News

IT for government and public sector

August 05, 2015 05 Aug'15
HMRC to transfer 250 Capgemini staff in-house ready for Aspire contract end

HMRC’s Aspire outsourcing contract will be replaced by slowly bringing staff in-house to give the department more control over IT
August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15
HMRC explains plans for moving tax systems to the cloud

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reveals more details of its plan to move tax systems into the cloud on its digital blog
August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15
Government digital chief Mike Bracken announces he is leaving

GDS director Mike Bracken is leaving government, and his unexpected departure will inevitably raise questions about the future of GDS
August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15
MoD shells out £1.5bn on two IT contracts

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signs two IT contracts costing more than £1bn, which it hopes will save money over the next 10 years

July 29, 2015 29 Jul'15
Technology experts warn of dangers of artificial intelligence arms race

An open letter signed by more than 12,000 technology experts calls for a ban on artificial intelligence (AI) to manage weapons “beyond meaningful human control”
July 27, 2015 27 Jul'15
MPs examine visa rules over immigration for software and digital skills

Home Affairs committee launches an inquiry after the number of skilled worker visas issued reached its monthly cap for the first time
July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15
GDS targets three million new users of Gov.uk Verify service in next 12 months

Roll-out of the system for logging in to digital public services is taking longer than expected, but user numbers are expected to grow significantly in 2015
July 21, 2015 21 Jul'15
Software audits cut government IT bill by £85m in 2014/15

Annual accounts for the government purchasing agency show at least £220m in technology related savings
July 20, 2015 20 Jul'15
UK considers 10-year jail sentences for online piracy

The UK government is considering new measures to increase the sanctions for criminals who infringe the rights of copyright holders for large-scale financial gain
July 17, 2015 17 Jul'15
UK man arrested for hacking into US government computers

Briton Lauri Love is accused of hacking into various US agencies, including the US army, Nasa, the federal reserve and the environmental protection agency

July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15
Rolls-Royce signs up to supercomputing on-demand from HPC Midlands

Rolls-Royce is the first company to sign up to a supercomputing brokerage scheme, giving it access to £60m worth of high-performance computing
July 07, 2015 07 Jul'15
Campaigners call for independent inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT system dispute

George Freeman MP repeats Post Office claims that a report found no flaws in the Horizon IT system – but campaigners respond by calling for an inquiry
July 06, 2015 06 Jul'15
Genomics England rejects open source to deploy EMC Isilon HPC storage

100,000 Genomes Project rejects building open-source parallel file system on x86 servers and opts for EMC Isilon clustered NAS deployed by Capita S3
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
Metropolitan Police picks Innopsis to lead network procurement

London’s Metropolitan Police Service signs public-sector networking association Innopsis to lead engagement on network procurement
July 02, 2015 02 Jul'15
Accenture uses Avanade cloud for NHSmail

Accenture to deploy a cloud-based email system for NHS staff using a combination of Microsoft software and Avanade cloud technology
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
UK universities revise computer course guidelines to boost ranks of cyber warriors

UK universities revise course guidelines to transform computing degree courses and ensure that undergraduates learn cyber security skills
July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15
Post Office signs IBM for IT overhaul

MP James Bridgen reveals the Post Office intends to outsource an IT transformation to IBM as part of its drive to serve customers using modern technology
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Connection voucher scheme opened to businesses across West Sussex

Small businesses in West Sussex will be able to apply for £3,000 broadband connection vouchers after the extension of an existing scheme across the county
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Do not leave digital government development to Whitehall, says Chi Onwurah MP

Whitehall should not be left with sole responsibility for the government drive to building a digital future, says shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah
June 30, 2015 30 Jun'15
Post Office looking to replace controversial Horizon system with IBM, says MP

Days could be numbered for controversial Post Office computer system at the centre of miscarriages of justice, according to one MP
June 29, 2015 29 Jun'15
Cisco launches IoT System for enterprise and smart cities

Cisco unveils 15 products to address the growing complexity of internet of things deployments
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
Universal Credit costs leap by more than 20% to £15.8bn

Figures reveal increase in lifetime cost since changes to the plan made to 'reset' the troubled welfare reform programme
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
CIO Interview: Ian Bell, CIO, Cambridgeshire Police Service

The CIO of Cambridgeshire Police Service talks about the constabulary’s move to digital for collaboration and information sharing in its effort to increase efficiency
June 25, 2015 25 Jun'15
Digital government 'a chance to build a new state', says Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock

Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock says the move to digital government is a “chance to build a new state” in a speech outlining his priorities
June 22, 2015 22 Jun'15
Government Digital Service insists Verify safe despite claims of vulnerabilities

