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Matrix, a leading provider of comprehensive workforce solutions, is delighted to announce its successful bid for both Lewisham and Southwark Councils, following an extensive three-month tender process. The recent victories underscore Matrix’s commitment to expanding its presence in the Southeast London region and strengthening its position as a trusted partner for local government organisations.
Recognising the need to fill vacant council roles with local talent, Southwark Council has partnered with Matrix to target qualified candidates for administrative vacancies as part of their Southwark Works employability initiative. This collaboration aims to bridge the gap between job seekers and opportunities within the council, fostering economic growth and empowerment within the community.
The separate pitches presented to each council showcased Matrix’s unrivalled expertise in providing tailored solutions to meet their specific requirements. Southwark Council, which currently allocates £41 million to temporary labour, was particularly impressed by Matrix’s talent pool and Milestone solutions.
Milestone, one of Matrix’s flagship offerings, combines an intuitive technology platform with specialised expertise in various sectors. This unique approach enables clients to design customised solutions that maximize the impact of public funding, leading to improved outcomes for the community.
Ben Plant, HR director at Southwark Council, expressed his satisfaction with Matrix’s commitment to social value in their pitch, stating, “Social Value is high on the agenda at Southwark Council, and Matrix delivered a commitment to this in their pitch. The fact that Matrix developed a bespoke Social Value action plan that aligned perfectly with our agenda impressed the team.”
Courtney Richards, at Lewisham Council, highlighted Matrix’s supply chain flexibility as a key factor in their decision, emphasising the benefits of retaining long-term incumbent agreements. This strategic advantage offered by Matrix ensures a seamless transition while delivering effective solutions tailored to the unique needs of Lewisham Council.
Matrix is proud to have been selected by Lewisham and Southwark Councils as their trusted partner in driving positive change within their communities. These partnerships exemplify Matrix’s ongoing commitment to providing innovative workforce solutions that drive economic growth, social value, and efficiency for local government organisations.
 Dave Neilson – Chief Executive at Fusion21 Real positive change, changes real lives.
This year, Fusion21 is marking its 21st anniversary and as the co-founder and Chief Executive I am so proud of what our team of procurement and social value specialists have achieved through work with our members, suppliers and partners.
Formed in 2002 by the vision of seven social housing landlords, we were stepping into unknown territory. Nobody had done anything like this before.
But what were our drivers? Let’s take a step back to late 2001 – the start of the Decent Homes programme. There were concerns about skills shortages, and cost inflation as the marketplace would be flooded with housing associations competing for the same contractors. That defined our approach. Cost efficiency and creating jobs became our compasses, directing us towards our destination. We wanted to construct a legacy of lasting impact, and for it to be more than just a construction exercise.
And that was how we became the first organisation to specialise in frameworks with a social value approach. We ensure the community benefits from projects members procure from us – be that through jobs, apprenticeships, or training.
Our name, Fusion21, came from the fusion of seven Housing Providers, and 21 signified 21st century thinking. With a mission to create social value in procurement, we created a community of like-minded individuals who are committed to creating positive change in our industry.
To date, we have delivered more than £155 million in social impact value and created more than 10,948 employment outcomes. Last year alone, we completed £350 million worth of projects last year alone and we already have £1.2 billion worth of projects committed over the next four years.
And with more than 1,000 members now, with projects spanning the UK, it’s clear that our collective impact is only set to grow. Since 2002, we have secured £348 million efficiency savings and completed 7,817 procurement projects.
We now work in sectors outside of housing including education and health. But we started in housing, and we’re immensely proud of the work we’re continuing to deliver with our members. We’ll once again have a big presence at the HOMES UK conference in November where we’ll share the latest insights from highly regarded thought leaders in the sector.
Over the years, we have worked closely with the government and been involved in initiatives that have led to policy change and regulation, linking procurement to social values in a way that nobody has done before.
Looking to the future, there are new opportunities that we are excited about. One example is the Youth Investment Fund (YIF). Last year, we were appointed as the YIF procurement partner, and are supporting Social Investment Business to deliver grant funding of more than £300 million.
I am proud of what we have achieved so far, but we are not done yet. We will continue to grow, evolve and innovate. Our mission remains the same: to procure solutions that not only save money but create jobs and training opportunities, and have a positive impact on society. Over the next five years, the Fusion21 Foundation will come to the fore as a force that will help us to really continue to make a difference in the world of procurement and social value.
So, to our people – and that’s our staff, our members, our suppliers and our partners – I say congratulations on our achievements to date. Together, we have truly set the standard for delivering ‘Procurement with Purpose’, creating social value you can see. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for us.
Dave Neilson, Chief Executive at Fusion21
Nick Denning, CEO of IT consultancy Diegesis and veteran of multiple public sector IT transformation projects shares his thoughts with GPSJ on what makes a successful risk awareness strategy
Risk management involves identifying, assessing, mitigating, and planning for potential events that could impact a business. This article explores risk management in practice and the priorities for a successful cyber risk awareness strategy.
It emphasizes the dynamic nature of cyber risks and the need for constant vigilance to mitigate risks.
Risk Management in practice
A practical example of risk management is pouring concrete for building foundations. If more rain falls within 24 hours the foundations may be ruined. After identifying the risk, we need to assess the likelihood and impact including costs and delays.
Mitigation activities might include:
- Pay for advanced weather forecasting.
- Cost of a protective trench for effective drainage.
- Obtain insurance costs/lead times.
Contingency planning might identify the cost and resources needed to dig out the foundations and have them ready for a re-pour. This is practical risk management based on an informed decision to deliver the best outcomes for the project.
The difference between Operational and Project Risk
Operational risks are those which affect an organisation carrying out its regular business. Frequency risks are expected to occur on a regular basis and can be predicted. Catastrophe risks are unexpected and might happen only once every 20 years.
Project risks relate to a plan for a particular outcome: external risks might be a new competitor, while delivery risks might be completing the tasks on time, within budget and to the specification. A Monte Carlo simulation can predict the aggregated risk across all tasks in the project and show which mitigation and contingency tasks may reduce the overall cost.
Cyber Security Risk is an Operational Risk issue
Cyber security risk is an operational risk issue and applicable to projects. Any technology being used or delivered by a project must be designed with security in mind and comply with standards.
An organisation’s defence needs to be balanced so that a major investment in one area is not circumvented by weaknesses in other areas. It also needs commitment at a senior/board level to ensure it is taken seriously across the organisation.
Cyber Security Risk Awareness Strategy
There are significant differences in cyber risks. In traditional risk management, risks tend to change slowly over time. In the cyber world the landscape is far more dynamic.
Data stored by an organisation or department is attractive to criminals. New technology can introduce fresh vulnerabilities to the data. This necessitates a rigorous approach to cyber risk assessment. Potentially every change, patch or upgrade needs to be risk assessed and authorised by the organisation ideally via a Change Advisory Board.
A cyber risk management strategy should acknowledge that some attacks will be successful. Creating multiple layers of protection with monitoring and alerts can detect a successful attack on one layer to enact contingency plans, defeating the overall attack before the next layer is penetrated.
Effective Risk Awareness
We need to ensure that cyber security risk is constantly in people’s minds and that they are regularly reminded how to recognise threats.
An effective cyber risk awareness strategy needs to include:
- Onboarding training including topics in the organisation’s security policy in sections by job function.
- Regular exercises to verify staff have understood training and follow policies, with reminders of the consequences.
- These exercises need to be interesting and made relevant to each individual.
- Re-assessments to the probability/size of impacts need to be communicated when there is a heightened risk level.
- Engage everyone to report attacks or near misses to update the threat level and to enable immediate action.
- Staff must understand it’s their obligation to report suspected attacks without blame.
The biggest risk is complacency in staff not appreciating the probability of a risk affecting them.
Characteristics of poor risk awareness
The tell-tale signs of a poor risk awareness strategy include:
- A policy ignored, creating false security
- No method of detecting attacks
- No way of disseminating information
- No effective security officer responding and taking action.
- No support systems
- No security assessment process as part of procurement
- Poor unrefreshed training
- No testing of users on their training.
Priorities for a Successful Risk Awareness Strategy
The Director of Security must be able to monitor and audit policy compliance and take action if required.
To increase protection, create a ‘White List’ of approved software products/apps. Any other software must be removed. To tackle compliance challenges, use Vulnerability Assessment tools to detect and remove or disable software that is non-compliant, outdated or containing new vulnerabilities.
