News

IT for government and public sector

July 25, 2017 25 Jul'17
Big data means big risk, Swedish Transport Agency leak shows

The Swedish Transport Agency exposed sensitive information by transferring its databases to a third party cloud provider without following data protection procedures
July 24, 2017 24 Jul'17
IR35 reforms: IT contractor fleshes out details of potential HMRC legal challenge

Following the early-stage success of efforts to crowd-fund a legal challenge against the IR35 reforms, one of the IT contractors behind the campaign outlines details of what could happen next
July 19, 2017 19 Jul'17
Newcastle council data leak shows need for security automation

Leak of child adoption information by Newcastle City Council resulted from accidental email attachment by employee
July 17, 2017 17 Jul'17
Post Office defence in computer system legal case due this week

The Post Office will this week present its defence against allegations brought by subpostmasters in a group legal action

July 14, 2017 14 Jul'17
Defence minister opens £3m cyber security centre in Gloucester

UK minister for defence procurement has opened Lockheed Martin’s job-creating cyber security centre aimed at boosting UK cyber defence capability and skills
July 13, 2017 13 Jul'17
Encryption keys too predictable, warn security researchers

Encryption keys are not as random as most people think, which means encrypting data is often not as secure as it could be, according to security researchers
July 13, 2017 13 Jul'17
HMRC’s customs IT system may not be ready before Brexit

National Audit Office is concerned that customs declaration service will not be ready in time for the UK’s departure from the EU because significant challenges remain
July 12, 2017 12 Jul'17
MoJ electronic monitoring programme fails to achieve value for money, says NAO

National Audit Office slams severely delayed MoJ electronic tag project for series of failures, including being too ambitious, not delivering benefits and procurement shambles
July 12, 2017 12 Jul'17
UK ranked as top 10 digital economy

The UK has been ranked among the top 10 nations in terms of digital capabilities
July 11, 2017 11 Jul'17
Met Police signs £8m digital forensics deal

MASS wins seven-year contract to supply a digital forensics managed service to London’s Metropolitan Police Service

July 07, 2017 07 Jul'17
Second phase of Dubai Health Authority’s electronic records implementation to start in August 2017

Unified electronic medical record (EMR) system to be rolled to more medical facilities across Dubai
July 07, 2017 07 Jul'17
Citizens Advice calls for roll-out of Universal Credit to be paused

A report by the advisory charity highlights issued around making and managing claims online, lack of digital skills and problems with identity verification through Gov.uk Verify
July 05, 2017 05 Jul'17
Sweden trials blockchain for land registry management

Swedish land registry is trying out blockchain as a means of proving ownership
June 29, 2017 29 Jun'17
Policing should embrace IoT opportunities

The internet of things brings more opportunities than challenges for the UK’s police forces, according to a TechUK report that urges the police to embrace digital technologies
June 28, 2017 28 Jun'17
DVLA aims to slash IT costs by moving to public cloud and open standards

Agency’s IT strategy for 2019/20 will see a concerted move to deprecate legacy systems, deploy applications in the cloud and develop in-house IT
June 28, 2017 28 Jun'17
Finnish government scraps paper and digitises archives

The government in Finland is digitising 94 shelf kilometres of documents to save millions of euros and make the information easier to access
June 27, 2017 27 Jun'17
Co-op digital chief Mike Bracken quits to focus on digital government consultancy

The former GDS chief is leaving the Co-op to work on advising governments around the world on their digital strategy
June 21, 2017 21 Jun'17
Queen’s Speech highlights digital charter and data protection

Government confirms plans to create a digital charter to ensure the UK is “the safest place to be online”, and a new law protecting personal data
June 21, 2017 21 Jun'17
The human apprentices behind robotic automation

IT apprentices are helping large businesses transform their back-office processes through software robots
June 19, 2017 19 Jun'17
South African game reserve goes digital to save the rhino

Dimension Data and Cisco have teamed up to protect rhinos living on a private game reserve in South Africa with the latest networking and IoT sensor technology
June 15, 2017 15 Jun'17
Finnish mobile operators opt-out from free EU roaming

Finnish mobile operators have been exempted from new European Union data roaming rules for now
June 12, 2017 12 Jun'17
Theresa May appoints Damian Green as Cabinet Office minister in reshuffle

Green takes on responsibility for digital government after Ben Gummer lost his seat in last week’s general election
June 09, 2017 09 Jun'17
Infosec17: Society needs to address encryption dilemma

There needs to be a discussion about how to balance the interests of privacy, security and the tech industry, says Infosecurity Europe Hall of Fame inductee
June 08, 2017 08 Jun'17
Islamic State supporters shun Tails and Tor encryption for Telegram

Confidential communications show terror group’s supporters are turning to simple mobile phone messaging apps to exchange messages and distribute propaganda
June 07, 2017 07 Jun'17
Malaysia’s Cyberjaya to get smart city boost

Tipped as Malaysia's Silicon Valley, the Cyberjaya township will pilot a slew of smart city projects, including e-payments and mobile bus ticketing
June 06, 2017 06 Jun'17
Digital economy to contribute 7% of Australia’s GDP

Besides improving living standards, digital technologies could also lead to a resurgence of manufacturing in Australia
June 01, 2017 01 Jun'17
IR35 reforms: HMRC denies claims that online tax status assessment tool returns unreliable results

HM Revenue & Customs hits back at research that suggests its IR35 online assessment tool is hindering public sector organisations in determining the tax status of off-payroll staff
May 31, 2017 31 May'17
Hundreds of sub-postmasters have applied to join IT-related legal action since March

The number of sub-postmasters who claim to have suffered as a result of a faulty Post Office IT system has reached 1,300
May 31, 2017 31 May'17
IR35 reforms: NHS revises stance on contractor tax status assessments

National Health Service’s U-turn over IR35 assessments could prompt other public sector bodies to follow suit, say experts
May 31, 2017 31 May'17
Singapore to pave the way for tech startup IPOs

The agreement between the Singapore government and the local bourse will lower barriers to capital markets and make the city-state a more attractive destination for startup fundraising
May 26, 2017 26 May'17
Swedish government agencies join IT spending benchmarking service

Government agencies in Sweden are using a tool by Apptio to help them gain a better understanding of IT costs
May 24, 2017 24 May'17
SAP aligns with Saudi Arabia’s IT transformation agenda

Global software giant SAP sees an opportunity for its wide portfolio in Saudi Arabia as the Middle Eastern country transforms
May 24, 2017 24 May'17
Singapore government to spend S$2.4bn on technology initiatives

Funding will go towards building a national sensor platform, boosting the government’s cyber security capabilities and driving the use of robots
May 23, 2017 23 May'17
Audit Scotland shares lessons learned from failed IT projects

In a ‘lessons learned’ report, Scottish auditor sets out five principles that should be considered when managing government IT programmes
May 18, 2017 18 May'17
Conservative Party manifesto promises to ‘face up to fast-changing technology’

Tories aim to create a digital charter, continuing a “digital by default” government and a dynamic digital economy
May 10, 2017 10 May'17
Nordic region competes for datacentre dominance

The Nordic region is an attractive region for datacentres as demand for cloud services in the area grows
May 10, 2017 10 May'17
Durham Police to use artificial intelligence to help decide if suspects should be held in custody

Durham Police are to use artificial intelligence to help them decide whether or not to keep suspects in custody
May 09, 2017 09 May'17
Highly skilled professionals at risk of being replaced by computers

Highly skilled jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence by 2022, says Gartner
May 09, 2017 09 May'17
Large UK businesses increasingly want CEOs to have IT background

More large businesses in the UK want a CEO that has a good understanding of IT
May 05, 2017 05 May'17
Ex-government privacy advisor calls for 'fundamental review' of Gov.uk Verify identity scheme

Former Cabinet Office privacy group co-chair says the Verify identity assurance programme needs 'honest and fundamental reset'
May 04, 2017 04 May'17
NHS Digital picks up pace on paperless healthcare

NHS Digital’s director of digital transformation, Beverley Bryant, says the organisation needs to demonstrate pace and agility and highlights plans for improving interoperability, standards and collaboration with suppliers
May 04, 2017 04 May'17
Metropolitan Police to hit massive IT overspend

The Metropolitan Police Service is set to massively overspend on IT as it attempts to improve digital policing
May 03, 2017 03 May'17
Mayor of London seeks chief digital officer

Capital’s first-ever chief digital officer will oversee the digital transformation of public services across London
May 03, 2017 03 May'17
Government privacy advisor quits and slams Cabinet Office for lack of support

Co-chair of Privacy and Consumer Advisory Group resigns and criticises officials for ignoring its advice and attempting to smuggle “inadequate proposals past ministers”
May 02, 2017 02 May'17
IT outsourcing going strong in the Nordics

IT outsourcing is popular among companies in the Nordic region, but the market is changing
April 25, 2017 25 Apr'17
Huddle needs $5m equity injection or to find a buyer, as investment declaration deadline looms

Companies House documents reveal Huddle needs to raise $5m or more by the end of April or find a buyer to meet its financial obligations for the next 12 months
April 24, 2017 24 Apr'17
Motorola brings big data digital evidence service to UK police forces

Motorola is launching a digital evidence management service to UK police forces, backed off into AWS cloud infrastructure
April 24, 2017 24 Apr'17
Cyber security centre of excellence to open at Cardiff University

Cardiff University and Airbus have launched the first centre of its kind in Europe to tackle cyber attacks on critical infrastructure
April 24, 2017 24 Apr'17
Criminal Courts Review Commission appoints forensic accountants for Post Office IT system cases

Investigation into claims of miscarriages of justice in relation to a Post Office accounting system has appointed a forensic accountant firm
April 21, 2017 21 Apr'17
Public safety ‘imperilled’ by lack of functional and interoperable police IT, says report

Use of technology in the country’s police forces remains poor, according to chief inspector of constabulary Thomas Winsor, who is calling for a decision-making mechanism procuring, establishing and running police IT