News

IT for government and public sector

June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
AI bias and privacy issues require more than clever tech

The new AI Barometer report from the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has assessed the threats and opportunities of artificial intelligence in the UK
June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
Facebook allows US users to disable political ads

Users of the social media platform will soon be able to opt out of seeing politically motivated posts
June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
US pulls out of talks with Europe for global digital tax

Despite the US’s resistance to an international digital services tax, the UK and other European countries plan to continue pushing for a global solution to taxing technology giants
June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
Data protection watchdog calls for controls on police mobile phone stop-and-searches

Information commissioner wants new safeguards on the use of police powers to download sensitive personal data from the mobile phones of suspects and crime victims

June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
EU-backed bid to build data preservation cloud for European research community gathers pace

The Archiver project, which aims to create a hybrid cloud-based data preservation environment for scientific researchers across Europe, has named the ICT suppliers in the running to deliver on its vision
June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
Survey finds 30% of people let down by public-sector tech during pandemic

ThoughtWorks research highlights problems around remote schooling, local government and GP services
June 18, 2020 18 Jun'20
Nordic business is leading open banking charge in Europe

Nordic region has the right ingredients to prove open banking can benefit consumers, businesses and the economy
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
Amnesty identifies most privacy-invasive Covid-19 contact-tracing apps

Bahrain’s ‘BeAware Bahrain’, Kuwait’s ‘Shlonik’ and Norway’s ‘Smittestopp’ are the most privacy-invasive contact-tracing apps, reveals Amnesty International study
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
Select committee chair demands sharper teeth for review of Post Office IT scandal

Call for government review of Post Office Horizon scandal to have the power to force individuals to give evidence under oath
June 16, 2020 16 Jun'20
NHS Digital seeks suppliers for Covid-19 testing service

The NHS Digital tender aims to find a partner to handle the development, delivery and running of the coronavirus testing service

June 16, 2020 16 Jun'20
Government publishes geospatial data strategy to capitalise on location data

National Geospatial Strategy will develop the country’s location data framework over the next five years
June 16, 2020 16 Jun'20
Norway’s contact-tracing app suspended over privacy concerns

Norway has been given until 23 June to justify the location tracking of citizens who download its contract-tracing app
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
UK quantum technology projects get a £70m boost

Government is funding 38 projects, one-third of which are focused on quantum computing
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
Northern Ireland invests £1.7m in online learning

Package of online skills interventions aimed at people who have been affected by the coronavirus
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
Blow to government review of Post Office scandal as key forensic accountants refuse to support it

The government’s proposed review of the Post Office IT scandal has received a further setback as forensic accountants join subpostmasters in refusing to back it
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
NHS email service users ensnared in phishing attack

More than 100 accounts on the NHSmail service were affected by attack, but health service says no patient data was accessed
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
UK to boost data science efforts in citizen services

Government Digital Service launches Data Labs to enhance services with tools such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
UN secretary general calls for global digital cooperation

Antonio Guterres launches roadmap for digital cooperation and calls for world leaders to come together to “connect, respect and protect people in the digital age”
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
Subpostmasters will not cooperate with government review into IT scandal

A group of subpostmasters who suffered at the hands of the Post Office’s error-prone IT system refuse to participate in a government review into the scandal, describing it as a sham
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Tech firms respond to Nordic government calls

Nordic firms are working with tech suppliers to help them get back up and running after Covid-19
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Government lays out future trade plan for UK tech

Measures aim to create jobs and increase technology exports, as well as encouraging international investments into the UK
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Data insights will define post-coronavirus city planning

Who would have imagined that in 2020, the majority of people would work remotely and buy online? Cities are going to have to change how they are set up
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Anger as government launches ‘pathetic’ and ‘pointless’ review of Horizon scandal

The government has been accused of launching a review that fails in getting to the bottom of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
IBM divests from facial-recognition market

IBM’s CEO writes to US congress about decision to stop using and selling facial-recognition technology, and says we should re-evaluate whether it should be sold to law enforcement agencies
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
UK tech professionals feel impact of lockdown easing

Mental health concerns increase, with a possible negative effect on the quality of work, as companies get ready to return to the office, study shows
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
CogX 2020: Matt Hancock on tech during Covid-19

Health secretary Matt Hancock says technology companies have been vital in dealing with the pandemic, and praises UK for testing more people “than almost anywhere in the world.”
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
CogX 2020: Rethinking technological innovation