Deploy a system administration tool enabling administrators to remove the unauthorised software remotely. Taking concrete action makes it evident to employees that failure to follow the policies is unacceptable and that a technology solution will be monitoring and maintaining a secure environment.
For more information please visit: Diegesis Limited
info@diegesis.co.uk
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust gained complete visibility across their IT infrastructure enhancing clinicians’ digital experience and improving patient care with Riverbed’s Unified Observability solution
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) is one of the largest NHS community health providers in England, serving a population of about 1.4 million. KCHFT’s IT team is responsible for over 5,000 staff, including doctors, community nurses, and many other healthcare professionals, as well as hundreds of applications and hardware assets.
KCHFT offers practitioner-led and therapy-focused healthcare services. It receives over two million patients every year and its vision is ‘to be the provider of choice by delivering excellent care and improving the health of our communities.’
Challenge:
 Darren Spinks End-to-end visibility into application performance
Historically, KCHFT had limited visibility of application and hardware performance issues, how to resolve the IT problems that arise, and how these challenges might impact its users.
“One of my key priorities is to have complete visibility and understanding of our user experience. Auto-remediation of incidents is vital to ease time pressures and frustrations,” explains Darren Spinks, Head of IT Operations at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust.
A desire to measure clinicians’ digital experience
Many of the staff and patients at KCHFT rely on applications to perform tasks related to patient care and treatment. Patient pathways, which are the stages a patient experiences in the management of their condition, are one of the key metrics and IT services want to make the patient experience as smooth as possible. However, identifying and resolving these problems was almost impossible without full visibility across the IT infrastructure supporting the applications.
Other than evaluating its clinicians’ digital experience, the IT team at KCHFT wanted to measure the impact of its changes across their IT infrastructure. “We wanted make sure our new solutions delivered the expected improvements,” explains Spinks.
Solution:
Gaining complete visibility with Alluvio Aternity
KCHFT adopted Riverbed’s Alluvio Aternity Digital Experience Management (DEM) solution, deploying 6,200 licenses. Spinks was enthusiastic about the onboarding process: “The experience could not have been simpler! It took about five minutes to access the cloud environment,” he recalls. “From there, it was a case of deploying the agent to all the endpoints and watching the data come in. Almost immediately, we could see trends that sparked conversations and ideas.”
Internal stakeholders subsequently felt more empowered to address their IT-related issues. Spinks continues, “Clinicians’ experience matters and they should not be waiting for IT services to load or suffer performance issues where we could make improvements to the experience.
“Before Aternity, the IT team would receive call tickets that would bounce between teams to be resolved. Now that we are using Aternity, it’s significantly reduced all the interactions, as the real-time insights provide us with evidence that we can see on the platform. It has made things so much simpler, saving us time and increasing our productivity.”
As the NHS Trust builds its digital experience strategy and implements auto-remediation functions enabling the IT team to fix issues proactively, the advantages of Alluvio Aternity are already evident. “With the help of our Riverbed colleagues, we have created some bespoke dashboards, mainly around our EPR (Electronic Patient Records) to understand its performance and day-to-day use,” Spinks explains. “The information on the dashboard has already helped us troubleshoot some issues.”
The solution has even highlighted critical events before they could turn into bigger issues. “Alluvio Aternity alerted us hours before our service desk received a call regarding an incident,” says Spinks. “With the Alluvio Aternity solution from Riverbed, we don’t need to wait for a user to tell us there is a problem. It informs us of the issue, its impact, and the implications regarding time and cost.”
Benefits:
Ability to make smart decisions around hardware management
“Implementing Alluvio Aternity helped us rethink how we deliver IT services based on what we can see. The IT team can now prioritise tickets based on the most critical problems and as a result, we can make some significant improvements,” explains Spinks.
Alluvio Aternity also allowed the IT team to make better-informed decisions about IT investments. “We have revised our asset refresh plan based on device performance. Aternity showed us we wouldn’t need to replace 42% of our 1784 devices aged 5 years or older. This has meant that we have already returned our investment in Alluvio Aternity.”
Given the success of Alluvio Aternity, it will continue to feature in KCHFT’s plans for the future including further investment in Riverbed’s Alluvio Unified Observability portfolio. “We are keen to continue reducing service desk call volumes using the Alluvio Aternity DEM solution,” Spinks explains. “Also, with the help of the Alluvio Aternity dashboards, we intend to analyse trends and fix issues across all devices and speed up resolutions resulting in much better healthcare for our patients.”
Thatcham Research has launched its cutting-edge EV Safe training to help the public sector prepare for the unique safety challenges presented by electric vehicles (EVs).
EV Safe is a comprehensive training program designed to ensure the safety of key workers who interact with High Voltage (HV) vehicles as the volume of EVs on the road continues to grow, and the public sector increasingly supports their introduction via the UK Government’s EV infrastructure strategy. Emergency service trusts are also more widely adopting EVs as part of their diverse fleet of response vehicles.
 The two-day in-person course is designed for public sector teams and equips participants with the skills and knowledge to safely shut down and reinstate HV vehicles. This training goes beyond repair-related aspects and focuses on creating awareness of safe handling requirements across electrified fleets.
During the training, delegates will learn how to identify the different types of EVs, from full Battery Electric Vehicles to Hybrids, and the different handling requirements for each. The program addresses potentially dangerous scenarios encountered by public sector workers. This includes first responders arriving at the scene of a road traffic collision involving EVs. While EVs are designed with safety in-mind, it is important for first responders to fully understand how to safely approach and handle a crashed EV.
From knowing how to isolate and shut down the HV system, correctly identify whether the leak is electrolyte or coolant, or determine whether an EV is at risk of ignition, EV Safe is designed to provide first responders with the knowledge required to keep themselves and the public safe.
The training is also applicable for Border Force and police who need to be aware of safe handling considerations while searching EVs, including the importance of using appropriate PPE.
With access to the very latest automotive equipment, technology, and repair techniques, and boasting high-quality qualified instructors and their Automotive Academy, Thatcham Research is uniquely positioned as an industry leader to keep those who work with EVs safe.
Dean Lander, head of repair sector services, Thatcham Research, said: “As EVs become increasingly present on UK roads, with significant buy-in from public sector organisations, it’s more important than ever for businesses to ensure the safety of their staff.
“With this in mind, I am pleased to announce the launch of our EV Safe training, the latest addition to our suite of EV training programmes.
“Course content is sourced directly from our research facility and the insights that come from our state-of-the-art vehicle-led research. It is essential that our vital public sector and emergency services key workers complete this course to equip themselves with the knowledge to protect themselves and the public when interacting with EVs.
“As electrification technology continues to be embraced on our roads, we must ensure that steps are taken now to properly equip staff across the UK with the knowledge to keep them safe when interacting with these vehicles.”
To learn more about EV Safe, including course booking information, please visit the Thatcham Research website: www.thatcham.org
Peoplesafe partners with Crimestoppers to tackle the growing crisis in employee safety
 A NEW initiative from Peoplesafe working with the charity Crimestoppers, highlights the long overdue call to UK employers to step up and do more to protect their people, not just at work, but out of hours too.
Peoplesafe, the UK’s leading provider of employee safety technology, has partnered with Crimestoppers to encourage people to Step Up, Stay Safe. This campaign calls for UK employers to step up and take action in a drastically changed world, to protect their working communities.
In today’s modern hybrid working environment, indisputable stats* show that more employees are feeling unsafe on a regular basis, with 6.8m people reporting that they worry about their safety every week. This isn’t down to the workplace or type of work, it’s a social and cultural change. It’s affecting an increasing number of people and it’s happening every day.
The Peoplesafe partnership with Crimestoppers is a call to action for employers to take decisive action to comprehensively tackle the issue, so that the UK workforce has proper protection, wherever they are, and whenever they feel they need it. Their growing concerns have been overlooked for too long, with action now urgently needed.
The Step Up, Stay Safe campaign aims to raise awareness of these widespread personal safety concerns; serious concerns which, to date, have been barely discussed or prioritised in any meaningful way. It will also recognise and flag the forward-thinking employers willing to go the extra mile, beyond basic tick-box compliance, to safeguard employee safety and provide better peace of mind for the people that make their business tick.
Any people-centric employer signing up to the Step Up, Stay Safe Pledge will receive immediate access to a bank of employee safety-related resources and be able to display the Step Up, Stay Safe kitemark. They will also have the opportunity to join other campaign advocates for online and live events, all focussed on better personal safety measures and on what is now urgently required to improve them nationally.
