News

IT for government and public sector

March 23, 2015 23 Mar'15
Half of English councils won’t reach BDUK coverage target

Almost half of local authorities in England don’t think they’ll reach the government’s 95% broadband coverage target in the allotted timeframe
March 23, 2015 23 Mar'15
Law enforcement and security agencies face big data challenge

Law enforcement and security agencies face the same big data challenge as business, according to Unisys
March 23, 2015 23 Mar'15
UK aims to become world centre in cyber security insurance

The UK aims to become a global leader in cyber security insurance through a set of joint initiatives between the government and the insurance sector
March 20, 2015 20 Mar'15
What went wrong with Defra's rural payments system?

A £154m system to process payments to farmers has been forced to resort to paper forms. What went wrong – and is this a digital disaster?

March 20, 2015 20 Mar'15
DWP to direct jobseekers to digital skills-sharing platforms

Department for Work and Pensions to update guidance to Jobcentre Plus staff to direct jobseekers to digital skills-sharing platforms
March 20, 2015 20 Mar'15
Reading Council releases open transport data

Reading Council has opened up transport data to support real time traffic and bus information
March 20, 2015 20 Mar'15
Information Commissioner's Office calls for transparent public sector outsourcing

For greater transparency, public sector buyers and suppliers should be open about their dealings before signing contracts, says ICO
March 20, 2015 20 Mar'15
Rural payment problems cause U-turn for flagship 'digital by default' service

Government forced into U-turn as flagship 'digital by default' service for payments to farmers resorts to paper forms following an IT failure
March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
BIS sets out to assist development of digital sharing economy

The government has set out a number of proposals to assist in the development of the £9bn trade body Sharing Economy UK
March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
Hampshire Council CIO Jos Creese steps down

Hampshire County Council CIO Jos Creese – one of the longest-serving IT leaders in local government – leaves in May for freelance consultancy

March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
Government fails on election transparency pledge to publish contracts

The UK government has failed to meet its 2010 election pledge to publish all contracts in its digital reforms of the public sector
March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
Police need wider capability to tackle online crime, says London watchdog

The Metropolitan Police should appoint a senior officer to ensure the whole force is prepared to tackle online crime, says a London watchdog
March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
NHS England may become free Wi-Fi hub for digitally excluded

NHS England’s Tim Kelsey says the health service sees an opportunity to roll out free Wi-Fi networks across its estate
March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15
Government creates Crown Hosting venture with Ark Data Centres

Cabinet Office signs seven-year joint venture agreement with Ark Data Centres to create Crown Hosting Service
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
GDS gets local government remit in 2015 Budget

The Government Digital Service (GDS) will have its remit extended to cover local authorities
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
Internet of things and 5G network research priority in 2015 Budget

Research into the internet of things and the 5G networks to support it figured highly in chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
Budget 2015: £11m support for tech incubators as part of northern powerhouse mission

George Osborne sets out plans to nurture tech startups in the north with cash injections and travel improvements
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
Government sets out ultrafast broadband plans

Government publishes Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy to coincide with the Budget, setting out its future broadband ambitions
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
Budget 2015: First look at the policies for technology

Chancellor George Osborne announced a range of Budget measures to help the growth of technology and digital government across the UK
March 18, 2015 18 Mar'15
Public sector slow to pick up on the internet of things, says Gartner

A Gartner report predicts smart city deployments will be heavily skewed towards the private sector, leaving the public sector trailing
March 17, 2015 17 Mar'15
BT and Barclays to take Wi-Fi into deprived communities

Libraries and community centres in some of the most deprived parts of England are to get free Wi-Fi and digital support
March 17, 2015 17 Mar'15
HM Revenue & Customs moves UK tax systems to the cloud

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) starts moving the IT systems that collect tax to the cloud, with much of the work going to Fujitsu
March 17, 2015 17 Mar'15
Poll finds public demand for consultation on public-sector outsourcing

Poll finds 68% of the UK public want to be consulted on public-sector outsourcing, with Labour and UKIP supporters most in favour
March 16, 2015 16 Mar'15
Call for data-sharing system to help emergency responders

Public-sector staff such as paramedics, police officers and volunteer responders need a data-sharing system, an O2 roundtable said
March 16, 2015 16 Mar'15
Big data sees Dublin Airport mobile passenger experience soar

Dublin and Cork Airport operator daa turns to FeedHenry to expose more data within an updated mobile app for travellers passing through
March 13, 2015 13 Mar'15
BBC gives UK schools one million devices in digital education initiative

