Shane Chowen

The failure of BCS to open an investigation when first approached (various allegations) illustrates the weakness of aspirations to professionalism without a credible approach for handling the kind of response the Post Office (and/or Fujitsu) would have mounted had they done so. I helped create the BCS disciplinary panel, used to lecture on the code of conduct and served on the panel for several decades. Its weakness are similar to those of all other such bodies. Unless these are flipped through 180 degrees and linked to certificates to practice based on logbooks of performance recording that which professional indemnity insurers want to see, they are worth the paper they are not printed on. That requires membership, updating, certification and insurance fees akin to those paid annually by medical professionals. It also requires processes for handling legal costs which may, or may not, be recovered, whatever the results of any legal action challenging a disciplinary hearing and/or decision. When the BCS register of professional witnesses (which would have applied to Jenkins) was created in the early 1980s the registration fee was set at £550 - to cover the cost of assessing evidence of their knowledge of the legal duties and responsibilities of an expert witness not "just" experience of digital forensics. There was to be an update fee of £250 every other year - to cover an administrative review of client feedback and/or performance in court. Because so few applied, the original register fell by the wayside with a sharply reduced fee for what was little more than a voluntary SIG. I should perhaps add that, as acting V-P professional, I backed the creation of the BCS register because my staff (the Technology Assessment service I had joined the NCC to create was based in London in New Fetter Lane, adjacent to the Inns of Court) were barred from taking expert witness cases because they helped deliver a Saturday morning seminar programme for the judiciary and should not be liable to appear before those they had helped inform about new technology. Much of its early business was from those who had initially contacted us for advice. #bcs

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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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📢 Webinar | Procurement Reform – What You Need to Know Significant changes are coming to public procurement in the UK, impacting education providers and public sector suppliers alike. Join us for an essential briefing on 🗓️ 20 November, 10:00-12:00, led by Walter Akers, partner at RSM UK. Key details: 🔹 New legislation in effect: The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 began on 1 January 2024, and the new Procurement Act (2023) will come into force in February 2025. 🔹 Why it matters: With the UK Government spending £259bn on goods and services in 2021-22, the scale of change will affect all public sector organisations and suppliers to the government. 🔹 What you’ll learn: Discover how these reforms will reshape procurement processes, what it means for suppliers, and how to navigate these transformative changes. Don’t miss this chance to gain insights into the most significant shift in Public Procurement Law in a generation. Register now! https://lnkd.in/e2W-Z4K7

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If dis/misinformation isn’t in your comms #risk register & #contingency plan (with rehearsals!), why not? Great LGC thought-provoker below from Georgia Turner Chart.PR MCIPR . Usually, because it’s hard to get the time, *and* get all the right people involved. But this is nothing less than #governance. Communications are not the cherry on the cake, or the court messenger with the scroll and bugle. Thinking up what to say and how, to whom and when “on the day” is the most irresponsible thing you can do. Bringing in an external expert like Georgia Turner Chart.PR MCIPR (or when she’s fully booked, me!) is a great way to get things going. #leadership #strategicCommunications #governance

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Why is rigourous evaluation crucial for government value-for-money (VFM)? With the continuing focus on VFM, and the HM Treasury’s Office for VFM now up and running, I thought I’d reshare this Verian Group blog published a few months back. (NB the blog was pre the Autumn spending review, but all references to the SR are equally relevant to the next stage of the SR.) Do you agree with us that evaluation is crucial to ensuring VFM in government spending? And if not, why not? We’re keen to discuss and refine our thinking… #impact #evaluation #poweringdecisions #publicpolicy #vfm #futurepublicvalue Andi Fugard Rowan Foster Adam Knight-Markiegi Craig Watkins Michelle Harrison David Miliband Vidhya Alakeson OBE Spencer Thompson James Collis Lucie Moore Fay Sadro Emily Power Andrew Wood (he/him) Johanna Harston Samuel Franzen Kirstine Szifris Julian King

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Are you a Tameside organisation or business trading for social good? Are you looking to grow your activities? GMCVO have formed a partnership with the GM Credit Union Consortium, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to deliver local investment with real impact, this follows the success of the Access to Growth Fund which ended in 2022. Any Tameside organisation or business trading for social good and looking to grow their trading activity which has been trading for at least 6 months can apply. The offer: - Unsecured investments between £20,000 & £100,000. - Blended finance; the investment includes a grant of an average of 20% of your total investment. - An initial interest-only period of up to 6 months may be available. To learn more and apply please visit: https://lnkd.in/eaNbrbqh #tmb #tameside #funding #investment #grants #socialgood #makingadifference #businessgrowth #accessfunds #bettertogether Tameside Council

