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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT)

@ukgovcomms.bsky.social
88 followers 45 following 385 posts

*Not* a government account. A Bluesky account for sharing best practice of government communications in the UK. Run by @bowsy.co.uk.

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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Government departments are often huge complex beasts and even within one organisation there's different level of maturity for different skills. Everyone's on a journey.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
While still having some learning to do in others. www.gov.uk/service-stan...
gov.uk
Assess and manage your council's cyber resilience alpha assessment report
MHCLG's Assess and manage your council's cyber resilience alpha service assessment report
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
MHCLG doing a great job of demonstrating that you can be excellent in some ways (such as blogging almost every working day recently!) mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/10/02/l...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
Learning, growing and feeling valued as a developer
MHCLG Digital has launched early-career opportunities for 5 Junior Developers to join our teams in Manchester. Mohsina, one of our developers, shares how support from colleagues has helped her build h...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
HMLR excellently demonstrating that blogging isn't just for digital related topics. hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2026/10/02/w...
hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk
What owning land or property near a public highway can mean
This guide explains how public highways can affect property boundaries, ownership and responsibility for land.
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Reposted by UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT)
Martin Jordan @martinjordan.com · 02/10/2026
We finally have definite guidance on how to name a service well in German. I wrote it over the summer, and it went live in the #ServiceStandard handbook this week. We still see a ridiculous amount of acronyms and animal names, so I had to write it. ⬇️ servicestandard.gov.de/handbuch/anl...
Screenshot of the German Service Standard‘s website with a page on ‘giving a service a clear name’ with a how-to guide
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
MHCLG's high quality blogging feels so standard now it's just becoming business as usual over there and not even worth commenting on *IF* it wasn't such an exemplar difference to how most of the rest of government works. mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/10/01/m...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
My journey from communications to delivery management
MHCLG Digital has launched early-career opportunities for 5 Associate Delivery Managers to join our teams in Manchester. Find out from Pippa, Senior Delivery Manager, what she has learnt since moving ...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What a weird way to communicate with that kind of community rather than a blog post or newsletter (never mind somewhere that would enable discussion). Turns out that the medium is the message. www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Edition 7: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — software developer newsletter
HMRC's newsletter for software developers for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
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Reposted by UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT)
Frankie Roberto @frankieroberto.com · 29/09/2026
It’s not an alternative to GOVUK Notify, it’s a whole different proposition and layer of abstraction (it uses GOVUK Notify to send SMSes, emails and letters). (That they share the same name is unfortunate and not ideal)
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just discovered this exists and, y'know, I'm just too damn tired to even be angry right now. notify.nhs.uk
notify.nhs.uk
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Nice post from GDS, would have been better with some examples. Would be even better if there was a place where prototype creators could record what they've done and how successful they were as a way for other people to learn from. designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/29/w...
designnotes.blog.gov.uk
What are the principles of prototyping?
An evolving set of prototyping principles to help people use prototypes to learn and improve their products or services. These principles were contributed to by people across government during Service...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sure, this is good but the obvious undercurrent that it's just easier to do this within one organisation than it is to work collaboratively across government to build resources and tools that support everyone highlights everything wrong with how we work now. defradigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/29/t...
defradigital.blog.gov.uk
Turning existing knowledge into AI-enabled learning
Nathan O'Gara explores how, in Defra, we’re finding new ways to share our expertise, using AI to make learning easier to create, reuse and access.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Blimey, I don't know if MHCLG is doing more good work than other government organisations or just better at being open about it. Either way - bravo! mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/29/a...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
ALIGN: a new national infrastructure spatial tool for evidence-based planning and growth decisions
ALIGN is a new national infrastructure spatial tool bringing together data, models and AI to identify local infrastructure needs and constraints. Supporting both central and local government, it will ...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When I was this young lady's age apprenticeships had almost completely died out. It's great to see how they're returned in the last 20 years. cddo.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/28/h...
cddo.blog.gov.uk
How TechTrack helped Sophie start a digital career
Sophie Metcalf explains how a TechTrack apprenticeship helped her move from education into a software development career in government.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I genuinely believe that if user research was done across a set of varied LAs (urban/rural, wealth/deprived) on core LA functions (social care, social housing, etc) there is enough commonality for government to build systems that will eliminate the LA software market cartel completely.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is really excellent work (especially architecture.cddo.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/gds-local) but there's still an underlying assumption that councils will continue to procure the majority of their digital systems. technology.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/25/g...
technology.blog.gov.uk
GDS Local: helping local government buy and use tech better
GDS Local is on a journey to tackle fragmentation in local government technology. Find out about what we've learnt and what comes next!
