, and will contribute to increased savings to the public purse.”

CCS has signed a preferential public sector pricing agreement with Huddle for secure cloud collaboration tools. The agreement will help teams securely share files, manage projects and collaborate on content, projects and programmes

experiences of system users and reduce costs of transactions/interactions. Lot 10 covers the provision of software and associated services for the purpose of democratic and citizen engagement, and Lot 11 includes the provision of software and associated services for other business systems including waste management, museums, sports and recreation, registrar, burials and crematoria and GIS. The LGA estimates that local authorities spend up to £2.5bn each year in ICT markets, with £1bn (40 per cent) of this spent on sourcing and supporting all software applications. Analysis of relevant supplier incomes showed that they generate revenues of approximately £500m from the UK local government market for the applications intended to be covered by this procurement.

CCS led the procurement activity in partnership with Pro5, the London ICT Programme and the LGA. The procurement is designed to deliver parts of the LGA National Category Management Strategy for ICT in local government. Stakeholder engagement identified some key issues to address within this market which are: disjointed buying resulting in large disparity in price; poor service/outcomes delivered by suppliers; a lack on innovation; and a slow pace of change within the supply market.

care, planning, environmental and building control, and provision of social housing.

Under the agreement suppliers are able to provide software and related services to include design, development, installation and commissioning of systems; ongoing support and maintenance; and some related business process services.

REAPING THE BENEFITS The agreement is for the purchase of common line of business application solutions for local authorities e.g. social care case management systems or library systems; and supporting services such as implementation, enhancement, integration and application support services. E

LOCAL AUTHORITY SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS This agreement has been developed in conjunction with local authorities, the Local Government Association (LGA) and Pro5 to establish a route to market for the acquisition of software and related services to enable local authorities within the UK to deliver services to their citizens, such as revenue and benefits collection and payments and delivery of statutory functions such as social

There are 11 lots to the Local Authority Software Applications agreement. Lot 1 covers the provision of software and associated services for the purpose of collection and distribution of revenue and benefit payments and National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR).

Lot 2 covers the provision of software and associated services for the purpose of payment processing and cash receipting.

Lot 3 includes the provision of software and associated services for environmental, planning, building control, trading standards and licencing, while Lot 4 instructs the provision of software and associated services for libraries. Lot 5 covers the provision of software and associated services for housing and property management.

Lot 6 comprises the provision of software and associated services for social care, Lot 7 deals with the provision of software and

associated services for the purposes of monitoring and improving public health, while Lot 8 covers the provision of software and associated services for civil enforcement.

Lot 9 handles the provision of systems and services to create and improve openness, interoperability and data sharing between systems, citizens and staff and improve the

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PURCHASING  Main features and benefits include: Lot structure to identify specialist SME suppliers; increasing transparency of price through provision of catalogues, including support and maintenance; catalogues of available Application Programme Interfaces and Software Development Kits; co-ordinated SRM activity with local authority partners; tie-in to both central and wider public sector strategy, particularly the LGA ICT Commercial Strategy; removal of automatic price increases linked to indexation; and the use of Open Book terms, particularly important for support and maintenance costs.

This agreement can be accessed in a number of different ways, based on different factors including your requirements, size, drivers and targets, market knowledge, and preference. There is no requirement to register in order to use the agreement, however, if you want to use any of our tools such as the Government eMarketplace or eSourcing tool you will need to register for access.

To use the agreement you should undertake the following steps: review the guidance documentation and specification; determine your requirement (this can be for software or a number of support services associated with the software market, or any combination of the above); and determine the best option for your procurement, direct award or further competition, and action this in line with the parameters outlined below.

When running a further competition, you should award on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender and must provide suppliers with the methodology behind the evaluation, including the evaluation criteria and weightings that are applied to each criterion. Under this agreement direct award and further competition may be used to place orders with the suppliers.

As the agreement has only recently been launched no savings have been claimed yet. However, in the future the following methodologies will apply for catalogue purchases. Savings are measured on a direct comparison with prices charged by that supplier in the previous calendar year and for contracts awarded by further competition, the suppliers’ provide management information which enables CCS to make comparisons between bids and establish any savings that have been achieved.

The agreement and call-offs include benchmarking provisions, open book pricing and have removed automatic price increases in line with indexes. There are also terms to allow customers to be fully open with each other about the prices they are receiving under the agreement.

Frameworks

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

DIGITAL SERVICES 2 This is the second iteration of the Digital Services agreement, with Digital Services 1 having expired on 8 August 2015. Digital Services is a dynamic style framework with the specific aim of helping the public sector buy, design, build and deliver digital services using an agile approach, by procuring the appropriate people and resources to deliver agile software development.

The framework is based on the approach detailed in the Government Digital Service design manual and complies with the Digital by Default Standard. CCS has designed specific contract terms and conditions that reflect the flexible, iterative way of an agile approach.

For all central government (including arm’s length bodies and non-departmental public bodies) customers, CCS operates a managed procurement service, working with departments to buy as a single customer – the Crown.

The unit of measure and focus is the project team, purchased either as individual roles or purchased as a team made up of a number and type of roles to design, build and deliver digital services. Digital Services is based on a core set of digital capabilities.

The catalogue on the Digital Marketplace lists these alongside 18 digital roles at either junior, intermediate or senior level.

Digital Services has been built to create a diverse pool of specialist agile service providers to enable government and the public sector move traditional services to a user centric design service, which is lower cost and flexible to enable continuous development and improvement. It specifically enables and supports the government digital by default strategy and Cloud adoption.

The Digital Services 2 commercial agreement has been designed, in collaboration with the Government Digital Service using an agile approach, starting with user needs and business outcomes, with lots of customer and supplier engagement, feedback and further iteration. Government terms and conditions have been specifically designed for the agile way of working, ensuring that project developed intellectual property rights (IPR) are owned by the customer and can be shared and re‑used with any other public sector customers.

For the first iteration of Digital Services, savings of £6.4 million were made against a spend of £14 million. As digital services are generally a new service with no previous spend to compare against, the benefit methodology is to take an E

Digit Service al dynami s is a framew c style specific ork with the ai the pubm of helping buy, de lic sector sig and deln, build iver

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Business consulting Systems integration IT outsourcing services RM1058 Technology Services Framework Supplier (All Lots).

PURCHASING  average of all bids under the tender and compare to the winning bid.

The Digital Services 2 agreement supports the delivery of the Government Digital Strategy by: giving public sector customers easy access to suppliers with the right capabilities, who comply with the Digital

by Default Standard and align with the Government Service Design Manual; providing a large, diverse pool of capable suppliers from small and medium size businesses to the agile practices of the traditional tier-one/system integration suppliers; ensuring supplier capacity to enable the delivery of digital projects at multiple UK locations; and providing a flexible and speedy route to meet customers’ digital project commissioning requirements.

The agreement is dynamic in style, regularly refreshed, following agile methodology in short delivery Sprint, learning from and incorporating lessons learned in the next iteration of the framework.

technology services to central government, local authorities and NHS trusts.

The agreement provides access to specialist suppliers who can provide the services under individual lots, as well as suppliers who can provide multiple services across a number of lots facilitated by means of a collaboration agreement. You can place call‑off contracts via a further competition by providing suppliers with the details of your requirement and each supplier will submit a

Frameworks

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

been adopted to accommodate this. This agreement has been designed to deliver local and regional IT services such as desktop; enterprise application managed services; computer rooms and local networks services by actively encouraging SMEs to participate.

The procurement to establish this agreement was aligned with the government ICT Strategy of March 2011 and supports the core objectives of: reducing waste and project failure, stimulating economic growth

A MANAGED PROCUREMENT SERVICE The Buyers’ Guide provides detailed information about how the agreement is set up and how to buy using the further competition process. In order to identify which suppliers you need to invite to tender, you can use the online Digital Marketplace catalogue which enables you to easily filter in all or any of the framework criteria including digital capability, digital role (junior, intermediate and senior levels), location and technology or language. This means you can create a shortlist of suppliers to invite further competition from the longlist on the catalogue.

To find the Digital Services 2 templates and supplier lists: log in to the eSourcing system; hover over the RFX(s) tab at the top and click on ‘Manage RFX(s)’; click on the ‘Templates’ tab; scroll through to page 17 and you will find the template halfway down the page, look for ‘RM1043 Digital Services 2 Template’; do not click on the template name, instead scroll right and select the check box aligned with the template and then click on the tab ‘Create from Template’; and then you can create your RFP by completing the fields and clicking on ‘Save’.

The agreement is designed as a single lot with multiple search or filter criteria to help you identify capable suppliers including digital capability, role (junior, intermediate and senior levels), location and technology or language. CCS provides access to IT consultancy services through the following agreements: Digital Services; GCloud; ConsultancyONE; and Contingent LabourONE.

Technology Services is an enabler for public sector organisations to take significant steps towards the ‘Digital by Default’ agenda. Its primary purpose is to provide technology services to central government, local authorities and NHS trusts

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES This agreement has been developed in collaboration with the Government Digital Service. It is an enabler for public sector organisations to take significant steps towards the ‘Digital by Default’ agenda. Its primary purpose is to provide

priced solution against those requirements.

This agreement is the next iteration of its predecessor RM717 – IT Managed Services.

The agreement has been redesigned to comply with Government Digital Service requirements to disaggregate large and complex contracts. A lot structure has

and using ICT to enable and deliver change.

The agreement is fully managed by CCS. It will apply supplier relationship management principles to effectively manage the suppliers and continually monitor the cost of service packages and further competitions to ensure best value is maintained. E

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PURCHASING  SEPARATE LOTS Small businesses have been encouraged to participate by disaggregating the services and offering them in separate lots.

The agreement is divided into 11 lots.

1 – Help / service desk: The single point of contact between a service provider and users within an organisation. A typical service desk manages incidents and service requests, and also handles communication with the users.

2 – Desktop support: The technical services offered by a support organisation to a user(s) experiencing problems with their computers.

Support may be either hardware or software running on the affected computing device.

Support may include but is not limited to installations, moves, adds, changes and disposition, and local remote services.

4 – Network and content security: Tasks or processes related to network security which can include, but are not limited to, device management; monitoring and remediation; email security including anti-spam, anti-malware and IP filtering; network intrusion detection and prevention; asset classification and change management; data leak protection, and the creation of access control policies.

5 – Infrastructure and platform, maintenance and support: Manage all library infrastructure hardware and software operations, including server and storage systems. Support production applications, whether open source, developed in-house, or third party.

Break-fix — Focused on servers and storage. Platform support and maintenance

There are thousands of products and suppliers in the marketplace for personal protective equipment and there is a great deal of expenditure over EU threshold 3 – Network management: A set of hardware and/or software tools that allow an IT organisation to supervise the individual components of a network within a larger network management framework. Network management system components assist with, but are not limited to, network device discovery; network device monitoring; network performance analysis and intelligent notifications.

is the management of hardware and software architecture in order to allow applications to operate. Platforms can include one or several of the following hardware and/or software components: — hardware architecture; operating systems; programming languages and frameworks; runtime libraries; application servers; databases; other middle-ware products.

6 – Audit services and asset management:

Frameworks

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

Systematic and independent examination of data, statements, records, operations and performances (financial or otherwise) of IT software and hardware. Audit services are formal inspections and verifications to check whether a standard or set of guidelines is being followed, that records are accurate, or that efficiency and effectiveness targets are being met.

7 – IT infrastructure transition services and delivery: To assist customers when they need to move, re-build or re-deploy IT services from one organisation to another. Service Transition also makes sure that changes to services and service management processes between existing and new service provider are carried out in a coordinated way.

8 – Service integration / service integrator: To manage enterprise IT services delivered by multiple suppliers across different delivery models in one integrated enterprise service management process.

IT service integration should address the following key challenges many customers struggle with: complexity, managing their internal and external suppliers within multi sourcing environments; cost and effort, ensuring lower costs and improved performance are not losing ground to increased effort in effective supplier management; transparency, ensuring there is end-to-end and cross-supplier service transparency with clear and consistent or unclear service reports; roles and responsibilities are clear and risks are managed to ensure no compromising contractual terms and conditions, regulatory non-compliance, or interrupted service provision; and compliance with contractual agreements, regulatory requirements, industry standards and business objectives.

9 – Disaster recovery / business continuity: Disaster recovery policies and procedures that are related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure which are vital to an organisation’s business continuity, after a natural or human-induced disaster.

This service will include, but is not limited to, resilience testing, recovery testing and planning and contingency planning and support.

