News

IT for government and public sector

• October 29, 2025 29 Oct'25

  Labour fleshes out R&D funding

  Over the next five years, £85bn has been set aside by the government to fund research and development

• October 29, 2025 29 Oct'25

  Scope of US state-level privacy laws expands rapidly in 2025

  Nine state-level data protection laws have come into force in the US this year, and three more are slated for January 2026. Navigating this complex landscape is becoming a challenge

• October 29, 2025 29 Oct'25

  Post Office Capture redress scheme ‘went down like lead balloon’ and is ‘discriminatory’

  Subpostmasters frustrated after meeting with government minister on the announcement of compensation scheme for those who had problems with Post Office Capture

• October 28, 2025 28 Oct'25

  Alan Turing Institute refocuses on security following Peter Kyle intervention

  A letter by the former secretary of state at DSIT, Peter Kyle, has led to a major transformation, with 78 projects taken off its books

• October 28, 2025 28 Oct'25

  Government begins search for chief technology officer

  The government is looking for a chief technology officer to take charge of delivering its vision for digital public services

• October 27, 2025 27 Oct'25

  LockBit 5.0 expands targeting amid ransomware escalation

  The LockBit RaaS operation is back in action, with technical features and expanded targeting, and is contributing to a steadily growing number of ransomware attacks

• October 27, 2025 27 Oct'25

  Hamas lawyer seeks appeal following police’s seizure of his phone at Welsh port

  Police say that solicitors cannot have a ‘cast iron defence’ to protect their electronic devices from ever being searched

• October 27, 2025 27 Oct'25

  Post Office paid one law firm more for inquiry representation than cost of actual inquiry

  Public inquiry into one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history cost less to run than the Post Office paid one law firm for representation during the four-year process

• October 24, 2025 24 Oct'25

  UK ramps up ransomware fightback with supply chain security guide

  Multinational guidance, developed by the UK and Singapore, is designed to help organisations reinforce their supply chain against ransomware attacks

• October 23, 2025 23 Oct'25

  Capita rubbishes Public Accounts Committee report claims

  The outsourcing giant has missed IT deadlines, stoking fears it won’t be ready to take over the civil service pension contract

• October 23, 2025 23 Oct'25

  Bereaved families call for public inquiry over suicide forum

  The Molly Rose Foundation and families bereaved by suicide claim Ofcom and government departments have not taken effective action to deal with a forum promoting suicide

• October 23, 2025 23 Oct'25

  Amid CISA cuts, US state launches first VDP

  Legislators in Annapolis, Maryland, have teamed up with Bugcrowd to launch a statewide vulnerability disclosure programme

• October 23, 2025 23 Oct'25

  Cabinet Office pinches digital ID responsibility from GDS

  Prime minister Keir Starmer announces Cabinet Office will take over responsibility for the government’s new digital identity scheme

• October 23, 2025 23 Oct'25

  NHS could save millions of hours a year using AI, pilot shows

  A Microsoft Copilot AI trial in 90 NHS organisations found that a national roll-out could save up to 400,000 hours per month

• October 22, 2025 22 Oct'25

  Inspired by the EU: Sweden eyes open standard for encrypted chat services

  What if your messaging and collaboration app could talk to all the others? Swedish government agencies are investigating the possibility

• October 21, 2025 21 Oct'25

  Do government services need a rethink for AI and automation?

  Evidence presented in a new Public Accounts Committee report covering smart public services delivery suggests a change in tack is needed

• October 21, 2025 21 Oct'25

  Government to launch AI sandbox scheme

  The proposed AI Growth Lab aims to cut red tape and allow companies to test artificial intelligence products in a safe environment

• October 20, 2025 20 Oct'25

  From Whitehall to WhatsApp: The rise of conversational government

  Chatbots and secure messaging are reshaping citizen access to public services, offering speed and simplicity, but raising questions of trust and inclusion

• October 20, 2025 20 Oct'25

  France’s Atos eyes UK public sector with investment in secure UK infrastructure

  French IT services supplier invests in highly secure and accredited UK-based infrastructure

• October 20, 2025 20 Oct'25

  The Netherlands faces €12bn R&D investment gap as productivity stagnates

  Dutch government unveils nine-point plan to meet European 3% GDP target after its competitiveness ranking plummeted

• October 20, 2025 20 Oct'25

  Microsoft admonished for role in facilitating Gaza genocide

  Following credible allegations that Microsoft Azure was being used to facilitate mass surveillance and lethal force against Palestinians, which prompted the company to suspend services to the Israeli military unit responsible, human rights ...

• October 17, 2025 17 Oct'25

  HMRC rolls out Microsoft Copilot AI

  HM Revenue and Customs has begun to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot to its staff, with the aim of making productivity savings

• October 16, 2025 16 Oct'25

  Gov.uk One Login live with digital Veteran Card

  The digital version of the Veteran Card is the first government-issued document available in the Gov.uk One Login app, allowing veterans to use their smartphone to access discounts and services

• October 16, 2025 16 Oct'25

  CCRC formally sends Post Office Capture referral to Court of Appeal

  The statutory body agreed in July to refer the conviction of Capture software user Patricia Owen to appeal court

• October 16, 2025 16 Oct'25

  Questions over size of government’s legacy IT estate pose AI adoption issues

  Two House of Commons committees have turned their attention this week to the lack of transparency concerning the size of the government’s legacy IT estate, and what this means for its ability to adopt artificial intelligence technologies

