News

IT for government and public sector

• January 21, 2020 21 Jan'20

  High-tech firms provide boost to consulting industry

  Data privacy and the shift to service-based models are some of the areas where companies such as Google and Apple are turning to consultants for support, according to a new report

• January 20, 2020 20 Jan'20

  UK government strengthens ties with African tech firms

  Plans announced to develop startups in Africa as part of the announcements around the first UK-Africa investment summit

• January 20, 2020 20 Jan'20

  NHS Digital launches login toolkit

  Self-service package can be integrated into healthcare apps and platforms

• January 20, 2020 20 Jan'20

  Norway’s government to upgrade digital in school curriculum

  Primary and secondary schools in Norway will introduce more digital learning, following the latest government reforms

• January 17, 2020 17 Jan'20

  Cabinet Office launches data handling review

  Oliver Dowden issues statement explaining the New Year Honours list leak and announces new practices after the publication of personal details of over 1,000 public figures

• January 17, 2020 17 Jan'20

  NHS SBS launches consumer-style procurement hub

  NHS Shared Business Services’ cloud marketplace The Edge4Health kicks off with four major NHS organisations to transform the way the health service buys products and services

• January 16, 2020 16 Jan'20

  UK’s phone and internet bulk data surveillance unlawful, says EU court opinion

  The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice issues legal opinions finding that the UK, French and Belgian bulk surveillance regimes are unlawful

• January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20

  Loan charge under review: IT contractors slam government's planned policy revamp

  The IT contractor community shares its verdict on the UK government's plans to revamp its controversial loan charge policy, which has left thousands of people facing life-changing tax bills and financial ruin

• January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20

  AWS to request temporary halt to Microsoft’s work on $10bn JEDI cloud contract

  Amazon to file temporary restraining order with the US federal court to prevent Microsoft undertaking any substantial work relating to its delivery of US government’s JEDI cloud contract

• January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20

  Dasa awards AI warship contracts

  First wave of £4m funding aims to transform defence platforms and tackle issues such as information overload faced by crews

• January 14, 2020 14 Jan'20

  Why subpostmasters are calling on the government to pay Horizon trial costs

  The damages that subpostmasters will receive after their court victory against the Post Office fall well short of their calculated losses

• January 14, 2020 14 Jan'20

  IfG warns systems needed after Brexit transition are “impossible to deliver”

  The IT required to be operational after December 2020 is almost certainly undeliverable, according to Institute for Government report

• January 13, 2020 13 Jan'20

  UK urged to take centre stage in global digital trade

  Trade association TechUK sets out vision to liberalise digital trade policy, under principles such as the opposition to data localisation in exchange for market access to fend off the trend towards digital protectionism

• January 10, 2020 10 Jan'20

  Subpostmaster group calls for government to pay legal costs for Horizon trial

  The group of subpostmasters that defeated the Post Office in court over a faulty IT system are calling for the government to pay the costs of the legal action

• January 09, 2020 09 Jan'20

  New Cabinet Office junior minister takes over GDS duties

  Jeremy Quin is the seventh minister to be responsible for the digital service since Francis Maude's departure in 2015

• January 08, 2020 08 Jan'20

  Sadiq Khan calls for evolution of London Datastore

  As the initiative reaches its 10th anniversary, City Hall wants data to be a key tool in tackling the capital's challenges and outlines future opportunities

• January 08, 2020 08 Jan'20

  Half of UK citizens want tighter data regulations

  Over 50% of UK citizens believe the gathering and use of personal data should be subject to more stringent government oversight, according to Fujitsu

• January 08, 2020 08 Jan'20

  Fujitsu must face scrutiny following Post Office Horizon trial judgment

  While the Post Office has suffered financial and reputational damage after losing its court battle with subpostmasters, the supplier of the IT system at the centre of the dispute has major PR challenges ahead

• January 07, 2020 07 Jan'20

  Bus open data portal to go live in January 2020

  The service will start by publishing route and timetable data and will evolve to provide fare and real-time location data in 2021

