IT for government and public sector

NHS App to serve as vaccine passport for foreign holidays

Existing NHS App will have vaccine passport functionality added to it, transport secretary confirms Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government extends Gov.uk Verify for a further two years

The government’s Gov.uk Verify identity platform will continue to run until April 2023 while a new identity service is developed Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK supermarkets to trial age estimation tech for alcohol purchases

Biometric age estimation technology developed by Yoti to be tested in UK supermarkets for alcohol purchases as part of government-led digital identities initiative Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Why we need to reset the debate on end-to-end encryption to protect children

Private messaging is the front line of abuse, yet E2EE in its current form risks engineering away the ability of firms to detect and disrupt it where it is most prevalent Continue Reading

By

• Andy Burrows, NSPCC

Falkirk Council deploys end-to-end digital telecare

Council has become the first in Scotland to go live with a complete digital telecare service for its local residents Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Another 38 subpostmasters submit appeals against convictions

The biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history is set to get bigger as more subpostmasters take their cases to the Court of Appeal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

French legal challenge over EncroChat cryptophone hack could hit UK prosecutions

Lawyers are challenging the legality of a French police operation to harvest tens of thousands of messages from the EncroChat encrypted phone network in a move that could overturn criminal prosecutions in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Digital tech potential in health and social care not yet realised, says King’s Fund

Report by health policy think-tank says that although there is evidence that digital technology can support staff and patients, there are large gaps in the evidence base Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Post Office scandal CEO steps down from roles after massive miscarriage of justice is laid bare

Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells has left roles in the church, Morrisons and Dunelm after postmasters’ convictions were overturned in the Court of Appeal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC downplays significance of CEO email ‘questioning’ legal basis of loan charge policy

A document dump of emails shared between HMRC officials has prompted loan charge campaigners to further question the legal footing of the government’s controversial disguised remuneration policy Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

‘Spy cops’ victims share ongoing data protection concerns

Under Cover Policing Inquiry will consider whether the extensive amount of personal data collected about left-wing activists by the Special Demonstration Squad was justified, as witnesses question whether information about them is still being collected Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Post Office scandal victims have criminal convictions overturned in Court of Appeal

Subpostmasters have their criminal convictions overturned after a judge rules that the Post Office prosecuted them without investigating computer errors Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

London mayoral candidates debate tech

The four mayoral candidates have set out their plans for the tech sector, including creating skills academies, harnessing kinetic energy, creating a London passport and setting up new tech hubs, but Tech London Advocates founder Russ Shaw says they all missed the mark Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

GCHQ: Cyber investment a guarantor of UK’s global status

GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming sets out a vision for the UK’s cyber security future Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Department for Education publishes digital strategy

The department's digital and technology function wants to become a leader in the field, invest in its own platforms and manage its legacy technologies Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Security Think Tank: Security culture must underpin vaccine passports

What are the security challenges presented by vaccine passports, and how should they be designed and used with ethics and privacy in mind? Continue Reading

By

• Mike Gillespie

NCSC offers teachers free cyber security training

The NCSC’s latest security training offer builds on a package of measures designed to protect schools from cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government should do more to protect well-being in the digital world, says report

A select committee report argues that new health and employment rights are needed to tackle the negative effects of increasing digitisation Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK government renews cloud discount pricing MoU with Microsoft

Three-year deal ensures eligible public sector organisations can continue to access discounted pricing on a range of the tech giant's cloud software and infrastructure offerings Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Ocado advances autonomous vehicle strategy with Oxbotica deal

The £10m investment is part of a push to enhance Ocado’s last-mile delivery and logistics capabilities, with first prototypes expected for 2023 Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Health app myGP adds Covid-19 vaccine passport function

The new feature is described as the UK’s first NHS-assured Covid-19 certification feature Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Lack of leadership, confusion and frustration - the state of digital identity in the UK

To nobody’s surprise, efforts by a group of peers to force the government to accelerate progress on digital identity in the UK foundered in the House of Lords yesterday (20 April 2021). Baroness ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

London needs a mayor of growth

Here East’s CEO Gavin Poole on why the next mayor must ensure London remains the tech capital of Europe, and the importance of learning from the past Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Poole

Government launches plan for smart use of knowledge and innovation

Strategy sets out how Westminster can harness and achieve better value from £104bn worth of innovation and knowledge assets within central government Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK technology job creation nears two-year peak

Pace of recruitment accelerates and optimism reaches highest level since 2014, according to KPMG Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Tech professionals most likely to see mental health decline due to pandemic