• October 15, 2025 15 Oct'25

  ICO fines Capita £14m after ransomware caused major data breach

  Outsourcing giant hit with £14m fine over 2023 cyber attack, but costs could rise as legal actions continue

• October 15, 2025 15 Oct'25

  India’s biggest IT firm to create 5,000 UK jobs

  Indian IT giant will increase its UK-based workforce by thousands over the next three years

• October 15, 2025 15 Oct'25

  AI will create a better world, says Oracle’s Ellison

  Oracle ramped up its plans to lead in all things AI on the opening day of its renamed customer event, AI World, with founder Larry Ellison emphasising AI’s transformative potential

• October 14, 2025 14 Oct'25

  Infosys multiplies UK public sector revenue by 160 with £1.2bn NHS deal

  Gone are the days of Indian IT suppliers being shunned in UK government contracts through job and security fears

• October 14, 2025 14 Oct'25

  Why Keir Starmer’s mandatory national digital ID system may be neither mandatory nor national

  The government’s proposals for a national digital identity scheme have been widely criticised, but is the prime minister smart enough to realise that an alternative plan could bring wider public benefits?

• October 14, 2025 14 Oct'25

  Shameless Fujitsu boss confident firm will be back in ‘good books’ in 18 months

  Pressure is mounting on Fujitsu as its internal culture and lack of genuine regret over its part in the Post Office scandal are revealed by Computer Weekly

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Interview: Shaping the future of AI in the UAE

  At Gitex 2025 in Dubai, the largest tech show in the Middle East, Chiara Marcati, chief AI advisory and business officer at AI71, discusses the UAE’s ambition to become a global leader in artificial intelligence

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Microsoft and the UAE: Driving AI from strategy to real impact

  Exploring how Microsoft and the UAE are turning AI ambition into practical solutions, empowering talent, and guiding CIOs to adopt AI at scale

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Court dismisses Apple’s appeal against Home Office backdoor

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal rules that Apple’s appeal against a Home Office order to access encrypted data of Apple users world wide will no longer proceed.

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  UK police to upgrade illicit asset recovery system

  A new system is being developed by the Police Digital Service and NEC Software Solutions to help manage the recovery of criminal assets, replacing 20-year-old legacy infrastructure

• October 09, 2025 09 Oct'25

  Chat Control encryption plans delayed after EU states fail to agree

  Plans to require technology companies across Europe to monitor the contents of encrypted messages and emails have been delayed after European Union member states were unable to reach agreement following German objections

• October 09, 2025 09 Oct'25

  Warlock ransomware may be linked to Chinese state

  The operators of Warlock ransomware who exploited a set of SharePoint Server vulnerabilities earlier this year likely have some kind of link to the Chinese government, researchers claim

• October 08, 2025 08 Oct'25

  Fujitsu boss said Post Office inquiry report wasn’t ‘that bad’, despite link to suicides

  Computer Weekly reveals callous comments made by a senior Fujitsu executive about Post Office scandal inquiry report

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  Alert over Medusa ransomware attacks targeting Fortra MFT

  Microsoft warns it is seeing potential mass exploitation of a Fortra GoAnywhere vulnerability by a threat actor linked to the Medusa ransomware-as-a-service operation.

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  Nato chooses Oracle to secure battlefield communications

  Nato has chosen Oracle and Druid to secure private 5G networks for cyber defence, war gaming and research, using Oracle Cloud and edge technology

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  The Security Interviews: David Bradbury, CSO, Okta

  Okta’s chief security officer talks security by default and explains why he thinks time is running out for the shared responsibility model

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  IR35: Conservative Party pledge to reform off-payroll rules gets lacklustre response

  Having overseen two sets of reforms to the IR35 rules while in power, plus an abortive attempt to repeal those same changes, the Conservative Party has pledged another reform of the off-payroll rules

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  AI halves clinical trial approval times

  Use of artificial intelligence to flag up potential issues with clinical trial applications means assessors can approve new treatments faster

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  Peer demands Fujitsu pay £700m in interim as it prepares response to Post Office scandal inquiry

  Fujitsu, government and Post Office set to outline restorative justice plans, as peers calls for an interim payment towards costs.

• October 06, 2025 06 Oct'25

  Police ordered to give reasons in closed court for seizing phone of UK Hamas lawyer

  London court orders police to disclose reasons for seizing and copying the contents of a phone belonging to a UK lawyer who represented Hamas, but refuses an injunction to prevent police from reviewing the phone until after judicial review

• October 06, 2025 06 Oct'25

  Police facial recognition trials show little evidence of benefits

  In-the-wild testing of police facial recognition systems has failed to generate clear evidence of the technology’s benefits, or to assess the full range of socio-technical impacts

• October 06, 2025 06 Oct'25

  UK government to consult on police live facial recognition use

  The UK’s policing minister has confirmed the government will consult on the use of live facial recognition by law enforcement before expanding its use throughout England, but so far, the technology has been deployed with minimal public debate or ...

• October 02, 2025 02 Oct'25

  PSNI appoints legal counsel to report on police conduct after McCullough surveillance review

  The Police Service of Northern Ireland has commissioned a senior lawyer to report back on whether there was any misconduct by police officers following the McCullough Review into the surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs

• October 02, 2025 02 Oct'25

  Interview: Chris Belasco, chief data officer, City of Pittsburgh

  Building data pipelines – the ‘connective tissue’ – is helping to improve operations and deliver better public services in the City of Pittsburgh

• October 02, 2025 02 Oct'25

  Regional booster programme aims to drive UK tech growth

  The government has launched a £1m programme with 14 projects aimed at supporting startups