News

IT for government and public sector

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  Equality watchdog calls on police to stop using facial recognition

  Equalities and Human Rights Commission says use of automatic facial recognition and predictive algorithms by police is discriminatory, stifles freedom of expression and lacks a proper legislative framework

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  Councils awarded £1.2m in innovation funding

  Six councils will each get up to £350,000 for digital innovation projects aiming to improve services for residents, in the latest round of the Local Digital Fund

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  Budget 2020: Full of promises, but is it enough?

  Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget provided plenty of cash for technology and innovation, but has the government done enough to make the tech industry happy?

• March 13, 2020 13 Mar'20

  US Department of Defense requests time to re-evaluate section of AWS and Microsoft JEDI bids

  The Department of Defense is to request a resubmission of information from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services about their JEDI bids, as the long-running US cloud procurement saga drags on

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Fintech workers called to share their experiences of microaggression

  Fintech workers were asked to share upsetting workplace incidents as part of an anonymous study

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Budget 2020: Omission of IR35 from chancellor's speech sparks fury from contracting groups

  Despite repeated warnings of the damage the incoming IR35 reforms stand to do to the UK economy, contracting groups hit out at the government's decision to press ahead with the changes

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Cross-regulator taskforce on digital economy announced in 2020 Budget

  UK regulators will join forces to look at how the potential regulation of the digital platforms and advertising markets would work

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 2020 Budget pumps £22bn into R&D

  The 2020 Budget pledges to increase research and development funding to £22bn a year, £5bn for broadband roll-out and £900m to ensure UK businesses lead the way in “high-potential technologies”, but slashes tax relief for entrepreneurs

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  International Women’s Day provides platform for Nordic women in tech

  International annual event reminds tech industry that work needs to be done to reduce inequality, but organisations must work towards this on a daily basis

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  NHS partners with Google to improve health information online

  Latest measures will ensure direct access to NHS advice for more than 250 most-searched health conditions

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  MPs told to hold to account those responsible for Post Office Horizon IT scandal

  Subpostmasters who had their lives destroyed by a faulty IT system and mistreatment by the Post Office have asked MPs to hold to account the people responsible for the injustices

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  More questions raised about Gov.uk Verify as digital identity chief quits

  Lisa Barrett, director of digital identity at GDS and head of the troubled Verify programme, is leaving government as funding questions remain ahead of Budget

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  GDS works on joining up government services

  The GDS is assembling a business case as information about the impact of disjointed government offerings is gathered

• March 10, 2020 10 Mar'20

  DCMS seeks outside experts to review government data sharing ahead of spending review

  The DCMS is seeking consultants to undertake a short-term but strategic project to figure out how to improve data sharing across government ahead of the comprehensive spending review, rolled over from 2019 to 2020

• March 09, 2020 09 Mar'20

  TechUK lays out proposals for Spring Budget

  Trade body TechUK sets out its view on how to accelerate UK growth through technology in its submission to the March 2020 Budget

• March 06, 2020 06 Mar'20

  MI5 slammed by watchdog for failing to delete intercepted phone and internet data

  The Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPCO) has criticised MI5 for failing to report serious errors in the way it handles intercepted phone and internet data

• March 06, 2020 06 Mar'20

  Those who did not play by the rules in Post Office Horizon scandal “should face prosecution”

  Telford MP has become a vocal member of the campaign for justice for the subpostmasters who had their lives devastated as a result of being blamed for losses caused by errors in the Post Office’s core retail and accounting system

• March 06, 2020 06 Mar'20

  Oliver Dowden: UK can be “unashamedly pro-tech nation”

  The secretary of state spoke about the country's opportunity to “unleash all the innovation and enterprise that emerging technologies can provide”

• March 05, 2020 05 Mar'20

  Boots and Tesco loyalty card schemes plagued by security issues

  High-street retailers deal with fraudulent attempts to access the accounts of thousands of customers

• March 05, 2020 05 Mar'20

  Biometrics ethics group takes evidence on public-private use of facial recognition

  Collaboration between police forces and private entities on facial recognition technology comes under scrutiny by the Home Office’s Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group

• March 04, 2020 04 Mar'20

  MPs call on PM to commit to full public inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT scandal

  Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee to investigate the Horizon IT system and will question Post Office executives over subpostmasters wrongly accused of fraud

• March 04, 2020 04 Mar'20

  5G security is a concern for most companies

  A study has found that decision-makers fear that 5G technology will make organisations more vulnerable to cyber attacks and will raise security-related costs

• 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?