News

IT for government and public sector

• February 19, 2015 19 Feb'15

  What’s going wrong with government procurement?

  It has not been a good week for the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), the Cabinet Office agency responsible for government purchasing

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  Home Office U-turn sees core police IT staying in Whitehall

  The Home Office has made a U-turn over plans for a new Police ICT Company by retaining control of several of the most important IT systems

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  Wales tenders for Superfast Cymru broadband extension

  Welsh government opens tender process for Superfast Cymru Infill Project to address premises that BDUK will not pass

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  Robust security and consumer buy-in needed for smart city success

  Juniper Research names its top ranking smart cities for 2015 and points to a number of areas of concern that need to be addressed

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  Healthcare organisations moving to cloud computing at a pace

  Global healthcare organisations will increase their spending on cloud computing services by 20% a year until 2020

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  IT SMEs losing tens of millions of pounds from government in row over £2.45bn Capita deal

  IT SMEs have lost tens of millions of pounds after refusing to sign up to a controversial £2.45bn Cabinet Office agreement with services giant Capita

• February 18, 2015 18 Feb'15

  Researchers uncover Arabic-speaking international cyber mercenary group

  A cyber espionage group is targeting thousands of high-profile organisations and individuals in the Middle East and around the globe

• February 17, 2015 17 Feb'15

  Home Office wins appeal against £224m Raytheon payment over e-Borders cancellation

  The Home Office has won an appeal against a tribunal decision to award £224m to supplier Raytheon over the cancellation of its e-Borders contract

• February 17, 2015 17 Feb'15

  Shropshire Council upgrades from iPads and BlackBerrys to Microsoft technology

  Shropshire Council reworks desktop IT strategy, using its Microsoft enterprise agreement to support devices running Office 365

• February 17, 2015 17 Feb'15

  International spyware operation linked to NSA

  The US National Security Agency has reportedly hidden surveillance software in the hard drives of several top computer makers

• February 17, 2015 17 Feb'15

  No contracts to firms that just want profit, says Labour policy chief

  Companies with profit as their main aim should not win public sector outsourcing contracts, says Labour policy chief

• February 16, 2015 16 Feb'15

  DWP starts national Universal Credit IT rollout

  The next phase of the national IT rollout for the controversial Universal Credit programme has started

• February 16, 2015 16 Feb'15

  NHS names suppliers for £1.25bn IT framework

  An IT procurement framework developed by the NHS and its shared services partnership with IT services firm Steria has gone live

• February 16, 2015 16 Feb'15

  Obama calls on private sector to help fight cyber attacks

  US president Barack Obama has called on the private sector to help fight cyber attacks at a cyber crime summit meeting in Silicon Valley

• February 16, 2015 16 Feb'15

  Scottish Fire and Rescue Service gets bespoke Cisco network training

  Glasgow Caledonian University launches Cisco Certified Network Associate training scheme for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

• February 13, 2015 13 Feb'15

  PCI Security Standards Council welcomes Obama summit

  Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council applauds US president’s Silicon Valley summit on tackling cyber crime

• February 13, 2015 13 Feb'15

  Virgin Media pumps £3bn investment into UK broadband

  Virgin Media makes major financial commitment to extend digital infrastructure to millions more homes and businesses

• February 13, 2015 13 Feb'15

  Barack Obama to host cyber crime summit in Silicon Valley

  US president Barack Obama is to meet representatives of the world’s largest companies to discuss how to tackle cyber crime

• February 13, 2015 13 Feb'15

  Obama threatens foreign cyber attackers with sanctions

  US president Barack Obama has signed an executive order establishing a framework for the US to impose sanctions on foreign cyber attackers

• February 12, 2015 12 Feb'15

  Cabinet Office’s Maude: local GDS ‘very high priority’

  A local authority version of the Government Digital Service (GDS) is “very high priority”, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

• February 12, 2015 12 Feb'15

  Airwave's Tetra emergency services radio "costly and inflexible"

  Incumbent Airwave failed to advance to the next stage of the Emergency Services Network procurement because its Tetra radio technology was too inflexible for current needs, according to reports

• February 12, 2015 12 Feb'15

  South Warwickshire NHS moves to CSC electronic patient records

  South Warwickshire has rolled out an electronic patient record system from IT services firm CSC as it moves away from paper records

• February 11, 2015 11 Feb'15

  Airwave dropped from Emergency Services Network procurement

  Incumbent network operator Airwave will take no further part in the Emergency Services Network bid process, the Home Office has revealed

• February 11, 2015 11 Feb'15

  General election 2015: Major parties focus on tech agenda

  With advancements around data protection and state surveillance of internet traffic, the UK is heading into its first tech-aware general election

