News story: Health Secretary announces nursing workforce reforms

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced wide-ranging reforms to increase nurse training places and retain staff.

A 25% increase in training posts for nurses is part of a range of measures to:

  • ensure the NHS meets current and future nursing workforce needs
  • improve working conditions
  • provide new routes into the profession

The government will provide funding for the clinical placements required for an additional 5,170 pre-registration nurse degrees from 2018. This builds on the commitment to 10,000 more training places for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals announced in August this year.

Nursing associates

A further 5,000 nursing associates will be trained through the apprentice route in 2018, with an additional 7,500 being trained in 2019. Nursing associate is a new role which provides a work-based route into nursing for existing health and care staff or new recruits who may not be able to give up work to study full-time at university.

A new shortened nurse degree apprenticeship route will also be introduced for qualified nursing associates who wish to work towards full Nursing Midwifery Council registered nurse status.

As part of this expansion in nursing staff, we will explore opportunities for higher education institutes to deliver formal classroom teaching in a more innovative way in employers’ facilities. This training will not compromise on quality and will continue to meet the high standards expected of trainees by the nursing regulator, the Nursing Midwifery Council.

Increasing participation and social mobility

The measures are part of the government’s commitment to widen participation and social mobility throughout the health sector. They will also help to reduce the reliance on overseas recruitment by boosting the supply of home-grown nurses.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, said:

The NHS will be looking after a million more over-75s in just a decade, so we need to jump-start nurse training.

This represents the biggest increase in nurse training places in the history of the NHS – and we will make sure that many of the additional places go to healthcare assistants training on hospital sites. This will allow us to expand our nurse workforce with some highly experienced people already working on the NHS frontline.

We will also improve retention rates amongst our current workforce, introducing new arrangements to support flexible working available to all NHS staff, and a new right of first refusal for affordable housing built on NHS property. Combined with the 25% increase in undergraduate medical school places announced last year it will transform the ability of the NHS to cope with the pressures ahead.

Improving working conditions

As well as training more nurses, the Health Secretary announced new measures to improve working conditions for the NHS workforce, including:

  • arrangements to support flexible working to help staff to balance work-life commitment.

  • a system of staff banks for flexible workers across the NHS, increasing opportunities for NHS staff to work on NHS terms and reduce agency costs for employers

  • a ‘Homes for Nurses’ scheme – which will give 3,000 NHS workers first refusal on affordable housing generated through the sale of surplus NHS land

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News story: HM Land Registry wins government counter fraud award

Fraud is now the most prevalent crime in the United Kingdom. The annual Government Counter Fraud Awards recognise exceptional achievement and innovation in fighting fraud in the public sector. Entrants included counter fraud teams and individuals from across the UK public sector, including those working in local government and central government agencies and departments.

Our award was for the work we have done in raising awareness of how property fraud can occur, who is most at risk and what people can do to protect themselves. The awareness campaign focused on our free Property Alert service, encouraging people to sign up so they can receive an early warning of fraudulent activity on their property.

With minimal direct contact with citizens itself, HM Land Registry relies heavily on business customers such as conveyancers and estate agents to encourage their clients to sign up for Property Alert and read our fraud advice. In addition to making the public more aware of property fraud and how to protect themselves, our counter fraud team provides training to employees, law enforcement agencies and financial investigators in how to detect and prevent registered title fraud.

The judges said:

Property fraud is an area of significant risk and the campaign left no stone unturned in its efforts to raise awareness and engage citizens with its Property Alert service. They were astute in selecting the most effective, audience-appropriate channels and received justifiably very positive feedback for their efforts.

As a result of the increased numbers of people signing up to Property Alert in 2016/17, 100,000 more properties are better protected against fraud – an estimated £20 billion worth of property assets based on the average house price of £200,000.




Press release: Change of Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Guatemala

2015 – present Guatemala City, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Honduras (based in Guatemala City) 2012 – 2015 FCO, Deputy Head, Climate Change and Energy Department 2008 – 2012 Lusaka, British High Commissioner (job share with her husband) 2003 – 2008 Bratislava, Deputy Head of Mission (job share with her husband) 2000 – 2002 Bangkok, Senior Public Diplomacy Officer 1999 FCO, Deputy Head, Cultural Relations Department 1999 FCO, Project Officer, Personnel Department 1998 – 1999 Maternity leave 1997 – 1998 FCO, Assistant Private Secretary, Minister for Europe’s office 1995 – 1997 FCO, Desk Officer, Southern European Department 1993 – 1995 Bonn, Third Secretary Science and Technology 1993 Brussels, Stage at the European Commission 1990 – 1992 Tokyo, Private Secretary to the Ambassador 1988 – 1989 Tokyo, Economic Attaché 1987 – 1988 Language training (Japanese) 1986 – 1987 FCO, Visa Officer, Migration and Visa Department 1986 Joined FCO



News story: Campus visits

Law fairs are a good opportunity for students to find out more about the work of government lawyers and the legal trainee scheme.

Please contact the universities listed below for further details about their law fairs.

University Date
City, University of London Wednesday 11 October
University of Sheffield Wednesday 18 October
Newcastle University Wednesday 18 October
University of Cambridge Thursday 19 October
University of Nottingham Monday 23 October
University of Warwick Tuesday 24 October
King’s College London Thursday 26 October
London School of Economics Thursday 26 October
University of Leeds Thursday 26 October
Queen Mary, University of London Tuesday 31 October
Cardiff University Tuesday 31 October
Bristol University Wednesday 1 November
University of Oxford Saturday 4 November
University of Birmingham Wednesday 8 November
University of Reading Wednesday 8 November
University College London Tuesday 14 November
University of Manchester Tuesday 14 November
University of Southampton Wednesday 15 November
University of Exeter Wednesday 15 November
University of Essex Wednesday 16 November
BPP University Wednesday 22 November
University of Surrey Wednesday 22 November
St Mary’s University Monday 27 November
London Law Fair Wednesday 29 November



News story: Dodoma city development tops agenda of UK Trade Envoy’s visit to Tanzania

UK Trade envoy visits Tanzania.

The British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Tanzania, Lord Clive Hollick will visit Tanzania from 2nd to 4th of October, 2017. As part of his visit, Lord Hollick will travel to Dodoma with specialist UK Companies and meet with local leaders to further understand the Governments of Tanzania’s plans for Dodoma.

The UK wants to assist in the realisation of Tanzania’s vision for Dodoma and through partnership help deliver high-quality solutions for Dodoma’s expansion.

Lord Hollick’s visit comes during the Government of Tanzania’s move to Dodoma which has seen an increase in population in the country’s capital city and has necessitated a re-evaluation of key infrastructure needs to provide for the rapid increase in the number of people.

Lord Hollick will also hold meetings with the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, local business leaders and British investors in Tanzania.