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| York GeniUS! - Ideas are beginning to flow in YORK'S first community open innovation forum - GeniUS! - has been getting some inspired responses since it launched last week. GeniUS! is looking for residents, community groups, businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators everywhere to come up with fresh approaches to some of the city's biggest challenges and today is posing a new challenge for everyone to get thinking around. Since its launch one week ago, 100 people have joined the GeniUS! forum, 118 are following its progress on twitter - @GeniUSYork. Initially the forum is looking for ideas and suggestions around four key challenges facing the city which are being released on the website weekly. Around 24 great ideas have already been put forward on the first challenge around how the city can better utilise the council's assets - property, vehicles, equipment and land. For example, lots of ideas have been posted about how new life can be breathed into the grade II listed Clementhorpe Maltings building, which is in need of renovation and has stood empty for years. The second challenge now posted is looking for innovative ways we can help support older and vulnerable people in their homes - for example, assisted-living, buddy systems, safety improvements or tools to help reduce isolation? Join in the forum and on twitter now and help us spread the word about GeniUS! by printing off posters and leaflets for your workplace. For more information on GeniUS! contact Neil Wilford.
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| Changes to Licensing Arrangements for Wireless Microphone Users Ofcom have implemented a change to the license arrangements for wireless microphones which came into effect last October. This means that some frequencies cannot now be legally used in schools. The changes to the licence include the introduction of a new set of frequencies to replace those which can no longer be used. Details of the frequencies still in use and the newly available frequencies can be found by following the link below:
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| Procedure for new and expectant mothers risk assessments This is a reminder to all senior management in schools; Once an employer has been notified in writing that an employee is a new or expectant mother they are legally obliged to take action to ensure that neither the employee or their child is at any significant risk. A review of the work processes/ procedures undertaken by the employee is required to be undertaken and control measures implemented. A specific individual risk assessment should be undertaken with the personal involvement of the particular employee. Where the hazards and associated risks cannot be adequately controlled / eliminated than the employee should refrain from undertaking that activity. Please see additional material on New and Expectant Mothers in the health and safety section on this portal, including Risk Assessment form-see link. Link to New & Expectant Mothers Section | |||
York hosts Co-operative meetingTHE council is hosting a national meeting of the Co-operative Councils' Network today. The Co-operative Councils' Network is a national group of local authorities who are committed to bringing co-operative values into the running of local services, such as schools, youth clubs and housing. Leading councils, including City of York, Newcastle and Cambridge, together with the Co-operative Party, have set up the network in order to share best practice. The council is committed to transforming the way it delivers services, to ensure that residents and businesses get the best possible services at the best possible price and have more choice and control over public services. By looking at how other leading local authorities are working with their local communities, the council hopes to be able to find even better, more cost effective and community-focussed ways of delivering services for people in York. The meeting is being held at Clements Hall, an example of how the council worked with local people to breathe new life into a derelict church building and give them the chance to take charge of their own cultural agenda.
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Free wi-fi trial in city centreYORK is surfing the crest of the digital wave with the introduction of free wi-fi in the city centre from Monday 14 November. St Helen's Square and Coney Street will pilot a free wi-fi trial, giving free wireless connection to laptops, smart phones or any other internet-enabled devices in the area, and enhancing the draw of the city centre to visitors, residents and businesses. One of the first of its type in the country, the scheme is part of the council's Reinvigorate York and Digital York initiatives which aim to improve and enhance the quality of the city's public spaces and York's digital and IT services. The council will be working with partners and consulting with local businesses about the pilot before any decision is taken to extend the zone across the whole city area within the walls. A number of wireless access points have been strategically and discreetly located along Coney Street and in St Helens Square. Each of the units connects into the existing city-wide fibre council network using a 5Ghz wireless uplink. Public access is around 2.4Ghz, providing the same level of internet access as that at York Explore Library Learning Centre. The free service will appear in the list on wi-fi enabled devices and users simply click on 'I accept' on the page with usage details and conditions to connect. |  | ||
| Colin has a new friend Colin would like to introduce you to buzz, the council's new e-magazine for all CYC employees! Like colin, buzz aims to keep you up to date with what's going on around the council and events and offers open to you. Unlike colin, you can read buzz on a home computer or from any other internet-enabled device anytime at www.cycbuzz.org.uk (see Useful Links).
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| 100 apprentices in a 100 days - Challenge Met and Exceeded EMPLOYERS in York really stepped up to the challenge to create places for 100 apprentices within 100 days (by 22 September). They not only comfortably passed the target but almost doubled it! As of today, 199 apprenticeships have been pledged in the city. Some 80 employers in York, including the council and FERA, are taking on young people in a range of roles including Accountancy, Retail and Construction. At the council, apprenticeships are being offered to 35 young people aged between 16 and 18 in a wide range of roles across the authority, some of whom have already started so a warm welcome to them! For more details on the apprenticeships programme at CYC contact Laura Cadywold at the Council.
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| Changes to Education Licences From the 1st of March a new type of education licence will be available in addition to the existing education licence options. It is called Enrolement for Education Solutions (EES). The Microsoft website summarises the new licence as follows:"Under this agreement you can license a single school, multiple schools or an entire school system, such as a local authority. You count your Full-Time Equivalent staff once per year, so you don't have to track every single computer in your establishment. Full time equivalent are staff who work more than 200 hours per year in your school." Your ICT Managed Service provider will be able to explain in more detail which of Microsoft's licences best suits your circumstances.The links in the right hand column provide a comparison matrix of types of licence and a grid providing details of the key benefits of EES.
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| DP breach after laptop stolen from teacher Joyce Willetts, the Head Teacher at Freehold Community School, has signed an undertaking to ensure that portable and mobile devices including laptops and other portable media used to store and transmit personal data are encrypted using encryption software after a data breach. The Information Commissioner's Office found that the school in Oldham has breached the Data Protection Act after an unencrypted laptop was stolen from a teacher's car. The breach was reported to the ICO in January and the laptop contained the personal data of 90 students from the school. The ICO's enquiries found that the school was unaware of the need to encrypt portable and mobile storage devices. Acting Head of Enforcement, Sally-Anne Poole said: "The fact that the school was unaware of the need to encrypt the information stored on their laptop shows that many organisations continue to process personal information without having the most basic of security measures in place." | For the text of the undertaking see the attached pdf:
A quick reminder of guidance available on the portal: Data Security - Dos and Don'ts Guidance- Data Security Breach Management
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| The LA Portal - Work in Progress
The menus on the left hand side contain information about some of the Local Authority services. Its early days for the portal but we hope to have more information to share with you in the future.
Hopefully by using this resource, we will all have a central store for information which can help save the trees and also make updates easier to manage. Please send us your feedback on the site as there is still plenty of work to be done.
Email: la.portal@york.gov.uk
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