News

IT for government and public sector

• August 21, 2018 21 Aug'18

  Government departments are exploring new tech, according to GDS report

  A GDS-commissioned report has found artificial intelligence and blockchain are the most popular among emerging technologies in government, but projects are often done in silos and departments risk “reinventing the wheel”

• August 21, 2018 21 Aug'18

  Microsoft announces free election cyber defence tools

  Microsoft has revealed it recently disrupted domains associated with a Russian cyber attack group believed to be targeting US political groups ahead of the midterm elections

• August 20, 2018 20 Aug'18

  NHS trusts lose nearly 10,000 patient records a year

  Report calls for NHS trusts to work to abolish handwritten notes in hospitals to prevent loss of personal documents and to introduce a patient identity protocol

• August 20, 2018 20 Aug'18

  Job losses caused by artificial intelligence will dwarf those of Victorian revolution

  The disruption to the jobs market caused by artificial intelligence will be far greater than that caused by industrialisation in Victorian times

• August 20, 2018 20 Aug'18

  Planned Australian law raises tech firms’ security concerns

  A digital industry group representing some of the world’s largest tech firms is opposed to proposed Australian laws aimed at compelling them to help security agencies and police

• August 17, 2018 17 Aug'18

  Home Office preps for migration of police IT systems to AWS cloud

  Digital Marketplace tender document reveals the Home Office is on the hunt for an IT supplier to support its work in migrating core police IT systems from an on-premise datacentre to the AWS cloud

• August 17, 2018 17 Aug'18

  Cyber Security Challenge UK to scale up

  Cybersecurity Challenge UK plans to scale up its events and its role in coordinating UK industry efforts to attract talented people to the cyber security profession

• August 16, 2018 16 Aug'18

  Trump sparks speculation after repealing cyber attack restraints

  The US president has sparked speculation about US policy on launching cyber attacks by repealing Obama-era restraints, underlining the need for international rules on cyber warfare

• August 16, 2018 16 Aug'18

  HMRC goes live with first phase of customs IT system

  HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service is now live, and a small group of importers can use the system to make ‘certain types of supplementary declarations’

• August 15, 2018 15 Aug'18

  Scotland's Improvement Service signs up to pilot digital identity platform

  The Improvement Service will pilot the Yoti digital identity platform, test the use of blockchain applications and take a cloud first approach with its myaccount citizen portal

• August 15, 2018 15 Aug'18

  IR35 tech compliance will take private sector 'over a year' to achieve, warns accounting trade body

  The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) cautions HM Revenue & Customs against rushing out IR35 reforms to the private sector, claiming it will take most businesses at least one tax year to ready their software systems for the move

• August 14, 2018 14 Aug'18

  NHS Digital staff at risk of redundancy as part of restructure

  More than 600 NHS Digital employees have been told they may have to reapply for their jobs, as redundancies loom in the first wave of the organisation’s restructure

• August 14, 2018 14 Aug'18

  CIO interview: Richard Corbridge, CDIO, Leeds Teaching Hospitals

  Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ new chief digital and information officer is putting together a plan for smarter use of information

• August 14, 2018 14 Aug'18

  Driverless cars heading for Bromley and Croydon

  A 10-month data-gathering exercise will pave the way for an autonomous vehicle ride-sharing service to start operation in 2019

• August 13, 2018 13 Aug'18

  ICO strengthens commitment to technology and innovation

  Information Commissioner’s Office has demonstrated its commitment to technology and innovation by appointing a new executive director to focus on this area

• August 13, 2018 13 Aug'18

  Most security pros concerned about election infrastructure

  A majority of information security professionals believe that election infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack, a survey shows

• August 13, 2018 13 Aug'18

  Government pumps £51m into Welsh tech hub

  Chancellor Philip Hammond promises £51m in additional investment for researchers and entrepreneurs to drive tech innovation in Wales

• August 10, 2018 10 Aug'18

  Atos sets out vision for a digital Scotland

  Scotland has the potential to create a competitive advantage in the global economy through digital technologies, and could even become a cloud datacentre hub, according to Atos

• August 09, 2018 09 Aug'18

  Education secretary urges tech industry to transform classrooms

  Education secretary Damian Hinds has called upon large technology firms to use tech to tackle some of the biggest issues in schools

• August 09, 2018 09 Aug'18

  Ex-HMRC tax inspector sounds alarm over suitability of IR35 online status checker tool

  As the private sector consultation on IR35 draws to a close, a former HM Revenue & Customs inspector calls into further question the suitability of the government's online tool for assessing contractors’ tax status

• August 09, 2018 09 Aug'18

  Smart cities a tempting target for cyber attackers

  Smart cities are an attractive target for cyber attackers because of the growing number of connected systems embedded throughout their infrastructure

• August 09, 2018 09 Aug'18

  Government sets out vision for better use of rail data

  The government and the rail industry have developed a joint action plan to remove barriers to better data use by improving access to data, developing better standards, increasing skills and encouraging collaboration

• August 08, 2018 08 Aug'18

  IPSE warns government off private sector IR35 reform, as 'no deal' Brexit fears grow

  As the government prepares to close its consultation on extending the IR35 reforms to the private sector, IPSE airs concerns over the economic impact the move could have, as talk of a "no deal" Brexit for the UK continues

• August 08, 2018 08 Aug'18

  Liam Maxwell to swap government for AWS

  Government tech adviser Liam Maxwell is understood to be leaving government for a role at Amazon Web Services

