Opinion

Opinion

IT for government and public sector

• Building better data foundations to make the most of AI

  The UK government's national artificial intelligence strategy relies on businesses putting in place the foundations for better use of data – EY research highlights the challenges ahead  Continue Reading

• The future is digital, so why is Britain’s national strategy waterfall?

  UK government policy is dominated by old, traditional attitudes – rather like the waterfall approach to IT projects. Unless policymaking adopts digital-style approaches, the UK is doomed to long-term decline  Continue Reading

• Six strategic plays for UK government IT initiatives and their implications for policy

  The UK government needs to decide what being digital means – and there are a number of options to consider. Policymakers have to choose, if the benefits of transformation are to be achieved  Continue Reading

• Keeping the UK in the global race to adopt digital identity

  The UK government’s proposed digital ID trust framework is a step in the right direction, but more is needed to ensure the successful adoption of digital identity across the economy  Continue Reading

• Local Digital Capital Index: A framework for levelling up

  How can the tech sector ensure digital equality across the UK in support of the government's levelling-up agenda? TechUK is trying to set the benchmarks  Continue Reading

• UK AI strategy focused on economic growth, resilience and ethics

  Chris Eastham of law firm Fieldfisher looks at the government’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and the merits of the 10-year plan and its approach  Continue Reading

• UK data plans aim to boost growth but will they isolate the UK from its international friends?

  The UK government has made strong statements about the nation’s post-Brexit data strategy but must be careful not to undermine its global credibility  Continue Reading

• Dear Chancellor: Unlocking private sector collaboration is the key to tech growth

  Chancellor Rishi Sunak asked the tech sector for ideas to promote growth – startup hub Plexal makes its case in response  Continue Reading

• Putting data at the heart of policymaking will accelerate London’s recovery

  A new initiative to encourage better data sharing between London’s private and public sectors can play an important role in recovering from the pandemic  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Data privacy and ethics in a post-Covid world

  The radical change caused by the pandemic requires new approaches to data privacy practice, says PA Consulting’s Daniel Gordon  Continue Reading

• Why the government’s Innovation Strategy must not become a missed opportunity

  The UK has a problem with R&D spending, but the new government plan to address this leaves too many important decisions unresolved  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Consider cyber policies and procedures as you welcome employees back

  With Covid-19 restrictions easing, offices are welcoming back remote workers this summer, bringing with them their notebooks and mobiles, and creating an endpoint management headache for CISOs. What do security teams need to account for to protect ...  Continue Reading

• Government-led innovation can help cyber startups find a market

  There are many reasons why early-stage cyber startups often struggle to get off the ground, but government-backed programmes can help them find a path  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Reopening is an opportunity to reassess wider security posture

  With Covid-19 restrictions easing, offices are welcoming back remote workers this summer, bringing with them their notebooks and mobiles, and creating an endpoint management headache for CISOs. What do security teams need to account for to protect ...  Continue Reading

• Universal Credit: What went wrong, and what we learned

  The architect of one of the biggest and most controversial government policies – and IT failures – of the past decade gives his inside view of the project, and how Computer Weekly was a thorn in their side  Continue Reading

• Long-term thinking is vital to secure UK’s critical infrastructure

  To face down the threat of cyber warfare against UK CNI, the government needs long-term thinking that looks beyond the next general election cycle, says Advent-IM’s Mike Gillespie  Continue Reading

• Online Safety Bill: an opportunity for tech to get it right

  Long-awaited proposals for regulating internet companies still leave much to be defined – and the tech sector must take the lead in finalising a plan that works for society and government  Continue Reading

• Post Office scandal: The rise of computers and the decline of English justice

  The Post Office prosecuted its subpostmasters up and down the country with a zeal that would not have embarrassed the Inquisition  Continue Reading

• Why new EU rules around artificial intelligence are vital to the development of the sector

  Shawn Tan, CEO of global AI ecosystem builder Skymind, explains why the European Union’s new rules on artificial intelligence are a good thing  Continue Reading

• Transparency is essential as we enter the era of ‘government by algorithm’

  The public sector is increasingly allowing algorithms to make vital decisions that affect people’s lives – but how do we know those algorithms work or what they do?  Continue Reading

• Why the Post Office Horizon scandal kept me awake at night

  Reverend Richard Coles tells Computer Weekly why there needs to be a statutory public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal  Continue Reading

• Securing the UK's emerging smart cities

  UK councils have a huge opportunity to improve services through the use of smart city technologies - but they must avoid the cyber security risks, says the government's digital minister  Continue Reading

