IT for government and public sector

IR35 reforms: HMRC’s assessment of private sector impacts called into question

HM Revenue & Customs recently published figures that show it generated £1.8bn more than expected from private sector roll-out of IR35 reforms, but those figures are being called into question Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Major strike by Fujitsu staff at ‘cash cow’ HMRC

Fujitsu staff working at government department will strike for 22 days in protest over pay offer Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Our data, our decisions, our AI future: why we need an AI Regulation Bill

The Labour government has failed to introduce measures to regulate AI - so a Lords' private members bill aims to do just that Continue Reading

By

• Lord Chris Holmes, House of Lords

March Patch Tuesday brings 57 fixes, multiple zero-days

The third Patch Tuesday of 2025 brings fixes for 57 flaws and a hefty number of zero-days Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Perimeter security appliances source of most ransomware hits

Perimeter security appliances and devices, particularly VPNs, prove to be the most popular entry points into victim networks for financially motivated ransomware gangs, according to reports Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Secret London tribunal to hear appeal in Apple vs government battle over encryption

Campaigners call for High Court hearing to be held in public as tech giant appeals against UK government order to open a backdoor into its encrypted iCloud service Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

UK government under-prepared for catastrophic cyber attack, hears PAC

The Commons Public Accounts Committee heard government IT leaders respond to recent National Audit Office findings that the government’s cyber resilience is under par Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Government to create pathfinder programme for digital spend

Changes to government digital spending will include staged funding with regular review and a pathfinder programme to test new funding models suitable for digital projects Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Post Office scandal data leak interim compensation offers made

Some subpostmasters affected by Post Office data breach offered interim compensation payments Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Liverpool reinvents customer service through digital platform

Liverpool City Council wants to improve residents’ experience of dealing with the council, and sees digital technologies as key to achieving its goal Continue Reading

Digitally mapping the world

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how digital twins are mapping our planet to guide strategic decisions such as environmental policies. Liverpool City Council explains how a digital overhaul will transform customer experience. And we find out what it takes to become a cyber security entrepreneur. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Peter Kyle sets stage for making tech work

During his speech at the Tech Policy conference, Kyle announced a number of initiatives to support AI and other new technologies Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Goverment overhauls AI funding to drive agility

A startup mindset is at the heart of a Labour’s approach to how it wants to speed up AI innovation in the public sector Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Government announcement on Fujitsu talks add ‘vague words’ and no interim payment

Peer James Arbuthnot says he is ‘disappointed’ that there was no mention of an interim payment in announcement of government’s latest talks with Fujitsu Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

David Willetts to chair Regulatory Innovation Office

The former science minister will lead the Regulatory Innovation Office, which aims to remove barriers and outdated regulations to speed up the road to market for innovative products and services Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government to create digital sourcing strategy

Government officials revealed to the Public Accounts Committee that it will develop a sourcing strategy for digital technology, steering departments on what to build themselves and what to procure Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

UK cyber security damaged by ‘clumsy Home Office political censorship’

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre secretly censors computer security guidance and drops references to encryption Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University

Why did IT suppliers allow Birmingham City Council to go live with Oracle?

Councillors at the local authority’s budget setting and audit committee meetings raised questions as Birmingham faces budget deficits Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

NHS chief data officers concerned by FDP roll-out

The Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network has raised concerns over the way the NHS Federated Data Platform is being implemented and NHS England’s approach to its adoption Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Norway says ‘no way’ to global financial crime

Oslo’s startup ecosystem is fighting back against cyber criminals with tech to wipe out attacks rather than just detect them Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Can the government's new digital broom sweep the civil service clean of its resistance to change?

In September last year, Computer Weekly sat down with three of the most senior and influential digital leaders in the UK government to discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead under a new ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CFIT publishes blueprint for digital company business IDs

Plan to increase the use of digital identities by businesses could add billions of pounds to UK economy through compliance savings and reduced fraud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Apple IPT appeal against backdoor encryption order is test case for bigger targets

The Home Office decision to target Apple with an order requiring access to users’ encrypted data is widely seen as a ‘stalking horse’ for attacks against encrypted messaging services WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

IR35: Government outlines two-pronged approach to umbrella company regulation

The government looks set to deliver on its long-promised vow to roll out regulation for umbrella companies Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

French oceanographers clock up 23 years on Atempo backup software

Oceanogaphic research institute keeps Atempo backup software for near a quarter century with no plans to replace it for protection of critical data helping map the world’s oceans Continue Reading

By

• Stéphane Larcher, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHS investigating how API flaw exposed patient data

NHS patient data was left vulnerable by a flaw in an application programming interface used at online healthcare provider Medefer Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Delivering digital government – it’s (still) not about technology

One of the UK government's most senior digital leaders reveals the flaws and difficulties of delivering digital transformation across the civil service, as she departs for a new role in the private sector Continue Reading

