The Week, 8 March 2019
REFORMER OF THE WEEK
The Finnish Government, for holding itself to account for the failure of health and social care reforms and resigning en masse.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘We shouldn’t ask how to digitise public services…Instead, we should ask how we can use digital technologies to improve services.’
Edward Poyntz-Wright, DXC
GOOD WEEK FOR
FEMALE BUSINESS LEADERS
On International Women’s Day, the Treasury has launched its Investing in Women Code, which will require banks and other lenders to declare how much of their funding goes to female-led businesses.
DEGREE APPRENTICESHIPS
UCAS have announced that it will enable people to apply for higher-level and degree apprenticeships through its portal for the first time.
BAD WEEK FOR
APPRENTICESHIPS
The National Audit Office has warned that the Government will not meet its target of 3 million new apprenticeship starts by 2020.
CLARITY ON SCHOOL FUNDING
An investigation has revealed that some state schools are asking parents to make financial contributions to cover the costs of equipment and staff salaries.
REFORM'S WEEK
On Thursday, Reform hosted a roundtable led by Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, Director General, Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, to consider how data and technology can create better public services in the UK and abroad.
Eleanora Harwich, Director of Research at Reform, gave a presentation at Privitar’s Data Policy Network on Reform’s recent report, Making NHS data work for everyone.
Imogen Farhan, Researcher at Reform, published a blog arguing that employment alone will not solve poverty, and that steps must be taken to reduce in-work poverty by increasing purchasing power.
Josh Prichard, Researcher at Reform, published a blog arguing that better training for frontline staff is necessary to develop personal budgets. Josh is co-author of Reform’s recent report, Proceed with caution: What makes personal budgets work?
Reform published a blog by Dr Peter Hampson, Clinical Director of the Association of Optometrists, arguing that artificial intelligence could transform optometric care for patients.