News

IT for government and public sector

• December 16, 2020 16 Dec'20

  Lancashire police integrate body-worn video into digital policing app

  Body-worn video integration will transform Lancashire police’s time-consuming and manual procedures into an efficient digital workflow, but claims that BMV will increase transparency and accountability are not backed by the evidence

• December 16, 2020 16 Dec'20

  Digital patient engagement tops NHS IT chiefs' priorities for 2021

  Most leaders do not feel like they have sufficient funding to deliver new digital capabilities, despite engagement topping priorities for the NHS in 2021, finds study

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  DWP completes migration to hybrid cloud

  The milestone is part of a major insourcing exercise that saw the department move away from monolithic contracts

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  UK government unveils details of upcoming online harms rules

  Online Harms Bill due early 2021 will introduce GDPR-style fines for technology companies that breach online duty of care rules

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  Finland examines wider use of AI video camera technology

  Authorities in Helsinki will use artificial intelligence and video technologies to help them automate monitoring of crowds

• December 14, 2020 14 Dec'20

  Digital Ethics Summit 2020: governance key to inclusive post-Covid economic recovery

  Pluralism key to developing and deploying technologies for an inclusive post-Covid economic recovery, according to a panel at Digital Ethics Summit 2020

• December 14, 2020 14 Dec'20

  Appointment of disgraced former Post Office executive at Welsh FA questioned by MP

  The appointment of a former Post Office executive, who tried to mislead a judge, in the Football Association of Wales has been questioned by an MP

• December 13, 2020 13 Dec'20

  Singapore trials beacons to bolster police operations

  Police beacons equipped with video cameras, sirens, floodlights and speakers are being deployed at two parks to improve public safety in a year-long trial

• December 11, 2020 11 Dec'20

  HMRC data shows online IR35 status check tool does not return a result in nearly 20% of cases

  Figures released by HMRC to show how many times its online IR35 tax status checker tool has been used reveal shortcomings in its ability to reach a conclusion in nearly 20% of cases

• December 11, 2020 11 Dec'20

  History made as subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted in Horizon IT scandal have convictions quashed

  Six subpostmasters who were wrongly prosecuted for accounting shortfalls caused by computer errors have their convictions quashed after years of campaigning

• December 10, 2020 10 Dec'20

  Data on Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine stolen in cyber attack

  The European Medicines Agency has launched a full investigation into an apparent security incident that has seen documents on the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine stolen

• December 10, 2020 10 Dec'20

  Alan Turing Institute appoints global advisory board to aid digital identity schemes project

  The Alan Turing Institute announces an international advisory board for a project investigating digital identity schemes, with a view to building the technology and organisational infrastructure to sustain them as trustworthy

• December 10, 2020 10 Dec'20

  DCMS’s Whittingdale: National Data Strategy enters post-consultation phase

  Minister for media and data tells TechUK’s Digital Ethics summit that the long-awaited national data strategy has entered a new, post-consultation phase, and that the UK is set to show international leadership on digital and data in 2021

• December 08, 2020 08 Dec'20

  Home Office digital border programme has failed to deliver, says NAO

  The Home Office’s digital border programme has so far not achieved value for money, has suffered delays, lacks clear objectives and will cost taxpayers an additional £173m, according to the National Audit Office

• December 08, 2020 08 Dec'20

  CMA sets out plan to regulate technology giants

  With its new Digital Markets Unit, the CMA is hoping to curb the excesses of the internet, improve competition and give more choice to consumers

• December 08, 2020 08 Dec'20

  Russian state actors exploiting VMware bug to hijack data, users warned

  Russian APT groups are actively exploiting a vulnerability in VMware products to access protected data, according to latest warnings

• December 08, 2020 08 Dec'20

  CIO interview: David Plumb, chief innovation officer, University of Warwick

  The innovation leader is developing ecosystems of partners from industry, public sector and academia to not only help Warwick students, but also to support them as entrepreneurs and benefit the regional economy

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  Met Police failed to clear backlog of subject access requests

  Metropolitan Police failed to comply fully with an enforcement notice issued by the Information Commissioner, and despite hundreds of overdue subject access requests the regulator did not take further action

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  Stockport Council launches digital training initiative

  Local authority Stockport Council has launched a programme aimed at training young people in digital skills to give them a better chance at entering digital roles

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  CCS to launch £750m pan-government cloud computing services framework

  The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) aims for the framework agreement to make it easier for public sector to buy scalable cloud hosting

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  UK Space Agency awards £7m for space innovation projects

  A range of ‘high risk, high reward’ projects have been awarded a total of £7m from the Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme, aiming to make the UK a world leader in space technology

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  HMRC referred 11 data security incidents to ICO in 2019-20

  HM Revenue & Customs shares details of a number of data security incidents that occurred during the 2019-20 financial year in its annual report

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  Post Office IT scandal CEO Paula Vennells jumps NHS ship as pressure mounts

  CEO at the centre of the scandal that saw innocent people bankrupted and some sent to prison steps down from NHS role as pressure for her resignation grows

• December 04, 2020 04 Dec'20

  Government data quality framework geared to overcome poorly organised data

  The Office for National Statistics has published guidelines aimed at improving “disorganised” public sector data

• December 04, 2020 04 Dec'20

  Kent and Medway to launch shared health and social care record

  The Kent and Medway Care Record (KMCR) aims to create a single view of each patient’s record, and will hold automated data feeds from acute hospitals, community providers, mental health services, GPs and social care

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  Bank of England enlists development partner to unlock cloud

  Bank has agreed a two-year deal with a cloud development platform provider as it seeks to take its cloud journey to the next level

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  ICT disaster threatens Dutch environment law

  The Dutch government’s revamp of its construction planning law faces major IT challenges and scepticism

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  Tech and data key to achieving low-carbon economy, says Royal Society

  Report says net-zero transition should be data-led, and calls for coordination between government, regulators, industry and third sector

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  ‘Significant risk’ UK won’t be ready by end of Brexit transition period, says PAC

  Public Accounts Committee is concerned with IT systems still being in development stage, leaving ‘little margin before they must be operational’, and criticises government for seeming to take ‘limited responsibility’ for readiness

• December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20

  Greater Manchester launches digital inclusion taskforce

  The group including industry, community and government representatives will aim to fix the digital divide in the region

• December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20

  Covid-19: Cyber criminals will target vaccine programmes

  Interpol issues a global alert to law enforcement as the UK becomes one of the first countries to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use

• December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20

  Singapore government remains ‘juicy target’ for cyber attackers

  The government is baking security into the design and implementation of its IT systems and looking to increase bug bounties to fend off cyber threats

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  Wayra partners with UK government for Latin American scaleup project

  Two scaleups from three Latin American countries – Argentina, Chile and Uruguay – will be selected by a project that will help the growing firms expand overseas into the UK market

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  22,000 malicious .uk domains suspended in past year

  Nominet has suspended just over 22,000 domains in the 12 months to 31 October 2020, continuing a downward trend, and with less impact from Covid-19 than might be expected

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  Greenwich launches four-year digital strategy

  Strategy is based on six principles, including focusing on the needs of residents and being data-led and agile, and aims to create a truly digital council and borough

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  Government covers its ears as complaint by victims of Post Office abuse heads to ombudsman

  Government denies responsibility for the abuse inflicted on subpostmasters by the Post Office over faulty IT system

• November 30, 2020 30 Nov'20

  More than 1,300 teachers trained by National Centre for Computing Education

  Government-funded centre aimed at supporting computing teachers has reached more than 29,000 teachers and trained over 1,300 to deliver computing curriculum

• November 30, 2020 30 Nov'20

  MI5 accused of withholding surveillance compliance failures from cabinet minister

  MI5 withheld high-risk concerns about its ability to comply with legislation from the home secretary when it submitted applications for surveillance warrants, NGOs Privacy International and Liberty claimed last week

• November 30, 2020 30 Nov'20

  $60m Middle East tech fund targets 120 startups

  Venture capital fund expects rapid regional technology growth in the post-Covid-19 world

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  Lords propose making tech giants pay for using news

  Digital platforms such as Google and Facebook profit from running adverts alongside publishers’ content, but no financial compensation is given for carrying that content, says Lords committee

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  Algorithmic transparency obligations needed in public sector

  Public sector’s use of algorithms with social impacts needs to be more transparent to foster trust and hold organisations responsible for the negative outcomes their systems may produce, says report

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  NI police unable to delete data seized unlawfully from journalists for 10 years

  The Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to delete terabytes of unlawfully seized data taken from journalists who exposed police failings in the investigation of the Loughinisland sectarian murders

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  Government pumps £20m into AI research projects

  Alan Turing Institute’s artificial intelligence (AI) research fellows will receive funding for 15 projects including using AI to detect cancer and improve the performance of virtual personal assistants

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  Spending Review commits £32m to Gov.uk Accounts

  Government Digital Service’s Gov.uk Accounts project will allow people to sign into government services online and get a personalised experience tailored to their needs

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  Government must hold technology companies to account on e-waste

  MPs urge UK government and global technology companies to deal with ‘tsunami of electronic waste’, which is throwing away valuable resources vital for building a sustainable future

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  Data safes will give users control over their data

  Belgian computer scientist tells Computer Weekly how people can regain control of their online personal information

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  Robots taking jobs, but creating careers

  Robotic process automation developers tell Computer Weekly about the job they never expected to be doing

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  Scottish government hands out laptops and tablets to the digitally excluded

  As part of its Connecting Scotland programme, the Scottish government is giving out 23,000 iPads and Chromebooks to low-income families and care leavers, along with two years of mobile data

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  CCS looks to hire CDIO

  Crown Commercial Service is offering nearly £150,000 for the role of chief digital information officer, who will be in charge of developing and delivering its digital and data strategy

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Scottish government unveils strategy for digital planning

  Scotland’s government has published a document that describes its strategy for the digitisation of the nation’s planning system

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Government’s infrastructure strategy says technology is key

  The strategy aims to put innovation and technology at ‘the heart’ of its approach to transforming the country, as government launches new national infrastructure bank

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Merger of national policing systems over budget and behind schedule

  UK government effort to replace legacy IT systems suffers further delays, and will not be fully completed until 2025 at the earliest

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Rishi Sunak’s Spending Review pledges £100bn to transform the country’s infrastructure

  Chancellor’s spending promise includes more than £260m for programmes such as 5G testbeds, local full-fibre networks and the Shared Rural Network

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  UK government Geospatial Commission stipulates actions to exploit location data

  Report outlines some actions public bodies and companies can take to make better economic use of location data

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Securing UK’s critical national infrastructure is a 2021 priority

  Government outlines the UK’s strategic cyber security policies for the coming 12 months, with critical national infrastructure a clear priority

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  NHSX to launch data strategy for health and social care

  Government sets out plans to ‘bust bureaucracy’ in the NHS, including implementing a new data strategy, consulting on changes to data collection legislation, and making progress on shared care records

• November 24, 2020 24 Nov'20

  Post Office accused of lying and being in contempt of Parliament in IT scandal

  Campaigning politician demands access to documents that could prove that the Post Office lied

• November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20

  MPs subjected to over 22 million malicious email attacks in 2020

  Members of Parliament are targeted by millions of spam and phishing emails every month, according to a Freedom of Information disclosure

• November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20

  Subpostmasters want £300m from a government that allowed Post Office ‘reign of terror’

  The government allowed the Post Office to “run amok” and destroy lives, says complaint to Parliamentary Ombudsman

• November 20, 2020 20 Nov'20

  HM Land Registry drafts digital ID standards

  The department’s draft identity-checking requirements aims to provide clarity for software developers creating solutions to be used for property lawyers

• November 20, 2020 20 Nov'20

  Local authorities lagging behind in digitisation of citizen records

  Nearly a third of councils can't tell how much citizen information they store is in digital format, study shows

• November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20

  Transparency and honesty key to major programmes success, says NAO

  Major government projects often lack underlying data on costs and benefits, and it’s often not clear who is accountable for integration of different elements, according to a National Audit Office report on lessons learned on the programmes

• November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20

  Security sector broadly backs Boris Johnson’s Cyber Force

  Security community says the presence of a robust cyber defence force alongside a robust physical one will be vital to the UK’s national security

• November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20

  Fujitsu staff under investigation for potential perjury in Post Office IT trial named

  Court documents reveal the names of the Fujitsu employees under investigation for potentially providing misleading information in criminal trials

• November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20

  US cyber security chief fired for contradicting Trump

  CISA chief Chris Krebs ousted for doing his job fighting disinformation in an apparent purge of officials deemed disloyal to president Donald Trump

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  HMRC warns over uptick in Self Assessment tax scams

  HMRC issues updated warnings as 2021 Self Assessment deadlines loom

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  GDS looks for Gov.uk head of technology and architecture

  GDS role is offering up to £85,000 a year and includes being responsible for developing the Gov.uk programme as government aims to make it a platform for content, rather than just a publishing system

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  Botched software update to blame for Post Office Horizon crash

  Post Office says planned firmware update caused the problem that left branches unable to do business for 90 minutes

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Privacy advocates call for European probe into Palantir

  Dutch group SOMI is trying to raise awareness of Palantir’s data privacy practices and how it works with European government agencies

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  NHS completes transition to HSCN

  All 950 NHS, social care, private sector and local authority organisations have migrated from the legacy N3 network to the Health and Social Care Network

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Human error blamed in Welsh Covid-19 patient data leak

  Public Health Wales accepts recommendations of independent probe into data breach that saw PII on 18,105 coronavirus patients leaked

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Hackney systems could be unavailable for months, says council

  A month after a highly disruptive cyber attack on its systems, Hackney Council is still struggling to get back up and running

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Government issues guidance on post-Brexit procurement

  From 1 January 2021, procurement notices will have to be published through the Find a Tender e-notification service

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Post Office explanation of IT system outage so vague it is ‘pointless’

  Post Office criticised over vagueness of its explanation of the cause of a UK-wide IT failure that saw subpostmasters unable to do business

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  IT Priorities 2020: European IT budget share reflects home-working challenges brought by Covid

  European organisations are being forced to redivert more limited budgets during the pandemic

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  UK government makes inroads in maritime autonomy

  The Maritime Future Technologies team has been formed to facilitate trials of innovative approaches and support regulatory updates

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  Humanitarian data collection practices put migrants at risk

  United Nations report on smart borders warns that data collection about migrants and refugees by humanitarian organisations risks excluding them from essential basic services like access to food

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  Public sector IT leaders struggle with data infrastructure legacy

  The impact caused by the pandemic means government tech executives in Europe are looking for ways to quickly modernise their estates, research says

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  Police open criminal investigation into potential perjury by Fujitsu staff in Post Office IT trials

  Current and former Fujitsu staff could face prosecution for giving false evidence in the trials of subpostmasters accused of theft and false accounting

• November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20

  UKtech50 2021: Help us find the most influential people in UK IT

  Computer Weekly’s annual search for the 50 most influential people in UK IT is on – let us know who you would like to nominate for this year’s list

• November 12, 2020 12 Nov'20

  DCMS opens talks with private sector on future of digital identity market

  Department has met with suppliers to discuss plans for a trust framework to show ‘what good looks like’ as it ploughs ahead with digital identity plans

• November 12, 2020 12 Nov'20

  Company accused of spying on Assange acted for Ecuadorian Intelligence, says ex UC Global manager

  Former operations chief of UC Global told Spanish Court the company accused of spying on Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was acting on the orders of Ecuadorian Intelligence

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  Tim Berners-Lee startup releases decentralisation tech to enterprises

  Roll-out of Inrupt’s decentralised privacy technology to four large organisations is helping the startup to develop explicit use cases, which it hopes will prove the tech and lead to faster adoption

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  Amazon charged with breaching EU antitrust rules

  Tech giant accused of using data it collects on smaller retailers to benefit its own e-commerce business

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  Lack of openness on Horizon errors remains as Fujitsu refuses to explain latest outage

  Subpostmasters are being kept in the dark about errors in the branch computer system they use, despite the Post Office and Fujitsu being slammed in court over their lack of openness

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  EU aid funds used to train ‘unaccountable intelligence agencies’ in high-tech surveillance

  Hundreds of documents obtained by campaign group Privacy International show how the EU is supporting surveillance programmes in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa

• November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20

  DCMS’s Whittingdale: National data strategy not tied to EU trade deal

  Minister tells ODI Summit that national data strategy is nearly finished and will fuel UK economic growth post-Brexit and post-pandemic

• November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20

  Border technologies largely fail to respect human rights

  AI-powered border technologies used to ‘manage’ migration frequently make the process more arbitrary, discriminatory and unjust, says human rights group

• November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20

  Industry tells House of Lords committee it has ‘grave reservations’ about CDS

  The Customs Declaration Service is untested, unproven and not ready, and HMRC is taking a “cloak and dagger approach” to working with the industry, hears a Lords committee – but HMRC says delivery of Brexit IT is on track

• November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20

  Better data sharing needed to help children during pandemic

  Closing gaps in data infrastructure will help the education sector respond better to children’s needs during the Covid-19 pandemic, says Open Data Institute

• November 09, 2020 09 Nov'20

  EU moves closer to encryption ban after Austria, France attacks

  Draft resolution document setting up an EU-wide ban on end-to-end encryption is set to be waved through this week

• November 09, 2020 09 Nov'20

  Tampere’s perfect storm triggers a startup revolution

  Previously a hub for Nokia and Microsoft, Finland’s second-largest city is capitalising on a wealth of technical knowhow to become the dark horse of the Nordic startup scene

• November 06, 2020 06 Nov'20

  Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected HMRC’s operations, says NAO

  NAO’s insight into HMRC’s annual report and accounts finds that the pandemic has created challenges for the department’s transformation programmes, including Universal Credit and the end of the Brexit transition period

• November 06, 2020 06 Nov'20

  Finger pointed at Fujitsu as Post Office Horizon system crashes nationally

  Post Office branches offline during busy business hours after suffering an IT error that the Post Office said related to IT from supplier Fujitsu

• November 06, 2020 06 Nov'20

  HMRC shuns Gov.uk Notify and seeks supplier to unify notifications

  Tax collection agency HMRC will spend up to £9.75m to streamline notifications through text, voice and email

• November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20

  Risk of ‘widespread disruption’ at UK border after Brexit transition period, NAO warns

  National Audit Office report highlights concerns over UK’s readiness when Brexit transition period ends, including several IT systems at risk of not being ready in time

• November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20

  Royal Navy tests new tech in Cyprus

  Navy has been trialling drones, autonomous systems and new communication systems under plans to evolve the Royal Marines into a ‘hi-tech raiding and strike force’

• November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20

  Slot of the Antarctic: Tape the best option for polar survey backup

  Tape deemed the best medium for backup on board the Antarctic research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough, with Quantum’s Scalar i3 chosen in a fully redundant deployment

• November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20

  Mastercard: Looks like a tech firm, acts like a tech firm, is a tech firm

  Financial services giant finds itself in a prominent position as the volume of digital transactions increases

• November 04, 2020 04 Nov'20

  Asda recruits new IT chief to handle transition

  Former Morrisons CTO Anna Barsby will lead retailer’s tech agenda as part of its acquisition by the Issa brothers