• February 11, 2015 11 Feb'15

  Twitter reports 40% increase in government data requests with US in the lead

  Twitter’s latest transparency report shows governments' requests for customers’ information have increased 40% in the past six months

• February 10, 2015 10 Feb'15

  Ed Vaizey: Ambition to have local government on one platform

  The question over whether Government Digital Services can scale locally was discussed at a Computer Weekly debate

• February 10, 2015 10 Feb'15

  Digital minister Ed Vaizey hints EC could allow state aid for broadband in cities

  Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey hints European Commission (EC) may relent stance over state aid for superfast broadband in cities

• February 10, 2015 10 Feb'15

  Digital Question Time: Growing UK tech

  Europe, growth initiatives for startups and a mature conversation with the IT industry were among the hot topics discussed at our political debate

• February 10, 2015 10 Feb'15

  Why peer-to-peer lending is such a threat to banks

  Consumer trust for finance firms has never been high, and since the financial turmoil at the end of the previous decade it has reached rock bottom

• February 09, 2015 09 Feb'15

  GCHQ snooping ruling does not go far enough, says Open Rights Group

  The recent ruling that mass surveillance of UK citizens' internet communications by GCHQ was unlawful does not go far enough, says Open Rights Group

• February 09, 2015 09 Feb'15

  Capita approved as supplier of NHS IT services

  Capita is one of just a few private sector service providers to make it into the latest NHS supplier framework

• February 08, 2015 08 Feb'15

  BDUK passes two million homes and businesses

  BDUK scheme passes its two-millionth property, as the controversial government-sponsored national broadband roll out continues

• February 06, 2015 06 Feb'15

  UK cyber attacker faces jail for targeting public services sites

  A Merseyside man faces a jail term after admitting to a DDoS campaign against public services sites

• February 06, 2015 06 Feb'15

  GCHQ surveillance was illegal until last year, rules tribunal

  Human Rights groups plan to challenge tribunal ruling in European Court of Human Rights

• February 06, 2015 06 Feb'15

  Is the Digital Services Framework making agile procurement difficult?

  Suppliers of agile development services to government have spoken out against the Digital Services Framework, used for commissioning firms to work on public projects

• February 06, 2015 06 Feb'15

  National Police ICT Company finally set to start operations

  A national Police ICT Company is set to begin operations after finally being approved by the UK’s police and crime commissioners

• February 05, 2015 05 Feb'15

  GDS creator Francis Maude steps down as MP

  Cabinet Office minister and creator of the Government Digital Service (GDS) Francis Maude will step down as an MP after nearly 30 years in parliament

• February 05, 2015 05 Feb'15

  Newport to get resilient fibre ring for community safety projects

  As part of a wide-reaching regeneration plan, Newport City Council deploys resilient fibre optic network to support community safety

• February 05, 2015 05 Feb'15

  Ross Ulbricht faces life for Silk Road dark market conviction

  Ross Ulbricht faces life in jail after being convicted of seven charges related to the Silk Road online illegal drugs dark market

• February 04, 2015 04 Feb'15

  Sprint 15 confirms plans for government as platform

  A cross-government approach to public service provision would drive platform-based government, heard this year’s digital overview Sprint 15

• February 04, 2015 04 Feb'15

  Offshoring data is biggest barrier to government in the cloud

  Offshoring data is the biggest obstacle to putting government services in the cloud, according to a survey of MPs and peers

• February 03, 2015 03 Feb'15

  2Mbps broadband not good enough, says Efra Committee report

  The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s inquiry into rural broadband roll-out deems BDUK’s target speeds insufficient

• February 03, 2015 03 Feb'15

  EC3 announces industry partnership in fight against cyber crime

  Europol's European Cybercrime Centre has partnered with security firm AnubisNetworks to help fight the global threat of cyber crime

• February 03, 2015 03 Feb'15

  HM Revenue & Customs receives record number of digital self assessments

  This year saw the largest recorded number of digital self assessment registrations, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

• February 02, 2015 02 Feb'15

  Government failed to make best use of publicly-owned networks

  The Cabinet Office has published a map detailing where it could make better use of its infrastructure to benefit businesses and consumers

• February 02, 2015 02 Feb'15

  Government and Labour trade accusations and insults over Universal Credit progress

  The political battle over the future of Universal Credit is heating up, as shown in an extraordinary exchange of letters last month

• February 02, 2015 02 Feb'15

  Cyber crime is a threat to global economy, says researcher

  Halting cyber crime could have a positive impact on the global economy, says Intel Security Europe security researcher and CTO

• February 02, 2015 02 Feb'15

  Health trust proposed offshoring mental care through Skype

  Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust considered cutting costs by using Skype and low-cost staff to treat patients with depression