10 – Back up and data services: A remote, on-line or managed backup service providing users with a system for the backup, storage, and recovery of computer files. Online backup organisations will provide this type of service to end users.

11 – Asset disposal: A computer recycling service that offers, but is not limited to, data destruction to UK Government CESG standards with certificated proof of erasure for every hard drive or data bearing asset; a managed IT disposal service that can be fully integrated with roll-out programmes and other service partners; full audit trail with itemised reporting; IT disposal services are WEEE compliant. E

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

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Frameworks

PURCHASING

 DISCOVER THE BENEFITS The benefits include reduced timescales and costs for the procurement of services – you do not need to run a full OJEU procurement, this has already been undertaken by the CCS. You simply need to identify your requirements, present these to the market and award a contract. The agreement is also easy to use, with expert commercial advice available from CCS. Alternative solutions to longer term contracts and helps to ensure services and solutions are scalable for future service models, responding to business demand, enabling you to take advantage of the benefits of new and changing technologies.

Additionally, a multi-vendor supply base environment taking advantage of the benefits available in the wider market and supporting the UK growth agenda through opening market opportunities to specialist small businesses.

Other benefits include: legality – the agreement is fully compliant with EU procurement regulations, EU procurement rules introduced in 2006 specifically recognise framework agreements as a legitimate route to market. This reduces procurement risk for you and reduces bureaucracy in the procurement process; assured supplier standards – providers appointed are ‘prequalified’ as to their general suitability. This means when buying services you are assured that they can meet their specified requirements; pre-defined terms and conditions – terms and conditions of contract have been established and all agreement suppliers have signed and accepted this agreement and terms and conditions of call-off. You are able to propose your own special terms provided there is no material amendment to the agreement terms; and collaboration – suppliers are able to collaborate to provide a cross organisational services by way of the collaboration agreement.

There is price protection for the life of the Vehicle Hire Services agreement, which introduces a new innovative lot for car share which offers you cost savings with the introduction of shared fleet resources and pay as you go models In the first instance please read the customer buyer’s guide for full details on how you can access the agreement. A further competition is the default method for awarding call-off contracts. You must provide the suppliers with a minimum set of information that can be used to help propose solutions and price against requirements effectively. If you require support in developing your market proposition, this can be procured through the use of our managed services or a private sector supplier.

Further competitions may be run using the CCS eSourcing tool or your own choice of eSourcing method/tool/portal. However, please note that the RFQ and/or Free Text Requisition functions provided on the government eMarketplace platform are not suitable or approved for use under this agreement.

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT This agreement provides a comprehensive range of personal protective equipment (PPE) including clothing, accessories and equipment across two Lots. Firstly, a ‘One Stop Shop’ including: general PPE suitable for use in different environments which includes head, ear, eye, face, respiratory and hand protection; protective footwear suitable for use in different environments; protective clothing suitable for use in different environments; and accessories which include but are not limited to working at heights, working in enclosed spaces and first aid, suitable for use in different environments.

Secondly, specialist protective clothing suitable

for use in different environments such as the nuclear industry, forestry and emergency services, including anti-stab vests, motor cycle clothing, fire protection and life jackets. There are thousands of products and suppliers in the marketplace for personal protective equipment and there is a great deal of expenditure over EU threshold. Customers advised that they would welcome a framework with multiple competed suppliers to provide them with a lean route to market which provides them with procurement compliance.

A Prior Information Notice (PIN) was issued which advertised the upcoming opportunity and invited suppliers to complete a questionnaire, which would help form our strategy. At the start of the project a stakeholder group was established to thoroughly research requirements, which would later form an integral part of the specification development. The stakeholder group consisted of people from across the public sector to ensure market and category requirements were covered.

As a result of the early stakeholder and supplier engagement this enabled us to: develop the lotting strategy for the framework agreement; create a set of procurement documents which reflected the specifics of the insurance market; and create a number of standard templates which can be used by customers accessing the framework.

Benefits include: lean procurement route to market; compliance with EU procurement legislation; standardised terms and E

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Advertisement Feature

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

CCS FRAMEWORK

THE MOST DIVERSE FLEET IN THE UK

SHB Hire has the most diverse fleet of hire vehicles in the UK and with nearly 50 years’ experience it has the knowledge and expertise to find exactly what you need

It’s because of SHB’s expertise that it is a multi‑award-winning company and most recently won the prestigious Commercial Fleet Awards 2015 for Van and Truck Company of the Year.

The company has a 14,500 strong hire fleet which includes Europe’s largest fleet of 4x4s, the biggest hire fleet of HGV tippers, crane lorries and golf buggies in the UK. SHB can also boast of having a comprehensive supply of minibuses, LCVs, HGVs and a variety of specialist vehicles. SHB is even able to use its in-house fabrication facilities to build and modify vehicles and will work closely with you, the customer, to fully understand the purpose of the vehicle and through the design and build process by utilising its relationships with key manufacturers.

SHB keeps you updated every step of the way so you can plan for your business needs.

Because of its longevity and acquired experience in the hire industry, SHB has a thorough understanding of the market sectors it provides to and is able to be more flexible than its competitors. SHB specialises in tailored, flexible solutions and can offer spot, flexible, long term hire, buy and lease back plus new and older fleet options.

NATIONAL COMPANY SHB’s highly trained teams work in conjunction with various fields such as local authorities, housing associations, NHS Trusts, CCGs, Crown Commercial Services, central government, police and fire departments, highways, rail and utilities plus many more market sectors.

Being a national company means that SHB has the capability to deliver and collect to and from any location with ease within mainland UK and can offer these services out-of-hours to suit its customer’s business needs; SHB understands that not every company works 9-5.

The company’s family culture and strong integrity ensures everything is up-front and there is no hidden charging such as high off‑hire damage; SHB’s vehicles are operational and the company understands this. A key focus within SHB is keeping vehicle downtime to a minimum. Having vehicles off-road potentially impacts on your business and the public, and, with this in mind, SHB developed its national mobile technician network to recognise and overcome vehicle downtime.

SHB’s nationwide mobile technicians (with all their vehicles fitted with telematics), can come to you for any maintenance

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work meaning your operatives can do their job without downtime while the mobile technicians do theirs. They are authorised by leading manufacturers to carry out servicing and warranty work and the mobile technicians carry vehicle diagnostic systems enabling them to repair vehicles that would otherwise require dealer attention, saving you unnecessary downtime.

ONE STOP SHOP As a company, SHB prides itself on being able to provide a true one-stop-shop for all the vehicles and services you require and will try to accommodate all requests, however unusual they may be.

Alongside the hire of vehicles, SHB is also able to tailor complementary services such as fleet management, telematics, repair and maintenance packages on owned fleet, workshop management, buy and lease back; the company’s flexibility enables SHB to provide bespoke solutions that are tailored to each specific customer’s needs.

The company has a dynamic management team which has accumulated countless years of experience in the fleet industry and the market sectors they provide to. The account managers are supported by the local depots and Head Office for compliance, administration and accounts.

CUSTOMER PORTAL To ensure it continuously delivers fluid and tangible contracts, SHB utilises KPIs and MI making note of any improvements that can be made as well as added value. SHB’s

new customer portal works alongside its IT system giving customers additional control over how they manage their fleet data.

The portal allows the option of making bookings, managing maintenance and servicing needs of customers’ entire fleet, raising queries and reporting complaints online at any point during the day.

ACCREDITATIONS SHB holds all three BSI accreditations; 18001 for Health & Safety, 9001 for Quality and 14001 for Environmental. It is also one of the only vehicle hire companies in the country to hold all three simultaneously. SHB is accredited to the BVRLA, FTA and Van Excellence as well as winning the Van and Truck Rental Company of the Year at the Commercial Fleet Awards 2015 and being the official supplier for the Farnborough International Airshow 2016.

Recently, the company gained the FORS Bronze accreditation for its Heathrow depot and is currently working towards gaining the Silver accreditation by March 2016. For added security against cyber threats, SHB has also registered with the government backed scheme, Cyber Essentials.

The success of SHB’s business is its strong customer service ethos; the company gets to know its clients and goals and tailors services to meet specific requirements and provide flexible solutions. L FURTHER INFORMATION 01794 511 458 www.shb.co.uk enquiries@shb.co.uk

PURCHASING  conditions; template contracts and call-off documentation; accurate management information; process savings – allowing customers to concentrate on core activities; discounted list prices; and opportunities to carry out further competition to deliver further savings.

To ensure savings suppliers bid a discount to quoted list prices as part of their tender for the framework agreement, and customers can achieve more savings from carrying out a further competition.

VEHICLE HIRE SERVICES This agreement is designed to enable access to vehicle hire services across six lots. Lot 1, UK vehicle hire, covers: standard passenger cars in a range of makes, models and engine size ranges. Offering a choice of diesel or petrol, auto or manual transmission, and electric or ultra low emission vehicles; light commercial vehicles, up to and including, vehicles with a maximum payload of 3.5 tonnes; and hire service of on-road 4-wheel drive vehicles, with electric or manual drive capability.

Lot 2 covers UK 4x4 wheel vehicle hire with electric or manual 4x4 wheel drive capability. These vehicles have full off‑road capability, and can have a tow bar with the ability to tow up to 3.5 tonnes.

Lot 3 covers UK minibus hire, consisting of self drive nine to 17 seater minibuses, while Lot 4 looks at heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and heavy commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes hire. All the correct operator licences and permits are in place to meet the appropriate legislation in the UK and Europe.

Lot 5 focuses upon UK car share, which includes: car share solutions and expert support to help you design car share solutions; and access to pay as you go, short term hires, shared vehicle assets.

Lot 6 covers international vehicle hire.

Vehicles hire includes standard passenger cars in a range of makes and models, and engine size range, offering a choice of diesel or petrol, auto or manual transmission. This covers light commercial vehicles, up to and including vehicles with a maximum payload of 3.5 tonnes, 4-wheel drive vehicles, with electric or manual 4-wheel drive on road capability, Minibuses, off road 4 x 4 vehicles and Luton box vans with tail lift. The latter can be used for off road use for military exercises.

This agreement is available to all central government and wider public sector organisations and is set to achieve potential savings in the region of £19.1 million, with an increase in the scope of vehicles provided compared to the previous agreements.

The improved service is through a series of mandatory requirements such as data security, refreshed key performance indicators (KPIs), including the introduction of service credits, and pro-active supplier management. Of the 12 suppliers available, two are small to medium sized businesses and eight are new suppliers to our agreements.

There is price protection for the life of the agreement, which introduces a new innovative lot for car share which offers you cost savings with the introduction of shared fleet resources and pay as you go models.

Direct award without further competition can be done if you can determine that: your vehicle hire requirements can be met by the suppliers’ catalogues and description of the services as set out in Framework

Frameworks

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

Schedule 2 (Vehicle Hire Services and Key Performance Indicators); and all of the terms of the proposed call-off contract are laid down in this framework agreement and the template call-off terms do not require amendment or any supplementary terms and conditions (other than the inclusion of optional provisions already provided for in the template call-off terms).

If all of the terms of the proposed call-off contract are not laid down in the framework agreement and you need the supplier to develop proposals or a solution to meet your requirements or you need to amend or refine the template call-off terms to reflect your requirements to the extent permitted by the regulations and guidance, you should run a further competition.

The vehicle hire se agreemrvices designe ent is access d to enable to hire ser vehicle v across sices ix lots

ENTERPRISE APPLICATION SUPPORT SERVICES This agreement provides access to direct support and maintenance for Enterprise Application Software. All suppliers can support customisation and provide support independently of normal product lifecycles (for example provide continued support to legacy systems). Services include but are not limited to: break-fix support; advice on available patches; development, testing and implementation of bug fixes/workarounds/ patches/updates; monitoring operation to assure application and information availability and integrity; maintaining and sharing a knowledge-base of known issues and solutions; assistance with upgrading, replacing, or otherwise changing the Enterprise Application Software. E

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 14.1

PURCHASING  There are 20 suppliers in total ranging from multi-national to SME organisations, providing services through four lots: Lot 1 – Oracle E Business Suite Enterprise Application Support; Lot 2 – SAP Enterprise Application Support Services; Lot 3 – Other Specified Enterprise Application Support Services; and Lot 4 – Other Non-Specified Enterprise Application Support Services.

This agreement was developed to: align to government ICT strategy; encourage competition by offering alternatives to proprietary vendor support renewals; provide a viable and compliant procurement route for Enterprise Application Support Services; raise public sector awareness of alternative support options; and avoid unnecessary upgrades or replacement cycles.

