News

IT for government and public sector

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Britain to pay billions for monster internet surveillance network

  New questions raised about Britain’s snoopers’ charter after Denmark abandons its own UK-style surveillance programme for a second time

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Southend Council to connect key sites with dark fibre network

  Southend-on-Sea Borough Council selects CityFibre to supply a 50km dark fibre network across 120 public sector sites in the town

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  National Cyber Security Centre to be UK authority on information security

  The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is to be the UK's one-stop authority on infosec, based in London and led by GCHQ's Ciaran Martin

• March 18, 2016 18 Mar'16

  HSCIC’s CareCERT head wants NHS and social care to be prepared for cyber attacks

  Health and care organisations should not be afraid to acknowledge that cyber attacks will happen, but must be ready to handle breaches effectively, says CareCERT’s programme head

• March 18, 2016 18 Mar'16

  PAC disappointed by Major Projects Authority’s lack of impact

  The Public Accounts Committee is concerned that the newly formed Infrastructure and Projects Authority will weaken project scrutiny and become a “champion for government projects”

• March 17, 2016 17 Mar'16

  Which IT services suppliers are European businesses most satisfied with?

  TCS has won top spot for European customer satisfaction for the third year running, according to Whitelane Research

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Budget 2016: Osborne commits to timescale for 5G planning

  In a technology-light Budget, chancellor George Osborne made new commitments to future 5G mobile networks

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Osborne vows to support digital sharing economy with tax breaks

  The 2016 Budget promises to help SMEs and entrepreneurs through financial schemes and tax allowances

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Huawei and Samsung trial connected city lighting

  Networking suppliers both announce internet of things lighting solutions for smart cities

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Environment Agency acquires new flood warning system from Fujitsu

  Agency has signed a four-year, £4.6m contract for a cloud-based flood warning system that gives people more choice on how to receive alerts

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Salford Council puts gigabit fibre into public housing

  Salford Council in Greater Manchester is to deploy fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband across its council housing portfolio

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Met Police cancels command and control system contract with Northrop Grumman

  The Met Police command and control system contract with Northrop Grumman has been cancelled as there is “no prospect of a finished product being delivered” in time

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Scottish Borders signs £92m digital services contract with CGI

  The council’s 13-year deal with CGI as its digital services partner will create 200 jobs and establish a Scottish ICT delivery centre of excellence

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Internet of things needs more innovative business models

  At a government event on IoT policy, speakers call for more innovative business models and joined up thinking to enable the IoT to live up to its potential

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Sophos raises five concerns about snoopers’ charter

  As the draft Investigatory Powers Bill takes another step to becoming law, Sophos raises five key concerns that remain even after its revision

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Councils could save 13% of their budgets by going digital, says Nesta report

  Nesta’s report recommends that “leading councils” should create a market for digital products to meet their needs

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Leaked documents foretold problems with Australia's national broadband strategy

  External and internal documents suggest Australia's national broadband network (NBN) roll-out is likely to waste A$29bn

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  TechUK to spotlight cyber threat intelligence

  The ability to sift through that data and spot trends and emerging threats is becoming a useful and important tool for security professionals, according to TechUK's Talal Rajab

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  New UK law will criminalise failure to hack on demand

  MPs have been given only two weeks to read 1,200 pages of documents which disclose new powers to require technology companies to install secret surveillance capabilities in software, computer equipment or networks

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  CIO Interview: Janne Suuriniemi, Finland’s National Police Board

  Finland’s National Police Board CIO overhauls a major IT transformation in mid-flight. He tells Computer Weekly about the challenges and his answers to them

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  Impact of Investigatory Powers Bill is unclear, say most Britons

  Open-Xchange privacy survey shows many Britons are unsure and concerned by controversial bill on the eve of of it moving a step closer to becoming law

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Ex-Cabinet Office rep claims ‘simple’ tender rewrite could open up G-Cloud to Europe

  Former Cabinet Office Crown representative says a simple rework of the G-Cloud tender could open up the procurement hub to public-sector buyers across the EU

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Ofcom data breach highlights insider threat

  That a former employee of communications regulator Ofcom stole data should act as a warning about the insider threat in every organisation, say experts

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Europe’s CIOs examine impact of new data protection regulation

  Belgian IT leader group Beltug is joining other organisations across Europe in preparing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  Royal Mail becomes eighth accredited Gov.uk Verify provider

  The Royal Mail is the latest provider to be accredited to support the government’s Gov.uk Verify identity assurance service

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Innovate UK and UKTI lead Asean smart city mission

  Smart city technology developers are heading to Malaysia and Singapore on a government-led trade mission

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Third of knowledge workers expect their jobs to be computerised in five years

  Knowledge workers realise their jobs will either change dramatically or disappear as the result of new technology, according to research

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  Government purchasing chief Sally Collier set to leave Crown Commercial Service

  Crown Commercial Service (CCS) CEO Sally Collier plans to take role as Ofqual chief regulator, leaving the government’s procurement agency behind

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  CityFibre opens network to public sector supplier Updata

  Urban fibre infrastructure supplier CityFibre signs a national agreement to allow Updata to offer services over its ultrafast network

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  National Audit Office casts doubt on government SME spending figures

  The National Audit Office (NAO) says government changed how it estimates spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) four times in five years

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  IT outsourcing consultancy Alsbridge enters overlooked Australia

  IT outsourcing consultancy sets up operations in Australia, which it says has been overlooked for outsourcing services

• March 08, 2016 08 Mar'16

  Virgin supplies Ethernet connectivity to Met Office supercomputer

  The Met Office has awarded the contract to provide Ethernet connectivity for its next-generation supercomputer to Virgin Media Business

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Government launches review of Atos contracts

  The Cabinet Office will review all government contracts with Atos worth more than £10m per year after heavy criticism in a Public Accounts Committee hearing

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Mobile payments fund Tanzanian ambulance taxi service

  NGOs in Tanzania use M-Pesa mobile payments to fund a life-saving ambulance taxi service in rural Tanzania

• March 07, 2016 07 Mar'16

  Australia’s digital transformation head Paul Shetler marks a first year

  The man heading up Australia's digital government transformation talks to Computer Weekly about the progress his department made in its first year

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Australia’s corporate giants recruit digitally-minded outsiders to drive transformation

  Big Australian businesses are turning to digital professionals from outside rather than promoting from within

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  'Complacent' Home Office failed to take responsibility for e-Borders problems

  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticises the Home Office for allowing the e-Borders programme to run eight years late and £500m over budget

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Legal spears fly at Privacy Shield

  Police Scotland is investigating the implications of the end of Safe Harbour. Service providers must comply with UK law, regardless of where they are based

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  Ministry of Justice chases IT department whistleblower for tribunal costs

  The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is claiming costs from a system analyst who brought an employment tribunal raising allegations of bullying at the Legal Aid Agency

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  RSAC16: UK government to change tack on cyber security

  The UK government is thinking about becoming more interventionist to ensure the next five years yield a better return on investment in cyber security, according to CESG cyber security head

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  Why are big government IT projects still going wrong?

  The rural payments programme has again been in the spotlight over its failures, continuing the trend of government IT programmes being noted not for their success, but rather the opposite

• March 02, 2016 02 Mar'16

  RSAC16: RSA’s Amit Yoran comes out in support of strong encryption

  A policy of weakened encryption would harm US economic interests and undermine those trying to defend digital environments, according to RSA president Amit Yoran

• March 02, 2016 02 Mar'16

  GDS hindered delivery of rural payments programme, says PAC

  The rural payments programme was a “Whitehall fiasco” with too much focus on the digital front end, says the public accounts committee (PAC)

• March 02, 2016 02 Mar'16

  AWS cuts cloud data transfer fees for academic and research user groups

  Cloud services giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) rolls out discounts in bid to lower the cost barrier to making scientific discoveries

• March 01, 2016 01 Mar'16

  RSAC16: US works on data access agreement with UK

  The US is negotiating with the UK to establish a new framework that will permit UK authorities to access electronic communications directly from US companies

• March 01, 2016 01 Mar'16

  Cyber security professionals in Singapore could get 20% pay rise

  E-commerce and cyber security professionals in Singapore could gain 10 to 20% pay rises if they move companies, due to increased demand of niche IT skills

• March 01, 2016 01 Mar'16

  Councils should create a digital service standard, says Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock

  Releasing a draft local government digital service standard, Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock advised councils to embrace digital technology

• March 01, 2016 01 Mar'16

  Buckinghamshire Council frees transport data to create smart suburbs

  Local authority has partnered with IoT platform developer InterDigital to establish a county-wide smart transport model

• February 29, 2016 29 Feb'16

  Government consults on data sharing

  Consultation includes proposals to allow data to be used for research purposes and making unlawful disclosure a criminal offence

• February 29, 2016 29 Feb'16

  Mobile Infrastructure Project was a failure, admits Vaizey

  At a Westminster Hall debate, digital economy minister Ed Vaizey conceded the £150m Mobile Infrastructure Project to address "not-spots" was largely unsuccessful

• February 29, 2016 29 Feb'16

  Norfolk County Council on the hunt for ICT boss

  The council is looking for a head of ICT and information management to drive its transformation programme, with a potential salary of up to £115,000

• February 26, 2016 26 Feb'16

  After BT's Openreach reprieve, what now for the UK broadband roll-out?

  After Ofcom's decision to leave Openreach in BT, what happens next – and how will the UK reap the benefits of superfast broadband?

• February 26, 2016 26 Feb'16

  Digital minister Matt Hancock calls for big data mining complex in south Wales

  Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock has highlighted the potential of public sector data science expertise in Cardiff and Newport

• February 26, 2016 26 Feb'16

  Israeli high-tech startups seek UK funding

  Israeli high-tech startup companies visit London in search of venture capital and angel investors

• February 25, 2016 25 Feb'16

  Police forces failing to keep technology up to date, says chief inspector's report

  Police technology is “weak and aging”, says Her Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary Thomas Windsor, calling on forces to improve their IT

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  UK government and GSMA team up to fight poverty with mobile tech

  The Department for International Development is funding a project by mobile operator group GSM Association (GSMA) that uses mobile technology to help people in developing countries

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  Ministry of Defence collaboration contract goes to G-Cloud SME Inovem

  SME Inovem follows up G-Cloud contract wins with Ministry of Justice and Department of Health by clinching deal with the Ministry of Defence

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  The Met awards hosting and services contracts worth £250m to CSC

  CSC will provide hosting and end-user services for the Metropolitan Police Service in two contracts worth £250m

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  Mapping technology turning Depok in Indonesia into smart city

  Depok in Indonesia is using mapping technology to support its smart city ambitions

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  IT could help avert Norwegian healthcare crisis

  With a per capita healthcare spend already the highest in the world, Norway is facing a healthcare crisis as its population is increasingly dominated by elderly people

• February 22, 2016 22 Feb'16

  Northern local councils miss SME targets

  Local government organisations in the north of England are failing to support local IT SME companies with supply contracts

• February 22, 2016 22 Feb'16

  HR technology heads to cloud in Finland

  Computer Weekly talked to Finnish experts about Finnish enterprises moving to cloud-based HR IT systems

• February 19, 2016 19 Feb'16

  Single departmental plans affirm commitment to GaaP

  All government departments have set out their delivery plans for the next five years, showing commitment to government as a platform

• February 19, 2016 19 Feb'16

  Tech firms rally around Apple over encryption row with FBI

  Apple CEO Tim Cook is getting support from technology and information security firms in his refusal to help the FBI to hack into an iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook

• February 19, 2016 19 Feb'16

  Australian C-suite executives fail to take security seriously

  Australia’s executives need to get their heads out of the sand when it comes to cyber security and realise they are part of the solution

• February 18, 2016 18 Feb'16

  CCS to tender for technology products and services framework worth up to £4bn

  Crown Commercial Service’s tender for a framework to develop integrated commercial solutions will go live in May

• February 18, 2016 18 Feb'16

  US hospital pays £12,000 to ransomware attackers

  A US hospital reveals that, after a week of being offline, it caved into ransomware demands to restore access to its computer systems

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  University of Greenwich data breach highlights the dangers of insider threats

  A personal data breach at the University of Greenwich highlights the repercussions for organisations that fail to review what they publish online

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  Half of UK businesses looking for internet of things lead roles

  Research suggests enterprises are looking to recruit chief internet of things officers (CIoTOs) to lead their forays into the hyper-connected world

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  Interview: Digital Marketplace director Tony Singleton on why he is leaving G-Cloud

  With the government’s Digital Marketplace now a bona fide source of £1bn of public sector IT spend, Computer Weekly asks its programme director why he is moving on to pastures new

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  HMRC shares details of IT transformation plans

  HM Revenue & Customs has published its IT strategy outlining how it plans to transform its IT estate by taking a platform approach, moving to virtual infrastructure and cloud-based services

• February 16, 2016 16 Feb'16

  UK police reports good progress on fighting cyber crime globally

  International law enforcement collaboration around cyber crime is making progress, says National Cyber Crime Unit deputy director Sarah Goodall

• February 16, 2016 16 Feb'16

  Cyber criminals hit US hospital in ransomware attack

  Hollywood hospital forced to shut down all its computer systems while the FBI and others investigate

• February 16, 2016 16 Feb'16

  UK government invites comment on porn site age check plans

  Public consultation launched on how best to enforce age restrictions on pornographic web content

• February 15, 2016 15 Feb'16

  Bromley Council signs £9m desktop and datacentre contract with BT

  Bromley Council hopes to make 10% cost savings by contracting BT to deliver computer and datacentre services for the next five years

• February 15, 2016 15 Feb'16

  Spy bill review fails to address all issues, says cyber expert

  UK parliament’s Joint Committee review fails to address issues of collateral damage and business protection by spy agencies, says cyber security expert

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  NCA dials up UK business engagement on cyber crime

  Rapidly ramping up law enforcement engagement with business on cyber crime is a top priority for National Cyber Crime Unit deputy director Sarah Goodall

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  Interview: Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock on digital government

  The government’s minister for digital reform talks about creating a Digital Leadership Academy, learning valuable lessons, and his love for open data

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  Asean poised to gain in the global offshoring battle

  According to AT Kearney’s 2016 Global Services Location Index, robotics process automation and business process as a service could change the outsourcing industry, benefiting Asean countries

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  GDS will help government departments to help themselves

  Government digital chief Stephen Foreshew-Cain says GDS will provide the tools and support for departments to build services, but “won’t build them all” for them

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  Amnesty International joins calls for UK spy law changes

  Amnesty International urges the UK government to re-draft its Investigatory Powers Bill to restore public confidence through proper judicial oversight

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  Ukraine cyber attacks extend beyond power companies, says Trend Micro

  As half the homes in the Ivano-Frankivsk region plunge into darkness, Trend Micro finds evidence of cyber attack on a mining and a railway company

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  House of Commons Science and Technology Committee calls for Data Ethics Council

  House of Commons select committee on Science and Technology publishes its report into the promise and pitfalls of big data, advocating a data ethics council and more urgency on data privacy

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Five local authorities around the country agree shared services contract

  Five councils in different parts of England have agreed to jointly sign outsourcing agreements, including IT services provision

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Government launches GDS Advisory Board

  Board of industry experts will advise the government on how to deliver digital public services

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Interview: Till Wirth, product manager, Gov.uk Pay at GDS

  Agile development, cross-department collaboration and a true ‘startup culture’ are all benefits of working for the Government Digital Service, according to Gov.uk Pay product manager Till Wirth

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Tony Singleton leaves G-Cloud for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

  After several years leading the charge at G-Cloud, Tony Singleton will join the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Misgivings rise as EU-US agreement unravels under scrutiny

  Privacy Shield, the proposed replacement for Safe Harbour, looks increasingly like a PR exercise, rather than a genuine solution

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Surveillance bill needs more work, says joint parliamentary committee

  Important clarity is lacking in a number of areas in the draft UK surveillance bill, says the joint parliamentary committee appointed to examine it

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  MK:Smart enlists IoT supplier ThingWorx for speedy development

  Milton Keynes smart city project selects ThingWorx to provide a rapid application deployment environment

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  The OpenStack Foundation: Building enterprise trust in open-source clouds

  With HMRC and the European Commission emerging as OpenStack adopters, the OpenStack Foundation's CEO explains how it has set about winning over the enterprise with its open-source cloud platform

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Public sector outsourcing grew more than 50% in second half of 2015

  IT outsourcing in the UK public sector accelerated in the second half of 2015, according to research

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  London Mayoral candidates go head-to-head on technology policy

  From abolishing tuition fees for STEM subjects to recognising broadband as a “core utility” and using the tech sector to prevent terrorist attacks, the five London mayoral candidates set out their policies for the tech industry

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Gov.uk Verify identity system targets 50 government services for April go-live

  Government identity assurance system is set to move from beta to live in April, three years after its original target date

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  US takes a step closer to self-driving cars

  US authorities have shown a willingness to adapt and waive road-safety rules that have been slowing progress in developing autonomous vehicles

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Cloud computing in Belgium: a grey picture

  Organisations in Belgium and Luxembourg are turning to the cloud for their IT, but there are striking differences in the level of take-up within the region

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Obama's cyber security budget increase not enough, say critics

  US president proposes increasing the country’s cyber security budget by 35% to $19bn, but security experts suggest more is needed

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Beverley Bryant gives details on £1.8bn paperless NHS funding

  Both capital and revenue funding will be made available to NHS organisations, but not through a “traditional” tech fund

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  ISC calls for more clarity in planned surveillance bill

  Parliamentary committee overseeing the UK intelligence community wants greater clarity on intrusive powers granted by the draft Investigatory Powers Bill

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  Survey confirms cyber criminal activity by UK teens

  UK survey highlights the importance of understanding the online behaviour of young people to prevent them being drawn into cyber crime