News

IT for government and public sector

September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Experts slam government digital ID response

TechUK panel members say the government’s response to its digital identity consultation provides no concrete plan for moving forward
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Court rejects request to exclude ‘11th hour’ US evidence against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Lawyers for Julian Assange say the US has introduced an 11th hour indictment against the WikiLeaks founder that provides additional grounds for his extradition
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
AI Summit 2020: Regulating AI for the common good

Speakers and panellists at the virtual AI Summit 2020 spoke about the tensions between cooperation and competition in the development of artificial intelligence
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Government awards £32m funding for ‘pioneering’ health tech projects

Science minister Amanda Solloway will announce £32m in funding for six healthcare technology research projects, including artificial robotic muscular assistance and quantum imaging for monitoring

September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
UK funds coronavirus research for vulnerable global communities

The £7.2m fund will support UK university research into supporting refugees and children affected by the global health crisis
September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
Government should learn lessons from Brexit, says NAO

National Audit Office report finds government did not plan adequately for Brexit and needs to be better prepared to deal with uncertainty and improve communication, engagement and planning
September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
Virtual London Tech Week is a sign of the future

London Tech week's virtual event is another sign of how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation
September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
Scottish government to spend £4m on creating five tech hubs

Following a review of the tech sector, the Scottish government is creating five technology hubs to support startups in the country, aiming to support 300 startups by 2025
September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
Major border disruption on the horizon as Brexit IT portfolio becomes ‘unmanageable’

The proliferation of new platforms and work behind schedule is among the list of concerns cited in a leaked memo
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
HMRC appoints Daljit Rehal as CDIO

Former digital and data chief at Centrica, Daljit Rehal, takes the helm at HMRC as chief digital and information officer

September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
Guernsey to revamp digital local service delivery following double datacentre build-out

The State of Guernsey’s ongoing push to revamp how it delivers digital services to its citizens continues apace with the completion of two new datacentres on the island
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
Northumbria University suffers major disruption after cyber attack

Some exams cancelled as university appoints external specialists to investigate incident
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
UK to build commercially available quantum computer

The UK government is backing a quantum computing project that will provide businesses with access to the technology
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
Ethical and professional data science needed to avoid further algorithm controversies

BCS is calling for higher ethical and professional standards in algorithmic development to ensure public trust in future government information systems
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
App integration means emergency services can identify caller location in three words

Capita integrates What3words app into its emergency services control centre platform to help respondents identify the exact location of people who need help
September 01, 2020 01 Sep'20
UK government unveils next steps in digital identity plans

Long-awaited response to July 2019 consultation highlights private sector demands for digital identity support from government
September 01, 2020 01 Sep'20
Norway’s corporates want government to support ‘herd immunity’ to cyber attack

Leading business organisations in Norway call on government to play a more active role in improving and coordinating the country’s cyber defences
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
University of Staffordshire recruits robots to get more out of its people

University staff were bogged down with administrative work, but will now have time to be creative
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Office for National Statistics defines better cross-government data linkage

ONS review of data-linking practices across government is consistent with Cummings and Johnson drive to put data in command of government
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
New Zealand activates security services as DDoS outage enters fourth day

New Zealand government calls in its national cyber security agencies to help investigate a continuing cyber attack on the country’s financial systems
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Interview: Frankie Kay, interim director general for data capability, ONS

The Office for National Statistics’ interim director general for data capability talks about how data plays an important role in the battle against Covid-19 and how the pandemic has unearthed new ways of collaborating
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Benefit fraud: Underground trade in stolen identities revealed

A roaring underground trade in stolen identities is undermining the Universal Credit system and could potentially defraud it out of millions of pounds
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
Tech and telecoms advisory group set up to help trade negotiations

Department of International Trade launches new Trade Advisory Groups to guide trade negotiations with other countries
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
UK government publishes new insights on transport tech attitudes

The latest wave of the study investigates public attitudes on innovations such as autonomous vehicles and drones
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Amazon UK boss to help select new government CDO

Outgoing Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr is on the selection panel to assess candidates for the government chief digital officer role, which offers a salary of up to £200,000 per year
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
DWP searches for talent as part of apprenticeship programme

The Department of Work and Pensions is looking for diverse talent to fill software and networking roles while developing skills on the job
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Government must urgently prioritise digital identity, says tech sector

