Computer Weekly Editors Blog

Recent Posts

• Don't expect much that's new from political parties' digital manifestos in General Election

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 21 Apr 2017

Like it or not, necessary or not, we have another General Election, and while nobody will decide their vote based on a party’s digital policies, the imminent poll will raise important questions ...

• GDS changes start from the top

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 07 Apr 2017

Last week’s highly critical National Audit Office (NAO) report highlighted the need for change at the Government Digital Service (GDS). The NAO “found widespread views across government that GDS ...

• Can GDS avoid becoming just another Whitehall silo? Analysing the NAO's scathing critique

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 30 Mar 2017

Prior to this week’s publication of the latest National Audit Office (NAO) report on the Government Digital Service (GDS), rumour had it the Whitehall watchdog had pulled back from serious ...

• The digital revolution is unstoppable, inevitable - and bigger than Brexit

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 29 Mar 2017

Let’s start with the disclosure. I voted for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU). My reasoning at the time was that the EU is an over-bureaucratic, dysfunctional organisation that ought to ...

• Gov.uk Verify ID providers eye the prize of HMRC’s digital users – but what happens without them?

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 21 Feb 2017

In all the recent talk about whether HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is truly committed to the Cabinet Office’s Gov.uk Verify service, there’s been less said about the commitment of the external ...

• HMRC ID vs Gov.uk Verify – what’s the difference, and why it matters

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 15 Feb 2017

The long-term row between HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Government Digital Service (GDS) over online identity assurance broke into the open this week. HMRC published a blog post that ...

• GDS, HMRC and Verify: so much for cross-government digital collaboration

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 14 Feb 2017

Less than a week after Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer announced the new government transformation strategy, its central premise is already in question after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) ...

• Government digital strategy ticks the boxes - but real transformation needs more radical ambition

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 10 Feb 2017

The long wait for the new government digital strategy may have caused frustration in some places, but clearly within the Cabinet Office the extensive delays have brought expectations to a peak of ...

• How the technology sector helped create President Trump

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 10 Nov 2016

It’s probably fair to say that the world doesn’t need another journalist trying to explain why Donald Trump won the US presidency right now. Nonetheless, I think that we in the technology sector ...

• The clampdown on IT contractors in Whitehall is another risk for digital government progress

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 31 Oct 2016

IT contractors working in government are under pressure like never before over their tax status, and many people in Whitehall IT fear that a clampdown on the use of temporary staff could lead to a ...

• GDS under Kevin Cunnington (so far) - different, and yet the same

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 24 Oct 2016

Computer Weekly’s first opportunity to meet with Kevin Cunnington, the new director general of the Government Digital Service (GDS) answered a lot of questions – but raised plenty too. It’s ...

• GDS: Will the strategy still be delivery?

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 13 Oct 2016

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is an uncertain place at the moment – or so the rumour mill says. The team are carrying on with their pre-existing strategy – one that was written last year to ...

• Even GDS creator Francis Maude is worried about future of GDS

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 05 Oct 2016

Followers of the ups and downs of the Government Digital Service (GDS) will be aware of the question marks surrounding the future of the organisation and the Whitehall in-fighting over its role. ...

• The all-new GDS under Kevin Cunnington starts here

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 15 Sep 2016

So, the first phase of changing the Government Digital Service (GDS) is underway, and it’s clear there is a lot more to come. The Cabinet Office pitched the latest news as minister Ben Gummer’s ...

• The grubby day-to-day frustrations of digital change in Whitehall

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 09 Sep 2016

Change is hard. Few business or IT leaders would disagree with such a statement. But learning the lessons from change should be the easy and obvious outcome. Failing to learn the lessons from ...