The Step Up, Stay Safe Pledge
Employers sign up to:
Provide personal safety training, giving employees the skills to prepare for, and respond to, personal safety risks
- Provide a personal safety alarm for all high-risk and vulnerable staff enabling them to get help during a workplace emergency
- Offer personal safety technology to all staff, giving them access to a professional emergency response service operating 24/7/365 days a year
- Embed a personal safety culture, encouraging open conversations about safety and to remind employees to follow safety policies and procedures
- Raise awareness of personal safety tips, actively promoting and endorsing the Step Up, Stay Safe messages and resources
Naz Dossa, CEO of Peoplesafe says: “Peoplesafe is not just about providing tech solutions. We want to help tackle the problem at source and it has long been our aim to amplify the issue of personal safety amongst UK institutions and businesses.
We hope this campaign, in partnership with Crimestoppers, will help us drive this forward.
To date, there is no official legislation or guidance that places responsibility on the employer to protect their employees outside of work – not even during their commute. Despite this, over half of workers (51%) believe that their employer has a duty of care to them outside of working hours.
We’re asking UK businesses to go beyond basic compliance and step up to keep their people safe.”
David Crawley, Crimestoppers Director of Development, says: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Peoplesafe on this initiative. Our charity is committed, and proud, to work with organisations who share our values of always keeping people and communities safe from harm.”
Employers can sign up today at peoplesafe.co.uk/step-up-stay-safe/
The final piece of roofing felt has been laid to officially mark the topping out of L2 Orchard Park, in Cambridge.
75 new homes, consisting of a mix of social rent and affordable rent will be delivered through Cambridge Investment Partnership and a funding agreement from Homes England.
Gerri Bird, Executive Councillor for Housing and Homelessness at Cambridge City Council and CIP board member said, “Our new development at Orchard Park has allowed us to provide a mix of council homes and also affordable rent homes which will be made available to local residents who have traditionally found it difficult to secure, long term homes in the area.”
30 of the homes will be social rent homes while a further 45 available at 80% of the average private rental rate in Cambridge, with the City Council as landlord for all the properties.
 Front left Cllr Simon Smith, Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources and CIP Board Member; Cllr Gerri Bird, Executive Councillor for Housing and Homelessness at Cambridge City Council and CIP board member and Cllr Mike Davey, Leader of Cambridge City Council
Behind left – Tom Hill, Managing Director of The Hill Group Gerri continues, “With the continued cost of living crisis and rising interest rates, these homes are vital for those who may not qualify for full council rent homes but struggle to be able to afford to rent or buy locally.”
Designed by architects, Mole, the highly sustainable development features two apartment blocks and a row of coach houses, with all the homes gas free with heating provided through air source heat pumps. There are also biodiverse green roofs and high levels of insulation to reduce the impact of fuel poverty.
Tom Hill, Managing Director at The Hill Group comments, “Through the partnership we have worked closely with local residents to ensure this new development has a positive impact on the wider community which includes improvements to the adjacent public open space to provide a community growing garden and areas to come together and enjoy.
“We are extremely proud of what we continue to deliver through CIP, with over 1000 new homes completed or currently in build, including more than 700 council homes. We are committed to reinvesting in the city by creating new sustainable developments that provide homes and community facilities that are vitally needed.”
Orchard Park will also include improvement to adjacent open space which includes extensive recreational and biodiversity improvements along with community growing garden, pergola and seating area, trim trail, running track, table tennis table and generous planting.
There will also be six electric vehicle charging spaces, one hybrid/electric car club vehicle and above policy cycle parking provision for 124 bike spaces. There is also excellent walking, cycling and public transport links.
For further information about Cambridge Investment Partnership please visit www.ip-cambridge.co.uk
A further £8million will be spent on road maintenance over the next two years to help deal with potholes and the maintenance of highways, as Cllrs voted it through at Barnet Council’s Cabinet meeting last night, 18 July 2023.
 The new investment is in response to the 2022/23 winter period when the number of potholes reported jumped almost 95% to 3699 compared to the previous winter period which saw 1896 reported for repair.
This is in addition to £250,000 invested in advance of the 2022/23 winter period and the approved £11.785 million wider maintenance funding for this year.
Cllr Alan Schneiderman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said:
“We know that maintaining roads and dealing with potholes are very important to our residents, and we are responding to this by investing more in our highways.
 “Well-maintained roads and pavements are safer for everyone. That’s why we boosted funding immediately after taking control of the council last year and have now agreed to invest an additional £8million. And, as a council that cares for people, our places and the planet, we continue investing towards our longer-term plans of making Barnet a safer and more sustainable place for all.”
In total, including planned and additional investment, the council will be spending almost £17m on roads and pavements this year.
Funding for the highways maintenance programme was agreed at Barnet Environment and Climate Change Committee on 25 January 2023, which addresses how to maintain over 700km of highways that Barnet Council is responsible for.
 Mark Venables Mark Venables, chief executive of Highland Marketing, argues the NHS’ struggles to adopt EPRs has disguised success in other areas, and now’s the time to level up innovation.
The NHS has arrived at its 75th anniversary facing bigger challenges than it has faced since its inception. It’s true that founder Nye Bevan faced a huge political and medical battle to establish a health service that was, and remains, universal, free at the point of delivery, and focused on need.
It’s also true that the NHS went through a long period in the 1980s and 1990s in which buildings deteriorated, waiting lists rose, and staff satisfaction and public confidence fell. However, at the turn of the millennium, massive investment, recruitment, and a ruthless focus on targets turned things around.
Plus, there was a new reason for optimism: computerisation. The IT strategies of the late 1990s and early 2000s were full of hope that connectivity, electronic patient records, and then-new consumer tech like websites would improve efficiency, streamline services, and put data into the hands of clinicians and patients.
Technology struggles and unsung successes
If we are going to be honest, that potential hasn’t really been delivered. Highland Marketing was founded around the time the National Programme for IT was launched, so we have seen the challenges that trusts have faced with adopting the EPRs it promised.
Even today, we are working with clients who want to help NHS organisations to make the most of the Frontline Digitisation programme, which is hoping to get ‘minimum digital foundations’ into all trusts by the end of the current Parliament.
Having said that, the high-profile struggles of successive EPR programmes have deflected attention from projects that have worked. We work with a leading imaging company that often points out that the TV trope of clinicians peering at x-ray film on a lightbox vanished years ago.
Similarly, we have a pathology client that has enabled laboratories to revolutionise the way they work, and for hospitals and GP practices to rip up the paper associated with ordering tests and reporting results. Radiology and pathology are getting ready for the new world of automation, digitisation, and AI. It would be great if other areas of the health service could learn from them.
Learning lessons to deliver a digital future
If they did, two lessons would be that you need clarity about workflow and strong, core systems to deliver it. Today’s politicians are as excited about technology as politicians were 20-years back; but the technology they want to talk about is AI and digital-first services for patients.
We have a client that delivers shared care records to join-up services and generate data for population health management, and we’ve worked with many companies delivering important platforms for digital outpatients, virtual wards, and remote monitoring.
But they’d be the first to say they won’t work unless trusts have EPRs and integrated care systems have good data architectures to feed and support them. So, as the NHS turns 75, in a poorer state than it would like, we have to hope that whoever wins the next general election will invest again – and invest in the right way.
Complete the roll-out of core systems. Sort out the architecture. Help organisations to layer in the innovation that will really make a difference. Support UK industry to develop solutions for the future. That way, we’ll be able to keep raising awareness of all the good stuff that is happening out there.
About Highland Marketing
Highland Marketing is an integrated communications, PR and marketing consultancy with an unrivalled reputation for supporting UK and international health tech and med tech organisations. Highland Marketing is dedicated to supporting the diffusion and adoption of innovation across health and social care, and over two decades has built a reputation for being the go-to agency for vendors and their customers. Highland Marketing is expert in market strategy planning, research, branding, messaging, content marketing, PR, social media and scales acceleration.
Website: www.highland-marketing.com Twitter: @HighlandMarktng
One of the UK’s leading providers of contingent labour on behalf of public sector organisations, Matrix, has seen its clients grow their investment in temporary and fixed-contract staff by a fifth since the end of the Covid pandemic.
The largest increases were seen in Qualified Social Care, where spending has risen by almost a third. This is followed by investment in Interim recruitment, which grew by a quarter over the same period. Non-Qualified Social Care, meanwhile, saw the biggest percentage increase in contingent workforce spending.