Struggling to cope with anxiety and new ways of working are among the problems workers in the sector face, study says Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Government puts Facebook under pressure to stop end-to-end encryption over child abuse risks

Facebook faces growing government pressure to abandon its plans to offer users end-to-end encryption to secure the privacy of their messages as the NSPCC raises concerns about child protection Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

London tech manifesto calls on next mayor to support tech industry

The London tech manifesto, put together by several tech organisations, calls on the city’s next mayor to support tech companies, increase digital skills investment and tackle the lack of diversity in the sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Finnish government strengthens country’s IT network security

Finland’s government has created a new national organisation to help public and private bodies improve network security Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Sutton Council trials in-home sensor tech

The council is deploying sensors in the homes of vulnerable people to be able to detect when they might need help Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Dutch accuse UK of ‘damaging confidence’ by disclosing details of EncroChat police collaboration

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service claims Britain has damaged confidence by disclosing details of an international investigation into the EncroChat encrypted phone network to the courts Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Only government standing in the way of fair compensation for subpostmasters

The UK government is the only block to fair compensation for subpostmasters who were wrongly punished for accounting shortfalls Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

University of Hertfordshire is latest academic cyber attack victim

Multiple systems are offline at the University of Hertfordshire following a cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

In-sourcing IT in Wales has provided a positive change, says auditor

While savings have not been as great as expected, the decision to in-source IT in Welsh government has been a success, according to Audit Wales Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

CW Middle East: Qatari regulator launches platform to help combat money laundering

The Qatar Financial Markets Authority is using a digital platform to enable financial services professionals to assess their knowledge of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. Also in this issue, read how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the IT spending patterns among enterprises in Saudi Arabia. Continue Reading

Tesco reports online sales surge, advances digital platform

Retailer announces 77% boost to e-commerce sales, details on Clubcard app uptake and advances in its IT remediation plan Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Europe provides growth for TCS despite year floored by pandemic

Tata Consultancy Services grows its continental European business despite economic slowdown brought by Covid-19 restrictions Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Vaccine passports must be secure by design

What are the security issues and challenges presented by vaccine passports, and how should they be designed and used with ethics and privacy in mind? Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

MP told to ditch official email over hacking fears

MP Tom Tugendhat claims the intelligence services advised him to switch to the Gmail service due to concerns his parliamentary email could be hacked Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

End of the road for Post Office IT system that destroyed lives

The Post Office has revealed the end to its controversial Horizon IT system which, through its errors and the Post Office's denial of them, caused huge suffering for hundreds of subpostmasters Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Civil Service Data Challenge aims to improve use of data

Business and government have partnered to launch a Dragon’s Den-style competition to encourage civil servants to come up with ideas on how to improve the use of data Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

EncroChat lawyers raise questions over use of PII secrecy orders on UK decryption capabilities

Lawyers claim that public interest immunity certificates may have been used to withhold information on UK intelligence agencies’ ability to decrypt encrypted communications Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

The evolution of RPA

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide looks at the future of robotic process automation (RPA). Google’s legal victory against Oracle over the use of Java APIs has huge significance for software developers. And we find out how expectations of IT have grown as firms prepare for the post-Covid workplace. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

University students adapt to remote learning but question value for money

New research outlines students’ fears around the impact of long-term remote education and lecturers’ skills to operate online Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Loan Charge Group MPs demand IR35 shake-up to stop contractors becoming ‘zero-rights employees’

Inquiry by Loan Charge All-Party Parliamentary Group calls on government to tweak IR35 legislation during passage of next Finance Bill Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Datacentre Editor

Tech industry sees surge in remote working job postings

Pandemic drives an increase in demand for “work anywhere” jobs and hybrid skills, research says Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

IR35 reforms: MPs call on government to clean up UK’s ‘wild west’ contracting labour supply chain

A 200-strong group of MPs is calling for urgent action from the government to protect contractors from the dubious practices of non-compliant umbrella companies and badly behaved employment agencies just days after private sector IR35 reforms came into force Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Post Office Horizon contract extension is part of project to bring Fujitsu work in-house

The Post Office is to move work done by Fujitsu in-house when its outsourcing contract ends, and is already recruiting IT experts Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC signs reworked, three-year public cloud deal with AWS worth £94m

HMRC has ripped up and replaced its deal with AWS several months after signing it to tap into cost-savings on Amazon cloud services via the One Government Value Agreement Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Digital Markets Unit starts work on codes of conduct for tech giants

