IT for government and public sector

Cisco launches IoT System for enterprise and smart cities

Cisco unveils 15 products to address the growing complexity of internet of things deployments Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The legacy IT challenge for CIOs

In this week’s Computer Weekly, CIOs in financial services hoping to fight off challenger banks face a huge hindrance from their legacy IT – we assess the difficulties and reveal a diagram that shows the scale of the problem. We look at how to prepare for information security audits and why they are so vital. And we ask if HM Revenue & Customs’ plan for online tax accounts will make tax more taxing for the digitally excluded taxpayer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Universal Credit costs leap by more than 20% to £15.8bn

Figures reveal increase in lifetime cost since changes to the plan made to 'reset' the troubled welfare reform programme Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CIO Interview: Ian Bell, CIO, Cambridgeshire Police Service

The CIO of Cambridgeshire Police Service talks about the constabulary’s move to digital for collaboration and information sharing in its effort to increase efficiency Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Digital government 'a chance to build a new state', says Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock

Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock says the move to digital government is a “chance to build a new state” in a speech outlining his priorities Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Government Digital Service insists Verify safe despite claims of vulnerabilities

An academic paper suggests the Gov.uk Verify system could be used as a spy network, but the Government Digital Service (GDS) insists this is not the case Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Council dodges £300,000 NetApp outlay with Atlantis flash caching

Somerset local authority avoids spending £300,000 on extra hard drives for its NetApp arrays and pays half that for Atlantis ILIO flash caching software that runs VDI from RAM Continue Reading

NHS e-Referral system goes live, despite 33 issues and GDS warning

NHS England has launched its replacement hospital appointment booking service, even though it has known errors and failed to follow government digital guidelines Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Government preparing to let private sector companies use its Verify identity scheme

The Cabinet Office is talking to banks, insurers and retailers to establish Gov.uk Verify identity assurance as a national scheme Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Is HMRC making tax more taxing for non-digital taxpayers?

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has made tax data accessible online – but how should it cater for those unable (or unwilling) to use digital services? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

International police operation arrests cyber fraud gang

Police in six countries have arrested 49 people suspected of committing financial fraud involving email account intrusions Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

HMRC denies reports of Verify causing users problems

HMRC has denied that problems faced by the public attempting to claim marriage tax breaks are caused by the Gov.uk Verify scheme Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Digital services not saving government departments money, says NAO

Government departments are not making the savings digital services were aiming to deliver Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

HMRC looks for transformation partner ahead of Aspire end

HMRC is seeking transformational help ahead of the demise of its Aspire contract in 2017. Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Sourcing must adapt to digital business goals, says Gartner

Businesses need to change their sourcing strategies if they are to keep pace with the digital revolution, says analyst organisation Gartner Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government as a platform, or a platform for government? Which are we getting?

Government as a platform is the latest buzzword in Whitehall - but is that really what they are going to deliver? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Most of more than 733,000 police communications data requests approved

Big Brother Watch is calling for a curb on the scale of police access to communications data and greater transparency in the use of this data Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Top six enterprise IT priorities in the Nordics

The future of enterprise IT looks bright in the Nordic region, with growing focus on datacentre investments, national cloud and automatisation Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Civil Servants point to lack of skills as barrier to IT procurement

Adoption of IT for public services is held back due to a lack of skills, despite civil servants agreeing IT is a necessity, according to techUK Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

CIO interview: Austerity drives joined-up council IT with Force.com

Peterborough has become a big user of software-as-a-service for council services. We speak to its IT head Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

IT system related to subpostmaster prosecutions under review by CCRC

The Criminal Cases Review Commission receives 20 applications from subpostmasters related to prosecutions for account shortfalls Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BT and BDUK failed to make costs transparent, says report

A major report on BDUK commissioned by DCMS identifies a number of failures around the transparency of the scheme’s costs Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

GDS will not scale locally with continued bespoke approach

If the Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to develop bespoke digital services, the progress it has made to date will not scale at a local level, Eddie Copeland, head of technology at the Policy Exchange, has warned Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Socitm to launch women in IT network

Society of Information Technology Management on the hunt for partners to help launch women in IT network Continue Reading