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Also, it must be going on for a year since I pointed out to I.AI that their blog doesn't have a working RSS feed...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I popped over to I.AI (which, by the way, falls squarely fowl of the "impossible to google for" problem) and there it says they're still part of DSIT. Does anyone know if they're off to DCMS with GDS or somewhere else?
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
As always playing catch-up. This is good in that it highlights both that often the only way to secure moving something forward is with very senior support and also the system issues with how data is used in government. public.digital/pd-insights/...
public.digital
3 lessons from 3 years spent building AI inside the UK government — Public Digital
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The extra-level of devolution promised by Burnham may lead to an impressive way of restructuring government but it massively relies on many kinds of reusable platforms (digital and otherwise) instead of each new organisation just shifting public money to the likes to Capita, Fujitsu and McKinsey.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Things like the Early Years Innovation Challenge are also good but they're chipping away at small parts of a colossal government-wide systemic issue of how we acquire and use data. There instead needs to be a plan for government-wide revolutionary change.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is obviously great but I wish there was more information. Specifically publishing the outputs of the 21st September workshop. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/25/d...
gds.blog.gov.uk
Digital devolution: what’s been happening and what’s coming up?
Explore how we're working with local government to build capability and support innovation.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
MHCLG is the absolute poster-child of excellent public comms these days. Whatever's in the water there please share it around! mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/24/w...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
What good delivery means to us
The digital delivery community in MHCLG is thriving. Across different teams, professions and directorates, we found ourselves returning to many of the same conversations about what good delivery looks...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Sounds like a lot of really good stuff here. I hope there are relevant communities of practice to support the folks going on these courses after they're done them. mailchi.mp/e074b77447db...
mailchi.mp
Government Digital and Data Hub - Newsletter - September 2026
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Sounds like a lot of interesting people saying a lot of interesting things (although I suspect the level of "radical honesty" might not be the same as mine). However, will the sessions be recorded for people who can't attend? Doesn't look like it. cddo.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/17/t...
cddo.blog.gov.uk
Take a look at what’s in store at DataConnect 26
Join public sector data, digital and AI professionals to share learning, explore real-world case studies and build valuable connections.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
@richardpope.org (Author of the excellent Platformland) really highlighting the failure of Government as a Platform in the UK. Common infrastructure for wide-sector services (schools, GPs, etc) should be the absolute basis of how we design government services. richardpope.org/2026/09/15/n...
richardpope.org
Nationalise Parent Pay?
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Really mixed feelings about this. Perhaps the best / only way to drive change in a complex organisation is to (at least metaphorically) spin out a new sub-org to do it. That said, the idea that that team is "special" really drives against genuine whole-org change. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/17/c...
gds.blog.gov.uk
Creating the conditions for transformation
CustomerFirst shares early lessons from its work with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
One more. Excellent this is happening but it's chipping away at the edge of a huge whole-government issue (national government data architecture) that no-one senior enough wants to spend the political capital to really tackle head-on. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/15/w...
gds.blog.gov.uk
What the ‘Early Years’ Innovation Challenge showed us about data-sharing and collaboration
What would seamless, trusted data-sharing mean for young children and their families? At a recent Early Years Innovation Challenge, we explored how better data-sharing could support earlier interventi...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Is GDS the "GDS of AI" or is it someone else. I can't even keep track.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Still at MHCLG but only highlighting the same systemic issues. It's insane that each separate department is spending multiple tranches of money doing this rather than there being one central team in government responsible for this. mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/15/t...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
The MHCLG AI Gateway: enabling more effective and safer adoption of AI in our digital services
AI is becoming an important part of how we design and deliver digital services. To help product and delivery teams across MHCLG adopt AI more safely and effectively, our Technical Architecture team de...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Oh - realised I forgot to include the URL at the top. Excellent service btw. Great job having this working - it's the grand context that's broken, not any particular service team. mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/18/m...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
Moving Share Homes for Ukraine data’s code to open source
Share Homes for Ukraine data, our in-house system for managing Homes for Ukraine data turned one this week. In this blog post, we talk about how we recently open-sourced the code for the system and wh...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The whole model is wrong, Software engineers across government should be working on a single common platform not building huge amounts of service bespoke code that's then "opened" in a way that's not meaningfully useful.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Of course, the real question is whether anyone will reuse this code. GDS has mandated open sourcing code since 2013 but I've never seen any investigation into reuse. Apart from things designed to be libraries (the Design System) I imagine any actual re-use is slim to nil.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If nothing else that would enforce ongoing cyber and redaction checks rather than, again, having to do them in a big tranche each time.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It's nice that MHCLG has blogged about their process for this but it's not like it's something they've chosen to do. It's mandatory step 12 in the service standard. Really code should be open from the *start* and iterated in the open - not just done in a big drop at some gate.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
These are the kind of excellent small incremental improvements I wish far more teams in far more departments would blog about. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/16/h...