• January 07, 2020 07 Jan'20

  Met Police to upgrade command and control system

  Metropolitan Police Service signs Leidos to renew command and control setup under a 10-year programme

• January 06, 2020 06 Jan'20

  Highways England uses robot to speed up roadworks

  A machine equipped with precise positioning technology carried out, in a few hours, road marking work that usually takes a week

• January 06, 2020 06 Jan'20

  Iran likely to hit back with cyber attacks, security experts warn

  The possibility of cyber attack by threat groups acting on behalf of the Iranian government has dramatically increased following US actions in Iraq

• January 06, 2020 06 Jan'20

  UK cyber security boss Ciaran Martin to step down

  NCSC chief Ciaran Martin will leave his post in the summer of 2020

• January 03, 2020 03 Jan'20

  Cummings issues recruitment call for data scientists to reshape Whitehall

  Government’s most senior adviser appeals to data scientists to step forward to refashion how the UK state works

• January 02, 2020 02 Jan'20

  Call for former Post Office CEO to step down from public roles after IT court battle lost

  Conservative peer is calling for former Post Office CEO to step down from high-profile public roles for her part in Horizon IT scandal

• December 31, 2019 31 Dec'19

  UK satellite data to spearhead fight against climate change

  The Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds have joined forces in a £5m government-backed programme to use satellite data to combat climate change

• December 31, 2019 31 Dec'19

  Top 10 NHS stories of 2019

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 NHS stories of 2019

• December 30, 2019 30 Dec'19

  Top 10 enterprise IT in the Benelux region stories of 2019

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top enterprise IT stories from the Benelux region over the past year

• December 30, 2019 30 Dec'19

  Top 10 government IT stories of 2019

  Computer Weekly looks back at the main stories related to government IT this year

• December 24, 2019 24 Dec'19

  Former Post Office CEO apologises to subpostmasters over Horizon scandal

  Subpostmasters criticise former CEO’s apology for their suffering as “too little, too late”

• December 20, 2019 20 Dec'19

  National Federation of Subpostmasters cries foul after court ruling on controversial computer system

  The National Federation of Subpostmasters said it was misled by the Post Office about the robustness of the IT systems its members use

• December 20, 2019 20 Dec'19

  Finnish government supports local authorities in cyber security initiative

  The Finnish government has committed resources to a cyber security project aimed at local authorities

• December 19, 2019 19 Dec'19

  Home Office details seven-point plan to cutting its Immigration Technology team's cloud costs by 40%

  The Home Office has revealed how its Immigration Technology team cut cloud costs through spot and reserved instances, scheduling, auto-scaling and encouraging developers to spring clean test environments

• December 19, 2019 19 Dec'19

  Criminal Courts Review Commission to review Horizon judgment ‘swiftly’

  The CCRC’s review of potentially unfair prosecutions of subpostmasters is just one of the unresolved issues in in relation to subpostmasters’ battle with the Post Office over its faulty IT system

• December 18, 2019 18 Dec'19

  HM Treasury mulls loan charge review findings, but will not confirm public release date

  Contractor community frustrated by lack of concrete release date for review as loan charge settlement date of 31 January 2020 looms

• December 18, 2019 18 Dec'19

  How Saudi Arabia plans to become the Silicon Valley of the Middle East

  With its young and educated population, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become a hub for tech innovation

• December 17, 2019 17 Dec'19

  No change for tech in Boris Johnson’s new government – yet

  Nicky Morgan remains in charge of digital policies as DCMS secretary, despite quitting as an MP before the General Election

• December 11, 2019 11 Dec'19

  Post Office settles legal dispute with subpostmasters, ending 20-year battle for lead claimant

  The Post Office has settled its long-running legal dispute with subpostmasters, and will pay £57.75m in damages

• December 11, 2019 11 Dec'19

  How can CIOs in Europe turn innovation into a competitive advantage?