By

• Kayleigh Bateman, Computer Weekly

Whitehall technology chiefs vetoed new Windows XP support deal

Government technology chiefs vetoed a new deal with Microsoft to continue Windows XP support to force laggards to move off the OS Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Joanna Shields appointed junior minister

Former Tech City CEO Joanna Shields appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Fire services to keep Airwave Tetra radios until 2020

The Department for Communities and Local Government approves a major extension of the fire services' Firelink Tetra network to the end of 2019 Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Digital age a turning point for policing, says commissioner Leppard

Policing in the digital age will face a turning point in the next two years, according to City of London Police commissioner Adrian Leppard Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

PSNGB rebrands to drive information sharing across PSN

PSNGB, the trade association set up to promote the Public Services Network, rebrands itself as Innopsis and says its work is far from over Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK election special – who wins the digital vote?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the UK goes to the polls in the general election, we take an in-depth look at the political parties’ manifestos for technology, and examine what the IT sector wants from the next government. Our latest buyer’s guide covers collaboration software. And we analyse host identity protocol (HIP), an emerging standard for endpoint security. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Met Police offers up to almost £200,000 for CIO role

The Metropolitan Police is offering up to almost £200,000 to fill its CIO position, which has been open since February 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Criminal Courts Review Commission set to review subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution

The Criminal Courts Review Commission (CCRC) reviews subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution by the Post Office due to IT problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vodafone sends network in a backpack to Nepal earthquake zone

Vodafone’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, deploys instant mini networks to help restore communications in quake-hit Nepal Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Bill Binney, the ‘original’ NSA whistleblower, on Snowden, 9/11 and illegal surveillance

Always a patriot: Computer Weekly talks to Bill Binney, the senior NSA official who blew the whistle before Edward Snowden Continue Reading

By

• Fiona O'Cleirigh

Collaboration key to cyber security, says US homeland security chief

Collaboration between governments and with the private sector key to improving global cyber security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office failed to investigate account shortfalls before legal action, report claims

Post Office too quick to take legal action against subpostmasters, finds independent report Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK startups facing too many challenges, say entrepreneurs

Startups need more support if London’s digital economy is to develop, according to business leaders at Westminster Policy Forum Continue Reading

By

• Kayleigh Bateman, Computer Weekly

Solihull Council's datacentre plans slammed by G-Cloud champions

Solihull Council is building a new datacentre with 10-20 years of capacity, much to the chagrin of industry watchers Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Liberal Democrats promise to double innovation spend and 99.9% broadband roll-out

The Liberal Democrats’ general election manifesto promises to double innovation spending and roll out high-speed broadband to 99.9% of homes Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Security risk potential linked to young, mobile users

A study conducted by wireless supplier Aruba Networks has identified a distinct cohort of high-risk, security-agnostic workers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS data security: Lessons to be learned

The NHS does not always provide a trusted repository for patient data, but some trusts are examples of good practice in action Continue Reading

By

• SA Mathieson

Exit checks system for UK borders finally goes live

The Home Office launches a system for making exit checks of travellers at UK borders, following the scrapped e-Borders programme Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Alleged White House hack highlights typical security failings, say experts

The alleged penetration of sensitive White House computer networks highlights typical security failings, say information security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Brecon Beacons National Park soups up staff comms with Unify

Brecon Beacons National Park Authority deploys Unify’s OpenScape voice technology to keep remote staff and home workers in touch Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Microsoft adds ODF 1.2 to Office 365 to adhere to government demands

Microsoft will roll out the ability export documents in open document format (ODF) in Office 365, regardless of original file format, to adhere to government policy Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Rural payments service failed GDS assessment but still went live

The troubled rural payments digital service failed its most recent assessment by the Government Digital Service, but was still launched to farmers Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

What went wrong with the IT for farmers' rural payments?

