Tom Steinberg

NEW on Wonkhe: Ben Rogers proposes that there should be regional pots of research funding that can tackle regional challenges, fund innovation and support economic growth https://lnkd.in/eKgbQnYh

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𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲: FundingHero Launches New East Midlands Fundraising Accelerator 🚀 🚀, partnering with Haatch This programme is a comprehensive 12-week initiative explicitly designed for high-growth potential businesses seeking substantial funding. Supported by British Business Bank, the programme aims to equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to fundraise for scale, with aspirations of eventual exit successfully. Participants in the cohort will have the opportunity to pitch for up to £500,000* from Haatch, alongside other investors, at a demo day held by at The Shard (*subject to investment committee approval, due diligence, and formal contracts). 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: 👉 The accelerator covers six key pillars of fundraising: 👉 Planning: Developing a clear scaleup raise plan. 👉 Funding: Understanding funding requirements. 👉 Materials: Creating compelling pitch decks and financials. 👉 Ask & Valuation: Setting realistic valuations confidently. 👉 Pitching: Learning to pitch effectively to investors. 👉 Due Diligence: Preparing a comprehensive data room. Applications are now open, with only eight slots available - so don't miss out! If you're ready to secure investment and elevate your business, apply now. 👉 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eyCq26X6 👉 Application deadline: Friday 20th December 👉 Programme start date: January 2025 Lewis Stringer Jim Shirley Ruth Roan Kelly Griffiths Carl Mayers Neil Smith #midlands #southmidlands West Northants Economy Team North Northamptonshire Council

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🚨 New report alert! Edge Foundation releases "Flex Without Compromise" - a critical look at the proposed Growth and Skills Levy. Key points: 🔹 Concerns over funding squeeze for apprenticeships 🔹 Potential impact on Youth Guarantee & Growth Mission 🔹 Suggestions to boost apprenticeship opportunities CEO Alice Gardner: "We need solutions now to incentivize apprenticeship growth, especially for young people." Report proposes: ✅ Better SME support ✅ Full funding for under-22 apprentices ✅ Improved application process ✅ Modular apprenticeship model Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ejvpKfra #Apprenticeships #SkillsLevy #YouthEmployment

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https://lnkd.in/eYsyhKqn I'm excited - and a bit daunted - to be speaking at this event. Twenty minutes to 'describe a digital strategy to improve the lives of citizens'. Twenty minutes! I'm relishing the time challenge with this one. Is the innovation the technology? Or the ambitions that tech helps achieve? Or the people driving the ambitions? Or all of the above? Twenty minutes, mind. And 10 of those are Q&A. I'm drawn to consider - and conclude - on how we shift mindsets across and within sectors. Twenty minutes! #DigitalInclusion

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This was an important piece of work on which the Local Government Association (LGA) and CIPFA collaborated, resulting in a practical report on ways to address the challenges of capacity in council finance teams. It was underpinned by LGA research on the subject, which can be found on our website: https://lnkd.in/e2ui9T_g #publicfinance #workforce #localgovernment #localgov #research

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If you work in devolved public services in Wales, what kind of guidance do you need around implementing AI in your organisation, please? The Centre for Digital Public Services / Canolfan Gwasanaethau Cyhoeddus Digidol is working with the Workforce Partnership Council and we'd value your input. ❓ What questions are being asked? ❓ What worries do you have? ❓ What would help? ❓ What are your timelines?

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🎉 Incredibly proud to announce that GOV.UK/forms is open for business! 🎉 GOV UK Forms, a new tool for faster, more accessible online government forms, will be rolled out nationwide after successful trials showed major time savings and improved efficiency. People across the country will be able to complete government forms online more quickly and easily, boosting efficiency and speeding up access to support. The new tool has already been used to speed up registration for redress for more than 300 sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal by removing the need for lengthy paperwork, print-outs and administrative hurdles - with forms taking less than five minutes to complete. There are over 10,000 document-based forms published on GOV UK. GOV UK Forms is designed to tackle some of the common problems associated with these. Many of these forms tend to be less accessible, difficult for the public to use and take longer to process. The team has worked so hard to make this happen, and I couldn't be more pleased to see them launch widely and start to make a real impact! Well done, team! Video: https://lnkd.in/eV47Ftx2

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A new digital tool, GOV.UK Forms is making the way the general public access essential government services easier and quicker

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https://lnkd.in/egW6mVjq More worrying economic incoherence from the new govt. Once again, it justifies a cut in investment funding (here, for AI research) on "difficult spending decisions in the face of unfunded commitments". But investment shouldn't be funded. Either borrow for it, or it's unnecessary. It's Osborne all over. Growth will not come without public investment. The public finances will face a doomloop of further cuts. Bennett Institute for Public Policy Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment Independent Economics

