News

IT for government and public sector

• June 29, 2023 29 Jun'23

  NHS to launch Digital Health Check

  The NHS Digital Health Check will be rolled out from spring 2024, and allow patients to do certain tests and get advice from their homes

• June 29, 2023 29 Jun'23

  The Finnish Food Authority uses AI to accelerate research

  Researchers have reduced the time taken to get critical insights into potential public health crises and address issues in real-time, through artificial intelligence

• June 28, 2023 28 Jun'23

  Charity demands transparency in digital universal credit system

  The digital universal credit system needs overhauling to ensure greater transparency over benefit claims and more effective means of redress when things go wrong, says child poverty charity

• June 28, 2023 28 Jun'23

  Scottish government tech accelerator opens latest funding round

  The Scottish government’s CivTech accelerator is seeking technology businesses to help develop new tools to improve public services, as well as to address pressing social and environmental issues

• June 28, 2023 28 Jun'23

  GDPR tax reclaim scheme preys on fears of SMEs

  IT suppliers are a target of companies offering a tax reclaim scheme that preys on small businesses’ fears around General Data Protection Regulation compliance

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  Three years on, EncroChat cryptophone hack nets 6,500 arrests and seizures of €900m

  French and Dutch prosecutors say three years after they infiltrated the EncroChat cryptophone network in a novel hacking operation, Europe’s courts are opening the way for more collaboration and data sharing between law enforcement agencies

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  UK AI plans offer ‘inadequate’ human rights protection, says EHRC

  The UK’s equality watchdog says the government must properly consider human rights when implementing rules to regulate artificial intelligence, as current plan offers little protection

• June 27, 2023 27 Jun'23

  One Login’s Gov.uk ID check apps downloaded over two million times

  The One Login digital identity system is being used by eight government services, and GDS has issued more than 1.5 million verified identities since summer 2022, while its ID check apps are proving popular

• June 23, 2023 23 Jun'23

  ICO under fire for taking limited action over serious data breaches

  The ICO has come under fire from lawyers and data protection specialists for just issuing written warnings to two public bodies over serious data breaches that placed people’s lives at risk

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  Manchester University students threatened by ransomware gang

  Students and staff members at the University of Manchester are being pressurised by an unnamed ransomware gang

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  UK pension scheme expands relationship with IT services giant TCS

  Tata Consultancy Services retains contract with UK pension scheme for another decade after extending a contract that was first signed in 2011

• June 20, 2023 20 Jun'23

  Post Office will not oppose potential Horizon conviction appellants

  Post Office CEO told MPs that the organisation is telling some subpostmasters it won't oppose them if they appeal

• June 20, 2023 20 Jun'23

  More than 50% of care providers have adopted digital records

  The adoption of digital social care records has reached more than 50%, but the sector still has a way to go to reach the government’s target of 80% by March 2024

• June 20, 2023 20 Jun'23

  Tech entrepreneur Ian Hogarth to chair AI Foundation Model Taskforce

  The government has hired tech investor Ian Hogarth to lead its taskforce on artificial intelligence (AI) safety, aiming to tackle the safety challenges presented by AI and build public confidence in the use of the technology

• June 20, 2023 20 Jun'23

  Union chief calls for outsourced services to be brought in-house

  Unison general secretary calls on Labour to bring outsourced public sector contracts in-house if they fail to meet certain tests

• June 19, 2023 19 Jun'23

  Prime minister Rishi Sunak faces pressure from banks to force tech firms to pay for online fraud

  The UK’s major banks have told the prime minister to force tech firms to do more to prevent fraud that the banks end up paying for

• June 19, 2023 19 Jun'23

  Dutch government puts up €123m to address shortage of ICT workers

  Financial injection aimed at improving cooperation between vocational education and business in the Netherlands, and making the tech professions more attractive

• June 16, 2023 16 Jun'23

  Collaboration in finance sector develops prototype API for digital currency

  The Bank for International Settlements and the Bank of England worked with private sector on central bank digital currency experiment

• June 15, 2023 15 Jun'23

  Exploitation of Barracuda ESG appliances linked to Chinese spies

  Intelligence from Mandiant links exploitation of a flaw in a subset of Barracuda ESG appliances to a previously untracked China-nexus threat actor

• June 15, 2023 15 Jun'23

  Technology secretary Chloe Smith announces £54m package for AI

  In her speech at London Tech Week, Smith launched funding to support a series of AI initiatives, including creating a research and innovation ecosystem for trustworthy and responsible AI, and developing AI technologies to help the UK reach its ...

• June 15, 2023 15 Jun'23

  Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030: Progress report

  Halfway into its plan to give the country a makeover by 2030, Saudi Arabia’s emphasis on technology is starting to pay off

• June 15, 2023 15 Jun'23

  Department for Education plans to assess AI risk and benefits

  The department has begun a consultation looking at the role of generative artificial intelligence in education

• June 14, 2023 14 Jun'23

  EU AI act passes a significant milestone

  The European Union’s AI Act will ban the use of artificial intelligence to profile people based on race or gender and prohibit use of biometric identification in public spaces

• June 14, 2023 14 Jun'23

  Google Cloud signs MoU to accelerate take-up of AI by UK defence sector

  Google Cloud is continuing to make in-roads into the UK public sector after signing MoU with The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

