PublicTechnology.net

The government’s chance of meeting its self-imposed deadline of publishing the transformation strategy before Christmas have once again narrowed as critics accuse ministers of trying to “sneak it out” as parliament rises for recess.

Amazon Web Services has this week opened its first London region, joining Microsoft and IBM in boosting its UK-based cloud data centre offering and aiming at securing public sector customers.

Less than half of UK local authorities’ websites have good or very good information for people planning to carry out a building project – and some are using web pages as a “hard sell” for council services, a survey has said.

The latest figures on the government’s cloud procurement framework G-Cloud show that just over half of all sales are to smaller companies – a figure that has remained largely unchanged over the past two years.

The Government Digital Service's director general Kevin Cunnington has offered PublicTechnology's sister publication Civil Service World an insight into his goals for next year, taken a look back on 2016 - and spilled the beans on his favourite Christmas gift - as part of CSW's annual permanent secretary round...

A secure cross-Whitehall WiFi service will be available in government buildings in early 2017 as part of private beta testing, the Government Digital Service has announced.

Digital transformation will be the biggest priority for public sector chief finance officers over the next five years, according to a survey by consultancy EY.

The government should encourage councils to increase their use of data through a £4m fund to partner data scientists with councils and make data analysis a requirement of devolution deals, according to a report.

IBM has become the latest company to boost its cloud data centre offering in the UK, announcing plans to add four new cloud data centres, bringing its total in the country to six.

With current approaches to Scotland’s social services labelled unsustainable, and health care similarly under pressure, Tom Morton of Communicare247 urges providers to realise the potential for digital technology now.

The digital revolution in US states and cities is not likely to grind to a halt following Trump’s election, but your take on his win will depend on how you view the sands of time, says David Walker.

What opportunities could there be for digital n the UK as it exits the European Union? Digital consultant William Perrin is on a mission to find out. Here, he tells PublicTechnology about his latest research project.

Institute for Government report identifies issues with leadership, legacy systems and retention of skilled staff, while warning of Brexit ‘distraction’.

More than half of public sector IT workers have not used G-Cloud in the past year, while just a quarter say cloud adoption is an important challenge for the next year, a study has said.

Scott Moore, business analyst for the Scottish Improvement Service, won a Socitm scholarship to research digital public service trend in Seoul during the summer. Here he looks back on he learnt during his summer investigating the city’s digital transformation.

MPs have urged the government to set a strategy to deal with the ethics and technology associated with rapid advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.

This week saw the official launch of the Singapore’s dedicated government tech agency GovTech. Rebecca Hill spoke to the organisation’s chief information officer Chan Cheow Hoe about the issues facing government digital services and how his team is addressing them.

RNIB inclusion guru Steve Tyler tells Gill Hitchcock that it makes sense for councils to build accessibility into their digital services. 

Scotland’s cities could improve “significantly” on the way they use technology and innovation to drive growth, a report from the CITIE partnership has said.

Local government digital officers have said that councils need to be more honest about poor products from big suppliers and work together to demand change.

The latest G-Cloud sales figures show a slight decline in monthly sales in July, with local government sales remaining at just 5% of all-time sales.