Jul62017

News story: Sir Mark Walport shares vision for UK Research and Innovation

HM Government

Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive Designate of UK Research and Innovation, has given a speech outlining the vision, objectives and next steps in development for the organisation.

Be the best research and innovation agency

UK Research and Innovation will be formed in April 2018, bringing together the Research Councils, Innovate UK and a new body, Research England. The organisation’s ambition is to be the best research and innovation agency in the world.

New approaches needed to deal with disruptive change

Speaking in Westminster to a broad audience of research and innovation stakeholders, Sir Mark highlighted the strengths of the UK’s current research and innovation system and bodies. He also detailed the challenges and opportunities arising from disruptive change in society, technology, research and business that mean the UK needs to develop new approaches and structures.

Sir Mark commented:

We are building on component parts of the funding landscape which, individually, are very strong, but there is considerable untapped potential for the whole to be much more than the sum of the parts.

We need to stimulate and reward audacity, ambition and agility, where imagination and innovation are actively encouraged and important proposals do not fall foul of artificial divides.

Measured by the impact it delivers

Sir Mark explained that the success of UK Research and Innovation will ultimately be measured through the impact it delivers: through pushing the frontiers of human knowledge, delivering economic impact and creating better jobs and by supporting society to become stronger, healthier and more resilient.

View the full UK Research and Innovation announcement

UK Research and Innovation Live Stream

Jul62017

Grievances by officers against Police Scotland double in 12 months

Scottish Conservatives
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6 Jul 2017

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The number of grievances made by police officers to single force bosses in the last year has doubled, new figures have shown.

In 2016/17, 29 officers lodged formal complaints with Police Scotland, compared to just 14 the previous year, and seven in 2014/15.

And when the statistics include grievances submitted by other staff, the total number for last year increases to 59, which is 10 more than in 2015/16 and considerably higher than the 32 made three years ago.

The statistics were obtained by the Scottish Conservatives through Freedom of Information.

Shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said the figures pointed to a decrease in morale among officers as Police Scotland continues to be hit by negative publicity.

The organisation has been criticised heavily for a lack of transparency and accountability, particularly in relation to the Scottish Police Authority, culminating in the departure of its chair Andrew Flanagan and accusations of bullying and secrecy.

There have also been concerns about police on the frontline being stretched, and officers forced to “back fill” to make up for shortages in other departments.

Bosses said reasons for lodging a formal grievance included bullying and harassment, change of work location, the behaviour of a line manager or organisational change.

However, it could not provide an exact breakdown of complaint topics.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said:

“This doubling of grievances goes to show how morale is suffering at Police Scotland.

“A police officer is unlikely to make a formal complaint lightly, and each of these has to be taken extremely seriously.

“Police Scotland is only a young organisation, but already the trend seems to be for both officers and staff to be more likely to find cause for complaint.

“The Scottish Government has to reflect on these findings carefully.

“We cannot afford for mood among our officers to sink any lower – we need them to keep our communities safe.

“They take risks most of us never have to think about, and deserve at the very least to be happy at their work.”

Below are the number of grievances lodged in Police Scotland in the last three years:

2014/15
Police officers – 7
Police staff – 25
Total – 32

2015/16
Police officers – 14
Police staff – 35
Total – 49

2016/17
Police officers – 29
Police staff – 30
Total – 59

Jul62017

Speech: Exceeding expectations

HM Government

Dr Alan Hassey provides an update on the work of the National Data Guardian’s Panel on understanding people’s expectations on data sharing

Last December I wrote an article about some work that we’ve been doing on the National Data Guardian’s (NDG) Panel.

We’ve been looking at how health and care information needs to be shared for people’s individual care and how to ensure there are no surprises for patients and service users about this.

The article discussed implied consent, which is routinely used by health and care professionals as the legal basis to share information about patients and service users to make sure that individuals get the care they need. The article was called ‘reasonable expectations’. This was a reference to the importance of ensuring that when information is shared on the basis of ‘implied consent’, it’s important that this is done in a way that the patient or service user would reasonably expect.

The piece was published to provoke debate about an important issue, to open up discussion and help us decide whether any further work was needed to look at this subject. The response to the piece exceeded my own expectations.

It certainly did stimulate discussion and we are very grateful to all those who took time to reflect and respond. The viewpoints expressed were wide ranging. There were some who felt that the boundaries described to the use of implied consent were not restrictive enough. At the other end of the spectrum, some argued that the limitations described in the article would curb the flow of information in a way that would be against individuals’ best interests.