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Meanwhile… Hertfordshire CC will not seek to postpone county elections and enter the fast-track process for reorganisation and devolution, saying it needs more time after facing opposition from all 10 districts to the creation of a single unitary. They are seeking a proper period of consultation, saying that a single unitary council for the county risks diminishing local representation, with decision-making that is remote from communities. The districts are likely to prefer the two unitary authority option identified in a report by Price Waterhouse Cooper in 2020. This would involve one authority for North East Hertfordshire - replacing East Herts, North Herts, Broxbourne, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield Councils; and another for the South West, replacing Dacorum, Hertmere, St.Albans, Three Rivers and Watford councils. https://lnkd.in/e-SfiDSQ

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Did you know that with each change in monarch, the crown icon on all the GOV.UK websites changes too? A big change right? Well no actually. The recent change took place through a single update to the Gov UK design system, a single repository of digital design assets that links to all government websites. So the change only needed to be made once which then rolled out across all government platforms. The Gov UK design system allows hundreds of departments and digital content owners to build consistent, authoritative and accessible websites. To learn more about the Gov UK’s design system, check out our latest blog post: https://lnkd.in/euvw7FQT Or if you’d like to see the Gov UK design system in practice? Then click through to our case study with the transit data experts at ITO WORLD, delivering data to stakeholders like Google, Apple, and the Department for Transport: https://lnkd.in/eHyS5qpn

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❗ We are at a critical juncture for Democracy and this work on #EpistemicSecurity in the UK is urgently needed. 🤔 What is Epistemic Security, you ask? - It's about protecting and strengthening the processes by which information is produced, disseminated, consumed, and used to inform beliefs and decision-making in a democratic society. We building this program of work Demos in the wake of the US presidential election and the rising concerns about foreign interference on UK democracy. 🔊 Epistemic Security 2029 program announcement here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eUaxJtn7 🪴 So excited to see this work I originally started with The Alan Turing Institute, the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, Dstl take on new life. Original report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eAePJsk7 And a nice overview on BBC Future 👉 https://lnkd.in/df-qh4A Hannah Perry, Polly Curtis, William Perrin OBE FRSA, Shahar Avin, Giulio Corsi, Mark Briers, Sean O hEigeartaigh, Sam Stockwell

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If you work in communication and are seeking to harness new tech or need a practical guide to its ethical implications, then we have just published three new Government Communication Service guides: 1. Our innovation strategy: setting out how to encourage, identify, test and scale new techniques across government comms. https://lnkd.in/eRu6ZXC4 2. Our framework for ethical innovation: setting guidelines for how to test new technology or use data while maintaining the highest ethical standards. https://lnkd.in/esKHrn6r 3. Our generative AI policy: setting out principles for how government comms should use new AI tools. https://lnkd.in/eXnKrwVD These were made available for GCS members in May but the timing of the election means that we are publishing them for the first time now. https://lnkd.in/e2p-B6Wq #innovation #communications

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🚨📰🚨📰🚨 In my latest Local Government Chronicle Briefing for Localis we argue the devolution agenda must be grounded in the reality of resource and capacity at local and regional level. 🆙The UK government is pushing for devolution and reorganisation, with plans to shift strategic planning upwards to combined authority level. 📈This has sparked debate about the balance between local democracy and efficient planning. 🔜The government's intentions on power transfer and financial governance are expected to be detailed next week in the upcoming English Devolution White Paper and the 2025 Comprehensive Spending Review. 🤔However, this ambitious agenda must be grounded in the reality of available resources and recognise the English local government workforce has shrunk significantly since 2010, leading to capacity constraints and a loss of experienced staff. 📉This depletion of resources and trained and skilled staff poses a significant challenge to meeting the increasing demands in local service areas. Our report last week "Restoration and Resilience" for South East Councils South East Employersproposed several strategies to address this workforce crisis, including: * Collaborative training programs * Shared frameworks for recruiting temporary staff * Joint procurement for training or specialist local authority outplacement services * Strategic and integrated workforce planning * Better succession planning and workforce analysis * Workforce flexibility, such as four-day work weeks Despite the importance of workforce capacity and capability, these issues are often overlooked in discussions about devolution. What we talk about when we talk about devolution isn't really staffing and resourcing in the new age or a trained professional cadre to vouchsafe financial governance complex single settlements - as we argued in our recent report with Grant Thornton UK LLP 'Present Tense: renewing and reforming local government finance'. This brings into question how combined authorities will be adequately resourced to handle the increased responsibilities and financial governance demands. Regardless of future structures, the success of devolution and public service reform hinges on a capable and dynamic local government workforce. So its incumbent on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Workforce Development Group and the sector to proactively address the workforce challenges of the emerging local and regional future. 👏👏 many thanks Kirsty Weakley 👏👏

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If you’re looking for the easy explainer on the Data (Use and Access) Bill, and what it means for digital identity; Inika has you covered! New on the ‘Enabling digital identity’ blog https://lnkd.in/eCT85Zi6 #digitalidentity #legislation

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