This recruitment trend means the social care sector now accounts for over 55% of the UK’s local authority contingent workforce. Furthermore, Matrix, which works with over a third (35%) of local authorities across England and Wales, reveals that this increase in demand and competition for resources has elongated average time to hire for temporary social care vacancies while also increasing average pay rates by 17.8% on average since May 2021. However, Matrix statistics show this pay impact varies significantly between roles, ranging from 15.1% for Qualified Social Care positions to just 4.1% for Interim jobs, with further variance recorded by region.
“Our figures reveal the shift of the public sector towards an increasingly blended workforce of permanent and temporary staff,” said Matrix CEO Mark Inskip. “The question is whether this is a passing trend or if the public sector is following many parts of the private sector towards a balanced workforce composition strategy.
“What is clear, is that key scarce functions such as social care are witnessing an unprecedented exodus, at a time of ever-increasing demand on services. Wage inflation is not keeping up, which is driving continued upward pressure on temporary worker pay rates. Memorandums of Understanding were designed to address some of these challenges, and while we have seen some positive impact on rate governance within regions, the practical impact of this approach clearly shows that there is much work to do in light of these compelling statistics.”
Matrix contingent workforce statistics are drawn from tens of millions of data points, with its platform processing 23,700 timesheets a week. Many of these come from public sector staff, with the company having 14,000 temporary workers live in local authorities placements at any given moment.
 By Stephanie Ward
The intricacies of the IT systems companies rely on to operate are more now complicated than ever. There is the constant challenge of managing internal service providers and multiple third-party vendors. Fortunately, Service Integration and Management (SIAM) has emerged to bring sanity to an IT world plagued with chaos and poor return on digital investment, yet for many organizations adopting the SIAM methodology poses unique challenges. To navigate and foster innovation of SIAM and to get the most out of it, harnessing collective knowledge through a supportive community is key. My observation as a community manager across diverse industries confirms that knowledge sharing and best approaches are invaluable for SIAM development.
Creating a SIAM Community
It’s important to recognise there is no “one size fits all” approach to a SIAM operating model, communities act as vital platforms for SIAM, fostering the sharing of experiences, best practices, and expertise. Active participation in online platforms, forums, and professional associations enables practitioners and organizations to tap into a collective knowledge pool, accelerating their learning curve and contributing towards the enrichment of the SIAM discipline. The benefits are multifold, and this interaction nurtures a strong network of professionals who collectively drive SIAM forward. At Scopism, we speak to companies and individuals in over 40 countries that are practising SIAM across a broad spectrum of industry sectors and have created our SIAM Community made up of cutting-edge companies at the forefront of SIAM and supported by our exclusive education partner, EXIN and our first community partner, HCL. The SIAM Community offers companies an unparalleled opportunity for connection, learning, and growth amongst a knowledgeable, reliable, and trusted SIAM network to ultimately get the most out of their SIAM integration.
Connecting with SIAM Peers
Getting involved in the SIAM community allows individuals to build personal networks, gaining access to diverse perspectives and collective problem-solving mechanisms. These networks serve as a strength, providing knowledge and support in navigating professional journeys. Embracing diversity leads to innovative solutions, enhancing resilience and sustainable growth in the SIAM field. Since 2017 we have been conducting our Global SIAM Annual Survey helping to build a picture of the growth of SIAM and how it’s evolving. Our 2022 survey took responses from 200+ people from 31 countries, reflecting the global nature of the SIAM community. Presented in a whitepaper, the survey results help to build a picture of SIAM adoption across the industry and deliver valuable information to SIAM practitioners. Adam Martin, Director, Regional Engagement (NSW), Kinetic IT Pty, who specialises in SIAM and provided expert commentary throughout the white paper noted, “There is an increase in relationship building across numerous data points. This is positive to see and reinforces a SIAM community recognizing that being able to influence outcomes is a key driver of healthy SIAM. I am confident that as SIAM maturity and the harder-to-measure intangibles begin to be realized, results that suggest simple, effortless, transparent, and helpful describing the end users’ service outcomes exhibited far more.”
Working Together for Success
Practitioners of SIAM can navigate challenges more effectively and foster collaboration by applying community intelligence to their operating model. The collective intelligence of the community is a powerful tool to spur growth in the discipline. This inclusive culture promotes learning, sharing, and collaborating, empowering practitioners to harness collective knowledge, and fostering a sense of camaraderie and collective growth. Building projects around motivated service providers that fully understand your SIAM model is key, but often face-to-face discussions are not always possible. This is where working groups and process forums come into their own and are a fruitful and structured way to enable collaboration. Using video conferencing and chat technology to achieve successful virtual ‘face-to-face’ discussions delivers a great alternative. Self-organizing teams built on trust, empowerment and a light touch relationship between the service integrator and service providers will ultimately see the most success from their system.
How to Get Involved
At the moment key focuses in the SIAM community are service integration contributing to driving enhanced performance across complex provider ecosystems. There is less focus on costs and contractual levers, and a greater appreciation of the need for service quality, cross-provider collaboration, along with necessary cultural alignment for ecosystem unification and cohesion. SIAM can provide real value in complex supply chain environments. As SIAM models mature, more and more models are also incorporating non-IT services as organizations shift to a value stream/workflow focus other business areas including, finance, logistics and HR are blending into an organization’s SIAM model.
Here are my three key tips for staying on top of what’s topical in SIAM and excellent resources worthy of looking at:
- For those beginning their SIAM journey, platforms like LinkedIn, forums on Scopism, and professional associations such as ITSMF are a good start. Participation in webinars, workshops, and conferences also provides opportunities to connect with the community.
- At the start be open to listening to enable you to learn. With time, contribute your insights and experiences. Every contribution, no matter how small, is valuable to the collective growth of the SIAM community.
- For more insights, Scopism offers a comprehensive range of resources, including articles, case studies, and white papers to show the benefits of SIAM. There is also an active forum within the community where practitioners can engage with global SIAM professionals who are diverse, driving growth and innovation.
Join the Conversation
The SIAM community thrives on conversation, sharing an experience or asking a question and the future of SIAM is empowered by collective intelligence. SIAM addresses global issues faced by companies around the world. With the acceleration of cloud services, the challenge is to ensure that businesses deploy effective and joined-up IT services. The 2022 Scopism survey data is clear, businesses are not looking to do things independently, but rather through a hybrid SIAM model. By harnessing the power of community, we can surmount obstacles, foster innovation, and drive the discipline forward. Join the conversation at the Scopism community page.
About the author: Steph Ward is a community manager for SIAM at Scopism. Her experience spans various industries, providing her with unparalleled knowledge of shared value and good practices within a trusted, reliable, and diverse network. She is passionate about building thriving communities and understands the benefits an involved and supportive SIAM community can bring.
 By David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks
Let’s face it, change is often held back by fear. The same principle applies to both the public sector and the private sector. People are often the reason why projects advance, don’t go hard or fail. With artificial intelligence – particularly generative AI – there is some fear of what may happen. Movies such as ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and The Terminator depict our fear of machines taking over.
Indeed, Elon Musk has recently raised this prospect by calling for a halt in artificial intelligence development for a period of six months. He has called for an open discussion about the ethics of the technology to consider the impact and the implications this could have on society. There’s nothing wrong with open debate. It’s perhaps needed. However, the march towards an AI world isn’t new. Its development has been going on for years.
So, what’s needed is a fresh look at the benefits of artificial intelligence and its demerits – or dangers. AI is, after all, considered to be the next revolution, and with it there will be the good, the bad, and the ugly uses of it. This isn’t anything new. Since the dawn of time, societies have been shaken by political, social and technological revolutions. In the year 2023, these revolutions continue. AI is but one of them, albeit perhaps more evolutionary than revolutionary in many respects.
Impacting industry, government and society
Artificial intelligence will impact on every corner of society and every sector of industry. The government and public sector isn’t immune to it, and so it needs to be prepared for the technology to force change in how it operates and on how society does, too. Just look back at some of the technologies people take for granted today. That includes the wheels our cars, buses, lorries, trains, military vehicles and aircraft roll on.
At some point, wheels might have seemed like an oddity, but the invention of the humble wheel made the transportation of goods much easier and effective. From a military perspective, wheels changed warfare – from horse-drawn chariots to tanks. Regarding chariots, the Romans put them to great use – allowing them to conquer most of the Mediterranean, France, Germany, England, and so on.
