38th Universal Periodic Review of human rights: UK statement on Somalia
World news story
The UK delivered the statement on Somalia at the 38th Session of Universal Periodic Review (UPR), sharing recommendations to improve their human rights record.
The Universal Periodic Review takes place in Geneva.
The United Kingdom recognises Somalia’s cooperation with international partners on its human rights challenges but is disappointed by the absence of significant progress. We are concerned by the impact of the electoral impasse on the rights of the Somali people, and so call on Somalia’s leaders to refrain from further violence, return to dialogue, reach consensus, and hold inclusive elections without further delay.
The UK commends Somalia for establishing a legal framework for protecting journalists but remains concerned at the continued high levels of harassment and arbitrary detention.
We recommend that Somalia:
Adopt the 2018 Sexual Offences Bill urgently;
Establish an independent National Human Rights Commission;
Pass legislation allowing humanitarian organisations to operate within a clear framework and enable the Federal Government of Somalia to work towards the removal of illegal checkpoints and multiple demands of taxation, to access those most in need.
Thank you.
Published 6 May 2021
Re-establishing Ayrshire as a Functional Economic Geography to benefit its communities
As part of Analysis in Government Month, Euan Baird shares how the Regional Development Team gained recognition in the ‘Impact on policy’ category at the Geography in Government Awards.
Toward the end of what proved to be one of the most unexpected and challenging years for all of us, myself and colleagues in the Scottish Government’s Regional Economic Development Division were delighted to be recognised for our work on ‘Re-establishing Ayrshire as a Functional Economic Geography to benefit its communities’ at the Geography in Government Awards. Winning the ‘Impact on Policy’ category was a real boost to all involved, underlining that we were on the right path.
Ayrshire is famous for a number of things and people: Ailsa Craig – the granite monolith supplying curling stones to the world; world class golf courses hosting the Open Championship numerous times – the very first championship hosted at Prestwick Golf Club in 1860; Robert Burns, Bill Shankley, Nicola Beneditti all are recognised and respected in their fields. Burns especially has a whole industry which revolves around him and his works and can arguably lay claim to being the most famous Scot ever.
With all that seemingly going for it, what was the problem we were trying to solve in Ayrshire? Well the short answer is down to the administrative geography of Ayrshire, which has not served creation of common purpose. This has had a detrimental impact on the productivity of the whole region in recent decades, hampering efforts to respond to the deindustrialisation that has resulted in Ayrshire being one of the most disadvantaged areas in the UK with multiple communities across all three local authorities sharing similar socio-economic challenges.
We have worked hard with partners in Ayrshire to drive progress. No-one in the team would claim that we have finished the job, however we have created a platform from which success can and will be achieved. Amongst activities completed we:
empowered Ayrshire regional partners and communities to make decisions on the investments that would best serve the needs of Ayrshire
worked with Ayrshire to develop a regional growth deal for Ayrshire with over £200 million of funding committed by the Scottish and UK Governments that supports a wide range of local economic priorities
encouraged Ayrshire to take the opportunity to act as a pilot area in Scotland for expansion of the Community Wealth Building model, aiming to retain the greater proportion of spending from anchor institutions within Ayrshire.
supported Ayrshire to establish a Regional Economic Partnership allowing Ayrshire to take a more collaborative and strategic view of economic development
Such work really showed up well in the last year where Ayrshire as a region, as a result of the empowerment and encouragement from the Scottish Government, responded to the economic nature of the pandemic in resolute style. Inspiration from the economic themes of the Growth Deal will form the basis of the recovery in Ayrshire, allowing Ayrshire to be in a place to achieve ambitions.
The Community Wealth building project that frames the whole of the Growth Deal is about to go into delivery and will be an inspiration for Community Wealth Building across Scotland. This project feels even more vital as we look to recover from the pandemic and ensure that local communities can thrive in a post-pandemic world.
Winning the award and being recognised by peers across the geography profession certainly felt more welcome last year than any previous recognition received for work, probably because of the pandemic and the adjustments we all had to make.
