PublicTechnology.net

It's official: Universal Credit will be digital by default

Rachel Fielding — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:34:09 +0000

Claimants of the upcoming Universal Credit benefits system will be expected to conduct transactions online - as it will be the first major government service to be ‘digital by default’.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that the project involves introducing “a new operating model” that will start to phase out its existing telephon

Cloud set to revolutionise public procurement - EU

Gary Flood — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:06:00 +0000

“Cloud buyers, including the public sector, will buy more with less and become more efficient.”

That was the not entirely original, but still bold, ambition laid out by Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission, in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

“We have already made a start on the regulatory side - the Commission has proposed new rules for data protection in the twenty-first century, including for data in the Cloud,” she also told del

Security fears persist, but Cloud still surging ahead: KPMG

Gary Flood — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:21:44 +0000

More than half of UK businesses are concerned about the safety of their data in the Cloud – but that doesn’t seem to be holding back adoption of the approach.

That’s the conclusion of a major survey by consultancy KPMG, which claims 23% of CIOs contacted are already using the Cloud - and a further 53% planning to do so within the next 12 months.

In the publ

MPs say digital by default has to be about 'safe' as much as 'cheap'

Gary Flood — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:14:47 +0000

A cross party group of MPs is urging the government to do more to help the public understand how to stay safe online.

MPs on the Science and Technology Select Committee say better public information about computer safety could save huge numbers of people the hassle of having their personal details stolen.

Its latest report into malware and cybercrime,

Government needs to dial down the austerity - NIESR

Gary Flood — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:47:32 +0000

The UK economy will enter recession in the first half of the year as consumers continue to cut back, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has today warned.

In response, the government should brake the speed of its austerity measures, the influential think tank believes.

"We forecast a return to technical recession in the first half of this year, as households continue to retrench, credit conditions remain tight, and businesses are

Isle of Man's G-Cloud work starting to bear real fruit

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:12:40 +0000

The Isle of Man has slashed more than half a million pounds off its annual operating costs after rolling out a Cloud-based technology infrastructure for more efficient and reliable delivery of public services.

Since it went live at the end of last year, the Isle of Man government has shaved £250,000 in operating costs and a further saving of £290,000 through streamlined administration and automation, it has just announced.

Whitehall yet to figure out how to deliver ordered savings

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:41:09 +0000

Axing major IT projects contributed to a 35% reduction in IT capital spend across government Departments down to £3.6bn, according to the first independent analysis of cost cutting across Whitehall since the Coalition's austerity programme started nearly two years ago.

Central government departments reduced their total IT spending by around 10%, equating to almost £800m last year, according to a National Audit Office report published today.

Ofcom: 50% UK now getting 10 Megabits per second Internet

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:53:57 +0000

UK home broadband speeds have increased 22% in the last 12 months, according to the latest audit of national connectivity from Ofcom - and it says not enough broadband consumers know they could upgrade to faster networks for little or no extra cost if they switched package or provider.

The comms watchdog's study found that, for the first time, more than half of UK residential broadband connections now have an advertised spe

Why are we struggling to deliver real transparency?

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:31:52 +0000

Concerns have been voiced over the ability of public sector IT to support more transparency, following a Cabinet Office-led consultation process.

Last year the Office asked for feedback on issues including how best to gather and make use of data held by the public sector, how to encourage the private sector to make use of it and how to bolster individuals' rights to access their own data held by public sector, a process known as an 'enhanced right to data'.

The Open

Single government domain one step nearer

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:24:15 +0000

Government plans to overhaul public sector websites took a step forward today after it launched the first public beta test version of its proposed single Gov.uk portal.

Spearheaded by the UK’s Digital Champion, Martha Lane-Fox, the Gov.uk project could save the government £50m a year by making it easier for the public to access government services online and simplifying how the government publishes content on the web.

Whitehall underspent by £3bn last year - IFS

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:02:30 +0000

Britain’s economy is heading for slower growth than official forecasts, leaving no room for any giveaways in the Budget, economists have warned.

The latest annual Green Budget produced by influential think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies in collaboration with Oxford Economics, says that the likely disappointing news on the economy in coming weeks would be offset by lower-than-planned public spending.

Facebook's hour of financial glory dawns

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:57:15 +0000

Facebook is expected to file an IPO today that could both value the social networking phenomenon at up to $100bn and make it the biggest technology flotation in history.

The world's biggest social networking site is expected to raise about $10bn through the flotation, with the floatation likely to earn Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook from his room at Harvard University in 2004, a paper profit of several billion dollars.

However, the IPO will also

Pubsec ICT job gloom far from abating

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:52:25 +0000

The number of public sector ICT vacancies continued to fall at the end of 2011 - amid a ramping up of demand across private sector roles.

A 16% decrease in public sector technology roles up for grabs in the last quarter of 2011 marked the ninth consecutive quarter of decline across the sector, according to data from specialist IT recruitment website CWJobs.co.uk and JobAdsWatch.

In a year when mobile apps took off in earnest, developers dominated the recruitment space, making up 41% of all IT jobs advertised by the final quarte

How to be a 'ninja' influencer in your organisation

Gary Flood — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:35:54 +0000

Kate Hanaghan, research Manager of analyst firm K2 Advisory, offers some suggestions on how public sector CIOs can win more friends and influence more stakeholders

Following the recent appointment of Andy Nelson to the position as (part-time) Government CIO, I was reminded of a recent debate I had with a group of CIOs where we spoke about the

Vendor survey suggests pubsec better at mobile than private

Gary Flood — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:24:43 +0000

Public sector management and workforces are working more flexibly than the private sector - both in terms of setting work policies and the communications tools they use, according to research sponsored by a vendor.

The report suggests strongly that public sector is already establishing a “top-to-bottom” culture of versatile working and improving and maintaining services, more effectively than many private companies, to cope with economic austerity but also to deal with events, like the Olympics, that could disrupt the UK workplace.

HMRC tax offices closed today by PCS industrial action

Gary Flood — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:11:05 +0000

In something of a reprieve for those of us struggling to file our income tax self assessments online, HMRC offices are closed today by strikes over claimed “privatisation” of call centre work.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) across the UK dislikes plans to trial the use of private firms at two centres and so is picketing tax offices today.

In response, the taxman says it won’t issue the usual £100 penalty fines to anyone missing Tuesday's deadline for self-assessment returns.

Global cybersecurity report identifies serious gaps

Gary Flood — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:41:23 +0000

Security vendor McAfee and a think tank called the Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) today revealed the findings from a new global study Cyber-security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules that claims to present a global snapshot of current thinking about the cyber-threat and the measures that should be taken to defend against them, and assesses the way ahead.

The SDA, a defense and security group based in Brussels,

New app launched by Orange to help community care staff

Gary Flood — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:31:48 +0000

A new app has been released that’s claimed to enable NHS community care professionals to remotely manage patient visiting schedules and information while on the move.

The app, Care in Motion, is claimed to allow community based healthcare professionals spend more time with more patients, cut the need to visit offices and transfer hand-written notes to records and which could release more than one hour per day per person which could be spent providing care to patients in their homes.

Through a secure mobile application,

Best Practice: Palmer's College, Essex

Gary Flood — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:45:20 +0000

Would you choose to work direct with a US-based company that had no local representation? Five years ago, probably not – too risky. But for Dan Byne, IT Manager at Palmers College in Essex, that potential risk was outweighed by what he thought he could gain from such a relationship – and in the end, did.

Byne says he came across his new supplier after looking at the market in the UK, including talking to market leaders – none of whom could meet his budget requirements.