Think about the revolution that Caxton’s printing press had. It killed the monopoly of the church in European countries, allowing for a wider group of people to express their thoughts and opinions. No longer could the church suppress societies, nor hold sway over the population. Without this release, there may not have been any technological and commercial advancement. By freeing up thought, and by taking back control of the written word, innovations could take place, be adopted and spread.
This includes the shift from the agricultural to the industrial revolution. One begot the other due to necessity. With this change, and in the search of more employment and higher wages beyond the fields and medieval feudalism, people moved to the cities. Agriculture had to change in turn by becoming more mechanised, and by adopting new technologies to meet the demand for food in the cities.
Over time, technology to irrigate crops developed. First, people had buckets and then the Archimedes screw. Roman viaducts brought fresh water to cities and the ability to remove waste with the invention of sewers, which allowed there to be larger cities. Pack animals and wagons were needed to supply cities. They were eventually replaced by canals. This lowered the cost of transport, which drove the industrial revolution. Steam engines replaced water wheels, and steam railways replaced canals, and the model T ford replaced the horse. So, it goes on – and more to the point is part of this ongoing evolutionary process, which may often have revolutionary implications.
Back to agriculture. Just as there is a call to regulate artificial intelligence, agriculture also faces challenges. Anyone who’s watched both series of Clarkson’s Farm will see that one of those challenges emanates from government regulation and local planners. Some laws and regulations may be necessary. Others could appear to be either Draconian or absurd. So, the government and public sector should be listening to industry and to the people to ensure that policies, laws and regulations are applied in a measured and rational way by considering their impacts dispassionately.
Revolutions often occur during wars. This applies to nuclear power. It can be used for good to power electricity in our homes, or by used adversely to make the human race extinct. This is a prospect people must accept and hope it doesn’t come to fruition. Many other technologies have also been developed at a quickened rate because of wars. They tend to expedite innovation – including the march towards today’s artificial intelligence and digital revolution.
Digital revolution
I remember watching a BBC Horizon programme in the 70s about how the digital revolution was going to change society – pushing people away from the burden of the 40-hour week to massive leisure time. Like the soothsaying about artificial intelligence, the programme predicted mass unemployment in traditional industries. Well, that didn’t happen. A revolution first creates chaos before the population changes. Migrations then occur, and this creates new industries and new revolutions.
The same principle applies to the development of artificial intelligence. People and organisations will just need to adapt to thrive. The trouble is that human nature likes stability. A stable environment is comforting, allowing for routine predictability and long-term planning. However, the turnover in electronics, semiconductors and computers systems has created instability. This creates uncertainty in the population – people have the increased pace of innovation leaves parts of the population and even some nations behind. This applies as much to AI as to any other ‘revolution.’
‘Uncertainty in uncertain times’
That is why artificial intelligence is beginning to create uncertainty in uncertain times. It raises questions that even the government and public sector will perhaps need to address, such as: Is AI going to create mass unemployment, and is it going to create an underclass? Digital poverty is something that the public sector has been trying to address by promoting educational courses for those that can’t afford their own PCs or smartphones – noting that there are concerns that cash is likely to wither, as more and more organisations are demanding digital payments.
They raise another spectre for some people who believe that central bank digital currencies will enable governments and central banks to have too much authoritarian control over their daily lives and purchases. Others dispute these claims, and they cite that CBDCs could reduce incidents of financial fraud. Yet, this fear is also enticing some people to embrace blockchain and cryptocurrency technology as a means of removing any such control from central banks. Each revolution often has a counter-revolution. The development of AI is no different.
Artificial intelligence is fast
That said, AI is fast. However, it is not necessarily accurate. Yes, it’s back to the case of garbage in, garbage out. Much depends on the learning material, the data that machine learning uses. It is easy to create a bias against people of certain types or against folk within certain financial positions without having a complete understanding or care of why certain types of behaviour or trends are occurring. This means that AI has no soul, no morals nor even no original thought or imagination. My experience with chatbots leads me to think we still have a way to go for mainstream AI.
However, not everything about AI is about the bad and the ugly. Artificial intelligence brings with it some significant benefits, as with any other technology. In healthcare, AI is being used for cancer detection, drug scanning and formulation. Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, is being used for software code generation and bug finding. Then you have machine learning and artificial intelligence being used for Earth climate predictions, and a whole range of other opportunities.
Automation, decisioning and intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be used to automate processes and to improve decision-making and intelligence. Rainbird AI is one such organisations that does this, and its technologies can be used in the government and public sectors. It uses AI and machine learning in its decision intelligence solutions. The company says organisations can “automate high-quality decisions based on real-time customer data. Your customers can now experience minimal waiting times, high-quality recommendations and intuitive customer support.” This can be applied to the government and public sector as much as it can to the private sector. For the latter, it will be used to differentiate the quality of customer service.
Alan Holden, Ben Szuhaj, Joe Mariani, and Tasha Austin write for Deloitte’s Perspectives, ‘Designing for the Public Sector with Generative’. They add: “With a few rules of design, government leaders can harness new generative AI tools to help design the innovations of the future.” They argue that “forward-thinking government leaders should begin considering how generative design could transform their operations, increase innovation and deliver real value to the public.”
“Potential applications of generative design in the public sector include facility design, urban planning, policy creation, customer experience, learning and development and reducing carbon emissions.” As well as claims that generative AI will transform the public sector and make it more efficient, there is much talk about how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to improve cloud management and cloud automation.
Improving data flow
Then there is WAN Acceleration, which uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and data parallelisation to mitigate the effects of latency and packet loss, while improving bandwidth utilisation. It enables organisations, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, as well as other public and private organisations to backup, send and receive voluminous amounts of encrypted data over large distances. Even technology, such as SD-WANs, can benefit from having a WAN Acceleration overlay – vastly improving their performance.
Bridgeworks has used artificial intelligence, machine learning and data parallelisation over the last 12 years in its WAN acceleration products. With WAN Acceleration, organisations can emulate a highly skilled network engineer to constantly tune the way data is fed onto a WAN to maximise the throughput every millisecond. So, should we fear AI? Not if it is used in the right way, and for the right reason. Like any other technology, it can be destructive in the wrong hands. Still, AI is the next revolution that’s been evolving for some time, and it requires us to take the good over the bad.
- Government signs agreement with BioNTech SE to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030
- NHS England’s new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad aims to improve access to personalised treatments and clinical trials
- BioNTech SE to set up laboratories and a regional hub in England to support the development of immunotherapies
Ground-breaking new cancer treatments have moved a step closer with the signing of a major agreement between the government and BioNTech SE.
Building on a memorandum of understanding signed in January, the partnership will provide cancer patients with improved access to the latest cancer trials and therapies currently being developed.
The government has signed a long term partnership agreement with the German-based company BioNTech – which previously developed a world leading COVID-19 vaccine with Pfizer – to ensure more patients can benefit from personalised cancer treatments.
This includes UK-based clinical trials intended to help treat patients through the use of precision immunotherapies which work by stimulating the immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells. The aim is to provide access to personalised treatments for up to 10,000 patients by 2030.
BioNTech SE has already begun conducting clinical trials in the UK. Further trials will be launching although the majority of patients are expected to be enrolled from 2026 onwards.
To help deliver this research, BioNTech plans to set up new laboratories in Cambridge with an expected capacity of more than 70 highly skilled scientists as well as a new regional hub for the United Kingdom.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said:
“This landmark new agreement takes us one step closer to delivering life-saving new cancer treatments for thousands of patients right across the country.
“The UK is a global leader in life sciences – helping to create thousands of highly skilled jobs and pioneering research – and it is testament to this success that BioNTech have chosen to make this significant investment here today.
“Personalised cancer vaccines have the potential to completely revolutionise the way we treat this cruel disease and it is hugely welcome that, thanks to today’s announcement, clinical trials will be rolled out widely”
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay said:
“This partnership is a huge step forward in the fight against cancer.
“By working together with BioNTech on these innovative treatments we can make progress and save lives and I’m excited by the potential these trials have to both treat patients with cancer and those who have had it to stop it returning.
“This further demonstrates that the UK is an attractive location for innovative companies to invest and pioneer cutting edge treatments for our patients and underlines this government’s commitment to research and development.”
A new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) led by NHS England in partnership with Genomics England, will help to rapidly identify cancer patients who could be eligible for potential trials.
It will work by creating a database of suitable NHS cancer patients who will be offered the choice to take part in personalised cancer vaccine trials.
