Next week sees the launch of the new academic year of Adult Learning courses and every home across the county will receive the new brochure through their door.  With an increase in courses delivered online in real-time giving you more flexibility to learn from your own home.    

You can claim a 15% staff discount across the full syllabus, with course areas including English, Maths, Digital, Languages, Arts & Crafts, Health & Wellbeing and so much more.  What do you want to achieve?

Can you believe it’s more than three years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced? 

At that time the council, like many other organisations who deal with personal data did a lot of work to prepare and ensure that employees were aware of their responsibilities. 

Work has never stopped, and a range of tools have been developed to help us all keep personal data protected.  We just wanted to provide an update to check that we’re all still doing our bit…

Take a minute to ask yourself… 

• Have you completed the mandatory 2021-22 Information Security and Data Protection eLearning? If not, do it today as completion rates are monitored.
• Do you know where to go for the latest guidance? Check Information Governance
• Are you clear about what records to keep and for how long? Check Records Management Service or email centre@cumbria.gov.uk
• Have you spotted something suspicious on your device (laptop, phone or tablet) or had an email that you are unsure about? Don’t hesitate to log it using the Online Reporting Form
• Sharing data? Not sure about data protection? Ask the Data Protection Officer dataprotection@cumbria.gov.uk

Over the last year the council has faced some big challenges when using personal data and you have asked lots of questions.  We have produced two videos containing some key messages so it’s important that you watch them.  Each video will take up 3 minutes of your time and are designed to help you to identify or even better, prevent a data breach.

Working with Records at Home video. Got questions? Contact the Records Management Service record.centre@cumbria.gov.uk. 

Handling Requests for Personal Data video. Got questions? Contact the Information Governance Team information.governance@cumbria.gov.uk.

Please help us keep council data safe and secure, it’s really important.

Are you wondering what the lifting of Government restrictions means for you?  Or do you have questions or points you would like clarified?  There are now four ways you can find the answers you need to know, including live Q&A sessions.  

Live Q&A sessions – book your place now

• Wednesday 28 July, 3pm
• Wednesday 11 August, 11am

Join a live Q&A session and have your question answered live by a panel from the project team.  Book your place now through My Learning.

Other ways to ask a question

Email: ask.tracy@cumbria.gov.uk

Telephone:  0333 240 1360  option 2

Online FAQs: New Ways of Working intranet

Thank you to everyone who got involved with the special thank you messages throughout the month of June.

We have received fantastic feedback from lots of you who would really like for us to hold this again in the future, which is great news! Take a look at some of the comments below 👇 

"I was very grateful to receive a message from one of my colleagues and brightened my day, It's always nice to receive a moment of recognition and I think we should have the chance to do it again in the future."

"I received two exceptional colleague thank yous and I can't begin to tell you how happy and appreciated this made me feel."

All your feedback will be used to see how we can make improvements for next time. We are currently looking at the possibility of holding this annually.  

If you haven't already Take a look at some of the special thank you messages here and check out who our lucky winners were in the prize draw. 🎁

To help formulate the new Police and Crime plan, Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall has launched a public consultation survey, asking people what they think the police’s priorities could be.

The Police and Crime Commissioner would like to hear the views and concerns from residents of Cumbria and by completing this survey and sharing your views, you can help to influence the direction for policing in the county. If you wish to access the survey, please click here. The survey closes on Tuesday 17th August.

North Cumbria NHS urges the public: Help us help you.

As there is currently significant pressure across all health and care settings, the local NHS is urging people to do their bit and do all they can to help stop the transmission of the virus which is increasing nationally and locally.

The Trust continues to prioritise the most urgent patients. Those with less urgent needs are advised to seek advice from their GP, an urgent treatment centre, a pharmacist or NHS 111 online first.

Please help to stop the spread – the virus can only be spread by us it cannot spread itself. Washing hands, wearing masks and keeping your distance will help.

+FURTHER DETAILS HERE

Anyone aged 18 and over can now book an appointment to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. 

We're already seeing the impact the vaccine is having in Cumbria, so if you haven't already, make sure you get yours. If you’re a manager, please encourage your teams to get theirs.

The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective. It not only provides the best protection against becoming seriously ill if you catch coronavirus, but also cuts household transmission of the virus by up to 50%. 

You do not need to wait to be contacted by the NHS, you can book your vaccination appointments via the National Booking Service online or by calling 119 free of charge. 

When deciding whether something you are working on should be included in the Weekly News ebulletin, consider whether everyone that works for Cumbria County Council needs to know the information you want to share.

There are other communication channels that may be more appropriate (e.g. Yammer, Directors' blogs); speak to the Communications Team for advice.

Requirements for Weekly News items:

• Maximum word count is 150 words per item.
• All items should be with the Communications Team by midday on Friday, to be included in Monday's bulletin.