Fire services uses joint command and control
Three fire services in the south of England have begun to use a joint command and control system that is underpinned by Capita's VisionDS technology.
Devon & Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire and Hampshire Fire & Rescue Services picked up the deal as part of their membership of the Networked Fire Control Services Partnership (NFCSP), and expect the single system will save them £16.9 million by 2024. It will serve local control rooms in Exeter, Devizes and Eastleigh.
John Aldridge, chair of the NFCSP strategic board, said: “It will provide the three services with an awareness of overall operational activity and resource use across the control rooms…. By sharing a technology platform we are able to increase resilience across the region. If one service is under pressure for whatever reason, the others will be able to provide full support.”
New CEO for Digital Catapult
Jeremy Silver has been appointed chief executive officer of the Digital Catapult, the centre backed by Innovate UK that supports the data sharing movement.
Silver, who takes over from Neil Crockett, is known as an author, investor and business mentor and has previously held senior roles at Sibelius Software, Semetric, Virgin Records and EMI.
“I'm excited to be able to help grow the Catapult's contribution to accelerating that process through encouraging and increasing the responsible sharing of data,” he said.
“Other new areas such as blockchain, the internet of things, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, offer further opportunities for digital innovation. They can capture the public imagination and offer great commercial prospects for the UK in global markets.”
Land Registry opens up 'price paid' data
The Land Registry has launched a new tool that provides open data on prices paid for properties in England Wales. Named Price Paid Data - Standard Reports, it makes it possible to create bespoke aggregated reports on house prices, and replaces the chargeable service it previous offered.
It is possible to download more than 24 million records of residential property sales in Excel or CSV form, and to bookmark 'reports files' pages to run an updated version every month.
NHS.UK moves to beta
New digital health and care service NHS.UK has passed its alpha digital service standard assessment and moved into the beta phase.
A blogpost from the team behind the programme says this makes it possible to move beyond prototypes to developing digital services, which will be tested and allowed to evolve based on user feedback. The service will be released in chunks over the coming months rather than as a 'big bang'.
The blog said the service is aimed at better connecting patients to the services they need.