BBC launches digital-first initiative to teach children programming and digital technologies, giving UK schools one million coding devices
March 13, 2015 13 Mar'15
Japan recruits hackers for cyber security force

The Japanese government plans to recruit hackers to identify and protect against cyber security threats
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
Interception errors had serious consequences for individuals

Law enforcement and security services made 12 serious technical and nine human surveillance errors last year
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
GDS outlines Digital Marketplace strategy for IT procurement

GDS outlines plans for its Digital Marketplace where the public sector can go to procure all IT and digital services in future
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
Get data protection right now, ICO tells UK business

New European data protection law will come into force in 2017 at the earliest, but UK business should not delay in getting its house in order
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
Rewrite 'absurdly complicated’ surveillance laws, say MPs

The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee has presented the Prime Minister with proposals to reform privacy and intelligence laws
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
CIO interview: Ivor Nicholson, Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council is facing £77m in cuts by 2018 and by rolling out new services, it plans to save £8m through technology alone
March 12, 2015 12 Mar'15
CIO interview: Ben Booth on transforming IT at the National Offender Management Service

The UK's National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has ended a year of IT-led transformation, managed by interim IT chief Ben Booth
March 11, 2015 11 Mar'15
Digital banking service gets branches through Post Office

Advanced Payment Solutions signs agreement to allow customers to access banking services in Post Office branches
March 11, 2015 11 Mar'15
Post Office ends working group for IT system investigation day before potentially damaging report

The Post Office closed a working group involved in an investigation into claims against allegedly faulty accounting software used by subpostmasters
March 10, 2015 10 Mar'15
Security professionals look to workload security in the cloud

The first Cloud Security Spotlight Report shows broad cloud adoption and move towards workload security
March 10, 2015 10 Mar'15
CGI to assess digital learning for Ministry of Defence

MoD signs outsourcing agreement with CGI as part of a programme to increase digital-based learning
March 10, 2015 10 Mar'15
Bristol signs NEC to develop smart city infrastructure

NEC, Bristol Council and the University of Bristol create an open, programmable city for smarter transport, environment and health services
March 09, 2015 09 Mar'15
US cyber crime indictment prompts calls for zero tolerance

A newly-revealed US indictment of three suspected cyber criminals has prompted a call for zero tolerance for cyber intrusions
March 06, 2015 06 Mar'15
New EU data protection rules are good for business, says Websense

The coming EU General Data Protection Regulation has much to offer businesses, but they must get ready, says security firm Websense
March 06, 2015 06 Mar'15
£1.9bn available to health authorities with electronic patient records

The government has set aside £1.9bn to fund the development of better care in the NHS, according to health minister Jeremy Hunt
March 06, 2015 06 Mar'15
UK police arrest 57 cyber crime suspects

UK police have arrested 57 cyber crime suspects in 25 separate operations co-ordinated by the National Crime Agency in the past week
March 06, 2015 06 Mar'15
Procurement guidelines saved government £91m in 2014, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

The government made £91m savings in 2014 with “militant” guidelines around procurement, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude
March 05, 2015 05 Mar'15
European Commission outsources IT

Unisys-led consortiums have won a chunk of a €900m European Commission IT outsourcing programme
March 05, 2015 05 Mar'15
Mobile World Congress 2015: Evolution but no revolution

Mobile World Congress 2015 reflected less the handset innovation of recent years, and more the evolution of mobility
March 05, 2015 05 Mar'15
SMEs take Capita contract dispute to UK competition regulator

A group of small businesses that claim to have lost revenue through two controversial government contracts have complained to the regulator
March 05, 2015 05 Mar'15
All civilian drones should be registered, says House of Lords EU Committee

The House of Lords EU Committee says all civilian drones in Europe should be registered as concerns grow over UAV terror attacks
March 05, 2015 05 Mar'15
China and US cross swords over software backdoors

Barack Obama criticises Chinese plans to force tech firms trading in China to share encryption keys and put backdoors in software
March 04, 2015 04 Mar'15
Met Police to cut 700 IT jobs in outsourcing plan

The Metropolitan Police is to cut 700 IT jobs under a plan to outsource software development and IT services in its Digital Policing arm
March 04, 2015 04 Mar'15
US policy exposes Apple and Google devices to Freak attack

An old US policy requiring weaker encryption for export products is exposing millions of Apple and Google devices, say researchers
March 04, 2015 04 Mar'15
Strong future for enterprise IT in Nordic countries