• The practical steps needed to accelerate a UK digital identity ecosystem

  The draft digital identity framework published by the UK government highlights the importance of learning from the private sector and existing standards to accelerate deployment and citizen adoption  Continue Reading

• IR35 private sector reforms: What firms need to do now the start date has passed

  While the start date for the onset of the IR35 private sector reforms may have passed, firms in-scope of the revamped tax avoidance legislation may find themselves still with plenty of compliance work still to do  Continue Reading

• Why we need to reset the debate on end-to-end encryption to protect children

  Private messaging is the front line of abuse, yet E2EE in its current form risks engineering away the ability of firms to detect and disrupt it where it is most prevalent  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Security culture must underpin vaccine passports

  What are the security challenges presented by vaccine passports, and how should they be designed and used with ethics and privacy in mind?  Continue Reading

• London needs a mayor of growth

  Here East’s CEO Gavin Poole on why the next mayor must ensure London remains the tech capital of Europe, and the importance of learning from the past  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Vaccine passports must be secure by design

  What are the security issues and challenges presented by vaccine passports, and how should they be designed and used with ethics and privacy in mind?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Evolving threats, tech, leaves CNI exposed

  In light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Employees must be given the right to disconnect

  As enterprises increasingly turn to workplace monitoring technologies and more of the workforce moves to remote or hybrid working, unions are campaigning for workers’ ‘right to disconnect’ and not engage in digitally enabled work after hours  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Attacks on CNI – an evolving frontier in warfare

  In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Back to square one – ground-up CNI protection

  In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Properly protecting CNI demands specificity

  In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Tech sector is key to the success of Global Britain

  The maturity of its technology sector puts the UK in a good position to reimagine its role on the international stage post-Covid  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Take a realistic perspective on CNI cyber attacks

  In light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: CNI operators must focus on core issues

  In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: CNI operators are in an unenviable position

  In the light of increasing cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure, what are the immediate risks to industrial control systems and other operational technology, and what steps can be taken to address them?  Continue Reading

• Why the London Data Charter could be a foundation stone in the city’s recovery

  London First’s director of connectivity and competitiveness, David Lutton, explains why data is at the core of the capital’s recovery plan  Continue Reading

• Data-driven innovation needs trustworthy governance

  The pandemic has given us a glimpse of what data-driven technology can do for society – and we cannot go back to the status quo  Continue Reading

• Budget 2021: Putting tech at the core of the plan for growth

  This week’s UK government Budget represents a great opportunity to place tech and digital as the cornerstone of UK economic growth after Brexit  Continue Reading

• On digital identity, the government gets it wrong again

  The latest government proposals to regulate the digital identity sector continue to misunderstand how such a market works – a more API-based approach is needed to deliver the clear benefits of online ID  Continue Reading

• Rogue drones beware: We’re here to ground you

  Eugene Kaspersky exclusively lifts the lid on a mysterious, shiny device that’s been sitting in his office  Continue Reading

• Fixing government digital transformation – lessons from the early days of GDS

  As a new organisation is formed to lead UK digital government, three former government digital leaders share the lessons they learned from the early days of the Government Digital Service  Continue Reading

• Vaccine passports highlight social impact of systems design

  Vaccine or immunity passports are an opportunity to advance the design of trustworthy digital systems, but much more work still needs to be done  Continue Reading

• Let’s build on the innovation shown by UK tech during pandemic

  The UK’s technology sector has innovated and shown leadership through the Covid-19 crisis, particularly with developments in AI. It is now time to maintain and build on that progress, so the UK remains a global force in tech innovation  Continue Reading

• NHS Digital completes NHSmail migration to the cloud

  NHS Digital’s Chris Parsons shares how the organisation managed to migrate more than 2.1 million NHSmail accounts to the cloud during a global pandemic  Continue Reading

• Government Gateway at 20 – looking back at the UK’s most successful digital identity system

  Not all legacy IT systems in government cause problems – one has been at the heart of many of the most important online public services for 20 years  Continue Reading

• Where is the UK’s digital strategy?

  While the devolved nations press on with their digital plans, the UK government has delayed its digital strategy – yet this is too important for the economy to be put off any further  Continue Reading

• Fixing the cracks in public sector digital infrastructure

  The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the flaws in the UK's digital government set-up. The appointment of new IT leadership presents an ideal opportunity for the government to fix them  Continue Reading

• The UK tech sector has been a force for good during the Covid-19 pandemic

  The UK's digital minister hails the tech companies that have helped people cope with many of the challenges of living through lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic  Continue Reading

• UK government needs a digital reboot

  The appointment of new digital leadership is a welcome start to what – if the UK is to thrive in a post-Covid, post-Brexit world – must become a wholesale reboot of digital government  Continue Reading