Of course, I didn’t join the civil service to win awards and it certainly isn’t why myself and colleagues do the work we do, but winning this did help to revive spirits and re-invigorate the team for what looks like a slightly brighter, but no less challenging 2021 and beyond. The focus will be to ensure that the work in Ayrshire continues and no feeling of ‘job done’ slips in. We will strive to ensure that Ayrshire can go from strength to strength and be recognised globally for more than golf and Burns.
By Euan Baird – Regional Economic Development, Scottish Government
Government Analysis Function opportunities
Broaden your career horizons
Across the Government Analysis Function there are many opportunities to help broaden your career horizons. This could be building your network of peers through mentoring, volunteering, participating in a function activity or developing your skills and career by applying for a loan or secondment.
The Analysis Function (AF) is committed to creating an inclusive analytical community where all our members have the chance to thrive, with access to a breadth of career and development opportunities. This page is updated to bring you the latest loan, secondment, volunteering, shadowing and vacancies from across government ensuring you have a clear view of opportunities available to build your skills and contribute more widely and ensuring equal and transparent access to opportunities.
Subscribe for updates
Please ensure you select “Get emails” at the foot of our homepage to receive regular updates and to be notified of new opportunities from across the AF.
If you’d like to know more or to find out how to promote vacancies within your area, please contact the team at Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk.
What opportunities are available?
Mentoring
Mutual mentoring focuses on a partnership between a Senior Civil Servant (SCS) analyst and an analyst who is Grade 6 or below. Both partners will experience being both a mentor and a mentee, with sessions split into two halves to include a reverse mentoring-style discussion about D&I followed by a more traditional mentoring discussion.
Join the Analysis Function Diversity and Inclusion Working Group
The Analysis Function’s D&I group is looking for new members!
Through delivering the AF D&I Strategy, the group aims to create a truly diverse and inclusive analysis community that is reflective of the UK society we serve. The group has been involved in much interesting work including developing the Inclusion Toolkit and organising popular Leaders in Analysis events.
This is a valuable opportunity to develop your leadership and coaching skills, while helping to increase data capability across the public sector. Mentors will need to be able to commit one day a week to support their mentee while they work on their projects.
The Data Science Accelerator cohort runs from 4 April to 24 June. The Data Visualisation Accelerator runs from 11 April to 1 July.
Loans and secondments are types of placements which can last for varying periods of time. They are a great way to experience a new role, develop skills in a new area or department and can span both inside and outside the Civil Service.
Loans and secondments are usually advertised on Civil Service Jobs, please subscribe to our Opportunities page to receive notifications for any specific opportunities promoted across the AF.
Our professions arrange annual external secondment programmes including the annual Government Statistical Service (GSS) BBC secondment. 2022 will be the sixth year that the GSS has collaborated with the BBC to offer professional development secondments to experienced analysts with four exciting opportunities starting in January next year.
Understand more about the different types of roles available across the Government Analysis Function
Careers in analysis are broad and varied, contributing to decision making at the heart of government. Our Career Framework is a great resource to consider typical analytical roles at various levels across government and to understand more about the skills and experience needed. Interested in applying for a role? Why not visit our careers pages to find out more about careers in government analysis.
Analysis Function (AF) Coffee Connect
An informal networking opportunity, AF Coffee Connect is a great way to meet analysts and build your network to broaden your understanding of working as an analyst across government. Each month participants are matched randomly and conversations held over coffee. Email Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk to sign up.
Volunteering, shadowing and exchange programmes
Current opportunities (shown in order of closing date)
Higher Analytical Officer, Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. Closing date Wednesday 25 May 2022.
Ofsted is looking for people interested in social care and in using data to help keep safe the most vulnerable children in England. If you have an analytical mind, some numeracy and want to make a national impact with your work, Ofsted are recruiting up to seven Higher Analytical Officers (B2/HEO/HAO grade) to work part or full-time in the Schools, Regional, or Social Care teams. Roles are currently hybrid with a 60% in office requirement, offices are Bristol, Birmingham and London.
DBS have created a factsheet which looks at the role of the police, throughout the DBS checking process.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and police forces work together throughout the DBS checking process. Customer feedback showed that customers and partners were unaware of the part that police forces, or law enforcement agencies, play so we have created a factsheet which summarises the police’s role.
More information about the subjects mentioned in the video can be found below:
Published 6 May 2021
Spotlight on the Analysis Function Learning Offer
The Government Analysis Function (AF) has around 17,000 members working across the Civil Service. Established in 2018, the AF brings together analysts of all disciplines by facilitating cross-government and cross-profession collaboration on the highest priority analytical issues.
As a function we want to support you in all aspects of your career and development. Our vision is to have the right people in the right place at the right time, with the right skills to deliver better analysis for better delivery.
To do this, we want to provide you with learning and development opportunities to help you meet your potential, ensuring the delivery of a robust, relevant and future-proof analytical learning offer.
Why use the AF Learning Curriculum?
The AF Learning Curriculum is a one-stop-shop for learning, setting out the best and most relevant learning and development opportunities available to you as a government analyst.
The Technical section of the AF Learning Curriculum is the most comprehensive analytical learning offer for all government analysts. It consists of best practices that all government analysts need to know and includes the latest tools, programming languages and RAP (Reproducible Analytical Pipelines) techniques, in addition to:
Data analysis techniques with all the assumptions, limitations and quality issues that accompany methods and data, including Big Data and Data Science techniques
Data Visualisation theory and applications
Methodological topics
Ways of communicating the analysis and findings to avoid misinterpretation.
Learner experience
Last year, the AF learning team delivered more than 5,000 learning events across government to more than 1,600 learners. Respondents to our surveys said overwhelmingly that they would recommend our learning with more than 90% reporting our learning met their personal objectives.
Sayma Uddin, Office for National Statistics (ONS) commented that “As someone who’s avoided any type of programming before joining the ONS, I decided it would be a huge benefit to try it out and gain some skills. This course made it incredibly easy and accessible and despite no prior knowledge the course went incredibly smooth. My newfound interest of programming and code is a testament to the friendly and supportive trainers and the organised structure of the course.”
Charlie Wills, Head of Statistical Transformation, Home Office Analysis and Insight added, “We’ve been able to use your courses to support the L&D of our analysts while ensuring their learning is consistent with others across government.”
Whilst ‘Introduction to R and Python’ remain the most popular courses, the offer has been expanded to include the Reproducible Analytical Pipeline (RAP) learning pathway, as recommended by the Office for Statistics Regulation in their recently published report about RAP.
Dr Penny Babb, Head of Policy & Standards, Office for Statistics Regulation gave this feedback “I have really appreciated working closely with the team, helping us develop our Code of Practice guidance – it has been invaluable, and I’m very excited about the opportunities for supporting professional development through the Learning Hub.”
What comes next?
To best support you and other government analysts we will:
Work in partnership with the Government Skills and Curriculum Unit, to develop analytical capability across Government
Further invest in our Online Skills Tool to help you identify skills gaps, improve learning, and support development and career progression or lateral moves within the Function.
Future-proofing our learning.
Develop specialised learning pathways (including current and future topics such as RAP, Data Visualisation, Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning).
Provide additional learning (for example on Data Linkage, Specialised Data Handling/Cleaning Topics, Bayesian Methods, Hypothesis Testing, Sampling and Weighting and Time-Series).
Develop more and better ways for learners to feel supported in developing their capability
Why does this matter?
Technology has transformed our lives and the way the government (and hence government analysts) operate. We now have large amounts of data to use to improve our society and economy, and more opportunities to inform our decisions using evidence from data and insights.
At the same time, data being handled badly could harm our society, people, and the economy. We are using data and evidence to inform our decisions, but this comes with a risk as we cannot afford to misinterpret data or miscommunicate its findings in any way. We cannot afford to lose the public trust.
We need to ensure that our work as government analysts is of the highest standards when we collect, clean, and analyse data, as well as when we interpret and communicate results with decision-makers.
Our work needs to be reproducible, transparent, and quality assured
Our methodologies need to be the most robust and relevant to the data we are handling
Our data needs to be the right data to answer the right questions
Our communication needs to include all the assumptions, limitations and findings, and where these are valid within a true and relevant framework.
To do this, our people need to have the right skills, and the Analysis Function is committed to providing the development opportunities to support all analysts across government.
