Search Results for: government

October 16, 2017

Government outlines plan to become the UK’s most inclusive employer by 2020

The Government has today announced its plans for how it says it will become ‘the most inclusive employer in the UK’ by 2020. The Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Strategy outlines a range of ambitious proposals to achieve this aim, including: building a dedicated ethnic minority programme to improve the representation of ethnic minority staff at the most senior levels across the Civil Service; creating a Diverse Leadership Task Force that will report to the Cabinet Secretary; publishing a data dashboard tracking progress on diversity and inclusion targets by April 2018; establishing a new framework for measuring inclusion; and ’embedding’ diversity and inclusion in Single Departmental Plans.

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October 13, 2017

Government sets out its vision for a low carbon UK

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News

A strategy setting out how the UK plans to lead the world in cutting carbon emissions to combat climate change while driving economic growth, has been published by the Government. The Clean Growth Strategy: Leading the way to a low carbon future builds on the UK’s progress to date. Carbon emissions in the UK have fallen and national income risen faster than any other nation in the G7 since 1990, according to the report, with emissions down by 42 percent while the economy has grown by 67 percent.

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September 22, 2017

The government announces a major new office for public servants in the West Midlands

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Thousands of public servants in the West Midlands will move to a new building in central Birmingham, as the government continues its drive to modernise its office estate. HMRC working with the Cabinet Office has signed a 25 year lease to take 238,988 sq ft at 3 Arena Central, which is a new office development in the centre of Birmingham. The building will see around 3,600 public servants from several government departments move there from 2020, including from HMRC and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The hub will be the base for one of HMRC’s regional centres. DWP plans to move staff into the hub from existing offices in the city. The move is part of the Government Hubs Programme, which will reduce the number of isolated and under-used offices that the government has by co-locating departments in shared buildings across the UK. Departments moving to hubs will need less space as they adopt smart working principles, which will reduce their operating costs. Providing modern, flexible office space will further deliver value for money by improving staff wellbeing and productivity

September 7, 2017

Leeds latest city to announce major new Government Hub

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

Following the announcement of new UK Government Hubs in Cardiff and Edinburgh, a total of 6,000 civil servants are to be relocated to a new Government Hub in Leeds in what is claimed to be the biggest ever commercial property letting deal in the city’s history. HMRC, working with the Cabinet Office, will take approximately 378,000 sq ft at Wellington Place on a 25 year lease. The deal will see 6,000 civil servants working in a state-of-the-art new city centre premises in 2020.

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August 9, 2017

Government to create new civil service hubs in Cardiff and Edinburgh

by Mark Eltringham • News

The UK government has announced that it has signed a 25 year lease at the Central Square development, Cardiff to create a new civil service ‘hub’. The news follows a similar announcement that a new lease had been signed for a hub in Edinburgh, as the government sets out to rationalise its estate and increase the number of civil service jobs outside London. The deal is part of the Government’s Hubs Programme which it claims ‘will transform the way the Civil Service works by accommodating several government departments in one building, across the country’. The programme plans to deliver over a billion pounds of savings, free up land for housing and reduce government buildings from 800 to around 200 by 2022. The UK Government has agreed to lease 265,000 sq ft in the Cardiff city-centre development, which will accommodate over 4,000 public servants from several different UK Government departments. HMRC will be the majority occupier and Central Square will become one of their regional centres. The office will be ready by 2020 for civil servants to occupy.

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August 2, 2017

Certain staff a ‘major block’ to adoption of new technology in local government

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Public Sector, Technology

Some individuals within local government are holding back tech to preserve the status quo – a new survey suggests. According to the research, these people feel threatened by new technology and believe it will be disruptive to their ways of working. While the survey by 8×8 of staff working in local government suggested a significant appetite for new technology, more than a fifth (22 percent) say certain individuals are holding back tech adoption to preserve the status quo. This view is more prevalent amongst those in IT procurement, where more than a third (35 percent) believe colleagues are standing in the way of technology because it will disrupt what they already have in place. Only 51 percent of respondents believe senior management understand the importance of new technology and just 21 percent think they invest enough money to stay up to date with the latest developments. This contrasts with the private sector, where over half (56 percent) believe there is sufficient investment in new technology.

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July 31, 2017

Government framework win for BW includes HMRC contract

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Workplace design

Fit out and refurbishment firm BW has been awarded a position on the government framework agreement for the Southern lot of the UK Government Hubs Fit-Out Framework. One government department to use the framework will be HMRC; their current estate of 140 offices will be re-orientated into 13 modern regional centres. This is a 4-year framework that covers the South of the UK (South of Peterborough and Birmingham inclusive) for projects with a construction value of under £25m. Anthony Brown, Sales and Marketing Director at BW, says: “Alongside the City University framework, this appointment further underpins our determination to secure several significant formal frameworks, taking the BW business to the next level.”

July 19, 2017

UK government publishes update on physical and digital infrastructure spending

by Mark Eltringham • News, Public Sector, Technology

The UK Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has published its 2016 to 17 annual report on major projects, reporting 143 major projects on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), worth £455.5 billion and spread across 17 government departments. The report is in support of the IPA’s ongoing purpose ‘to improve the way infrastructure and major projects are delivered and the government’s commitment to transparency and delivering public services effectively and efficiently’. Projects currently on the GMPP reflect the government’s priorities; ‘making our infrastructure fit for the 21st Century, maintaining the security of the realm and modernising and digitising our public services’. The spending also updates progress on spending on faster broadband and connectivity as the UK continues to play catch up on digital infrastructure.

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July 5, 2017

UK government unveils £1 billion ultrafast broadband fund to aid remote working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

The UK’s faltering move towards ultrafast broadband has been given a much-needed boost with the launch of a new fund, which will support the rollout of cutting-edge connections across the country. The government’s £400 million Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund (DIIF) will unlock over £1 billion for full fibre broadband, and kick-start better broadband connections across the country. Its aim is to revolutionise Britain’s digital infrastructure, making internet access more reliable for homes and businesses, and enabling more people to enjoy remote working without disruption. According to the Treasury, the flexibility to work remotely is pivotal for driving the economy forward; reducing overheads and helping businesses to start and grow.

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June 20, 2017

The self employed have to rely on each other as government offers almost no support ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

The self employed are turning to one another for business and financial support, according to new analysis by the RSA think-tank. Commissioned by the Federation of Small Business (FSB) to examine how self-employed workers might manage the risks they face, the RSA report claims that growing numbers of workers are turning to collective sick-pay funds to manage ill health, cash pooling schemes to deal with late payments and micro-loan services to plug gaps in bank finance. The RSA’s report, The Self Organising Self Employed concludes that, to date, both the state and the market have struggled to keep pace with the rising numbers of the self employed. Although successive governments have been vocal in their admiration of people who strike it out alone, holding up their attributes as ‘self-starters’ and ‘strivers’, this had led to a ‘non-interventionist, hands-off policy agenda, with the self employed broadly left to their own devices’.

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May 31, 2017

Pressure group calls on incoming UK government to create a new contract with the self employed ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News

IPSE, the association set up to represent the needs of the UK’s self employed and freelance workforce, has released a manifesto ahead of the general election. In A Contract with the Self-Employed, IPSE details all the policies it wants to see the incoming government implement for the 4.8 million people currently defined as self employed or freelance. In conjunction with the ongoing Taylor Review into modern employment practices, the manifesto calls for a statutory definition of self-employment to end widespread confusion and ensure self employment remains an attractive and attainable career choice. The manifesto calls for a strategic review of the tax system – which, in its current state, is based upon the traditional employer/employee model. As self-employment continues to boom, the government needs to supplement this 21st century way of working with a fairer, more efficient, 21st century tax system. Included in the review, it has asked the government to make careful considerations before rolling out IR35 measures in the private sector, create a bespoke tax system for freelancers, simplify Making Tax Digital and maintain the current rate of NICs.

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May 2, 2017

Immigration and skills will be key to success of next UK Government ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The next Government must ensure the construction sector has enough skilled workers post-Brexit or its housing and infrastructure manifesto pledges will be redundant, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The FMB has called on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the construction sector as part of its ‘Programme for Government’, that has been launched the day before Parliament is dissolved for the General Election. The organisation claims that the UK construction sector’s demand for skilled migrant workers from the EU and beyond cannot be overstated. It suggests that in London alone, there are more than 157,000 non-UK construction workers constituting almost half of the industry’s workforce in the capital. Pre-Brexit, 60 percent of small construction firms are already having trouble hiring key workers even before the Government unveils its intentions for the free movement of people.