• What does Brexit mean for the future of UK digital policy? A view from Europe

  Any decisions by the UK government to diverge from EU policies and values over digital policy and regulation could cause real economic problems for UK businesses  Continue Reading

• Data has never been more important for London

  As London looks to 2021 and a hoped-for recovery after Covid-19, responsible data sharing and data-driven decision-making become ever more important to the future for all the capital’s businesses  Continue Reading

• Why our online harms laws will be good for tech

  The UK's minister for digital infrastructure explains the government's thinking behind its proposals to regulate internet companies such as Facebook, Google and others  Continue Reading

• Driving innovation in government

  An insider's perspective on the organisation, culture and methods used to drive innovation in the Department for Work and Pensions  Continue Reading

• Negotiating the complexities of international transfers of personal data

  How to navigate international data transfers, standard contractual clauses and the impact of Brexit on data protection  Continue Reading

• Overhaul business support with a focus on tech to help SMEs weather the Covid crisis

  The more digitally capable businesses have come through the pandemic in better shape - government needs to ensure that UK SMEs have the support in place to use tech to survive Covid-19  Continue Reading

• Top 10 skills to include in your IT CV

  Find out what skills and keywords you should include on your CV to stand out as an IT professional in a competitive market  Continue Reading

• Data institutions play critical role in solving global social problems

  Nigel Shadbolt, co-founder of the Open Data Institute, argues that a new breed of data institutions have a key role to play in unlocking the social and economic value of data  Continue Reading

• How to build a smart city from the ruins of Covid-19

  The London Data Commission is working to open up data about the capital to help regeneration and growth post-pandemic  Continue Reading

• UK government plan for digital identity lacks substance and strategy

  The tech sector has waited over a year for the government to respond to its consultation on digital identity, and when it came, the plan could hardly be more disappointing  Continue Reading

• Sharing responsibility: Why we need to work together to keep the cloud secure

  The education sector has been fundamentally altered by months of lockdown, with cloud services topping must-have lists for academic staff, but now it’s time to consider security  Continue Reading

• Digital identity must not remain the missing link in the UK’s digital strategy

  The UK's digital economy is desperately in need of a viable digital identity strategy - to recover from the pandemic, the government cannot wait any longer to resolve this much-delayed issue  Continue Reading

• Taking back control of government data mustn’t leave the public in the dark

  Boris Johnson has quietly transferred control over government data to Number 10, without explaining why. The public deserves more involvement in how their personal data is being used, says Labour  Continue Reading

• How Schrems II will impact data sharing between the UK and the US

  At the end of this year, the UK will no longer be subject to the EU’s treaties, opening the way for it and the US to finalise a new trade relationship. Could the UK leave EU data protection standards behind?  Continue Reading

• Making Tax Digital will boost business resilience in case of future Covid crises

  HMRC is expanding the digitisation of income and corporation tax in a move that will benefit businesses, the self-employed and the economy, writes the government's financial secretary to the Treasury  Continue Reading

• Building trust in the future of London’s data

  Sharing data by default could turbocharge London’s potential for radical improvements across the ecosystem, according to London First’s director of connectivity and competitiveness, David Lutton  Continue Reading

• 11 obscure questions, Facebook, Max Schrems and the European Court of Justice

  Eleven obscure questions will be the first step towards explaining why we in the UK and Europe have experienced 13 years of what has been described as ‘mass and indiscriminate surveillance’ by the US  Continue Reading

• The pandemic has made UK government rethink its relationship with data

  Data has been essential to fighting the coronavirus outbreak, and the forthcoming National Data Strategy promises to place data at the heart of the UK's economic recovery  Continue Reading

• Why a shared channel experience will meet user needs at DWP Digital

  The Department for Work and Pensions outlines the approach it is taking to developing user-focused digital services  Continue Reading

• Why UK needs independent oversight body for contact-tracing app

  The public needs and deserves clarity, and not just assurances, over the UK’s Covid-19 contact-tracing app  Continue Reading

• London Data Commission: Sharing data to help support London’s response to Covid-19

  London First’s director of connectivity and competitiveness, David Lutton, talks about establishing the London Data Commission, and its contribution to coping with the coronavirus crisis  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: Why the public sector must pursue IT transformation

  It is clear that the current coronavirus crisis has had a major impact on digital transformation efforts in the public sector  Continue Reading

• Smart thinking for modernised IT in the public sector

  Far from lagging behind the private sector, many public sector organisations are embracing modern IT practices such as DevOps and agile methodologies  Continue Reading

• IT transformation steps pave the path to new ways to work

  The CEO of Difrent discusses how her roles in local and central government have played a role in public sector IT transformation  Continue Reading

• Digital skills for the future, today

  The education sector’s response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates how digital systems and skills will be essential to the future of learning  Continue Reading

• Why you should think before you Zoom

  Feel free to use Zoom during the coronavirus lockdown, but think before you discuss anything confidential  Continue Reading

• Technology has brought us together, but can it lead us out of lockdown?

  The government needs to tell us more about the NHSX contact tracing app - choices made now around privacy and transparency will affect all our lives as we aim to ease lockdown, says the shadow digital minister  Continue Reading

• Connect and protect: How the tech sector is responding to the coronavirus crisis

  Tech sector trade body TechUK is coordinating the industry's activity to help the UK government tackle the Covid-19 outbreak  Continue Reading

• CCRC findings on subpostmaster prosecutions reveal incompetence of successive governments

  Former subpostmaster who took on the Post Office in a multimillion-pound legal battle speaks out.  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus and privacy – finding the middle ground

  Data collection has a role to play in fighting the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, but governments need to be accountable for how it is used  Continue Reading

• Gigabit broadband for new homes is essential to UK’s telecoms ambitions

  Digital minister outlines plans to develop UK’s telecoms infrastructure to make it fit for the future  Continue Reading

• What is the Post Office board doing to right the Horizon wrongs?

  Business lawyer Nick Gould compares the treatment of subpostmasters by the Post Office in the Horizon IT scandal with the huge HBOS fraud that saw £1bn stolen from small businesses  Continue Reading

• What is ARPA and what should a UK version look like?

  The Prime Minister wants the UK to be a hotbed of science and research, and his advisor Dominic Cummings admires the US ARPA organisation – but what would a UK version need to be successful?  Continue Reading

• EC publishes approach to human and ethical implications of AI, but what will UK do?

  The European Commission has published a guide to the EU’s approach to the human and ethical effects that artificial intelligence might bring  Continue Reading

• A five-point plan to get the UK out of the Huawei hole

  It's not too late for the UK to develop an alternative to Huawei, says Labour's shadow digital minister  Continue Reading

• A new decade, a new government and a new horizon for UK tech

  Brexit is being done, so it’s time for the government to look to the future and place technology at the heart of the economy  Continue Reading

• Making gigabit broadband a reality for everyone in the UK

  As the new government introduces its first legislation to boost full-fibre broadband, digital minister Matt Warman looks ahead to delivering on the Conservatives’ election promises  Continue Reading

• Real digital modernisation – a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the new UK government

  A new UK government with a decisive majority offers a unique opportunity to finally introduce public services for the digital age – if the Conservatives are willing to take it  Continue Reading

• The UK civil service is broken and needs reform to deliver true digital government

  Boris Johnson’s special adviser, Dominic Cummings, has attracted criticism for his plans to overhaul Whitehall culture, but one former government digital chief argues that he is absolutely right  Continue Reading

• Implementing a 21st century approach to digital identity

  The government’s attempts at digital identity have failed – it is time for a new, modern approach  Continue Reading

• The Post Office computer problem that destroyed the lives of pillars of the community

  The Post Office’s refusal to believe subpostmasters were suffering losses due to computer system errors was incompetent and cruel  Continue Reading

• Can Europe legally share data with the US? A court far away is about to decide

  The European Court of Justice will deliver an opinion on whether Europe can legally continue to send private data about European citizens to the US  Continue Reading

• We can’t allow fake news and disinformation to upend our democracy

  Fake news, misinformation and cyber attacks are part of our political process – now is the time to act  Continue Reading

• The art of surveillance: the Stasi archives and the Investigatory Powers Act

  A photographic exhibition captures the chilling impact of surveillance in the UK and the former German Democratic Republic  Continue Reading

• Conservative Party: Fostering an environment for IT and digital to flourish

  Matt Warman, Conservative MP and minister for digital and broadband, outlines the Tory policies for technology and digital ahead of the General Election  Continue Reading

• Liberal Democrats: We want to lead the world in ethical, inclusive technology

  Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP and party spokesperson for digital, culture, media and sport, writes about the party's technology policies ahead of the upcoming General Election  Continue Reading

• The super-resilient IT function

  IT functions don’t have to continue taking the blame for organisational failures, they can take the lead in transforming the business  Continue Reading

• General Election 2019: Digital must be at the core of the next government’s strategy

  TechUK lays out the technology priorities it wants to see from the next UK government to boost the digital economy  Continue Reading

• Innovative supplier selection is the key to government procurement success

  The government has improved its procurement processes for SMEs and acknowledges the importance of small suppliers, but there are important steps that still need to be taken  Continue Reading