ENGAGEMENT WITH CUSTOMERS Current standard practice is to purchase maintenance and support from the software owner as part of the annual license renewal.

This agreement provides the option to separate the ongoing maintenance and support from license renewals to enable competition and price savings of up to 50 per cent. Engagement with customers and suppliers took place in 2013 to establish the requirements and the proposed way forward.

The framework benefits from: achieving savings against current support renewals; securing best value through competition amongst a range of providers; being a compliant procurement route for Enterprise Application Support Services; providing an option to separate support renewals from original license purchase; and the opportunity to avoid costly upgrades.

Further competition is required except where only one supplier features on the relevant lot or only one supplier within the relevant lot provides the relevant Enterprise Application

Support Services. When running a further competition, you should award on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender and must provide suppliers with the methodology behind the evaluation, including the evaluation criteria and weightings that are applied to each criterion.

As the agreement has only recently been launched no savings have been claimed yet. However, in the future the following methodology will apply: Last price paid – New Contract Price = Saving. Customers will be asked to provide the last price paid for services to accurately calculate savings. Suppliers will also have to be transparent in their pricing, via transparency clauses in the Call-off contracts.

Frameworks

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

as you contract only with the neutral vendor and not with the supply chain directly.

Lot 2 - Master Vendor Supply. A master vendor takes overall responsibility for providing customers with their temporary worker needs. They will provide temporary workers directly from their own resource pool and may make up any shortfall by managing supplementary supply from an approved subcontractor supply chain in line with Framework Agreement Schedule 7: Sub-Contractor(s).

You contract only with the master vendor, and they are responsible for their supply chain.

Lots 3 to 8 (Lot 3 - Admin and Clerical Supply; Lot 4 - Corporate Functions Supply; Lot 5 - IT Professionals Supply; Lot 6 - Legal Supply; Lot 7 - Clinical Coding Supply;

CCS makes sure that departments publish details of future projects and contracts on the Contracts Finder website every six months, giving businesses the confidence and time to invest in relevant skills, labour and capabilities to win these contracts NON MEDICAL NON CLINICAL The Non-Medical Non-Clinical (NMNC) agreement provides access to temporary staff, interims and contractors in any white collar or blue collar role from the most junior to the most senior, including board level roles across eight lots.

Lot 1 – Neutral Vendor Supply. A neutral vendor does not supply temporary workers directly from their own resource pool. They use an approved supply chain to complete the call-off agreement. For the customer receiving the service, the provision is seamless

and Lot 8 – Ancillary Staff Supply). These lots are for the direct award or further competition of temporary workers from agencies awarded a place on the relevant lot according to their ability and competitiveness in supplying temporary workers within the job categories appropriate to each lot.

The agreement was developed to: manage and mitigate the legal and commercial risks associated with engaging temporary staff; utilise and reflect the Agenda for Change pay rates; introduce a single point of contact for all requisitions, queries and interim personnel issues; deliver significant invoice management efficiencies through the introduction of consolidated invoicing; provide regular and detailed management information; reduce the administrative burden related to the engagement of interim personnel; improve the time taken to engage interim personnel; and improve the quality, availability and performance of interim personnel.

There is the benefit of a choice of pay rate. An agreement based on the NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) pay rates and pay bands including provision for compliance with Agency Worker Regulations following 12 weeks of service. Additionally, there is a clear charge rate with a straightforward rate card showing charge rates for both PAYE and limited company temporary workers based on the AfC pay rates. The purpose is to illustrate changes to the average actual rates paid by NHS trusts in 2014/15 to the rates actually paid and the benefits therein.

Through the use of the agreement for all NHS requirements, the following non-cashable benefits will also be generated: helps E

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Frameworks

PURCHASING  support the NHS with their procurement strategy to ensure that the right resources, with the right capabilities and skills are in the right place, at the right time and at the right cost to meet required departmental objectives; due to the consolidation of health spend on temporary staffing, suppliers will continue to work closely with HR and procurement managers to ensure that staffing options and resource strategies of departments are implemented and aligned with their wider business strategy and goals of the NHS; and allows NHS departments to have access to suppliers of certain skill sets that are in short supply at competitive rates.

Other benefits include: bargaining power of customers will increase as cost pressures rise and demand falls; compliance with NHS Employers standards for safer recruitment continue to be met, including but not limited to, criminal record checks, right to work in the UK checks, occupational health checks, employment history and reference checks, professional registration and qualification checks and identity checks; an established and effective system for supplier management information collection; and controls of health spend by allowing customers access to supplier rates.

PROVIDING SIMPLE TOOLS You can award call-off of services directly where the terms (meaning the information on award of call-off contained in the framework agreement and the call-off terms and conditions) are sufficiently precise and complete to identify the most economically advantageous offer. This will be the case where the commercial and technical specifications and all the other contract documents define the services, the supply of services and the application of the prices with sufficient precision and completeness.

To award by direct call-off you should identify all suitable suppliers, by reference to the lot descriptions and regions supplied with services. CCS provides a simple tool which asks you to input: whether you want to hire temporary work-seekers (employment business) or to employ fixed-term candidates

in turn to each of the next highest ranking suppliers until the requirement is met, if the supplier awarded the call-off is unable on occasion to supply suitable temporary workers. You could award for a defined period of time, providing the period falls within the duration of the framework agreement.

You should award call-off of services by conducting a further competition where the collection of terms laid down in the framework agreement is not sufficiently precise or complete to cover the service

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy and on Small Business Saturday, I want to see as many of them as possible competing for and winning public sector contracts (employment agency); which lot you are interested in (a list is provided for you to choose from); which pay bands you are interested in; and which regions you are in.

The tool will identify the name and branch information of the suitable suppliers. You should then rank the supplier with the most economically advantageous offer. Go

requirements. This will be the case where the commercial and technical specifications and all the other contract documents do not define the services, the supply of services and the application of the prices with sufficient precision and completeness to meet your requirements of the particular supply contract.

The basic terms cannot be renegotiated nor

can the specification be substantively changed.

Basic terms can be refined or supplemented where the particular service requirements were not and could not be foreseen when the framework agreement was established.

To award call-off by further competition you should identify which suppliers are capable of meeting your requirements. Unless it is clear how to objectively determine which suppliers are capable of meeting the requirements of the particular supply contract, then you should invite all suppliers to participate in the further competition. Conversely, you can issue a written or electronic tender documentation to all capable suppliers, with a reasonable time limit for return of tenders.

You can modify award criteria, providing they derive from the original award criteria and the capable suppliers are notified of this.

Award criteria that are completely new cannot be introduced in a further competition.

Furthermore, evaluate the returned tenders against the award criteria, using an evaluation plan and the weighting (totalling 100 per cent) that best reflects your circumstances and requirements, within the range limits, or award to the supplier with the most economically advantageous offer, represented by the highest score. If the supplier awarded the call-off of service is unable on occasion E

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PURCHASING  to supply suitable work-seekers then you should go in turn to each of the next highest scoring suppliers until the requirement is met.

Decide whether and how to group job descriptions for the purposes of making awards of call-off. You could award for a defined period of time (e.g. a year), providing the period falls fully within the duration of the framework agreement.

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT A framework for the supply and distribution of motorised and handheld grounds maintenance equipment such as: domestic and professional grass mowers, strimmers, hedge cutters and chainsaws, spreaders and sprayers, compact tractors, woodchippers and shredders.

This framework includes the provision for associated equipment maintenance, servicing and repairs and disposal of equipment.

The framework agreement is available to all public sector bodies, including central government and the wider public sector, social housing organisations and voluntary and community sector bodies.

The benefits for customers include: assured supplier standards – suppliers are prequalified as to their general suitability giving customers confidence in the quality of service/ products they can provide; reduced timescales – with no need to publish requirements by OJEU or pre-qualify suppliers; legality – fully legal and in line with EU regulations, reducing risk to customers; easy to use – customers need only to identify their requirements, present these to the market and award a contract; pre-defined terms and conditions – all providers have signed and accepted this

agreement and terms and conditions of call off; and aggregation of spend – customers will receive the benefits of an aggregated volume of spend and the benefits associated with an increased leverage in the market.

STORES & FLEET WORKSHOPS This agreement is for the provision of fully or partially managed materials stores, fully or partially managed fleet and workshop operations and fully or partially managed fleet and workshop operations including the procurement of fleet. The framework agreement is available to all public sector bodies, including central government and the wider public sector, social housing organisations and voluntary and community sector bodies.

Benefits include: assured supplier standards – suppliers are pre-qualified as to their general suitability giving customers a confidence in the quality of service/products they can provide;

Frameworks

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

identify their requirements, present these to the market and award a contract; there are pre-defined terms and conditions – all providers have signed and accepted this agreement and terms and conditions of call off; aggregation of spend – customers will receive the benefits of an aggregated volume of spend and the benefits associated with an increased leverage in the market; and there is supplier choice - this framework offers excellent choice with seven providers available on each lot of the framework.

STAFF BENEFITS This framework offers customers a quick, simple and competitive route to the purchasing the provision of staff benefits.

Aimed at corporate level, this framework offers employers access to providers of staff benefits schemes. The framework also includes a range of staff benefits designed to attract, motivate and retain employees.

The template for call-off contracts forms the basis of the terms and conditions in individual further competitions and can be supplemented or refined with additional terms to suit the requirement reduced timescales – with no need to publish requirements by OJEU or pre-qualify suppliers; and legality – fully legal and in line with EU regulations, reducing risk to customers.

Other benefits are: the agreement if easy to use – customers need only to

All of the suppliers on this framework have been selected for their ability to provide customers with a comprehensive range of services that combine quality and value.

The staff benefits available under the framework include: Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Childcare Vouchers Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Holiday Purchasing Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Qualifications and Work Place Training Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Mobile and IT Purchasing Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Workplace Parking Salary Sacrifice Scheme; Travel To work Salary Sacrifice Scheme; healthcare and well-being benefits; lifestyle voluntary benefits (retail and leisure discounts); and a fully managed benefits service.

The framework is available for use nationally by any public sector body in the UK including: schools and academies; local authority establishments; police and emergency services; NHS & HSC Bodies; central government departments and their agencies; registered charities; and registered social landlords. This framework is compliant with UK/EU procurement legislation – we’ve done the work, so there’s no need for you to run a full EU procurement process. Suppliers listed on the framework were assessed during the procurement process for their financial stability, track record, experience and technical and professional ability.

What you see is what you pay – there are no additional charges. There are pre-agreed terms and conditions to underpin all orders so no need to worry. There is also E

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PURCHASING

Frameworks

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

 great value, operating a salary sacrifice scheme allows employers to make savings on National Insurance contributions and each supplier offers cost effective options. Additionally, there is minimal administration - each scheme is designed to be fast and easy to implement, reducing the administrative burden on employers.

Lastly, and most importantly, it motivates staff, providing salary sacrifice schemes which can help staff to make their wages go further each month.

LAUNDRY AND LINEN SERVICES This multi-supplier agreement provides central government and wider public sector customers with access to laundry and linen services. It covers the collection, wash, finish and return of a wide range of items, including bedding, towels, clothing, theatre wear, uniforms (including hi-vis and other specialist items), gowns, shower curtains, mops, table linen and bags (including plastic, polyester, and water soluble), and other items such as bath mats, slings, gloves, cloths, bed pads.

The agreement follows on from the successful operation of the previous Laundry and Linen agreement (RM849), which expired on 24 May 2015. It provides continued provision of a wide range of laundry and linen services and opportunity for savings to the health sector, wider public sector and central government.

The agreement was developed following consultation with the health community and supply market, with the assistance of a stakeholder group drawn from a range of NHS trusts and police forces.

When using the agreement mandatory services are the processing (wash and finish) and transportation (collection and return) of linen items owned by (or hired from) the supplier.

Optional additional services include: weekend and Bank Holiday services; express turnaround service; on-site top-up service; management of on-site bulk linen storeroom(s); specific packing requirements; presentation on hangers; management of uniforms; scrub suit/theatre garment locker service; curtain hanging and removal; total linen management service; sewing room; repair and alteration; logo affixing service; dry cleaning; on-site theatre top-up service; and colour flash affixing service.

The benefits of the agreement are: consistent terms and conditions of contract; standardised key performance indicators; robust and flexible solution; range of regional and national suppliers; compliant with CFPP0104 (Choice Framework for Local Policy and Procedures); opportunity to achieve further savings through further competition; template contracts and call-off documentation for ease of use; and wider range of services available.