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine the real reasons behind the failure of the government's rural payments digital service. We look at how Windows 10 Universal Apps will change the way IT teams manage PCs. And we hear from IT leaders about their experiences of bringing cloud computing into the mainstream. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

National Police ICT Company operational after four years of wrangling

The national Police ICT Company is operational and aims to save £465m a year – nearly four years after Theresa May proposed its creation Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

UK government pays £150m to Raytheon to settle e-Borders dispute

UK government agrees to pay Raytheon £150m to settle dispute over the cancellation of e-Borders contract Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Nordics' Glenna research cloud project underway

Researchers in the Nordics will soon enjoy a new cloud infrastructure from which to share systems and resources Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Retiring MP aims to uncover truth of alleged Post Office computer system problems

Retiring MP James Arbuthnot is determined to get to the bottom of problems with the Post Office system that led to subpostmasters being blamed for account shortfalls Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MPs slam Defra for making rural payments 'digital by default'

MPs have slammed the government’s decision to make rural payment claims from farmers a 'digital by default' service Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Samsung targets business with Microsoft tools integration

Samsung has pre-installed Microsoft OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype on the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, as it expands into business Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK government adds five authentication providers to Gov.uk Verify identity management system

The Government Digital Service (GDS) adds five authentication providers to the Gov.uk Verify identity and access management scheme Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

MPs seek reassurance over Post Office mediation scheme

Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee seeks reassurances over the Post Office mediation scheme Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government backs tech in 2015 Budget

In this week's Computer Weekly, chancellor George Osborne's 2015 Budget was the most technology friendly ever – we examine the key policy announcements. Sainsbury's CIO talks about the challenges of going digital. And we look at how virtual reality could be coming to a workplace near you, thanks to the latest developments. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

What went wrong with Defra's rural payments system?

A £154m system to process payments to farmers has been forced to resort to paper forms. What went wrong – and is this a digital disaster? Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Information Commissioner's Office calls for transparent public sector outsourcing

For greater transparency, public sector buyers and suppliers should be open about their dealings before signing contracts, says ICO Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

BIS sets out to assist development of digital sharing economy

The government has set out a number of proposals to assist in the development of the £9bn trade body Sharing Economy UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government creates Crown Hosting venture with Ark Data Centres

Cabinet Office signs seven-year joint venture agreement with Ark Data Centres to create Crown Hosting Service Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Internet of things and 5G network research priority in 2015 Budget

Research into the internet of things and the 5G networks to support it figured highly in chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Japan recruits hackers for cyber security force

The Japanese government plans to recruit hackers to identify and protect against cyber security threats Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CIO interview: Ivor Nicholson, Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council is facing £77m in cuts by 2018 and by rolling out new services, it plans to save £8m through technology alone Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Post Office ends working group for IT system investigation day before potentially damaging report

The Post Office closed a working group involved in an investigation into claims against allegedly faulty accounting software used by subpostmasters Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

US cyber crime indictment prompts calls for zero tolerance

A newly-revealed US indictment of three suspected cyber criminals has prompted a call for zero tolerance for cyber intrusions Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Procurement guidelines saved government £91m in 2014, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

The government made £91m savings in 2014 with “militant” guidelines around procurement, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

China and US cross swords over software backdoors

Barack Obama criticises Chinese plans to force tech firms trading in China to share encryption keys and put backdoors in software Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Strong future for enterprise IT in Nordic countries

From attracting the world to its ice-cool datacentres to the digitisation of the public sector, there is plenty going on in the Nordic region Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Cyber crime: What every business needs to know

Computer Weekly gets the low-down on cyber crime from law enforcement officers and investigators Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Food giant acts fast on lean IT

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO from food giant Iglo – owner of Birds Eye – about how to work with outsourcers to keep IT lean and agile. We examine microservices, an important emerging trend in systems architecture. And we look into the issues around hybrid cloud storage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

SMEs seek legal advice over controversial Capita contracts with government

SMEs that claim to have lost significant revenue through two government contracts are seeking legal advice over alleged breaches of competition law Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

£700m spent on Universal Credit yet to deliver value for money, say MPs

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on Universal Credit so far, but has yet to convince MPs it is value for money Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Banks take the fight to the web giants

In this week's Computer Weekly, with internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook offering banking services, Santander is leading the fightback by launching a cloud storage service; but can it win? Our latest buyer's guide looks at cloud-optimised IT. And we examine how the economic trends will affect CIOs this year. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Home Office wins appeal against £224m Raytheon payment over e-Borders cancellation

The Home Office has won an appeal against a tribunal decision to award £224m to supplier Raytheon over the cancellation of its e-Borders contract Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

International spyware operation linked to NSA

The US National Security Agency has reportedly hidden surveillance software in the hard drives of several top computer makers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

DWP starts national Universal Credit IT rollout

The next phase of the national IT rollout for the controversial Universal Credit programme has started Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Who will get your digital vote?