• January 30, 2015 30 Jan'15

  Only fall of global firm will shake up cyber security

  It will take a major global company going down in the wake of a cyber attack to really shake up information security, says police chief

• January 30, 2015 30 Jan'15

  Government network services tender deadline slips again

  Crown Commercial Service pushes back deadline for tender submissions to Network Services framework to give suppliers more time to prepare

• January 30, 2015 30 Jan'15

  Only 45% of IT pros get value from UK cyber security initiatives

  Despite the positive effect of UK government cyber security initiatives, more work needs to be done to get real value out of them

• January 29, 2015 29 Jan'15

  Companies House proves £9m data governance value of just one letter

  A tiny data governance error destroyed Taylor & Sons after Companies House recorded the insolvency of its near namesake Taylor & Son

• January 28, 2015 28 Jan'15

  Post Office faces grilling by MPs over Horizon accounting system

  The Post Office faces a grilling by MPs over its mediation scheme for subpostmasters penalised by its Horizon accounting system

• January 27, 2015 27 Jan'15

  Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

  The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015

• January 27, 2015 27 Jan'15

  HMRC’s move away from Aspire unachievable by deadline, say MPs

  MPs claim Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs will be unable to move away from Aspire outsourcing contract by 2017 deadline

• January 26, 2015 26 Jan'15

  QinetiQ hosts latest Cyber Security Challenge competition

  UK defence firm QinetiQ challenged amateur cyber defenders in a realistic global online terrorist attack simulation

• January 26, 2015 26 Jan'15

  Local councils losing billions due to poor use of technology and data

  Technology could help local authorities to avoid losing more than £1.3bn a year in tax fraud, claims report

• January 26, 2015 26 Jan'15

  Future of parliament report calls for digital engagement and online voting

  A report outlines how parliament should embrace digital technology to be more transparent, inclusive and better able to engage the public

• January 23, 2015 23 Jan'15

  How can we build a flexible single digital market in the EU?

  EU should address mobility and data security as well as innovation through fair competition to expand digital growth, says UK report

• January 23, 2015 23 Jan'15

  Senior judge calls for technology to transform courtrooms

  A senior judge has called for the introduction of technologies such as video and online filing to bring the criminal courts into the 21st century

• January 23, 2015 23 Jan'15

  US journalist jailed over Stratfor hacking

  A US journalist and self-styled spokesman for the hacking collective Anonymous has been sentenced to five years in jail

• January 22, 2015 22 Jan'15

  Online banking the most used digital service in the UK

  Online banking is the most used digital service in the UK, according to 67% of people

• January 21, 2015 21 Jan'15

  GICIS launches cyber security school in London

  A private education institution is helping to address the information security skills gap with the launch of a cyber, intelligence and security school

• January 21, 2015 21 Jan'15

  UK leads in global ranking of social open data sharing

  The UK has been named the number one country to use open data for social and economic benefit

• January 21, 2015 21 Jan'15

  Union ballots CSC members for MoD strike

  CSC staff at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have rejected a 0.3% pay increase and the Public and Commercial Services Union initiated a ballet for strike action

• January 21, 2015 21 Jan'15

  MPs force inquiry into Post Office subpostmaster mediation scheme

  MPs force inquiry into Post Office scheme to redress grievances of subpostmasters claiming to have been wrongly punished for false accounting

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  Union deal with Capgemini timely as HMRC contract faces break-up

  The Public and Commercial Services union and Capgemini have agreed on a framework to aid good industrial relations

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  Police back-office outsourcing criticised by union

  The leader of the union representing police back-office workers has criticised a Met Police plan to outsource back-office functions

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  London universities host datacentres at Infinity in Slough

  The Joint Academic network, Janet, has begun offering a shared service to universities and academic institutes

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  US blamed North Korea for Sony attack based on data from 2010 US hack

  President Barack Obama accused North Korea of attacking Sony Pictures based on intelligence gathered in a US hack of the country’s networks in 2010

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  Dartmoor National Park brings public wireless to remote sites

  Dartmoor National Park Authority deploys Cloud in a Box to offer visitors Wi-Fi at its facilities

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  NHS to bring two IT systems in-house away from BT

  Two NHS IT systems will be moved from BT to be managed in-house by the Health and Social Care Information Centre from February 2015

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  Airwave tackles network traffic spike on New Year’s Eve

  Emergency services comms supplier Airwave records its most concentrated network usage ever in central London on New Year’s Eve

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  HMRC trials Gov.uk Verify in busiest month of the year

  Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is to trial the government’s Verify identity assurance scheme in its busiest month

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  GDS hints at future approach to government-as-a-platform

  The Government Digital Service (GDS) has hinted at a new approach to meet Whitehall’s government-as-a-platform goals

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  TechUK welcomes PM's support for UK cyber security industry

  Technology association TechUK has welcomed UK prime minister David Cameron’s commitment to strengthen the UK’s cyber security industry

• January 19, 2015 19 Jan'15

  Why we need cyber war games

  The US and UK governments plan to conduct a series of cyber “war games” to test each other’s resilience – but will that really do any good?