gds.blog.gov.uk
How we made it easier for millions of users to sign into government services
Users can now sign in to GOV.UK One Login with a passkey using their face, fingerprint or passcode, without remembering passwords or entering security codes.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Plus commitment to at least share with other departments if not publicly.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is nice but it would be good if part of the programmes to introduce major changes in IT in government organisations was some ongoing user research with users to (1) share best practice and (2) investigate ROI. defradigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/09/c...
defradigital.blog.gov.uk
Copilot and me: What’s made a difference
In the third part of our series looking at the ways Defra colleagues are using AI, Zoe Wilson reflects on how Copilot empowers her as a form of assistive technology.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
OMG - I'd never even *heard* of this until you mentioned it. Heroic work from someone keeping that version up all this time.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I love the level of detail in both of these that almost no-one will care about but will be really important for those that do. This team are champions of open working. More of this please. enablingdigitalidentity.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/03/u... enablingdigitalidentity.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/03/c...
enablingdigitalidentity.blog.gov.uk
Commencing transition from 0.4 to 1.0
The transition period from the 0.4 and versions of the trust framework and supplementary codes has started One of the conformity assessment bodies that are approved to certify against the UK digital v...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Is that the kind of thing you have filed away somewhere @ntouk.bsky.social ?
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The Digital Devolution programme sounds fascinating and an excellent way to build on GDS Local. However, it'll be interesting to see how local gov officials react to central gov folks being parachuted into the offices as "advisors". gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/01/s...
gds.blog.gov.uk
Supporting devolution through digital, data and AI
Across government, there is a growing focus on how powers, funding and decision-making can be exercised closer to the places they impact. We're pleased to be working with Mayoral Strategic Authorities...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Foundational Data and "refernce spines" does sound a lot like the old GDS Registers project I still have the scars from so I hope they've learned a lot about how we did that wrong.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I'm definitely looking forward to reading the Strategic Data Roadmap (especially for the implications for the "Digital Backbone") and to continue to see updates on the Person Data Standard.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Really great post. Lots of good stuff coming out of GDS these days. I hope this means the comms restrictions are loosening. I only wish we could have public week notes or show and tells from this group. dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/03/c...
dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk
Connecting data to enable modern digital government
The Foundational Data team in the Office for the Chief Data Officer explains how better-connected data could support simpler, more joined-up public services.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
One more excellent thing to see. Not just the achievement but the blogging too. The only thing I would love to see is a timeline of feature introduction and a list of things asked for but not implemented (for good reasons). Both would be valuable insights. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/02/g...
gds.blog.gov.uk
GOV.UK Pay at 10: how it started and how it's going
10 years ago, GDS launched GOV.UK Pay, one of its flagship platforms used by public sector service teams. To mark this milestone, we look back at an incredible first decade and some exciting developme...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This is excellent and I so wish there was even more detail. It'd be great to see the actual interaction maps and understand the related incentives. Also what patterns for change that emerged that could be replicated elsewhere. technology.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/28/l...
technology.blog.gov.uk
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Awesomesauce.
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This is excellent of course but I'd kinda hope that most central gov organisations had been doing this since at least 2015. mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/27/a...
mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk
Adopting a user-centred design approach to our internal content landscape
The Content Improvement team in MHCLG focuses on making sure internal content across our platforms is accessible and user-friendly, and meets the needs of all colleagues. By treating content as critic...
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ahh... What you actually mean is improving the digital and data platforms inside the ONS. That's great - but it's a lot less than what the title of the article is implying... blog.ons.gov.uk/2026/08/27/b...
blog.ons.gov.uk
Building the digital backbone behind the UK’s statistics
Secure technology and data products are the foundations upon which the ONS delivers modern statistics. One month into his new role as Director General, Luke Ashton gives his early thoughts on how his
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UK Gov Comms (NON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT) @ukgovcomms.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Very nice - but we do wish more was accessible to non-civil-servants of course. There's no reason why UK gov can't host an online discussion platform where you have to nominated to a couple of existing members to join. gds.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/24/s...
gds.blog.gov.uk
Services Week 2026 Wrap Up
This year's Services Week saw an incredible 4,000 attendees across 80 sessions, delivered by over 30 different government departments. We reflect on the event's success and how to stay connected to th...
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