PublicTechnology.net

Commentators say scale of work was ‘underestimated’ by both sides - but smaller scale pilots offer opportunity to boost collaboration between central and local government

Eduserv report finds that just 3% of local government HR leaders rate digital literacy of frontline staff as ‘good’ - and that traditional, formal training programmes might not be the best option

Industry body calls on mayors to appoint a chief digital and innovation champion and use their influence to boost smart procurement, open data and digital skills

Survey finds public sector isn’t making the most of digital, with costs, culture and legacy systems identified as major barriers to transformation

Government to test ‘model contracts’ in a bid to bring procurement into the digital age

Data reveals last minute flurry of activity, as more than 1,500 completed in final two days

Department to replace enterprise resource planning system, business intelligence tool and payroll system with integrated cloud-based system called Metis

GovStart programme gives small companies the chance to learn from GDS leaders past and present and access part of £320bn global market

Think tank says data dashboards have the potential to mislead and urges government to boost staff’s data science skills

Analysis comes amid reports that the contractors behind HMRC’s own tax status assessment tool are set to leave the public sector because of the clampdown

At the start of the year, Cornwall Council’s cabinet approved an £18m digital improvement plan that aims to fix years of IT underinvestment. Gill Hitchcock reports.

The Scottish government will implement a “tough” assurance process for digital projects, mandate the use of common technologies and offer training to make sure civil servants “get digital”.

Councils should be in the “driving seat” of technological change, but need to rethink the role they play in their locality and invest in long-term planning, a report has said.

Public sector organisations have been told they still have to meet the common Public Sector Network assurance standards while work is carried out to move away from the network.

The number of public sector bodies using the Crown Hosting Framework for data centres is set to increase, as the Crown Commercial Service takes over responsibility for the service.

Tech companies have welcomed the focus on innovation and IT skills in yesterday’s Spring Budget, but called for the government to follow up its ambition with targeted actions.

Luton Borough Council chose to renew its IT contract rather than go with a new provider. The council’s technology lead tells Gill Hitchcock how it shifted to an outcomes-based approach – and why a flexible 10-year contract can still be a good deal.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has opened a procurement drive for its hosting and application support services as part of the exit from its IBM and Capgemini contracts.

A lack of benchmarking data on digital transformation programmes in government makes it hard to evaluate success at a time when it has ever been more important, says Jane Roberts, strategy director at TopLevel. 

Public sector organisations need to proactively work with existing large-scale public sector cloud-based networks to deliver more savings, a report from the association of IT professionals, Socitm, has said.

Civil servants running HMRC’s digital tax reforms have defended the timeline of the plan, but admitted that some software suppliers will not have products ready until October – six months after the pilot of the scheme is due to start.