The standard prices used in the call-off procedure are the maximum chargeable by the supplier but may be reduced through

the further competition process. Maximum prices cannot be exceeded throughout the life of the agreement, but can be decreased in accordance with the call-off procedure.

BUILDING MATERIALS AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES There are thousands of products and suppliers in the marketplace for buildings materials and there is a great deal of expenditure over EU threshold. Customers advised that they would welcome a framework with multiple competed suppliers to provide them with a lean route to market which provides them with procurement compliance.

This agreement provides a comprehensive range of buildings materials and associated services across eight lots: Buildings Materials and Associated Services ‘One Stop Shop’; Plumbing and Heating; Electrical; Timber and Joinery; Workshop, Industrial and Electrical Tools; Paints and Solvents; Flooring; and Small Tool and Plant Hire Services.

Lot 1: Building Materials & Associated Services ‘One Stop Shop’. Supply and delivery of materials across a range of goods categories within scope of building materials. Including but not limited to heavy and light side building materials, plumbing and heating, electrical, timber and joinery, workshop, industrial and electric tools and

paint and solvents, flooring and tiling, and personal protective equipment. This lot intended to be a ‘one stop shop’ covering the scope of goods categories included in Lots 2,3,4,5,6,7. Additional services within the scope of this lot include imprest van stock and dedicated counter services.

Lot 2: Plumbing and Heating. Supply and delivery of plumbing and heating products for use in residential and commercial settings. Including but not limited to heating, ventilation and boilers, kitchens and bathrooms fixtures and fittings, copper fittings and brassware, plastic plumbing, drainage and waste, commercial plumbing and sustainable energy solutions, plumbing sundries and accessories.

Lot 3: Electrical. Supply and delivery of electrical products for use in residential and commercial settings. Including but not limited to lighting, distribution equipment and cable management, data networking, test and detection, cables, wiring and accessories, electrical control, fire detection and security and sustainable energy solutions, heating and cooling, mobile, mobile lighting.

Lot 4: Timber and Joinery. Supply and delivery of timber and joinery products.

Including but not limited to timber, sheet materials, doors and windows, decorative mouldings and fencing materials. E

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 Lot 5: Workshop, Industrial and Electrical Tools. Supply and delivery of workshop, industrial and electrical tools. Including but not limited to hand tools, power tools, electrical tools, machine tools, workshop equipment and accessories and fixings and fasteners.

Lot 6: Paint and Solvents. Supply and delivery of paints and solvents for use in commercial and residential settings. Including but not limited to interior paint, exterior paints, specialist paints, woodcare, undercoats and primers, decorating tools and painting sundries.

Lot 7: Flooring and Tiling. Supply and delivery of flooring and tiling for use in commercial and residential settings. Including but not limited to wood flooring, laminate flooring, vinyl, vinyl tiles, carpet tiles, carpet, ceramic floor tiles, resin flooring, entrance matting system, adhesives and sealants and flooring sundries.

Lot 8: Small Tool and Plant Hire. Supply and delivery of small tool and plant hire. Including but not limited to access equipment, hand and power tools, fixing tools, precision tools, consumables, cleaning and floor maintenance, concreting equipment, heating and cooling equipment, lifting and handling, plumbing and drainage, machine tools, surveying and location, safety and ventilation, tools and garden machinery, painting and spraying, compressors, generators and transformers, portable units.

Benefits include: a lean procurement route to market; compliance with EU procurement legislation; standardised terms and conditions; template contracts and call off documentation; accurate management information; process savings - allowing customers to concentrate on core activities; discounted list prices; and the opportunity to carry out further competition to deliver further savings.

SMALL BUSINESS BENEFITS In the last financial year, small businesses benefited from £12.1 billion of government spending. In 2014 to 2015, 27.1 per cent of central government buying was with small businesses, either directly (10.9 per cent) or through the supply chain (16.2 per cent).

This exceeds the target set in the last Parliament of spending 25 per cent of the central government procurement budget with small businesses by 2015. The government is also in a good position to reach its new target for a third of central government buying to be with small businesses by 2020. Achieving this target will mean an extra £3 billion per year (in 2013 to 2014 terms) going to small firms directly or through the supply chain.

Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General Matt Hancock said: “Small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy and on Small Business Saturday, I want to see as many of them as possible competing for and winning public sector contracts.

“I want to turbocharge our ambitions for small business and have £1 in every £3 of government spend going to small businesses by 2020. I look forward to seeing even more of our big suppliers sign up to the prompt payment code, and help the small businesses in their supply chain.”

John Manzoni, chief executive of the Civil Service, said: “I’ve seen for myself how innovative small business can be and government should be benefiting from what they can offer. That’s why today of all days, it’s great to see that we’re making good on our promise to open up public sector procurement to businesses of all sizes, and by creating this more diverse marketplace, we’re helping to stimulate local economies and delivering greater innovation and value for money for the taxpayer.” L

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Frameworks

PURCHASING

From hi-visibility clothing to work boots, safety glasses to respirators, you’ll find quality products and an excellence of service that’s guaranteed to keep your workplace a compliant and safe environment.

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FURTHER INFORMATION www.gov.uk/government/organisations/crown-commercial-service

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The focus is now on unrecognised fomites - items we touch without thinking.

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

quality of their work, which is recognised and admired around the world. The calligraphers work in-house in the company’s own studio and on-site as requested, offering the highest standards of craftsmanship.

FG Marshall’s professional calligraphy services include; Books of Remembrance and Condolence, certificates, scrolls and other documents, wedding and celebration invitations and stationery.

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FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0777 3586006 info@towncentreapps.co.uk www.buildapps2order.com

MOBILE EGONOMICS

APPLIANCE TESTING

Mobile working, agile working, working from home, laptops, tablets, smartphones, cloud storage, 24 hour access and emerging technology all drives how business works today. This technology allows business to be flexible and makes work about what you do, not where you work. However, there are emerging health issues increasingly being linked to mobile technology including musculoskeletal disorders.

For example, ‘texting thumb’ ‘text neck’, these disorders can cause staff discomfort, reduced productivity, potential for litigation and potential sickness absence.

All this mobile equipment is classed as Display Screen Equipment and therefore employers have a legal responsibility to ensure risks to health are identified and

Patcom, a nationwide portable appliance testing company offers a fantastic service to all businesses.The company’s service includes: free minor repairs; free full detailed reports; hard bound copy reports; and free site walk arounds where needed.

Established in 2015, the directors Phil and Jodie had both worked In the industry for one of the largest PAT companies in the UK, seeing all the flaws and how customers are often let down. Consequently they decided that they wanted to start a company which put the client at the centre of their policy.

Having grown from strength to strength in such a short amount of time, they have many strings to their bow including testing for one of the largest councils in the North West.

With 10 engineers based around the UK, and currently with plans to take on a further 10 over

Effective mobile risk management systems

controlled. Mobile Office Ltd, owned and run by Chartered Ergonomists, has developed the unique Mobile Working Risk Management System, which provides employers with a framework to allow them to identify the risks and ways to manage those risks, including a user friendly checklist. It includes a draft HR policy to help embed effective risk control into the wider business management.

The system also includes a training package for managers and staff. The world is your office - help make it a healthy one.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07970 080672 info@mobileoffice.guru www.mobileoffice.guru

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Cheapest door to door Speed Ramps in the UK Speed Ramps is the UK’s cheapest supplier of recycled traffic management products. As the exclusive reseller to a UK manufacturer with over 40 years experience, Speed Ramps guarantees to be the cheapest door-to-door supplier.

From cable ramps, kerb ramps, speed ramps and traffic cones to vehicle stoppers - Speed Ramps offers same day dispatch with carriage and fixings full operational capability.

Speed Ramps offers a personal, professional and reliable service with no hidden costs. It guarantees to beat any genuine like-for-like quote. All of the company’s speed ramps are stamped, made in England and come with a minimum 12 month’s manufacturer’s warranty.

SR30/50/75mm Speed Ramps are sold as kits for £24/£30/£36 plus VAT per meter including end caps, fixings and carriage.

The company also stocks signs and poles in adherence with Highways Agency guidelines, and supplies a user friendly installation guide. Speed Ramps has a network of CHAS and constructionline accredited installers to provide a one-stop shop to any speed ramp requirements.

For more information email the company with the details below.

Visit the Speed Ramps website to place an order or request a free no obligation quote.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01480 432055 sales@speedrampsuk.co.uk www.speedrampsuk.co.uk

The no.1 trusted PAT testing company in the UK

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the next year, the company has big plans to be the largest PAT testing company in UK by 2020.

Patcom offers Pat testing from 50p for larger sites and this includes a service which is unrivalled. Testing is carried out by fully trained and DBS checked staff.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01925 552790 sales@patcom.co.uk www.patcom.co.uk

AERIAL INSPECTION SERVICES

Aerial photography and surveying specialists

Wide Horizons carries out aerial surveying, auditing and inspection services as well as photography and video capabilities using multirotor platforms and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) specialising in both the commercial and industrial sector including maintenance surveys, emergency inspections and schedule of condition to name a few.

Utilising Unmanned Aerial Vehicles removes the need for traditional cherry pickers and scaffolding to undertake high level surveys. With the ability to reach heights and potentially hazardous areas. The use of UAVs

exceeds the agility and quality of other methods without a single operative leaving ground level.

Wide Horizons provides detailed visual inspections and surveys of tall or awkward structures, unparalleled aerial imagery and 4K video footage for land and agriculture surveys and construction progress imagery. The company has all the necessary insurance for aerial work and all operatives hold full CAA permission for aerial work.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0145 584 8222 info@widehorizonslimited.com www.widehorizonslimited.com

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FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

If the answer is yes, then ADI Lifestyle Choice believes its book may help you decide. The book is available free from the ADI company website and is 60 pages of free insider information that any would be driving instructor will find invaluable.

The book covers all the pros and cons of being a driving instructor, so you can make an educated decision on whether instructing is the career path for you. In a market place which is so competitive it makes a refreshing change to be offered such great inside information for free.

If a full business franchise is putting you out of your comfort zone this could be for you.

Everyone needs a skill set to set them out from the crowd, with driving instructing also offering a way into a very lucrative market.

Robert Horne, founder of Damp Detectives Ltd, is a CSRT independent damp surveyor with the Property Care Association, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and a member of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.

Damp Detectives surveyors understand that mould and condensation are symptoms, not the cause, of damp problems.

Unlike companies that sell products to treat the symptoms of mould and condensation, Damp Detectives tracks down the causes of the problem.

Once the causes are known, they are simple and usually inexpensive to rectify. Many customers have found they have spent thousands of pounds employing builders and remedial companies to no effect before realising that Damp Detectives

Considering a driving instructor franchise?

ADI Lifestyle Choice operates in the West Midlands, covering the whole of the Black Country (including Cannock and Wolverhampton), and the company’s sister company (driving school) will guarantee you a franchise, where earnings normally exceed 35K per annum.

So if driving instructing is something you may consider, just pop over to the ADI Lifestyle Choice website, fill out the form and wait for the book to be delivered.

FURTHER INFORMATION www.adilifestylechoice.com

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

Cartridge Right has been established since 2002.

The company specialises in refilling and selling a range of printing supplies as well as printing services, stationery and paper, effectively making it a one stop printing shop.

As a business opportunity, Cartridge Right is now licencing its business on a franchise basis. The benefits of the company’s business are: repeat customers and high margins that regularly reach up to and over 1000 per cent; your customers will benefit by saving money and helping to save the environment – a pretty cool selling point for any business.

So that you open the doors to your own business on the first day with confidence, Cartridge World includes the following: techniques and methods for

Local Appliance Rentals (LAR) is the obvious first choice expert in consumer hire, renting anything and everything from TVs, electronics, furniture, white goods to outdoor play equipment for kids typically over 24 months.

The company has the motto - ‘You Name It, We Rent It’.

Offering small weekly affordable payments, LAR has 20 franchisees in the UK since its launch in 2013. This is further enhanced by its 135 franchisees worldwide.

With minimal overheads, low staff numbers are required and there is a huge demand in an unsaturated market. This business model delivers rapid sales growth potential. If you are a people person and can build strong relationships, then you have what it takes to become a great franchisee.

LAR provides a proven system with exceptional support infrastructure. Existing franchisees help each other with

Save people money and help the environment

102

Solving the damp housing problem in the UK

refilling; onsite training in a live environment; sales training; advertising/marketing letters, brochures, adverts and leaflet designs; suppliers and trade contacts (all of which have taken years to learn and accumulate); unique branding (which is copyrighted); the opportunity to use our other brands - Computer Right and Printing Right.