The partnership will aim to help patients with early and late-stage cancers and, if successfully developed, cancer vaccines could become part of standard care.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS said:
“The NHS will not stop in its efforts to pioneer new treatments that could be life-changing for future generations. This is why we are developing our very first Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, enabling us to identify thousands of NHS patients suitable for cancer vaccine trials – giving them the earliest possible access to cutting-edge technology that has the potential to change cancer care forever.
“Thanks to advances in treatment and care alongside NHS awareness campaigns, cancer survival is at an all-time high, but the potential to stop cancer from returning is truly remarkable – and with the first patients set to take part in vaccine trials this autumn, we hope to find a way of vaccinating people against their own cancers and improve their chances of survival.”
Trials will focus on personalised mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies – a type of cancer treatment that activates the patient’s immune system and can either be designed to target shared abnormalities in a specific type of cancer or tailored to an individual’s tumour.
Immunotherapies tailored to an individual are created by analysing a patient’s tumour to identify mutations that are specific to that individual’s cancer, then using that information to create an immunotherapy personal to that patient.
The partners involved will work to make processes as simple and effective as possible with BioNTech aiming to start further clinical trials and make potential new therapies available in the UK as soon as possible.
Professor Uğur Şahin, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of BioNTech said:
“We are truly honoured to be an integral part of this landmark partnership, alongside the UK government, NHS England, Genomics England, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
“The United Kingdom’s expertise in genomic analyses in cancer patients is a critical component of our shared endeavour to make mRNA-based and precision cancer immunotherapies widely accessible through clinical trials.
“If successful, this collaboration has the potential to improve outcomes for patients with cancer not just in the UK, but also worldwide.”
Sean Marett, CMG, Chief Business Officer & Chief Commercial Officer at BioNTech SE, said:
“Through the development by the UK of a unified national contract approach for clinical trials that will let hospitals rapidly sign-up to clinical trials being undertaken in the UK by BioNTech, we are hoping to reach many UK cancer patients that wish to participate in clinical trials with new BioNTech investigational cancer treatments quickly and efficiently.”
Business & Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said:
“This government is supporting our life sciences sector to be among the best in the world, with no better example than our global leadership in developing and rolling out the first Covid-19 vaccines.
“Investment in life sciences is key if we are to become a science superpower by 2030, helping to grow the economy and provide substantial health benefits for the British public and the world.”
Patients will be asked by the NHS to consent to be put forward for clinical trials, and surplus tissue samples will be used to assess their eligibility.
The detail of any suitable clinical trials will be made available to the participant and their treating clinical team to see if they would like to take part in the relevant trial.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Chloe Smith said:
“I know from personal experience how it feels to face a cancer diagnosis. I was immensely fortunate to benefit from world-leading care from our wonderful NHS. There are brilliant scientists, researchers, and medics working on the kinds of lifesaving cancer treatments and therapies that this deal will deliver.
“This partnership is the perfect example of how our £94 billion life sciences sector is improving lives across the country. This deal will anchor high-skilled jobs and investment in the UK. But most importantly, it will deliver better outcomes for patients with cancer in England, ensuring that more of them can go on to live long, happy, and healthy lives.”
Chris Wigley, Chief Executive Officer of Genomics England said:
“Since the times of Darwin, Franklin, and Sanger, the UK has been a true world leader in genomic science and healthcare. To sustain that leadership, we have to continue to deliver more world firsts, more innovations, and more benefits to patients, both nationally and internationally.
“We talk about the Cancer Vaccine “Launch Pad” – the rocket that is being launched is access to ground-breaking personalised cancer therapies that can transform lives and improve outcomes for those affected by this terrible disease. It’s almost hard to comprehend, but there are medicines made just for you, to attack your very own cancer tumour.
“We’re thrilled that this partnership will see genomics extend beyond diagnosis and take us towards a future of personalised cancer treatment.”
High-trust organisations believe technology choices play a vital part in securing customer trust
For nearly three quarters of AV professionals (70%) improving customer trust is the number one priority when selecting new collaboration and communication tech, beating other options such as increasing efficiency (69%) and increasing productivity (68%). That’s according to a new ‘Trusted Connections 2023’ study from AV solutions provider Kinly.
The research, which surveyed 150 AV professionals working across the UK’s banking, finance, healthcare, energy, and public sectors, also revealed that nearly half (44%) of AV professionals believe that the right communications technology will ‘make or break’ the customers’ experience.
 For organisations working in ‘high trust’ sectors, ensuring positive, easy communications with internal and external stakeholders is crucial for maintaining trust. In fact, nearly half (41%) of those surveyed say that their choice of tech is a ‘vital part’ in securing customer trust, while 46% believe communications tech is also ‘vital’ for building employee trust.
Despite the understanding that communications technology plays a pivotal role for high-trust sector organisations, many are still concerned about the quality of their tech. Nearly three quarters (73%) of AV professionals believe their comms workflows still have ‘room for improvement’ when it comes to interoperability, while 64% feel their workflows could be more efficient.
Speaking about the new research, Kinly’s UK region Managing Director, Taj Ghere said: “All too often, businesses see AV as just about productivity and efficiency, but it’s so much more than that. The tools we use to communicate can seriously impact a customer’s long-term trust in an organisation.
“For ‘high trust’ sectors such as healthcare, law or banking — those dealing in sensitive and personal information — workflows and AV technologies are an essential part of building and maintaining customer trust. Through our Trusted Connections research, we wanted to take a deep dive into these specific sectors, providing insights into their unique challenges and needs. For these industries it’s not enough to simply install your typical AV tech. Combined, bespoke and customised solutions are required.
“That’s why it’s so important for these sectors to work with specialist AV partners, who can guide them to the right mix of technology for better interoperability, improved efficiency and most importantly trust.”
To find out more about the new research and download your own copy, visit the Kinly website here.
 Lord Kerslake (credit – Peabody) A University of Manchester publication released today presents a series of evidence-led solutions to tackle regional inequalities and boost the levelling up agenda.
The 44-page document begins with a characteristically incisive foreword from Lord Kerslake, former Head of the Home Civil Service.
Power in Place – published by the University’s policy engagement unit, Policy@Manchester – incorporates research and recommendations from academics across nine policy areas.
These include strengthening participation in devolved policymaking, boosting young people’s wellbeing, making local environmental policy more inclusive, and supporting charitable organisations through the cost-of-living crisis.
Closing the attainment gap in schools for children living in poverty is another key policy challenge featured in the publication, together with addressing health inequalities in left behind neighbourhoods, placing health and wellbeing at the heart of urban regeneration, encouraging better ‘place-based’ coordination of skills and education opportunities for young people, and mapping spatial differences to make policymaking more effective.
In his foreword, Lord Kerslake acknowledges that last year’s Levelling Up White Paper “gave official recognition by the government to the deep-rooted and long-standing nature of regional inequalities across the UK.”
But he says: “Those people who questioned the scale and depth of inequalities have been exposed as modern ‘flat earthers.’”
The crossbench peer argues that “political rhetoric now needs to be translated into policies and programmes of action” which are “still missing.”
He continues: “In part this is because of the complexity of the challenge and the need for change in both our institutional structures and technical capacities. This is highlighted in the diversity of contributions in this Policy@Manchester publication.”
Lord Kerslake writes: “Despite the rhetoric of levelling up places, government policies are still ‘place blind’.”
He adds: “The articles in this report provide evidence-led ideas about how we can improve place-based approaches to tackle inequalities.”
 Professor Cecilia Wong Professor Cecilia Wong, academic co-director of Policy@Manchester, said:
“We are excited to publish Power in Place which is a significant contribution to the national debates on levelling up policy as we approach the next General Election.
“The diversity of subject areas addressed in the document underline the remarkable quality and breadth of public policy thinking by academics at the University.
“Policy@Manchester is particularly grateful to Lord Kerslake for writing such an illuminating foreword, based on his many years of experience at the highest levels of local and national government.
“We hope the publication is read widely by policymakers, and the suite of solutions it provides are taken onboard.”
Power in Place is now available to read on the Policy@Manchester website.
 Matt Glass has been appointed as new board chair of UK’s leading supplier diversity organisation, MSDUK.
In the role, Matt will lead MSDUK’s board as they continue to support a thriving network of corporates and ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) to improve supplier diversity for individuals, communities, and businesses across the UK and Europe.