The range of opinions reflects the continuing variation in understanding of how implied consent can and should be used in health and care. This is understandable. After all, a key question here is whether information is being used and shared in a way that meets people’s reasonable expectations. And those expectations can and will vary and be influenced by a variety of factors. Perhaps most importantly, what efforts have been made to inform people about how information might be used and shared.

The need for more work to reach a consensus on this issue was highlighted in the 2013 Information Governance Review led by Dame Fiona Caldicott prior to her appointment as National Data Guardian. It issued a recommendation for a piece of work to bring together the health and social care professional regulators to achieve this, which was echoed in the report published a year later tracking progress.

In April this year, the General Medical Council’s (GMC) revised confidentiality guidance came into force. This was updated after extensive consultation, during which the GMC heard that doctors wanted more clarity on the circumstances in which they can rely on implied consent to share patient information for direct care.

There are resonances between what the GMC revised guidance says about implied consent and the thinking that the NDG panel has been doing. The guidance will be very helpful to doctors on the ground, but we believe there is still a need for a greater consensus across the whole of the health and social care system about how to ensure that information is shared in a way that aligns with people’s reasonable expectations.

To progress this, the NDG will be testing with members of the public what their expectations are around data sharing, what the boundaries should be and think through how these expectations should be informed and assessed. To do this we will be undertaking a piece of public engagement work with partners – we will provide more details on our web pages later this summer. To help shape the questions and issues that should be put to members of the public, we will be holding a seminar with Sheffield University later this month to bring together clinicians, information experts, commissioners, lawyers and ethicists.

We’re approaching this with an open mind, although I believe that running through this work will still be that vital test – would people reasonably expect how information about them is used and shared?

Jul62017

The Central Government abolished various Cesses in the last three years for smooth roll-out of GST

India

The Central Government in the last three General Budgets viz 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 has gradually abolished various cesses on goods and services in order to prepare the ground for smooth roll- out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) from 1st July, 2017. The Central Government has taken this step in stages by abolishing various cesses so that it is easier to fit in various goods and services in different tax slabs for GST.

Jul62017

Press release: Foreign investors see opportunities in Wales

HM Government

Foreign investors continue to see investment opportunities in Wales as new figures published today by the Department for International Trade showed the country attracted 85 inward investment projects in 2016-17.

This led to over 2,500 new jobs being created and nearly 9,000 safeguarded providing security and stability to thousands of families.

In another record year, the UK attracted 2,265 foreign direct investment projects which led to the creation of nearly 15,000 new jobs across the country.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

The latest set of figures demonstrate the need to seek and drive further international business investment in Wales – bringing jobs, prosperity and opportunity for communities. That is why I am fully committed to ensuring Welsh businesses are central to UK Government trade missions.

Seeking new markets and investment partners will enable us to land the major deals that will grow the Welsh economy and help to forge lucrative relationships around the world. Our departure from the EU is an opportunity to step up to our commitment to attracting inward investment – not step away from it.

Enterprises – whether large or small – can be assured that the UK Government and the Department for International Trade is ambitious for Wales and is committed to doing all it can to provide certainty and stability. We must continue to make Wales an attractive destination, matching the commitment shown by companies like Aston Martin, in securing sustained investment for the long-term.

International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, said:

Wales with its renowned pharmaceutical, life sciences and creative sector industries continues to be a draw for foreign investors who want to take advantage of the expertise this country has to offer. As an international economic department, the Department for International Trade will continue to promote the UK as a whole to potential investors and support the Business Wales to attract inward investment.

The figures published today show that the US retains the top spot accounting for 577 projects of all inward investment projects to the UK. China (including Hong Kong) remains in second place with 160 projects and last year’s third place India is joined by Australia and New Zealand in joint third place with 127 projects each.

Demonstrating the diversity of the UK’s economy, sectors that performed particularly well include technology, renewable energy, life sciences and the creative industries which all saw an increase in the number of projects.

As part of the government’s drive to attract inward investment, in January this year the department launched a major global marketing campaign – Invest in GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland – to promote the UK’s offering to international investors.

To date, the campaign has generated 1.4 million page views of the invest section of the great.gov.uk digital service and recorded over 540 prospective investor enquiries.

Notes to Editors

  • The department records wider types of inward investment projects, including mergers and acquisitions and those that are not publicly announced by foreign investors
  • Therefore, the FDI project figures reported are different from those reported by external organisations, such as EY and FT, who track FDI project flows mostly based on investment announcements
  • These external organisations report on calendar year, while the department’s statistics are for financial year
  • EY’s UK Attractiveness Survey 2017 ranked the UK first in Europe for FDI projects in total