From attracting the world to its ice-cool datacentres to the digitisation of the public sector, there is plenty going on in the Nordic region
March 03, 2015 03 Mar'15
Australians troll politicians to protest data retention law

Australians unhappy over proposed data retention laws target politicians with unsolicited text messages in protest
March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15
Enisa looks to UK for government cloud security guidance

Doubts raised over Enisa looking to the UK for guidance on creating a security framework that speeds adoption of government cloud services in Europe
March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15
IT industry lashes out over government procurement policies

The UK IT industry has criticised the lack of clarity surrounding changes to government IT procurement plans
March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15
National Crime Agency leads partnership to guard UK against cyber crime

UK law enforcement officers work with public and private sector partners to help businesses and consumers guard against cyber crime
March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15
GCHQ opens applications for cyber security summer school

UK intelligence agency GCHQ is inviting applications to a 10-week cyber security summer school
February 27, 2015 27 Feb'15
Exploiting big data could save the European Commission up to €200bn a year

There are several obstacles to building a digital economy in Europe, says Marta Nagy-Rothengass, head of the EC's data value chain unit
February 27, 2015 27 Feb'15
AXELOS CEO: Companies must focus on being cyber resilient

Companies need to put more emphasis on improving their reactions to cyber attacks rather than continuing to focus on prevention, says AXELOS CEO
February 27, 2015 27 Feb'15
Berkshire NHS trust gets Microsoft Lync as a service through G-Cloud

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has made its first IT purchase using the G-Cloud framework
February 27, 2015 27 Feb'15
Cyber attacks top US national threat list

Cyber attacks by politically and criminally motivated actors top the list of threats facing the US, according to national intelligence director
February 26, 2015 26 Feb'15
NTS gets DotHill hybrid flash with tiering in datacentre revamp

The National Trust for Scotland has deployed a DotHill hybrid flash SAN with automated storage tiering to support a revamp of its IT systems
February 25, 2015 25 Feb'15
SMEs seek legal advice over controversial Capita contracts with government

SMEs that claim to have lost significant revenue through two government contracts are seeking legal advice over alleged breaches of competition law
February 25, 2015 25 Feb'15
Government direct spending with SMEs decreased in 2013/14

Government spending on contracts with UK SMEs fell in the latest financial year, despite policy to increase the amount spent with small firms
February 25, 2015 25 Feb'15
Cyber security key to EU single digital market, says EC

Cyber security key to a single digital market in Europe, says Jakub Boratynski, head of security at the European Commission (EC)
February 25, 2015 25 Feb'15
£700m spent on Universal Credit yet to deliver value for money, say MPs

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on Universal Credit so far, but has yet to convince MPs it is value for money
February 24, 2015 24 Feb'15
NHS Trafford chooses CSC to deliver healthcare co-ordination centre

NHS Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is opening an IT-driven centre to co-ordinate healthcare in the region
February 24, 2015 24 Feb'15
Businesses should not wait for EU data protection law, says PwC lawyer

Businesses waiting for the EU General Data Protection Regulation before taking action have already missed the boat, according to a PwC Legal partner
February 23, 2015 23 Feb'15
Ordnance Survey announces open data innovation project

Ordnance Survey marked International Open Data Day by announcing plans to launch an open data digital map
February 23, 2015 23 Feb'15
Met Police begins search for replacement CIO

The Metropolitan Police is searching for a CIO to implement its Total Technology IT strategy
February 23, 2015 23 Feb'15
Northamptonshire County Council approves extensive outsourcing deal

Northamptonshire County Council approves an outsourcing plan that could move 95% of core staff to external suppliers
February 20, 2015 20 Feb'15
Government to move forward with national emergency text alert system

The Cabinet Office has proposed amending the Privacy and Electronic Communications legislation to implement a national mobile alert system
February 20, 2015 20 Feb'15
US set for trial of extradited Russian hacker suspect

The US is set for the trial of alleged Russian cyber criminal Vladimir Drinkman after he was extradited from the Netherlands
February 20, 2015 20 Feb'15
NAO to review Capita's government training deal – but not bigger contract for temporary staff

The NAO is to review a controversial government training deal with Capita – but not the larger contract for supply of temporary staff
February 20, 2015 20 Feb'15
Digital adoption helps government to go green

Implementing more digital systems in government has led to a reduction in cost and carbon emissions
February 20, 2015 20 Feb'15
Gemalto denies knowledge of GCHQ and NSA Sim card hack

Gemalto says it cannot verify a report that it was hacked by the NSA and GCHQ to steal encryption keys
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