• June 13, 2023 13 Jun'23

  London Tech Week: Keir Starmer calls for AI job loss discussion

  Labour leader sees a need for a broad regulatory framework and a frank discussion with business to inform policy around job losses arising from artificial intelligence

• June 13, 2023 13 Jun'23

  Delayed Making Tax Digital programme to cost taxpayers extra £1.5bn

  HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Making Tax Digital programme, which is running several years behind schedule, is expected to cost five times more than planned, National Audit Office (NAO) report finds

• June 12, 2023 12 Jun'23

  Ada Lovelace Institute warns against Covid app reuse

  There are a number of lessons policy-makers should take away from the use of apps developed as part of the Covid-19 response

• June 12, 2023 12 Jun'23

  Rishi Sunak calls for urgency in building out UK tech

  The UK prime minister used his speech during London Tech Week to discuss funding tech, attracting talent and AI safety

• June 09, 2023 09 Jun'23

  UK-US Atlantic Declaration bolsters tech and data collaboration

  Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak agree greater collaboration on responsible artificial intelligence, quantum computing and Open RAN

• June 09, 2023 09 Jun'23

  UK and US move closer to transatlantic data bridge deal

  The British and American governments have committed, in principle, to a new data bridge agreement that will ease the free flow of personal data across the Atlantic

• June 09, 2023 09 Jun'23

  University of Manchester hit by cyber attack

  The University of Manchester has been hit by a cyber attack of an undisclosed nature

• June 08, 2023 08 Jun'23

  CDEI publishes portfolio of AI assurance techniques

  The UK’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has published a variety of case studies to show how different assurance techniques can build and maintain trust in artificial intelligence systems

• June 08, 2023 08 Jun'23

  Netherlands enables contactless payments on entire public transport network

  All modes of public transport now accept payments using contactless technology after the completion of major project in the Netherlands

• June 08, 2023 08 Jun'23

  Government and industry figures meet to discuss AI regulation

  Tech industry figures are broadly supportive of the need for artificial intelligence to be regulated, but despite growing consensus, there is still disagreement over what effective AI regulation looks like

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  UKtech50 2023: The most influential people in UK technology

  Computer Weekly has announced the 13th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  UKtech50 2023 winner: Michelle Donelan/Chloe Smith, secretary of state, DSIT

  Computer Weekly looks at the achievements and successes of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as its secretary of state is recognised as the most influential person in UK technology for 2023

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  Open banking regulator sets out next steps

  Plans for ongoing evolution of the UK open banking sector have been set out by regulator in bid to grow the open banking sector in a ‘safe, scalable and economically sustainable way’

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  Payments regulator makes APP fraud reimbursement mandatory

  UK payments regulator confirms changes to rules around repaying customers who lose money to authorised push payment fraudsters

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  Government to test rural broadband options with £7m fund

  Government to fund tests of technologies that could be issued to improve internet connectivity for rural communities

• June 06, 2023 06 Jun'23

  Indian IT services giant takes UK teachers’ pensions contract from Capita

  Tata Consultancy Services bolsters its growing UK public sector customer base with key contract win

• June 06, 2023 06 Jun'23

  ESA uses NetApp as-a-service for space data ‘hot’ archive

  The European Space Agency collects data from millions of miles away. It must get storage right when there’s no chance of a u-turn to take more photos or re-record data

• June 06, 2023 06 Jun'23

  TechUK publishes ‘UK tech plan’ for next government

  Technology businesses are calling on UK politicians to devise a ‘comprehensive, forward-thinking strategy’ to realise the benefits of technology ahead of the next general election

• June 05, 2023 05 Jun'23

  Workers ‘deeply uncomfortable’ with digital surveillance at work

  Employees express discomfort towards employers’ use of various digital surveillance and monitoring techniques, which are often powered by artificial intelligence

• June 05, 2023 05 Jun'23

  UK has time limit on ensuring cryptocurrency regulatory leadership, says Parliamentary report

  Parliamentary report makes 53 recommendations to the government's plans to regulate cryptocurrency

• June 05, 2023 05 Jun'23

  Medical regulator drops probe into NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy amid dispute over email evidence

  The General Medical Council has dropped an investigation into an NHS whistleblower who exposed widespread clinical harm at Morecambe Bay Trust amid questions over disputed email evidence

• June 05, 2023 05 Jun'23

  Sweden is developing its own big language model

  Artificial Intelligence Sweden is leading an initiative to build a large language model not only for Swedish, but for all the major languages in the Nordic region: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese

• June 01, 2023 01 Jun'23

  AI interview: Dan McQuillan, critical computing expert

  Critical computing expert Dan McQuillan speaks to Computer Weekly about the top-down imposition of artificial intelligence on society, and how AI is a fundamentally political technology shaped by humanity’s most reactionary tendencies

• June 01, 2023 01 Jun'23

  Met Police director of intelligence defends facial recognition

  The Met Police’s director of intelligence has appeared before MPs to make the case for its continuing use of facial-recognition technology, following announcements from the force and the Home Office that they intend to press on with its adoption

• May 30, 2023 30 May'23

  UK, US and Australia jointly trial AI-enabled drone swarm

  British, American and Australian military organisations have trialled the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drones in a collaboration designed to drive their adoption of AI-powered military tools

• May 30, 2023 30 May'23

  Downstream breaches of Capita customers spreading

  As many as 90 organisations that used Capita services have now reported data breaches arising from various security incidents at the outsourcer