By

• Gina Gill

NHS rolls out AI app to predict and prevent falls that could land patients in hospital

Healthtech company Cera's artificial intelligence app can also predict the onset of winter viruses, and is being keenly adopted across the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Metropolitan Police concern puts brakes on Post Office Horizon data migration

The Post Office has paused its project to migrate all Horizon data from Fujitsu systems to its own while in discussions with Metropolitan Police Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cutting the costs of AI

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we analyse how the emergence of the DeepSeek AI model shows how the cost of deploying artificial intelligence is coming down. Samsung put a UK tech startup at the heart of its latest flagship smartphone launch – we talk to its founder. And we look at a transport industry project looking to optimise road haulage to reduce carbon emissions. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

What the UK is getting right (and wrong) about AI adoption

The government's promotion of AI is necessary, but risks missing the vital importance of enabling and encouraging businesses to adopt AI in pursuit of greater productivity Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Poole, Here East

France pushes for law enforcement access to Signal, WhatsApp and encrypted email 

Proposals to be discussed in the French Parliament will require tech companies to hand over decrypted messages and email or face huge fines  Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

What is the NSA and how does it work?

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a federal government surveillance and intelligence agency that's part of the U.S. Department of Defense and is managed under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan
• Andy Patrizio
• Kathleen Richards

Post Office makes first official apology to Capture users

The Post Office has written to former Capture user Ken Tooby to apologise for its failings which devastated his family’s lives Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

'Positive steps' in redress for Post Office Capture victims

Lawyers say progress has been made in efforts to provide financial redress and justice for former users of the Post Office's flawed Capture system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MPs grill X, TikTok and Meta about online misinformation

Representatives from the social media firms said that while the scale of their platforms makes content moderation difficult, they are effectively dealing with the vast majority of misinformation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Peer demands Fujitsu cough up £300m interim payment towards Post Office scandal bill

Kevan Jones tells fellow peers in the House of Lords that Fujitsu should also be barred from bidding for public sector contracts Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Secure software: Third-party suppliers your first-party risk

Outgoing CISA chief Jen Easterly called on buyers to demand better security standards from their software suppliers. The Security Think Tank considers what better means, and what best practice for secure software procurement looks like in 2025 Continue Reading

By

• Ejona Preci, Lindal Group

CVE volumes head towards 50,000 in 2025, analysts claim

Many trends, notably a big shift to open source tools, are behind an expected boom in the number of disclosed vulnerabilities Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard probes UK demand for Apple’s encrypted data

A secret order issued by the UK against Apple would be a ‘clear and egregious violation’ if it provides back door access to Americans’ encrypted data, says US director of national intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

CISOs spending more on insider risk

Insider risk management budgets have more than doubled in the past 12 months and look set to grow further still in 2025, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Everything, everywhere, all at once: automated decision-making in public services

Despite the UK government's fervent embrace of artificial intelligence, there is still little meaningful transparency around the scope of the technology's deployment throughout public services Continue Reading

By

• Jasleen Chaggar, Big Brother Watch

Scottish police fail to record ethnicity in DNA database

Scottish policing bodies are failing to properly record and publish data on the ethnicity of arrested people, making it impossible to determine whether they are discriminating against certain sections of the population Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

IoT and SaaS will underpin government legislation introduced to protect rivers

Tech platform will enable water companies, regulators and the public to monitor pollution levels in rivers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lord Holmes warns of increasingly ‘urgent’ need to regulate AI

The real-world negative impacts of artificial intelligence will only get worse if the UK does not move to regulate the technology in a way that centres on accountability, trust and public participation, says Lord Holmes Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Government launches Digital Inclusion Action Plan

Whitehall aims to fix digital exclusion through funding local digital skills, as charities and industry pledge to help with skills training, devices and connectivity Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Government seeks payments tech partner through £49m contract

UK government wants tech partner to help it embed open banking functionality into its Gov.uk Pay platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

European Union calls for more cyber data-sharing with Nato

Updates to the EU’s Cyber Blueprint, establishing best practice for multilateral security incident response in Europe, include calls for more collaboration with Nato member states, as the geopolitical environment becomes ever more fractious Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

HMRC working to resolve system glitch that doubles self-assessment tax rebates

A communications glitch in systems processing tax self-assessments has seen rebates duplicated in ‘very niche scenarios’ Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Auditor: 2026 till Birmingham recovers from botched Oracle project

Grant Thornton’s report into a botched Oracle Fusion implementation at Birmingham City Council finds governance and risk comprehension failures to be at the heart of the fiasco Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

UK police forces ‘supercharging racism’ with predictive policing

Amnesty International says predictive policing systems are ‘supercharging racism’ in the UK by taking historically biased data to further target poor and racialised communities Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