TechUK calls on government to make digital identity a focus of its digital strategy as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the ‘urgent need’ for digital IDs
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
Council to connect hundreds of its sites through wide area network

Local authorities invest in networking and contact centre technology through IT outsourcing contracts
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
Obituary: Lord Harry Renwick – a parliamentary pioneer for IT interests

Lord Harry Renwick, once a key influencer for technology policy in Parliament, and a long-standing friend of Computer Weekly, passed away this month
August 24, 2020 24 Aug'20
Government makes digital leadership changes

The government has begun recruiting for a chief digital officer at permanent secretary level and Government Digital Service director general Alison Pritchard is leaving to join the Office for National Statistics
August 24, 2020 24 Aug'20
CCS to launch £800m NHS IT framework

Collaborative framework agreement will cover a range of IT management services for use by NHS Digital and other public sector health and social care organisations
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
Scottish government reveals broadband voucher scheme to make up project shortfall

Government reveals details of funding for Scottish residents who fall outside reach of its primary broadband project
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
SMEs outperform Q2 expectations but remain cautious about Q3 prospects

Small confidence boost for small to medium-sized enterprises puts tech investment back on the table over coming 12 months
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
Drop in number of students taking GCSE computing in 2020

The amount of students deciding to take GCSE computing in England drops despite an increase last year
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
Government launches anti-crime tech competition

Government seeks technologies that allow police officers to use less lethal means to stop violent or armed offenders
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Scotland announces £15m investment to boost connectivity

Funding package aimed at improving internet access for 23,000 low-income households
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Loan charge MPs urge chancellor to get HMRC to soften contractor settlements

Co-chairs of Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group write to Rishi Sunak to seek a fairer deal for contractors caught by HMRC’s disguised remuneration policy
August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20
Government scraps Public Health England

NHS Test and Trace boss Dido Harding will run a new National Institute of Health Protection dubbed “the best chance” of beating coronavirus by health secretary Matt Hancock
August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20
Department for Transport seeks industry views on autonomous vehicle technology

The government wants industry’s views on plans to use automation technology to take control of cars travelling at speeds of up to 70mph, keeping them safely in the lane on motorways
August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20
Northern Ireland Covid-19 tracing app reaches 250,000 downloads

In the two weeks since it went live, Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 test and trace app has been downloaded a quarter of a million times
August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20
HPE signs 12-month hybrid cloud-focused MoU with UK government

Hardware giant becomes the first non-cloud provider to sign preferential pricing deal with government’s Crown Commercial Service, as push to encourage public sector move to cloud accelerates
August 17, 2020 17 Aug'20
Coronavirus: Government faces renewed calls for extended support for self-employed

The second phase of the government’s income support scheme for the self-employed goes live today, prompting renewed calls for the eligibility criteria to be broadened so that more people can benefit
August 14, 2020 14 Aug'20
UK government investigates AI labour market

Survey will seek to discover new requirements and issues posed by artificial intelligence technology
August 13, 2020 13 Aug'20
CIO interview: Mark Gannon, director of business change and information, Sheffield City Council

Like many organisations, the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated digital change in Sheffield, and its IT leader is looking to build further on that momentum
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
EU and US start discussions on ‘enhanced’ Privacy Shield data-sharing agreement

Talks begin on a successor to the Privacy Shield EU-US data-sharing agreement declared unlawful in July 2020 – a decision by the European Court of Justice that left thousands of businesses facing legal uncertainty
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
Government awards funding for innovation projects

The funding for innovative projects forms part of the government’s plan to increase research and development spending, which it claims will aid the UK’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
Police use of facial recognition found ‘unlawful’ in court

In a landmark decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled that South Wales Police’s facial recognition deployments breached human rights and data protection laws
August 10, 2020 10 Aug'20
Government launches digital identity checking pilot

More than a year after first announced, the government has launched a year-long pilot of its post-Brexit digital identity checking service
August 10, 2020 10 Aug'20
Gov.uk Verify continues to pose ‘notable risk’ to Cabinet Office

Government Digital Service put in place “unprecedented measures” in response to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and built several new digital services, but its Gov.uk Verify programme continues to “pose notable risk” to the department, according ...
August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20
Data Standards Authority publishes guidance on government data sharing

The Data Standards Authority (DSA) wants government departments to use new open data standards when sharing data, with the aim of improving public services