Matt leads European Property Development and Facilities at Enterprise Holdings and joined the MSDUK board six years ago, consistently striving to improve supply chain diversity.
Enterprise joined MSDUK in 2004 as one of the organisation’s founding members. As well as completing the Benchmarking Survey in 2021 and 2022, Enterprise has worked with seven of MSDUK’s certified suppliers in 2022.
Speaking about the appointment, Mayank Shah, Founder and CEO of MSDUK said:
“Matt Glass brings notable expertise and experience to MSDUK, and I am extremely pleased he is taking up the position as board chair for MSDUK. MSDUK plays a vital role in supplier diversity across the United Kingdom and Europe, and I’m proud of the ongoing support we continue to receive.”
Matt Glass, Head of European Property Development and Facilities at Enterprise, says: “Being appointed Chair of MSDUK is an exciting opportunity to support the continued efforts to create positive change for supplier diversity. An inclusive and diverse supply chain can drive economic impact and empowerment in under-represented communities and play an integral role in sustaining successful operations.
“At Enterprise, we are committed to working with suppliers that reflect the communities we operate in and spend more than £3 billion annually with diverse businesses worldwide. Working with a broad network of partners and suppliers helps us to achieve our vision to be the world’s best and most trusted mobility provider.
“I’m thrilled to lead the MSDUK board and work with fellow businesses to support the mission to create inclusive and diverse supply chains across the UK. I’m also delighted to welcome Sara Ahmad from Bristol Myers Squibb as deputy chair of the MSDUK Board.”
To find out more information about MSDUK’s vision you can visit www.msduk.org.uk/
Booking is now open for the 2023 Institute of Economic Development Annual Conference and Awards Dinner, as the organisation’s 40th anniversary celebrations get into full swing.
The IED Annual Conference, which will be held at the Park Regis Birmingham on 7th November, is themed Grow for Good? Reappraising the UK’s Growth Objectives. Workshops and presentations will focus on related topics including Town Centres, Inclusive Growth, Skills and Fair Employment, Housing, Economic Regeneration and Health & Wellbeing.
Confirmed keynote speakers are IED Patron Judith Blake, the Baroness Blake of Leeds CBE, and Greg Clark MP.
Other guest speakers include:
- Tom Stannard, Chair, IED, and Chief Executive, Salford City Council.
- Sarah Longlands, Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES).
- Dr Julian Dobson, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University.
- Jo Bibby, Director of Health, The Health Foundation.
- David Wilkes, Director – Innovation Ecosystem, Innovate UK.
- Tamsin Hart-Jones, Head of Cities and Major Conurbations, Homes England.
- David Marlow, Founder, Third Life Economics.
Following the one-day conference, the IED Awards Dinner will take place in the Sky Gallery at the Park Regis Hotel. The awards will recognise achievers in the public and private sector through a series of individual, team, and organisational categories. Eight categories are now open for entry and a ninth, Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development, will be selected by the IED Board and expert judging panel.
Leader of the Year
Economic development professionals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and management in their role, and who motivate and inspire their team to achieve success through effective leadership.
Team of the Year
Exceptional economic development teams who have gone above and beyond in ensuring the smooth running and effective delivery of economic development functions in their organisations.
Rising Star of the Year
Younger economic development team members aged 30 or under (as of 1st June 2023) who have demonstrated excellence, commitment and gone above and beyond in their early career.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champion of the Year
Individuals who have strived to actively promote, celebrate and raise awareness of EDI, improving under-represented involvement in economic development in their organisation or externally.
Social Value Champion of the Year
Individuals who have championed and made a significant contribution to social value creation, developing best practice in their field and making positive impacts in their communities.
Most Innovative Project of the Year
Innovative economic development projects which have pushed the boundaries beyond traditional approaches and delivered additional beneficial outcomes as a result of the innovation.
Collaborative Initiative of the Year
Outstanding cross-sector economic development collaboration between two or more partners drawn from local authorities, private sector, third sector, business and academia.
Outstanding Impact
For projects delivered and concluded in the last five years, which demonstrate benchmarked evidence against other similar initiatives. Impacts could include environmental, social, business support (from start-up to growth and scale), rural development and regeneration.
*Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development
Individuals who have made a sustained outstanding contribution to any field of economic development over a minimum of 20 years.
*To be selected by Institute of Economic Development Board and expert judging panel.
To enter the awards, individuals/teams should develop a 500-word entry on ‘why they should win’, together with an optional one page of additional evidence, and submit to admin@ied.co.uk by 5pm on 1st September 2023.
“We are really looking forward to the Annual Conference and Awards Dinner in Birmingham, which are among our flagship events as we mark our 40th anniversary as a professional body,” explained IED Executive Director Nigel Wilcock.
“Further details on our conference programme will be announced as and when speakers and sponsors are confirmed, but in the meantime we urge members and non-members to take up the Early Bird ticket rates for the Annual Conference by 30th June and to get their submissions in for the Annual Awards. We want to use both as an opportunity to highlight initiatives which encapsulate the full spectrum and contribution of economic development. Celebrating success in our profession is something we should all be proud of.”
It was in September 1982 that a group of industrial/economic development practitioners in the North West first came together to assess the support for establishing a professional body to support their career development. Just 12 months later, what is now known as the Institute of Economic Development (IED), was officially incorporated. To mark the 40th anniversary, there will be a programme of events and activities throughout the IED’s 2023-24 business year to celebrate this milestone. More information here.
 Comment from Ollie Gray, business development director, Charis
While Charis welcomes the reduction in the Ofgem price cap this July from £3280 to £2074, households will still be paying generally double what they were paying in 2021. The cumulative effect of the increase in the overall cost of living has meant that many people have been drawing on their savings or relying on credit to keep their heads above water.
Grants like the EBBS Energy Bill Support Scheme have been a lifeline for many people, but their financial resilience is crumbling. We may not see it for a few months yet – in fact there may be a false sense of security over the summer months. However, as the cooler autumn months arrive that illusion will quickly crumble – particularly if the Bank of England continues to increase interest rates to offset inflation. And while basic inflation has dropped, food price inflation is still in double figures, which adds further pressure to household budgets.
Until wages increase to meet the overall impact that the energy price increases have had on the economy as a whole, millions of vulnerable households will need continued support and assistance in meeting their most basic of household bills. With no EBBS, the reduction is immediately absorbed, leaving no surplus income to build reserves or pay off bad debt.
According to Cornwall Insight, energy bills will not reduce to pre-2021 levels until the end of the decade. The financial damage that is being done to the economy in the long term is probably beyond the imagination of many for whom the struggle is simply to survive from pay check to pay check. It’s no wonder that rates of anxiety and depression continue to reach record levels.
Charis is committed to ensuring charities, social housing providers and local authority organisations have a stable, robust and durable platform for distributing hardship funds in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible.
Environmental charity Hubbub is on the hunt for new creative solutions to food waste, which could be boosted by its new Eat It Up fund, launching today, with applications open until 21 July.
According to WRAP, 6.4 million tonnes of edible food is wasted each year in the UK retailers, manufacturers, caterers, restaurants and in people’s homes. A staggering 3.6 million tonnes of food is also wasted before it even leaves the farm gate.
The Eat It Up fund is looking for ideas that:
- address pre-farmgate waste (the food production process, up to the point where the products have been harvested and prepared as produce for sale)
- prevent food from being wasted at manufacturing and processing stage
- minimise food waste from retailers
- find ways to use surplus food in creative ways in communities or at home
Small businesses, social enterprises, charities, local authorities and universities can apply for a grant of £40,000 to support ideas that are ready to test, or concepts that have been tested and are ready to progress further.
Ellen Rutherford, Head of Food at Hubbub said: “The Eat It Up Fund has been created to stimulate innovation in tackling food waste, which is a big contributor to climate change. So many resources go into growing, processing, packing, storing and transporting food. There are lots of interesting and inventive ideas out there and this new fund will help organisations to test new concepts and get their ideas off the ground.”
Applications for the Eat It Up fund are open until 21st July. Those wanting to apply can visit – www.eatitupfund.org.uk for more information.
 In addition to the new Eat It Up fund, Hubbub is expanding its Food Connect initiative. Now entering its fourth year, Food Connect is a food redistribution service that uses zero-emission vehicles to tackle the ‘final mile’ challenge by delivering good quality surplus food for community groups to share.
To date, Food Connect has redistributed the equivalent of over 2.4 million meals with 14 community groups, welcoming over 140,000 visitors and creating 13 green jobs. It operates in Milton Keynes and London and will be expanded to further locations later this year.