If you are interested in finding out more about a franchise please get in touch with Cartridge Right below.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01179 248 888 info@cartridgeright.co.uk www.cartridgeright.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

can quickly locate the root cause.

Condensation is one of the most misunderstood and poorly diagnosed conditions that occur in social and rented housing. Millions of pounds are spent throughout the country on extractor fans, positive pressure fans and other products which simply suppress the symptoms of condensation without identifying the cause.

Insulating a damp house exacerbates the level of mould and condensation and increases the threat to the health of the occupants.

Damp Detectives is the answer to the damp housing problem in the UK. FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07785 297135 www.dampdetectives.co.uk

Why wait when you can rent it today?

best practice and the company’s customers drive the referrals from good service and genuine client care. LAR can be suited to an individual working from a home office, to the investor wanting to roll out a team across multiple units or stores.

LAR welcomes all expressions of interest. Franchisees are experiencing unprecedented growth with some franchisees already expanding their territory.

LAR is looking for new energetic partners with an appetite for growth and success.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0777 333 9444 www.localapllicancerentals.co.uk

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

OUTSOURCING

If this sounds like you, then why not open your own Now Boarding Pet Hotel.

It’s a wonderful business to run if you love animals.

With Now Boarding’s complete start up package, you could be ready to open for business within weeks!

Now Boarding provides you with everything you need to get started, and will help you every step of the way. No previous experience is required as full training will be given in all aspects of running your business.

The package includes everything you need to run your garden based home business, including a fully fitted out heated and air-conditioned Pet Hotel.

The company is looking for honest, friendly and hard working individuals, who enjoy giving excellent customer service, and have the drive and determination to succeed.

You must share Now Boarding’s vision to ensure your Now

Daniel Owen is a leading maintenance recruitment supplier in London and the South East, as well as working extensively across the UK. The maintenance division supplies public and private organisations working within the public sector with qualified staff for maintenance and social refurbishment projects, often involving social housing, public buildings and governmentfunded schemes.

With a full understanding of health and safety and compliance requirements, Daniel Owen’s clients benefit from a fast and reliable service, even when deadlines are tight.

The specialist maintenance team is well equipped to provide staffing solutions for all roles in the sector including: multitraders, plasterers, electricians, painters, carpenters, kitchen/ bathroom fitters, supervisory

Do you love animals and Specialising in temporary want to work from home? maintenance workers

Boarding Pet Hotel provides the best home boarding service in your area, so that your customers not only recommend you, but return time and time again.

If this sounds like you, Now Boarding would love to hear from you! Please contact Now Boarding to find out more or alternatively visit the Now Boarding company website.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01322 471801 www.nowboarding pethotels.co.uk enquiries@nowboarding pethotels.co.uk

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

HUMAN RESOURCES

Professional Training Associates (PTA) is the leading trainer of commercial finance brokers in the UK. Once trained by the PTA, brokers are invited to join the associated company Funding For Business Network (FFBN) which provides a range of support to its commercial finance franchisee brokers. This support ranges from senior industry technical advice and assistance on your client cases, a database of over 180 non equity lenders, marketing support and back office administrative infrastructure.

There is no better time to join the franchise business and become a broker. Over half a million new companies have been formed in the last couple of years and the expanding economy needs more funding providing the franchisees with income earning opportunities.

The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, the UK trade association, has 1,600 members who arranged

CoreHR delivers world class Cloud based HCM and payroll solutions to some of the UK and Ireland’s leading organisations across the public and private sector including the University of Oxford, HCPC, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office of Public Works.

CoreHR manages all strategic and transactional HR and payroll processes with highly intuitive and easy to use solutions that streamline processes, improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs.

CoreHR’s next generation HCM technology removes all the complexity around HR and payroll processes, allowing you to focus on what’s important – your people. Empower your diverse workforce with a mobile experience enabling them to

Training and developing finance brokers in the UK

£53bn of finance last year making themselves in excess of £100,000 each for the year.

In the US over 80 per cent of finance is arranged by brokers whereas in the UK it is less than 25 per cent providing lots of opportunities for growth.

PTA and FFBN aim to train the best franchisee brokers and provide clients with excellent professional advice and services giving brokers average incomes of over £100,000 per year.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0345 222 1553 info@ptatraining.co.uk www.ptatraining.co.uk

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staff, estate management, administration and office staff.

Daniel Owen, first founded in 1986 as Workmates & Daniel Owen Ltd, operates in specialist divisions (maintenance, construction, civil engineering and rail, design and consultancy, gas) so its recruiters truly understand the fields in which it works.

The company works with a large number of the UK’s largest construction and engineering companies as well as government organisations, councils and housing associations.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0345 810 1020 www.danielowen.co.uk

A fully integrated solution for HR and Payroll needs

perform tasks such as request time off, submit expense claims and access their personal information such payslips and working schedules, anytime, anywhere and on any device, transforming the way your people work. The future of HR technology is now for public services.

Would you like to learn more about how you can transform your business operations with CoreHR’s HCM solution? Get in touch today for a personalised tour and take your first step to achieving transformational HR. FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0121 4562192 sales@corehr.com www.corehr.com

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SECRETARIAL SERVICES

COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY SUPPLIERS

BuyWithConfidence.gov.uk approved, PG Office Services provides professional document layout, audio transcription and proofreading services as well as pdf and scan conversions to Word and preparation of print-ready publications. Any written format is suitable, from reports, meeting papers, precis minutes, forms, journals and newsletters to websites.

The company is owned and run by director, Paula Good, whose early days started in London as a trilingual editorial assistant for an international charity then as PA to a managing director in one of the UK’s largest and oldest companies with operations world-wide.

Joining forces over 25 years ago to manage a successful commercial print partnership in Berkshire led to further printrelated skills; the company is also able to offer mailing services

MAG Laundry Equipment is a leading supplier of commercial laundry machines, offering a professional service across the UK and worldwide.

MAG supplies commercial washing machines, tumble dryers and ironers to a wide customer base including the education sector, healthcare sector and many other government sectors.

MAG is truly committed to long-term relationships with all its customers. MAG provides the best equipment, service and support through ongoing investment and development.

MAG offers commercial washing machines in various sizes ranging from 9.5KG upwards with matching tumble dryers to suit. To compliment this the company also supplies a wide range of finishing equipment.

The in house laundry specialists are also on hand to provide support and advice when it comes to any new build projects.

PG Office Services for professional document preparation

with discounted postage.

Excellence has always been a priority and so the emphasis in the last 10 years has been on providing a personal service to customers to ensure their documents give a professional impression, be it through accuracy or visual layout.

View the client list on the testimonial page of the website to find out more about what PG Office Services can do for you.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01271 855814 info@pgoffice.co.uk www.pgprintand officeservices.co.uk

SECRETARIAL SERVICES

EDUCATIONAL THERAPY

With increasing pressure to produce more for less, many organisations are outsourcing their non-core work; this is where Penguin Office Services (POS) can help. POS works with a wide variety of organisations, including councils, government departments, universities and institutions, to provide a range of services such as audio typing and transcription, proofreading and copy editing, document formatting, internet research and presentation design.

POS helps with one-off projects or on an on-going basis, so that your department can concentrate on its core work.

Security is a priority and files can be uploaded using a variety of secure file-sending options.

POS can conform to your confidentiality requirements, or you can find standard confidentiality and privacy information on its website.

For transcription services POS also offers advice on recording

Being emotionally literate can change lives. It is the ability to recognise and name emotions and display them productively. It is also the ability to empathise with others.

Becoming emotionally literate raises children’s self-esteem and confidence which impacts positively on their academic achievement, their behaviour and building and maintaining healthy relationships. Through emotional literacy children learn to establish boundaries in their lives and around their own space which in turn helps them to respect others and their boundaries.

There is a process for becoming emotionally literate and to assist in teaching this, Anthea Harding has developed a tool called the Emotional Literacy Floor Sheet, which allows children to walk through and experience the process. Using two mats enables children to hear others’ opinions, learn about individual differences and understand

Offering a wide range of virtual office services

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A leading player in the commercial laundry sector

of meetings, interviews, focus groups, presentations, roundtables, panel discussions and conferences, because the better your audio is, the better the resulting transcription will be.

POS can edit to a house style if one is available, or provide proofreading, copy editing and substantive editing services.

A fixed quote is normally available in advance of carrying out the work, so you will know in advance how the elements of your projects that POS works on will fit within the budget.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01953 880206 penguinofficeservices.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

With a team of factory trained engineers, MAG can provide you with a bespoke offering to meet your needs.

To find out more, contact MAG Laundry Equipment and speak with a friendly member of the team, who will listen to your requirements and recommend the best machines for your application, alternatively visit the website.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01422 244733 sales@laundrymachines.co.uk www.maglaundry equipment.co.uk

Helping you discover emotional literacy

that it is safe to disagree with people and still get along. Being emotionally literate helps children to plan their lives and accept with confidence challenges that will enhance their futures.

For more information please visit the website below.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07771698075 mail@antheaharding.co.uk www.antheaharding.co.uk

WEB DESIGN

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Colour Rich works closely with local and county government offices on a variety of digital projects, from creative web design to enhancing online reach and presence.

Based in Oxford, the Colour Rich team recently designed a responsive website and email templates for Buckinghamshire County Council’s Thrift Farm project. Work is now underway on a website re-brand for Dementia Oxfordshire in conjunction with Age UK, Guideposts and Young Dementia UK. Working in accordance with the client’s brief, Colour Rich can develop bespoke websites that are intuitive and provide a great user experience. Design standards and visitor disabilities are also placed in high regard.

This ensures a website’s message is conveyed effectively across all platforms and devices, so visitors are able to find information as easily as possible.

The same exceptionally high

Synergy Environmental Solutions, based in the UK, provides first class environmental monitoring and health and safety services. It has an extensive national client base of customers ranging from private home owners, to local authorities to International PLCs. Among its services, Synergy runs environmental monitoring testing and consultancy services. The environmental monitoring services include, UKAS and MCERTS accredited stack emission monitoring, sick building syndrome testing, indoor air quality, ambient air quality testing and contaminated land consultancy services.

Synergy’s health and safety testing and consultancy services include workplace air monitoring, LEV testing, noise assessments, COSHH risk

Digital services for the public sector

level of consideration is given to email marketing template designs. Created as an extension to a website’s branding, the fully customised, responsive layouts maximise readability and interest among subscribers with every campaign.

From first-class web design, system development and highly effective email marketing, Colour Rich has the experience and expertise to deliver outstanding results to government projects across the UK. FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01993 883767 richard@colourrich.co.uk www.colourrich.co.uk

Environmental monitoring and consultancy solutions

WEB DESIGN

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

At Creative Harmony, the staff spend time getting to know you, understanding how your business works and seeing things as they look to you. Once the company understands how your world works, it is enthusiastic about your success, aware of your needs and as committed to creating quality results as you are.

At that point Creative Harmony can place its creative talents at your service by combining its skills, backed up by years of training and research into excellent design, with its insight into your business. Then when the company has got something exciting to show you, it will talk through the concepts it has created and respond to your questions.

Working with you, Creative Harmony will calibrate and polish every concept until it is perfect for you and your business. Whilst superb design looks natural

E-Co is the UK’s leader in the provision of highly innovative indoor and outdoor air quality solutions utilising ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) and a range of unique positive ionisation technologies.

The types of solutions are split into two categories. Firstly, reducing exposure to indoor pollutants, which ranges from reductions in hospital acquired infections, reductions in Norovirus outbreaks in the NHS and on cruise ships, to reductions in absenteeism in government and commercial buildings. Many of E-Cos’ clients utilise this technology to mitigate against pandemic threats and more recently countering the threat of bio-terrorist attacks in buildings.

In addition, reducing exposure to outdoor pollutants, which involves reducing human exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 in polluted urban environments.

Working with you to create excellent design

and effortless, the company will put in all the necessary effort to make it look that way.

Once a design concept is agreed, Creative Harmony steps in to do the technical stuff, from building your new website through to print ready artwork for print media or anything else that’s required. Creative Harmony has the skills, the experience and the enthusiasm to get your design project from start to finish swiftly, simply and with style.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0203 773 9137 info@creativeharmony.co.uk www.creativeharmony.co.uk

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assessments and respirator air quality testing, all carried out

by BOHS qualified technicians.