• January 16, 2015 16 Jan'15

  Public sector may get encrypted connections over PSN in defiance of PM

  Civil servants risk clash with Number 10 following remarks made by PSN chief technology officer James Duncan

• January 16, 2015 16 Jan'15

  Cameron and Obama plan war games to test cyber resilience

  The UK and US have agreed to a series of simulated cyber attacks to test each other’s resilience

• January 16, 2015 16 Jan'15

  Blackburn with Darwen Council renegotiates Capita outsourcing deal

  Blackburn with Darwen Council is renegotiating its £200m 15-year outsourcing deal with Capita as it tries to save millions of pounds in its budget

• January 15, 2015 15 Jan'15

  Public sector must make big data relevant

  Big data is set to revolutionise public services but projects should focus on those that the public will understand

• January 15, 2015 15 Jan'15

  CGI to provide government security vetting system

  IT services supplier CGI is providing the UK government’s security vetting under a four-year contract

• January 15, 2015 15 Jan'15

  Gateshead NHS migrates over one million radiology images

  Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust moves images and scans to a central archive which can be viewed from any department in the hospital

• January 15, 2015 15 Jan'15

  Supplier relationship management lessons from the car industry

  IT can learn a lot from the car industry, which has transformed supplier relationship management

• January 14, 2015 14 Jan'15

  Government extends PSN in response to supplier query deluge

  The Crown Commercial Service is extending the PSN Connectivity and Services frameworks for a further 12 months, after receiving a deluge of questions about its impending replacement

• January 14, 2015 14 Jan'15

  Home Office cans Lot 4 of Emergency Services Network

  The Home Office concedes the fourth contract for the Emergency Services Network is to be scrapped

• January 14, 2015 14 Jan'15

  Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust embarks on clinical portal project

  Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust selects HP Enterprise Services to supply a clinical portal from Orion Health, with single sign-on from Imprivata

• January 13, 2015 13 Jan'15

  EU data reform long overdue, says information commissioner

  The European directive that led to the UK’s 1988 Data Protection Act is “scarcely fit for purpose”, says Christopher Graham

• January 13, 2015 13 Jan'15

  Cameron criticised for plans to ban encrypted messaging apps

  David Cameron has been criticised over plans for new surveillance powers that could block encrypted messaging apps

• January 13, 2015 13 Jan'15

  Obama calls for single US data breach notification law

  The US president is calling for a single US data breach notification law as part of proposed legislation to improve data security

• January 13, 2015 13 Jan'15

  FBI investigates hacked US military social media accounts

  The FBI investigates the hacking of the US Central Command's Twitter and YouTube accounts by a group claiming to back Islamic State

• January 12, 2015 12 Jan'15

  National roaming SIM to hit the market in weeks

  MVNO 24 Seven trials national roaming SIM in bid to pick up rural business customers

• January 12, 2015 12 Jan'15

  Solihull council launches digital strategy

  Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has launched a digital strategy which outlines how it will engage with citizens across multiple channels

• January 09, 2015 09 Jan'15

  Cabinet Office searches for CDO to lead digital and tech team

  The Cabinet Office is looking to create a digital and technology team, with a chief digital officer (CDO) at its helm

• January 09, 2015 09 Jan'15

  DWP begins search for CTO

  The Department for Work and Pensions is looking for a new CTO, who will report into the director general of technology Mayank Prakash

• January 08, 2015 08 Jan'15

  No evidence the government's prompt payment for SMEs is working

  The government can't tell whether SME suppliers are benefiting from its commitment to pay 80% of its suppliers on time

• January 08, 2015 08 Jan'15

  Surrey County Council readies shared cloud on Nutanix

  Surrey County Council has migrated its datacentre infrastructure to a shared service, hosted platform based on Nutanix

• January 08, 2015 08 Jan'15

  Cyber attack now primary weapon for countries, says ViaSat UK

  Cyber attacks are becoming the first weapon of choice for countries in conflict, says ViaSat UK

• January 08, 2015 08 Jan'15

  FBI reiterates claims North Korea is behind Sony cyber attack

  The FBI says it is confident North Korea is behind the recent cyber attack on Sony Entertainment Pictures

• January 06, 2015 06 Jan'15

  European Commission tenders for first cloud services

  The European Commission (EC) has put out a tender for a framework to acquire its first cloud services