Both the Eat It Up fund and the expansion of Food Connect are being supported by Starbucks. Funding for the two Hubbub initiatives has been made possible by donations from the Starbucks 5p cup charge, which is applied when a customer chooses to use a paper cup.
Jacqui Wetherly, Director of Sustainability at Starbucks UK said: “Food waste continues to present a huge challenge nationwide and innovative and creative solutions are needed to help tackle it. We are proud to be supporting our long-standing partners, Hubbub, with the launch of the Eat It Up Fund, as these projects will be the starting point for us to understand more about the levers of change and help inform society’s response to food waste across the country. As a company, we strive to give back more than we take from the planet and are fully committed to playing our part in reducing waste while also providing new ways to support the local communities we serve.”
For more information on Food Connect and the Eat It Up Fund, visit www.eatitupfund.org.uk.
 Claire Agutter In the volatility of today’s international markets, businesses need to be agile and responsive and supply chain flexibility has emerged as a game-changer. “The ability of a business and its capacity to swiftly adjust supply chain operations in response to unpredictable market demands and supply-side disruptions can be make or break for many”, says Claire Agutter.
Riding market highs and lows
Companies are up against an avalanche of challenges and uncertainty in 2023: high inflation, rising interest rates, recession, geopolitical conflict, energy crisis, competition for talent and vulnerable supply chains, just to name a few. These factors are contributing to, and compounding, a complex, uncertain business environment. Whilst most of these are issues the world has encountered before, the ability to be agile and responsive with supply chain flexibility is needed now more than ever in businesses operating in a digital world. Put simply, a business’s capacity to swiftly adjust supply chain operations in response to unpredictable market demands and supply-side disruptions can be the difference between boom or bust for many businesses.
An agile and flexible supply chain
By incorporating more flexibility and resilience across their supply chains businesses can withstand unexpected shifts in market conditions and changes in customer buying patterns. The key to a flexible and resilient supply chain is integration, transparency, and data intelligence – core components of an effective Service Integration and Management solution (SIAM).
Bringing clarity to a complex supply environment, SIAM methodology enables companies to focus on end-to-end value and identify all of the service providers that support that value. Think of an end-to-end supply chain as a puzzle to be put together intelligently. Each piece must fit perfectly with its peers, resulting in a unified solution that yields valuable data. SIAM brings visibility into every element of logistics; from the time an item is put on a ship to when it’s delivered to the customer. Businesses can then use that insight to make the right inventory decisions to deliver on time to customers and, more broadly, to forecast future demand. Just one of the many benefits that are delivered via a SIAM model. For digital products and services, SIAM helps organisations to leverage specialised skills from different service and cloud providers to deliver the best possible online experience for their customers. In dealing with the unexpected, companies can also rely on that data to drive experimentation into potential new logistics solutions. Ultimately there is no downside to establishing a flexible supply chain which incorporates a SIAM model since it gives businesses the ability to deal with supply chain disruptions and demand changes more intelligently.
Bolstering the supply chain with Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Companies are solving many types of problems in their supply chain with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the supply chain realm, machine learning (ML) is where most of the activity surrounding artificial intelligence has been focused. Used since the early ‘00s, ML can predict demand forecasting and market changes as well as suggest optimal responses and streamline operations. For example, forecasting how much of a particular product will be sold in a particular store is far more intensive than forecasting how many products in a product family will be sold in a region. This explosion in the number and accuracy of forecasts would not be possible without the latest generation of ML. Integrating AI into the complex web of production and distribution—the supply chain—will have a bigger economic impact than any other application of the technology and affect a larger number of businesses. McKinsey estimates that firms will derive between $1.3trn and $2trn a year in economic value from using AI in supply chains and manufacturing. AI is becoming much more widely adopted in business due to progress occurring on several fronts at the same time. These include the development of new machine learning algorithms, computing power, big data analytics, and acceptance by decision-makers and business leaders.
The advantages of a diverse supply chain
A resilient supply chain is diverse, sustainable and can minimise risk, and if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught supply chain leaders anything, it’s the importance of supply chain resiliency. One that can flex when stressed, is not disrupted by geopolitical, meteorological, health, or economic shocks, and is secure for the long term. To successfully apply this equation relies on understanding exactly where your suppliers are, and what they supply. Multi-tier mapping of suppliers and reviewing supplier sourcing approaches for critical parts, products or services are fundamental to resilient supply chains – it’s often the delay in deliveries of small but crucial components that can halt production; or a technical change by a single organization that brings down an entire IT system. Economic nationalism increasingly impacts supply chains, and as a result, many businesses are looking to localise or nearshore their suppliers. A “glocalisation” approach, driven by the pandemic and sharp changes in global trade policies, focuses on balancing localised and globalised business options to stay competitive. Diverse suppliers can help cut costs and drive innovation. Their product or service may be more innovative – as supply chain strategy changes, businesses may find diverse suppliers are more open to proofs of concept. Another advantage is that diverse suppliers tend to be more localised to a business’s manufacturing and distribution sites, which in turn has a ripple effect of helping local businesses buy the goods and services they need to stay afloat.
New suppliers may not necessarily be better than existing ones
Sometimes it’s more about working with your existing suppliers than finding new ones when times are turbulent. A great relationship between buyers and suppliers can increase resiliency, generate new value, produce new product development, and effectively decrease costs. Businesses that invest in supplier relationships will be more robust to weather economic challenges and stay open for business. It may also be said that those who regularly collaborate with suppliers have higher growth, lower operating costs, and greater profitability than other competitors in their sector. Leading businesses are looking for new ways to collaborate with existing suppliers but there is also an opportunity to cultivate supplier relationships that are more collaborative from the start. The benefits of effective collaboration can include growth, innovation, productivity, and the quality of products and services. A lesser-discussed benefit is the opportunity to support local, minority-owned businesses many of which can face significant challenges gaining access to larger businesses as a client and who are often vulnerable to the slightest change in market volatility.
How to make your supply chain more efficient
Faced with 2023 economic challenges, having a flexible, robust, and diverse supply chain will undoubtedly deliver value for money. At Scopism our SIAM Community enables connections between those who need support and those who know how, with members including practitioners, customer organisations, service providers, consultants, software vendors and many more. We celebrate your wins and feel your lows. Here are some of the communities’ advice for closing supply chain gaps to ensure your business remains agile and competitive:
- Incorporate a Service Integration and Management (SIAM) model – Put simply, SIAM is a way to bring clarity to a complex supply environment. It allows you to focus on end-to-end value and identify all of the service providers that support that value. SIAM helps your service providers to understand where they fit into the big picture and how they contribute to business outcomes.
- Employ AI and ML in the supply chain – AI and ML-led supply chain optimisation software amplifies important decisions by using cognitive predictions and recommendations on optimal actions. This can help enhance overall supply chain performance. It also uncovers possible implications across various scenarios in terms of time, cost, and revenue.
- Minority suppliers – Not only can diverse sourcing contribute to building a more resilient supply chain, but increasing spending with minority suppliers creates value and shows your business is serious about social commitments to its broader ecosystem: customers, investors, regulators, communities, employees, suppliers, industries, and competitors.
- Believing in existing suppliers – A long-term relationship between suppliers allows for the free flow of feedback and ideas. Over time, this will create a more streamlined, effective supply chain that could have a positive impact on both costs and customer service. It also should mean that when issues do arise, the healthy working relationship between supplier and client will make such issues easier to resolve.
Be a part of our SIAM community.
As the global markets continue to inflict supply chain disruptions, businesses that build resilient robust supply chains underpinned by a Service Integration and Management model are more likely to succeed. At Scopism, we speak to companies and individuals in over 40 countries that are practising SIAM across a broad spectrum of industry sectors. We celebrate your successes and feel your struggles and we want to provide a way for you to share stories, and encourage discussion through our SIAM Community where you’ll find lots of free online resources. Our goal is to help as many businesses as we can to thrive and grow with us being seen as an extended part of their team.
About Claire Agutter
Claire Agutter has extensive experience in service management spanning over 20 years. As an experienced service management trainer, consultant and author, Claire founded Scopism and is the publisher of the SIAM Foundation and Professional Bodies of Knowledge. Claire specialises in helping organizations get value for money from their IT investment and was nominated by Computer Weekly as one of the most influential women in tech. Claire is also the host of the popular ITSM Crowd YouTube channel and the Chief Architect for VeriSM.
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