At Synergy Environmental Solutions, the company’s philosophy is always to provide the best quality measurements and the best service at the best possible price. That’s why, on average, Synergy’s customers rate it at 96 per cent for quality, service, reports and turnaround.

To find out why Synergy’s customers are so happy with the service ask for an obligation free quote today.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01782 614236 info@synergyenvironmental.co.uk www.synergy-en.co.uk

The leader for outdoor and indoor air quality solutions

Some of E-Cos’ solutions include clean air zones in parks and urban bus stops and providing clean unpolluted air to underground metro networks.

Furthermore, E-Co reduces energy bills by negating the need for expensive filtration systems thus removing their associated energy overhead.

Subsequently these solutions are involved in many ESOS projects.

E-Co is Carbon Trust accredited and its solutions are NATO and MOD approved and are being used by The Royal Navy.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44(0)20-3734-2089 www.e-co.uk.com

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HOUSING & PLANNING

PLANNING

Expert advice on property Specialist town and development planning country planning advice

Touchstone Planning & Development aims to solve complexity, present a strong argument and secure the best outcome. The principal, Nigel Hawkey, has more than 30 years’ experience in both public and private sectors.

He has a demonstrable track record of success on a wide range of significant and challenging development projects, as well as extensive experience of managing teams to secure acceptable outcomes efficiently and effectively.

He spent nine years as Head of Planning for one of the UK’s major developers, Quintain Estates and Development Plc, and had particular

responsibility for securing viable, deliverable planning permission for the regeneration of 80 acres surrounding Wembley National Stadium.

More recently, he has worked for a variety of clients in relation to large-scale greenfield development proposals, often involving the need to unlock complex housing land supply and affordable housing issues to a demanding timescale.

Whatever your query, please do not hesitate to get in touch via the contact details below.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07748 704151 nh@touchstonepd.co.uk www.touchstonepd.co.uk

PLANNING

HOUSING & PLANNING

Stuart Todd Associates is a leading independent, public sector focused, consultancy based in the south west. It specialises in: spatial planning (at strategic and local levels); planning for sports facilities, outdoor activity and playing pitches; outcome focused research; strategy development; feasibility studies; stakeholder consultation; and neighbourhood and community planning.

With a public sector background spanning 15 years working at district, county and regional levels, company director Stuart Todd leads the consultancy with an understanding of local government, the pressures it faces and the solutions being applied to deliver statutory and non-statutory services in the current financial climate.

As a small consultancy, Stuart Todd Associates works closely with clients in a collaborative

De Pol Associates is a long established independent chartered town planning consultancy which has been providing a full range of planning services for over 30 years to a wide range of public and private sector clients throughout the UK. De Pol has a wealth of experience in advising land and property owners on the potential for obtaining planning permission covering all sectors of the development industry and has an excellent track record of obtaining planning permission for its clients.

The company is acutely aware of the various pressures facing Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) which are, in part, caused by the ever increasing complexity of the overall planning process and are exacerbated by their lack of staff and resources to deal with the process effectively.

In understanding these pressures, De Pol aims to proactively work with LPA

Outcome focused strategies and research

106

For over 25 years CDN Planning has provided planning and development services to the South Wales area and beyond. Based in Swansea, the company has developed a reputation over the years for giving prompt and helpful advice both to the business sector and to the many private clients who have benefited from the company’s advice.

CDN Planning is able to advise on all aspects of the development world, including planning applications, planning appeals, enforcement and lawful use, development plan submissions, urban design and the assessment of development potential.

In recent times, CDN Planning

way to ensure that outputs meet their needs. The company works with a network of specialist associates who have expertise in disciplines such as sustainability, ecology, development, the environment, economic development, landscape, and GIS, giving it added strength and depth in the services it offers.

The company prides itself on effective evaluation of issues that cross and involve sectors such as planning, health and well-being, sport, economic development, housing and education, ensuring that it develops outcome focused, robust and realistic assessments, strategies and delivery plans.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07964 944920 stuarttoddassociates.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

has also become a specialist in the renewable energy sector.

Where a job requires input from a range of different professionals, the company is able to use its extensive network of contacts to set up and coordinate the team environment required to get the task done.

You can get in touch with the company via the contact details below and speak to Graham Carlisle, the director of the company, or alternatively either Amy, Christian or Michelle will be happy to help.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01792 830238 info@cdnplanning.com www.cdnplanning.com

Offering town planning services since 1985

officers wherever possible in an attempt to overcome any issues which may arise during the LPA’s consideration of development proposals.

Whilst De Pol’s clients are predominantly from the private sector, the company is able to advise LPAs on the potential to optimise any public assets and can also provide support services for the LPA in handling planning applications or appeals submitted by other agencies.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01772 888 488 mail@depol.co.uk www.depol.co.uk

HOUSING & PLANNING

HOUSING

Brooke Smith Planning prides itself on its professional knowledge and understanding of planning legislation and process.

It has a commercial realism and understanding of how the construction and development industry works. This, together with its thorough understanding of the role and value of the ‘community’ in the planning process, means that it has an exceptionally high success rate.

The company’s biggest success has to be that it still retains a strong and high position in the market place. According to managing director Louise BrookeSmith: “This simply reflects our professional standards and reputation which in turn reflects a strong team attitude and a steady and realistic approach to sourcing new clients and then retaining them.”

Andrea Caplan, associate director, said: “We have seen a number of recent highlights which included securing

The 2015 announcement from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has caused shockwaves in policy teams across the country. Those authorities who do not have a Local Plan by March 2017 will have it written for them.

Thankfully, despite a widespread reduction in resources, most Local Planning Authorities are well under way with their local plan preparations.

Unfortunately adopting them often seems like a distant reality.

Everything needs to be supported by a robust evidence base which can take a great deal of time to collect. Surveys can only be done at the optimum time, and can take several months to undertake.

When budgets are being continuously slashed, it pays to outsource and take advantage of an experienced planning consultant, who can efficiently

Offering expert planning and development advice

consent for major development schemes for clients across the UK. However, sometimes it’s the smaller cases where a point of principle has been challenged or the vagaries of the planning systems have been pushed to its limits.”

Will Charlton, director, said: “Planning is challenging and at times very frustrating but that makes the work even more exciting because a professional, realistic approach can make all the difference to a client.”

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0121 693 8900 info@brookesmithplanning.com www.brookesmithplanning.com

Providing specialist advice on planning issues

HOUSING

HOUSING & PLANNING

Johnson Brook Planning & Development Ltd provides town planning, built heritage expertise and advice to a number of police, NHS Trusts and other government bodies.

It assists in estate disposal and rationalisation through planning policy review, advocacy, viability appraisals, heritage assessments and realisation of land assets via land promotion and planning application processes.

The team has extensive public and private sector experience enabling them to formulate cost conscious and progressive strategies in line with client expectations.

The company has wide-ranging experience in the residential sector working with leading residential developers and strategic land companies as well as smaller developers. Johnson Brook manages the preparation and submission of planning and other applications ensuring

OpenPlan is a placemaking studio, working with public sector clients to shape great places. At the heart of the studio are three core intentions: make each place work, make each place special, and add value by valuing ‘place’.

OpenPlan provides a range of placemaking and planmaking services, delivered by a team with specialisms in town planning, urban design, cultural development, community engagement and project management. These skills are complemented by the studio’s highly qualified team of associates, bringing together an integrated understanding of place: governance, transport strategy, CPTED, economic and social development, design, regeneration and heritage.

Currently supporting several UK local authorities in the preparation of local plans, growth strategies, cultural strategies and masterplans, OpenPlan’s portfolio also includes preparing

Experienced planning and development consultants

all key elements from viability, sustainability, design and access, public consultations and heritage assessments are considered and delivered to time cost and quality.

It also have a proven reputation for the identification and promotion of strategic developable land for residential and mixed-use schemes through written representations to Core Strategies and Site Allocations Development Plan Documents.

Johnson Brook has developed sound working relations with local authorities and other statutory bodies enabling it to deliver the best results for clients.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0113 887 0120 www.johnsonbrook.co.uk mark@johnsonbrook.co.uk

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deliver support through specific projects and evidence streams.

Some offer support in the development management sector.

Consultancies with experience in both public and private sectors, such as KVA Planning Consultancy, are increasingly in demand as regulations get more complex and budgets ever tighter.

Don’t let your local plan rest in the hands of DCLG, take action today.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07734 953 236 enquiries@kvaplanning.co.uk www.kvaplanning.co.uk

OpenPlan – Making each place count

Trinidad & Tobago’s National Spatial Development Strategy; helping UNESCO to re-vision the Caribbean as a ‘Creative Region’; advising the States of Guernsey on affordable housing policy; and preparing an extensive Community Plan for Barbados.

The studio explores every place from a fresh perspective: celebrating distinctiveness; learning from communities’ experience; valuing partnerships; developing shared visions and workable strategies; and promoting creativity, innovation and enterprise.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01522 837 213 enquiries@thinkopenplan.com www.thinkopenplan.com

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PLANNING

FLOODS

Sophie Smith Ltd offers bespoke design led planning services to guide successful place making and infrastructure delivery and has extensive experience in residential development and strategic promotion, working with the private and public sectors.

As a multi-disciplinary consultancy with landscape, urban design and planning expertise, Sophie Smith Ltd specialises in residential planning and masterplanning, landscape and visual impact assessment, strategic site assessment and the provision of supplementary planning guidance.

Director Sophie O’Hara Smith has worked with local authorities and public and private sector clients on a number of collaborative supplementary planning documents to guide and enable development in

Allups’ belt supports others’ braces, for the ounce of preparation that’s worth pounds of cure. Allups Ltd has developed a lightweight system of belts and accessories that anyone can trap between a door or window and its frame when concerned about a possible flood.

Once wet, the belts instantly swell to create a soft waterproof strip. Flood pressure obligingly squeezes the swollen belts into gaps to reduce water ingress and damage.

Flood no-show? Pack the dry product away for another day.

This effective British innovation, made in England, is the lowest cost way to encourage people to start preparing for floods in advance.

Added bonuses are that it is cheap to transport, has a very long shelf life, can be stored in a draw and has a tiny carbon footprint. Contaminated waste weighs 3kg vs 250kg for 10 wet sandbags per door providing

Landscape, planning and urban design services

sensitive locations. These include: planning and development briefs for Cambridge City Council; the landscape design and management plan for Beaulieu Park Chelmsford; Barnardo’s development brief, Barkingside Redbridge; and Woodland Strategy for Mid Essex Hospital Trust and Chelmsford City Council.

With expertise in masterplanning large urban extensions and development management for local authorities, the company offers consultancy services working with the public sector to guide growth and capitalise on the opportunities.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07771768082 soharasmith@gmail.com www.sophie-smith.co.uk

COMMERCIAL FLOORING

Sustainable flooring solutions at Ecobuild ‘16 At Ecobuild 2016, Flowcrete UK will be showcasing an environmentally friendly floor build up that has been designed to boost a development’s green credentials without sacrificing on performance or aesthetics.

The resin flooring manufacturer’s Green Floorzone includes self levelling screeds produced using recycled materials reclaimed from coal power stations, Isowarm underfloor heating that is 30 per cent more effective than traditional heating methods and decorative finishes that incorporate recycled aggregates to create a luxurious, shimmering lustre.

Flowcrete UK’s Isocrete Screeds range has seen a number of new changes to make it an even more sustainable offering. This has included using GGBS instead of PFA and eventually replacing sand with recycled glass.

To lower the overall environmental impact of flooring projects, Flowcrete UK

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has analysed the entirety of its products’ lifecycles through a green lens. This has led to the use of IBC containers to transport materials, which significantly reduces the volume of packaging required, making it easier, quicker and more energy efficient to transport while also cutting down on the amount of packaging waste sent to landfills.

Visitors to stand number E6040 at Ecobuild 2016, will also be able to find out about all of Flowcrete UK’s latest innovations, which includes an odour free, polished concrete style methyl methacrylate system.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01270 753000 www.flowcrete.co.uk mailto: uk@flowcrete.com

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

Proven property level flood protection devices

0.5m deep flood control.

Visit the website to see a video of how Allups’ Strips work and read about how Allups partnered with Boston Borough Council to ensure its product was effective against tidal floods and more. No wonder the panel of judges looking for innovative ways to help their public prepare for flood at the Copenhagen Climate Challenge in 2015 said ‘yes please’.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0161 408 3751 www.allupsltd.co.uk

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Developing leading solar technology in the UK

Solar UK is an installer of both solar thermal and photovoltaic solar systems and a solar thermal manufacturer with over 17 years of industry experience.