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We love the Cabinet Office CDDO team's new Digital Readiness check 🙌. So, inspired by their fantastic work, we’ve developed a free tool that goes a step further by asking additional questions to assess the true level of digital readiness. Through a comprehensive analysis, our tool validates and helps public sector organisations understand potential areas for improvement and pinpoint where the biggest impact can be made. Ready to check the digital readiness of your public sector organisation? Head over to https://lnkd.in/d4EkB_4q to get started! #DigitalReadiness #PublicSectorInnovation #DigitalTransformation #CDDO #UKPublicSector #WeAreException

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📢 Public satisfaction in public services is at an all-time low, yet at the same time tax revenues are higher ⬆ than ever. Reform of our public services must be high 📈 on the agenda of any new government, to improve outcomes for the population and provide value for money for the public purse.  As we go to the polls, we have a right to demand that ethics and governance go hand in hand with sound financial management so we get the public services we deserve. #elections https://lnkd.in/eQMThkhQ

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The Local Digital team in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has begun a discovery project to understand the potential for scaling up data standards in local government. https://lnkd.in/ee9vqt75 #localgovernment #datastandards

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This is going to be a brilliant event. Never mind the creeping impostor syndrome for sharing the stage with such giants :) Looking forward to discussing and learning more about the future of data.

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Have you downloaded your copy of our exclusive new research exploring data adoption in the UK public sector? Gain access here: https://lnkd.in/e2impp8h 🚀 Leading from the Front - Using Data and Digital Integration to cut costs and improve Public Services. 🚀 In this comprehensive research report commissioned by esynergy in collaboration with Government Transformation Magazine, Chief Data Officers at some of the government's biggest departments share how they are trying to use data management and digital integration to push government into the digital age.

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How have financial pressures facing local government shifted in recent years? How are councils responding to unprecedented fiscal pressures? New research collaboration between New Local & International Public Policy Observatory at UCL will be exploring these questions and making practical and policy recommendations. We’ll announce full details of the project shortly and how #localgov colleagues can get involved, but early findings from our recent scoping workshop are sobering. - Big structural pressures like ageing and wealth inequality have been compounded by the pandemic and cost of living crisis: councils are dealing with the consequences of this. There has been a sustained rise in demand for adult social care (working age adults are fastest rising cohort), children’s social care, SEN and homelessness. - The connection between how local government is funded and what it needs to deliver has been lost. This is the context of a few councils “going bust” and some others approaching the brink of doing so. - Layered onto this public sector funding failure, councils must deal with the consequences of an array of broken private markets – for social care placements, temporary accommodation and children’s homes. Providers are increasingly dominated by actors and people in it for profit, with weak regulation to curtail this. - The Government’s reliance on short term measures like mass capitalisations does not give confidence that the seriousness of the situation is understood at Whitehall. In terms of how this is affecting councils, some reflections: - The ongoing cost of living crisis is weakening the ability to do prevention in previous ways, such is the continuing flow of people needing support. Focused preventative work with one group might stop them tipping into acute need, but they will be fast replaced by a new cohort. - Increasingly, there is no such thing as a separate preventative service anymore: all universal services need to have a strong aspect of prevention. It is essential to do as much as possible for someone in the first contact they have with the council, to maximise that connection. - Staff are exhausted. Levels of optimism and resilience within the workforce are weakened by years of making decisions under austerity, then the pandemic response, which immediately transitioned into the cost-of-living crisis response and hasn’t let up. There are broadly two choices facing the sector: continue on trajectory of cutting back, becoming smaller and doing less, OR identify a new operating model that takes a whole system approach locally, hardwires prevention and shifts towards long term sustainability. Of course, we at New Local choose the second option and our research will explore what that direction looks like. How do these early reflections chime with the experience of other local government colleagues? We are keen to hear your experiences and insights – please get in touch if you’d like to participate in the research.

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The BBC recently published an exaggerated article about MVDC's financial position. Like all councils we face the need to make significant savings to balance our budget in the medium term but the Council has a transformation programme in place to do just that. If the savings outlined are made, reserves will stay at sustainable levels. More information can be found below. https://lnkd.in/efP9Yxnv.molevalley.gov.uk%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2Ffinancial-position-mole-valley-district-council%2F&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

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Independent regulation and registration of public service interpreters across all public sector organisations will ensure consistent standards, precision and accuracy in giving voice to the voicesless. Help protect all those who cannot speak English by supporting the call for protection of title for those who are Registered Public Service Interpreters (RPSIs). #nrpsi ; #publicserviceinterpreting ; #interpreting ; #professionalism ; #standards; #NRPSI

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Read our latest article 👇

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Some great advice from Civil Service World shared by John, below 👇

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