Challenges facing the Government for ensuring compliance with the COVID-19 rules?

[mumznet]

I have been given the task of delivering a 5 minute verbal presentation on the following subject 'What are the key challenges facing the Government for ensuring compliance with the COVID-19 rules in 2021? (for a civil service job interview)

Some of the things I have thought to talk about are people not complying to self isolation rules, and also not social distancing. I'm still doing my research at present. What other things could I talk about?

Any tips/advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Presumably why people weren't complying is an issue.

Not coming forwards for testing is an issue.

Also measuring compliance would be important.

Gosh that’s broad. I would start with showing knowledge of the rules (but not taking much time) and then highlight issues -
Specificity / context, eg interpreting the rules to your specific situation can be difficult
Fatigue - we’ve been here for a long time etc
Challenge of policing the rules - capacity of police, when to fine/to take someone to court. Essentially compliance is based on goodwill
I would also (v lightly) touch on when and how to relax rules

Are you doing a SWOT analysis? That seems to be what they're asking for.

Strengths - public support for lockdown
Weaknesses - low sick pay so workers can't afford to isolate
Opportunities - easing of restrictions as we move into spring/better weather
Threats - Insecurity of vaccine supply

I'm assuming you're not actually going to be charge of ensuring public compliance so remember it's about how you think and present things rather than the topic itself.

Thank you, brilliant ideas. Sorry I can't seem to think good today, But how would we measure compliance?

Job is with Ministry of Hosuing and local government

You can't accurately measure compliance unless you have a policeman on every doorstep. I could go round a different person's house for tea every day and no-one would know.

@ArosGartref thank you didn't think about a SWOT analysis. good to mention this

Once I've done my presentation if someone is happy for me to PM them kindly let me know.

@Levithecat good to mention fatigue, forgot about that as now its just the norm

@trilbydoll yes thats what I'm thinking, but maybe a few policemen in town centre and parks

@Justajot thanks, not coming forward for testing is good, also not having the vaccine could that be 'not complying' too?

Get the latest stats on compliance with need to self isolate as that's shockingly low. People generally are forced to ignore it as they can't afford not to go to work - so there's financial implications to fix that one to incentivise people to stay at home.

Think about the different domains in which compliance is relevant:
-personal/social
-education
-employment and workplaces
-shops and hospitality
-travel

Also think about what makes 2021 different to 2020 (where they need to adapt what they’ve done because circumstances have changed:
-end of furlough scheme
-end of bailiffs ban
-lockdown fatigue / vaccine complacency
-risk posed by new variants

What grade is it @mumznet? It’s a great dept I’d try and approach from a position of ‘bringing people (the public) along’ rather than compelling them (eg through legislation, though important), so understanding the kinds of challenges @FusionChefGeoff mentions. Also as @Bubbinsmakesthree says, things that are different this year

thanks @Levithecat it's at grade SEO. @Bubbinsmakesthree thanks for making the comparison that's a great idea! @FusionChefGeoff thank you for mentioning the challenges that is a good one to bring up.

The job role is SEO COVID-19 Policy Advisor. One thing that is not clear if the presentation needs to be tied to the behaviours?
The behaviours are:
Seeing the Big Picture
Making Effective Decisions
Delivering at Pace
Communicating and Influencing

Any help is much much appreciated!

I don't mean to be rude, but if that's the job you're going for, should you really be relying on randoms on Mumsnet for these ideas?

Justapot, the presentation topics are designed so that any person could do desk research and provide a sensible response, and the role is pretty generic, so they wouldn’t expect someone to have expertise in the area.

Mumznet, don’t worry about the behaviours when preparing for the presentation. Just have good examples of each (using the STAR approach) for the main part of the interview. Fine to use the same examples as in your application form. You will probably also have strength questions, you can’t really prep for these but personally I like them. Search on here and you’ll probably find some posts where they are discussed.

@Levithecat thank you for the response. That is really useful advice, yes it has a range of questions including strengths and behaviours.

@Justajot I see what you mean, I'm just looking for ideas as the topic is a bit broad and although I've been listening to the news, I still need to do research to be able to talk about this. If someone doesn't score high they could assign you to lower grade roles.