  CIOs across Europe are under pressure to innovate to help businesses grow and must think differently as a result

• December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19

  Department for Transport to build mapping tool for transport data

  System will use place-based information on a range of transport-related issues and follows the announcement of a future of urban mobility plan

• December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19

  Scottish Justice Committee wants extra powers for biometrics commissioner

  Members of Scottish Parliament in the Justice Committee have welcomed the creation of a biometrics commissioner for Scotland, but want ensure that they have the ‘necessary teeth’ for the job

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  Cloud computing surges in the UAE in 2019

  Cloud computing take-up saw a significant acceleration in the Middle East throughout this year

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  UK government supports online counter-extremism

  Work under the Building a Stronger Britain Together programme is due to be completed this month

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  Public sector still losing user devices in high numbers

  The Ministry of Justice has lost 354 smartphones, PCs, laptops and tablets in the past 12 months, according to a Freedom of Information request, and other government departments are in the same boat

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  Online fact-checkers warn of misinformation on unprecedented scale in 2019 election

  The UK’s elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission, is calling for new powers to regulate online political advertising

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  China bans foreign computing kit from government contracts

  All government offices and public institutions must eliminate foreign hardware and software within three years, according to a leaked directive dubbed 3-5-2

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  FCO to boost cloud analysis setup

  A new procurement process has been launched to bring in new features such as geospatial analysis

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Tories plan electronic visa waiver for EU citizens

  Pledge introduces the idea of electronic travel authorisation as part of plans to protect the UK border after Brexit

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Dutch government must sort IT mess as priority

  Dutch government lacks the knowledge and skills for its own IT strategy, according to scathing report

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Dutch government must facilitate and coordinate a broad eID system

  The Dutch government should push for an electronic ID system for its citizens that works across the public and private sectors, according to a report

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Cyber security takes its place alongside UK’s armed services

  Head of armed services says cyber security will take its place alongside the army, navy and air force as a key pillar of the UK’s defence strategy

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Cyber Girls First volunteers encourage girls to think high-tech

  More than 80 schoolgirls spent a day learning about computer hackers and rocket science – Cyber Girls First hopes they will become the next generation of technologists

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  AWS CEO Andy Jassy blames 'significant political interference' for Amazon losing $10bn JEDI deal

  AWS CEO Andy Jassy claims White House meddling led to it losing out to Microsoft on the US Department of Defense JEDI contract, despite its cloud platform being demonstrably superior

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Poor tech provision causes dissatisfaction in SMEs

  Smaller businesses are struggling to provide a good enough employee experience when it comes to tech, according to a study

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  General Election 2019: Which manifesto is best for the UK’s tech sector?

  Computer Weekly breaks down each political party’s technology policies ahead of the upcoming General Election to see how they compare

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  Survey finds most firms don’t respond to GDPR requests in time

  Most organisations do not respond to requests for GDPR data in the one month allowed, while many return incorrect data. The education sector does best, but the public sector lags behind

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  UK government urged to ramp up digital skills

  Programme for International Student Assessment results show UK is lagging behind Asian powerhouses, according to Open Knowledge Foundation

• December 02, 2019 02 Dec'19

  Private sector warned off delaying IR35 reform prep as Conservative Party promises review

  The Conservative Party has followed in the footsteps of the Liberal Democrats, The Labour Party and the Scottish National Party by committing to a review of the IR35 reforms

• December 02, 2019 02 Dec'19

  UK boards lose digital confidence

  Fewer organisations feel they have the expertise they require, according to a Harvey Nash survey

• November 29, 2019 29 Nov'19

  Labour SME minister back-tracks over claims party will scrap IR35 reforms if it comes to power

  Shadow small business secretary Bill Esterson clarifies comments he made during an event this week that suggested Labour had made halting the roll-out of the IR35 reforms to the private sector policy

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  Finnish tech firm aims to create scalable general-purpose quantum computer

  University spin-off is attempting to take quantum computing capabilities to multiple business sectors

• November 26, 2019 26 Nov'19

  Peer calls for clear-out of Post Office board after Court of Appeal confirms major court defeat