Solar UK is an expert in the field and has undertaken a number of bespoke projects including working with London Zoo to provide hot water for the pygmy hippo enclosure, installing over 50kWp of PV panels on new housing estate projects to meet government targets and bringing hot water to the New Bodleian Library at Oxford University and the New Birmingham Dental Hospital at Pebble Mill, Birmingham.

Each of these projects came with unique obstacles to overcome and requirements to meet, in which Solar UK’s

expertise and years of knowledge proved to be priceless.

Along with completing bespoke commercial and communal projects, Solar UK also caters for all domestic solar needs.

These aspects cover a range of facilitites from servicing to brand new installations. Having completed projects as far away as the Canary Islands, Solar UK has the capability to help tailor a solar package to suit any need.

If you have a solar requirement contact Solar UK today by phone or email, or if you want to learn more about solar, visit the Solar UK website.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01424 772903 sales@solaruk.com www.solaruk.com

IT

IT SOFTWARE

Genesis City has been operating for the last two years starting with sourcing below market value properties for keen investors to helping individual investors develop and renovate their properties. Since then it has grown in experience and now deals with larger projects whilst still helping the community with the odd individual renovations.

Genesis City specialises in development consultation for residential houses, apartments and the occasional commercial developments. Genesis buys land to build or consult with owners of land who wishes to build. The company can also source funding from overseas for developmental projects.

Genesis is interested in land with or without planning permission and conversions.

It is also looking for council connections where it could create synergy, with the shortage of houses in the market it is willing to work with local

Local and centralised governments are facing multiple challenges from reduced budgets to improving service to the public and ensuring data is accurate, secure and meets User Data Protection Compliance (encryption, audit, security).

Process improvements like these require IT to prioritise, develop and implement, commonly taking 12 to 18 months.

Now imagine having a Virtual Workforce – software robots that automate computer rules-based administration processes such as license and voter registration, billing, and other tasks automatically, without errors and without coding, freeing up your employees to provide better personalised service to the public.

With a Virtual Workforce, departments can configure, control and monitor tasks

A professional property development company

councils to consult and develop to meet their housing needs.

Genesis City is primarily based in Manchester but works throughout the North West with occasional projects in the south. The broadness of its connections allows the company to assist customers in searching for their ideal property.

Regardless of whether you are an overseas student, a professional, a caterer, retired or an investor, Genesis will to do its utmost to come up with the best plans for you to select from.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0161 828 8088 info@genesiscity.uk

Helping to provide a more agile virtual workforce

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

IT

Based in Fareham, Hampshire, DataWizard has been operating for over three years, carrying out a broad range of professional administrative support services for businesses and charities, delivering a timely and reliable service.

DataWizard can provide a virtual admin service (one off or regular) for when your admin team is overloaded e.g. holidays, sickness, seasonal peaks or to release staff for other projects.

DataWizard offers a range of administrative services including letters, reports, presentations, quotations, online emails and appointments, data entry, mailshots, mail merge and envelope filling.

DataWizard can improve efficiency by creating databases to hold records and automate much of a manual paperwork system, e.g. customer contacts; orders; stock control. Data is backed up

Developing excellent new software applications requires a provider that focuses on the client. This is vital to the success of a project. The provider must communicate effectively, and comprehensively understand not only how applications must function, but also how they support clients’ goals.

Before working with Computer ConQuest, clients typically struggled with the following kind of challenges: ageing software systems becoming less functional and unproductive; difficulties customising off-the-shelf software products to support specific requirements; poorly integrated systems resulting in manual processes that waste staff time; expensive license fees eroding already tight budgets; and an inability to access important information promptly so no work can be done.

Computer ConQuest is a devoted team of software

Trusted administrative assistants you can trust

regularly and security is always of utmost importance to reflect the clients needs for confidentiality.

DataWizard is happy to accept work via email, post, courier, telephone, conference calls or video calling (usually Skype). The work can be transferred on CD, hard copy (printed or hand written) or during face to face meetings.

A detailed, no obligation, written quotation, based on requirements will be provided before any work is undertaken therefore the total cost is known in advance.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01329 481202 info@datawizardfareham.co.uk www.datawizardfareham.co.uk

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without needing to wait for IT or the knowledge of how to code. Once up and running these software robots are architected to run unattended continuously.

IT is only involved to ensure these processes meet government requirements of enterprise strength, data security, scalability and governance. With a Virtual Workforce, departments can be up and running in approximately three months, reducing costs and improving employee and customer satisfaction.

Call Blue Prism today or visit the Blue Prism website for further infomation.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0870 879 3000 info@blueprism.com www.blueprism.com

A software company with a passion for technology

engineers and IT consultants.

Trading for over 11 years, Computer ConQuest develops bespoke desktop, web and mobile solutions that add capability. Clients are reassured software applications are perfectly built to suit their need.

Computer ConQuest makes it a mandate to offer a very close personal service throughout a software project. Listening to the client and communicating with them are a top priority.

Additionally, remaining flexible allows for a quick response to evolving requirements.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0208 133 3823 ben.lange@computerconquest.co.uk www.computer-conquest.co.uk

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IT SERVICES

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Allteks is an IT services company specialising in providing bespoke IT products and services to meet customers’ individual needs. The company provides support, managed services, business continuity and cloud integration to organisations across the UK. Allteks’ fully outsourced model removes the burden of IT support, allowing you to focus on what you do best, the day-today running of your business.

Allteks will make sure that your investment in IT delivers the best performance possible, helping you to grow your business.

Allteks can also work alongside in-house ICT professionals.Its extensive experience in all areas of IT infrastructure can help your technical resources achieve their targets more efficiently and at lower cost. Allteks can provide complimentary engineering resource, such as third-line

ITADwise provides ITAD consulting and On-Site Media Shredding services across the UK. ITAD is an abbreviation for ‘Information Technology Asset Disposition’ When done properly, ITAD adds value, improves data security and increases operating efficiency.

Specifically, it addresses the issues of managing IT throughout its life cycle and extracting maximum value.

ITADwise works with private businesses, public sector organisations and ITAD providers to establish ideal processes and working partnerships for each of them. Any organisation with a stake in ITAD can benefit from the company’s impartial consultancy.

Poor or rarely updated processes can lead to criminal liability.

Managers and directors should be aware of their duties in this area and crucially, they need be aware of the law. Consider

Providing bespoke IT products and services

support, specific project design work, and project implementation engineers. Your ICT projects will be delivered faster and with lower risk.

Allteks is also a leading choice for business continuity solutions individually tailored to exact business requirements and budget. Whether you require simple secure offsite backup or more in-depth multi-site business continuity plan, Allteks can review your existing arrangements, advise and implement a solution to meet your time objectives.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01622 763 355 www.allteks.co.uk

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ASSET MANAGEMENT

With most people using the internet these days to find what they want, having an excellent professional website is essential for your business. You need a website that not only looks great, but really works for you. Sour Grape Designs can create this for you.

Its team will come to you and find out exactly what you are looking for, then it will help design and create a website that will promote your company in the best possible way. Sour Grape Designs understands that first impressions count, so will make sure that your website gives your potential customers the best possible impression of your business.

Sour Grape Design websites are 100 per cent hand coded, unique, and responsive, as well as search engine friendly. The company’s

Hardware Change is inevitable and it can be a complex, costly process. The ITAD Works engages with clients to deliver the opportunities that hardware change can present, operating in an environment where security can’t be compromised and budgets are finite.

Data security is guaranteed by controlling every data bearing asset from the point of decommission to final data destruction, eliminating all risks at every stage of the process.

The ITAD Works delivers sustainable solutions that minimise the impact on the environment and maximise the residual value of technology hardware. The ITAD Works also provides the industry’s most secure recovery, move and deployment process, utilising strict chain-of-custody controls, real-time asset tracking and inventory reconciliation.

Automated, proprietary management tools deliver

Specialising in modern, fresh, quality web design

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ITADwise: Helping you to grow your business

professional and hardworking staff are friendly and will make sure that you always get the best service possible provided to you.

No matter what you require in your web design project, whether it be a brochure website, a full online shop, or even something a lot more technical, please get in touch with Sour Grape Designs either by phone, email or by visiting the Sour Grape Design web site.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07813 980 717 info@sourgrapedesigns.co.uk www.sourgrapedesigns.co.uk

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

the following questions. Do you know where your old IT assets are? Are you sure your old data can’t be retrieved? Have you recorded it? Could you prove it?

If you’ve answered no to any of these questions, an ITAD consultant will help you to make a balanced evaluation of the options, before establishing and maintaining the processes you need to protect you and your company.

Please call or email for a free no obligation quote, or visit the ITADwise website for more information.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0333 577 5109 info@itadwise.com www.itadwise.com

Better asset value and control at no risk

complete transparency of the process, so that sensitive data can be safeguarded. Data erasure is integrated and security is fully documented, thus providing guaranteed brand protection and risk management Fully certified by the CPNI for the destruction of sensitive information for mobile and facility-based destruction services, DIPCOG and certified to Distinction with Honours

by ADISA. The ITAD Works also holds ISO standards 9001, 14001 and 27001.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01483 201240 contactus@theitadworks.com www.theitadworks.com

COMPUTER REPAIRS

MEDICAL APPS

L.K.Computers Ltd is located in the Tottenham Court Road area of London. It covers a wide range of fields of IT services and expertise.

It offers business IT and telephone systems support. It also designs, builds and maintains IT network infrastructure. It provides the LK|BCMS monitoring system for seamless monitoring of all devices in the customers’ network. LK is the only authorised reseller in London of buzzbox Professional Phone Systems.

Binary Garage deals with all kinds of computer repairs, and bespoke computer designand-build. Almost no repair is impossible. It undertakes repairs for mobile phones, laptops, desktops and all Apple products.

The bespoke computer design and build ranges from server repairs up to highly precise board level hardware repairs when replacement components

MedHand International AB is a developer of mobile medical resources.

Medhand’s patented mobile library application, called Dr Companion, provides a suite of leading medical, nursing and other healthcare books from major publishers (such as OUP, Elsevier, Wiley etc.), and is used by thousands of healthcare professionals, medical trainees and medical students to provide answers at the point of care, sometimes in remote locations.

The Dr Companion App can be downloaded free of charge from the various App Stores and its functionalities include cross-title search, bookmarking, highlighting and annotation (text and images). The App is available for iPhone, iPad and Android users.

MedHand will be launching a Windows App later this year.

Once downloaded, no internet connection is needed to access the App and its content. More

LK Computers - almost no repair is impossible

are no longer available.

Binary Surgery’s Laboratory deals with all kinds of storage media data recovery. This ranges from regular mechanical hard drives, through scratched CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, USB flash drives, memory cards, solid state drives, to very specific Raid array configuration data recovery.

All repairs are environmentally friendly as only faulty parts are being replaced in malfunctioning devices, keeping prices as low as possible.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0207 1013 201 infoltd@lkcomputers.com www.lkcomputers.com

Mobile resources for healthcare professionals

COMMUNICATIONS ACCESSORIES

DATA MANAGEMENT

D-Tangle is the first product of Laidback Life; a company that aims to design and bring to life commodities that will make every day products more user friendly, easier to handle and at the same time more enjoyable.

D-Tangle is an innovative, patented product that prevents earphones from getting tangled in a fun and easy way. It has a unique, internal spring mechanism where users can place their existing set of earphones and automatically unwind them – as simple as that!

D-Tangle is compatible with most brands of earphones like the ones of iPhone, Samsung, Senheizer, Nokia, Sony etc.

D-Tangle can fit any cable up to 1,200mm in length and 1.25mm in width and also comes with a removable clip feature. D-Tangle comes in five different colours; blue, red, white, yellow and black.

Another important feature

One of the greatest recent challenges facing the public sector has been in enabling cross-departmental sharing of personal data, including sensitive data, in order to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness necessary to improve services within a budget. Linking of data is vital for the future of many public services but, as the Law Commission highlighted, this is an area of great complexity.

Kaleidoscope has successfully enabled sharing across health, social care, police, education and social housing providers and commissioners to realise the value in combined data. Projects range from developing new ways of flowing data through integrated service pathways, to running engagement and participation events, and creating communications campaigns for staff and service users.

Projects achieve lasting cultural change. The result is greater confidence in

D-Tangle: making earphones user friendly

is its advertising capabilities.

Anyone can customise D-Tangle according to their liking. This could be an individual wanting to place their name on D-Tangle or a big corporate company that wants to place their logo.

