It’s been a while, but it’s time for a new public vote! Tell me which of these three consultations you’d like to get to grips with, and I’ll make it into something a little easier to understand. National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure — the government wants us to look at the way the country uses energy — how we use […]
Read more "Which consultation should I simplify next?"Simply Understand started nearly a year ago with the not-so-simple idea of making a small corner of the UK’s democracy more, well, democratic! Everyone know how much of a struggle it can be to get your story heard by government institutions. Consultations are supposed to be one way for us to get through, but so often they’re so complicated […]
Read more "Credit cards and store cards: an official translation"For anyone that’s signed up to it, I’m in the process of cleaning out my lovely RSS feed of UK Government Consultations. Seems a fair few government departments have been revamping their websites lately and disturbing it! I’m also trying to make it more comprehensive by putting in consultation pages from every Department, Commission or other organisation […]
Read more "Keeping it fresh"As you may know, there’s a new system that’s been developed to try and protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse which means that a lot of people will have to register with an organisation called the Independent Safeguarding Authority (the ISA), possibly as well as getting CRB checks (at least in the beginning). This is a hopefully […]
Read more "The vetting and barring scheme"Several friends have asked me to translate this paper. It’s been covered in the Guardian and other papers with quite a bit of controversy, so I was quite reluctant to do a proper paper. Given it’s sensitivity for a lot of people living on disability benefits at the moment, I want you all to be extra careful when you read […]
Read more "Shaping the future of care together"I said in my last post that I’d been challenged to squish my latest consultation translation into 60 seconds, and here it is. As you’ll know from my previous podcast on carrier bag charges in Wales, I’m not the most confident speaker, but I think this one works much better than the last one. Got to work on […]
Read more "The right to control for disabled people — in 59 seconds!"I want to be the first to say that a lot of effort has obviously gone into making this consultation appear accessible, as well as the normal consultation, there’s also an Easy Read version. There are also some great toolkits, including a DVD — the Office for Disability Issues has done a great deal to encourage people to […]
Read more "The right to control for disabled people"Yes, it’s true, I am venturing into the amazing and frankly scary world of podcasting! I cannot stress enough that this is not going to rock your world. I am one (relatively) shy and inarticulate woman wrestling unsuccessfully with a microphone and some crappy animation. Having said that, please feel free to tell me what I can do better, […]
Read more "[Podcast] Charging for carrier bags in Wales"