Innovation processes and relationships must be fundamentally restructured to bring in more stakeholders, and spread the benefits of technological change as far as possible
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
Virtual GP practice accidentally exposes patient video calls

A small number of users of Babylon’s GP at Hand service were briefly able to view other patients’ video GP consultations thanks to a bug in a new software feature
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
6G, European internet, censorship: EU Parliament sets out vision for digital services

Research outlines trends for the coming decade and an action plan with some controversial recommendations to inform the decisions of policymakers around the upcoming Digital Services Act
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Covid-19 global co-ordination is off the mark, Tony Blair tells CogX

Former UK prime minister, now head of a global institute that advises governments, tells CogX attendees that global co-ordination to combat Covid-19 is far from where it needs to be
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Government publishes artificial intelligence procurement guidance

A document has been published outlining the challenges for public sector buyers as well as best practices on procuring AI technology
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Select committees to continue with Zoom virtual meetings until September

Although MPs have returned to Parliament, House of Commons select committees will continue with virtual meetings until 17 September
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
NHS Covid-19 datastore contracts published under pressure from privacy groups

The government has published the contracts with Palantir, Faculty, Microsoft and Google for the controversial NHS datastore ahead of court proceedings initiated by civil liberties organisation OpenDemocracy
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Police chiefs working with Public Health England on contact-tracing security

Police force representatives are in talks with Public Health England over operational security concerns arising from the NHS Test and Trace coronavirus contact-tracing scheme
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
London Tech Week to go ahead through Zoom

London Tech week will go ahead next week, with the tech industry attending through Zoom
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Ministry of Defence forms new cyber security regiment

The 13th Signal Regiment brings together personnel from across the armed forces to provide specialist security services
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
Dutch organisations invest heavily in compliance – but in vain

Despite the fact that companies in the Netherlands have invested heavily to comply with GDPR legislation introduced two years ago, 90% of them are still discovering fundamental weaknesses in their IT environment
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
Government evades being pinned to a date for online harms legislation

MPs challenge government on online harms bill timetable, but have to settle for “clear assurances” that it will brought to parliament before the end of the session
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
OVHcloud brings healthcare-focused private cloud offering to UK market

French infrastructure-as-a-service provider OVHcloud is making its sector-specific portfolio of private cloud and bare metal services available to UK-based healthcare providers
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
MPs' investigation into Post Office Horizon IT scandal bares teeth

Select committee chair writes to former Post Office CEO demanding answers over her role in IT scandal
June 03, 2020 03 Jun'20
Security procurement framework goes live for NHS and public sector

Cyber Security Services Framework, developed by NHS Shared Business Services, has formally launched
June 03, 2020 03 Jun'20
CCRC sends 47 subpostmaster miscarriages of justice for appeal, asks for prosecution powers review

The Criminal Cases Review Commission sends 47 more subpostmaster cases to Court of Appeal and asks government to review private prosecution powers
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Government departments could cut payment costs through API deal

The UK government adds fintech to its approved procurement list which promises to cut the costs of receiving payments
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Hull supercomputer helps fight Covid-19

University’s Viper supercomputer team join forces with Sheffield-based HPC specialist in global distributed computing project focused on the coronavirus
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
NIS security regulations proving effective, but more work to do

The UK’s NIS cyber security and risk regulations are proving somewhat effective, according to a government report
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
Subpostmasters to force scrutiny of government’s role in Post Office IT scandal

The government's role in the Post Office Horizon IT scandal could soon be put under the microscope as subpostmasters take their complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman
June 01, 2020 01 Jun'20
Employees must be consulted on technologies monitoring the return to work

Experts say the workforce must be ‘in the room’ and given a meaningful say about technologies introduced to monitor their return to work following the Covid-19 pandemic
June 01, 2020 01 Jun'20
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange misses court hearing due to respiratory problems

The WikiLeaks founder is expected to call 21 witnesses during a three-week extradition hearing in September
June 01, 2020 01 Jun'20
How Saudi Arabia is using cloud to navigate the Covid-19 downturn

Organisations in Saudi Arabia are using cloud computing services to help them navigate challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic
June 01, 2020 01 Jun'20
UK-Ireland frictionless border tech far from ready, EU Select Committee finds

The government has promised a frictionless UK-Ireland border, but currently technology only has the capacity to mitigate rather than eliminate friction, and the government’s technical advisory group on the border seems to be on hiatus