Will local government transformation be set back by coronavirus?
Having long suffered from a scarcity of funding, councils could be forgiven for deprioritising investments in new tech. But public and private and sector leaders tell PublicTechnology that digital has never been more important.
Government’s ‘litany of failures’ leaves citizens facing many years of slow broadband
Public Accounts Committee points to need for more funding and legislative changes
Cheshire signs long-term Microsoft cloud partner in £35m deal
Local authorities ink six-year contract
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Sturgeon apologises after outcry over exam results downgraded by ‘deprivation algorithm’
First minister acknowledges misstep and vows to ‘put it right’
Government defends Test and Trace as councils look to own measures
Authority in Blackburn implements localised initiative to ‘complement’ national scheme
Government extends local fibre scheme after ‘a number of delays’
Fifteen local projects given until the end of 2021 to conclude rollout
How Bradford Council has worked to keep tourism alive with virtual visits
Ahead of Yorkshire Day tomorrow – and as the city re-enters localised restrictions – we hear from the authority’s VisitBradford tourism chief Rachel Oxborough about how it has used online engagement to keep in touch with visitors and residents in recent months
Treasury’s £250m IT deal with NTT Data to be extended into eighth year
Contract came with an initial seven-year potential term but will now run until 2022
Home buying goes paperless
HM Land Registry announces acceptance of electronic signatures for mortgages and other deeds
Inside DWP’s digital coronavirus response – APIs, reuse and micro-services
In the face of huge demand for its services, the DWP was able to call on a library of reusable tools, the department’s integration lead Jacqui Leggetter tells PublicTechnology
Government mulls online sales tax to counteract high-street hit
Chancellor considers levy on internet sales
Government agrees to provide councils with daily individual testing data
Move comes after calls from local authorities
Videoconferencing can benefit the NHS and patients long after coronavirus
The pandemic has provided a pressing use case for remote consultations but, according to Rowan Pritchard Jones of St Helens and Knowsley NHS trust, the technology has a lot to offer in the long term
Edinburgh presses on with full-fibre rollout
A third of homes across the Scottish capital have been equipped with the next-generation connectivity technology
How Brexit Britain could become a surveillance state
The UK has tended to only introduce data-protection laws in conjunction with EU legislation and, according to Ray Walsh from ProPrivacy, the post-Brexit world may see the country prioritise authorities’ access to personal data over citizens' right to privacy
Manchester mayor claims local authorities being ‘kept in the dark’ by government on coronavirus testing data
Andy Burnham says more detailed information needs to be provided with greater frequency
Bradford Council looks to chatbots
Authority considers deployment of technology to reduce use of phone and face to face support
West Yorkshire looks to build £3m cloud-based traffic-management hub
System will bring together existing databases across three areas
Government warned over ‘lack of transparency’ on coronavirus homeless response data
Statistics regulator writes to MHCLG to criticise lack of publication of information
How can local government get it right on shared services?
Experts from councils and industry partners discuss the key benefits and challenges to consider if local authorities are to reap the rewards of sharing services
DWP’s ‘serious IT challenges’ pegged as key cause of disparity in benefits system during coronavirus crisis
Chair of arm’s-length body praises government response but identifies lower payments for recipients of legacy benefits as one of several ‘rough edges’
Passport applications plummet in March
Number of citizens using online and postal service drops by more than half
More must be done to realise the value of geospatial data
Government’s Geospatial Commission has made some promising progress but Leigh Dodds of the ODI believes that increasing the openness of data and enhancing support for local government should be among the next steps
How Barnsley Council is building its own IT services and sharing them ‘for the greater good’
The authority’s IT manager Richard Kingston explains why local government needs to collaborate for the benefit of citizens