An academic paper suggests the Gov.uk Verify system could be used as a spy network, but the Government Digital Service (GDS) insists this is not the case
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
Council dodges £300,000 NetApp outlay with Atlantis flash caching

Somerset local authority avoids spending £300,000 on extra hard drives for its NetApp arrays and pays half that for Atlantis ILIO flash caching software that runs VDI from RAM
June 15, 2015 15 Jun'15
NHS e-Referral system goes live, despite 33 issues and GDS warning

NHS England has launched its replacement hospital appointment booking service, even though it has known errors and failed to follow government digital guidelines
June 12, 2015 12 Jun'15
Government preparing to let private sector companies use its Verify identity scheme

The Cabinet Office is talking to banks, insurers and retailers to establish Gov.uk Verify identity assurance as a national scheme
June 11, 2015 11 Jun'15
Is HMRC making tax more taxing for non-digital taxpayers?

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has made tax data accessible online – but how should it cater for those unable (or unwilling) to use digital services?
June 10, 2015 10 Jun'15
International police operation arrests cyber fraud gang

Police in six countries have arrested 49 people suspected of committing financial fraud involving email account intrusions
June 09, 2015 09 Jun'15
HMRC denies reports of Verify causing users problems

HMRC has denied that problems faced by the public attempting to claim marriage tax breaks are caused by the Gov.uk Verify scheme
June 08, 2015 08 Jun'15
Digital services not saving government departments money, says NAO

Government departments are not making the savings digital services were aiming to deliver
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
HMRC looks for transformation partner ahead of Aspire end

HMRC is seeking transformational help ahead of the demise of its Aspire contract in 2017.
June 03, 2015 03 Jun'15
Sourcing must adapt to digital business goals, says Gartner

Businesses need to change their sourcing strategies if they are to keep pace with the digital revolution, says analyst organisation Gartner
June 01, 2015 01 Jun'15
Most of more than 733,000 police communications data requests approved

Big Brother Watch is calling for a curb on the scale of police access to communications data and greater transparency in the use of this data
May 29, 2015 29 May'15
Top six enterprise IT priorities in the Nordics

The future of enterprise IT looks bright in the Nordic region, with growing focus on datacentre investments, national cloud and automatisation
May 26, 2015 26 May'15
Civil Servants point to lack of skills as barrier to IT procurement

Adoption of IT for public services is held back due to a lack of skills, despite civil servants agreeing IT is a necessity, according to techUK
May 21, 2015 21 May'15
CIO interview: Austerity drives joined-up council IT with Force.com

Peterborough has become a big user of software-as-a-service for council services. We speak to its IT head
May 20, 2015 20 May'15
Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption
May 20, 2015 20 May'15
BT and BDUK failed to make costs transparent, says report

A major report on BDUK commissioned by DCMS identifies a number of failures around the transparency of the scheme’s costs
May 19, 2015 19 May'15
GDS will not scale locally with continued bespoke approach

If the Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to develop bespoke digital services, the progress it has made to date will not scale at a local level, Eddie Copeland, head of technology at the Policy Exchange, has warned
May 18, 2015 18 May'15
Socitm to launch women in IT network

Society of Information Technology Management on the hunt for partners to help launch women in IT network
May 18, 2015 18 May'15
Whitehall technology chiefs vetoed new Windows XP support deal

Government technology chiefs vetoed a new deal with Microsoft to continue Windows XP support to force laggards to move off the OS
May 15, 2015 15 May'15
Joanna Shields appointed junior minister

Former Tech City CEO Joanna Shields appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
May 15, 2015 15 May'15
Fire services to keep Airwave Tetra radios until 2020

The Department for Communities and Local Government approves a major extension of the fire services' Firelink Tetra network to the end of 2019
May 14, 2015 14 May'15
Digital age a turning point for policing, says commissioner Leppard

Policing in the digital age will face a turning point in the next two years, according to City of London Police commissioner Adrian Leppard
May 11, 2015 11 May'15
PSNGB rebrands to drive information sharing across PSN

PSNGB, the trade association set up to promote the Public Services Network, rebrands itself as Innopsis and says its work is far from over
April 29, 2015 29 Apr'15
Met Police offers up to almost £200,000 for CIO role

The Metropolitan Police is offering up to almost £200,000 to fill its CIO position, which has been open since February 2015
April 29, 2015 29 Apr'15
Criminal Courts Review Commission set to review subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution

The Criminal Courts Review Commission (CCRC) reviews subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution by the Post Office due to IT problems
April 29, 2015 29 Apr'15
Vodafone sends network in a backpack to Nepal earthquake zone

Vodafone’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, deploys instant mini networks to help restore communications in quake-hit Nepal