Recent Blog Posts

Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), is not everyone’s cup of tea – especially when that cup is Matt Hancock branded. But regardless of whether you’re ...

The government announced this month a brand new method for submitting divorce applications: it can now all be done online! The digital route is intended as a less stressful option than the fusty ...

Last week, the Government Digital Service (GDS) dedicated a whole day to talking about what it’s up to, at its first Sprint event in two years. About time too, many observers said, since GDS seemed ...

There’s rather a lot going on in government IT at the moment. Last year’s ambitious transformation strategy set challenging aims of overhauling back-office systems across Whitehall, building an ...

The Windrush scandal has revealed many disturbing things about government policy that have nothing to do with IT. But the issues raised amply demonstrate the importance of technology considerations ...

On April 6th at the launch of the Apprenticeships Anthology Sir Gerry Berragan, the Chief Executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships outlined progress over the past year and updated his 10 ...

I met Mike Bracken, the first leader of the Government Digital Service (GDS), in 2011, not long after he had started the job, for an off-the-record briefing about his ambitious plans to overhaul IT ...

There is no shortage of talent, only of employers who train that talent. Thirty years ago it took around 18 months turn a University Graduate into a competent analyst programmer. During that second ...

Yesterday, the government reluctantly agreed to share with the public a series of documents on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) controversial Universal Credit programme. I say ...

The details in the Prime Minister's speech, including that dismissed as Geekspeak in the mass media, helps explain what is really at stake in the negotiations and why the BBC and the Online ...

If you happen to be an ardent Brexiteer, a true believer in the UK government’s desire for “innovative solutions” to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, we have good news for you. The ...

You wouldn’t exactly classify the leaders of the UK tech sector as a bunch of liberal lefties. For all the stereotypes of bearded Shoreditch sandal-wearers that surround much of the nascent startup ...

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been consistently criticised for its lack of transparency since the controversial Universal Credit programme was launched nearly eight years ago. The ...

There’s a growing body of opinion that the government’s flagship digital identity system, Gov.uk Verify, has now become a major hindrance to the development of the UK’s digital identity ...

It’s nice that we have a prime minister that chooses to use one of her most high-profile speeches of the year to talk about technology. It’s equally good that her chancellor similarly discussed the ...

The demise of construction and services giant Carillion has brought fresh scrutiny of outsourcing in government. Frankly, you could find some event almost every year that brings fresh scrutiny of ...

I was tempted to write this blog post on Computer Weekly's Downtime blog, where we try to look at the lighter side of the world of IT. But I'm not entirely sure this is a joke. While budgetary ...

The switch from graduate recruitment to degree-linked apprenticeships has begin. It is delayed only by lack of information on the latter. That will change if the pilots being organised under the ...

Did you know the UK government has a minister for identity? It’s Baroness Susan Williams, whose full responsibilities go under the grander title of minister of state for countering extremism. ...

In this guest post, Rob Anderson, principal analyst for central government at market watcher GlobalData, takes a look at the implications of delaying the launch of G-Cloud 10 by up to a year.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced the most tech-friendly Budget ever. It wasn’t only the headline figures that mattered though, welcome as they were, including more than £500m of funding, ...

The government’s digital minister, Matt Hancock, is a busy and enthusiastic advocate for the UK’s digital economy. In the past month alone, he’s given five speeches, published an independent review ...

There’s an interesting story doing the rounds this week that highlights some important issues around the UK government’s aim to have a cloud-first policy for IT purchasing. The original scoop, ...

Politics, rightly or wrongly, has an impact on government technology projects. It’s an inevitable part of having a democracy and political prowess can be used to drive transformation, but can it ...

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) appears to have a very different view of how the IR35 tax avoidance reforms are affecting the public sector compared to many of the IT contractors Computer Weekly ...

HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) new chief digital and information officer (CDIO), Jacky Wright, appears  to be an excellent appointment. She’s spent six years in senior roles at Microsoft, most ...

Slowly, technology issues are rising to centre of the Brexit debate – as they should. This week saw the publication of the UK government’s Data Protection Bill – our implementation of the European ...

Halfway through its 2016/17 financial year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) digital team had spent £60m over budget, a freedom of information (FoI) request submitted by Computer Weekly ...

There has been barely a passing public mention from the government about the need for new or redeveloped IT systems to support whatever trading and immigration regime the UK has when it leaves the ...

The general election has passed by, new ministers are in place, and so the Government Digital Service (GDS) is coming back out of its shell. As it embarks on a new parliamentary cycle, GDS is a ...