Cybersecurity experts have called for an overhaul of public sector security processes after a Companies House flaw left thousands of businesses at risk of exposure.

Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point Software, described the incident as “the latest in a series of public sector data disasters” that threaten organizations across the country.

Stewart’s comments come after British-based businesses were told to check their details after a flawed update caused a breach on the Companies House website. Companies House is the UK's register of incorporated businesses, holding data on directors and other company officials.

First spotted last week but possibly in play since last year, the breach meant anyone logged in to use the WebFiling system on Companies House could access and even change the details of any other company.

In a statement, Andy King, the chief executive of Companies House, stressed that the data was only accessible to logged in users, not the wider public, and details could only be altered after "performing a specific set of actions".

King apologized for the issue, noting that the incident will have “caused concern and inconvenience” to companies and business leaders that use the service.

While the impact of this breach remains unclear as yet, Stewart suggested the flaw could threaten the privacy, security and even personal safety of company directors.

"A bug of this scale is a gift to cyber criminals seeking to upload false documentation, impersonate CEOs and facilitate data theft," Stewart said.

"It's time for a complete overhaul of core systems, with security armor embedded by design rather than as an afterthought."

Companies House incident: What data is at risk?

Private data could have been accessed, the organization admitted, including dates of birth, addresses, and company email addresses.

"Our investigation has established that specific data from individual companies not normally published on the Companies House register may have been visible to other logged-in WebFiling users," King said. "This includes dates of birth, residential addresses and company email addresses."

Passwords were not compromised, King said, and identity data such as passports were not accessed. Companies House doesn't believe that data could have been extracted in large volumes, but instead the bug permitted individual company records to be viewed one by one.

"It may also have been possible for unauthorized filings — such as accounts or changes of director — to have been made on another company’s record," King said, adding: "No existing filed documents, such as accounts or confirmation statements could have been altered."

So far, there's no reports of data being accessed in this way, but the organization is actively seeking out any issues.

How has Companies House responded?

The flaw was likely introduced during an update to WebFiling back in October. Once the bug was spotted last Friday, Companies House was taken offline over the weekend, but service returned yesterday (16 March).

Dray Agha, senior manager of security operations at Huntress, echoed Stewart’s comments, suggesting that the incident highlights the need for a reassessment of public sector and government security.

"This incident underscores the urgent need for government agencies to enforce rigorous application security testing, robust QA processes, and strict access controls before web updates go live," Agha said.

Companies House has reported the issue to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

"If we find evidence that anyone has used this issue to access or change another company’s details without authorisation, we will take firm action," King said.

While King said the organization was "actively analysing” data to identify any anomalies," William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security, noted the systems required to spot problems going forward would have likely spotted the bug too.

"What’s also concerning is that it’s unclear if there was a logging or auditing system in place to check what accounts were being read and modified, and when," Wright said. "If such a system was in place, the question then becomes why this flaw wasn’t noticed sooner."

Companies House added it will be emailing every registered company with advice on how to check their details. Companies should ensure any emails come directly from Companies House and go directly to the website to log in rather than trust email links, as spammers often take advantage of such incidents.

"Companies House takes its responsibility to protect the data entrusted to us extremely seriously," King commented. "We have taken swift action to secure and restore our service, and are committed to doing everything in our power to support those affected and to making sure that our services continue to merit the trust placed in them."

What should companies do?

The first step is to log into Companies House and ensure all data is correct and there are no issues with their filing history. If anything concerning is spotted, companies have been advised to gather evidence and raise a complaint here.

They should also keep an eye out for any further updates from Companies House.

Beyond that, keep a close eye out for fraud using the potentially breached data, said Agha, and ensure employees including executives are aware of the threat.

"From a security perspective, cybercriminals have been handed a ready-made toolkit for identity theft," Agha said.

"Because company directors often have high-level access to corporate funds and data, this specific information can be weaponised for highly targeted spear-phishing and executive impersonation (CEO fraud),” he added.

“It puts both the personal lives of business leaders and the broader security of their corporate networks at immediate risk."

The incident raises trust issues – particularly problematic as businesses can't avoid using Companies House, Wright said.

"If the government and Companies House's current security testing processes were fit for purpose, flaws like this should not have occurred," Wright said.

"Given that many companies (such as Ltd.’s and PLCs) are required by law to use these services, basic testing and data protection are absolutely critical, especially if the government wants to retain its credibility with the business community."

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The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is tackling cyber risks head-on with a new vulnerability monitoring service (VMS) for government services.

The new service focuses primarily on weaknesses in the Domain Name System (DNS), which can allow attackers to redirect users to fraudulent sites, steal sensitive data, or take services offline entirely.

While weaknesses in government DNS records have previously gone unnoticed for up to two months, the VMS brings that down significantly – alerting users, giving practical guidance on how to fix the problem, and tracking progress until issues are resolved.

"Cyber attacks aren’t abstract threats — they delay NHS appointments, disrupt essential services, and put people’s most sensitive data at risk,” said minister for digital government Ian Murray.

When public services struggle it’s families, patients, and frontline workers that feel it.”

How does the Vulnerability Monitoring Service work?

The VMS continuously scans 6,000 UK public sector bodies, detecting around 1,000 different types of cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

According to Murray, the VMS has proven highly effective so far, helping to reduce the median time to fix domain-related vulnerabilities from 50 days to just eight - an 84% improvement.

Similarly, the median time to fix other cyber vulnerabilities has been cut from 53 days to 32.

The backlog of critical open domain-related vulnerabilities has also dropped by 75%, with around 400 confirmed vulnerabilities processed and resolved each month.

"The vulnerability monitoring service has transformed how quickly we can spot and fix weaknesses before they’re exploited so we can protect against that,” Murray commented.

“We’ve cut cyber attack fix times by 84% and reduced the backlog of critical issues by three quarters. And as the service expands to cover more types of cyber threats, fix times are falling there too."

Positive steps, but not far enough

Kevin Marriott, senior manager of cyber at Immersive, said the new service marks a step in the right direction for public sector cybersecurity, which has traditionally lagged behind the private sector due to a combination of factors.

"The public sector has always had an uphill task in fixing vulnerabilities quickly due to the scale of government networks and their interconnectivity, as well as limited budgets and small security teams that can’t always keep pace with the growing patch backlog," he said.

"It shows that reducing risk doesn’t require radical, wholesale changes but rather doing the fundamentals well. A strong vulnerability management strategy starts with clear visibility, an understanding of which are your key assets, what they do, their dependencies, who their owners are, and an accurate asset inventory."

Stephen Fewer, senior principal researcher at Rapid7, said the government could go further in bolstering security capabilities.

"A key focus for the government should be limiting the internet exposure of critical applications and management interfaces, ensuring they are never exposed to the public internet," he said.

"Government organizations such as the NHS have many network edge appliances, including VPNs and firewalls, that cyber criminals can exploit. Reducing the attack surface is the next best defence after remediating known weaknesses.”

New initiative looks to recruit cyber pros

The government has also launched a new Cyber Profession initiative, based in the North West and aimed at recruiting and training cyber professionals to further bolster government security capabilities.

A new dedicated Cyber Resourcing Hub will be established as part of the scheme to streamline recruitment and create a clear career framework aligned with UK Cyber Security Council professional standards.

It will also include a government Cyber Academy for training and development, a new apprenticeship scheme to build future talent, and structured career pathways to strengthen long-term capability across the public sector.

Wayne Cleghorn, cybersecurity and data protection partner at Excello Law, welcomed the launch, but noted this needs to be a sustained effort to ensure a steady flow of talent into the public sector.

"The UK National Audit Office's identification of a serious cybersecurity skills gap in government is being addressed by the announcement of a new cyber profession for government," he said.

"However, this must be more than a re-badging of existing activities. It must be serious and consistently measured. It must become deeply embedded in government information governance and data protection practices."

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The UK public sector has an expensive technology problem, costing roughly £45 billion a year, by its own estimates. That’s taxpayer money poured into patching up outdated systems, renewing old contracts, and keeping legacy software on life support.

Years of piecemeal procurement, long-term vendor lock-ins, and underinvestment in digital skills have left the government with a tangle of systems that are costly to run and near-impossible to adapt or modernise. As a result, many departments are stuck in models that block innovation and drain productivity.

Fixing the problem isn’t about buying better software; it’s about building smarter partnerships that actually make technology work.

Across the government, there’s growing recognition that the old “one big supplier does everything” model simply doesn’t work. More departments are now teaming up with a mix of partners – prime contractors, small specialists, and integration experts – to deliver specific outcomes together.

When managed properly, these partnerships bring in broader expertise, speed up delivery, and help departments meet government targets on SME spending and transparency.

A smarter route to transformation

For years, the government has treated huge IT contracts as the safest route to digital transformation. In reality, they’ve often done quite the opposite, because when one supplier controls everything, there’s little motivation for change, costs rise, and flexibility disappears.

Channel partnerships make this easier because they build on existing structures that the government already has. They mean that departments don’t need to start from scratch: they can bring together approved suppliers listed on Crown Commercial Service frameworks such as Cloud Compute 2 – used for cloud infrastructure and services – or DALAS, which focuses on modernising and replacing legacy applications.

These frameworks act as pre-cleared supplier lists, meaning projects can get moving quickly without the red tape of a full procurement. A typical cloud modernization, for example, might combine a lead systems integrator with a cybersecurity partner, a FinOps consultancy, and a small data firm, all collaborating under one coordinated plan.

This way of working cuts the risk of vendor lock-in and gives smaller, more innovative companies a seat at the table. It also helps departments meet new rules under the Procurement Act and the National Procurement Policy Statement, which require them to set and report SME-spend targets by 2028.

In plain terms, it means that the government can move faster, spend more shrewdly, and still meet its goals on compliance and social value, while opening the door to a more competitive and capable supplier market.

Delivering better outcomes through collaboration

Partnerships only work when they’re built around clear outcomes. A strong channel arrangement starts with one accountable lead, a transparent supply chain, and a shared goal, whether that’s to move away from legacy systems, improve citizen services, or cut cloud costs.

Each partner brings its own strength: the cloud team handles infrastructure, the data specialists turn information into insight, cybersecurity experts safeguard systems and ensure compliance, and the experienced designers make services easier to use.

You can already see this model in action. The NHS Federated Data Platform, introduced in April 2024 to safely connect information across the service, making it easier for staff and clinicians to do their job, has brought together cloud, analytics, and assurance partners under one framework to create a shared data backbone while keeping departments in control of their own systems. The result wasn’t just better technology, but a governance model that could adapt as needs changed.

The local government is following a similar route. Contact-centre upgrades, for example, now often involve cloud telephony providers working alongside CRM firms, content designers and behaviour-change specialists, improving response times and citizen experience without stepping outside existing procurement rules.

Strategic channel partnerships move the government away from one-off digital projects and towards genuine service transformation. They let technology do what it should: free up people’s time, support better decisions, and deliver measurable public value.

Making partnerships work for the public good

Collaboration on this level and scale brings its own risks. Without transparency, supply chains can become tangled; without good governance, a single supplier can end up calling the shots; and without real SME participation, inclusion risks becoming a box-ticking exercise.

To make this work, partnerships need a clear structure and accountability. The best ones set out who’s responsible for what, agree on shared goals, and report openly on any progress. They also build in wider commitments, like supporting small businesses, creating local jobs, or reducing environmental impact, so that public money is seen to deliver more than just a technical outcome.

When this happens, channel partnerships don’t just make government more efficient; they make it more innovative and trustworthy. They help departments adopt new technologies, including AI, in a way that’s transparent and safe. And they reposition procurement from buying bits of tech to building joined-up systems that actually work for people.

The public sector’s digital problems are never going to be solved by one supplier or one piece of software. They’ll be solved by smarter collaboration, where the government sets the vision and relies on a network of trusted partners to bring it to life.

Strategic channel partnerships may not solve every problem, but they give the government a way to make technology work as it should – for people to use, not bureaucracy.

The Police Digital Service (PDS) has entered a strategic partnership with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, in a bid to standardise and professionalize the technical workforce across UK law enforcement.

The collaboration is designed to tackle the digital skills gap within policing, ensuring that officers and staff are equipped to handle the increasing technological demands of modern crime prevention. The initiative will see the rollout of 470 BCS membership places distributed across all territorial forces, as well as the Police Service Northern Ireland, British Transport Police, the College of Policing, and the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Supporting the National Policing Digital Strategy

The partnership comes as law enforcement agencies face growing pressure to modernize legacy systems and improve data handling capabilities. The PDS stated that the move is directly aligned with the National Policing Digital Strategy 2025–2030, which prioritizes data-driven decision-making and public safety in a digital-first world.

Chief Constable Rob Carden, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Digital, Data and Technology, described the initiative as a critical component of wider police reform.

"Digital, data, and technology [are] pivotal to the success of wider police reform. It drives better prevention and detection of crime, increases efficiency, and enhances public safety," Carden said. "I’m delighted to be working with the British Computer Society, ensuring that our people can become more digitally literate, with the skills and knowledge needed to harness technology effectively and responsibly."

Standardisation and accreditation

A key element of the partnership is the introduction of industry-recognised standards to police IT roles. Participating staff will gain access to professional registration pathways, including RITTech (Register of IT Technicians) and CITP (Chartered IT Professional).

By adopting these frameworks, the PDS hopes to create a more consistent structure for career progression and recruitment, a longstanding challenge in the public sector where competition with private tech firms for talent is fierce. Forces will utilise the SFIAplus (Skills Framework for the Information Age) and the Government Digital and Data framework to map roles and assess skills gaps.

Tony Eastaugh CBE, CEO of the Police Digital Service, emphasized that connecting policing with the broader technology community is essential for innovation.

"Our collaboration with BCS underlines our commitment to professional development and excellence in technology," Eastaugh said. "By connecting policing with the wider tech community, we can accelerate innovation and deliver better outcomes for the public."

Ethics and public trust

Beyond technical skills, the partnership places a heavy emphasis on ethics. With the use of AI, facial recognition, and algorithmic policing under increasing scrutiny, the BCS aims to ground the workforce in ethical best practices.

Sharron Gunn, CEO of BCS, noted that professional accreditation is vital for maintaining public confidence. "This partnership reflects our shared ambition to build a digitally confident and ethically grounded policing workforce," she said. "By supporting officers and staff to develop recognised professional skills, we’re strengthening the foundations of public trust in how technology and data are used."

The program will run for an initial 12-month period, with provisions to expand access to resources based on demand.

Almost half of UK public sector IT leaders say their cybersecurity tools fall short, thanks mainly to system complexity and budgetary constraints.

A survey of 100 public sector IT decision-makers from SolarWinds found that 44% reckoned their cybersecurity tools are only moderately effective at safeguarding sensitive data.

Nearly six-in-ten (58%) described their technology environments as ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ complex, with health and education sector respondents having the highest levels of IT complexity (70%) compared with just 45% for regional and central governments.

The problem lies in the increasing integration of cloud and hybrid IT infrastructures, the study noted. These environments are often vulnerable to risks such as misconfigurations, visibility gaps, and compliance failures.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, financial limitations were the biggest issue flagged by respondents, cited by 23% as the top barrier to strengthening cybersecurity.

However, human factors were also a big concern, with 56% citing careless or untrained insiders as the biggest security threat. Respondents also cited lack of training, poor collaboration with other teams, and a lack of top-level leadership and standards as significant barriers.

“These findings reflect a public sector under mounting pressure to address rising cyberthreats while navigating regulatory and fiscal constraints”, said Richard Giblin, head of public sector and defence at SolarWinds.

“Despite the clear need to modernize, complexity, cost and trust remain substantial barriers.”

Just over half (51%) of the respondents said they viewed observability as extremely or very important in terms of accelerating their organization’s digital transformation efforts, with enhanced security monitoring and faster incident response as the most frequently cited benefits.

Similarly, respondents revealed they are growing increasingly concerned about security and privacy, with 67% identifying this as a significant barrier.

Public sector could benefit from AI gains

SolarWinds’ survey highlighted a growing interest in observability and AI-powered solutions as ways to boost resilience against cyber threats, with 53% stating that enhancing system and process observability is a top priority for the future.

Almost a quarter said they are currently using AI to automate tasks related to IT operations and observability, while two-in-ten have adopted generative AI to enhance them. Among those who have not turned to the technology, most are either considering or planning to implement AI tools in the near future.

The government is optimistic about the possibilities for AI in public services, launching the AI Opportunities Action Plan in January this year.

This, it said, would allow the public sector to spend less time doing admin and more time delivering essential services.

Earlier this year, it started trialing a tool called Humphrey aimed at speeding up admin tasks in areas such as planning and social care, as well as in central government. Prime minister Keir Starmer has also pledged to send AI teams into every government department to identify areas of improvement.

Of more interest to the survey respondents than AI, though, was advancing digital transformation, particularly for those working in central and regional government.

“To make meaningful progress, public sector organisations must align across departments and integrate technologies such as observability and AI with well-defined governance, comprehensive training and a shared commitment to security at all levels”, Giblin added.

“Technology alone is insufficient – it must be part of a broader, strategic approach to cyber-resilience.”

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The UK government is teaming up with Meta to launch a new $1 million program aimed at bringing AI engineering experts on board to develop tools for the public sector.

Led by the Alan Turing Institute, the new Open-Source AI Fellowship will allow engineers and developers to apply for a 12-month “tour of duty” with the government to develop tools across an array of public sector use-cases.

This could include the creation of AI-powered language translation tools, Downing Street revealed, or solutions that use construction planning data to speed up housing development approvals processes.

Elsewhere, the government said participants in the scheme could also help expand “Humphrey”, a suite of AI tools used by civil servants to reduce manual toil and improve productivity.

The fellowships will begin in January 2026, with applicants urged to register their interest ahead of applications going live next week.

Notably, the program will primarily focus on using open source AI models such as Meta’s Llama 3.5 range to create new solutions.

Technology secretary Peter Kyle said the program aims to develop AI solutions that are “open, practical, and built for public good”.

“It’s about delivery, not just ideas - creating real tools that help government work better for people,” he said.

Kyle noted that the government has “already seen the potential” of using AI in public sector use cases, particularly with Caddy.

Developed with Citizens Advice and now used by Cabinet Office teams, the AI customer service assistant is being used at six Citizen’s Advice centers across the country.

The tool helps solve queries for staff on a range of issues, from managing debt to seeking legal advice or information on consumer rights. So far, the tool has proved beneficial for workers, with early testing showing it can halve response times.

“The Fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure,” Kyle added.

Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer at Meta, said harnessing open source AI tools has the potential to “transform the delivery of public services” - a sentiment echoed by Dr Jean Innes, CEO of the Alan Turing Institute.

“Open source technologies have great potential to help government increase productivity, support decision-making and deliver better public services,” Innes said.

“These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.”

Drawing on big tech support

The announcement comes just days after Kyle told attendees at a London conference the government plans to draw upon big tech companies to help drive innovation across public services.

Speaking at the Google Cloud Summit London, Kyle revealed the government is working with the hyperscaler to tackle long-running problems with legacy technology across the public sector, describing legacy systems as a “ball and chain”.

As part of the move, the government will work alongside Google Cloud to migrate services to the cloud. This, he noted, will allow public sector organizations to easily adopt cutting-edge technologies and drive efficiency.

Kyle has been an outspoken advocate of closer collaboration with big tech since the Labour government came into office in 2024 – and the Google Cloud conference saw him double down on this approach.

“My message to tech companies is clear: bring us your best ideas, bring us your best tech, and bring it at the best price,” he told attendees. “And in return, you’ll receive access to the biggest client in the country. One that will be increasingly intelligent and increasingly digital.”

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The UK government and Google Cloud have announced a new partnership to rid the public sector of legacy tech and rapidly improve productivity within government.

Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, announced the move during a speech at Google Cloud Summit London 2025, noting that the government looks to forge closer ties with tech firms to achieve digital transformation plans.

He described the current reliance on legacy technology within the public sector as a “ball and chain”, with over a quarter of public sector systems reliant on outdated tech.

Kyle added that across UK police forces, this reliance may be as high as 70%, leaving them burdened with high operating costs and at high risk of cyber attacks.

“With contracts signed decades ago and high costs of exit, we've seen a few tech companies really taking liberties with the public sector. In the worst cases, contracts have made it impossible for the public sector organizations to move on,” he explained.

“They've locked up their data in vulnerable, archaic servers only to have the price of maintaining that tech hiked up year on year, with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel.”

To tackle this, the government will work closely with Google Cloud to migrate services to the cloud, with an aim to give public sector organizations the chance to adopt leading edge technologies and explore the wider technology market.

Kyle said Google could invest “hundreds of millions of pounds” in the UK public sector, without attaching a specific amount to this goal.

“Britain will be using technology in more areas and more than ever before,” he said.

“My message to tech companies is clear: bring us your best ideas, bring us your best tech, and bring it at the best price. And in return, you’ll receive access to the biggest client in the country. One that will be increasingly intelligent and increasingly digital.”

Earlier this year, the UK government announced that councils would use a new tool called Extract, built on Gemini, to rapidly process planning documents to speed up construction of vital infrastructure.

As part of the recent announcement, Google Cloud has also committed to upskilling up to 100,000 civil servants by 2030. The scheme looks to empower them with cutting edge skills and help achieve prime minister Keir Starmer’s target of one-in-ten officials becoming tech experts by the end of the decade.

The UK government has set a target of doubling the number of digital experts within the UK by 2030 and has announced several high-profile funding packages for tech since coming into office in July 2024.

Tech secretary doubles down on tech partnerships

Since taking office, Kyle has been accused of courting tech companies too closely and he took this criticism head on during his speech.

“Last May, The Guardian criticized me for meeting with the sector 70 more times than my predecessor,” he said.

“Now to this crime, I plead guilty. In truth, that was 28 times over the course of a six-month period. That equates to about twice a week, over that time. Now, as technology secretary, I simply will not apologize for meeting the technology companies: that is my job."

Kyle doubled down on his approach to the tech sector, arguing that forging relationships with tech firms is crucial for positioning the UK as an AI leader and saving taxpayers billions. To this end, he promised a much closer partnership with Google Cloud and Google DeepMind going forward.

He further clarified that under the present agreement, public sector organizations such as NHS trusts, local councils, and government departments had to negotiate with tech companies on their own and without the experience necessary to get the best deal for taxpayers.

The yearly cost of this is £21 billion, he explained, with the worst cases seeing public bodies sold tech that never works as intended.

In June, the government announced a new National Digital Exchange (NDX), a unified marketplace through which public sector teams can acquire pre-approved tech at prices negotiated on a national scale.

Kyle said the NDX will give UK tech firms more direct access to this total spend, catalyzing the regional tech sector and delivering better value for money.

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The public sector is drowning in security debt, according to new research, taking almost a year on average to fix software security flaws.

A new study from Veracode found that public sector bodies need an average of 315 days to fix half their software vulnerabilities — significantly higher than the overall average of 252 days.

Analysis of 1.3 million unique applications and 126.4 million raw findings showed that 78% of public sector organizations have left flaws unaddressed for more than a year. Meanwhile, 55% are living with ‘critical’ security debt, representing long-standing vulnerabilities with severe risk potential.

A third of security flaws in government applications also went unresolved, with 15% persisting for more than five years.

"Many government organizations are facing growing challenges in keeping up with vulnerability remediation, potentially leaving critical systems and data that run essential government services exposed," said Chris Wysopal, chief security evangelist at Veracode.

"Our research highlights an urgent need for the public sector to modernize its security practices, especially when it comes to managing risk in open-source software."

The worst area for public sector security debt is third-party and open-source code: while this accounts for less than 10% of overall security debt, it makes up 70% of critical security debt in government systems.

Veracode warned these flaws take around 50% longer to fix than those in software that's been developed internally.

"This disproportionate risk highlights the importance of securing software supply chains and carefully vetting open-source dependencies," said Wysopal.

"Without extending visibility and remediation efforts beyond internal code, public sector entities risk leaving the most dangerous flaws unaddressed. As the use of AI-generated code increases across organizations, comprehensive open source analysis is more essential than ever to prevent hidden flaws from slipping through."

There's huge variation between the best- and worst-performing public sector bodies, according to Veracode.

In the top 25%, just a third (33%) of apps have flaws, compared with 100% of the worst-performing 25%. There's security debt in fewer than 26% of apps, compared with 85%; and leading organizations manage to fix 9% of flaws per month, compared with just 0.1% for those trailing behind.

Top performers resolve half of their flaws within 3.3 months, while the bottom quarter take more than 11 months for similar results.

"The disparity between top- and bottom-performing government organizations is striking and raises important questions about the factors that make a material difference to security posture," said Wysopal.

"This data provides public sector security teams with a clear framework to assess their maturity, identify gaps, and improve their performance based on the practices of top-performing agencies."

Researchers recommended that public sector organizations implement risk-based prioritization, deploying context-driven security posture management capabilities that pull together multiple security tools and data sources.

Meanwhile, they should establish continuous scanning and developer enablement across the complete software development lifecycle. The most cost-effective and impactful AppSec investment is proactive identification of flaws, the researchers said.

"In today’s threat landscape, security debt is no longer an acceptable risk," said Wysopal.

"With the right focus, metrics, and automation, public sector agencies can take control of their software risk and build resilience into every release."

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A pilot scheme testing the use of Microsoft Copilot in the public sector has saved civil servants nearly half an hour’s work per day, according to new figures.

More than 20,000 people took part in the three-month trial, using Microsoft 365 Copilot to summarize long emails, update records, and prepare reports.

Findings from the trial scheme showed users saved an average of 26 minutes per day, equivalent to around two weeks work each year.

Technology secretary Peter Kyle said the pilot highlights the significant productivity boosts delivered by AI tools, as well as the downstream benefits for citizens.

"Whether it’s helping draft documents, preparing lesson plans, or cutting down on routine admin, AI tools are saving civil servants time every day. That means we can focus more on delivering faster, more personalized support where it really counts," he said.

"AI is changing the way government operates, helping us work smarter, reduce red tape, and make better use of taxpayers’ money."

How public servants are using Microsoft Copilot

As part of the scheme, staff at Companies House have been using Copilot to handle routine customer queries and speed up tasks such as drafting responses and updating records.

Meanwhile, at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), work coaches are using the AI tool to personalize advice for jobseekers.

"Using Copilot, I was able to help a self-employed customer – Customer X – revitalize her small business. Together, we created tailored social media posts to boost her online presence and used AI to identify cost-saving opportunities," said a DWP work coach involved in the trial.

"Within a week, she’d secured seven new client bookings. She’s now using Copilot to streamline admin and manage bookings – freeing up time to grow her business. It’s a powerful example of how AI can deliver real results for the people we support."

The findings come as research from the Alan Turing Institute concludes that AI could support up to 41% of tasks across the public sector, offering significant time savings.

In particular, generative AI could be useful for roles that have high levels of administrative tasks, researchers found. Public sector workers spend on average 30 minutes per day on emails, for example, many of which are routine. Using a generative AI tool to support initial drafting could decrease this time by 70%.

Use-cases in the education sector also look promising, researchers found. Teachers spend nearly 100 minutes a day on lesson planning – up to 75% of which could be supported by AI, freeing more time for the classroom.

"Our research shows that generative AI has the potential to greatly support the delivery of public sector work, assisting time-pressed staff with the completion of administrative tasks and freeing them up to focus on other elements of their jobs," said Youmna Hashem, research associate in AI for public services at the Alan Turing Institute.

"If the government introduces generative AI effectively and staff receive the training and assurance they need to confidently use the technology, this could meaningfully transform the way that public sector time is spent."

The trial coincides with a government test of a suite of AI tools called Humphrey aimed at helping civil servants speed up admin tasks in areas such as planning and social care, as well as in central government.

It forms part of a broader effort by the government to achieve £45 billion in savings by making public services faster, simpler, and more accessible.

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In a reference to the suave civil servant in 1980s comedy series Yes Minister, the UK government is trialing an AI assistant called Humphrey with local authorities.

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) said the aim is to help civil servants speed up admin tasks in areas such as planning and social care, as well as in central government.

In a first step, 25 local councils are currently taking part in an early-stage trial, using a tool called ‘Minute’ to speed up note-taking across the services they provide - including the planning process holding back the government’s efforts to build 1.5 million homes by 2030.

The AI assistant also helps social care workers and their supervisors take detailed notes in meetings, with specialized tools to help tweak and correct summaries more efficiently, freeing them up for more important tasks.

"From parking permits and planning permission, local councils handle some of the services that impact our daily lives most. For too long, they have been left to fend for themselves when keeping up with rapid innovations in AI and digital technology – when we know it has huge potential to help solve many of the challenges they face," said AI and digital government minister Feryal Clark.

"That’s why 'Humphrey', a suite of exciting AI tools built in my department, is being sent to town halls to help them fast track planning decisions, build 1.5 million homes and take meeting notes more quickly."

Early tests of the Minute tool in central government showed that officials saved a full hour of admin per one hour meeting, with nearly half of them saying note-taking was the least enjoyable part of their job.

Today's announcement follows the prime minister's pledge to find £45 billion worth of productivity savings within the civil service through the digitisation of government services.

Earlier this year, the government’s State of Digital Government Review found that local councils were spending £5 billion per year on technology, despite employing half the number of digital specialists they should be.

And the report also found that each of the 320 local authorities across the country negotiate their technology contracts with big tech companies independently, rather than banding together for economies of scale.

The government wants to see improved data sharing between councils and other public bodies, as well as helping councils negotiate contracts together and share best practices.

"This is just the first step as we are also going to work with local councils to help them buy and build the technology they need to deliver our Plan for Change and support their local communities more effectively," said Clark.

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Nine-in-ten public sector organizations worldwide are planning to explore, pilot, or implement agentic AI in the next two to three years, according to research from Capgemini.

But while two-thirds are already either exploring or actively working on generative AI initiatives, only 21% of public sector organizations told researchers they have the right data for training and fine-tuning models.

The Capgemini study found that, within the next two to three years, 39% of public sector organizations plan to evaluate the feasibility of agentic AI, 45% intend to explore pilot programs, and 6% plan to scale their existing agentic AI initiatives.

Nearly two-thirds have progressed to pilots and scaled deployments or are exploring generative AI tools, with this number rising to 82% in defense agencies, 75% in healthcare, and 70% in security.

"With rising citizen demands and stretched resources, public sector organizations recognize the ways in which AI can help them do more with less,” said Marc Reinhardt, public sector global industry leader at Capgemini.

"However, the ability to deploy Gen AI and agentic AI depends on having rock-solid data foundations."

It’s this aspect of agentic AI adoption where organizations are facing acute problems, the study noted. Eight-in-ten public sector executives cited data security issues as a main barrier to adoption, while three-quarters cited limited trust in AI-generated outputs.

In the EU in particular, there was a distinct lack of confidence about complying with the EU AI Act, with fewer than four-in-ten saying they were up to the task.

In terms of data management and utilization, there's been little progress in the last five years, Capgemini found. Only 12% of organizations considered themselves very mature in activating data, while 7% report being very mature in nurturing data and AI-related skills.

Only a fifth of the public sector organizations surveyed said they had the required data to train and fine-tune AI models, for example.

AI success requires visionary leadership

As the focus on data quality increases, chief data officers (CDOs) and chief AI officers (CAIOs) are coming to the fore, according to Capgemini. Two-thirds of public sector organizations now have a CDO, while a quarter plan to appoint one.

Meanwhile, more than a quarter of public sector organizations have a chief AI officer, with 41% planning to appoint one.

"Looking ahead, governments can be more agile and effective as AI augments the work of government employees to source information, conduct policy analysis, make decisions, and answer citizen queries," said Reinhardt.

"However, to reach this future, governments need to focus on building the right data infrastructure and governance frameworks."

AI could be the key to public sector efficiency

Public sector efficiency has been in the spotlight on both sides of the Atlantic for some time now, but with the advent of generative AI in late 2022, tech industry and government leaders alike have highlighted the potential gains of the technology.

A report from Microsoft last year, for example, found that UK public sector employees could save up to four hours a week per person by using AI tools, which would represent a significant boost to productivity if actualized.

UK prime minister Kier Starmer has been highly vocal about public sector AI adoption, with the Labour government charging ahead with a host of initiatives aimed at driving efficiency through the technology.

But once again, infrastructure challenges have been cited as a key barrier. The report from Microsoft noted that any widespread adoption of the technology would require significant investment to modernize data infrastructure.

A separate report published in January this year warned that “archaic” legacy infrastructure is holding back the public sector from modernization efforts, and in turn limiting the potential for generative AI to deliver benefits.

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Virtually all UK public sector organizations are still working through digital transformation projects, according to research from SolarWinds, but just 6% say they've fully completed the job.

While six-in-ten public sector IT decision makers told SolarWinds that advancing digital transformation is a top future priority, only 42% say their efforts are well underway.

"These findings show that while digital transformation is high on the agenda, many public sector organizations are still only at the starting line," said Richard Giblin, head of public sector and defence at SolarWinds.

It's no secret that legacy systems are a big problem in the public sector, and SolarWinds’ study found six-in-ten are still relying on traditional, on-premises data center environments, with 42% expecting that to remain the case three years from now.

Meanwhile, a similar number said that workforce skillsets and talent gaps were their biggest problem. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in particular appeared to be struggling, the report noted, with three-quarters saying these issues are their greatest obstacles.

Security and cost are also tricky issues, both cited by around half of public sector IT leaders.

"The research also echoes broader concerns across the sector that transformation efforts are being held back by legacy mindsets and severe underinvestment." said Giblin

“Skills gaps, legacy infrastructure, and limited budgets are creating a plethora of challenges — and without focused investment and strategic support, the gap between ambition and execution will only grow."

The key to public sector digital transformation?

Recent government research found that public sector legacy tech was holding back productivity, harming public satisfaction in services, and costing the taxpayer £45 billion.

More than one-in-four digital systems used by central government departments were found to be outdated, with this figure rising to seven-in-ten in some cases. The study also highlighted an over-reliance on contractors, largely due to weak salaries and headcount restrictions within departments.

The government is pinning its hopes on AI to help overcome these lingering challenges, however. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently pledged to send AI teams into every government department to identify areas of improvement.

This move follows the launch of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which the government said would allow the public sector to spend less time doing admin and more time delivering essential services.

However, the SolarWinds report found that public sector IT decision makers are skeptical. Only three-in-ten said they currently view AI integration as a top priority, while more than half thought that observability was more important.

"The opportunity is there, but we need to act now to equip public sector teams with the tools, training and visibility they need to move forward with confidence," said Giblin

“The public sector plays such an important role in the daily lives of millions - from healthcare and education to social services and public safety. Ensuring the modernization of these essential services isn’t just about efficiency, it's about delivering better, faster and more accessible experiences for all."

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The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) will spend £114 million on IT infrastructure upgrades, new figures show.

Using data retrieved under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Parliament Street thinktank found the DHSC will increase budgets and staffing figures as part of an ongoing NHS restructuring in the UK.

Parliament Street’s analysis also revealed that the IT budget for the 2024-2025 financial year is set at £29.1 million, excluding staffing costs, marking a decrease from the previous year in which the total budget was £37.7 million. The highest recorded IT budget was £47.2 million between 2022 and 2023.

The DHSC employed 38 IT staff as of December 2024, with staff figures ranging between 35 and 45 over the last five years. Total IT staff salaries amounted to £1.67 million in 2023.

“The Department for Health and Social Care's continued investment in IT infrastructure is a critical step in modernizing the UK's healthcare system, but cybersecurity resilience must be a top priority,” Andy Ward, international SVP at Absolute Security, commented.

“Without it, healthcare organisations remain exposed to cyberattacks, data breaches, and operational disruption,” Ward said.

Ward cited research from Absolute Security which found that 15% of PCs in healthcare facilities fail to meet basic security and compliance requirements and are responsible for creating vulnerabilities in these organizations.

He said healthcare organizations must ensure IT investments go towards creating long-term resilience by closing security gaps, automating patch management, and strengthening endpoints.

“In an industry where cybersecurity is patient safety, resilience isn't just necessary, it's non-negotiable," Ward said.

UK public sector in dire need of modernizing

Investment in infrastructure is growing in importance given the state of the UK's aging public sector tech. One government report from earlier this year found that “archaic” technology is hampering the work of civil servants and costing the UK taxpayer £45 billion.

"Technology that sits at the foundation of our country has been left to wither and decay under the hands of the previous government, too often grinding to a halt and stalling essential public services,” Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said at the time.

Other research from Appian found that public sector staff are working an average of five extra hours a week due to tech inefficiencies, adding up to 30.6 million hours of unnecessary work every week.

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AI adoption could be a major boon for the UK and save taxpayers billions, according to prime minister Keir Starmer.

Speaking at a campus in Hull, Starmer spoke about how technology will help push through much-needed digital reform in government and potentially unlock £45 billion in savings.

The prime minister said the technology represents a “golden opportunity” for the government, enabling it to bolster efficiency across a wide range of services.

“You will already be thinking about how you use it in your work, and that's an opportunity we're determined to seize,” Starmer said.

“We're going to get the best of the best on AI working across government - I'm going to send teams into every government department with a clear mission from me to make the state more innovative and more efficient,” he added.

Starmer pointed to several example of where AI could help improve productivity and efficiency, including the automation of record-keeping in probation work.

He noted that the same is true for planning applications, in which huge amounts of information need to be gathered, a task that can be completed more quickly through AI.

The PM also talked up the importance of training and apprenticeships, remarking on the importance of apprenticeship schemes and how they will bring people into the government who are skilled in AI and tech.

“We're bringing people in to do this, to transform the way that we do our business,” Starmer said.

UK public sector on brink of change

Starmer's comments are the latest in a series of commitments from the Labour government to harness the technology and drive public sector efficiency.

Earlier this month, the UK’s Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced a reform to public sector funding that will aim to make the deployment of AI projects quicker and easier.

Before that, the UK announced sweeping changes to the state of its ‘AI Opportunity Action Plan,’ a piece of legislation designed to support and bolster AI use across the country.

The action involved the creation of ‘AI growth zones’ in which planning permission for AI infrastructure will be fast-tracked, as well as a focus on how AI can drive efficiency in the public sector in administration.

Research from Google Cloud in November last year estimated that AI and automation may be able to save the UK government £38 billion in staff time and costs by 2030.

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Public sector AI funding will be overhauled in the UK in a bid to simplify processes and push more projects into development, the government has revealed.

Announced by the UK’s Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the new approach to spending will seek to embed a “startup” mindset and change how the government funds small AI projects and outdated tech replacements.

The move comes after a review found many digital projects contend with complex spending approval processes that can slow or even completely derail them.

Four new approaches to funding will be trialed beginning in April, including building on the government's in-house chatbot to provide ‘staged funding’ for projects.

The government will look to support ideas with more agile funding processes to increase the speed at which prototypes are built and tested. Projects will then be supported by increasingly larger tests if they show promise.

DSIT said there will also be a focus on creating new metrics and evaluation plans for outcomes so the government can ensure value is being delivered for the taxpayer.

“These changes we’re making ensure innovation is the default. We will help give AI innovators in Government the freedom they need to chase an exciting idea and build prototypes almost immediately,” technology secretary Peter Kyle said.

“This review will help us build technology that will mean businesses can skip the admin and get on with driving growth,” Kyle added.

Industry reaction has been largely enthusiastic, with Jordan Legg, chief AI officer (CAIO) at Takara AI, describing the move a “positive development” in the UK tech landscape.

“The procurement and funding processes in the public sector for AI startups like ours are often convoluted and complex. Simplifying and expediting these processes will enhance cost-effectiveness and efficiency, ultimately providing tangible proof of concept,” ” Legg told ITPro.

“However, there remains room for improvement in clearly defining the scope of their initiatives. Merging two entire departments is overly ambitious and likely to falter,” Legg added.

UK public sector in need of digitalization

If this spending reform works, it could provide a much-needed boon to the UK public sector’s ailing digital infrastructure which was described as “archaic” in a recent government report.

The report found that outdated technology is holding workers back, damaging public sector productivity, impacting customer satisfaction, and costing the UK taxpayer £45 billion.

Research from Appian made a similar claim, finding that staff are spending a total of over 30 million hours on unnecessary extra work every week due to inefficiencies in service delivery.

Over 90% of public sector workers said their organization found adapting processes challenging, particularly regarding changing service demands and government policies.

Early last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that the UK government will need to make serious changes in order to reap the benefits of AI as aging IT infrastructure, skills gaps, and data issues threaten to cause problems.

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UK public sector staff are working an average of five hours a week more than they should thanks to inefficiencies in service delivery, new research shows.

Appian's 2025 UK Public Sector Efficiency Survey revealed that virtually all complained of extra work or delays. Extrapolated across the UK's 6.12 million public sector workforce, this adds up to 30.6 million hours of unnecessary extra work every week.

The main sources of inefficiency, the report found, were the number of manual and repetitive tasks workers were required to carry out, the need to access multiple legacy systems to view or enter the same information, and a lack of training and support.

More than nine-in-ten public sector workers said their organization found adapting its processes challenging - particularly when it came to trying to maintain productivity while coping with changing service demands, citizen needs, and government policies.

Six-in-ten workers were enthusiastic about the potential of AI to improve their organization's efficiency, with those in back-office IT roles the most positive, followed by those in citizen-facing services and back-office business roles.

Meanwhile, more than seven-in-ten said they believed that automating repetitive tasks would simplify their jobs and improve efficiency. Virtually all of those that were already using workflow or process automation tools said they were experiencing benefits as a result.

"Every public service organization is built on processes. When those processes improve, so do the services delivered to citizens," said Peter Corpe, industry leader, UK public sector at Appian.

"With millions of hours at stake, automating low-value admin tasks and resolving process inefficiencies offers the public sector a chance to work more efficiently. This means more time for the strategic and value-driven activities that directly impact citizen outcomes."

Long-running concerns over public sector efficiency

Public sector efficiency is very much under the spotlight in the UK right now. A report from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) earlier this year concluded that legacy technology was crippling productivity and damaging public satisfaction in services.

The report also highlighted the previous government's over-reliance on contractors, which prompted a surge in costs. Similarly, an over-reliance on paper was also highlighted, with some departments managing more than 500 paper-based services.

In its latest budget, Labour called for productivity, efficiency, and savings improvements of 2% across all departments next year, with digitization seen as central to these efforts.

Indeed, the government estimates that it could bring £45 billion per year in savings and productivity benefits.

"The government is clear on its mission to automate processes in the public sector," said Corpe. "AI adoption in the public sector is no longer a question of if but when."

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Nearly a third of public sector IT professionals are seriously concerned about the security dangers of AI, especially the risks around data privacy and compliance.

While AI adoption is gaining momentum, with predictive analytics and issue detection seen as the top benefits, there are lingering concerns, according to a SolarWinds survey.

Nearly a quarter of respondents said they were leveraging AI to automate tasks related to IT operations and enhance IT observability, with many more planning to adopt it soon.

However, almost three-in-ten said they were extremely or very concerned about the potential risks associated with adopting AI, such as data privacy and compliance.

This, researchers warned, is making full-scale implementation a slow process, leaving the public sector lagging behind.

"It is only by providing the right tools, with full visibility, that we ensure the security and resilience of our nation’s critical services," said Richard Giblin, SolarWinds' head of UK public sector and defence.

Broader security issues plague the public sector

In addition to AI-related security risks, public sector workers also flagged a number of key concerns looking ahead.

Budgets were the biggest hurdle to improving cybersecurity, according to SolarWinds, cited by a quarter of those who took part.

One-in-five complained of the complexity of the internal environment, 11% of a lack of technical solutions, and one-in-ten of competing priorities.

For most organizations, digital transformation was a work in progress, with only 6% reporting that they'd fully completed their digital transformation journey.

Four-in-ten said their efforts were well underway, or beginning implementation in some areas with limited progress (40%).

Privacy and security concerns, as well as the complexity of integrating new systems, were key barriers, they said, while the most pressing current security challenges included vulnerabilities in monitoring systems and the critical need to safeguard sensitive information from cyber threats.

The survey found that the top-ranked security threat was careless or untrained insiders, cited by 56% of respondents - compared with 55% who rated the general cyber criminal community as more dangerous. Similarly, just over half were most concerned about foreign governments.

This, SolarWinds said, emphasized the need for stronger security awareness training, enhanced tools, and better access control mechanisms.

"It’s clear that UK public sector organisations are shifting operations and workloads to the cloud and embracing hybrid IT environments now more than ever," Giblin said.

"But this evolution, along with increased AI adoption, brings added complexity in maintaining data security and regulatory compliance, all while navigating increasingly tight budgets."

The UK public sector experiences frequent cyber attacks, including the October 2023 ransomware attack on the British Library and a supply chain attack hit the Ministry of Defence last year.

A report from Verizon late last year found that insider threats accounted for three-in-ten breaches in the public sector.

Additionally, nearly seven-in-ten were caused by a non-malicious human action, such as a worker falling victim to a social engineering attack or making an error.

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The UK government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Anthropic to explore how the company's Claude AI assistant could be used to improve access to public services.

According to a statement from government officials, the aim is to advance best practices for the responsible deployment of frontier AI capabilities across the public sector while fostering close cooperation between government and leading AI innovators.

The agreement comes amid the recasting of the UK’s AI Safety Institute as the UK AI Security Institute. The government said it will also look to sign further agreements with leading AI companies.

The collaboration with Anthropic will look at how AI can transform public services and improve the lives of citizens, as well as using the technology to drive new scientific research.

"AI has the potential to transform how governments serve their citizens. We look forward to exploring how Anthropic’s AI assistant Claude could help UK government agencies enhance public services, with the goal of discovering new ways to make vital information and services more efficient and accessible to UK residents," said Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic.

"We will continue to work closely with the UK AI Security Institute to research and evaluate AI capabilities in order to ensure secure deployment."

Government eyes closer ties with Anthropic

The collaboration will also draw on Anthropic's recently-released Economic Index, which uses anonymized conversations on Claude.ai to understand AI's effects on labor markets and the economy over time. This will provide insights to help the UK adapt its workforce and innovation strategies for an AI-enabled future.

There are also plans for collaboration on securing the supply chain for advanced AI and the UK’s future infrastructure, while Anthropic said it will provide tools to support the UK’s startup community, universities, and other organizations.

In a statement, Anthropic said it will work closely with the new UK AISI, adding that it is committed to developing 'robust safeguards' and driving responsible and secure deployment.

Similarly, the government revealed it will prioritize responsiveness to public needs, privacy preservation, and building trust as core principles guiding the development and implementation of its AI-enabled solutions.

The AI Security Institute, however, will now have less of an emphasis on privacy issues.

Instead, it will concentrate on serious AI risks with security implications, such as how the technology can be used to develop chemical and biological weapons, along with how it can be used to carry out cyber attacks and enable crimes such as fraud and child sexual abuse.

"The changes I’m announcing today represent the logical next step in how we approach responsible AI development – helping us to unleash AI and grow the economy as part of our Plan for Change," said secretary of state for science, innovation, and technology Peter Kyle.

"The work of the AI Security Institute won’t change, but this renewed focus will ensure our citizens – and those of our allies - are protected from those who would look to use AI against our institutions, democratic values, and way of life."

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Rolling out generative AI solutions could help the UK government stretch budgets further, according to a report from Google Cloud, but public sector workers said challenges around regulation, skills, and data need to be solved first.

Google Cloud called for everything from healthcare to policing to be automated, following a survey of 415 public sector workers. The report notes the UK treasury has a target to slash budgets by £12 billion, suggesting automation could help achieve that goal by freeing up £38 billion in staff time and costs by 2030.

All told, that would include freeing up time for 3.7 million GP appointments and improving teacher-to-student ratios by 16%, the tech giant said.

AI could also help staff, with 61% of the surveyed public administration workers saying overwork had increased over the last five years, while another seven-in-ten stated morale was down.

Challenges to AI adoption

However, few had yet rolled out AI for day-to-day processes, with just 12% of public administration managers saying they had significantly deployed AI tools.

"The research highlights that many public administration workers recognise the potential of AI tools but are still early on in the overall process of adoption," said Ian Burgess, UKI Public Sector Leader at Google Cloud.

"Two-thirds of public administration managers agreed that AI will change the way the public sector operates forever — but just 12% said that they had already significantly deployed AI tools."

That likely comes as little surprise, as the public sector often trails private industry when it comes to rolling out new technologies — and for good reason. Tighter budgets make it more difficult to run trials of nascent technologies such as generative AI, while the use of public sector data requires care — particularly in sensitive areas such as healthcare and policing.

"Despite their openness to AI integration, concerns around data security and legal implications remain significant barriers," Burgess said.

"The report stresses the need for addressing these concerns and equipping the public sector workforce with the necessary skills to effectively utilize AI. Building trust and transparency in AI implementation is crucial for its successful adoption in the UK public sector."

Only a third of public sector managers surveyed by Google Cloud said their staff had the necessary skills to effectively use AI, while 55% said they would need access to better structured datasets, while keeping in mind security and legal liabilities.

"60% of public administration managers agreed that there were legal or regulatory barriers that would make them cautious about using AI tools more extensively," Burgess added. "Openly communicating about how AI is being used to foster public trust and understanding."

More AI required?

The UK public sector has already applied AI to a variety of use cases, from detecting fraud to prioritizing access to housing benefits and assigning risk scores to convicted prisoners, though the Public Law Project has criticised such early efforts for a lack of transparency — which Google Cloud said was necessary to build public trust in AI and automation.

As part of its Tracking Automated Government (TAG) project, the Public Law Project has identified 55 automated decision making tools in use as of last year.

"The Government needs to be forthright about how and where [automated decision making systems] are in use, but it has chosen secrecy by default," it said at the time.

As such, Google Cloud called for AI to be used in less controversial ways, notably for automation of routine tasks, rather than decision making.

AI is no silver bullet

Earlier this year, the Tony Blair Institute issued a report claiming the government could slash workforce time spent on tasks by a fifth using AI automation.

That includes hunting for fraud as well as avoiding administrative errors, which combined cost the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) £9 billion annually.

Former prime minister Tony Blair said at the time: "Government's all about process. You can automate a lot of these processes… In the DWP, where we've done a deep dive with one of Britain’s leading AI companies, we believe that you could automate 40% of the tasks there, and also give a much better service to people."

However, industry experts said AI isn't necessarily a "silver bullet", as organizations must ensure they implement the technology correctly to see true gains.

The UK has a productivity problem. In fact, labor productivity has been close to flat (0.4%) since the financial crisis of 2008.

One of the first things the current government committed to, when it came into office, was to grow the UK’s economy, and that means tackling productivity.

Ministers have also committed to addressing the productivity gap in the public sector. If productivity is a problem for the economy as a whole, the situation is even worse in the public sector.

The most topical example of this is in the NHS. Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting ordered an independent investigation into the health of the NHS. The health services has struggled to increase its outputs — such as the number of surgical operations — despite more money, and more staff.

Lord Darzi’s report was published on 12 September, identifying both growing demand for healthcare and as expected, low productivity.

But productivity remains a challenge across the public sector. And one reason is the public sector does not always make the best use of technology.

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), public sector productivity grew by a mere 0.2%, on average, each year since 1979. The agency also estimates that productivity was actually 0.3% lower in 2022, than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ONS stresses that these are “experimental statistics”, and are subject to revision. But the public sector clearly lags behind the private sector, even though private enterprise isn’t exactly enjoying a productivity boom itself.

Over time, this creates a number of problems. We are putting more demand on public services, in the NHS, social care, education, defence, the justice system… the list goes on. And, unless productivity improves, it will be hard to keep up, let alone improve services.

Then there is the prospect of higher wage bills, and pension bills in future, if more people need to be employed to deliver those services. As the previous Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, stated early this year, “the way to improve public services is not always more money, or more people – we also need to run them more efficiently.” And the current government believes much the same.

How, though, can the government achieve this? Earlier this month, TechUK held its tenth “Building the Smarter State” conference in London. At this event, technology companies mingle with civil servants, agencies, and local government staff — both technologists and leaders — with a view to building relationships between the two groups.

Building bridges

“We try to get good engagement between those government departments, the buyers of technology, and our members, the suppliers,” says Heather Cover-Kus, head of the public sector program at TechUK. “It’s around procurement opportunities, but also around the challenges those departments might be having, and how tech can address some of them.”

Part of this is to showcase innovation in the private sector. But Cover-Kus readily acknowledges that the technology industry has to understand the requirements, and challenges, of the public sector and “how to be a better partner”. The government, for its part, needs exposure to innovation in the industry.

Cover-Kus, though, is seeing plenty of enthusiasm from those working in digital government. A new administration will bring its own ideas, and a new approach. But there are other trends, such as the sector’s interest in AI, that has carried over from the last Parliament.

“It’s hard to have these discussions without talking about AI,” she admits. “It has made such a big, big change in the way people operate, and it has the potential to do some really interesting things. That will be an important technology, going forward.” The larger departments, such as the Department of Work and Pensions, and HMRC, are looking at AI to improve how they deliver services.

But there are challenges too. Legacy systems remain a problem across all levels of government. And the cost of maintaining, or upgrading, legacy systems is closely tied to the issue of skills. Skills is an industry-wide challenge. “Government wants those technical people, but so does the private sector,” says Cover-Kus. TechUK is looking at ideas around talent sharing and secondments, to bridge the gap.

Money, too, will always be a consideration. Public sector funding for IT will always have limits. And the connection between IT spending — or investment— and better services or lower costs can be harder to establish than in the private sector. And this links directly to the question of productivity.

“I don’t know if this is something that the IT industry can help with, but it’s not necessarily even the money. It is also how the money is allocated, capital expense versus operating expense,” explains Cover-Kus. “We’ve been speaking to the Treasury about what a different system might look like… we are really trying to tell the story around the role of technology and improving productivity.”

Transformation

This could mean cheaper public services, or it could equally be about delivering more within the same budgets. However, there is more at play than deploying technology and digitalization. There needs to be transformation too.

Otherwise, there is a risk that all that the public sector will achieve is marginal improvements to existing business processes, and no real gains in efficiency, productivity, or vitally, from the citizen’s point of view, quality.

At TechUK, there is enthusiasm for projects, such as the Scottish government’s CivTech program, which each year allows public sector bodies to invite industry to help solve a specific problem. There is interest in improving data sharing, especially between departments, and different tiers of government. And there have been achievements, such as the NHS app, and automation at the Passport Office.

“The digital part is somewhat easy; the technology part is easy. But you’re not going to move the needle without transformation,” says Cover-Kus. “It’s not always just changing the technology. Instead, it’s changing the way you operate, and the way you think about a particular challenge.

“It is part of a wider business change, a wider public sector change. It’s not just about making a form a PDF. It is about rethinking the whole way things are done.”

The UK government is proposing new data laws it says could free up millions of hours of police and NHS time every year and boost the UK economy by £10 billion.

The Data Use and Access Bill is not dissimilar to its predecessor, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI), which failed to pass during the 'wash-up' process before the general election earlier this year.

Like the DPDI, it's aimed at cutting down on bureaucracy and making better use of data across public sector bodies.

"With laws that help us to use data securely and effectively, this Bill will help us boost the UK’s economy, free up vital time for our front-line workers, and relieve people from unnecessary admin so that they can get on with their lives," said technology secretary Peter Kyle.

Changes proposed by the government, such as removing manual logging requirements whenever accessing personal data to work on a case, could help save 1.5 million hours of police time a year, the government said.

Meanwhile, patients’ data will be made easily transferable across the NHS so that frontline staff can make better-informed decisions for patients. This, the government revealed, could save 140,000 hours of NHS staff time every year, speeding up care and improving patients’ health outcomes.

"The NHS is broken, but imagine its enormous potential if each part of the system communicated properly with each other. That starts with sharing vital medical records between healthcare providers," said health and social care secretary Wes Streeting.

"This Bill and our Ten Year Health Plan will ensure important data flows safely and securely through the NHS, freeing up staff time and speeding up patient care."

To enable this data sharing across platforms, IT suppliers for the health and care sector will be required to make sure their systems meet common standards.

The bill also promises to simplify tasks such as renting a flat and starting work with online identity verification and electronic registration of births and deaths.

The legislation will cover digital verification services, allowing companies that provide tools for verifying identities to get certified against a standards framework from a new Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Following the proposals, the bill has been welcomed by the Data and Marketing Association (DMA), which noted it builds on principles that have had cross-party consensus for several years.

"We welcome the focus on economic growth and improved public services enabled by data sharing, which we believe will promote public and private sector collaboration and enable businesses to communicate with their customers more effectively," said CEO Chris Combemalee.

"Our members will welcome maintaining a high level of data protection and the current accountability framework. Getting the balance right is essential to building trust in both the public and private sectors, ensuring that people have confidence in the modern products and services that will improve their lives."

Can extra funds keep startups and scaleups in Europe? The European Investment Bank (EIB) hopes so.

The EIB – which is the European Union's funding agency and is controlled by EU members – has asked European finance ministers for help closing the funding gap between the US and EU by supporting venture capital and private equity markets, in the hopes of discouraging startups from decamping to the US for investment.

By one count, the venture capital (VC) industry in the US is six times the size of that in Europe, while the amount invested in US companies is five times that won by European startups. That means the US continues to be the destination of choice for innovation companies looking to grow – though American VCs also directly invest in companies based in Europe, too.

"We're talking about ensuring that European companies, technologies that are born in Europe, stay in Europe, and that we invest in Europe's champions, in Europe's unicorns, that we reinforce Europe's competitiveness through a stronger capital market," EIB president Nadia Calviño said, according to a Reuters report.

The EIB proposal is part of wider plans to boost capital markets in the European area, and aims to "help close the financing gap and to retain the most innovative scale-ups in Europe," the organization said. That includes plans to help startups reach scale to unicorn level with an extension to the European Tech Champions Initiative, a new dedicated fund, and an "exit platform" to help finance acquisitions and list startups. Beyond that, the aim is to increase equity and venture debt investments, the EIB said.

"The Action Plan discussed with ministers will help European innovators scale up their business and contribute to channel savings into productive investments, boost innovation, create jobs, and lead Europe toward a more robust growth model, ensuring that European companies born in Europe, stay in Europe," added Calviño in a statement.

EU vs US

The move follows troubling reports about the state of European tech, despite the AI bubble drawing investment. At the end of last year, the Atomico State of European Tech report revealed a 45% fall in investment from the year before, with eight in ten European founders saying they found it difficult to raise capital – despite more startups being founded in Europe than the US.

Indeed, the EU earlier this year launched a separate initiative to support regional AI startups by ensuring access to supercomputers for training and design.

Of course, money isn't everything. Earlier this year, Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norges Bank Investment Management, said Europe had too much regulation, was risk averse, and lacked ambition. "There's a mindset issue in terms of acceptance of mistakes and risks. You go bust in America, you get another chance. In Europe, you're dead," he told the Financial Times. "We are not very ambitious. I should be careful about talking about work-life balance, but the Americans just work harder."

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the education sector, offering new possibilities for personalized learning and efficient classroom management, to name but one example. 

Recently, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a $120 million fund dedicated to global AI education initiatives. This investment aims to bridge the AI divide and ensure that students around the world have access to high-quality AI-powered educational tools. Such significant investment underscores AI's role as a key driver of change in education, shaping how students learn and teachers teach.

Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum's latest report Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education 4.0 outlines how AI can support teachers by automating administrative tasks and providing real-time analytics on student performance and more. These capabilities enable educators to focus more on student engagement and personalized teaching strategies, addressing the global teacher shortage and improving educational outcomes.

As AI continues to revolutionize education, it's crucial to implement these technologies responsibly. Ensuring equitable access and safeguarding student data privacy are key concerns that need to be addressed to fully realize the potential of AI in creating inclusive and effective learning environments.

Personalizing learning with AI

AI is transforming education by enabling personalized learning experiences that adapt to each student's unique needs. One of the primary benefits of AI is its ability to provide tailored instruction through adaptive learning platforms. For instance, AI-powered systems can analyze students' performance in real-time and adjust the difficulty and type of content presented to them. This approach has proven particularly effective in bridging learning gaps, especially for students who may struggle with traditional teaching methods.

Danny Stefanic, CEO and Founder of the Hyperspace Metaverse Platform, highlights the transformative potential of AI in personalized education:, saying “AI is now enabling educators to create truly personalized lessons by leveraging students’ topics of interest and preferences.” 

Such systems not only enhance academic performance but also foster a deeper understanding of subjects by allowing students to learn at their own pace.

Moreover, experts emphasize that AI can be especially beneficial for neurodiverse students and those with diverse physical abilities. The ability of AI to provide a more inclusive and accommodating learning environment makes it a valuable tool in modern education. The World Economic Forum notes that AI can support personalized learning by customizing interfaces to better suit individual learning needs, ultimately creating a more equitable educational landscape.

Supporting teachers with AI

AI is also playing a significant role in supporting teachers by automating administrative tasks and providing tools that enhance their teaching practice. For example, AI can take over routine tasks such as grading, attendance tracking, and even drafting lesson plans. This allows teachers to focus more on direct interactions with students and developing innovative teaching strategies.

Daniel Schwartz, Dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, cautions that while AI has the potential to transform teaching, it must be implemented thoughtfully.  

“Technology is a game-changer for education – it offers the prospect of universal access to high-quality learning experiences, and it creates fundamentally new ways of teaching. But there are a lot of ways we teach that aren’t great, and a big fear with AI in particular is that we just get more efficient at teaching badly. This is a moment to pay attention, to do things differently,” he said. 

Additionally, AI can provide real-time feedback and suggestions to teachers, helping them refine their craft. For example, AI tools can simulate student interactions, allowing teachers to practice and improve their response strategies. This capability is particularly valuable for new teachers or those looking to strengthen their classroom management skills.

Automating assessment and feedback

Automated assessment is another area where AI is making a significant impact. Traditional assessment methods can be time-consuming and often fail to capture the full range of student abilities. AI, however, offers a more nuanced approach to evaluating student performance. By analyzing patterns in student responses, AI systems can provide detailed insights into areas where students are excelling or struggling.

Bryan Brown, a professor of education at Stanford, points out that “what we know about learning is not reflected in how we teach.”  AI has the potential to support powerful classroom discussions by helping teachers engage with each student individually, even in large classes. This is particularly important in subjects like language arts and social sciences, where open-ended responses and discussions are key components of the learning process.

AI-enabled assessments offer immediate, actionable feedback, allowing educators to implement targeted support faster than traditional methods. This helps in addressing student needs more effectively. These advancements in personalized learning, teacher support, and assessment are just the beginning. As AI evolves, it will continue to enhance education and tackle key challenges, expanding its impact on the learning experience.

Enhancing accessibility and inclusion

AI has tremendous potential to make education more accessible and inclusive for students with disabilities or those facing language barriers. AI-powered tools such as speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and real-time translation services can create a more equitable learning environment by catering to diverse learning needs. For instance, AI can assist visually impaired students by converting written content into audio, or help students with learning disabilities by breaking down complex concepts into simpler, more digestible formats.

Moreover, AI can support language learners by providing instant translations and language support, enabling students to access educational content in their preferred language. These tools help bridge gaps that may exist due to linguistic or cognitive challenges, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to succeed academically.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for resilient education systems that can endure disruptions. AI has been essential in supporting remote learning and ensuring educational continuity through virtual classrooms, enabling educators to maintain student engagement even without in-person instruction.

AI also supports hybrid learning by blending in-person and online classes, offering flexibility and accommodating various learning preferences. Additionally, AI-driven analytics help educators identify struggling students and implement timely interventions, making education systems more responsive and adaptive.

Ethical and regulatory considerations

As AI becomes more integrated into education, addressing ethical and regulatory issues is crucial, particularly around data privacy. AI systems often require large amounts of personal data, raising concerns about how this information is managed. Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations is essential for maintaining trust.

Bias is another major concern. Poorly designed AI can perpetuate or worsen inequalities, offering unequal opportunities based on biased data. To prevent this, transparent and fair AI systems are needed, focusing on inclusivity and equity. Developing clear ethical guidelines is vital. Policymakers, educators, and developers must collaborate to create frameworks that ensure responsible AI use in education.

Looking ahead, the role of AI in education is poised to expand significantly. Emerging technologies such as AI mentors, advanced predictive analytics, and immersive learning environments are set to redefine the educational landscape. AI mentors could provide students with personalized guidance and support, akin to having a dedicated tutor available around the clock. Predictive analytics could help educators identify at-risk students early on and tailor interventions to prevent dropouts.

Moreover, the integration of AI with other technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) could lead to the creation of immersive learning experiences that go beyond traditional classroom settings. These technologies could simulate real-world environments, allowing students to explore and learn in ways that were previously unimaginable.

As these advancements unfold, it is crucial to keep the focus on the human element of education. “AI will never replace high-quality, human-led pedagogy,” says Tanya Milberg, manager of Education 4.0, World Economic Forum. 

Instead, AI should be used to enhance human-led teaching by automating administrative tasks and allowing teachers more time for meaningful interactions with students. The future of education will likely involve a collaborative model where AI and educators work together to create richer, more personalized learning experiences for all students.

NHS staff are eager to adopt new technology, saying it could help them treat millions more patients per year.

A survey from Virgin Media O2 Business of 1,000 senior decision-makers in public healthcare across the UK found that three in five believe new digital tools could help the NHS to reach 3 to 5% more patients – potentially benefiting at least 51,000 more people every day.

According to the report, nearly nine out of ten believe that digital technologies such as electronic health recording and Internet of Things (IoT) devices for monitoring vital medicine could significantly reduce the workload of frontline staff and decrease patient waiting times.

The report notes that the introduction of Integrated Care Systems across England in 2022 has already led to progress, with 98% of respondents acknowledging it has positively influenced hospital technology adoption in their local area.

"The introduction of integrated patient care has already had a positive impact on digital progress across the NHS," said Mark Burton, health and social care lead at Virgin Media O2 Business.

"However, our findings demonstrate there is still a huge untapped opportunity to use technology to drive operational efficiencies for patients and staff across the UK."

The report did find, however, that the variety of NHS structures across the UK has brought about a regional divide in terms of levels of digital maturity.

For example, more than four-fifths of surveyed staff in London, Belfast and Edinburgh agreed current connectivity solutions effectively support efficient patient care, while this number drops to 65% of staff in the South East, South West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

"As the NHS becomes increasingly digital, prioritising digital skills and confidence for staff, fostering open communication and adopting a strategic approach to technology investment will be critical to continued progress," said Burton.

"Public-private partnerships can help here, playing a significant role in delivering robust connectivity for an NHS that is ready for anything."

A report earlier this year from the Health Foundation charity found that the technologies most likely to save staff time were AI-based clinical documentation tools and software for analysis of images.

However, it warned, productivity gains will come not just from technology itself but from how well it is used.

"We found the biggest barriers staff face in using technologies effectively in their work include underlying IT and digital infrastructure and capability, as well as challenges with implementation and usage," wrote the researchers.

"Specifically, we identified considerable frustrations about the lack of IT support, lack of funding to implement new technologies and poor-quality connectivity and equipment."

Among the technology-related plans in Labour’s 2024 manifesto, the party pledged to transform the NHS app, making it easier for patients to manage their medicine, appointments and health needs; it's also said it plans to digitise the NHS 'red book' used by parents for their children’s medical records.

Last week, the think tank of former British prime minister Tony Blair launched a policy paper claiming that large swathes of public sector work could be automated using AI.

But experts have pushed back on attempts to paint AI as the silver bullet for efficiency, stressing that this is only possible by integrating AI in an appropriate way for each specific organization. 

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change suggested that government departments across the board could cut workforce time by 20% by implementing AI automation solutions.

The expected efficiency gains were even higher for specific ministries, such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which the body projected could shrink its workforce time by 40%.

The white paper identified the DWP in particular as it is so heavily reliant on paper documentation. Fraud and administrative errors cost the welfare department £9 billion a year, it noted. 

In total, the think tank estimated that by implementing AI tools across government departments, the nation could save up to £10 billion annually by the end of the current parliament.

By the end of the next parliament, the Blair Institute projected the savings could total £34 billion per year.

This would come at the cost of jobs, the paper acknowledged, stating that over the next 20 years around 1.5 million roles could be lost to automation.

In an interview with the Today programme on 9 July 2024, Blair said he thinks the public sector is ripe for a widespread automation drive.

“Government's all about process. You can automate a lot of these processes… In the DWP, where we've done a deep dive with one of Britain’s leading AI companies, we believe that you could automate 40% of the tasks there, and also give a much better service to people."

Embracing AI in the public sector must be done in the right way

Blair argued embracing AI to drive new efficiencies will be imperative for future long-term growth, claiming that just like businesses, nations that fail to embrace AI will fall behind the global community.

Bill Conner, CEO at Jitterbit and former advisor to Interpol and GCHQ, said although the savings projected by the think tank are feasible, implementing AI unilaterally across departments is not.

“We have direct experience with our enterprise AI and we can see savings of up to 40%, relating to business automation and integration. So, Blair's claim is definitely not unbelievable when talking about AI capabilities. However, AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution and could even create more work than it saves if not implemented in the right way,” he explained.

“Too often businesses get caught up in the pursuit of AI, seeing it as a ‘silver bullet’ that promises maximum gains in time, money, and productivity. Prioritization is the key here.”

Conner outlined where he sees the major sticking points that will inhibit many organizations’ AI implementations, namely its data architecture, which needs to be specifically tailored for AI tools to function properly.

“Legacy data stored in siloed applications and integration issues can significantly hinder progress. For example, enterprises have on average almost 1000 apps, yet only 28% of them are integrated,” he said.

“Instead of going ‘all in’ on flashy AI solutions, companies should prioritize the integration of existing systems and utilize infused AI strategically where it adds the most value. This approach mitigates risks and ensures a smoother transition to a more efficient work environment.”

So that’s it – the new government (to nobody’s huge surprise) is a Labour one, the new prime minister is to be Keir Starmer and he has a five year parliament to turn his plans into reality.

So what does this mean for the tech industry?

Certainly, the UK’s tech strategy wasn’t mentioned all that much on the election trail and won’t have swayed many undecided voters even if it was. But smarter ways of using tech and new ways of encouraging innovation are going to be key to the new government’s core goals of getting the economy growing faster. Here’s what the new government is likely to do and the challenges it will face.

Making the UK a better place to build and grow tech companies

There’s long been a sense that the UK can do a better job of supporting tech startups. London has distinguished itself as a centre for fintech companies, but innovation is still concentrated too much in the south east of the UK.

Labour’s manifesto does make some gestures towards this: It’s formulating a new industrial strategy and promises to support the development of the AI sector – and remove planning barriers to new data centers. Similar moves for science and technology parks would be welcomed. It has also said it will work with universities to support spinouts and ensure startups have the access to finance. Making sure that happens across the country will be the key.

The UK spends around $20 billion a year on research and development (R&D). Making smarter use of that public investment could make a big difference. Labour’s manifesto says that it will scrap short funding cycles for key R&D institutions in favor of ten-year budgets, which should give businesses a bit more certainty when planning their own investments.

Innovation alone won’t help grow the economy, however. Innovations have to be turned into businesses that employ people and create profits – and pay tax. This is one of the biggest challenges for the UK; to scale businesses, which is hard enough, and then hold onto them.

Too many of these companies will relocate to New York or San Francisco to raise funds. Tech companies and others feel that they will be undervalued if they list in London. The UK needs to demonstrate that staying at home is a viable alternative for the most ambitious.

The last government did a good job of positioning the UK as a leader in AI safety. Labour’s manifesto talks more about ensuring the safe development and use of AI models by introducing binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models. While that’s sensible, it will likely be hard to enforce in an international race for AI jobs and talent. Nevertheless, the next government needs to do an even better job of positioning the UK as one of the best places to build a tech business in the world.

Digital transformation is the only option for public services

Too many public services are creaking under the strain of legacy systems and diminishing budgets. Tech can’t fix everything, but it can boost productivity – if the government is willing to invest. A wholesale rethink and fundamental digital transformation across public services is needed.

As the Labour manifesto said of the NHS: “A system reliant on pagers and fax machines is not fit for this decade let alone the next.”

While there might be a little exaggeration in there (faxes were due to be phased out in 2020, even if there are probably still a few around) the fundamental point is true. NHS tech is too old and is an obstacle to productivity.

An incredible 13 million hours in doctors’ and nurses’ time lost to IT issues every year (the equivalent of 300,000 full time staff) There’s little point hiring more doctors if all they can do is stare at a PC that refuses to work. Labour has promised new MRI and CT scanners, but what is needed is a much bigger investment program to save money longer term.

The public sector needs to get much better at sharing best practice too.

I’ve spoken to local government CIOs who have found smart ways to use generative AI to cut the costs by using it to answer basic questions which would have otherwise required a call center agent. Wins like this need to be shared faster.

The Labour manifesto talks about the creation of a ‘National Data Library’ to bring together existing research programs and help deliver data-driven public services. There should be a presumption that change is needed fast.

New technology assisted ways of working will be key, too. While some in the last government thought that civil servants sitting at their desks was the most important measure of efficiency, the new government should embrace remote working. Indeed, the Conservative manifesto promised to move 25,000 more civil servants outside of London; the new government should do that and more. That can help spread high paying jobs more widely across the country and open them up to people who don’t want to be in a big city office or any office at all.

(STEM) education, education, education

Governments are limited to five-year terms, but their ambition needs to be much longer term. This new government should be looking out a decade or more in terms of aspirations for our young people.

Better education is one of the best ways of improving life outcomes and longer term improving the outlook for the country. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education continues to struggle, despite much focus on it already. The UK has a tech skills shortage, which is making all the other problems worse – making it easier for students to continue with their STEM education as long as possible is essential.

None of these challenges can be solved on the first day of a new government. Some of these problems have persisted for years or even decades and even fast action on these issues isn’t going to make an immediate difference. Fixes to some of this will take many years to filter through. However, if the new government makes some good decisions fast then by the time of the next election – and I’m sure some strategists will be thinking about it already – they could already be making a difference.

Solving our tech challenges might not be a priority in the first 100 days of a new administration but getting tech policy right will do much to support the next 100 years of prosperity for the UK.

The use of AI tools in the public sector could save staff up to 23 million hours of admin work each week, according to new research. 

The study, commissioned by Microsoft and carried out by Goldsmiths University and Symmetry, found the technology could save each public sector worker an average of around four hours per week.

In particular, the research found that doctors, nurses, teachers, and police officers are among those who could benefit the most from AI tools. The most time-consuming task across all these professions, the study noted, is managing information, with each worker spending more than eight hours on admin work every week.

Nearly half (45%) of public sector respondents said they are 'drowning in unnecessary administrative tasks', which is adding to their weekly workloads and affecting their mental health and wellbeing.

More than half said the volume of admin work is having a negative impact on their ability to actually do their job, with 54% admitting this affects their job satisfaction and motivation.

Meanwhile, half said that high admin workloads are compromising the quality of service they provide and limiting the time they can spend with the public or patients.

Dr Chris Brauer, director of innovation at Goldsmiths University, said the study highlights the marked benefits AI could unlock for individual workers and the broader public sector.

"Rapid advances in artificial intelligence mark an inflection point for public sector organizations across the world. Generative AI and large language models have the transformative potential to reshape government operations and redefine the future of public service delivery," Brauer said.

"Governments cannot afford to remain frozen as AI transforms the world around us."

How the public sector can unlock AI benefits

The report from Microsoft made a number of recommendations for how public sector organizations can integrate AI tools within daily operations and deliver service improvements. 

This included the establishment of a 'National AI Delivery Centre'. The center would act as a centralized unit within Whitehall focused specifically on driving AI adoption across government departments.

As part of the move, this unit would share expertise and resources from government, academia, and industry to develop scalable AI solutions made specifically for public sector use cases.

The report also called for the introduction of guiding principles to ensure all public sector employees benefit from AI while being protected from potential risks.

A recent study found that nearly four-in-ten UK councils are allowing staff to use AI tools without having a responsible use policy in place. The study called for greater safeguards and guidance on the use of AI for staff at local authorities.

Microsoft and Goldsmiths also called for the implementation of a comprehensive AI upskilling strategy targeting public sector leaders and employees to both improve understanding of the technology and its responsible use.

Breaking down data silos to drive innovation

Among the key recommendations of the Microsoft report was that data silos should be broken down to facilitate greater cross-functional collaboration. 

Greater investment is required to modernize data infrastructure, the study noted, and tech leaders within the public sector should focus on promoting data sharing across government entities.

Procurement processes should also be updated to prioritize AI technologies, while local authorities should be encouraged to support public-private partnership models.

All this will require investment, however, and the report noted that the Treasury’s approach to strategically invest in AI technologies across the public sector should be updated.

This would include the introduction of an 'AI Transformation Mandate' for all departments to identify and implement AI opportunities.

"If AI is rolled out effectively across public services and the administrative burden is reduced, there’s huge potential to enable front line public sector workers to spend more of their critical time on delivering front line work," said Hugh Milward, vice president, external affairs at Microsoft UK,

"By acting now and strategically investing in AI, the UK can position itself as a global leader in AI innovation, driving economic growth and improving public services for all citizens."

Cyber experts have raised concerns over the surging rates of security debt in the public sector, with research showing that many applications remain unpatched for more than a year.

In a study conducted by Veracode, researchers found that six-in-ten applications in the public sector contain security debt, compared with an overall global rate of 42% compared to the private sector.

Chris Eng, chief research officer at Veracode, said the study uncovered “decades of accumulated security debt” and poor configurations. With many of these applications supporting public services, he said authorities must do more to improve the situation.

"Without a systematic and continuous approach to finding and fixing security flaws, the public sector is left dangerously exposed to attacks from hackers,” Eng said.

The researchers found that while slightly fewer public sector organizations (68%) have security debt than other industries, they typically tend to rack up more of it.

Only 3% of applications are flaw-free, the study found, half the percentage for other industries.

Meanwhile, four-in-ten public sector entities have persistent, high-severity flaws that constitute ‘critical’ security debt, which would put the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of businesses at serious risk if exploited.

"The good news is that most organizations have the capacity to remediate all critical debt, but risk prioritization is key. Two-thirds of all flaws in public sector organizations are either less than one year old or are not critical in severity," Eng commented.

"In addition, less than one percent of all flaws constitute critical security debt. By prioritizing that security debt with focused effort, organizations can achieve maximum risk reduction and then move to address non-critical flaws based on their risk tolerance and capabilities."

Third party flaws contribute to public sector security debt

Security debt in the public sector mainly affects first-party code, the study noted, but more than half the critical security debt uncovered by Veracode comes from third-party dependencies. 

It's mainly older, larger applications that are affected. Java and .NET applications stand out as significant sources of debt in the public sector, researchers said.

Public sector organizations are heavily targeted by cyber criminals, thanks in part to the large amounts of personal data that they often hold.

Last year, according to CheckPoint, government, education, and healthcare organizations experienced the highest volume of cyber security threats, with some facing thousands a day.

In the UK, research by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) shows cyber attacks on local authority systems jumped by a quarter between 2022 and 2023, while personal data breaches reported by local government organizations rocketed by 58% in the same period.

And this is costing tax-payers dearly, with a recent investigation by Data Breach Claims showing the number and cost of breaches at councils is on the rise across the country, with many paying out tens of thousands of pounds.

"The current state of software security in the public sector reinforces the importance of making secure by design a standard approach for the whole network connected world," Eng said.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is boosting its leadership team with new appointments spanning health, law, risk management, and marketing.

The new non-executive directors (NEDs) will join the DSIT departmental board and the Audit, Risk, and Assurance Committee (ARAC).

Professor Christopher Johnson will join DSIT in July as the department’s first chief scientific adviser (CSA). With more than 20 years of experience in engineering and physical sciences, with a focus on safety and security, his background includes esteemed fellowships with NASA and the US Air Force.

He also helped establish cyber security labs for the UK Civil Nuclear industry and is currently pro vice chancellor for engineering and physical sciences at Queen’s University Belfast.

"I’m delighted to be joining DSIT at a time of huge opportunity for the future wellbeing of this country. I’m committed to working across government to champion a ‘whole of society’ approach to innovation, ensuring we extend the fruits of scientific advancement to all corners of society," Johnson said.

"Whilst it may be challenging, our mission to embrace disruptive technologies, leverage research to drive economic growth and grasp the opportunities for international collaboration will create opportunities to build a safe, secure, and thriving future for all."

Johnson will join the team of the national technology adviser, Dr David Smith, and will work with other departmental CSAs under the leadership of the government chief scientific adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean.

Meanwhile, Shonnel Malani will be reappointed to the lead NED role, providing strategic oversight and guidance to the department, with start-up board members Melissa Di Donato, Jason Chin and Saul Klein set to continue their roles on the new DSIT departmental board.

Here, they'll be joined by new appointees Dominic Field and Liz Cohen, who will also chair DSIT’s new ARAC, where she'll be joined by Bryan Ingleby, Gillian Leng, Mark Poulton and Vikas Shah.

"I am pleased to rejoin the department as DSIT’s lead non-executive director. In doing so, I welcome back Melissa Di Donato, Saul Klein and Jason Chin who have already provided incredible support and expertise to DSIT. We will be joined by experts Dominic Field and Liz Cohen, to form the new Departmental Board," said Malani.

"I look forward to working closely with them and our incoming ARAC NEDs as we offer advice and assurance to the department as it delivers its priorities and positions the UK as a science and tech superpower."

In its first year, DSIT has boosted investment in R&D to £19.4 billion, and is set to hit £20 billion this year. Late last year, it hosted the first ever global AI Safety Summit and has regained access to the £92 billion Horizon Europe research program.

"This exceptional group of leaders is a welcome addition to DSIT," said science, innovation and technology secretary Michelle Donelan.

"This diverse team will place insight from the cutting-edge of industry and academia at that heart of our work, positioning us perfectly to deliver on our ambitious agenda, securing the UK’s place as a global powerhouse in science, technology, and innovation."

Gartner has revealed what it considers the top five technology trends that governments across the world will need to grapple with in 2024.

The list reflects the rise of new cyber security threats and disruption from the adoption of AI, as well as growing instability in the global economy, which are all said to be putting greater pressure on governments.

Top of the list is adaptive security: Gartner predicts that by 2028, multi-agent AI in threat detection and incident response will rise from 5% to 70% of AI implementations, augmenting rather than replacing staff.

"Government CIOs and leaders need to overcome any lingering resistance to the adoption of adaptive security by linking its value to broader organizational objectives, such as digital innovation and transformation, national security objectives and operational resilience," says Todd Kimbriel, VP analyst at Gartner.

Gartner also lists the digital identity ecosystem, which includes user authentication, unique citizen or organization identifiers, and credential verification such as smartphone-based identity wallets.

Government CIOs can build a stronger digital identity strategy by building on existing use cases and partnerships to break out of traditional sector silos and bring greater value for citizens, government, and businesses, the analyst house concludes.

It also says that, by 2026, more than 70% of government agencies will use machine learning, analytics and generative AI to enhance human decision making through tools to support improved government service delivery.

"These tools will need to be subject to careful governance, so it’s important government CIOs drive AI adoption and governance policies throughout the organization," says Kimbriel.

"They must develop a strategy that incorporates these policies with a focus on desired outcomes, then take a continuous assurance approach to ensure they are maintained after implementation."

Platform cloud-based solutions also make the list, with Gartner recommending that government CIOs implement a multicloud strategy to maximize these opportunities. Cloud-native capabilities in these platform solutions provide greater cost control and faster time to value, it says.

Finally, government leaders are demanding increased use of data for decision making and planning through programmatic data management: a systematic and scalable approach to enable enterprise-wide use of data assets, which is being advanced by automation platforms and their ability to incorporate AI capabilities.

According to Gartner, more than 60% of government organizations will prioritize investment in business process automation by 2026, up from 35% in 2022.

"Data remains the basis of decision making in government, and the growing proliferation of AI re-emphasizes the need for government CIOs to enhance the quality and efficiency of data at scale by improving the rules and structures that govern it," says Kimbriel.

Scotland is to become the first part of the UK to make it mandatory to register the use of AI tools or applications within the public sector.

Every public sector project using AI will be recorded on the Scottish AI Register, a publicly-accessible database which aims to provide citizens with information about the use of the technology.

The register is currently voluntary, but mandatory registration will be gradually phased in, starting with Scottish government departments.

Richard Lochhead, innovation minister for the Scottish Government, said the scheme aims to improve trust and bolster confidence in the use of the technology across the public sector.

"From cancer diagnostics to helping our net zero journey, AI is a powerful and rapidly-developing tool the public sector can use to help drive efficiency and deliver solutions," he said.

"Making it mandatory for public sector use of AI to be registered will not only give the public increased confidence that AI is being used openly and transparently, but will also act as an increasingly powerful source of best practice, helping ensure AI is used in ways which is both economically and technically viable and makes a positive impact across society."

The register will include information on the development and use of each AI system deployed by a public service or government department, from conception through development into operation, and, when applicable, retirement.

This will include details on the data used in any AI system, how the technology works, and information about risk management procedures and accountability.

As part of the scheme, members of the public can also request information on the use of the technology and provide departments or services with feedback.

One organization that's already listed as a project is Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, which is exploring several potential theoretical ways that AI could be used within the Children’s Hearings system.

"As a public body working in a sensitive area of service delivery we wanted to be fully up front and open about our early exploratory work on potential future uses of technology that might have a positive impact on our skilled work," said chief executive and principal reporter Neil Hunter.

"Our involvement in the register also unlocked a lot of support and advice from across Scottish Government and partners on issues of research and evidence, experience elsewhere from a national and global perspective – and most critically for us – access to expertise on issues of ethics, impact, rights and privacy."

The move from the devolved Scottish administration comes as the UK government hopes to integrate AI tools widely across public services.

Last year, it announced the creation of a new ‘Incubator for AI’ team and vowed to upskill thousands of civil servants in areas such as programming, engineering, data science, and machine learning.

"The potential productivity benefits from applying these technologies to routine tasks across the public sector are estimated to be worth billions," said deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden at the time.

The use of AI and emerging technologies in the public sector has been a contentious topic over the last 18 months amid the generative AI boom.

Data privacy and public safety have been flagged as key concerns by industry stakeholders and think tanks, with research in February showing that public sector bodies aren’t always rigorous in their use of AI.

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request by digital adoption firm WalkMe showed that only one-quarter of UK public bodies have established safe use policies for AI in the workplace.

While 19% are in the process of developing policies, 39% currently allow employees to use the technology without having any safeguards in place.

The UK government will need to make big changes if it's to reap the benefits of AI within the public sector, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

While AI isn't yet widely used across government, 70% of departments and bodies surveyed by the audit office said they were piloting or planning to deploy AI tools.

A raft of departments said they view the technology as an opportunity to automate services, such as as application processes, or to draft and summarize official texts.

However, the NAO warned that plans are threatened by a series of problems, from unsatisfactory business processes to aging IT infrastructure, risks, skills gaps, and data issues.

"AI offers government opportunities to transform public services and deliver better outcomes for the taxpayer," said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO.

"To deliver these improved outcomes, government needs to make sure its overall programme for AI adoption tackles long standing issues, including data quality and aging IT, as well as builds in effective governance of the risks."

Nearly three-quarters (70%) of the bodies surveyed told the NAO they had difficulties attracting and retaining staff with AI skills, with the audit office warning that pay levels were too low to attract the staff needed.

In October 2022, there were 4,000 digital, data, and technology vacancies across the government.

Public sector bodies weary of AI risks

Several departments said there was a lack of clarity around legal liability, while they also had concerns about risks of unreliable or inaccurate outputs from AI, for example due to bias and discrimination, and risks to privacy, data protection, or cyber security.

They said they needed greater support to deal with these barriers and to share knowledge about how AI is being used.

Similarly, the controls currently in place for digital and technology spend across government don't provide assurance that AI risks have been mitigated, the NAO noted, with the government still working on its standards, guidance, and assurance processes to support adoption of AI and manage risks.

The government needs to establish which department has overall ownership and accountability for delivery of the strategy for AI adoption in the public sector, the report advised, and must set out appropriate roles and responsibilities for those who need to contribute.

The government began work to develop a draft strategy for AI adoption in the public sector last year, setting out its ambitions for realizing the opportunities that AI presents for public services.

In this year's Spring Budget, it also announced funding for a number of productivity initiatives involving AI.

However, the NAO said these plans lack realistic measures to tackle aging IT systems, address skills gaps, improve data quality, and create an AI implementation plan with performance metrics.

"Without prompt action to address barriers to making effective use of AI within public services, government will not secure the benefits it has identified," Davies said.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also called for greater investment in this area. 

The organization said budget cuts over the last decade mean many public services will still struggle to deliver value and improve productivity despite the integration of AI tools.

"Fourteen years of budget cuts have left us with aging and inadequate equipment. NHS staff are telling us it can take 15 minutes to fire up a computer," the TUC said.

"Imposing new IT systems into this equipment without staff consultation and training will be a disaster. We need proper consultation with staff and unions, investment into the workforce and new AI laws to protect workers."

Nearly four-in-ten UK councils are allowing staff to use AI tools without having a responsible use policy in place, according to new research.

Freedom of Information requests by digital adoption firm WalkMe found that only a quarter have usage policies in place for AI in the workplace.

Similarly, while 19% are in the process of developing policies, 39% currently allow employees to use the technology without having any safeguards in place.

Ofir Hatsor, SVP EMEA at WalkMe, said the use of generative AI tools among local authorities could help improve productivity and deliver better services. However, a lack of appropriate safeguards at many councils should be a serious cause for concern.

"Without policies in place, councils cannot understand how their employees are using AI, let alone control it. This lack of understanding means that employees could be opening themselves, citizens, and the council itself up to unintended consequences: from embarrassment to putting sensitive data at risk."

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have previously been banned by a range of private companies due to concerns over data protection and the risk of exposing sensitive corporate information.

Last year, Amazon, Apple, and a host of organizations banned the use of the chatbot for staff.

So far, it seems, some councils have been getting away with it, with only one having had to take action against an employee for breaching its AI use policy.

Similarly, only one council has had a potential security incident caused by AI use – in this case, a data leak. On that occasion, the council concerned carried out a thorough investigation into AI use and policy development.

The reason for the lack of AI policies appears to be partly due to financial restrictions, the study found. In its FoI, WalkMe found that only three councils said they had a dedicated budget for implementing generative AI tools or training employees.

"It’s not too late for organizations to act. Usage policies should accept that employees will want to use generative AI, offer guidelines on safe and effective use, and demonstrate the consequences if these aren’t followed. This will go a long way towards educating and empowering workers," Hatsor said.

"Beyond policies, councils and businesses should have the funding to invest in approaches that will help deal with the rapid rise of generative AI or any other technology.”

In September 2023, the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI), a coalition of London boroughs, released guidance on how councils should use AI. 

It highlighted risks relating to trust and transparency - including issues around hallucination - along with ethics and bias in the models, and data privacy.

Councils aren't alone in allowing staff to use AI without a proper policy in place - and it's leading to some risky behavior.

A recent study by Veritas found that while half of UK office workers are using generative AI at least once a week, 44% are offered no guidance at all.

This, the firm said, could lead to missed opportunities, but also to violations of data privacy regulations.

The UK government is building a new Incubator for AI team to encourage the adoption of AI across government services.

In a speech to a government training conference on programming, AI, and data science, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said there were enormous opportunities for the public sector to use AI to transform its processes and improve efficiency.

Dowden highlighted the government's trial of 'AI red boxes', suggesting that AI, rather than civil servants, could summarize and compile official documents.

"The potential productivity benefits from applying these technologies to routine tasks across the public sector are estimated to be worth billions," he said.

"The UK is already leading the way: Ranked third in the Government AI Readiness Index and attracting £18 billion of private investment since 2016. Traditionally, though, the public sector has not been the fastest adopter. But with AI it doesn’t have to be that way."

There are plans to upskill thousands of civil servants in areas such as programming, engineering, data science and machine learning. Training for civil servants is already being delivered by the ONS Data Science Campus, One Big Thing, and Evidence House, with these initiatives to be supported by i.AI engineers and developers through a series of bootcamps, seminars and hackathons.

Meanwhile, on a new website – ai.gov.uk – the UK government is now advertising for an initial 30 roles for technical AI experts, program managers, product manager,s and engagement specialists. The postings include AI engineers, cloud platform engineers and data engineers, with salaries ranging from £64,700 to £149,990. 

"One of their first tasks will be to assess which government systems have data curated in the right way to take advantage of AI and which systems need updating before that full potential can be harnessed," said Dowden.

"I think of the potential of this work, from correspondence to call handling, from health care to welfare. I don’t mean replacing real people with robots, or adding to the frustrations of dealing with government. I mean removing the things that annoy people most in their dealings with officialdom – namely the time it takes to do things quickly."

A secure, shared data infrastructure for government is expected to eliminate the need for individual service areas to build their own, which the government acknowledges often results in disjointed services, extra costs and greater risk.

The team will also develop and offer shared AI infrastructure for testing and development purposes, saying the aim is to improve efficiency and collaboration among government agencies and evaluate the usefulness of AI solutions being deployed across government.

Earlier this year, the government announced plans to 'parachute in' tech experts from the private sector, with a series of secondment programmes now under way. 

Public sector IT professionals appear to grossly overestimate their cyber security capabilities, experts have warned. 

John Smith, EMEA CTO at Veracode told ITPro that public sector IT professionals should remain vigilant amid a period of heightened threats, warning that some exhibit a “misguided” confidence over their ability to contend with attacks.

Smith’s comments come in response to a survey from Public Sector Executive (PSE) and Check Point Software which found a significant portion of IT professionals are highly confident about their security capabilities.

The survey from PSE was largely made up of government employees (62%), with many of the remaining respondents employed in the education (24%) and healthcare (18%) sectors. Of these, 56% were in IT leadership roles.

When asked about their organization’s security posture, 47% said they were confident their systems would find a breach, with 21% “very confident” a breach would be detected.

The study also revealed 64% of respondents were at least confident in their organization’s ability to establish if data theft had occurred, with 47% stating they were ‘confident’.

Phishing, malware, and human error were among the most frequently encountered threats among public sector organizations, respondents said. 

Only 35% thought web applications posed a significant risk to their organizations.

Public sector security confidence is misguided

Smith described the confidence exhibited by the respondents and their assessment of the threats they face as “misguided”.

He said the volume and sophistication of threats faced by public sector organizations at present means IT professionals should remain highly vigilant and avoid a culture of overconfidence.

“The public sector still has a lot of security issues to solve, with just under 82% of applications developed by public sector organizations containing at least one security flaw,” he warned.

Public sector security threats are rising

Organizations in the public sector were part of some of the most targeted industries in the first half of 2023, as per Check Point’s mid-year report. 

The research found government, education, and healthcare organizations were subject to the highest volume of attacks across this period, with some organizations facing 10,000 attacks per day, according to other reports.

The scale of the threat facing these bodies means it is important they foster a rigorous security culture and keep their security systems up to date to reflect the latest attack vectors.

Recent attacks on the British Library, Gloucester City Council, and the Fife NHS board all demonstrate the vulnerability of public bodies.

Matt Aldridge, principal solutions consultant at OpenText Cybersecurity, told ITPro that public sector bodies are particularly at risk of cyber attacks and that he isn’t confident in their ability to repel these threats.

A key concern for Aldridge is the traditional lack of alignment over emerging threats among public sector organizations, Aldridge warned.

"Public sector organizations are extremely vulnerable to cyber attacks as the private, operational and political data are a tempting target for malicious state and criminal actors alike,” Aldridge said.

“As networks go, the government is disjointed, containing many separate parts that are difficult to manage and secure. The vast attack surface is one factor, but the value in their data is another. For example, the sheer size and scope of the healthcare industry - plus the fact the public sector uses many contractors and outside parties - makes it a difficult task to manage and secure.”

Smith noted that the public sector has made considerable progress in addressing its security weaknesses. However, he emphasized there is still some way to go.

“The public sector has come a long way in strengthening security applications, but there is still more work to be done for government bodies to improve their cyber posture.”

The public sector continues to be a massive market for technology resellers in the UK, as national and local government organizations remain big consumers of office tech and related products. 

With a total shift to digitization looming – set against a backdrop of ever-tightening budgets – technology resellers play a vital role in ensuring public sector bodies get the right technology, for the right price. 

The UK public sector technology market continues to grow, spending £20.1 billion in the 2021-2022 financial year.  

So, why is the public sector spending so much on technology? There are several contributory factors in this current push. 

Rapid digital evolution

Technology spending is influenced by various factors, including government policies, strategic objectives, and budgetary considerations. 

While specific priorities may vary depending on the government's current focus and available resources, there are a few key areas that often receive priority spending on technology. 

Similarly, enhancing digital public services is a common priority for technology spending in the UK government. This includes improving user experiences, accessibility, and efficiency of online services provided to citizens, such as digital tax filing, online benefits applications, and government portals. 

Investments in digital platforms, service design, and user research are often prioritized to deliver better experiences. 

Cyber security and data protection

With the increasing importance of safeguarding sensitive data and protecting against growing cyber threats, investments in cyber security and data protection receive significant attention and funding. 

This includes, but is not limited to, strengthening the government's cyber security infrastructure, improving incident response capabilities, and promoting best practices in data protection across government departments. 

ICT Infrastructure improvements

The UK government places emphasis on maintaining and upgrading its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. 

This includes investments in network infrastructure, data centers, cloud computing, and connectivity to support efficient and secure digital operations across a range of government departments and divisions. 

Digital skills capabilities

Recognizing the importance of a skilled workforce to drive digital modernization, the UK government often prioritizes investments in developing digital skills and capabilities within the civil service. 

Digital skills training programs vary in terms of both size and area of focus. 

However, they typically involve programs aimed at the recruitment of digital specialists, as well as initiatives to upskill existing members of the workforce to accommodate for future requirements. 

Emerging technologies investment

The UK government has shown an interest in exploring and harnessing the potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

Investments in research and development, pilots, and proofs of concept related to these technologies may receive priority spending to drive innovation and improve public services. 

We’re in the midst of a digital industrial revolution – and it has reached the public sector. Consequently, technology providers will be crucial in that process, but the government cannot rely on vendors alone. 

Not all vendors are equipped to meet the government’s demand directly, and so experienced technology resellers will play a vital role if we are to supply our public sector effectively with the best solutions at the right price.

In other words, the government doesn’t just need tech. It also needs guidance.

With AI, automation, cloud computing, networks, and everything else that can save the public millions (if not billions) by improving efficiency and effectiveness, tech providers need to recognize the opportunities and responsibilities of guiding the public sector through this evolution. 

In turn, we must recognize the value of tech resellers to our government. 

As a result of the abovementioned change, the public sector will likely become increasingly consolidated and integrated, focusing on doing more with less. And tech represents the most significant potential in that regard by far. 

Consequently, solution network providers and technology reseller partnerships will be key in ensuring the government receives the best rapid time-to-benefit solutions that can help them drive toward outcomes that will positively impact entire communities. 

A fault with the Police Scotland website has severely limited members of the public from reporting crimes against them.

The force’s online form for reporting non-emergency crimes is limiting users’ ability to describe their cases with a maximum character limit of just 50.

The form’s user interface indicates to users that they have a 2,000-character limit for each text field in which they can provide details about the nature of the crime, the time and location of the crime, and any known suspects.

2,000 characters equate to approximately 300-400 words of information, limiting the public from adequately reporting crimes.

A character counter above each field confirms this, as it states users have ‘1950 characters remaining’ despite it being impossible to enter any further characters into the field.

Police Scotland told ITPro that it was unaware of the issue but has now been flagged to its IT team for review.

The precise cause of the issue, which users seemingly cannot circumvent or remedy, is unclear.

At the time of writing the issue is still live, and could effectively prevent victims of crimes including but not limited to hate-related incidents, stalking, or harassment from providing the full details of crimes via the form.

The error affects users who indicate that they are reporting a crime of which they were the victim, but does not affect those who indicate they are reporting a crime on behalf of someone else.

Users who indicate they are reporting a crime that is not among the eight listed in the drop-down menu at the top of the form are directed to call 101 or use Police Scotland’s online contact form, which is not experiencing any errors.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has announced its new chief technical officer (CTO) as Ollie Whitehouse, a veteran of the cyber security sector.

Whitehouse has spent the past 27 years in the private sector, having most recently held the role of CTO at NCC Group. 

Throughout his time at NCC Group Whitehouse stressed the importance of fruitful public-private partnerships when it comes to cyber security. 

He praised the work of the NCSC in particular, describing it as a central player for the entire UK’s cyber resilience and the country’s place within the international cyber community. He also called for greater cross-sector information sharing, a goal he could pursue further in his new role.

"I’m honored to be starting as chief technology officer at the NCSC and look forward to supporting its world-class talent in their critical work keeping the UK safe online,” said Whitehouse.

“Having worked closely with the NCSC since its inception, I know how crucial its mission is and I am eager to contribute to our national security by addressing the collective challenges we face in maintaining our edge in cyberspace.”

In 2017 and 2022 Whitehouse gave testimony to the UK Parliament Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. The session was centered on the threat posed to the UK by ransomware, and the dividing lines between groups motivated by profit and those with state backing.

Among the expert areas of discussion Whitehouse offered testimony on the rise of ransomware as a service (RaaS), as well as the motivations for threat actors and how smaller groups can obtain malware through the dark web.

Whitehouse will formally take up the role in October, at which point he will inherit responsibilities such as ongoing cyber support for Ukraine and incident response for smaller groups such as charities and other public sector organizations.

It’s been more than a decade since the UK government abandoned plans to create a new NHS IT system, costing taxpayers billions of pounds. The scheme had been designed to deliver electronic records, digital scanning, and integrated IT systems across hospitals and community care.

For many in both the public and private sectors, that contracting saga lives long in the memory and its failure has now returned front of mind with government plans to create the new NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP).

What is the Federated Data Platform (FDP)?

The government hopes the FDP will allow NHS organizations to gather operational data from across the huge organization’s disparate systems and consolidate it in one place.

Writing on gov.uk last year, National Data Guardian Dr Nicola Byrne explained how the “value of our data will only be realized if it can be organized in such a way that the NHS is able to use it well to improve treatments, services and ultimately our health and care”.

“The programme’s work to support better health and care for all through the better use of our data is too important an ambition to fail,” she added.

However, with the platform value set at £480 million and multiple bidders expected, this new scheme doesn’t come without controversy. Fears over privacy, and concerns about data security, are all driving debate. 

Iain O’Neil, a former NHS director, and now managing partner of health and social care at TPXimpact, believes we will only “truly unlock the potential of NHS data” once the fundamentals are right; this includes data standards, interoperability, and getting data where and when it’s needed most.

He suggests funnelling all NHS patient data into one private firm could be a risk, explaining: “The FDP will work best if it supports an ecosystem of suppliers tackling the difficult challenges the health and care system faces.” 

And looking ahead five to ten years, he adds: “Clinical decisions based on data gathered from the 67 million people plugged into the NHS Service should be ubiquitous, enabling learning and better decision making.”

A revolution for managing and storing data

A major challenge for the FDP will be to gain frontline buy-in from receptionists, clinicians, nurses, and all working with data within the NHS. Unless the culture inside the organization fully adopts it, it won’t achieve its aims, experts argue.

But Alex Case, who previously worked in Downing Street overseeing cross-Whitehall Brexit delivery, believes the platform could “revolutionize the way we store, manage, and utilize healthcare data in the UK” – although he agrees this is only one part of the story. 

“There needs to be a recognition of the need to coordinate and orchestrate a 'patient journey' across the different components of an integrated care system, because that’s the point of taking a consolidated view of the data,” Case, who is now public sector industry principal at Pegasystems, explains.

Many argue implementing cutting-edge technology and infrastructure in partnership with the private sector could allow for a more coordinated healthcare system. Case, however, adds: “It’s crucial the NHS ensures data is collected and shared in a responsible and transparent manner, with robust safeguards in place to protect patient confidentiality. Additionally, there is a need for clear guidelines around data ownership and access to prevent any potential misuse or abuse.”

He argues the platform should be feature-rich, rather than simply focused on data integration, if patients are to be placed on “the right pathway to get the right treatment, at the right time”, while also accounting for NHS workloads, backlogs, and prioritization.

“The government and their technology partners have the responsibility to work together to ensure we deliver the highest standards of ethics and governance so that we can address the healthcare needs across the nation better and more reliably than before,” Case warns.

Experts agree the FDP should lead to better decision-making, given it will break down silos, including CEO of Apheris, Robin Röhm. “By providing access to distributed data sources, stored in different sources and locations, the data analytics platform can then be utilized for a multitude of operational purposes from care coordination to improving medicine supply chains.

“Data is most valuable when it is extensive and detailed. As the current handling of data within the NHS involves sensitive data being stored on many separate systems, this often leads to poor access and visibility of data by stakeholders.

“Federated data ecosystems are the most pressing response to the problem of working across organizational and geographical boundaries as personal data never leaves its secure environment.”

Avoiding the threat of vendor lock-in

The need to keep information in the FDP from being personally identifiable is a major issue for campaigners and patient-led organisations. The security risks are real; for example, according to Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team, healthcare was the third most-targeted sector in the UK, with 9% of all attacks targeting healthcare organisations.

Amanda Brock, CEO at not-for-profit OpenUK, suggests some form of NHS systems standardisation could help manage every aspect of the user journey from appointment booking to service delivery, while updating patient records along the way to be more efficient. But she warns its success depends on its implementation; the NHS must own the platform and it’s built on open source software in a “collaborative and transparent way”. 

She adds public sector platforms frequently “pay lip service to the legal definition of open source using an OSI-approved licence and sharing the source”, but this is “not enough to avoid lock-in”, she states.

“The scale of this project means there are few people that have the skills to lead it successfully,” Brock further explains, “but the risk with appointing a single vendor is of course lock-in. The NHS has spent years fighting against this. 

“We need to find a balance between the current status quo of myriad disjointed platforms and apps, and one single vendor that owns everything in perpetuity and profits off that patient data at our expense.” 

Risking privacy is a price worth paying

The FDP will lead to better patient care, as it makes a person’s complete medical history far more accessible, adds Waseem Ali, formerly CDO at Lloyd’s of London and current CEO of data and analytics consultants Rockborne. 

This is because of its “treatment-first, paperwork-later” approach. Ali’s years of experience with healthcare data, however, shows the use of integrated records has always been an issue, especially amid privacy concerns.

“It’s understandable for people to be hesitant about their data being shared,” he concedes. “However, most people are already sharing more information with Amazon or Facebook, sometimes without even realizing it. 

“So, if you are happy for Amazon to know your consumer preferences and shopping habits, then why aren’t you happy to share your healthcare information with the NHS so that you can receive the optimum level of care?”

Ali talks of the potential benefits that would exist if “healthcare professionals knew everything about a patient”. “This information could be harnessed to pre-empt the types of services they may need, which would be a gold mine for preventative care,” he adds. 

“Yes, there will always be the argument about data privacy, but the number of lives that could be improved, or even saved, is hard to out-argue.”

The Pentagon has announced that a $9 billion cloud computing contract will be split between four key industry stakeholders.

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle will share the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract, which aims to modernise IT standards and enable the Department of Defense (DOD) to acquire commercial cloud services directly from providers.

Set to run until 2028, a DoD spokesperson confirmed that the JWCC award is comprised of four separate contracts with a shared ceiling of $9 billion.

As part of the deal, the four providers have been awarded indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts, which means the deal can involve an indefinite amount of services throughout the duration.

In a statement, the DoD said the contracts will offer “commercial pricing, or better, and streamlined provisioning of cloud services”.

“The purpose of this contract is to provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels, from the strategic level to the tactical edge,” the DoD said.

Legal Dispute

The JWCC is the long-awaited successor to the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) initiative which aimed to deliver a large common commercial cloud for the US Defense Department.

Originally, the DoD awarded the contract to Microsoft. However, the process was marred by a protracted legal challenge from competing providers such as Amazon.

Amazon accused the Trump administration of pressuring the department to overlook its application and award the contract to Microsoft due to the former president’s personal grievances with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Similarly, Oracle launched a legal challenge arguing that the decision to award the contract to a single service provider was unfair.

The Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General subsequently conducted a review into the procurement process for the contract.

The watchdog said it found no evidence to support claims that the award process was influenced by “any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House".

In a statement to CNBC at the time, DoD spokesperson Lt. Col. Robert Carver said the report provided conclusive proof that the process was conducted “fairly”.

“This report should finally close the door on the media and corporate-driven attacks on the career procurement officials who have been working tirelessly to get the much-needed JEDI cloud computing environment into the hands of our frontline warfighters while continuing to protect American taxpayers,” Carver said.

Despite the watchdog’s review, Amazon continued to dispute the decision to award Microsoft the $10bn contract. The prospect of a lengthy legal dispute prompted comments that the contract would have to be scrapped entirely.

Last year, the Pentagon cancelled the Jedi contract on the grounds that it no longer met requirements. Instead, the department announced it would pursue a multi-cloud approach and would accept applications from additional vendors.

The move closely aligns with broader business approaches to cloud services. Increasingly, organisations globally have adopted a multi-cloud approach to improve resilience and mitigate the risk of disruption due to outages at a single provider.

Digital IT services firm Konica Minolta has announced it will continue to be a part of the UK Government’s G-Cloud framework for its 13th iteration.

The UK Government’s Crown Commercial Service has awarded the digital IT services firm an RM1557.13 Framework Contract for the provision of cloud software, cloud hosting, and cloud support.

With its latest version set to launch on 9th November 2022, G-Cloud is operated by the Crown Commercial Service and provides a digital marketplace to help organisations in the UK public sector to source and procure cloud computing services.

Basildon-headquartered Konica Minolta specialises in providing data and digital services and has formed part of the G-Cloud framework since 2018.

“An extensive and cost-effective portfolio of flexible Managed IT Services, that can be tailored to any organisation’s requirements, is available from Konica Minolta, through the G-Cloud 13 framework,” the company said in its announcement.

This portfolio of services includes Managed Cloud Hosting that uses UK data centres to help reduce IT costs and free up resources, as well as remote management and monitoring services that offer both patch management and fully-managed options.

There’s also Cloud Print Infrastructure Services for an all-in-one SaaS print solution, cloud-based Intelligent Invoice Processing, Cloud Fax for email-to-fax messaging, and the firm’s 123-Text two-way SMS offering.

Jason Barnes, Head of Public Sector at Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK), highlighted the company’s goal of supporting the UK public sector.

“Konica Minolta has a long-standing commitment to supporting the UK public sector to improve efficiency and productivity, whilst reducing costs and thus enabling greater resources to be allocated to services that support citizens,” he said. “We are proud to be included once again in the G-Cloud framework.”

The cloud was instrumental in allowing the public sector to keep the wheels on in the face of several years of huge disruption, with those organisations that embraced the scalable services on offer being much better equipped to confront these seismic changes.

This whitepaper dives into how governments’ resilience is critical to managing disruption across different areas of the public sector, and the ways in which the cloud is enabling adaptability and responsiveness that is needed.

Download now to discover the emerging practices that will build public sector resilience in the face of current and future uncertainty.

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The UK government “failed to put adequate fraud prevention measures in place” when launching the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which intended to help SMBs weather the economic effects of the pandemic.

That's according to findings from the National Audit Office (NAO), which criticised the government for its plan to recover only £6 million over the next three years, out of the £4.9 billion of relief funds lost to scammers since the launch of the scheme in May 2020.

The target, which is around 0.1% of the stolen funds, has been deemed as “inadequate” by the NAO in a new report.

“Compared with the scale of its ‘most likely’ estimate of £4.9 billion of fraudulent loans, both the £32 million additional budget for counter-fraud operations, and its target to recover at least £6 million of fraudulent loans from organised crime, are inadequate,” the report concluded.

The criticism comes months after the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that more than one in ten (11%) of the accepted applications for the Bounce Back Loan had been fraudulent. The NAO noted that the figures, which were published in March 2021, “are highly uncertain”.

Commenting on the release of the report, NAO head Gareth Davies said that the government “prioritised getting Bounce Back Loans to small businesses quickly but failed to put adequate fraud prevention measures in place”.

“One impact of these decisions is apparent in the high levels of estimated fraud. The true level of fraud will become clearer over time, but it is clear [that the] government needs to improve on its identification, quantification and recovery of fraudulent loans within the scheme,” he added.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme was created to support businesses during the pandemic and offered loans of up to £50,000, or a maximum of 25% of annual turnover. More than 90% of the total £47 billion in loans, an estimated £39.7 billion, had gone to the smallest businesses, with a turnover below £632,000.

The Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) national vice chair Martin McTague told IT Pro that the high level of fraudulent loans was likely due to the fast pace of loan approvals:

“The government and British Business Bank were faced with an extremely difficult task: getting cash into as many of these small firms as possible, as quickly as possible, whilst rightly doing all they could to shut out fraudsters in a fast-moving situation. After weeks of the original interruption loan scheme simply not working for the smallest firms most in need, hold ups with the bounce back programme would have been catastrophic,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told IT Pro that it is “continuing to crack down on Covid-19 fraud and will not tolerate those that seek to defraud the British taxpayer”.

“We are working closely with lenders and enforcement authorities to minimise fraud and ensure those that have committed fraud face consequences,” they added.

As companies across the world pivoted towards remote work during the pandemic, one country had already grasped the importance of providing digital services from afar. New Zealand has been a quiet innovator when it comes to digital trade and implementing a digital economy that reaches across the globe. Whether this is the creation of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) last year between Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore, or the fact that tech giants like Amazon and Google are expanding into the country, it’s slowly being noticed as a technological innovator.

Although the nation has tended to favour its agriculture sector in the past, New Zealand is now trying to pivot this market focus towards technology as it underlines the importance of this industry in building its future.

Open for business

Out of the 22 APAC countries analysed in the upcoming Digital Trade Integration Index, a soon to be released report from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), New Zealand is the most open country when it comes to digital trade, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. More dated analysis from the European Centre for International Political Economy, examining digital trade restrictiveness, also puts New Zealand at the top of the ranking across 64 countries, says Martina Francesca Ferracane, a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute.

Google has expanded into New Zealand with an office in Auckland

Ferracane underlines that New Zealand shows open policies in all components of digital trade. She says that there are virtually no restrictions for trading ICT goods and online services can be provided freely across borders with no restrictions, except for some minor barriers relating to local storage of specific types of data.

Investment in sectors relevant for digital trade is liberalised, and the country has strong data protection and consumer protection frameworks, which Ferracane says are crucial to supporting digital trade. The country also implements safe harbour for intermediaries, ensuring legal certainty for platforms.

“This open approach enables companies to engage in digital trade, both in the country and across the globe, without extra costs or impediments,” adds Ferracane. “Therefore, companies can be more efficient and grow faster, exploiting the opportunities offered by the digital transformation.”

Ferracane highlights that a country like New Zealand is an ideal location for companies that want to have the freedom and space to innovate, but at the same time want to get quick access to customers from all over the world. She underlines the country has also developed innovative partnerships in the form of DEPA to promote interoperability between different regimes and address the new issues brought about by digitalisation. This, in turn, supports companies to export their services from New Zealand to the rest of the world, she says.

In the weightless economy, distance becomes no object

The tech sector is the fastest-growing sector in New Zealand, bringing in over $7 billion in export revenue and employing more than 40,000 people, says Michael Murphy, head of tech at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), a government agency charged with helping New Zealand companies to grow internationally.

He says the growing success of the sector is helping to overcome some of the more traditional challenges the country has faced in terms of its perceived distance from critical markets. In the weightless economy, distance becomes no object, underlines Murphy.

“As the world continues to evolve, our size and distance become increasingly moot points,” says Murphy. “If the last 18 months have taught us anything, it’s that business remains resilient even when the ability to be physically close is impacted.”

New Zealand is attractive to global tech companies due to its size, he says. Although the country may appear “small” by some measures, it's because of its size, and the scale of its firms, that the country is able to pivot quickly and is highly adaptable, which is a huge advantage in the technology space, adds Murphy.

“Our isolation has driven us to become innovators, and we’ve had to be creative, practical, and ready to challenge convention,” he says. Murphy highlights that New Zealand is home to a number of world-leading companies and their products, including small business software from Xero, carbon recycling technology from LanzaTech, and aerospace manufacturer and small satellite launch service provider Rocket Lab.

Small business software company, Xero, is one of many companies New Zealand is home to

The country is also connected with most major global economies and has a highly advantageous time zone for international business. Murphy says it has an open, stable, and trusted economy that’s easy to do business with, which is one of the key reasons why the country is consistently ranked either first, second, or third in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index.

Additionally, the government has a particularly strong commitment to its technology sector, while its workforce is well educated, creative, affordable, diverse, and cost-competitive by developed country standards, according to Murphy.

The need to digitise

Forbury, a commercial property market software company, embraces the concept of weightless export and digital trade, especially since over 90% of its customers are offshore, says Peter Rose, chief revenue officer at the company.

He says the fact that it has never stopped to consider the concept of New Zealand being open to digital trade speaks volumes, as the company has never faced any particular obstacles as a result of not having digital trading processes.

“We’ve never recognised the ‘digital economy’ as being any different from ‘the economy’,” says Rose. He underlines that New Zealand recognises the need to digitise, to promote the latest digital technology, and enhance the competitive advantage that comes from developing digital business and trade.

Considering the country sits at the bottom of the world and is geographically isolated from global markets, says Rose, weightless exports are an attractive and viable business proposition. The removal of geography in the digital arena is imperative for an isolated country like New Zealand to compete, and digital trade is not so much a nice to have but an absolute necessity.

Rose says that as countries are constantly competing for intellectual talent, New Zealand offers a range of attributes and advantages to attract such talent. This includes some of the easiest company setup processes in the world, a simple tax system that’s advantageous for entrepreneurs with no capital gains tax, and mature seed and venture capital industries that offer a pool of capital. New Zealand also consistently ranks in the top one or two for its anti-corruption environment, has top local tech talent, and offers a lifestyle that is difficult to replicate elsewhere. What’s more, tech companies are recognised as high-quality employers and welcomed in the country with numerous government and non-government support services.

Although DEPA has not directly affected Murphy’s business, he says the trade agreement recognises that New Zealand has to get ahead of the game and collaborate with other forward-thinking nations to create a competitive advantage.

New Zealand's legislators have cultivated one of the easiest company setup processes in the world

“Along with trade agreements, New Zealand is trying to create relationships that oil the wheels of commerce for a country with some natural geographic obstacles that are rapidly becoming potential advantages as the digital revolution overtakes and geographic distance becomes irrelevant,” he explains.

The country seems to be positioning itself as a leader when it comes to digital trade, and this could be an advantage as more nations around the world realise the importance of this industry and look to enter DEPA. New Zealand has understood the need for digital transformation in order to survive, enabling it to act first and get ahead of competitors, although it’s too early to tell whether it’ll hold onto this lead.

ID.me has partnered with Sterling Check to offer an in-person identity verification solution.

Per reports, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) is the first government agency to adopt the new service. Using the solution, the state will increase equity and access to unemployment benefits for residents.

“During the pandemic, unemployment reached 14.8% - the highest rate observed since data collection started in 1948, according to the Congressional Research Service. At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission reported identity theft tied to government benefits increased by 2,920%,” explained ID.me.

To meet the needs of the unemployed while keeping security high, ID.me and Sterling co-developed an in-person verification tool, expanding digital verification options.

The joint solution enables individuals, including those without mobile devices or internet access, to verify their identity at retail locations nationwide. The solution also adds to ID.me’s commitment to “No Identity Left Behind,” an initiative aimed at making digital identity accessible and secure for all citizens.

What’s more, spanning over 650 retail facilities across the US, Sterling's Identity Network offers background and identity checks for a range of financial institutions, including some of the largest in the nation. Local communities can now access in-person identity verification offered by trained technicians. Eligibility for unemployment benefits is determined in accordance with federal law.

As an added benefit, ID.me credentials can also be used to access other government and commercial services.

"Sterling is thrilled to partner with ID.me in expanding secure identity verification and proofing and to provide availability for those without a mobile device or dedicated internet access," said Josh Peirez, Sterling CEO.

Peirez added, "Our industry knowledge, innovative technology and relationships with more than 47,000 clients, paired with ID.me's services allow us to increase access to a verified identity."

The National Security Agency (NSA) has awarded Amazon a cloud computing contract codenamed ‘WildandStormy’ worth up to $10 billion, prompting an appeal from Microsoft.

Although the specific details of the contract are hidden, the NSA is reportedly looking to move away from its on-premise environment as it looks to bring in commercial cloud computing technology, according to Washington Technology. The security agency is reportedly pursuing a “Hybrid Compute Initiative” to see what data can be stored in a commercial cloud infrastructure.

Following the decision, Microsoft filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on 21 July, claiming that the NSA did not conduct a proper evaluation. The decision is expected back by 29 October.

"NSA recently awarded a contract for cloud computing services to support the Agency. The unsuccessful offerer has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The Agency will respond to the protest in accordance with appropriate federal regulations," an NSA spokesperson told IT Pro.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Nextgov that the company was filing an administrative protest via the GAO. “We are exercising our legal rights and will do so carefully and responsibly," said the spokesperson.

IT Pro contacted Amazon for comment, which has referred any questions to the NSA.

Last July, the Department of Defense (DoD) cancelled a $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project and scrapped its Trump-backed contract with Microsoft. The deal had been challenged by Microsoft’s rival AWS, which alleged that former president Donald Trump had influenced DoD decisions during the bidding process in order to sabotage their chances.

As a replacement for the JEDI project, the DoD announced the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC), which is set to be “a multi-cloud/multi-vendor Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract” that will consider both AWS and Microsoft. Although there isn’t an estimated value of how much the project would cost, it's expected the first set of contracts would be awarded by April 2022.

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As more and more police officers are relying on technology to keep them safe and effective, the quality and level of the data system within their vehicles today exceeds that of the computers inside police headquarters, with real time information to improve situational awareness.

And yet, as officers need to be able to perform their roles out of their cars and engage with the public, many forces are investing in smartphone technology to enable the continued mobile access to these information platforms.

Download this guide to learn more about mobile technology’s place in public safety, as well as the best practices for deployment.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is re-examining winning applications in its program to provide internet access to rural Americans.

The FCC wrote to several winning bidders in its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program yesterday to question them over the validity of their coverage. It wrote 197 letters to applicants for funding identifying areas it suspected already had broadband services.

Recipients of the letter included Starlink Services, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, which was among the biggest winners of the RDOF auction with an $885.5 million bid to provide internet access across 35 states. The FCC has raised questions about coverage in 34 of them.

The RDOF program is part of a $9.2 billion funding program to bridge the digital divide by offering broadband access across 49 US states. It allocated the funds via a reverse auction across 300 companies with 180 winners. The bids were to serve areas without broadband download speeds of at least 25Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3Mbps.

Winning bidders got the chance to divide their bids between different entities — such as subsidiaries working in specific states — which then filed long-form applications for the funding.

Yesterday, the FCC announced it was ready to provide $311 million to 48 broadband providers across 36 states. However, it needed more due diligence from some of its long-form applicants, it said.

"Concerns have nonetheless been raised that certain areas included in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction are already served by one or more service providers that offer 25/3 Mbps broadband service or otherwise raise significant concerns about wasteful spending, such as parking lots and international airports," the letter warned.

Recipients of these letters have until August 16 to reexamine their bids and weed out areas with adequate broadband access. They must then write to the FCC explaining why they are pulling those bids. The FCC will then announce all the areas where bidders pulled out.

The FCC released a list of bidders that have already defaulted on some bids, although this did not include all of the companies it wrote to this week. So far, the defaulted bids total $78.5 million.

Palantir Technologies has signed a new pact with the United States Space Force (USSF) and United States Air Force (USAF) to support the country's armed forces.

In 2020, Palantir partnered with the USSF to develop a common operating picture of space for the US Space Command.

Under the new agreement, Palantir will deploy and maintain its data-as-a-service platform to aid the US Space and Missile Systems Centers' (SMC) Cross-mission Ground and Communications Enterprise (ECX) in space command and control programs, including operations at the National Space Defense Center and the Combined Space Operations Center.

Project Brown Heron, a US Air Force initiative, will use Palantir to integrate disparate data sources. Through this development, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) aims to increase readiness across its organizational and functional silos. Palantir's software will also provide the Air Force's top management with a continuously evolving operational readiness analytics platform.

"Mastering the data environment is more critical now than ever and it's only growing more important," said General David Allvin, Air Force's vice chief of staff.

"Tomorrow's wars will be won – or lost – based on our ability to dominate future decision cycles and that all starts with data. Project Brown Heron represents a significant leap forward for the Department as we transform how we create, fuse, and leverage our growing mountains of data to create true decision superiority and win against peer competitors in the digital age."

Additionally, Palantir will assist NORAD-NORTHCOM in its Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) mission by assimilating critical data from across functional and geographic domains to support comprehensive operational planning and execution.

"I'm excited about this partnership and the work we are doing to provide better data-driven decision making to our leadership. Palantir's technology and framework has truly accelerated our ability to remove data stovepipes throughout the community and create actionable knowledge," stated Col. Jennifer Krolikowski, the senior materiel leader for Space C2 at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has expanded its Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP) to include all publicly accessible DoD websites and systems.

The VDP is run by the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) to enable security researchers to report vulnerabilities on the DoD Information Network (DoDIN) to improve network defense.

The expansion announced today allows for research and reporting of vulnerabilities related to all DOD publicly accessible networks, frequency-based communication, internet of things (IoT), and industrial control systems, according to Brett Goldstein, the director of the Defense Digital Service. Originally, the program was limited to DoD public-facing websites and applications.

"This expansion is a testament to transforming the government's approach to security and leapfrogging the current state of technology within DOD," he said.

Before the program’s launch, researchers had no way of reporting bugs they found in publicly accessible DoD systems.

“Because of this, many vulnerabilities went unreported," said Goldstein. "The DOD Vulnerability Policy launched in 2016 because we demonstrated the efficacy of working with the hacker community and even hiring hackers to find and fix vulnerabilities in systems."

Since the launch of the Vulnerability Disclosure Program, security researchers have submitted over 29,000 vulnerability reports. Officials said that over 70% of them were determined to be valid.

Experts believe the expansion will lead to a massive increase in the number of bugs reported to them.

"The department has always maintained the perspective that DOD websites were only the beginning as they account for a fraction of our overall attack surface," said DOD Cyber Crime Center director Kristopher Johnson.

In April, the DoD Cyber Crime Center unveiled a 12-month Defense Industrial Base Vulnerability Disclosure Program (DIB-VDP) pilot to enable security researchers to report flaws in DoD contractor partner’s information systems, web properties, and other identified scoped assets. The 12-month program aspires to employ the lessons learned from existing reports made through the Pentagon’s Vulnerability Disclosure Program.

“The expansion of vulnerability research to participating DoD contractor networks replicates the DoD’s’ success by making participating DoD contractor networks available for vulnerability research,” said the DoD's Cyber Crime Center on its HackerOne webpage. “No technology is perfect, but DC3 believes that working with skilled security researchers across the globe is crucial to identifying their weaknesses.”