• August 07, 2018 07 Aug'18

  Government invests £3m in Wales-based Stem hub

  A science centre in Wales will be given £3m to develop a Stem hub, which will reach more diverse audiences for its delivery of science and technology teaching content

• August 07, 2018 07 Aug'18

  Lack of Dmarc email validation puts brands and customers at risk 

  There is a worldwide lack of Dmarc email validation to defend against fraud and phishing attacks, putting organisations and customers at risk, a study shows

• August 06, 2018 06 Aug'18

  Highlands and Islands broadband roll-out extended

  The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband roll-out is targeting 25,000 additional homes and businesses in the Highlands and Islands region

• August 06, 2018 06 Aug'18

  DfT pledges to spend one-third of its procurement budget on SMEs by 2022

  Department for Transport’s SME action plan promises to increase its spend with small and medium-sized enterprises to 33% by the end of this parliament

• August 03, 2018 03 Aug'18

  BEIS research and development budget nearly £8bn in 2018/19

  Working to reach the government’s target of spending 2.4% of GDP on research and development by 2027, BEIS has increased its budget to nearly £8bn in 2018/19

• August 02, 2018 02 Aug'18

  Government launches digital economy competition review

  Obama’s former chief economic advisor will lead panel on competition in the digital economy to ensure regulations are fit for purpose

• August 02, 2018 02 Aug'18

  Data has potential to enhance UK economy and productivity, says government

  Government paper sets out potential for data to drive economic value, and highlights series of challenges that need to be addressed to fully gain benefits

• August 02, 2018 02 Aug'18

  Gorgon Group shows simple cyber attacks remain effective

  A highly effective cyber attack group that appears to be based in Pakistan is carrying out targeted attacks against nation states at the same time as criminal operations, researchers have found

• August 02, 2018 02 Aug'18

  GDPR harmonised with local laws in Nordic EU states

  Sweden provides an interesting challenge for the European Union’s data protection regulation due to its laws around freedom of press and free speech

• August 01, 2018 01 Aug'18

  Public sector increases outsourcing in first half of 2018

  IT and business processing outsourcing in UK central government accelerates in the first half this year, almost matching the total spend by financial services firms

• August 01, 2018 01 Aug'18

  Home Office dishes out more than £100m for police tech projects

  The Home Office has awarded £42.7m of funding to a range of digital policing projects, as well as approved £70m for four ongoing national programmes across England and Wales

• August 01, 2018 01 Aug'18

  Northern Ireland to deploy patient portal

  Health and Social Care Northern Ireland will begin piloting a patient portal later this month to support people with dementia

• July 31, 2018 31 Jul'18

  Intelligent automation spending to hit $232bn by 2025

  Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and machine learning could help traditional enterprises gain ground on digital-first giants

• July 31, 2018 31 Jul'18

  SamSam ransomware reaps $5.9m and counting

  In just two and a half years, SamSam campaigns are believed to have netted nearly $6m for cyber criminals, an analysis of this adaptive and evasive strain of active ransomware reveals

• July 31, 2018 31 Jul'18

  Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links

  A British IT manager and former hacker from Darlington ran a disinformation campaign that duped former US intelligence agents and provided Donald Trump with manufactured “evidence” to deny that Russia interfered with the US election

• July 30, 2018 30 Jul'18

  Pentagon flags risky software suppliers

  The Pentagon has drawn up a list of software suppliers that it wants the US military and defence contractors to avoid due to fears of risks to national security

• July 30, 2018 30 Jul'18

  Government to fund six connected vehicle simulation projects

  The government has announced the winners of an R&D contest for connected vehicle simulation and modelling capabilities

• July 30, 2018 30 Jul'18

  Digital identity system for EU nationals should be used for all UK citizens, says report

  Policy Exchange report recommends extending Home Office system for registering EU nationals post-Brexit to become UK-wide digital identity application

• July 27, 2018 27 Jul'18

  Post-quantum security on Airbus’s radar

  With quantum computing on the horizon, multinational aerospace and defence firm Airbus is among those organisations that are looking at evolving their cryptography capabilities to stay ahead of technology

• July 27, 2018 27 Jul'18

  Openreach doubles down on full-fibre broadband roll-out

  In its first annual review since splitting from BT, Openreach has recommitted to its targets for full-fibre broadband

• July 27, 2018 27 Jul'18

  UK relegated to fourth place in UN e–government survey

  The UK has dropped from first to fourth in the United Nations’ ranking on e-governments across the world, falling behind Denmark, Australia and South Korea

• July 26, 2018 26 Jul'18

  Cities key to making data a new form of infrastructure, says Nesta

  City governments need to take charge of data use and leverage responsible innovation, as data should not be seen as a saleable commodity, but a common good, according to the innovation foundation

• July 25, 2018 25 Jul'18

  MPs to investigate progress of digital government

  Science and technology committee invites evidence for inquiry into spread of digital public services and the role of GDS

• July 25, 2018 25 Jul'18

  Government outsourcing at a crossroads, says PAC report

  The government needs to change the market that supplies it with services through better contracting practices if it is to achieve anything beyond lowest price, according to a PAC report

• July 24, 2018 24 Jul'18

  Ofcom proposes regulatory changes to support broadband investment

  Following the recommendations of the government’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, regulator Ofcom has proposed a package of measures to better support investment in full-fibre broadband

• July 24, 2018 24 Jul'18

  Openreach to cut wholesale broadband costs for CSP customers

  Openreach plans to introduce wide-ranging cuts to FTTC and FTTP wholesale prices to get other providers to upgrade their users to faster broadband