Digital markets regulator officially launched to ensure tech giants such as Facebook and Google cannot exploit their market dominance to crowd out competition and stifle innovation online Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Post Office gives controversial Fujitsu contract another year

The Post Office's controversial contract with Fujitsu has been extended another year to help the organisation manage its exit Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Irish employees’ ‘right to disconnect’ enshrined in code of practice

A code of practice giving employees the ‘right to disconnect’ from work and not engage in electronic communications outside of their normal hours has come into effect in Ireland Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Demands for changes to ‘barmy’ rules on digital evidence have government’s ear

The government is listening to calls for changes in how digital evidence is considered in court, as Post Office IT scandal spells out current rule's inadequacy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CDDO will assess delivery of government digital projects

Government Digital Service boss Tom Read and the government’s Central Digital and Data Office executive director Joanna Davinson reveal next steps for digital, data and technology in government Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

GDS seeks director for identity assurance programme

The new leader will be focused on efforts to deliver a single digital identity system for online public services Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

EncroChat hearings delayed as lawyers seek disclosure on police hacking

Court hearings precipitated by police cracking the EncroChat secure mobile phone network have been delayed after defence lawyers request further disclosures on police decryption capabilities Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

DCMS publishes report on opening data access to stoke economic growth

Research from Frontier Economics with economist Diane Coyle describes how the government could prime data sharing to stimulate economic growth Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Security Think Tank: Evolving threats, tech, leaves CNI exposed

In light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Tim Parker

Ransomware attack on London schools highlights warnings

Ransomware attack on Harris Federation comes just days after a fresh NCSC alert for the education sector Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Big Tech eclipses telecoms and arms giants as biggest lobbying spenders

Facebook and Amazon are spending more on lobbying and campaign contributions than any other companies in the US, including those in the arms and telecommunications sectors that have traditionally been the highest political spenders Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Backup survey: UK councils’ downtimes five times longer than average

Backup product supplier Veeam’s freedom of information request finds councils’ average downtime is seven hours and that backup and disaster recovery testing is not done frequently Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

UK courts face evidence ‘black hole’ over police EncroChat mass hacking

French investigators have refused to disclose how they downloaded millions of messages from a supposedly secure cryptophone network used by organised criminals – leaving UK courts to grapple with a forensic ‘black hole’ of evidence Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Surveillance expert ‘unfairly’ refused job at intelligence regulator after MI5 intervened

The Home Office unfairly refused Eric Kind, a specialist in criminal justice and UK surveillance law, clearance for a job at an intelligence watchdog after MI5 claimed he was “insufficiently deferential” Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Sarah Wilkinson resigns as NHS Digital CEO

After four years at the helm of NHS Digital, CEO Sarah Wilkinson will leave in the summer of 2021, and the organisation is looking for an interim replacement Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Backup appliances the hot topic for Pas-de-Calais fire brigade

With requirements for strict, long-duration backup and archiving, French fire brigade set out to replace optical media with a StorageCraft appliance and disaster-proof storage Continue Reading

By

• Pierre Berlemont
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Zombified Gov.uk Verify is officially dead - so what's next?

The UK government has finally admitted in public for the first time that its flagship digital identity programme, Gov.uk Verify, is dead. This will be no surprise to anyone following the project, ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

NHS Shared Business Services launches £1bn digital hardware framework

Framework consists of 19 suppliers, and offers user IT hardware products and services to the NHS and public sector organisations Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Cyber security complacency puts UK at risk, says NCSC head

National Cyber Security Centre CEO Lindy Cameron, in her maiden speech in the role, warns of challenges ahead for the UK and sets out the future agenda for cyber Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

DWP completes in-house VME replacement project

The department has taken an in-house approach to swapping its virtual machine environment (VME), getting rid of legacy infrastructure and replacing 11 key benefits systems Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Deliveroo faces pushback from investors and riders ahead of IPO

Two of the UK’s largest fund managers have said they will not buy shares in Deliveroo because of concerns over workers’ rights Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NHS Wales shapes up ambitious plans for digital patient-facing app

Computer Weekly looks at NHS Wales’ project to create a patient-facing app and a collaborative ecosystem for technology suppliers and NHS providers to deliver joined-up care Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government faces judicial review into plans for Post Office Horizon inquiry

Subpostmasters that suffered great hardship at the hands of the Post Office are applying for a judicial review of a government inquiry into the scandal, which they see as a "whitewash" Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Liverpool announces test and development area for drone technology

Project aims to stimulate investment opportunities, employment and skills for the region Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

