News

IT for government and public sector

July 07, 2015 07 Jul'15
Campaigners call for independent inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT system dispute

George Freeman MP repeats Post Office claims that a report found no flaws in the Horizon IT system – but campaigners respond by calling for an inquiry
July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15
NCA signs cyber crime-busting MoU with Trend Micro

Landmark MoU will formalise and extend security firm Trend Micro’s co-operative partnership with the NCA
July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15
East Sussex NHS data loss highlights insider threat

The latest loss of patient data by an NHS trust underlines research that around a third of data breaches are caused either accidentally or maliciously by employees
July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15
Genomics England rejects open source to deploy EMC Isilon HPC storage

100,000 Genomes Project rejects building open-source parallel file system on x86 servers and opts for EMC Isilon clustered NAS deployed by Capita S3

July 03, 2015 03 Jul'15
Let’s get real about decryption, says GCHQ tech director

There needs to be more “honesty” in the discussion around GCHQ’s decryption capabilities, according to the agency's Ian Levy
July 03, 2015 03 Jul'15
Camden Council uses IBM data analytics to beat austerity

Camden Council has used data integration to link council systems, enabling it to cut waste and improve efficiency – and saving £93m in the process
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
BT Security chief predicts big challenges ahead, despite progress

Cyber security is a big opportunity, not just a threat and by systematically applying security controls defenders are raising the bar, according to BT Security chief
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
ICO reports progress in data protection, but funding remains a concern

Despite the progress of the past year, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) says it still doesn't know how it will fund its operations in the future
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
Metropolitan Police picks Innopsis to lead network procurement

London’s Metropolitan Police Service signs public-sector networking association Innopsis to lead engagement on network procurement
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
Accenture uses Avanade cloud for NHSmail

Accenture to deploy a cloud-based email system for NHS staff using a combination of Microsoft software and Avanade cloud technology

July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
Local digital services “not my job” says GDS’s Bracken

The government’s digital chief was questioned over how local authorities can collaborate with Whitehall on common challenges
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Former MoJ digital chief set to take over Australia's digital government team

Paul Shetler is reported to have been appointed chief executive of Australia's digital government unit
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Coalition achieved its goal of smaller IT deals, research reveals

Previous coalition government managed to reduce the average size of public sector IT services and IT outsourcing contracts, shows an ISG study
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
UK universities revise computer course guidelines to boost ranks of cyber warriors

UK universities revise course guidelines to transform computing degree courses and ensure that undergraduates learn cyber security skills
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Post Office signs IBM for IT overhaul

MP James Bridgen reveals the Post Office intends to outsource an IT transformation to IBM as part of its drive to serve customers using modern technology
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
EU launches Internet Referral Unit to combat online extremism

The EU has launched an anti-terror unit tasked with identifying extremist online content and supporting member states with operational and strategic analysis
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Public and government attitudes to smart cities a vicious circle

A survey of attitudes towards smart cities conducted by comms infrastructure supplier Arqiva has revealed a vicious circle of ignorance
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Rights group ACLU opposes extended NSA phone surveillance

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will argue the Freedom Act does not authorise the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect phone data in bulk
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Government should follow in private sector’s footsteps if it wants digital to succeed

The government should use tactics deployed by the private sector if it wants to encourage the public to use online services
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Connection voucher scheme opened to businesses across West Sussex

Small businesses in West Sussex will be able to apply for £3,000 broadband connection vouchers after the extension of an existing scheme across the county
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Do not leave digital government development to Whitehall, says Chi Onwurah MP

Whitehall should not be left with sole responsibility for the government drive to building a digital future, says shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Post Office looking to replace controversial Horizon system with IBM, says MP

Days could be numbered for controversial Post Office computer system at the centre of miscarriages of justice, according to one MP
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Microsoft in the dark after Parliamentary email disrupted for three days

After a week of investigations, Microsoft has been unable to provide an explanation for failure of the Microsoft 365 cloud-based email service used by Parliament
June 29, 2015 29 Jun'15
Cisco launches IoT System for enterprise and smart cities

Cisco unveils 15 products to address the growing complexity of internet of things deployments
June 29, 2015 29 Jun'15
Is the UK government serious about tackling IT suppliers' abuse of intra company transfers?

The UK government is making noises about reducing the number of non-EU workers in the UK – and the IT industry could be the focal point for this
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
21 major government IT projects flagged with problems

Annual report from the government's Major Projects Authority reveals latest assessments
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
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
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
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
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
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
June 24, 2015 24 Jun'15
European Parliament negotiators finalise talks on EU data protection regulation

The European Parliament, Council and Commission finalise negotiations to enact the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
June 24, 2015 24 Jun'15
Labour MP Chi Onwurah warns of nationalisation risk to UK citizens' personal data

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah calls on UK citizens to keep close tabs on how the government uses their personal data
June 24, 2015 24 Jun'15
Former TalkTalk CIO to lead Police ICT Company

Experienced CIO Martin Wyke has been appointed CEO of the Police ICT Company, set up to manage central police systems
June 24, 2015 24 Jun'15
Government hands out 25,000 broadband connection vouchers

Department for Culture, Media & Sport delivers progress report on superfast broadband connection voucher scheme
June 22, 2015 22 Jun'15
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
June 19, 2015 19 Jun'15
Cumbria Constabulary issues Samsung Galaxy Note smartphones to officers

Smartphones to replace police notebooks as EE and Cumbria Constabulary partner up to deliver mobility to officers
June 17, 2015 17 Jun'15
Cambridge replaces enterprise storage with direct attach Dell-Lustre setup

Cambridge University uses Dell's MD direct attached storage with Intel’s Lustre to support its data-intensive research programmes
June 17, 2015 17 Jun'15
Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock calls for 'data culture' across government

The government wants to move towards a 'data culture' to make better spending decisions, says minister responsible for digital reform, Matt Hancock
June 16, 2015 16 Jun'15
Digital business unhappy over “draconian” EU data protection laws

European digital businesses say the GDPR text agreed by the EU Council of Ministers is a draconian, blunt-instrument that threatens to hobble online advertising
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
Freedom of speech dominates Magna Carta for digital age

A world wide web that will not let companies pay to control it, and not let governments restrict the right to information is the most popular clause for a digital era Magna Carta
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
EU Data Protection Regulation to be finalised by end of 2015

The last phase of negotiation is set to begin to hammer out a final text of the new European General Data Protection Regulation
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
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
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
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
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
Byte Night founder among tech community recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours List

Several leading individuals in the UK tech community received awards in the latest honours list
June 12, 2015 12 Jun'15
Supplier concerns over government procurement rules cause G-Cloud event rethink

A G-Cloud ‘masterclass’ promising attendees a ‘significant and unfair advantage’ in securing business through the framework prompts supplier concerns
June 12, 2015 12 Jun'15
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
June 11, 2015 11 Jun'15
Surveillance legislation needs verification, says Anderson report

The government, TechUK and Big Brother Watch welcome the Anderson report on surveillance legislation – but the civil liberties group calls for wider debate
June 11, 2015 11 Jun'15
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?
June 11, 2015 11 Jun'15
Only 3% of civil servants think the government gets good value from the tech industry

A survey by industry body TechUK has found only a small percentage of civil servants feel the government currently gets good value out of the tech industry
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
DWP extends trial of Universal Credit digital system

The trial for the digital service to support the controversial welfare reform programme has been expanded to two new areas in Sutton and Croydon
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
CERN picks Cisco to collaborate on advanced networking capabilities

Cisco joins CERN’s openlab industry partnership platform to help develop new computing infrastructure technology
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
International police operation arrests cyber fraud gang

Police in six countries have arrested 49 people suspected of committing financial fraud involving email account intrusions
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
Oxford and Cambridge University colleges turn to Aerohive to manage WLAN traffic

Colleges and institutions at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are attempting to mitigate the effects of the substantial demand on their wireless networks
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
US government websites to use encryption by 2017

A US government HTTPS-Only Standard directive requires that all federal websites accessible to the public must encrypt all data exchanges
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
US state of Maine turns to BPM to cut admin costs

The US state of Maine is automating a range of government processes in a bid to cut administration costs by more than 10%
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
UK government not doing enough to prevent cyber attacks, say CTOs

Some 60% of CTOs, 15% of CFOs and 23% of CEOs feel the government is not doing a good job educating businesses and defending them from cyber attacks
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
Local government blind to internet of things savings

A report from Vodafone says local councils could save billions by implementing smart city systems, but are ignorant to the possibilities
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
O2 pulls out of ESN mobile network bid process

O2 pulls out of the bidding process to supply the new Emergency Services Network 4G broadband voice and data network, leaving EE the presumptive provider
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
US Army website hacked as Obama vows to boost cyber defences

US president Barack Obama vows to boost US cyber defences as a group calling itself 'the Syrian Electronic Army' hacks the US Army's website
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
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
June 08, 2015 08 Jun'15
Public cloud emerges as Europe's least popular off-premise IT deployment method

Easynet research investigating European IT decision-maker buying trends suggests private cloud rules the roost
June 08, 2015 08 Jun'15
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance to get backpack comms hubs

The Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust is to assist in the design and development of a backpack-mounted communications system
June 08, 2015 08 Jun'15
Digital services not saving government departments money, says NAO

Government departments are not making the savings digital services were aiming to deliver
June 05, 2015 05 Jun'15
HMRC indicates move to Google Apps

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has indicated it will be moving away from Microsoft and towards Google Apps for document sharing and collaboration
June 05, 2015 05 Jun'15
Co-operation driving progress in fighting cyber crime, say law enforcers

Co-operation with business in the private sector is an increasingly important element in fighting crime, according to UK, US and EU law enforcement officers
June 05, 2015 05 Jun'15
GDS to completely redesign Digital Services Framework

The Digital Service Framework for services procurement will be redesigned and possibly renamed
June 05, 2015 05 Jun'15
Four million records exposed in second US agency hack in a year

Breach of four million records at US federal personal agency could be used for secondary attacks on other US government systems, security experts warn
June 04, 2015 04 Jun'15
Peer demands action over ‘illegal’ Prism programme

US technology companies are operating illegally by accessing data on UK citizens, Lord Laird tells the House of Lords
June 04, 2015 04 Jun'15
Ed Vaizey to chair Digital Infrastructure Taskforce for broadband and mobile

Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey will take charge of a Digital Infrastructure Taskforce focused on broadband, mobile and the digital economy
June 04, 2015 04 Jun'15
We are in early years of international cyber war arms race, says security expert Bruce Schneier

Countries are not attacking each other but striking at the IT infrastructure of enterprises in rival states, says security pundit Bruce Schneier
June 04, 2015 04 Jun'15
Network failure crashed frontline services at London hospital

Network problem at Hillingdon hospital meant clinical staff could not access information on computer systems
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
NHS Shared Business Services expands through acquisition

NHS Shared Business Services acquires to grow customer base and expand offering
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
HMRC looks for transformation partner ahead of Aspire end

HMRC is seeking transformational help ahead of the demise of its Aspire contract in 2017.
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
Law enforcement officers weigh in on encryption at Infosecurity Europe

Law enforcement officers have called for greater co-operation with the tech industry and the public to enable access to electronic communications for targeted surveillance
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
City of Groningen to create smart city infrastructure

Groningen in the Netherlands signs a memorandum of understanding with Huawei to develop a smart city infrastructure
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
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
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
London hospital trust delays IT project completion as issues frustrate staff

London hospital delays major IT project completion due to 'teething and birthing issues'
June 02, 2015 02 Jun'15
GDS gives Box the nod for cross-department collaboration

GDS turns to cloud storage and file-sharing specialist Box to manage collaboration across UK government departments
June 02, 2015 02 Jun'15
Cyber attacks hit wide array of UK businesses, says GCHQ

UK security agency GCHQ surprised by the extent and variety of organisations subject to cyber intrusions, says director general for cyber security, Ciaran Martin
June 02, 2015 02 Jun'15
CIO interview: Dundee University CIO Paul Saunders calls for diversity in IT

Paul Saunders, director of technology at the University of Dundee, talks about the cultural differences between the US and the UK in business attitudes
June 02, 2015 02 Jun'15
ICO needs greater powers to deal with true scale of data breaches

Data obtained from a series of freedom of information requests to the ICO and UK police forces shows the ICO is not seeing 92% of potential breaches
June 01, 2015 01 Jun'15
Open data use breaks out of startups and London, says ODI

The Open Data Institute has released research showing open data is being used commercially outside London and beyond startup companies
June 01, 2015 01 Jun'15
Still a long way to go on US surveillance reform, say critics

Critics say reforms contained in the US Freedom bill do not go far enough to achieve significant surveillance reform
June 01, 2015 01 Jun'15
Telent deploys Unify Circuit to support public sector bid processes

Managed network services provider Telent deploys Unify’s Circuit unified communications system to manage a growing number of public sector bids
June 01, 2015 01 Jun'15
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
May 29, 2015 29 May'15
EU surveillance inquiry calls for stronger intelligence oversight

A European parliamentary conference has called on member states to improve the evaluation and oversight practices of their intelligence services
May 29, 2015 29 May'15
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
May 29, 2015 29 May'15
IT problems at Central and North West London NHS Trust affect medical staff

London Hospitals are reverting to manual processes due to IT systems failure
May 28, 2015 28 May'15
Internet of things and smart cities need UK-wide consensus

At a TechUK event, delegates call for cross-body collaboration on IoT to ensure local authority CIOs get the best from the emerging technology
May 27, 2015 27 May'15
Queen’s Speech sets out plans for new snoopers' charter

The Queen’s Speech confirmed that the government will introduce legislation to modernise the law on communications data
May 27, 2015 27 May'15
TfL kicks off network tower procurement

TfL is to begin £400m network tower procurement exercise in June
May 27, 2015 27 May'15
More responsive PSN security compliance regime goes live

Following a successful public beta of the updated Public Services Network compliance regime, the process has now gone live
May 27, 2015 27 May'15
High-value personal data targeted in 100,000 US taxpayer data harvest

Hackers who harvested 100,000 US taxpayers’ personal data using data from previous breaches were targeting high-value personal data, say experts
May 26, 2015 26 May'15
City University London moves towards SDN with Avaya Fabric Connect

Avaya Fabric Connect helps City University London move towards software-defined infrastructure and streamlines its network deployment
May 26, 2015 26 May'15
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
May 26, 2015 26 May'15
Ofcom to auction MoD spectrum later in 2015

Ofcom forges ahead with plans to release spectrum for high-speed mobile broadband services
May 22, 2015 22 May'15
Government should take agile approach to policy and service delivery, says Hancock

The future of service delivery and policy making will be more focused around an agile approach, said Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock
May 22, 2015 22 May'15
Microsoft accused again over UK government lobbying practices

Further evidence has emerged of the extent to which Microsoft lobbied the UK government over its policy on open standards
May 22, 2015 22 May'15
EE and O2 go head-to-head to provide ESN mobile network

Home Office names EE and O2 among the preferred bidders to build the new Emergency Services Network
May 22, 2015 22 May'15
Worcestershire NHS Trust outsources to Computacenter

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is enabling its member organisations to share IT following a managed services deal with Computacenter
May 21, 2015 21 May'15
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