News

IT for government and public sector

March 03, 2020 03 Mar'20
MPs double down on criticism of HMRC's loan charge enforcement action report

The war of words between the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and HMRC has deepened, as the cross-party group of MPs pens three-page letter outlining its issues with how tax agency is reporting on its enforcement activities
March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20
HMRC CEO denies it is ‘deliberately misleading’ public over loan scheme promoter arrests

HMRC CEO Jim Harra has “strongly rejected” claims made on social media by the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group of cross-party MPs that it is “deliberately misleading” the public about its recent loan scheme-related enforcement activities
March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20
NHSX appoints chief information officer

Sonia Patel is the latest senior appointment at the digital unit of the National Health Service
March 02, 2020 02 Mar'20
Boris Johnson’s commitment to inquiry into Post Office scandal in doubt

Boris Johnson’s apparent commitment to a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal is not so certain

February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20
Student Loans Company to enlist IT suppliers for £200m transformation plan

Suppliers are being sought to support intended improvements to Student Loans Company's customer interface and technology estate
February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20
Government claims it was misled by Post Office over IT scandal

Minister says Post Office IT experts misled the government when it asked questions about subpostmasters’ concerns over Horizon IT system
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
WikiLeaks founder Assange is well enough to participate in extradition proceedings, says judge

A judge dismissed claims that Julian Assange’s vulnerable psychological state would prevent him from taking part in his extradition hearing to face espionage and computer misuse charges in the US
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
Gove warns EU that UK sovereignty is non-negotiable on eve of trade deal talks

The UK and the EU have published their divergent mandates for trade talks due to start on Monday 2 March 2020, and digital may emerge as a long-term terrain of dispute
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
NHSX launches Tech Plan vision

The strategy will see a phased approach to the delivery of digitisation in the healthcare sector, with delivery kicking off this summer
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
Clearview hack fuels debate over facial recognition

Customers of Clearview AI, a controversial startup that scrapes and sells billions of photos of people from social media to police forces, have found themselves at the centre of a major data breach

February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
IR35 private sector reforms: Treasury review concludes no delay needed to April 2020 start date

Contracting groups describe HM Treasury’s highly anticipated review into the implementation of the IR35 reforms as “recklessly inadequate” as it concludes roll-out should proceed as planned
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
IR35 reforms: IT contractors warned off joining non-compliant umbrellas to avoid loan charge risk

Contracting stakeholders are calling on the government to do more to regulate umbrella companies ahead of the IR35 private sector reforms coming into play, to prevent more contractors falling into the scope of the loan charge
February 27, 2020 27 Feb'20
Redcar & Cleveland Council confirms ransomware attack

Local authority’s systems are still offline nearly three weeks after being attacked
February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20
NHSX publishes first progress report since launch

Digital unit for the National Health Service outlines achievements in areas such as the NHS App and artificial intelligence and gives clues about future milestones
February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be legally extradited for ‘political offences’, say lawyers

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange argue that he has been charged with political offences and cannot be legally extradited to the US under the US-UK extradition treaty
February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20
Boris Johnson commits to 'getting to the bottom of' Post Office Horizon IT scandal

Prime minister Boris Johnson appears to commit to a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal over its accounting system, but government is yet to offer any details
February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20
Thousands of UK entrepreneurs register businesses in Estonia since Brexit referendum

UK entrepreneurs are registering businesses in Estonia to make sure they can continue to trade freely in the EU
February 26, 2020 26 Feb'20
Met Police chief backs legislative framework for police tech

Met Police commissioner has called for legislative framework to govern police use of new technologies, while defending the decision to use live facial recognition technology operationally without it
February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20
Julian Assange phoned White House to warn of risk to lives

Julian Assange phoned the White House to warn officials that unredacted cables published on the web posed a risk to lives, a court heard yesterday
February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20
Boots to trial private e-prescriptions

The pharmacy chain is trialling the service, underpinned by Doctor Care Anywhere technology, in 20 London stores
February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20
Government admits it was too passive managing Post Office as parliamentary pressure builds

The UK government faces accusations of neglecting its duties handling the Post Office as pressure mounts in Parliament for justice for the subpostmasters who suffered due to faults in the Horizon IT system
February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20
Cyber criminals targeting UK motorists, warns DVLA

Cyber criminals are offering various services and tax refunds that purport to be from the DVLA
February 25, 2020 25 Feb'20
Department for Education publishes tools to support learning at home

The Department for Education publishes apps featuring innovations such as artificial intelligence aimed at helping parents to use technology to create positive learning environments
February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20
Assange extradition is a politically motivated ‘abuse of power’, court hears

US government’s attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the US is politically motivated and an abuse of process, court told
February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20
WikiLeaks founder Assange ‘put lives at risk’ by disclosing names in leaked documents, court hears

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘put lives of US informants at risk’ by publishing unredacted documents, lawyers for the US argued at the first day of a week-long extradition hearing
February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20
Estonia to give citizens Alexa-like access to public services

The Estonian government is working on a project that will ultimately allow citizens to ask Siri, Alexa or almost any other virtual digital assistant to interact with government departments on their behalf
February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20
IR35 private sector reforms: First year of enforcement won't be ‘heavy-handed’, claims chancellor

New chancellor Rishi Sunak has moved to assure business leaders that HMRC will not be heavy-handed in enforcing the new IR35 rules
February 24, 2020 24 Feb'20
Tech reaction to UK’s upcoming immigration rules

The government has outlined its plans for a new points-based immigration system to ensure only skilled workers can enter the UK – but what does the technology sector think?
February 23, 2020 23 Feb'20
Australian government inks sourcing deal with Rimini Street

The whole-of-government agreement will provide Australian government agencies with easier and cheaper access to third-party software support
February 21, 2020 21 Feb'20
Scotland to set up payments service for public sector

Scottish government seeks supplier to work on beta phase of development
February 20, 2020 20 Feb'20
Executive interview: Making IT sustainable

Defra recently reported that “cloud-first” IT strategies are driving green information and communications technology in government. This puts a greater emphasis on datacentre transparency
February 20, 2020 20 Feb'20
EU defies big tech firms and proposes single data market

The European Commission outlines actions needed to enable the continent's digital success
February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20
EU puts up AI and data strategies with an ethical twist

European Commission launches strategies for artificial intelligence and data economics, making the fight against climate change their raison d’être
February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20
Data sharing between private healthcare and NHS to move into new phase

A consultation has been launched to seek views on the creation of a single source of healthcare data in England, with a series of pilots announced
February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20
US ‘breached due process’ in spying operation against Julian Assange’s lawyers

Surveillance footage of Julian Assange’s meetings with lawyers and doctors in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was an “abuse of process”
February 18, 2020 18 Feb'20
Swedish council tests virtual reality in care for vulnerable people

Local authority is testing virtual reality technology to provide care services to vulnerable groups such elderly and disabled citizens
February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20
Government invests in tech to tackle traffic congestion

Councils and SMEs will get a share of £1.5m government funding to work on trials aimed at improving driving conditions
February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20
Concerns raised over former Post Office CEO’s appointment at NHS trust under review

Care Quality Commission to review concerns over Paula Vennells’ appointment after they were raised by a former NHS consultant psychiatrist
February 17, 2020 17 Feb'20
Met Office gets a decade of funding to update supercomputers

As the UK goes through another storm battering, the Met Office has received a £1.2bn investment to power the next decade of weather forecasts
February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20
CIO Interview: Siim Sikkut, Estonian government CIO

Siim Sikkut is one of a generation of tech native Estonians, who is turning his knowledge and experience to transforming government services
February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20
PM Johnson shuffles technology and digital ministers again

Boris Johnson has changed all the key Cabinet appointments responsible for tech and digital policy for the second time since becoming prime minister last year
February 14, 2020 14 Feb'20
Calls for inquiry into Post Office IT scandal increase in Parliament, with cross-party support

Many MPs might not yet fully understand the suffering subpostmasters have endured because of the Post Office’s faulty IT system and its oppressive behaviour, but they will soon
February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20
Half of technology workers want to find a new job in 2020

Better pay and work/life balance are major reasons for tech workers to seek a new job, according to a new study
February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20
Adult social care organisations get £4.5m in funding for digital

A group of 16 local authorities was selected to receive the grant from NHS Digital to fund digital projects for adult social care
February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20
Pressure for public inquiry into Post Office IT system scandal begins with mountain to climb

Members of Parliament seeking a public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal face huge challenges, but pressure and time could force justice
February 11, 2020 11 Feb'20
MI5 failed to disclose failings in handling intercepted data, court hears

MI5 failed to disclose serious failures in the way it handled intelligence data to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the surveillance regulator and ministers.
February 10, 2020 10 Feb'20
Two-thirds of workers at risk of robot-driven redundancy are unaware of the threat to jobs

People who do jobs that are most likely to be automated through technology are unaware and unprepared of the impending threat to their livelihoods, with Nesta calling on the government to do more to up-skill those at risk
February 10, 2020 10 Feb'20
Scotland makes inroads in digital identity project

The government has started building a prototype of what is planned to be a "user-centric" platform to access public services online
February 10, 2020 10 Feb'20
AI in public service must be accountable

Committee on Standards in Public Life recommends that government departments make ethics a top priority when tendering artificial intelligence systems
February 09, 2020 09 Feb'20
Australian government to roll out SAP S/4 Hana

Australia’s finance department earmarks S/4 Hana as its ERP system to provide common financial and HR services across government