NHS to digitise the ‘red book’ by 2023

Every child born from April 2023 will have a digital ‘red book’, or personal child health record, Matt Hancock has promised Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Ex-Post Office CEO Paula Vennells walked away from IT scandal with over £400,000 in pay and bonuses

Former Post Office chief was paid over £400,000 when she left despite the organisation being involved in what would become the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IWM uses StorCycle to free capacity for all-flash SAN upgrade

Imperial War Museums set to embark on unstructured data archiving project that will archive cold data to tape and free up capacity for a move to IntelliFlash all-flash SAN Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Prime minister says people should be held to account for Post Office IT scandal

Boris Johnson agrees with MP that those responsible for the Post Office Horizon scandal should be brought to book Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Post Office was told in 2013 that Fujitsu witness was unreliable in subpostmaster prosecutions

The Post Office was warned that a former Fujitsu employee had misled courts when giving evidence on its behalf Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Employees must be given the right to disconnect

As enterprises increasingly turn to workplace monitoring technologies and more of the workforce moves to remote or hybrid working, unions are campaigning for workers’ ‘right to disconnect’ and not engage in digitally enabled work after hours Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Pakes, Prospect Union

Former Skyscanner COO will lead Scotland’s tech-led recovery programme

Following his independent review of the Scottish tech sector, Mark Logan will oversee a programme to establish the country as a world-class technology hub Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Anti-money laundering technology must operate in a collaborative ecosystem

With new technologies making it easier for banks to spot money laundering activity, we look at why the problem persists at scale, finding that ecosystems and collaborative processes need to be built Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

NCSC beefs up support for education sector after spate of attacks

Refreshed guidance from the NCSC recommends a defence-in-depth strategy as schools and universities face a renewed wave of cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scottish government AI strategy majors on ethics and inclusion

Scottish government announces artificial intelligence strategy that involves the creation of a Scottish AI Alliance to be drawn from across society, including trade unions and companies Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Commission calls for adult social care to get digital revamp

A commission on adult social care has called for the government to fund a personalised social care innovation programme, as well as invest £450m to replace outdated care and housing technology infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK defence strategy strengthens AI, cyber and satellite spies

The nature of warfare is changing. Electronic warfare will need to be a key component of the UK’s defence strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Interview: Ivan McKee, Scottish innovation minister

Scotland’s innovation minister talks to Computer Weekly about the country’s new digital strategy, the importance of inclusion, and why the strategy is underpinned by ethical thinking Continue Reading

Home Office completes transfer of all business apps to Oracle Cloud

Home Office has completed its deployment of Oracle’s Cloud Applications suite to all its functions across 35,000 staff, ahead of other government departments Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Security Think Tank: Attacks on CNI – an evolving frontier in warfare

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Asaf Weisberg, ISACA board of directors

Post Office staff instructed to shred documents that undermined its claims Horizon was robust

Barrister advising the Post Office in 2013 stated that destroying documents would "amount to a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Back to square one – ground-up CNI protection

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Matthias Reinwarth, KuppingerCole

Government bids final goodbye to Gov.uk Verify

Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary Julia Lopez confirms launch of “discrete” successor to Gov.uk Verify Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Post Office IT scandal executive forced out of job at Football Association of Wales

Angela van den Bogerd has left her role at the Football Association of Wales, following criticism of her part in Post Office IT scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Properly protecting CNI demands specificity

In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

Tech sector is key to the success of Global Britain

The maturity of its technology sector puts the UK in a good position to reimagine its role on the international stage post-Covid Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Roughan, Plexal

Government to bail out Post Office which can’t afford to pay compensation to subpostmasters

The Post Office does not have enough money to pay compensation to the subpostmasters it wrongfully prosecuted Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NHS will get shared care records by September 2021, says Matt Hancock

The health secretary sets September 2021 target for shared care records roll-out, and wants to explore potential of moving patient data being held in proprietary systems to the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Subpostmasters in Court of Appeal to end 20-year torment

Subpostmasters heading to Court of Appeal to clear their names in what is potentially the biggest miscarriage of justice in English legal history Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security Think Tank: Take a realistic perspective on CNI cyber attacks

In light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them? Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Morris, Turnkey Consulting

Digital Green Certificate proposed for travel in Europe

Digital Green Certificates will supposedly help re-establish freedom of movement within the European Union Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Uber classifies drivers as workers after Supreme Court ruling

Ride-hailing firm will pay its UK drivers minimum wage following court ruling, but has diverged from the court’s interpretation that drivers should be paid from when they log in, not just when passengers are on board Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor