One of the greatest pleasures of being a Chief Scientific Adviser is to visit Defra’s research agencies and to sample the great work being done by its scientists. The work is ‘great’ because it is directly linked to real problems …
A few weeks ago, I’d never even heard of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), but I recently found myself attending the OGP Summit 2016 in Paris from 7–9 December, talking about #OpenDefra, along with Mike Rose and David Buck. Turns …
The Defra Data Function met in a crisp and frosty Birmingham to discuss the future direction of data in Defra
Following on from the last blog about Defra's livestock information programme Simon Hall shares some of our learning so far.
Defra's Livestock Information Programme has done a lot of work over the last nine months to make sure that our approach is truly outcome and user focussed. Our learning has revealed an opportunity much, much bigger than just reducing the cost of IT. Here’s why.
Healthy competition is a fantastic way to focus teams on tasks, concentrating efforts on a single goal within a time limit. The space race, the Sinclair-Acorn 8-bit computer race ('the battle for our classrooms'), the race to claim priority for …
The Defra content team held its first content clinic on a slack channel with editors from Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Rural Payments Agency, Environment Agency and Defra. Headings Can we use H4s in detailed guides? No - …
As the new Director of Data, Knowledge and Innovation in the Environment Agency, I joined Defra's Data Programme Board meeting – chaired by Emily Miles – with colleagues from across Defra group for its second meeting on 19 October. I …
In September I attended The 10th annual EU INSPIRE conference in Barcelona, with my colleague on the data programme, Jason King. INSPIRE is an EU framework Directive, incorporated into UK law since 2009, that covers the UK and the Devolved …
A blog about how Defra is redesigning services for regulated customers.
