Delivering Growth and Jobs - How plain English can increase access to legislation

In anticipation of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation hosted a meeting of the Directors and Experts of Better Regulation (DEBR) in Dublin Castle on 22-23 November 2012. NALA was delighted to accept an invitation from the Department to speak to some 70 delegates from the EU, OECD and Ireland about the value of plain English in improving access to legislation. Our presentation was well received and we hope it will foster greater awareness and usage of plain English. You can download the DEBR Programme here.

NALA congratulates The Houses of the Oireachtas (The Irish Parliament)

NALA congratulates The Houses of the Oireachtas who have just published their Communications Strategy for 2012-2014. In it they have committed to using plain English in their publications. They have also set measures to see how effective they are in their efforts. We did an intensive plain English case study with the Oireachtas in 2011. We are delighted to see that this work has paid off and they continue to use plain English.

Launch of the MSD/NALA Crystal Clear Awards

A new call for entries has been announced for the annual Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards 2013, which were established to recognise and reward excellence in health literacy in the Irish healthcare sector. The Crystal Clear Awards is a MSD/NALA Health Literacy Initiative. They are open to anyone working in the healthcare sector. Entries can be made online, or by post using the downloadable application form.

They must be received no later than 12 noon on Friday 1 February 2013.

The world's worst typos - in pictures

Enjoy some of the world's worst typos (taken from The Guardian 25 October 2012).

NALA trained 100 people in plain English in October

NALA delivered plain English training to 100 staff and volunteers in the Community and Voluntary Sector in October. The trainees included Communication Officers, HR personnel, Web Content Managers, Accounts Managers and other staff and volunteers.

The trainees came from a total of 19 organisations such as Focus Ireland, the INOU, Pavee Point, AONTAS, the Disability Federation of Ireland, OPEN, Barnados and many more. We are hopeful that these people will become plain English champions in their organisation. An external evaluation of the training is underway. We will get back to you before Christmas with the findings of this evaluation.