D-Tangle has an international patent and is ready to take international markets by storm.

The company is looking for distributors/retailers that will be ready to accommodate D-Tangle. More information and contact details can be found on the D-Tangle website.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +357-22-447300 info@laidbacklife.org www.d-tangled.com

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than 190 leading medical titles are available as MedHand Apps.

MedHand offers special institutional packages that include bespoke selections of authoritative titles. Individual Users also have the option of selecting a specified number of titles from a bespoke title list.

Subscribing institutions may also choose to add their own local documentation to the App (for example, local guidelines).

MedHand also offers bespoke App development services. For more information, please email or call Isabel Rollings quoting ‘PSI’.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 07833451595 isabel.rollings@medhand.net www.medhand.com

Delivering guidance for data protection

sharing personal data in complex multi-organisation scenarios. The company’s work supports engagement with professionals and the public to achieve optimum data utilisation, fairly and lawfully.

Working at a national, regional and local level, Kaleidoscope has produced national guidance.

It is engaged in supporting national policy in health and social care across a number of workstreams, helping them to provide innovative solutions to clients that realise local needs and deliver national strategies.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 020 3637 1111 kaleidoscopeconsultants.com

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DATA MANAGEMENT

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

PHS Data Solutions operates across the UK, providing reliable and flexible data management services for all of its customers; a national operation but at a local level.

The company is the only data solutions company holding the Institute of Customer Service ‘Service Mark’ for consistently high levels of customer service and customer satisfaction.

PHS takes every precaution to ensure that your data is in the safest possible hands. From the moment it collects your data for achieving or scanning, to the point where its destroyed

The challenges of starting a small business and keeping it going cannot be underestimated and many do fail, even in better times.

The hurdles can be substantial and the ability to get a business up to speed, making profit and supporting its employees is not easily achieved. Franchising has attracted the attention of many over recent years and the tough economic climate has highlighted its strengths and demonstrated that there is a more secure way to start a business.

Its formula of a locally owned and run enterprise, driven by a small business owner, with branding, economies of scale and support from the wider network, gives the business a far better chance of success. However, this is only the case if it is done well.

Good franchise opportunities will offer you a

Offering high quality data Providing franchises to management solutions the UK for over 20 years

at the end of its life cycle, the security of your critical information is paramount.

The company’s shredding services are used by over a third of the companies in the FTSE 100. PHS holds ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 accreditations for shredding services and environmental management, and its electronics and computer disposal service is approved

by FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) and Microsoft.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0800 376 4422 www.phsdatasolutions.co.uk

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Facilities management made quick and easy Trackplan Software has been awarded a place on the G-Cloud 7 framework agreement for the supply of facilities management software to the UK public sector.

Trackplan’s facilities management solution helps organisations manage, schedule and control their reactive and planned preventative maintenance. It is a fantastic tool to manage all aspects of the estate including assets, contractors and detailed site locations. It helps sustain the estate’s overall well-being by driving compliance and facilitating better informed maintenance decisions. The Cloud-based solution works on any device and makes life easier for the facilities and estates team, saving time and reducing costs.

The Digital Marketplace is the online marketplace for the G-Cloud, from which public

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sector bodies can review and buy services. It is reviewed and updated every six months which ensures buyers have transparent access to the latest innovations, services and suppliers - all of which are assured by the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC).

The G-cloud was introduced

by Crown Commercial Service (CCS) which works with both departments and organisations across the whole of the public sector to ensure maximum value is extracted from every commercial relationship and improve the quality of service delivery.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 0788 4266875 www.trackplanfm.com

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

proven business format including the initial and continuing support that you will need when starting a business. In addition, your business will work under an established brand using the business system CNA has developed which is proven in the marketplace.

Take a look at owning a high end recruitment franchise and visit the CNA website for further information.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01676 822 222 gavin.chase@cnaint.com www.cna-international.com

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Experience 45 years of dedication

Starting as Tayside Security, Tayside Group has always made its goal to offer highly efficient and effective security services.

It is the longest established independent security company in the East of Scotland, celebrating it’s 45th year in business in 2014.

Dedicated to ensuring your peace of mind at all times, it makes it easy for you to enjoy thorough security. Over the years since Tayside’s establishment, it has offered security to a wide range of local councils, NHS trusts and businesses, including wind farms and maritime operations.

It now offers a complete facilities management service for the public and commercial sector bringing its efficiency and expertise for

all your facility management needs, from cleaning to maintenance and much more.

Effective management support is an essential ingredient of every security contract, whatever its size or scope. With all of its services combined together with one port of call, it’s even easier for you to enjoy total peace of mind.

From utilities to general cleaning to dedicated manned security, Tayside Group offers it all. Visit the company website or call today and take the first step towards a more efficient facilities management.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01382 730166 www.taysidegroup.co.uk

TRAINING

FIRST AID TRAINING

iTrain is a knowledge management company, working across a broad spectrum of industries, with extensive experience within central and local government. iTrain ensures that customers harness maximum return from investment in their technical estate. Working with their clients to design unique programmes of customer centric skills and system improvement, iTrain delivers business change and improvement by harnessing the client’s technical assets.

Covering full-scale SAP and Oracle ERP training design, development and delivery programmes, whether as a fully managed service or expert resources to join the customer team, iTrain supports the entire project life cycle.

ERP services are supported by a full range of Oracle training courses delivered as public courses

Established in 1998, Nuco Training Ltd provides accredited First Aid, Health and Safety and Fire Safety qualifications to organisations and businesses across the UK, Europe and the Middle East. With the UK’s largest independent network of compliance instructors, Nuco’s training is available anywhere, anytime at a location of the organisations convenience.

Nuco Training’s service, support and training is trusted by some the UK’s largest organisations from high street names such as Virgin Trains & BAE Systems, prestigious H.E. institutions like Greenwich University, to public sector organisations like HMP Service and many local councils and government bodies.

By offering nationally accredited qualifications (QCF/SCQF) onsite at an organisations convenience, Nuco Training’s qualifications are a popular choice amongst all

Hands on experience to enable lasting change

or on the customer’s site.

Launched in 1996, these courses are supported by technical management training including ITIL and Prince2. iTrain’s third business area,Stratus Learning software, delivers end-to-end management of elearning within your organisation. Stratus underpins all services delivered by iTrain and is used by companies globally.

However diverse your training, iTrain has the skills, resources and expertise to ensure your organisation maximises its investment in technical assets and personnel.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0)207 608 1835 www.itrain.co.uk

Qualifications available anytime, anywhere

CONSULTANCY

HEALTH & SAFETY

When making changes it is refreshing if the solution is really practical and able to be implemented.

The Consultancy Company’s consultants have all worked in public sector or corporate roles for 10 to 20 years before becoming consultants and have a very hands on approach.

In this way they say their solutions are realistic, practical, and based on what is genuinely achievable and sustainable.

An added benefit is a much reduced learning curve when using The Consultancy Company.

It knows the processes, robust documentation and restrictions that are needed to implement change that sticks in the public and not for profit sector. In particular, it has a wealth of experience of successful Stakeholder engagement in difficult situations which were expected to have legal

Urban Environments is a specialist consultancy delivering water hygiene management services to over 25,000 properties across the NHS, housing associations, universities and hotels. With over 20 years experience, its professional and highly qualified team provides Legionella risk assessment, monitoring, management and training services. It has also developed a secure webbased software to collate and store data on every property it surveys, enabling clients to access detailed Legionella risk management reports with ease.

James Homard, founder and technical director, explains: “Our approach is to minimise risk by using good engineering practice, combined with fast reporting to ensure that hazards are controlled. We pride ourselves on our professionalism, reliability and flexibility, keeping tenants and properties safe while reducing the burden

Experienced consultancy bringing practical change

challenge. With the correct process, facts and reports, the commissioning body were protected from legal challenge.

The Consultancy Company works the way that you want to work, rather than some preprepared standard process, and maintains all its work is bespoke, achieving the best result possible for a surprisingly cost effective solution, leaving a legacy of training and coaching which improves the skills of your team allowing you to do more of the change work next time.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01993 883421 info@the-consultancy.co.uk www.the-consultancy.co.uk

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larger organisations. The courses cover full due-diligence in regards to First Aid and Health and Safety training through its First Aid Awards accreditation.

Quality is assured and maintained through their quality assurance procedures, as certified with ISO:9001 accreditation.

Nuco Training offers Level 2 and 3 qualifications in: First Aid at Work, Emergency First Aid at Work, Paediatric First Aid, Defibrillation, Health and Safety and Fire Safety. Instructor training is also available.

For more information contact operations manager Pete Morgan.

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 03456 444 999 pete@nucotraining.com www.nucotraining.com

Providing quality water hygiene management

on FM service teams.”

One client alone saved over £100,000 in a single year as a direct result of the company’s expert advice, avoiding unnecessary repairs and potential under-occupancy.

Long-standing client Stuart McCracken of Catalyst Housing Ltd, confirms this ethos: “Urban is a very competent and professional company delivering a high standard of work. I receive frequent positive feedback from my FM staff and tenants.”

FURTHER INFORMATION Tel: 01732 743 003 info@urbanenvironments.co.uk www.urbanenvironments.co.uk

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L I M I T E D

“OFFERING FIRE SOLUTIONS ACROSS THE UK”

SERVICING

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENTS

NEW EQUIPMENT & SIGNAGE

FIRE TRAINING

For a FREE Information Pack Call: 01484 866614 or email: sales@firesolve.co.uk

ADVERTISERS INDEX The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service 1 Life 68 ADI Lifestyle Choice 102 Agility in Mind 80 Alliance Leisure Services 66 Allteks 110 Allups 108 Anthea Harding Educational 104 Aquamatix 34 Aquaread 36 Aristi 92 Assa Abloy 22 B&Q 21 BiP Solutions 78 Blueprism 109 Brook Street 90 Brooke Smith Planning 107 Cartridge Right 102 CDN Planning (wales) 106 CFH Docmail 36 CGI 82 Christopher Marsh & Co 26 Clarion Events 60, 61 Clarkwood Enterprise 98 CloserStill Media 50, 51 CNA International 112 Colour Rich 105 Computer Conquest 109 Continuity West 33 Core HR 103 Creative Harmony 105 CSSC Sports & Leisure 70 Damp Detectives 102 Daniel Owen 103 Datawizard 109 De Pol Associates 106 DL Biocomposites 30 E-co 105 Egoxcentric 44 ETC Venues 52 ExCel London 54

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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE | Volume 23.1

F.G.Marshall 100 Flowcrete 108 Foehn 4 Ford 8 Geesinknorba 96 GI-UK 109 Hanover House 58 Hayter IFC HP Inc UK 84 Infinity IT solutions 75 Ioma Clothing Company 86 Itadwise 110 iTrain Cloud Services 113 Ivory Vaults 54 John Deere 94 Johnson and Starley 33 Johnson Brook 107 Kaleidoscope Consultants 111 KVA Planning Consultancy 107 L.K.Computers 111 Laidback Life 111 Local Appliance Rentals 102 MAG Laundry Equipment 104 Medhand International 111 Mobile Office Limited 101 Murray Planning Associates 24 Nash Partnership 26 Nationwise Hygiene Supplies 16 Neustro 75 Nexus Industries 14 Nottingham Conferences 58 Now Boarding Pet Hotels 103 Nuco Training 113 OpenPlan Consultants 107 Optimis Consulting 26 Orsis UK 32 Papa johns 44 Patcom 101 Peeks 65 Penguin Office Services 104

Personal Safety Training 19 PG Print & Office Services 104 PHS Group 112 Professional Training 103 Rotatrim 62 Scorpion Safety 26 Servelec Corelogic 76 SHB Vehicle Hire 88 Smart Training 62 smeg Foodservice 62 Solar UK 108 Sophie Smith 108 Soundspace Solutions 32 Sour Grapes Design 110 Speed Ramps 101 Spinnaker Support 90 Stuart Todd Associates 106 Sturge Industries 100 Synergy Environmental 105 Tayside Group 18, 112 The Consultancy Company 113 The Flood Company 34 The ITAD Works 110 The View from them Shard 56 Thomas Fattorini 65 Touchstone Planning 106 Town Centre Apps 100 Trackplan Software 112 Travis Perkins Managed 24 Trinity House 54 Urban Environments 113 Vega Controls 37 Venquis 100 VINCI Constructions UK 86 Waste Action Resource 32 Wide Horizons 101 Wilo UK IBC