  Conservative peer championing subpostmasters’ long-running battle with Post Office suggests management clear-out after Court of Appeal rejects appeal bid

• November 26, 2019 26 Nov'19

  Revamped HMRC IR35 status checker tool still lacks key functionality, contractor groups claim

  HMRC releases an updated version of its IR35 tax status checker tool, CEST, to accommodate the onset of the tax avoidance reforms being rolled out to the private sector, but contracting stakeholders claim it still lacks basic functionality

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  General Election 2019: The Conservatives’ technology policies and digital plans

  With the UK gearing up for its third general election in four years, Computer Weekly outlines the Conservative and Unionist Party’s main technology policies and digital plans, as laid out in its manifesto

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  University of Leicester dumps SANs and LUNs for Cloudian object storage

  One-to-one mapping between Dell SANs and media servers had passed their sell-by date and caused vulnerabilities for the University of Leicester, which fixed the problems by a move to “stateless” object storage on Cloudian

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  General Election 2019: Labour’s technology policies and digital plans

  With the UK gearing up for its third General Election in four years, Computer Weekly outlines the Labour Party’s main technology policies and digital plans, as laid out in its manifesto

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  Conservatives propose national cyber crime force

  Manifesto also says Tories would “empower the police to safely use new technologies like biometrics and artificial intelligence, along with the use of DNA, within a strict legal framework”

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Court of Appeal dismisses Post Office application to appeal damning judgment

  The Court of Appeal has rejected a Post Office application to appeal judgments made in the first trial of its multimillion-pound battle with subpostmasters over IT system failures.

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  Labour pledges review of NCSC in UK security overhaul

  The UK's National Cyber Security Centre may get expanded powers under a Labour government

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  SMEs prevail in expanded FutureNHS tender

  Health service is looking to procure a larger sharing and collaboration platform for health and social care

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  Lib Dem election manifesto: Party vows to scrap loan charge and review IR35 private sector reforms

  The Liberal Democrats’ General Election manifesto sees the party pledge to scrap the controversial loan charge policy, and undertake a review of the IR35 private sector reforms

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  Collaboration is key to rapid adoption of govtech across Europe

  Government technology is spreading across Europe, but policy-makers and senior civil servants are still figuring out best practices

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  NHSX seeks chief information officer

  Role is the latest in a series of senior positions the digital unit is looking to fill in order to build its leadership

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Swedish hospitals suffer IT crashes

  Hospitals in Sweden’s West Götaland region have suffered computer problems because of as-yet unexplained hard drive crashes

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Met Police launches £600m IT infrastructure tender

  Force aims to move away from a multi-supplier approach and enable flexibility and savings in technology

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Finland’s ministry of transport floats tech-enabled four-day week

  Government department says four-day working week is made possible by technologies such as artificial intelligence

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  House of Commons seeks IT security chief

  Interviews for the two-year engagement are due to take place in December 2019

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Public sector risks downplayed by senior IT leaders

  Sophos reveals a significant cyber security perception gap between senior IT and security leaders in the public sector and their front-line teams

• November 18, 2019 18 Nov'19

  Scottish local government prioritises automation and AI in digital plan

  Use of the technologies will be ramped up as part of the next phase of the Digital Office 2.0 programme

• November 15, 2019 15 Nov'19

  Loan charge under review: The 20-year retroactive tax policy pushing IT contractors to the brink

  Thousands of IT contractors are at risk of financial ruin as HMRC pursues them for tax it claims they owe on work they did up to two decades ago and were reimbursed for via loan remuneration schemes. Computer Weekly investigates

• November 15, 2019 15 Nov'19

  Notorious hackers claim responsibility for Labour DDoS

  Hackers claiming to represent Lizard Squad say they were behind a distributed denial of service attack on the UK’s Labour Party

