|
Welcome to our National Advisory Group (NAG) e-bulletin. Feel free to circulate this email to your colleagues and suggest that they sign up to receive it themselves. This bulletin is delivered through our corporate communications service through which you can create or manage your subscriptions and read previous editions of this bulletin.
Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
The government announced further funding to upgrade public buildings in England with low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures. Up to £635 million of government funding will be made available to public sector organisations so they can install low carbon heating, such as heat pumps, and energy efficiency measures including double glazing and loft insulation.
The funding is available through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme with organisations such as councils, NHS Trusts and schools able to apply for grants from September.
Onboarding Ukrainian Nationals
Many UK employers have reported challenges in completing the onboarding for Ukrainian nationals where vetting checks such as references and criminal record checks are currently challenging from within Ukraine. The Better Hiring Institute has worked with industry and UK Government to provide guidance on alternative vetting checks for people fleeing Ukraine due to the war.
LGA Sustainability in all Policies Innovation Labs
The Zero Carbon Britain team at the Centre for Alternative Technology is working with the LGA to run the Sustainability in all Policies Innovation Lab, in which we will co-create route maps around key themes to drive climate action across all service areas. The lab will bring together representatives from a range of councils and service areas. All council officers and members are encouraged to sign up to provide insights, dates are listed below.
- 15 September 2022
- 04 October 2022
- 19 October 2022
- 08 November 2022
- 22 November 2022
Local Retrofit Action Planning' Training
This training will bring together council officers to address retrofit challenges at the local level, exploring how to effectively utilise and support key partners and stakeholders both nationally and regionally. There will be a focus on three key themes: training providers, communities and the private sector.
Programme dates and the expression of interest form can be found on the Regional Retrofit Action Plan Training landing page.
Youth Investment Fund: open for bids
The second tranche of the £368 million Youth Investment Fund opened to bids from councils, charities and social enterprises in 45 local authority and 600 ward areas. The fund is designed to create, improve and expand local youth facilities and services, and will provide funding to build or refurbish up to 300 youth facilities over the next 3 years. The Government is targeting the fund to areas that they have identified as being in greatest need, with the Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) ranking eligible areas on a combination of youth need and low provision. You can check if your area is eligible through the postcode checker and you can take a look at the DCMS’ methodology underpinning the selection of areas. The guidance for the fund, including eligibility criteria and information on how to apply can be viewed online.
Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing
The Government has announced new employment status guidance to provide additional clarity for businesses, individuals and other groups such as those in the gig economy, so they have a better understanding of which employment status for employment rights (including pay, leave and working conditions) they fall into. The guidance also references an update to the ‘Calculating the Minimum Wage’ guidance to provide more information about what counts as working time for National Minimum Wage purposes in the gig economy. The guidance is being published alongside the Government response to its consultation on employment status, where many respondents called for additional clarity around the employment status boundaries and examples of how to apply the rules to different scenarios.
Flexible use of capital receipts for transformation projects: Letter to council leaders
The Government has written to all council leaders setting out the updated Direction and statutory guidance to extend the freedom for councils to use eligible capital receipts to fund the revenue costs of projects that deliver ongoing savings or improved efficiency.
The change makes clear these flexibilities can be used to fund transformation projects only where councils do not retain either direct or indirect control of disposed assets.
Sustainable Procurement Webinar
Tuesday 13 September, 10:00am – 11:30am
In this session, we will hear about successful green procurement projects, including Oxford City Council’s unique Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) tailored for the fast-paced, innovative and ever-growing world of electric vehicle infrastructure. We’ll also be introducing the LGA’s new Energy Category Strategy that’s been updated to help councils optimise the way they procure and manage energy in today’s markets.
E3M Webinar: Procurement to Partnership – Your Questions Answered
Wednesday 21 September, 2.00pm -3.00pm
E3M are pleased to announce the latest in a series of webinars connected to our Procurement to Partnership Toolkit.
This webinar is for commissioners, social enterprise and charity personnel looking to make a difference in their communities with a purpose-centred, outcomes-focussed approach to meeting people’s needs, built on collaboration and partnership.
You can also put questions about practical projects you are working on to our expert panel, led by Julian Blake of Stone King.
Procuring and Supplying DDaT Unconference 2022
12 October, 10:00am – 4:00pm at techUK, 10 St Bride Street London
On the 12 October techUK in partnership with CURSHAW, a user-centred commercial lifecycle consultancy that specialises in procuring digital and PFI, is hosting the Procuring and Supplying DDaT Unconference 2022, bringing together the public sector and the tech industry to interrogate challenges and horizon scan together in a fun and informal environment. Unlike traditional conferences, an unconference is a participant-oriented meeting where the attendees decide on the agenda, discussion topics, and workshops.
The LGA Procurement team manages a number of webpages dedicated for your needs – please contact guy.head@local.gov.uk if you want anything uploaded to our webpages.
|