In this week's Computer Weekly, we hear from the UK's three main political parties as they debate their digital policies ahead of the general election. Is the rise of the CDO a threat to the CIO's position? We find out what IT leaders have to say. Continue Reading

Airwave's Tetra emergency services radio "costly and inflexible"

Incumbent Airwave failed to advance to the next stage of the Emergency Services Network procurement because its Tetra radio technology was too inflexible for current needs, according to reports Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

General election 2015: Major parties focus on tech agenda

With advancements around data protection and state surveillance of internet traffic, the UK is heading into its first tech-aware general election Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

What is government as a platform and how do we achieve it?

There are lots of discussion going on at the moment about digital “platforms”, and the impact they might have on UK public services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Why peer-to-peer lending is such a threat to banks

Consumer trust for finance firms has never been high, and since the financial turmoil at the end of the previous decade it has reached rock bottom Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015 Continue Reading

National Police ICT Company finally set to start operations

A national Police ICT Company is set to begin operations after finally being approved by the UK’s police and crime commissioners Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Newport to get resilient fibre ring for community safety projects

As part of a wide-reaching regeneration plan, Newport City Council deploys resilient fibre optic network to support community safety Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ross Ulbricht faces life for Silk Road dark market conviction

Ross Ulbricht faces life in jail after being convicted of seven charges related to the Silk Road online illegal drugs dark market Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Offshoring data is biggest barrier to government in the cloud

Offshoring data is the biggest obstacle to putting government services in the cloud, according to a survey of MPs and peers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EC3 announces industry partnership in fight against cyber crime

Europol's European Cybercrime Centre has partnered with security firm AnubisNetworks to help fight the global threat of cyber crime Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Gov dodged scrutiny of Universal Credit

Damage coalition cuts and bodge have done to Universal Credit was omitted from the National Audit Office assessment of the scheme in November.The full story emerged a week after the auditor ... Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Government and Labour trade accusations and insults over Universal Credit progress

The political battle over the future of Universal Credit is heating up, as shown in an extraordinary exchange of letters last month Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Cyber crime is a threat to global economy, says researcher

Halting cyber crime could have a positive impact on the global economy, says Intel Security Europe security researcher and CTO Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Windows 10 in the enterprise

In this week's Computer Weekly, Microsoft has released more details of the forthcoming Windows 10 release – we look at what it means for enterprise IT. The UK government has set out its vision for an EU digital economy – we examine the issues. And our latest buyer's guide covers data science. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype

Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust considered cutting costs by using Skype and low-cost staff to treat patients with depression Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government network services tender deadline slips again

Crown Commercial Service pushes back deadline for tender submissions to Network Services framework to give suppliers more time to prepare Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Post Office faces grilling by MPs over Horizon accounting system

The Post Office faces a grilling by MPs over its mediation scheme for subpostmasters penalised by its Horizon accounting system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

HMRC’s move away from Aspire unachievable by deadline, say MPs

MPs claim Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs will be unable to move away from Aspire outsourcing contract by 2017 deadline Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

QinetiQ hosts latest Cyber Security Challenge competition

UK defence firm QinetiQ challenged amateur cyber defenders in a realistic global online terrorist attack simulation Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Future of parliament report calls for digital engagement and online voting

A report outlines how parliament should embrace digital technology to be more transparent, inclusive and better able to engage the public Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Universal Credit bodged its bodge

Iain Duncan Smith looked like a fall guy when he started work on Universal Credit. He humbled forward to take the stage for his grand social project, with a little shove from his superiors. He ... Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard