News

IT for government and public sector

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  Communication Workers Union warns subpostmasters of flaw in Post Office Horizon accounting system

  The union that represents Post Office subpostmasters has warned of a problem with the Horizon accounting system at the centre of a long-running dispute

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  PAC calls on HMRC to improve digital and customer service

  HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is “still failing UK tax payers” and needs to properly manage IT systems, says the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  MK:Smart project gets ArcServe for virtual and physical backup

  Milton Keynes smart city project chooses ArcServe UDP data protection product over Veeam for its ability to backup virtual and physical servers

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  Free software gains ground in the Italian public administration

  Italy's Ministry of Defence is pioneering the use of open-source office productivity tools with the migration of 150,000 PCs to LibreOffice

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  CIO interview: Mark Hutchinson, South Manchester NHS

  The CIO of South Manchester NHS, Mark Hutchinson, is a busy man. His trust is implementing an electronic patient record system, a new datacentre and upgrading its IT infrastructure, aiming to become a top 10 healthcare provider

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  Atos co-ordinates IT suppliers for Metropolitan Police

  The Metropolitan Police Service has awarded Atos a service integration and management contract as part of its technology transformation

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  How IoT will impact the Asean cloud landscape

  IoT deployments are in their early stages in the Asean region, but experts predict as take-up of IoT apps increases it will have a big impact on IT infrastructures in the region

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  UAE recognises importance of cyber security, says official

  Like the UK, the UAE federal government has identified the importance of creating an environment in which it is safe to do business online

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  French atomic agency tests Scality object storage

  CEA opts for Scality Ring object storage software as potential replacement for block and file storage with gains hoped for in hardware independence and disk drive efficiency

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  TechUK issues six-point plan to help the government work better with SMEs

  Technology association applauds government's efforts to engage with SMEs, but says more must be done to make it easier for smaller firms to do business with the public sector

• November 03, 2015 03 Nov'15

  G-Cloud 7 procurement rules could derail public sector cloud adoption, suppliers warn

  G-Cloud 7 procurement limits risk putting public sector off using the framework, it has been claimed

• November 03, 2015 03 Nov'15

  NHS trusts to self-assess their digital maturity

  NHS England has launched a digital maturity assessment to find out how far trusts have come in having meaningful use of digital clinical systems

• November 03, 2015 03 Nov'15

  Council IT chiefs outline plans to create London-wide supercloud for local authorities

  Plans are afoot to build a regional cloud that London councils can use to access common apps and services

• November 03, 2015 03 Nov'15

  NHS England in talks over government funding to deliver digital

  Ahead of the spending review, the Department of Health (DoH) has asked the government for between £3bn and £5bn to support the deployment of technology in the NHS, reports suggest

• November 03, 2015 03 Nov'15

  Business models still evolving as public Wi-Fi spend hits a high

  A report from the Wireless Broadband Alliance reveals that most city CIOs have plans in place to significantly increase their investment in public Wi-Fi networking, but see challenges around their business models

• November 02, 2015 02 Nov'15

  NHS and local government must overcome barriers to digital care

  TechUK recommends more collaboration, knowledge-sharing and holistic changes, according to its report

• November 02, 2015 02 Nov'15

  Hunt announces NHS technology review

  Jeremy Hunt has enlisted a US professor to review the digital future of the NHS to keep it from falling into “elephant traps”

• November 02, 2015 02 Nov'15

  Secret report into rural payments IT problems points finger at RPA CEO

  The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is withholding a highly critical report into IT problems that led to the withdrawal of the £154m farmers' digital service

• November 02, 2015 02 Nov'15

  Theresa May promises strong oversight in surveillance bill

  The proposed Investigatory Powers Bill contains “very strong” oversight and “world-beating” authorisation procedures, according to home secretary Theresa May

• October 30, 2015 30 Oct'15

  EU told to protect Snowden as privacy fears continue

  MEPs have called for EU states to protect Edward Snowden and on the EC to do more to protect the fundamental rights of citizens

• October 30, 2015 30 Oct'15

  Law enforcement cracks down on DroidJack Android snooping malware users

  A joint EU/US operation on the DroidJack malware is the latest example of international collaboration between law enforcement officers directed at cyber crime

• October 30, 2015 30 Oct'15

  Social exclusion, IoT and data privacy the biggest issues facing digital economy

  At the 2015 Parliament and Internet conference in Westminster, a series of panels explored some of the key issues affecting the UK’s digital economy

• October 30, 2015 30 Oct'15

  UK surveillance bill to give police access to web history

  Proposed UK surveillance legislation is expected to allow the police to seize details of websites and access specific web addresses visited by anyone under investigation

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  Met Office's new supercomputer to deliver £2bn of socio-economic benefits

  The Met Office aims to realise a range of socio-economic benefits to UK industries thanks to improved forecasting with its new Cray supercomputer

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  New European rules to help tackle cyber and other crime

  The EU parliament has approved an update of European police college rules to help Cepol keep pace with security threats such as cyber crime

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  Using open data to solve social challenges

  The Open Data Institute has spent the past two years funding startups to build applications that could solve socio-economic problems

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Housing, health and blue light customers targets for advanced 4G connectivity

  As EE announces a line of products and services for public sector and business users, Computer Weekly went to explore some of the possible applications

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Public Accounts Committee brands GP data upload system a failure

  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raises concerns over lack of testing of GP Extraction Service, the IT system used in the NHS Care.data patient database

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Ministry of Defence hoarding £38.5m worth of unused IPv4 addresses

  A Freedom of Information request by network control specialist Infoblox has revealed that the MoD is hoarding millions of pounds worth of unused IPv4 addresses, while the UK government remains woefully unprepared for IPv6

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Government will tackle barriers to sharing and linking data, says Cabinet Office minister Hancock

  Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock highlights transparency, open data and disruptive technology as key to delivering better public services for less expenditure

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Public trust is key to sharing health data successfully, says Fiona Caldicott

  Sharing healthcare data could deliver better care for patients, but people must be allowed to assess the benefits and risks themselves, says Caldicott

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  More than 70% of teachers still think students are better at using tech

  Teachers are still struggling to adapt to the new curriculum, and more than 70% believe their students are more technology-savvy than they are

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Online extortion set to increase in 2016, says Trend Micro

  2016 will see continued growth in cyber extortion, hacktivism and mobile malware, alongside a shift to an offensive cyber security posture for governments and corporations, say researchers

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Post Office looking for IT head as CIO quits

  Post Office CIO Lesley Sewell will leave the organisation in November 2015, with an interim IT chief appointed until a permanent replacement is recruited

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Security Serious Week kicks off in London

  Some 70 organisations and more than 50 cyber crime and security experts are supporting Security Serious Week to help others become more security savvy and cyber aware

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Adur and Worthing councils take low-code approach to digital

  Adur and Worthing councils are moving away from legacy systems operating in silos to a low-code local government as a platform

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  Ex-government digital chief Mike Bracken brings GDS colleagues to Co-operative Group

  Mike Bracken, former government digital chief, has outlined his plans for digital transformation in his role at the Co-operative Group

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  How the Cabinet Office is using open data to tackle youth unemployment

  The Cabinet Office invited IT professionals and young people to a Job Hack event with the aim of using open government datasets to help more young people into work

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Future GDS plans to be announced before Christmas 2015

  The Government Digital Service (GDS) will publish further plans on the future of digital government by Christmas 2015

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Bain & Company to help HMRC move away from Aspire contract

  HMRC has awarded its transformation partner contract to Bain & Company to help the department transition away from the Aspire outsourcing deal

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Kent signs £23m digital services contract with Agilisys

  Agilisys to manage Kent County Council's digital services and customer contact in a six-year contract

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  Police and industry to tackle cyber crime together, says TechUK

  A TechUK report calls for collaboration between police and industry to raise standards of reporting, recording and responding to cyber crime

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  James Arbuthnot takes Post Office IT fight to House of Lords

  James Arbuthnot takes his seat in the House of Lords and continues campaign for subpostmasters who claim to have been wronged by faulty Horizon IT system

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  Stuxnet: A wake-up call for nuclear cyber security

  There is no way for nuclear operators to manage threats such as Stuxnet as they are beyond normal risk analysis, according to industry expert Andrea Cavina

• October 20, 2015 20 Oct'15

  CIO interview: Steve Watt, University of St Andrews

  CIOs at universities have very demanding clients in the form of tech-savvy students, but this is only part of the story, explains University of St Andrews CIO Steve Watts

• October 20, 2015 20 Oct'15

  Government publishes graduate earnings data

  UK government plans to publish anonymised datasets on earnings cross-referenced with university records to inform students of the earning potential of courses

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  David Cameron faces personal headache over Safe Harbour

  The UK “intervened strongly” in the legal challenge brought by Austrian law student Max Schrems that ruled Safe Harbour invalid, jeopardising data sharing between Europe and the US

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  HMRC VAT rules cut cloud costs by 20% for NHS and government departments

  An HMRC ruling on reclaiming tax on cloud services could drive up the use of off-premise technologies in the public sector

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  Turning data into action still tricky for Australia's data scientists

  Australian businesses need to change their attitudes towards data scientists if they are to unshackle the benefits of data

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  China hacked US firms despite cyber pact, says CrowdStrike

  Hackers linked to the Chinese government have attempted to hack into at least five US technology and two pharmaceutical firms, according to security researchers

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  CBI wants government to focus on innovation spend

  The Confederation of British Industry wants government to create a strategy to boost technology adoption and continue to digitise public services

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  Social media the main cyber terror threat facing the UK, says former MI6 officer

  Social media is the most powerful cyber tool terror groups use, counter-terrorist expert Richard Barret tells the London First Global Resilience Summit 2015

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  ONS cyber crime stats 'tip of iceberg', say experts

  Adding the traditional and cyber crime estimates together gives a total of 14.5 million for the past year, which is below the 1995 peak of 19 million, but well above last year’s estimate

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  Uninstall Adobe Flash, experts advise as zero-day hits

  A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Flash Player 19.0.0.207 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  GDS payments platform Gov.uk Pay to start taking real payments

  GDS launches beta version of payment system that aims to provide standardised electronic payments for public services

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  CEOs want CIOs to stop using jargon and focus on business needs

  Chief executives want CIOs to stop using 'tech speak' and improve collaborative working, according to a report from not-for-profit organisation Eduserv

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  Technologies to consider when renewing an IT services contract

  Technology changes quickly, so organisations should ensure flexibility is built into IT services contracts to avoid missing out on the benefits of the latest advances

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  Snowden showed need for new laws, says former MI5 director

  There is a lot of work to be done in building trust and accountability in the wake of the Snowden revelations, says former MI5 director

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  HS2 and Crossrail site to deliver high-tech innovations

  The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation partners with HyperCatCity to embrace smart technologies to create “an exciting and thriving place”

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  NHS 24 IT system runs two years behind and £41m over budget

  A two-year delay and 55% increase in costs for the IT system of NHS 24 compromises its chances of meeting financial targets, according to an Audit Scotland report

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  Staff have IT skills but there aren’t enough of us, say public sector workers

  Public sector IT leaders say the people they have are appropriately skilled, but there is not enough staff in public sector organisations to get things done

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  NCA warns UK of serious cyber attack on financial companies

  Hackers target global financial institutions and payment systems with Dridex malware, with UK losses estimated at £20m, warns the National Crime agency (NCA)

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  TfL appoints 12 companies for IT systems framework

  Capita, CSC, Atos and CGI are among the firms on TfL’s IT systems framework contract, which is worth between £80m and £95m

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Somerset MP brands council incompetent over BDUK fiasco

  MPs whose constituencies have been affected by Connecting Devon and Somerset’s decision to throw out its Phase 2 BDUK contract have hit out over council mismanagement

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Australia expands communication data retention programme

  Australia has introduced a communications data retention law along the same lines proposed for UK legislation, despite opposition from citizens

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  MPs weigh in over future of Openreach during superfast broadband debate

  MPs have their say on the future of Openreach, with many agreeing it would benefit broadband competition and investment if it were split from the BT group

• October 12, 2015 12 Oct'15

  Encryption is a double-edged sword, says Blue Coat

  Seven more security suppliers join Blue Coat encrypted traffic management programme amid fresh warnings of attackers using encryption to hide malicious activity

• October 12, 2015 12 Oct'15

  Data breach hits Dow Jones

  Hackers may have accessed the payment card details of up to 3,500 customers, warns finance publisher Dow Jones

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Lack of trust for banks causes NHS rethink over government online identity scheme

  NHS trials of the Verify ID assurance system found patients concerned over using banks to allow access to medical data

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Sussex college dumps EMC for hyper-converged Scale Computing HC3

  St Richard’s Catholic College deploys Scale Computing hyper-converged HC3 clusters to get log-in times down from more than two minutes to 30 seconds, saving £200,000 in the process

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  Another senior GDS leader bites the dust

  Deputy chief technology officer Magnus Falk is the latest senior leader to leave GDS after chief Mike Bracken announced his departure

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  California adopts landmark law protecting digital privacy

  New California state legislation aims to ensure digital data has the same kinds of protection applied to non-digital communications

• October 09, 2015 09 Oct'15

  UK digital economy needs 2.3 million digital workers by 2020

  The UK will need the skills of 2.3 million digital workers by 2020 if it hopes to power the promised digital economy, according to research from O2

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Gloucester City Council extends Civica IT outsourcing deal

  The council’s outsourcing deal with Civica will not end until October 2021, as it signs a three-year extension contract

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Scottish Natural Heritage logs onto Capita’s Swan

  Scottish Natural Heritage has joined the Scottish Wide Area Network, the national public services network being delivered by Capita IT Enterprise Services

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  DWP looks to Facebook and LinkedIn for social services' digital future

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it intends to learn from social networking firms and use external data to better understand people's lives

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Estonian government IT initiative increases virtual population

  Estonia is leading the way when it comes to providing easy and secure access to government services for citizens and foreigners alike

• October 07, 2015 07 Oct'15

  Interview: Nils Knutsson, senior advisor public sector, Tieto

  Tieto executive Nils Knutsson is an expert in Swedish public sector IT. In this interview he tells Computer Weekly about the IT challenges and opportunities for Sweden's public sector

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  EU Safe Harbour ruling requires a rethink of data processes

  The European Court of Justice's decision to invalidate the Safe Harbour agreement has far-reaching implications for businesses

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  ICO orders Welsh council to improve data protection

  Anne Jones, assistant commissioner for Wales at the ICO, said it is not acceptable for an organisation to disregard the findings of audits or fail to deliver promised improvements

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  Max Schrems welcomes ECJ ruling that Safe Harbour is invalid

  The European Court of Justice declares the Safe Harbour framework invalid as a mechanism to legitimise transfers of personal data from the EU to the US

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Facebook ruling not only landmark data protection case in Europe, say experts

  A landmark ruling against Slovakia-based website Weltimmo could impact the Max Schrems case against Facebook and new European data protection rules currently being finalised

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2015: Shortlist announced

  Find out who made the shortlist for this year's Best of VMworld Europe User Awards, which is set to take place on Tuesday 13 October at VMworld, Barcelona

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  DVLA brings IT back in-house after decades of outsourcing

  After the DVLA's two-year project to bring its IT back in-house, its outsourcing strategy – set up during the Thatcher years – came to an end in September 2015

• October 05, 2015 05 Oct'15

  Most nuclear plants not prepared for cyber attack, says Chatham House

  The cyber threat to nuclear facilities is indicative of the threat to much of all critical infrastructure, says cyber security expert Alan Woodward

• October 03, 2015 03 Oct'15

  What to consider when IT outsourcing contracts come up for renewal

  Outsourcing contracts worth billions of pounds come up for renewal over the next few years – but unprecedented industry change complicates the CIO's decision

• October 02, 2015 02 Oct'15

  Collaboration needed to drive IT in Finland’s local government

  Finland's local government organisations need to improve their IT operations if they are to cut costs and become more efficient. Formailsed roles and collaboration with other authorities would help.

• October 02, 2015 02 Oct'15

  Disabled consumers significantly more likely to be digitally excluded

  Ofcom research on disabled consumers’ access to and use of communications devices and services find a large number are digitally disconnected

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  London launches cyber defence centre for small businesses

  The London Digital Security Centre has been set up by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime as part of the mayor’s business crime strategy

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  Facebook court judgement threatens Safe Harbour data-sharing agreement with US

  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) could torpedo the EU/US Safe Harbour agreement following the US National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance on EU citizens using Facebook data

• September 30, 2015 30 Sep'15

  The next steps for digital government - a question of accountability

  The Government Digital Service (GDS) enters a new phase, with the departure of chief Mike Bracken and a different relationship with Whitehall in the future

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Two thirds of UK businesses never meet important customers

  British businesses don't always meet their best customers or the people they do most business with, because of trends in modern technology

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Universal Credit digital service moves into the cloud

  New system under trial in south London has been migrated to an IaaS platform ready for further roll-out

• September 28, 2015 28 Sep'15

  Australian telecoms industry welcomes replacement communications minister

  Australian prime minister names Mitch Fifield as minister for communications

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  UK and US governments announce digital collaboration

  The US and UK have announced plans to work together on digital government initiatives

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  Government Digital Service readies for change as its chief Mike Bracken prepares to leave

  GDS is setting up executive training for senior civil servants and looking to work closely with departments to continue the digital transformation of Whitehall

• September 23, 2015 23 Sep'15

  Metropolitan Police Service’s £240m network procurement opens for tenders

  London’s Metropolitan Police Service has invited tenders for the supply of network services over a five-year period

• September 23, 2015 23 Sep'15

  Government IT spending to be hit hardest by rising US dollar strength, warns Gartner

  Gartner predicts IT spending declines across all industries and vertical markets during 2015

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  Industry is 12 months out from mass IoT adoption, says IDC

  An IDC survey of global IT decision-makers reveals that almost three-quarters have either deployed or plan to deploy internet of things systems in the coming year

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  Business leaders want better digital services from government, says research

  A survey of corporate decision-makers suggests executives waste an average of five hours per week using outdated online public services