How we’re helping people and businesses get help from APHA with sustainable design

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Digital services, Digital transformation, User centred design
Eight people from the Customer Advice Team and Improving Customer Experience team stand together in an office workspace against an orange wall. Behind the group are filing cabinets, a large potted plant, a wall clock, and a wall-mounted monitor displaying a performance dashboard. The people are arranged in a row facing the camera, wearing a mix of casual and business-casual clothing.

Senior content designer Eleanor Shakeshaft and senior service designer Ibarieze Abani from the APHA improving customer experience team discuss how they’re improving the way customers get support when they can't find the answers they need online.

Why senior service ownership matters at Defra... and why now

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Digital transformation
Photograph of a Dell laptop displaying a digital project management board with color-coded task cards in green, purple, and blue arranged in columns labeled with different project stages. The board includes user icons on task cards, indicating collaboration, and is viewed in a well-lit room with windows in the background.

Senior service ownership could help Defra become more service-led, efficient and user-focused. Laura Churchill shares what her team learned while testing the concept, why plans had to change, and how they’re building the right conditions for more joined-up, accountable services.

Services Week: What we are learning about introducing sustainability into service assessments

A man with a microphone addressing a room of people.

Sustainable Design Lead Ned Gartside looks ahead to Services Week 2026, where he will be leading a session to talk about Defra’s recent introduction of a 15th Service Standard point focused on sustainability.

Making every customer call count through more joined-up data

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Defra digital, Digital services, Digital transformation

Kieran Lewis reflects on a recent project to integrate multiple data sources into a single Customer Relationship Management interface, improving call centre efficiency and customer experience by saving time per call and allowing agents quicker access to relevant information, and with ongoing and further improvements still to come.

Making digital services more sustainable: introducing a 15th service standard point

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Defra digital, Digital Sustainability, ICT sustainability

Service Assessment Manager Mary McMahon and Sustainable Design Lead Ned Gartside explain how, from this month, Defra service assessments will include a new requirement with sustainability at its core. Digital services are a core part of how we deliver outcomes …

Doing content-first design at Defra – part two

A mock-up of a laptop screen showing the user interface for the Defra Forms Designer.

In the second part of their post, content designer Laura Parker and senior interaction designer Daniel Da Silveira show how they used a content-first approach to design features for the Defra form designer.