• November 14, 2019 14 Nov'19

  Home Office Brexit app contains multiple security flaws

  The Home Office’s Brexit app may be putting EU citizens’ personal data at risk

• November 14, 2019 14 Nov'19

  LOTI launches dashboard that maps technology resources of local authorities

  London Office of Technology and Innovation launches dashboard in partnership with Bloomberg Associates to drive savings and identify skills levels

• November 13, 2019 13 Nov'19

  Attack on Labour shows need for DDoS defence but should alarm few

  After being hit by two DDoS attacks in the space of 24 hours, many commentators are convinced the UK’s Labour Party is the victim of foreign interference in the General Election campaign. It probably isn’t

• November 12, 2019 12 Nov'19

  NHS still holds citizen trust on data use

  But the public trust banks more than local or central government bodies when it comes to handling personal information, a new study has found

• November 12, 2019 12 Nov'19

  ‘Robust’ security foils cyber attack on Labour Party

  Labour claims to have been the victim of a cyber attack, but says it is confident no data leaked

• November 11, 2019 11 Nov'19

  G-Cloud 10 fails to generate business for suppliers, study says

  Research firm Tussell’s study into G-Cloud reveals majority of suppliers listed in its report did not earn any revenue in 2018 through the public sector framework

• November 08, 2019 08 Nov'19

  HMCTS researches the future of open justice

  A new report by Policy Lab into the threats and opportunities of technology is aimed to support new approaches to policy-making

• November 06, 2019 06 Nov'19

  General Election affects National Data Strategy

  A series of workshops, including the public’s involvement to guide the plan’s vision, have been postponed

• November 05, 2019 05 Nov'19

  Welsh government to hire chief digital officer

  The £500,000 of annual funding will go towards a leader and a department dedicated to developing digital initiatives

• November 05, 2019 05 Nov'19

  ICO launches data security campaign for UK General Election

  Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham launches campaign to remind the public of their rights when personal data is used for political purposes

• November 04, 2019 04 Nov'19

  Modernisation of justice may leave vulnerable users behind

  A Commons Select Committee report has voiced a number of concerns about the ongoing transformation efforts led by the Ministry of Justice and called for actions such as maintenance of non-digital services

• November 04, 2019 04 Nov'19

  Government allocates £2m to support growth of lawtech

  New government funding unlocked to help break down barriers to the adoption of emerging technologies in the legal sector

• November 04, 2019 04 Nov'19

  IR35 tribunal rules HMRC wrong to pursue ex-DWP IT contractor for £240,000 in unpaid employment tax

  HMRC has vowed to appeal against the outcome of an IR35 tribunal that ruled it should not be pursuing an ex-DWP and Accenture IT contractor for more than £240,000 in unpaid tax as his engagements classify him as self-employed

• November 04, 2019 04 Nov'19

  EU patches 20-year-old open source vulnerability

  Ethical hackers taking part in a bug bounty programme on behalf of the European Union have uncovered a 20-year-old vulnerability

• November 01, 2019 01 Nov'19

  HMRC appoints interim chief digital and information officer

  Jacky Wright's replacement is a financial services veteran who brings expertise in tech-enabled change and payments infrastructure

• October 31, 2019 31 Oct'19

  Government review of cloud-first policy concludes guidance should remain unchanged

  A review into the continued relevance of the UK government’s six-year-old cloud-first policy has concluded its ‘brand recognition’ is too strong for it to be scrapped, according to GDS

• October 31, 2019 31 Oct'19

  UK at the forefront of government AI investment

  Current and anticipated artificial intelligence spending is the highest in Europe despite various challenges around implementation, according to a report by Accenture

• October 31, 2019 31 Oct'19

  JEDI mind tricks: Did White House interference affect the outcome of $10bn US gov cloud contract?

  Microsoft's triumph over Amazon Web Services (AWS) in securing a $10bn cloud contract with the US Department of Defense has led to questions being asked about whether White House pressure changed the course of the procurement

• October 31, 2019 31 Oct'19

  NHSX reports advancements in artificial intelligence

  Latest study showcases the work in artificial intelligence that is ongoing in the NHS as part of its Long-Term Plan