A landscape forever altered? The LockBit takedown one year on

The NCA-led takedown of the LockBit ransomware gang in February 2024 heralded a transformative year in the fight against cyber crime. One year on, we look back at Operation Cronos and its impact Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Fujitsu’s £600m-plus prize with His Majesty’s ‘cash cow’ in 2025

Controversial supplier continues to reap the rewards of government IT contracts despite its participation in ‘ghastly fraud’ Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Watchdog approves Sellafield physical security, but warns about cyber

The Office for Nuclear Regulation has taken Sellafield out of special measures for physical security, but harbours cyber security concerns Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Warning over privacy of encrypted messages as Russia targets Signal Messenger

Russia is using phishing attacks to compromise encrypted Signal Messenger services used by targets in the Ukraine. Experts warn that other encrypted app users are at risk Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

EY: Industrial companies worldwide stunted in emerging technology use

Businesses globally are spending more on emerging technologies year-on-year, but struggle to expand experimental use cases, finds EY’s sixth annual Reimagining Industry Futures study Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Meta’s planned subsea cable will exceed circumference of Earth and support AI innovation

Meta’s planned 50,000 km subsea cable will be the world’s longest and connect the five major continents Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AI Action Summit calls for a rethink of regulation

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we report from the AI Action Summit in Paris on how easing red tape is overtaking safety as a priority. We examine the AI regulations that IT leaders need to understand. And we talk to the UK government’s AI minister about the country’s artificial intelligence opportunities. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Liverpool reinvents customer service through digital platform

Liverpool City Council wants to improve residents’ experience of dealing with the council, and sees digital technologies as key to achieving its goal Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Opinion: Saudi plans to be an IT superpower, but challenges lie ahead

Impressions of Saudi Arabia during Leap 2025: Big plans ahead, but challenges in physical and digital infrastructure, and in transition from public to private sector dominance Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

RAG AI: ‘Do it yourself,’ says NYC data scientist

New York City council data scientist says organisations should get their hands dirty with open source AI as his teams build AI apps to check for duplicates in legislative documents Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHS launches breast cancer AI trial

The trial will see 700,000 women taking part in artificial intelligence-based screening for breast cancer, looking at whether use of technology can help identify signs of cancer earlier Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Gartner: CISOs struggling to balance security, business objectives

Only 14% of security leaders can ‘effectively secure organisational data assets while also enabling the use of data to achieve business objectives’, according to Gartner Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government launches consultation on plan to streamline business through e-invoicing

Government announces 12-week consultation on electronic invoicing as part of its plan for change Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government renames AI Safety Institute and teams up with Anthropic

Addressing the Munich Security Conference, UK government technology secretary Peter Kyle announces a change to the name of the AI Safety Institute and a tie-up with AI company Anthropic Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

UK accused of political ‘foreign cyber attack’ on US after serving secret snooping order on Apple

US administration asked to kick UK out of 65-year-old UK-US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement after secret order to access encrypted data of Apple users Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University

UK government sanctions target Russian cyber crime network Zservers

The UK government has imposed sanctions on a Russian cyber crime syndicate responsible for aiding ransomware attacks, targeting the group and individual members Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

AI Action Summit: Two major AI initiatives launched

Sustainability and ‘public-interest’ artificial intelligence initiatives have been launched during the AI Action Summit in Paris Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

AI Action Summit: UK and US refuse to sign inclusive AI statement

The UK and US governments’ decisions not to sign a joint declaration has attracted strong criticism from a range of voices, especially in the context of key political figures calling for AI ‘red tape’ to be cut Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

CCRC reviewing 17 Post Office convictions with potential Capture software involvement

Statutory body began looking at convictions of subpostmasters who used the Capture system following the wider understanding of the Post Office Horizon scandal Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cisco Live EMEA: Network supplier tightens AI embrace

At its annual EMEA show, Cisco tech leadership unveiled a raft of new products, services and features designed to help customers do more with artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Google: Cyber crime meshes with cyber warfare as states enlist gangs

A report from the Google Threat Intelligence Group depicts China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as a bloc using cyber criminal gangs to attack the national security of western countries Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

What is information security management system (ISMS)?

An information security management system (ISMS) is a set of policies and procedures for systematically managing an organization's sensitive data. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kirvan
• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer

Fujitsu public sector boss says supplier has advantage in HMRC bid despite Post Office scandal

Fujitsu public sector boss is banking on huge deals with HMRC despite Post Office scandal, after another lucrative year Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AI Action Summit: Global leaders decry AI red tape

The focus of previous AI summits on the safety of artificial intelligence systems has been replaced by concerns there is too much regulatory red tape, which politicians and AI developers have argued is holding back innovation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

AI Action Summit: European AI investment ramps up

A number of private companies and European governments have announced large-scale investments in artificial intelligence during the two-day AI Action Summit in Paris Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

AI projects get £85m funding to improve NHS diagnostics and drugs

The funding pot is being distributed between three projects, aiming to establish new ways of researching how artificial intelligence can be used to target hard-to-treat diseases and develop medicines Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Technology is changing and so should the civil service

The government has promised that AI will change policy making - but that means policy makers in the civil service will need to change too Continue Reading

By

• Jordan Urban, Institute for Government

Apple: British techies to advise on ‘devastating’ UK global crypto power grab

A hitherto unknown British organisation – which even the government may have forgotten about – is about to be drawn into a global technical and financial battle, facing threats from Apple to pull out of the UK Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University
• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Natural England clears clouds with machine learning

Earth observation images from satellites can be blotted by cloud cover, but Natural England has cleared the sky using artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Google drops pledge not to develop AI weapons

Google has dropped an ethical pledge to not develop artificial intelligence systems that can be used in weapon or surveillance systems Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Why the UK must lead on data to unlock AI’s full potential

Unless the data silos in government are addressed, the UK risks falling short of the Action Plan’s ambitious goals to lead in AI adoption Continue Reading

By

• Elena Simperl and Neil Majithia

Government opens up bidding for AI growth zones

As part of its AI opportunities action plan, the government is encouraging local authorities to put in bids for AI growth zones Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HMRC spends £785m a year on running digital tax systems

Beyond £785m spend, HMRC also spent £482m on upgrading legacy systems and introducing new digital systems, as it continues to fall behind its plans to become one of the most digitally advanced tax authorities in the world Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Tech companies brace after UK demands back door access to Apple cloud

The UK has served a notice on Apple demanding back door access to encrypted data stored by users anywhere in the world on Apple’s cloud service Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

US lawmakers move to ban DeepSeek AI tool

US politicians have introduced a bill seeking to ban the use of the DeepSeek AI tool on government-owned devices, citing national security concerns due to its alleged links to the Chinese state Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ransomware payment value fell over 30% in 2024

Several factors, including the impact of law enforcement operations disrupting cyber criminal gangs and better preparedness among users, may be behind a significant drop in the total value of ransomware payments Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Self-healing networks: The next evolution in network management

The age of AI is highlighting the security risks and pitfalls of traditional network management techniques. Self-healing networks may offer a solution that not only bolsters security, but makes IT and network teams more efficient Continue Reading

By

• Isla Sibanda

UK’s Cyber Monitoring Centre begins incident classification work

The Cyber Monitoring Centre will work to categorise major incidents against a newly developed scale to help organisations better understand the nature of systemic cyber attacks and learn from their impact Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Malaysian public sector embraces generative AI

Nearly half a million civil servants set to get access to Google Workspace with Gemini to improve delivery of public services Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Met Police spied on BBC journalists’ phone data for PSNI, MPs told

The Metropolitan Police monitored the phones of 16 BBC journalists on behalf of police in Northern Ireland, a cross-party group of MPs heard Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Cormac Kehoe

State of Open Con 25: Why public sector needs an open approach

Openness, open source and open data were among the topics discussed at OpenUK’s State of Open Con 25 in London Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Youth activists protest Meta over mental health impacts

Protest outside Meta’s London offices marks launch of Mad Youth Campaign, an effort by activists to challenge the ways in which corporate power negatively shapes the conditions young people live under Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

MoD set to develop £50m data analytics platform with Kainos

The Ministry of Defence has chosen IT services provider Kainos to develop its £50m data analytics platform across all armed services, over a three-year programme Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

DSIT issues guidance to support public sector hosting of cloud workloads in overseas datacentres

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has issued guidance to support public sector organisations that want to host workloads and applications in overseas datacentres for cost and resilience reasons Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

“Unsafe At Any Speed”. Comparing automobiles to code risk

Outgoing CISA chief Jen Easterly called on buyers to demand better security standards from their software suppliers. The Security Think Tank considers what better means, and what best practice for secure software procurement looks like in 2025. Continue Reading

By

• Tyler Shields

A driving licence in an app is a boost for digital identity - but not for angry suppliers

It’s rare that a digital government development attracts interest from mainstream media, but last month’s announcement of a digital driving licence brought widespread national coverage and a mass ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Labour’s first digital government strategy: Is it déjà vu or something new?

Labour won the 2024 general election on a platform of change – and its technology cheerleader insists the new digital government strategy is all about change. Have we heard it all before or is this time really different? Continue Reading

The need for strong data engineering skills

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide examines best practice in data engineering and the importance of data skills. Labour announced its first digital government strategy – but will it be more successful than years of failed plans that came before? We also look back at the networking challenges that faced Orange during last year’s Paris Olympics. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Government sets out cyber security practice code to stoke AI growth

The government has set out a cyber security code of practice for developers to follow when building AI products Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor